NOBODY DOES

"And they ran and fetched him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the LORD hath chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, God save the king" (1 Samuel 10:23-24). 

Recently, I was reading the story of Goliath and a particular issue confronted me. Goliath, standing nearly three meters tall, with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot was a huge giant indeed. He was a man who seemed to not only have everything, but he also seemed to have had them in excess. And then, the picture of king Saul running away from him with great fright went across my mind. And then I thought to myself, "But Saul was said to be taller and higher than everybody". 

You know, it is easy to boast when you have not left your father's house. Like it is said among my people, if you have not been to another man's farm, you will think that your father has the biggest farm in the world. Saul was said to be "higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward". Samuel even affirmed that there was none like him among all the people. But the day Saul left his father's house and his country to fight the Philistines, his opinion and that of his people about him changed. Saul saw Goliath who was about twice his height, and he became a dwarf in his own eyes and in the eyes of his people. 

The lesson here must be obvious. The man who claims to be taller than everybody must always remember that he is shorter than somebody. If you are the most powerful man in your village, know that a more powerful man is in another village somewhere. And if you are the richest in your city, know that there is someone else somewhere who is richer that you are. In fact, come to think of it, there is nothing like "the richest man in the world" because our valuation is based on available and accessible records. But we know that only a portion of the facts are ever available to us at any given point in time. 

So, be humble. Think soberly of yourself. There is more to life than you know or can see. There is more to this world than what you have in your pocket. Your best clothes are someone else's rags. Then, be content. You will never have it all. Certainly, you can (and should) have all that you need, but you can never have everything there is to have. Nobody alive does. Finally, be kind to those you meet along your way, as many of them as possible because sometimes in your future, you may need a small David to take down your giant Goliath.