Skip to main content

Hearing the Right Voice


             We all know how the story of David and Goliath ended, but do we remember how it started?

           1 Samuel 17 says that God’s people drew up battle lines against the Philistines in the Valley of Elah (verse 2).  However, instead of fighting one another, the Philistines sent out a giant of a man – a man that was more than 9 feet tall – a man named Goliath and he challenged the people of God with these words: “Choose a man and have him come down to me.  If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us”.  Not surprisingly, no one wanted to fight him.

           For 40 days, every morning and every evening Goliath went out on the battlefield and every morning and every evening the people of God became more and more “dismayed and terrified” (verse 11).   That is until a young man name David showed up.

           When he arrived in the camp, he heard the challenge that Goliath issued and then waited for someone to go out and fight him.  When no one went, David said, “Let no one lose heart… I will go and fight him” (verse 32).

           Now, why would David fight Goliath when no one else would?  Why would a young man go when the trained soldiers were too scared to try? 

           Well, David was listening to a different voice.

           The soldiers were listening to Goliath and they were scared.  David was listening to God and was 
brave.

           We always have a choice: we can listen to “faith” or we can listen to “fear”.  One will give us courage to face anything and the other will make us weak and scared.

           Which voice are you listening to?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more