Don’t be afraid to risk for God
You, like David, may be ridiculed by those who refuse to confront the giants in their lives (1 Samuel 17:28), or by those who say you can’t (1 Samuel 17:33). But David dared to trust God instead of listening to the despairing voices around him. To be a Christian is to be a warrior against all opposition, and running from battle is not an option.
God wants you to enjoy a complete victory, in which all the adversary’s power over you is broken. However, to experience this, you must:
· Look away from your own inabilities
· Cast yourself wholly upon the One “who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (Deuteronomy 20:4)
· Charge ahead into battle against the enemy.
When you retreat from the battle, you’re only pretending to be on a mission from God
By now Goliath is defeated. The crisis is behind. How does David handle the next difficulty? David enters the little village of Nob. He looks exactly the same as before. Ahimelech, the priest, recognizes him instantly (1 Samuel 21:1). David’s voice sounds as it always did, and nobody questions him when he explains that he is on a mission for King Saul (1 Samuel 21:2).
What they don’t know is that this man who once needed only God to fight is battles is now depending upon his own strength. He is not on the King’s errand as he says. He’s actually fleeing from him and living in fear and living a lie. David is in precarious straits, but he doesn’t know it yet.
Once we get in the flesh, we only pretend to be on the King’s mission. In our hearts, we’re not fighting against sin any longer, but outwardly we still appear to be the same as always.
A divine law that applied to David still operates today. Whenever you trust in yourself and your own sufficiency, you are doomed to failure. Your first step in that direction takes place with God—allowing something to interfere with your prayer life.
You can count on it, my friend—there is no shortcut to a life of faith. Consistent periods of secluded meditation and fellowship with God are essential. Remember, David’s great victory over Goliath followed his solitary life as a shepherd on the lonely hills of Galilee.
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Originally published in the April 1998 issue of Reaching Higher