BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT YOU

We are gifted differently. This is seen in the uniqueness of our DNA and even our thumbprints.

Every human being was given an assignment by God at conception and birth. And even though our places of origin may differ, it is important to understand that we were placed where we are because of the assignment and the impact we were wired by God to make in our space. We will take some more inspiration from David this week as a follow-up to the Volunteering discourse last week.

The nation of Israel was faced with a challenge that had crippled them and left them in fear. What was it? Their arch-enemy, the Philistines had invaded their land and taken over everything they had. Their men, including their king, King Saul had become so much afraid because their enemy had thrown a challenge by introducing their general, the famous Goliath, who was an incredible individual, a giant. Below is a brief background of the account.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

1 Samuel 17:8-11

David, who had been serving his father by tending sheep in the wilderness was summoned by his father, Jesse to take food to his brothers and go check their wellbeing and bring him a report. When he got there and had spoken to his brothers, he heard Goliath screaming and 'distributing' fear as a result and mocking the Israelites that they had no one to face him in a one-on-one banter. (1 Samuel 17:12-24).

Young David upon hearing what Goliath was saying, requested to see King Saul. Now remember from last week's discourse that David was already known to King Saul because he had been serving in his courts on the recommendation of someone in the king's courts, it, therefore, made it easy to have an audience with the king to discuss his contribution to alleviating the challenge at hand.

I will like for us to consider Goliath as a competitor in the corporate world of commerce. Sometimes, an institution may be faced with a challenge that has the capacity to make some people in there be put on redundancy in the process or even threaten the very existence of that institution.

Listen, what angers you the most is probably what you were created to solve. The solution may not be for you to join the general chorus and complain or rant, but step out and handle the issue head-on.

When David got an opportunity to meet with the king whom I will consider the CEO in this discussion, he first told him not to be alarmed at the tantrums Golaith was throwing. Then he added that he could kill him. This was an audacious declaration because there was a huge gap between David and Goliath. The former was a boy, a teenager whereas the latter was a man who had been fighting his entire life right from his teenage years. It is more like an intern trying to tell the CEO of the company he is interning with that he has the capacity to handle the CEO's competitor who has been doing all he can to outwit him and take his share of the market. But David was conscious of himself and his abilities.

David after telling King Saul, the CEO, of his ability to handle his competitor, began talking about what he had done before at the time he was taking care of his father's sheep in the wilderness. He first touted his experience of killing a lion and a bear when they each took one of the sheep under his watch to eat. Then he added that Goliath was no exception.

The second lesson is this: You are well positioned to handle 'Goliath', a big situation if you have ever handled smaller situations and been successful at those. (1 Samuel 17:34-37)

Based on these experiences he shared with the CEO, David was given the opportunity to go and deal with the CEO's competitor. The CEO however offered David his corporate tools to go fight Goliath but he declined after trying them on because he had not used them before. He then went for the tools he had been practicing with over the period and went to face Goliath. He did not stress, nor did he re-invent the wheel; he only engaged the systems he was good at using.

Lesson three: Do not use someone else's tool to fight, use what you are accustomed to. In David's case, it was a sling and a stone.

I find lots of people going for interviews and giving convincing answers to questions they were asked but after they were given the opportunity to deliver on productivity, began to shy away from challenges. Not so with David. He went ahead to face Goliath, the reason he was given the appointment letter. In this regard, he exhibited courage.

I choose to define courage not as the absence of fear, but rather, putting fear on 'flight mode'. Boldness which is a synonym of courage is not a logical virtue; it is illogical. This is what David did. He tuned out of fear and tuned in to faith and courage and run on to meet Goliath, after audaciously promising him that he would cut off his head, which he did in the long run. He slung the stone in his sling, aimed at Goliath's forehead and just threw it at him. This leads to lesson four:

Look for the weakness of the challenge at hand and exploit it to your advantage.

When David managed to kill Goliath, he earned the respect of the CEO, King Saul and as well put his family on the national map.

Being intentional is simply being conscious of your gifts and abilities and using them to your advantage. If you neglect who you are and keep look at some one else, you will soon lose out on who you are and have other people ruling you.

The world is waiting for you to arise before it would celebrate you. Do not settle for less, be bold and the spotlight will fall on you pretty soon.

God bless you. Do share this after reading.

See you in the next edition.