The Bible says: 'Then Saul gave David his own armour... "I can't go in these," he protested to Saul. "I'm not used to them." So David took them off again. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd's bag. Then...he started across the valley to fight the Philistine' (1 Samuel 17:38-40 NLT). David had to make a choice; one that would determine his destiny. He could go into battle as Saul - wearing Saul's armour, flaunting Saul's sword, clutching Saul's shield. Or he could engage in battle as David - a shepherd with a slingshot. David chose not to wear Saul's armour or wield Saul's sword for one excellent reason: he wasn't Saul. David decided to be himself - the David God called, anointed and equipped for the task.

There comes a time in all our lives when we need to be brave enough to remove Saul's armour. And it takes the most uncommon form of courage, the courage to be ourselves. We all begin as originals, but too many of us finish up as imitators of someone else. Instead of honouring our uniqueness, and the uniqueness of others, we are too frequently intimidated by it. We abandon our uniqueness because we want to fit in.

In one of his best-known essays, 'Self-Reliance', Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, 'There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that...imitation is suicide. He must take himself for better, for worse.' That is what David did, and God gave him great victory. And that is what God wants you to do.

— SCRIPTURE —
'I can't go in these...I'm not used to them.' 1 Samuel 17:39 NLT
— SOULFOOD —
2 Ki 1:1-4:17, Luke 13:1-17, Ps 77, Pro 6:29