Let me take you back to you sunday school days, do you remember the story of David and Goliath? Revisiting my notes I thought I should remind you of the story behind the story in this episode of biblical events. I beliee that you at least know what transpired in the whole event? right? Well, at least you know that Goliath was a giant and David a small boy and with just a stone and a sling David took out the giant, regardless of everybody being too terrified to challenge Goliath.
There are 5 powerful life lessons from David and Goliath that you can learn from and they relate to almost ANY situation.
1. Be bigger than your fears
When David confronted Goliath who had armor and a javelin, all David had was a staff, sling and 5 stones. Not to mention he was like a baby in size compared to Goliath. But did that stop him? Yeah right. Not long after the battle started, he pulled his sling back with a stone attached to it then he let it rip right into Goliath’s forehead!
If that happened to be any of the other people around him, they would have ran in the other direction and backed down, because the Israelite’s were smaller than their fears, and David was bigger than his fears…
If you’re not, you’ll end up settling for the things that are LESS than your fears….And you’ll be enslaved by your fears no matter what situation you’re in or what decision you need to make. Look at things logically, look at the facts, get out of your head and take action already!
2. Size doesn’t matter
In life you’re bound to come across big challenges, small challenges, tiny challenges and enormous challenges. But the size of the challenge, problem or obstacle is Irrelevant. Why? Because that doesn’t determine what’s possible for you.
The only thing that determines what’s possible for you is YOU, your mindset and your beliefs. If size mattered to David (as it did with the Israelite’s) he wouldn’t have had the courage to take on Goliath. Especially with just a staff, 5 stones and a sling.
3. Make use of what you already have
Many people complain about:
- What they don’t have
- Why not having what they don’t have is a problem
- Why they need “that thing” before they can get started
- Why not having “that thing” is holding them back
But the truth is you have to make USE of what you’ve already got to get what you want. Compared to the armor and the weapons Goliath had, David seemed insignificant. After all he only had a sling, 5 stones and a staff (Even though he turned down armor that was offered to him).
Yet he made use of it and it happen to be more than enough to get the job done. He still defeated Goliath regardless of the comparison in weight, strength, Armory, weapons, etc.
4. Believe it’s possible
The Israelite’s didn’t believe it was possible to defeat Goliath which is why they feared him. If you were to rate their self belief on a scale of 1 – 10, their self belief would have to be less than 5.
But on the other hand, David’s belief would have been at least an 8 or more. That’s why it wasn’t an issue for him to challenge Goliath head on and even take him down. And don’t forget David turned down the offer for armory, which proves he strongly believed it was possible.
Without a strong belief that what you’re pursuing is possible, you’ll fail. You’ll quit on yourself before you even get half way. If your fears are stronger than your self belief and faith, you’ve shot yourself in the foot without knowing it. Until you believe in yourself more than the fear or the obstacle, you’ll continue to quit on yourself.
5. Don’t underestimate your capabilities
It’s always dangerous to underestimate yourself. When you underestimate yourself and your own capabilities, you end up achieving less. Judging how Goliath looks and appears compared to David, you’d think Goliath was the superior one.
But the outcome of the battle turned out to be a lot different than the Israelite’s expected. David didn’t underestimate his abilities or himself. He had self confidence and lots of it. He was smart enough to know that he was more than capable of succeeding.
If anything you should be overestimating, because then you’ll end up giving and doing more than is expected and you’ll end up achieving more and reaching your potential in the process.