How can you be faithful to God while living in a world of sin? Where do you get strength to go forward and continue doing good?
The experience of David and Goliath helps me.
In the Old Testament, the army of the Philistines was battling the Israelites, and every morning and every night, a giant Philistine named Goliath challenged any Israelite to fight him.
Among the Israelite people lived David, a young shepherd much smaller than Goliath but with giant faith in Jesus Christ!
David volunteered to fight.
So, full of faith in a God who would not abandon him, he gathered five smooth stones, took up his sling, and went to face the giant.
The first stone David threw hit Goliath’s forehead, ending his life.
While David used only one stone to kill Goliath, he was prepared with five.
Five!
This makes me think about how I can prepare myself to face the world.
What if each of David’s stones represented a strength we need to be triumphant in our lives?
What could those five stones be?
I thought of these:
One stone for my love for God.
One stone for my faith in our Savior, Jesus Christ.
One stone for the knowledge of my true identity.
One stone for my daily repentance.
One stone for access to God’s power.
I actually wish David had had one more stone; that would be the stone of my testimony.
Our testimony is built by personal spiritual experiences in which we recognize the divine influence in our lives. No one can take that knowledge from us. Knowing what we know from having lived our spiritual experiences is priceless. Being true to that knowledge gives us freedom. It gives us joy! If we love the truth, we will seek it, and once we find it, we will defend it.
Just as I chose stone number six, I invite you to meet with your class, quorum, or family and think about what other strengths you need to acquire to remain faithful to God.
As you walk hand in hand with the Lord, you will be able to bring down every Goliath that appears in your life.
Love,
Sister Andrea Spannaus
Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency
Activity Idea
Notes
Sister Spannaus recently spoke about this idea in a general conference talk. You can watch it here!