Our Focal Scripture captures that moment when David chose five smooth stones out of the brook. David would eventually use just one stone to bring down Goliath; but he picked five stones before going towards Goliath. David took more than what he needed for his battle. David brought down Goliath with one stone, and had four more stones in his bag. He over prepared for the Goliath he was about to bring down.
Friend, there is wisdom in being prepared, more than your battle demands. There is wisdom in knowing more than your generation demands from you. There is wisdom in having capacity that you may not even be using any time soon. There is wisdom in preparing yourself to be more even when circumstances don’t need more from you. There is wisdom in gathering more ‘stones’ than you would need to bring down your Goliath.
David brought down Goliath with one stone, but there were four more stones in his bag. He defeated Goliath with just a portion of what he prepared with, and he still had enough preparation for four more Goliaths. Excellence is when you have more stones to deal with more Goliaths than you have already dealt with. Greatness is when your last exploit does not exhaust the capacity in you. Relevance is when you still have something useful to offer after your last useful offer.
It’s better to be prepared more than your task demands, than to face a task that demands more than you prepared for. It’s better to be accused of over preparing, than to be found to under prepare for your Goliath. Dare to have more capacity than you ordinarily need; pray more than you need to; know more than you need to; gain more capacity than you need to; be counted amongst men who have more stones in their bags.
If life ever gives you a chance to pick stones at a brook, please don’t pick one; pick many. If you ever have a chance to have capacity, take as much capacity as you can.