Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Imagine you're there as David lets go of the stone flying out of his sling, going across the field as it's about to hit its target of this giant behemoth of a man. Right before it hits, we know the end of the story. We know how this goes, but let's throw this whole entire scene in reverse and go back. We are so encapsulated into this moment, that so many people talk about and remember, of David defeating a giant.
If we go back just a little bit into his history we find this teenager who was just a shepherd, showing up faithful day after day. He was able to look back at the experiences that he had of defeating a bear or of defeating a lion. Then here he comes, showing up to the battlefield with all of these adult men. In that time, Israel only allowed adult men, we believe, estimated between 20 and older, to actually participate in warfare and be part of the military army.
He shows up to bring his brothers food and he sees what's going on in this battlefield of Goliath, this giant coming out and taunting Israel, talking badly about God, the God that he reveres, the God that in the meadow with the sheep that he talked to all the time, that he believed helped spare him from a bear and a lion. He sees this giant of a moment and he steps into the moment, even being a teenager.
God Uses Teenagers
I love where we find our passage this morning for the Verse of the Day and keeping that story in mind, because God, all throughout Scripture used teenagers in their moment, not waiting until they became an adult, but using teenagers in those moments to fulfill some great things for His glory and develop them into who He called them to be later on as well.
Here we find 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 12. It says, Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity. A lot of times, life experience is the default that we have for qualifications. I love how this passage says, be an example.
Just like David, we can focus on that moment. We want that moment in our lives where we feel like we’ve proven ourselves. We look for a moment in time that will be remembered. No matter what our age is, God wants to spend time with us, to prepare us.
Faithfulness Over Time
Just like David and so many others, no matter their age, it was that they were found faithful over time. Through that faithfulness, God was teaching them and bringing them along and giving them actual life experiences to prepare them for something greater. Here David was. This greater moment was while he was still a teenager, and the same was true for so many others in the Bible.
Some of the biggest things that we can learn from this passage specifically, and it feeds into the story of David, is notice in this passage it says that you're an example to all believers in what you say, but notice that what you say should be echoed in what follows, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.
No matter your age today, we can often delay what God's trying to do because of this season that we're in. No matter if it's age, demographic, no matter what it is, we can think God isn’t preparing us, or God can't use us in the season that we’re in. May you take this passage to know that God is wanting to use you as an example in the way you live, the way you love, and the way you live out what God is doing in your heart and life today. Be looking for those opportunities to be an example to demonstrate who He is through you.
