5 small stones ... but one mighty name!

David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!  And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!”  (I Samuel 17:45-47 NLT)

So many times we are faced with "the battle of a lifetime" and get stopped right there in our tracks, cowering in fear or overcome with doubt simply because of the "size" of the enemy in front of us. We stand there, prepared as we are for the battle, then we "see" or "hear" things such as:

- The size of the enemy in front of us and the seemingly overwhelming power that enemy must possess just because of its overwhelming size
- The size of the army amassed behind that looming giant making the presence of the "gigantic problem" even more ominous
- The "smallness" of the stones in our hand or the "limited range" of the sling we possess
- The past failures of those who have also faced this giant and its amassed forces that lend credence to that enemy's taunts and jeers

But...God doesn't see the "hugeness" of the giant, nor does he see the "smallness" of those stones in our hand. Instead, he sees the trust in our heart and the determination in our spirit!  Through our natural eyes, the giant seems overwhelming, but in our spiritual sight he is brought down to realistic size!

David could have focuses on the size of those small stones in his hand, but he didn't. Instead, he recounted the many times God stood by him when faced with other "giants" that some would have seen just as frightful as this one standing before him presently. He had faced the lions and bears in the open fields. He had endured the cold nights while tending the flocks, ever vigilant to listen for the creeping advances of the enemy who was out to steal, kill, and scatter his father's flocks. The club in his hand, the stones in his pouch, the sling in his hand - it didn't matter what his weapon of the moment would be - what mattered was the "weapon" in his heart and his mind!

We focus on the vastness of the enemy's resources and ability, hearing his taunts and listening to his jeers. David focused on the greatness of God's grace and the strength of his powerful name. The "smallness" of the stones in our hands matter not - it is the "massiveness" of God's power ignited with the declaring of his name that makes even the smallest of weapons in our hands the greatest of weapons with which to slay the giants in our path! Just sayin!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Steel in your convictions

Is that a wolf I hear?

Sentimental gush