(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Win the Day…Cut the Rope – LISTEN HERE)
I am 6’8” and in my previous ministry was asked on occasion to come in the preschool and kindergarten rooms to aid in the acting out of David and Goliath. Guess who I got to be…dead every time!
The familiar Bible story of David and Goliath certainly is an account of the power of God at work…in the heart of and through the actions of David. The details of the account are a vivid reminder of how fear can create timidity and timidity keeps us from acting boldly and living in confident trust.
Here’s the highlights of what happened:
1 Samuel 17:10 4-7, 10-11, 16 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.
Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.
16 For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.
For forty days…over one month the Philistine defied the army of Israel and challenged one from among them to fight him in a winner take all contest. Was there boldness or courage in the ranks of King Saul? Nope. The size and brashness of Goliath instilled dismay and terror in the hearts of the Israelite ranks.
How long would this fear have paralyzed the army? Who knows.
Because David showed up and through David, God showed up!
David was sent to check on his brothers and bring them supplies. As he was in the camp of Israel he experienced the taunts of Goliath. But David’s response was different than the army of Israel. He didn’t dismay. He didn’t give in to terror. He responded with trust!
1 Samuel 17:32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
- 33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”
- 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
David was willing to cut the rope of fear because he had the power and presence of God on which to rely. God had been with him in the past. In his mind it was a very real truth that God would help him take out the giant Philistine.
And God did.
When the Spirit of God replaces timidity with trust, we can cut the rope of fear and move forward into the challenges of life with the confidence that the Lord will give us the victory!
Apply: What fear is preventing you from moving forward? What promise of God overcomes that fear and changes your timidity into trust?
Prayer: Lord, with your help, lead me to cut the ropes of limitations, human security and fear and live in your possibilities, the security of your promises, and the confident trust in your power. AMEN.