Giants!

The best part of summer for me has been the mornings when my ten-year old daughter asks me to read various Bible stories to her, and we talk about them. She asks such great questions like, "Why did God harden Pharoh's heart?" or "How come Satan's magicians could turn their staffs into snakes, too?"

She makes me think carefully about stories I have taken for granted because I heard them since my own childhood.

Today, she asked me to read about David and Goliath. What a nasty man Goliath was! He not only trash-talked the Iraelites, but God. The only thing David, a small shepherd boy, thought was IMpossible was that no one was standing up to this giant of a man.

It was not even feasible to David that he would lose because his God was THE God; his God was I AM.

My daughter and I measured how tall Goliath would have been according to Scriptures. He was 9-feet tall! He would have reached our kitchen ceiling! We tried to imagine a man that tall coming at us to kill us. Not only was he tall, he was strong! His armor weighed 125 lbs! The tip of his spear weighed more than my dog!

Goliath told David he was insulted that such a boy would try to fight him, and as a result, he was going to tear David apart and feed his body to the wild animals and birds.

David did not back down even though all of the army did. He just threw his stone and it went like a bullet into Goliath's head.

Before David did this though did you know he was reprimanded by his brothers? David's father, Jesse, had sent David from watching the sheep to give food to his brothers who were in the army, and to check on them. When David found his brothers and asked why everyone was putting up with such a character as this giant, they turned on him and told David he had a selfish heart and had deserted their father's sheep just to see the battle. They ordered him to return home.

His own brothers did not know David's heart.

As we fight giants in our lives, we may often be misunderstood. There is nothing that hurts more than someone NOT knowing your heart, someone assuming your intentions are wrong or selfish. -Someone who is close to you, yet seems to know nothing really at all about you--It could be a co-worker, friend, or even like, David, a relative.

I like David's resiliance, don't you? In Samuel, I encourage you to read what David did in response. He just said, "What? Am I not to talk at all?" He then turned and found someone who would listen to him. He ended up before the king.

Then David showed Israel the results of trusting God and saved Israel. I wish I could have read his brothers' reactions upon seeing David slay a man they were afraid to confront! Surely they saw David's pure intentions and faith by then. --But maybe even then, they did not trust David because of a giant in their spiritual lives? A giant of jealousy or mistrust or perhaps their own selfishness? I do not know. I only know David moved forward from their reprimand.

I have some giants in my life right now. Do you? They need to be overcome. They will be if and when I trust God to slay these giants.

I have also had people not understand my heart nor my intentions. I am not always innocent, but the times when I am and still get blamed hurt deeply.

I hope you haven't been misunderstood by those you love, trust, or by those with whom you work.

I bet, though, because you are human, you have been misunderstood.

When you are misunderstood, when I am misunderstood, let's do as David did. Let's just turn and find another way to battle life's giants continuing to trust God. Let's move forward and not give up or sulk away. David did not go home whining that his brothers did not understand him or love him. He knew his own faith and intentions and completed God's task. He could have gone home and complained to his father who sent him on the mission to help his brothers in the first place, but he did not. He was a man after God's own heart. He did not doubt. He did not waste time arguing with his brothers either. He just trusted God.

Trust and Obey for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey (old Methodist hymn). Join me in trusting God to battle our giants as well as the times we are misunderstood.

For His Glory,
Gretchen