Next Door

David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies if the living God?” 1Sam.17:26.

‘But when David’s oldest brother Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!”’ 1Sam.17:28. I was fresh out of school and had just finished the National Youth Service Corps service year. And I wanted to do an I.T. certification MCSC. This certification was relatively new at that time. And there was some guy in the industry who said to me, “You can’t do it! I have been working in the IT industry for many years. People have to have worked for X number of years. And some of those people still failed the exam”. He was like someone assigned from hell to tell me I couldn’t do the exam. I felt confused but something in me was sure I could do this exam. David did not allow Eliab’s harsh words deter him. David just moved on and asked the next person. David ignored Eliab. Why would David keep asking what the reward would be? David was not prepared to fight the battle and not get victory. Hearing the reward repeatedly was motivation for David until Saul sent for him. You need to ignore the “Eliabs”. So guess what I did? I ignored him and registered for the first exam that was supposed to be the simplest out the set of six. Everybody uses that strategy and I prayed. For this kind of exams, you get your score immediately. When I finished, I proceeded to get my score, and I discovered that I failed the first exam out of 6 exams. Then I remembered what the “Eliabs” had said to me. But it must have been the Spirit of God who then said to me, “This is an exam, this is not the whole certification. You are going to pass this certification. You just failed one exam. Go and read, come back, and retake it”. Guess what I did? I followed that voice. I went back to read like crazy, retook the first exam and passed it. In six weeks, I did the six exams and passed all six of them. I got the certification. Now I look back and wonder what came over me. My advice is when you try the first one and it appears that you’ve failed. Don’t let the whole thing go. God promised you the entire certification, don’t quit because of one exam. David didn’t quit.

Prayer: Father, fill my steps with the tenacity required for me to enter into the victory You have set before me, in Jesus Name.