Christians in their eagerness to believe in MIRACLES make even RESULTS of  EFFORTS, which have fructified thru HOPE, to be classified as MIRACLES.

A good example is the story of KING DAVID, who was the second King of Israel and finds mention in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles of THE BIBLE.

For those not familiar with the story of David, let me recount a brief life story of one of the greatest symbols of Jewish History. His father’s name was Jesse and he had 7 brothers, who were all elder to him. Being the last and and ignored by his father Jesse, DAVID was rather consigned to tending to the few sheep which Jesse had. He was from the tribe of Judah.

David’s sculpture by Michelangelo leaning on one leg with a curled up fingers in the nude oozes with manliness. But his left hand is bent at the elbow with a sling slapped on his left shoulder. For me that sling is the SYMBOL of his skill, which eventually led him to strike GOLIATH and save the Israelites from the Philistines. Has it ever occurred to anyone why DAVID should keep the sling on his LEFT HAND  and SHOULDER? I have a good reason why Michelangelo  made David hold his sling on his left hand – IT SHOWS THAT SKILL OF THE HIGHEST ORDER, SHOULD BE MADE TO SERVE LIFE AND BEAUTY.

Getting back to our theme- David was not a mere shepherd as thought of by some Christians. It was the job assigned by his father and his elder brothers while he was still young. But what did he do while he was ASSIGNED THE ROLE OF A SHEPHERD? He did not fritter away his time chasing shepherdesses and whiling away his time. He developed 2 skills. One was his ability to sling accurately with force and the other was to play the harp. He built up skills during his free time. That was what made God choose him. God can give talents but He sure is not going to multiply it for you. God gave David the talent to be a lyricist (psalmist), a warrior and a musician, but it was left to him to identify what he had received and hone those skills. David sure did that.

DAVID did not have the mentality of a shepherd, he was filled with imagination. His brothers Eliab, Shamma and others scold him saying that he had left the few sheep their father had in the wilderness and had come to watch the war games initiated by GOLIATH. THEY WERE WRONG- DAVID DID NOT COME  TO WATCH THE WAR GAMES, DAVID HAD COME TO GO STRAIGHT INTO THE PALACE AND SHARE THE MATRIMONIAL BLISS AND BED WITH MEHRAB, THE DAUGHTER OF KING SAUL. David’s brothers were curry favouring ABNER, the Chief of the army of King Saul, but our David went straight for the jugular- DAVID wanted MEHRAB and become the son-in-law of the King. David did not go to Abmer to display his skills, he found a way to Saul.

Do you think King Saul would have let David take on Goliath without testing his skills as a slinger? NO WAY. King Saul would have given him 20 stones and put a condition that David had to strike the target set by him all the 20 times without fail. Saul was no idiot to let an untested man up in a battle, where King Saul and his people’s liberty were at stake. I am sure, rather dead sure, that Saul would have tested him thoroughly before sending DAVID up as the challenger to the declarer GOLIATH.The stakes were too hig to have been otherwise.

The rest is history. DAVID was no shepherd, he was a super skilled slinger, an accomplished musician and a great charmer of women- more than anything else, he was an ACCOMPLISHER. A FINISHER OF THE TASK UNDERTAKEN.

After him killing GOLIATH, King Saul does not give Mehrab, he doesn’t sulk, but carries on his mission to get to the palace. Gets foreskins and becomes the husband to Michal and makes it to the palace. That is where the action is. His brothers were still polishing the shoes of Abner, but our David had risen to the level of being perceived as a threat to the kingship of Saul. David befriends Jonathan and gets info on the palace intrigues even when he is forced out. David escapes with the help of Michal. So DAVID was no shepherd, he was relentlessly on his path to KINGSHIP. Saul calls his son Jonathan, ” THOU SON OF A PERVERSE WOMAN, DON’T YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE HELPING DAVID AT THE COST OF YOUR THRONE?” Was David a shepherd? NAY.

Archibald Primrose Rosebery is reputed to have said that he had three aims in life: to win the Derby, to marry an heiress, and to become Prime Minister. He managed all three. There are certain things which cannot be “GOT”, one has to be “PLACED”  to enjoy the benefits there. Like Archibald Rosebery, DAVID knew that early. HE worked hard to become a KING and even harder to stay that way. That is no shepherd trait.

Read Psalm 144:1

Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

Se the word “TEACHETH”, God can but MAN has to LEARN, that is man’s duty. David learnt the skills and that is what helped him to get there.

Dear Christians, do not believe that God is going to work on the talents given to you, work on it. Prayer is a defence, prayer is a petition but the “will” is God’s- in the meanwhile work on your SKILLS. Miracles do happen in stages also. Get that straight.

There were instances when Jesus told the ones who wanted to be healed “I will, be healed”, but there is also an  instance when he made clay out of his spittle and told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. We do not know what is HIS will, in the meanwhile LET US HONE OUR SKILLS. May be we are lucky like Bartimaeus or otherwise, but we cannot keep waiting for MIRACLES to happen suddenly. MIRACLES could be EVOLUTIONARY too in some cases!

DAVID WAS AN EVOLUTIONARY MIRACLE!