God had great things in store for David, more than just defeating a lion and a bear. There would be defeating Goliath, and then the Philistines; there would be calling the Israelites back to true heart-worship through inspired poetry and music; and most importantly, there would be setting up the lineage that would finally lead to Messiah Jesus.

It all happened because David was able to see God in the things in his life, and, seeing Him, David gave his heart fully to Him. David learned to trust God in the little things, and God was able to use that to teach him to trust for bigger things, raising him up in the process.

Where does that leave us? Most of us can say that much of our life has not been spent at the level of trust that David has shown us. Maybe you didn’t learn to trust at your mother’s breast. Or maybe you did on a human level, but you never transferred that trust to God. Maybe you went out and made choices in life that you now regret. How does one get on track and begin to trust in the Lord?

Or maybe you trust God vaguely, but you’re beginning to see that an active and vibrant trust in God is the foundation of effective spiritual warfare. There are fortresses you need to bring down, and elemental things of this world standing in your way, and you need increased power to see the victory. Greater faith is the key to that victory.

Whatever our situation, the answer really is the same for us as it was for David. We need to see God’s hand working in the circumstances of our lives. In every act of human kindness, or when being sent out to pasture some “few” sheep, or when facing a lion or a bear, or when rejected by family, or when fleeing Saul for dear life, through eyes of faith we need to see God’s sovereign goodness at work in our lives.

David glimpsed it prophetically, but in the Church Age we have the tremendous advantage of having the Perfect Covenant detailed in scripture for us. We know that God’s Son became man and took on Himself the price of our redemption from sin and death. We are able to see, more fully than anyone could in the past, the perfect love of God from which we can never be separated. For if Christ has already gone to the terrible cross for us, it simply is not credible that now He would easily abandon us. We can trust Him completely!

Be like David. Even if your life has been difficult, see God’s hand bringing you through. He’s brought you this far, why would He let you go now? The good shepherd never will. He will face the lion and the bear to see you to safety. Jesus is completely trustworthy.

And if we see Him, we cannot help but worship and adore Him. We will incline our hearts to Him, his presence and power will abide in us, and we will grow in Christlikeness.

The challenge before us is to trust Him. When we trust him we become open to His power coming in, changing us and our world. Jesus has assured us that all things are possible to him who believes. But when He returns, will He find faith? Let us resolve to be those who will perfect our trust in God, and walk in the promises.

And we desire that each one of you show the same eagerness to the full assurance of hope to the end,

that you be not slothful, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. – Heb 6:11-12