The Way of the Warrior: An Ancient Path to Inner Peace

by Erwin Raphael McManus

David understood the way of the warrior. He understood that to serve is the highest honor and that if you are a shepherd, you must aspire to be the greatest shepherd that has ever tended sheep. So he pursued the lion and he pursued the bear, and when they turned on him, he seized them by the hair and struck them and killed them.48 David made being a shepherd look a lot like being a warrior. As a shepherd, he learned the skills that made him a warrior. David redefined what it meant to be a shepherd. Soon he would redefine what it meant to be a warrior. His first battle as a warrior was against a giant. Instead of taking the armor that warriors always wore, he redefined both what a warrior fights with and how a warrior fights. No one had ever gone to battle with just five smooth stones. No warrior had ever gone against a giant with nothing more than a slingshot. No warrior had left behind their armor, leaving themselves completely exposed. No warrior had chosen agility above protection. In the years to come, David would become known across the land as the greatest warrior of his time, yet even as a warrior, David redefined the standards of being a man of war. We need to remember that when David fought Goliath, he was still a shepherd. For him, fighting the giant was like fighting the bear or the lion. He wasn’t fighting for his own glory or his own fame; he was fighting because no one else would and because he understood what was at stake. When he killed the lion and the bea...