Daily Devotional

“Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17:47). 

She was known by many names: Phoebe Ann Mosey, Mrs. Frank Butler, and “Little Sure Shot.” But most knew this young sharpshooter as Annie Oakley. Born in an Ohio cabin in 1860, Annie was the sixth of nine 

children. Her father died of pneumonia when she was only six years old. She began trapping and selling game at age seven, and hunting by age eight to support her widowed mother and siblings. She was such a good shot that by the age of fifteen, her income paid the mortgage on the family farm. 

Annie’s sharpshooting skills came to the front when she won a bet with a traveling show marksman named Frank Butler. He later courted and married Annie. They began performing together and eventually joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West program. At thirty paces she could split a playing card held on edge, hit dimes tossed in the air, and shoot cigarettes from her husband’s lips. 

The best sharpshooter (with a sling) in Scripture was also quite young when he became famous. David was a shepherd boy who was asked by his father to check on his older brothers who were doing battle with the Philistines. When he saw Goliath come out and taunt the Israelite soldiers and blaspheme God’s name, David offered to fight the behemoth. 

As David stood before the cursing enemy, he boldly declared, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). Using only a sling and a stone, he knocked Goliath out cold and finished him off with the giant’s own sword. 

David conquered his enemy by combining his own efforts with God’s strength. “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand” (verse 46). His victory was not to lift up his own fame, but to glorify the name of the Lord. 

O God, only in Your strength can I overcome the enemies I face each day. I unite my weakness with Your power.