Joseph Asare Jnr

(A sequel of the battle of superior strategy)

David lived with God. He had developed an adoring familiarity with God, such that to him, the name of the only true God was a deep and solemn joy. It had not occurred to him in his meditations that ordinary men would dare to challenge the infinite majesty of God, or that proud adversaries would have the audacity to defy God’s chosen people. So now that he hears the defiance, his blood boils. He is shocked. A holy rage is upon him. He hears Jehovah blasphemed. How can it be? It is alien to his ears. His holy soul is undergoing a new experience and he cannot come to terms with it.  Then he reaches the conclusion that just as bears and lions die when they attack his father’s sheep, so must Goliath die because he dares to attack his God. God had just found Himself, a man.

But I wondered why the rest of Israel were not as enraged as David. Then I realised from a close look at the text that Goliath defied Israel, servants of Saul. But David accused him of defying Israel, the armies of the living God. Two different perspectives. Israel and Saul saw themselves opposed but David saw God opposed. David interpreted the threats differently and correctly. David further elevated the stakes; he made it God’s fight and took to the ring for God. And God is yet to lose a fight.

Lesson #5: Perspective is everything. When you are in crisis, it is easy to be overwhelmed such that you miss the emotions and triggers that could give you the adrenalin to confront the issue head-on. The perspective you take when you are hard pressed with anything is the difference between standing up and standing down. When you have God’s perspective, the size of the giant doesn’t matter. 

None of the employees of the Israel organization in the midst of crisis could step out of their fear and think differently. They were so consumed with the immediate threat that, they couldn’t think outside the box. It took David. Momentarily, in the face of the raving ruin, they had forgotten who they were.

Lesson #6: It is also for the sake of perspective, that businesses fill key positions with outsiders when they are going through a transformation, turnaround or require quantum growth/leap. They need a different perspective at the highest level to drive change. Group think in many instances can be destructive. It is also for the same reason why leaders are advised to surround themselves with people who are different from them and can highlight their blind spots. Do you have anyone on your team whom you can rely on for a different perspective?

Regardless of his perspective, this was still a real threat. This was a giant of giants howling at them and couldn’t wait to tear someone apart. What made David so bravely venturesome? Where from his temerity and arrogant confidence? 

The sling was an important military weapon from the beginning of organized warfare to the end of the middle ages. It out-ranged the bow, was more accurate, and easily as deadly. At one excavation site in Israel, 10 miles north of Jerusalem, sling stones have been found in almost every area of the dig. The Benjamites were particularly known for an elite corps of slingers who were accurate to a fault. 700 of them could each sling a stone at a hair and not miss. The skill was available in those days. David lived his youthful days among the lone hillside of Judah tending his father’s sheep daily. He constantly had to protect his father’s flock from attacks by brown bears, leopards, and Asian lions, which still roamed the woodlands of the Judean foothills and so he had become very skilled at fending off such threats by whatever means possible, including the devastating use of his slingshot. Slinging took an extraordinary amount of skill and practice and David had mastered it.

I want to submit that David was not a rookie as we have always thought. No one in ancient history would have doubted David’s tactical advantage once it was known that he was an expert in slinging. Expert slingers were great at hitting their target yards away. David’s confinement in the hills meant his favourite weapons were stones and the sling. He could practice all day, every day slinging at birds flying in mid-flight, leaves dangling on the tallest trees and at preys racing at top speed. He was not just a Shepherd boy anymore; he had become a hunter and a slinger in solitude. David was no ordinary person for God’s extraordinary redemptive mission. 

Lesson #7: The difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is as little as “extra.” That extra effort at developing your skills will set you apart. Engage life and take the trouble to build real competences that will get you to the top of the pile. If you are to convince anyone to bet on you, you will need a track record to point to. Often good Leaders are willing to create opportunities for their employees. But the employee must make himself easier to lift. When Saul heard of David’s CV, he was sold. 

So now David has been hired for the job he was most qualified for. His marching orders were SMART – get around the negotiating table and foil the hostile takeover attempt by this time tomorrow. He needed a strategy that would checkmate his opposing negotiator. 

Ancient armies had 3 kinds of warriors. The Calvary were armed men on horsebacks; the second were the Infantry, who were foot soldiers wearing armour and carrying swords and shields like Goliath; and the third were Projectile warriors, who were the archers and slingers. The great historian, Baruch Halpern argues that Calvary could defeat projectile warriors because the horses moved so quickly for slingers to take proper aim. And Infantry warriors with their armour and long spikes could stand up against Calvary to knock them off their horses. But projectiles were deadly against the Infantry because Infantry warriors moved so slowly with their heavy armour that slingers could easily take them out with their eyes closed.

David knew of his surprising dexterity with the sling and he intended to wrongfoot Goliath. Goliath was expecting a hand-to-hand combat with swords and spears and David wasn’t going to give him that. So, when he articulated his CV to Saul, he was actually speaking to his prowess as a projectile warrior and his strategy to checkmate Goliath. What he was about to do at the blind side of everyone was a huge change in tactics. And if anyone who knew anything about fighting in those days had caught this smart move by David, he would have known Goliath was as good as dead before the battle began. David had a superior strategy going into that negotiation.

And have you, like me, often wondered why David picked 5 smooth stones if all he needed was 1? Did he lack faith? No. He knew with certainty that God will deliver the giant to him – he had said that a while ago to Saul. The emphasis of the 5 smooth stones in the bible text speaks to David’s skill, experience and strategy. He knew from the training grounds, that he didn’t need more than 5 attempts to floor a slow-moving target. And he chose smooth stones as opposed to rough stones because they are the swiftest, most aerodynamic, most accurate, and most easily flung from the sling. The sling with a smooth stone in the hands of an expert slinger could take off your head.

Lesson #8: Be detailed in the execution of your strategy. Excellent in your approach. Leave no stone unturned. Make every effort to secure the right exact resources that gives you maximum impact. Not only in business but in every aspect of life.

David does not go to this battle with any kind of hesitation, calculation of the odds or any iota of fear. He is dead sure of the result and proceeds about it with a quiet reserve of force. He understood the challenge and he understood his abilities. Though David was young in years, he was old in experience, because he had watched the hand of the Lord in its dealings with him. He had not been an idler among the hills, but a worshipper, a worker, a student, a practical boy living with God. David’s experience was that God delivered him out of the jaws of the lion when he, David, had the boldness to confront the lion. 

God’s role #2: You build your faith in God through your toughest moments. You do not ask for faith from God to face your toughest moments. David’s bravado was not foolhardy expecting God to miraculously hand over Goliath to him. God had played His path with David in the fields by building his faith through the challenges he faced. Goliath was comparatively a much lesser ferocious opponent for David and God didn’t have to miraculously deliver Israel from Goliath. He could deliver them through David’s obedience. Someone has said, what God will do by obedience, He will not do by miracle. There are still giants that blaspheme the name of the Most High; there are gigantic problems that will still confront this world. Are you ready to be schooled to become an extraordinary tool God can use? 

Lesson #9: We all have lions and bears tearing or roaring, howling or hugging, drawing down or tossing up around us but in every way trying to destroy us. And until we go out at them and fight and win or fail, we have no experience and no track record to speak to when our opportunity arrives. David went out and courageously fought that lion. When you apply for a job or approach an investor, you will often be asked “have you done this before” or “can you share a similar experience you have.” When you learn to hunt lions, you can easily hunt giants. Whatever occupies you now, boring or drudgery; don’t despise it. For it may be what will get you the unique opportunity to stand in the same arena with the celebrated giants. And when you get your day in the arena, nothing ever remains the same again. We never read of David going back hunt lions; he began to hunt men. 

My last lesson in this episode is actually the first thing we learn about David which can often be overlooked: “what is in it for me?” Twice, David demanded what his reward will be before applying for the job. He knew he was about to take on a battle for God yet he still demanded what was due him for fighting to deliver Israel. Later in life, when he was offered a piece of land for free to build a temple for God, he refused to have it for free, insisting to pay the price for it. A man of principle – he refused to take anything off the table that didn’t cost him nor put anything on the table that wouldn’t cost the other party.

Lesson #10: Don’t be shy to negotiate. Let the other party value your worth. Learn to ask for something in return. In business negotiation, give nothing out for free. Demand what is due you for the responsibility you are taking and the value you bring to the table. 

David’s decision to take on Goliath was not foolhardy nor over-spiritualism. David wasn’t the underdog in this battle as we have believed all along. How can a man taking on God’s fight be the underdog? How can an expert slinger going up against a foot soldier be an underdog? How can the party who has suddenly changed the rules of engagement to suit his strength and expertise be an underdog? We now have a battle on our hands, the stage is set.

Watch out for episode #3 as we enter the battle field to find out the true underdog and the lessons thereof.