There was another thing, too, that he learned to do with the same care and patient perseverance, and that was to use his shepherd’s sling. There was no boy in all Bethlehem who could shoot as straight as he could. He never missed his mark.
It was no great thing, perhaps, to make music and aim straight, but it was a great thing to do what lay nearest his hand with all his might. Perhaps some day God would make use of his singing or have some work for a boy who had a quick eye and a sure aim. Who could tell?
So David learned to do his very best, and before very long God’s call came to him.
Saul sat day after day in his darkened tent.
Saul, the King of Israel, sat day after day in his darkened tent ill and full of misery. No one dared to go near him, and his servants whispered together, “It is an evil spirit from the Lord that troubles him.”
Then some one suggested that perhaps music might help to cheer him and drive the evil spirit from him.
“Let our lord now command thy servants to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp,” they said to the king, “and it shall come to pass that, when the [folio 15] evil spirit from God is upon thee, he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.”
David drew magic music from his harp’s strings.