The Bible says: ‘Saul clothed David with his armour…and David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook…and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine”’ (vv. 38-40 NKJV). David had to make a choice; one that would determine his destiny. He could go into battle as Saul – wearing Saul’s armour, flaunting Saul’s sword, clutching Saul’s shield. Or he could engage in battle as David – a shepherd with a slingshot. David chose not to wear Saul’s armour or wield Saul’s sword for one excellent reason: he wasn’t Saul. David decided to be himself – the David God called, anointed, and equipped for the task. There comes a time in all our lives when we need to be brave enough to remove Saul’s armour. And it takes the most uncommon form of courage, the courage to be yourself. We all begin as originals, but too many of us finish up as imitators of someone else. Instead of honouring our uniqueness, and the uniqueness of others, we are too frequently intimidated by it. We abandon our uniqueness because we want to fit in. In one of his best-known essays, ‘Self-Reliance’, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, ‘There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that…imitation is suicide. He must take himself for better, for worse.’ That is what David did, and God gave him great victory. And that is what God wants you to do.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.