Day 97: 1 Samuel 17-18


Was shepherding a flock better preparation for the battle with Goliath than being a man of war from his youth? In this case, yes. David was a wise interpreter of what had actually happened (1 Samuel 17:37) and did not credit himself for the strength or cunning to defeat the animals. Yet it convinced him that God would deliver him from Goliath; so much so that he predicted what would happen. Saul, by contrast, misinterpreted the people's exaggerations of both his and David's exploits as undervaluing him, ignoring the fact that God was the one who wrought salvation, as he had once observed (1 Samuel 11:13).

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