David and Goliath. The story for the ages. This story has been told, preached on, put into film more times than anyone could count. There is much that we can learn from this story. I would like to maybe give you something from this story that you may or may not have considered.
It says in 1 Samuel 17:40 (KJV) And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook…
Have you ever wondered why David chose five smooth stones? Why not one? Why smooth stones? While many explanations have been suggested, I believe the answer may be more practical than some think.
One reason that David picked more than one stone was because experienced shepherds and slingers didn’t carry only one projectile. He was prepared. If he missed (unlikely, but possible), or if another threat arose, he had additional stones.
This fits David’s character. He wasn’t acting presumptuously. He trusted God while also using wisdom. David didn’t walk onto the battlefield with reckless confidence. He walked onto the battlefield with faith and preparation.
That’s a Biblical principle seen throughout Scripture. Noah trusted God, but he still built the ark. Nehemiah prayed, but he also set a watch. Paul trusted God, but he still told Timothy to take practical care of his health. As the saying goes, “Trust in God, but lock your door.” Faith and preparation are not enemies.
There is another detail worth noticing. David did not gather stones from the hillside. He chose them from the brook.
The brook didn’t smooth those stones in a day. The brook had been shaping those stones for years. They became smooth because they had been worn, tested, and refined by flowing water. Every rough edge was worn away until the stone was ready for the sling. And it has been said that a smooth stone flies truer from a sling than an irregular one.
The stone didn’t become smooth during the battle, the water had already been shaping it. Before the stone ever met the giant, it met the water. The giant wasn’t what prepared the stone. The brook prepared the stone. Before God used the stone to defeat a giant, He prepared it.
How often do we ask God to remove us from the brook? Yet it may be the very place where He is shaping us. The seasons that seem to wear us down may actually be the seasons God is using to prepare us for what lies ahead. We often want God to take away the difficulty, while He is using it to smooth away the rough edges that would keep us from being effective.
God never promised that all things would be good. He promised that He would work all things together for good. The brook was not an interruption to God’s plan for David. It was part of God’s preparation. In the same way, the trials, disappointments, and seasons of waiting in our lives may be the very things God is using to prepare us for the giants we have not yet faced.
Romans 8:28 (KJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
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