Week 3 | day nineteen
This Does Not Fit!
Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. 1 Samuel 17:38
I came to the US from South Africa when I was 18. I had very little knowledge about American culture and the first week of school I was nervous. I remember looking out the dormitory window at Abilene Christian University (ACU) and noticed that a lot of the female college students carried both a backpack and a purse. I thought, “If that is what is expected then that is what I will do.” I packed my backpack with textbooks and my purse…well who knows what to put in that? I added a pen just so it had something in it! I left my dorm room “prepared” for the first day of college with my backpack and purse.
It was terrible! The purse got in the way, and not being one who ever carried a purse for anything, I had no earthly idea why one would want both a backpack and a purse, especially since everything you needed could fit in the backpack. Needless to say, I ditched the purse after the first day!
You see, I was not walking in my identity; I was walking in the perceived expected identity of those around me. Saul expected David to “look” like him so that he could be prepared and fight well. David tried it on, but it did not work. He then stepped into the identity God had given him, “Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his Shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine." 1 Samuel 17:40
Each of us looks different, acts different, even speaks different, and often we cling to that and claim that as our identity. David stepped into the battle with his staff, stones and his sling. It was what identified him as a Shepherd, however, that was not the identity he claimed when he stepped toward the Philistine. David says to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). David knew it was God in him and through him that would beat Goliath. God was his identity, not the shepherd’s clothing or experience. Like David, each day we get the opportunity to dress for the battlefield we have been designated (work, home, community, church), and as we step into the battle, we claim the identity of Christ in us and through us, and so live that day from a place of victory.
Today’s Prayer: Father my identity is established in You. You created me; You knew me before I was born. You know the battles I will face. I ask Father that You continue to establish in me Your identity so that I can live from a place of victory. I pray that my identity in You becomes so established that whatever the circumstances I face, I know with confidence that You have already won. Father establish in me courage to face the battles before me knowing You promise to never leave me nor forsake me. I partner with You, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to walk in victory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Today's Challenge: Ask the Holy Spirit to show You His identity in you when you encounter difficult situations, and then choose to live from a place of victory.
