thoughts for another day

November 2, 2011

Today's verse: 1 Sam. 17:45. David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

When in trouble our minds don't recall Someone very important: GOD.   It's amazing yet foolish at the same time.  Take for example the context of our Word today: the Israelites were facing probably the biggest crisis in their newly formed kingdom and they just couldn't overcome it.  Doused in fear, they scurried like rats and didn't recall that God, the God of Abraham, was their God Who had made the great covenant with Abraham by which their destiny had been shaped.  They didn't think about Him, rather they were cowed down by the moment and the difficulty seemed too big.

Don't we see the same situation being played out in our lives and the lives of those around us?  When we're pitted against trouble, perhaps a terminal illness or a financial disaster an accident, or whatever, do we ever think of God first as our Rescuer?  Take some of the people who spend a lot of time with God for example, even they don't think of Him immediately and it wouldn't please them to say this.  And that's the sad thing for were we to think 'God' immediately, the outcome would've been different and that is illustrated to us by David.

When David went to the battle field and saw the entire affair, he immediately invoked the Awesomeness of God, when he said, 'Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?'  See how he exalted the Israelites from being rats to being 'Armies of the Living God!'  Even as he faced Goliath, he uttered the Word of our Scripture above and how much it pleased God to see how David raised Him so high when he called Him: ALMIGHTY GOD!  And we know the result of the battle.  Since then, has ever a man gone to meet with a towering foe equipped with battle dress and weapon, with just stones and a sling?  Yea, David knew God and God knew him.  Can we say the same thing about ourselves? Even if we don't, if today we are faced with a crisis, can we just raise our eyes to heaven and invoke His Name on our troubles and even exalt Him.  I believe He will do something…soon.  Amen.