Dharius Daniels - Your Purpose is an Answer to a Problem

Seven of Jesse’s sons got to the oil first. Seven people got to the opportunity first. Seven people got to the open door first. Seven people looked at the building first. Seven people surveyed the land first. But when God has something that by His grace and providence He has assigned to you, it does not matter who gets there first. He will hold it in place until you get there. Saul loved David as a musician. The Bible says he loved him greatly and made him his armor-bearer. So even though there was abusiveness and narcissism on one end, there was still some affirmation that he was getting on the other end. This affirmation inhibited him from being objective when it came to assessing Saul. He kept tolerating abuse because he needed love. This man, David, comes, and the Bible says that God tells the prophet, «Yeah, this is the one right here.» It’s so interesting to me because seven of Jesse’s sons got to the oil first, seven people got to the opportunity first, seven people got to the open door first, seven people looked at the building first, and seven people surveyed the land first. But when God has something that by His grace and providence He has assigned to you, it does not matter who gets there first. He will hold it in place until you get there. They can be first; they can make an offer first; they can apply first. But when God has something for you, He will reserve it specifically for you. So David gets anointed in the presence of his brothers, and the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David powerfully from that day forward. Samuel leaves and goes to Ramah, and through a series of events, you know the story. Through a series of events, David ends up working as a musician and as an armor-bearer in the palace, but he didn’t abandon his responsibilities in the pasture. Even though God elevated him outside his father’s house, he never stopped faithfully serving the father’s house. I’m going to say that one more time: even though God elevated him outside the father’s house, he never stopped faithfully serving the father’s house. He would go back from time to time and still tend to the sheep in the pasture. One day, when he was doing so, the Bible says that his father instructs him to take something to his brothers, and he takes it to them. Then he begins to hear this Philistine who is insulting Israel. This is what I call unique agitation, right? Unique agitation. If purpose is an answer to a problem, then God will give you a unique agitation for the problems you’ve been created to solve. This means two of us can walk into a room, see the same problem, and it may bother you but not bother me, because God will give you an agitation for what you’ve been assigned to address. Does that make sense, guys? Now, everybody is hearing Goliath’s insults, and they’re doing nothing about it. As soon as David hears the insults, he says, «Y’all don’t hear that? Who is this?» Everybody’s looking at his height, strength, and stature. David says, «Who’s this uncircumcised Philistine that dares to defy the armies of the Living God?» See, everybody’s looking at what Goliath does have. David’s looking at what he doesn’t have. Circumcision was a symbol of the covenant; he’s saying, «He’s got a sword and a spear, but he doesn’t have the covenant. He’s got height, but he doesn’t have a covenant. He’s got to fight by himself. I don’t have to fight by myself because I’ve got a God who made a covenant to fight with me.» He says, «I’m done.» He says, «Who’s going to fight this guy?» He asks this question, and I really don’t have time to unpack this, but we need to unpack this more because it’s worth unpacking. «What shall be done for the man that defeats this giant?» That’s what he asks, right? He said, «Hey, what will be done for the man that defeats this giant?» My motives are pure, but I still need to know I’m doing this for the glory of God. But I just kind of need to know: if I’m putting myself out here like this? They said you get the king’s daughter in marriage. He’s like, «Yeah.» They said, «No taxes.» He said, «I’m in! I’m in! No taxes? Sign me up!» So here’s the quandary. I’m wrapping up here. To me, it is one of David’s most courageous acts. I see courage in the palace before I see the courage on the field. Once Saul gets word that David’s willing to fight, Saul, who initially attempts to talk him out of it, acquiesces and says, «If you’re going to do this, at least do this with the best equipment. This is battle-tested. This is the best available to engage in warfare.» So David now is receiving an offer from a king, first of all, that he knows is not stable, so he’s not sure what kind of reaction he’s going to get. He initially puts on Saul’s armor and tries to walk around in it. I love this because you do not have to dishonor the armor just because you have a slingshot, and this is something I have to watch in my tradition. Emerging leaders, who may be called to slingshots, can dishonor armor that was used to win battles to get them where they are. Yeah, my tradition says that old church is what prayed to…