Do you have faith in your abilities?

Are you confident enough to say, “I can do it!” where no one cares to ask you?

Can you offer a solution to the problem when everyone has long given up on the situation because they cannot see any possible solution in sight?

Yes? No? Maybe?

It depends?!

I am writing this article after much reflection on David’s encounter with Goliath. While David did defeated Goliath in battle and killed him, none of the people around him had any expectation that he could do it. In fact, when he proposed that he wanted to do it, the people around him tried to stop him. His brothers were the first to discourage him. They rose up and tried to size him down:

When Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle." - 1 Samuel 17:28

They could not see how David could possibly provide them with the solution to the problem. The crisis that was before them was something that was beyond them:

Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Socoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand. - 1 Samuel 17:1-11,16

It was hard for his brothers, or anyone else, to think that David could rescue them from the situation. Saul wanted to dismiss David thinking that he was incompetent:

Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." - 1 Samuel 17:33

This only prompted David to produce his “credentials”:

But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." - I Samuel 17:34-37

David’s “credentials” impressed Saul and he left it all in David’s hands. He did what he knew best to do: he slew the giant. David saved the day.

Are you ready to save the day? Are you confident enough to say, “I can do it!” where no one cares to ask you? Can you offer a solution to the problem when everyone has long given up on the situation because they cannot see any possible solution in sight? Do you have faith in your abilities?

Quote:

"Believe in yourself. Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy."
–Norman Vincent Peale