Choosing the right battle

When I was doing my QT (quiet-time) yday, God reminded me again to choose the right battle to fight.

In life, I'll be presented with so many battles before our eyes.
Guess what? Not all the battles presented in front of me are for me to fight. The reason being is that some battles are just plain a waste of time and energy, while the others are not meant for me to fight. Hence, I need to choose the right battle for myself.

The best example I can use for this is the incident when David fought Goliath in 1 Sam 17:26-51. Please read it. You'd notice that before he could fight Goliath, he had to face 3 times negative circumstance, 1 from his older brother, another one from the king Saul himself and the last one from the battle dress he was supposed to wear.

Upon seeing David at the battle lines, Eliab (David's older brother) burned with anger and accused him for being ignorant, by coming to the battle lines to watch the battle. Instead of arguing with him, David chose to ignore the negative comment. And when Saul told him that he was only a boy, he replied Saul with the success he had in the past and what God can do through him right now. Then as Saul dressed him with his own tunic, David felt the tunic restricted his body movement. The tunic certainly could give David a booze of confidence, but noticed how after walking around with it, without second thought, he just took them of. The reason being is that he knew better than anyone else that his confidence comes only from the Lord.

Come to think of it, if David was bitter towards Eliab, argued with him and went back home to tend the flock, David would've missed the opportunity to fight the battle meant for him. If he got bitter towards Saul's comment, he would've missed the opportunity as well. And if he went ahead with that most-likely heavy and restricted tunic, he might have missed the opportunity to win the battle.

What David did is that, he ignored Eliab's comment, he told Saul his success in the past and what God can do through him in present situation, and he chose to let go the tunic and draw his confidence and strength from God alone. The rest is history.

Everyday I have a lot of battles presented to me, but not all of them are meant for me to fight. I thank God for this reminder, cause I don't have the time and energy to fight all the battles. Hence it's important to know which battle to fight, because winning the right battle can give me greater impact on my spiritual growth (especially in my relationship with Him).