Lately I just keep coming back to 1 Samuel 17, the account of David and Goliath.  Even when I study somewhere else, it always brings me back, one way or another, to some part of David's story that parallels what I had been studying.  In 1 Samuel 17, the Philistines had crossed the border into land that belonged to Israel, and they challenged the Israelites to take it back.

Now, we need to understand one fundamental point to this whole story.  The Philistines were defeated as soon as they set their arrogant feet on soil that the one God had spoken for.  The Lord had promised Israel that the land that He was giving them would always be theirs as long as they honored and obeyed Him.  So, the Philistines and their giant said that the land was theirs unless Israel could stop them.  But, the King of kings whose Word is a sword that will "smite the nations" (Revelation 19:15), had said otherwise.

So, why did no Israelite even attempt to drive them out for forty days (1 Samuel 17:16)?  No one in the army of Israel would take God at His Word.  So, the Lord brought David to the field of battle.  You see, as in 2 Chronicles 16:9, "the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His".  In 2 Samuel 17, God was looking for a man whose heart was completely His.  That man was David.  The Philistine trespass on that piece of land was a direct challenge to the Word already spoken by the Lord Himself.  The battle had been won.  The Lord waited only for a man who trusted Him.