Mundane Training Ground

Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 16:11-12, And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12 So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”

The word mundane has a couple of meanings. The first is “lacking interest or excitement”, and the second, “of this earthly world rather than a heavenly or spiritual one”. For some of us who have a great desire to serve the LORD, we may see our everyday lives as mundane (lacking excitement). We get up, commute to work, work our assigned hours, commute home, do a few things on our off hours and start the process all over again. Sometimes we see our everyday lives, our jobs, and our social lives (or lack thereof), as mundane. However, I would like us to stop and consider what we see in the life of David. He was the youngest of eight brothers who was assigned the servant’s task of tending the family’s sheep. How in the world could a shepherd boy be a king? Some of us may think that of ourselves. “How can I be a pastor, missionary, Sunday school teacher, small group leader, or whatever else God calls me to do? After all, I’ve never had any formal training.” Neither did David…or at least that’s what we think. Stop and think about what David was doing and how God used David’s mundane life to prepare him to be King David. As a shepherd he would have plenty of moments alone to think about the LORD, to contemplate his life, to spend time sharpening his skills as a singer, musician, and writer. How much time would he have to simply admire God’s creation? Psalm 19:1-4, a Psalm of David, reads, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.” While out in the fields, David had the opportunity to learn how to trust God when the moments arose where he would have to protect the sheep from the dangers of the wilderness. In 1 Samuel 17, David tells King Saul how he had to defend the sheep from a lion and a bear. In caring for the sheep, David learned, and could relate, how his caring for the sheep paralleled God’s care for him (Psalm 23). David’s mundane life and duties were anything but mundane. Unbeknownst to him, it was God’s training ground to prepare him to be the king who would shepherd God’s people. Psalm 78:70-72 sheds light on this fact; it reads, “He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; 71 From following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 72 So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.” Everything that God allowed David to experience in his everyday life He used to train David and prepare him for a greater mission. His sometimes dull, and unexciting, earthly, life was used, by God, to prepare him for his heavenly, spiritual mission. Knowing this should give us a new perspective on our mundane lives. When we realize that the life that God is allowing us to live can serve as a training ground to serve the LORD, it should rejuvenate us and cause us to live life with more fervency, even those quiet moments when it seems that God is silent and nothing is happening. Those moments are opportunities to pray, reflect, study, grow closer Jesus, and learn patience. In the times when trials and challenges come, those are opportunities to exercise faith, learn to trust God, and step out in courage and faith to do whatever it is God is calling us to do at that moment. We all have our own lions and bears to face in this world. The lions and bears in David’s life prepared him for his battle against Goliath (1 Samuel 17). As we live each day, let us be mindful of the fact that we are not serving man, but God. Colossians 3:23-24 reminds and commands us, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” Rather than complain about how boring our life is, let us strive every day to allow God to use our mundane life as our training ground to prepare us for His service.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).