Our western culture loves the story of the underdog. I'm not an expert historian but I'd guess that the United States' origin as an underdog defeating the British Empire is a big reason why. Since that upset victory of the late 1700s we have glamorized the underdog story in every possible way. The analogy often made to a great underdog story is the Bible's account of David and Goliath. I will make an assumption that you know enough about the story for me to be able to skip recounting it. I love a good underdog story and I spend a lot of time reading the Bible. However, it is possible that we have gotten the story of David and Goliath all wrong. Historically speaking, it may not have been an upset because David was a master....at tending sheep?
The story as it's described in the Bible tells us that David was out 'tending the sheep' five different times prior to the story of David's confrontation with Goliath. This gives us unique insight into David's commitment to the daily grind. Tending sheep was a relentless and thankless task. It was relentless because if it was hot, David tended sheep. If it was freezing cold, David tended sheep. If it was pouring rain, David tended sheep. Tending sheep was thankless because it was viewed as a mindless and unwanted task reserved for the lowest in perceived value in a family. Jesse, David's father even referred to David as 'qatan' meaning young, small, insignificant, and unimportant. (Gee, thanks Dad!)
It was very common for young shepherd boys to find things to occupy their time during the long hours out in the fields watching sheep graze. For David, that meant a sling. We also find out in David's adult years that he was a man of war. David loved combat, confrontation, and competition. Core to these character traits is a relentlessness which would demonstrate itself not only David's daily commitment to tending sheep, but in his daily practice with his sling.
Imagine a young shepherd boy glumly heading back out to the fields for another of what seemed like endless days of tending sheep. On this particular day, the young boy grabs a sling that was handed down to him by an older family member to take out to the field as a way of trying to pass the long hours. Once the sheep had been settled in to a new location for grazing the boredom began to set in for the young boy. He remembered the sling he had brought with him. He pulled it out of his bag, dropped a stone into it and began to twirl it. I like to think that his first thought was two-fold: 1) 'how hard can this be?' 2) 'I bet I can sling this stone a long way.' He put a little extra energy into spinning that sling and when he released it imagine his horror when when the stone flew the wrong direction and didn't go very far at all.
And here is where David's relentless spirit paid off. There was no way he was going to give in to the present reality that he had no skill with a sling. So he began to embrace the challenge. At first, the goal was simple; make the stone go in a particular direction. After hours, days, and weeks David could make the stone go any direction he wanted. He even added running, jumping, and twisting while slinging stones. Soon the challenge diminished, but David loved a challenge so he leveled it up. He began identifying targets. At first, it was a large tree trunk in the field. The same 'start frustrated, but stay relentless' cycle unfolded and the results after hours, days, and weeks were the same. David could hit any tree trunk in any field from any distance and likely all while running, jumping, and twisting. The challenge diminished and the whole cycle re-started with branches on a tree. Wash, rinse, repeat. And then the challenge was leaves on a tree. Same song, second verse, same as the first. And then the challenge was veins in any leaf, on any branch, on any tree. As David continued to faithfully tend sheep he unsuspectingly developed an elite skill.
I'm sure you know that this chapter in David's life ends with his miraculous victory over Goliath who was the greatest hand to hand combat warrior in the known world. Only it was not a miracle. The world just didn't know that David was more skilled at what he did than what Goliath did. I love this story and I can take its implications a lot of different directions, but here's all I want to challenge you with: It's amazing what can happen over time when you do every mundane, boring, who-cares-day right. You just might be developing something that will help you conquer a giant.
The story as it's described in the Bible tells us that David was out 'tending the sheep' five different times prior to the story of David's confrontation with Goliath. This gives us unique insight into David's commitment to the daily grind. Tending sheep was a relentless and thankless task. It was relentless because if it was hot, David tended sheep. If it was freezing cold, David tended sheep. If it was pouring rain, David tended sheep. Tending sheep was thankless because it was viewed as a mindless and unwanted task reserved for the lowest in perceived value in a family. Jesse, David's father even referred to David as 'qatan' meaning young, small, insignificant, and unimportant. (Gee, thanks Dad!)
It was very common for young shepherd boys to find things to occupy their time during the long hours out in the fields watching sheep graze. For David, that meant a sling. We also find out in David's adult years that he was a man of war. David loved combat, confrontation, and competition. Core to these character traits is a relentlessness which would demonstrate itself not only David's daily commitment to tending sheep, but in his daily practice with his sling.
Imagine a young shepherd boy glumly heading back out to the fields for another of what seemed like endless days of tending sheep. On this particular day, the young boy grabs a sling that was handed down to him by an older family member to take out to the field as a way of trying to pass the long hours. Once the sheep had been settled in to a new location for grazing the boredom began to set in for the young boy. He remembered the sling he had brought with him. He pulled it out of his bag, dropped a stone into it and began to twirl it. I like to think that his first thought was two-fold: 1) 'how hard can this be?' 2) 'I bet I can sling this stone a long way.' He put a little extra energy into spinning that sling and when he released it imagine his horror when when the stone flew the wrong direction and didn't go very far at all.
And here is where David's relentless spirit paid off. There was no way he was going to give in to the present reality that he had no skill with a sling. So he began to embrace the challenge. At first, the goal was simple; make the stone go in a particular direction. After hours, days, and weeks David could make the stone go any direction he wanted. He even added running, jumping, and twisting while slinging stones. Soon the challenge diminished, but David loved a challenge so he leveled it up. He began identifying targets. At first, it was a large tree trunk in the field. The same 'start frustrated, but stay relentless' cycle unfolded and the results after hours, days, and weeks were the same. David could hit any tree trunk in any field from any distance and likely all while running, jumping, and twisting. The challenge diminished and the whole cycle re-started with branches on a tree. Wash, rinse, repeat. And then the challenge was leaves on a tree. Same song, second verse, same as the first. And then the challenge was veins in any leaf, on any branch, on any tree. As David continued to faithfully tend sheep he unsuspectingly developed an elite skill.
I'm sure you know that this chapter in David's life ends with his miraculous victory over Goliath who was the greatest hand to hand combat warrior in the known world. Only it was not a miracle. The world just didn't know that David was more skilled at what he did than what Goliath did. I love this story and I can take its implications a lot of different directions, but here's all I want to challenge you with: It's amazing what can happen over time when you do every mundane, boring, who-cares-day right. You just might be developing something that will help you conquer a giant.
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‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on being intentional about life in a way that produces great persistence. Read about it more here.
Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader and Director of Athletics at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.
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