picking up stones

The other night I was reading with Brother in his Jesus Storybook Bible after Babydoll went to bed.  It is usually My Love's job but he was out of town for work.  Suddenly I saw how sweet a time this is for My Love.  To snuggle with our growing Big Boy in his bed (that used to be My Love's as a child) and read to him about our Savior and Lord. <3  They don't always read.  Sometimes they tell stories.  Sometimes My Love falls asleep on accident.  Sometimes they watch Veggie Tales clips on his phone.  It is a time of day that is all theirs and I am happy they get to share it.

Bundle Boy asked for me to read the pages about David.  A story known to almost everyone.  It tells the account of a young shepherd boy who chose to stand up against the giant Philistine Goliath.  A boy who grows up to be the next king and who would be called by God as "a man after My own heart". 

I was struck by an aspect to the story that hadn't stood out to me before.  David saw this huge task before him.  He trusted that God would equip him to handle it because by all his earthly strength there was no way he could defeat the towering Goliath on his own.  He HAD to trust.  I noticed this time though that David reached for five stones to be used in his sling shot against his enemy.  God had complete knowledge that it would only take one.  And yet he didn't require David to exhaust his trust in Him.  It doesn't mean David didn't trust him enough because he grabbed four extra.  It just means (to me) that God knew that asking him to put all his faith in this one stone having perfect aim might have been a little too much.  I mean he was already a young boy standing against a "giant".  One out of five was bound to work though.  And since David was already completely weak in this scenario perhaps God knew that he could only ask so much of David before what was once trust crippled into fear.

By no means is any of this corroborated.  It is just my thoughts.


Sometimes I look before me at this "Goliath" coming and KNOW I am not ever going to be equipped even on my very best day to do anything worth my own glory.  I am completely weak.

But even though God is asking me to put all my trust in him he also knows there is only so much my human mind can take.

So I grab five stones.  Not because I fear one may not hit its target.  But because I know God can choose which stone he wants to use for his purpose.  My job is to not be afraid if the first one doesn't knock the giant down.  For even though my tools look incapable of making any difference, God can use anything given freely to him for his glory.