Don't Lose Sight of Your Calling!

being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Philippians 1:6

Did God give you a word?

Did He start preparing you for your calling?

Did He give you a vision for the future?

Don't lose sight of that vision!

God gave David a Word too. In 1 Samuel 16 we see the process that Samuel went through resulting in David being anointed king. God told Samuel to go to the house of Jesse and anoint one of his sons, but David would have been the last one anyone would have expected to have been chosen. Scholars believe that he was 10-12 years old at the time and was simply in charge of his father's sheep. Imagine being 10 years old and being told that you would be the next king!

At first things seemed to be going very well for David. He immediately began to gain favor with the king through his music (1 Sam. 16:18). More and more he gained access to the king's palace and built favor with the king. Then his moment to shine came. Around the age of 16 Goliath began challenging the armies of Israel and everyone was too scared to fight him. David however, knew who His God was and knew that through the power of God he could defeat the giant. 

Immediately after defeating the giant things seemed to really be set up for his calling to come to pass:

1) He married the king's daughter.

2) He became a respected captain of the king's army.

3) He became best friends with the king's son and rightful heir to the throne.

Everything was working out even better than he could have imagined until it all started to unravel. Saul suddenly began to get jealous of David and repeatedly attempted to kill him. Eventually it came to the point that David had to run and hide with the Philistines and then later in the wilderness with only the rejected men supporting him. 

For five years David was running and hiding for his life from Saul. We can only imagine how tempted David was to turn away from the Word that was spoken over him in those five years. There was even one point where his family was kidnapped, his possessions were burned and the very men that were following him were contemplating stoning him. At that point I am sure that David felt as far away from being king of Israel as possible, but even then he didn't lose sight of the Word that God had given him. 

"...But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God."

1 Samuel 30:6b

He strengthened himself in the Lord! At the beginning David had plenty of people and circumstances helping him see his potential as king. God built up his faith in conflicts with bears and lions and then eventually Goliath. The king himself was very happy and encouraging to David. He had his best friend in Jonathan and of course had the prophet Samuel who gave him the Word in the first place. But there came a time where everyone turned against him and he had to "strengthen himself".  

What is the Word that God gave you?

Pastor Sherwood Vegsund, one of my early mentors who helped me keep sight of my potential and gave me some of my first opportunities in ministry, said:

There comes a time in every man's life where faith requires faithfulness.

Over and over the Bible talks about the power of having faith in God's Word. However it never says that faith will be easy. God will give you the people that you need to build your faith in the beginning but there comes a time when things will get hard and God will expect you to be faithful regardless.

Have you been faithful with the Word God has given you?

It wasn't until age 30 that David fully realized the calling that God gave him 20 years prior. It took 20 years of faithfulness! Faithfulness as his father's shepherd, faithfulness as the court musician, faithfulness when facing Goliath, and faithfulness when running for his life. There was even a point where he was crowned king of Judah and not of Israel and he continued to be faithful, knowing that God's Word would come to pass. 

Be faithful where you are and God will bring you to where you are supposed to be!