When All You Have Is God: How David's Solitude Shaped His Faith
David as a shepherd boy in the pastures with his sheep and harp. From the children’s book, King David by Arabella Penrose. All rights Reserved. 2025.
I often think about young David, the boy who came before the warrior, the king, or even the psalmist. I picture him around my own son's age, maybe a little younger, maybe a little older. He was the youngest son of Jesse, sent out alone to watch the sheep. No brothers watching his back. No father checking in. Just a boy doing his work in the fields with only God and the sheep for company.
Most of David's days were spent surrounded by animals and nature, with long stretches of silence. Hours where the only voice he might hear was his own or God's voice. As far as David and his family knew, he wasn’t training for battle or being groomed for leadership. He was simply carrying a responsibility that would challenge most grown men today.
A Relationship Forged in Solitude
In those fields, David learned to talk to God and to trust Him. It was where he worshiped, asked questions, and poured out his heart. That relationship with the Lord had been growing strong since he was a boy, long before life got hard, and that closeness would become the anchor for all he would face.
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul." (Psalm 23:1-3)
Danger and Dependence on God
Shepherd boy David fights a lion. Illustration from the children’s book, King David by Arabella Penrose. Copyright 2025. All rights reserved.
David faced real danger alone. Lions and bears threatened the sheep he was called to protect. Either God protected him, or he didn’t survive. There was no backup plan. That kind of faith was forged long before he faced Goliath—tested and proven in those hidden places where no one was watching.
"The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." (1 Samuel 17:37)
Learning to Trust at Any Age
Most children today aren’t out in pastures fighting off wild animals, but they still face challenges that feel overwhelming. They may feel lonely, unseen, or misunderstood as they navigate fears and pressures without anyone older to step in. And it’s not just children who feel this way. Many adults also have times where the weight of life presses in and they feel alone.
Whether you’re young or old, God can meet you in that place just like He met David. Maybe you never developed that kind of closeness with God when you were a child. The good news is He can build it in you now. Those seasons that seem impossible to handle or where you feel unseen are not wasted. They can become the very places where you come to know God for who He is and learn that He is enough.
"We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength... But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9)
A Faith That Never Fades
The fields shaped David for everything ahead. He didn’t learn courage on the battlefield. He learned it in solitude, when he had no one else to depend on but God’s voice and strength. Once we’ve seen God’s faithfulness in those moments—when the path forward seems impossible—we are never the same again.
"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:25-26)
Don’t Despise the Field
Maybe you’re in a “field season” right now, feeling unimportant, like your life is on hold while others move ahead. But the field is not a waste. It is where God writes songs in your heart, strengthens your faith, and prepares you for battles you can’t yet see.
Don’t despise your field. It may be the most formative ground of your life.
If you’d like your family to experience David’s story, check out our first Mighty Men of the Bible book: King David: A Rhyming Bible Story of a Man After God’s Own Heart.
A young boy in pajamas holding the illustrated book for kids and families King David by Arabella Penrose.
