Crippled by Fear

I continued my reading this week in 1 Samuel at chapter 17, and something caught my attention as I was reading.  Goliath, the Philistine giant, comes out and shouts defiance before the armies of Israel.  The part that caught my attention is found in 1 Samuel 17:11 and 16.  It says, "On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified...For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand." And the Israelites, for forty days, did nothing but shrink back in fear!  It wasn't till David showed up that anything was done about this Philistine who was insulting the armies of the living God.

These two short verses reminded me of how easily the giants in our life can cripple us.  The moment that they appear too big for us to handle, the moment we believe that they are insurmountable, that is the moment that they defeat us and render us ineffective within the kingdom of God.  We must adopt the attitude of David.  We must believe that anything that stands in the way of us accomplishing the will of God is simply an insult to his power and his kingdom mission and vision.  We mustn't allow such things to go unchallenged or unchecked.

We must remember Scriptures like Matthew 19:25-26, John 14:12-14, Romans 8:37-39, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, and 1 John 4:4, just to name a few.  Paul says in Ephesians 1 that God's incomparably great power is available for those who believe.  What do we learn from David?  One thing we ought to learn is that we should never underestimate the power of God within the believer when we need him most!

May you realize the power of God that lies within you!  As a popular Christian author has simply said, "Face your giants!"

Blessings...