Share about a time you felt completely unqualified or out of your depth.
What helped you keep going?

Read: 1 Samuel 17
Ask everyone to notice:

• What people say about David.
• What David says about God.

1. Everyone wants to tell David who he is.
Throughout the story David faces the same question from different people.

• Eliab questions his motives.
• Saul questions his ability.
• Goliath mocks his weakness.
• Even Saul later asks, "Whose son is this?"

Discuss
Which voice do you think would have been hardest for David to ignore?
Why do other people's opinions often carry so much weight?
Where are people today tempted to find their identity?

• Success?
• Career?
• Parenting?
• Ministry?
• Being liked?
• Something else?

Read Romans 8:15–17.
How does belonging to God reshape our identity?

2. David answers by talking about God.
One of the surprising things in this story is that David hardly talks about himself. He says: "The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me..." (v37) David's confidence isn't self-confidence. It's confidence in God. His courage didn't begin in the valley. It began in the field.
The ordinary days of shepherding taught David:

• God is faithful.
• God is present.
• God is enough.

Discuss

• Why do you think God often prepares us in ordinary seasons before significant moments?
• How have ordinary experiences helped you know God more deeply?

3. Pressure reveals where our confidence rests.
The arrival of Goliath exposed something in everyone.

• Eliab's insecurity.
• Israel's fear.
• Saul's unbelief.
• David's trust.

Pressure didn't create those responses. It revealed them.
Discuss
When life becomes difficult, what does it tend to reveal about us?
Think about situations like:

• criticism
• conflict
• financial pressure
• illness
• disappointment
• uncertainty

Where are you most tempted to rely on yourself instead of God?

4. Looking to Jesus
David points beyond himself. What parts of the David and Goliath story remind you of the story of Jesus?

David became Israel's champion. His victory became their victory.
Jesus is our greater Champion. His victory over sin and death becomes ours.

Read Colossians 2:13–15.
Discuss
How does Jesus' victory change the way we face fear, failure and uncertainty today?
What difference does it make to know we fight from Christ's victory rather than for it?

For the week ahead:
Which of these questions is God asking you today?

• Am I spending my life trying to prove who I am?
• Do I really know the God who goes with me?
• Where is pressure revealing that I need to trust God more?

Share one practical step you can take this week to grow in knowing God.
It might be:

• spending time in Scripture
• beginning each day in prayer
• remembering God's past faithfulness
• obeying God in one ordinary situation
• trusting Him with something you've been carrying alone

Finish by reading this key truth together:
Courageous faith doesn't come from believing in yourself; it comes from knowing the God who goes with you.

Read: 1 Samuel 16:1–23

Question:
If you could instantly become brilliant at one thing without any training, what would it be?

• Why do we usually want the finished product more than the process?
• Why do we admire success but often overlook the years of preparation?

David's story reminds us that God is deeply interested in the process. Before David became king, God spent years preparing him.

Part One –Purpose Before Position 
When Samuel anoints David, everything changes spiritually. Yet outwardly... Nothing changes. He goes straight back to the sheep. Later in the chapter, he enters the palace, not as king, but as a musician serving Saul. David trusted God's timing enough to be faithful in today's assignment.

Read together "The Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

• Why do you think God often reveals purpose long before He changes circumstances?
• Why do you think David didn't immediately become king?
• Have you ever sensed God calling you to something, yet found yourself waiting much longer than expected?

Part Two – God Forms Us in the Field 
Before anyone knew David... God knew him.

The field became the place where God formed:

• courage
• worship
• responsibility
• dependence
• leadership
• perseverance
• compassion
• discernment

None of those lessons could have been learned from a throne.

Read together: Romans 5:3–5

• Which character quality seems hardest to learn?
• Looking back over your life, can you now see how God used an ordinary season to prepare you for something later?
• Why do we often underestimate ordinary faithfulness?

Activity – What's Your Field?
Spend a few quiet minutes asking God: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."

Then write down: Where is my field right now?
Examples:

• workplace
• parenting
• study
• retirement
• illness
• caring responsibilities
• unemployment
• relationships
• church ministry

Then ask: What might God be growing in me here?
Possible prompts:

• patience
• courage
• humility
• dependence
• wisdom
• compassion
• forgiveness
• confidence
• perseverance
• self-control
• generosity
• leadership

Looking Ahead 
David had no idea that every ordinary day was preparing him for Goliath.
The patience he learned would one day help him lead a nation.
The worship he learned would shape generations through the Psalms.
The courage he learned protecting sheep would save Israel.
We rarely know what today's obedience is preparing us for.

Read: Ephesians 2:10
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

• What future work might God be preparing you for through your current season?
• What would change if you believed your "field" was preparation rather than delay?

Challenge for the Week
Every morning, before checking your phone or beginning your day, pray: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." (1 Samuel 3:10)

• What is today's assignment?
• Who do You want me to love today?
• What are You trying to grow in me today?

At the end of each day, take two minutes to reflect:

• Where did I notice God today?
• What might He have been teaching me?

Theme: Courage begins long before David. It begins with people who are willing to listen to God and trust Him, even when everyone else is heading in another direction. The story of David isn't primarily about becoming a great leader. It's about discovering what courageous faith looks like in imperfect people. Remarkable victories and painful failures mark David's life, yet through it all we see a God who remains faithful. Before we meet David, we first need to understand the kind of nation he inherited and why Israel wanted a king in the first place.

Opening Question
Have you ever bought something simply because everyone else had one?

Part 1 – "Speak Lord..."
Read 1 Samuel 3:1-10

Samuel doesn't just hear God once. As he grows, he becomes someone who consistently listens to God. By chapter 8, the elders come to Samuel asking for a king because they know he hears from God. Listening became a lifestyle, not a single moment.

Discussion
1. Why do you think Samuel struggled to recognise God's voice at first?
2. What distractions make it difficult for us to hear God today?
3. Samuel's prayer is simple: "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." What would change in your life if this genuinely became your daily prayer?

Samuel offers himself before he knows what God will say. That takes courage. Sometimes we want God's guidance while quietly hoping He'll confirm what we've already decided. Samuel models something different: "Whatever You say...I'm listening."

Part 2  Israel Wants a King
Read 1 Samuel 8:1-9 and 8:19-22

Israel was unlike every surrounding nation. Every neighbouring country had a king. Israel didn't. God Himself was their King. Eventually the people say: "Give us a king..."

Discussion

1. Why do you think Israel wanted to be like everyone else?
2. Where do you think Christians today feel pressure to "fit in"?
3. What are people chasing today that Christians can easily begin chasing too?

Courage often looks like pre-commitment. Before temptation comes... Before pressure comes... Before everyone else heads in one direction...
We decide: "I already know who my King is and I know who I want to be.”

4. Where in your life might you need to make a decision now before you're pressured later?

Israel wasn't asking for something evil. Kings weren't inherently wrong. God would eventually provide a king. The problem was why they wanted one. Their motivation was comparison. Comparison has a way of making God's gifts seem insufficient.

5. Where do we find ourselves wishing we had what everyone else seems to have?
6. How might comparison be pulling our hearts away from trusting God?

Why Did God Say Yes?
Read again 1 Samuel 8:21-22

1. God gives them what they ask for. Why?
2. Have you ever looked back and realised God allowed you to pursue something that ultimately taught you to trust Him more?

Finish with: 
1. What is God saying to me today?
2. Where am I tempted to become like everyone else?
3. What would it look like for God, not success, approval, comfort or security, to truly be my King?
4. Is there an area where I need to make a courageous pre-commitment before I'm pressured to compromise?

New Community is learning to be people who listen to God more and more. This week, challenge your group to begin each day with Samuel's simple prayer: "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

Worship Song idea: Build My Life