1 Samuel 16 – 20 

This reading has one of the famous stories of the OT, David slaying Goliath. But something gets missed here. Chapter 16 God has given up on Saul and has Samuel anoint David as the new king. As we see, the youngest of Jesse needs some training. But verse 16:21 has Saul actually requesting David:

David came to Saul and served him. The king loved him greatly and made David his armor-bearer.

David was the youngest of 7 sons, therefore not the most prominent in the family. From this God chose him to lead Israel as king. Because Saul was still king, this was done rather covertly without the kings knowledge. Once the spirit of God came on David, scripture says it left Saul. He was tormented by God with evil spirits and sent for David to soothe his mind with a harp. So David went from the youngest of 7 out in a field shepherding sheep to the court of King Saul.

God works in amazing ways, not just with David against the giant. Sure we look at that since Goliath can represent our fears, concerns or mountains of debt yet David being quickly ushered into Saul’s court is just as incredible. It’s not like there were just a hand full of people to pick for the task, I am sure they had plenty yet David was the one God moved Saul to pick.

We see through this story how Saul’s tormenting becomes worse as he grows jealous of David. Through this he tries to impale David with a spear more than once. It’s amazing that David hangs tough and does not try to defend himself. He quickly learns to humble himself before God and his king. Notice this throughout the story of Saul and David, he never tries to take what is his.