Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. – Psalm 119:105, ESV

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Some days I just need this reminder that God is leading me step by step, and it doesn’t matter that I can’t see the end – or even what’s around the bend in the road – because I know that He is in control.

Yes, I know, there are two Word Filled Wednesday posts this week.  But this one goes with Amy Deanne’s verse so much better.

I’ve been reading this Summer… a lot.  The girls have to read at least 30 minutes per day, and I have been reading with them.  I have also been staying up with Eric as he works into the wee hours of the morning, and most often I read then as well.  Needless to say I’ve read quite a few books in the past 2 months.

But something I read tonight in one of these books struck a chord with me, and I thought I’d share it.  It is in response to a question about how a place that the characters are visiting is making them feel – giving them a completeness, a wholeness, a rightness to the world that they have never known.

“There is a love here that is rarely found on earth.  Perhaps in families, certainly between a husband and wife on occasion, but almost never in the world at large.  Love governs everything here.  Everything.  Love and the continually practiced presence of the Most High.

“Yeseph explained it once to me.  He said that the Most High is indeed ever-present with his creation, with us.  But we often lose sight of him – we fall away from him unless we practice his presence.  By that he meant we must keep him with us in our thoughts and deeds, lest we forget.

“For it is not the One who forgets us, but we forget him.  It is how we are made, a defect perhaps, but one that makes belief necessary.  And belief is the Most High’s greatest gift.  So even there he has rescued us.”

“Rescues us from ourselves.  I see.  Is it love that transforms even the common things – the sunrise yonder, for one – into such works of beauty?  Is it love that makes me feel as if all my life until now was a life lived in shadow?”

“Oh, yes!  Love, and the knowledge of the Most High”

“But I know very little of the Most High.  How can it be that I feel as I do?”

“In your heart of hearts you know him.  Durwin used to say that all men were born with the knowledge of the Most High in their hearts.  The trick is to spend more time remembering, and less time forgetting what we already know.”

“From now on I will spend all my time remembering.”

This is an excerpt from “The Sword and the Flame” by Stephen Lawhead.  It’s the third book in the Dragon King Trilogy.

I think that it is quite applicable to our lives as well.

We do often lose sight of God in the busyness of our day-to-day lives.  We do often forget Him as we go along through life.  The trick, it seems, is to spend more time remembering.

How is your memory today?

Today we are going to take a look at David.  He has come to bring some food to his brothers, and – more importantly – to get word on how they are doing for his father.  Imagine his excitement!  He gets to be away from the sheep for a day and gets to go to the front lines of the battle!  He gets to go hang with the warriors.  What young man wouldn’t think that was cool?

He gets there, and it’s not quite what he expected to find.  There is no battle, the warriors are just milling around on their hillside… talking.

David hears snatches of the conversation and his interest is peaked.  Apparently King Saul has made some pretty big promises to the man who will go out and face this Philistine from Gath.  Really big promises.  Like make him part of the family promises.

David is intrigued.  He is asking questions.  He is thinking about things…

²⁶Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

Eliab – David’s oldest brother – hears him asking questions and gets a little huffy.  David feigns innocence, but people have already heard what he was saying.

He actually seemed interested in fighting Goliath – and no one else had even considered it.

³¹When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him.³²David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

³³Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.”

First, I would like to point out the attitude with which David goes before King Saul.  It is an attitude of humility.  David already knew enough about Saul to know that if he came in arrogance, he would fail.  If he walked in full of himself, he would be ignored.  But he came in with humility – “Your servant” is how he referenced himself to Saul.

And he didn’t call anyone else a coward… especially Saul.

Saul looked at the oung man standing before him and was a bit confused.  David was probably in the range of 16-22 now – having reached his full height, but I’m sure he hadn’t filled out much yet.  He was handsome, but he was not a trained warrior – far from it!  He was a shepherd.  A musician.  How could he fight against this man of war?  This GIANT man of war!

But David had a good argument.

³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock,

³⁵I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.

³⁶“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.”

³⁷And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine ” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

Wow – this kid is claiming to have killed bears and lions with his bare hands.  Defending sheep is apparently a bit more challenging than I thought.  It’s not just sitting around all day playing the lyre and enjoying the idyllic countryside.  You actually do have to do things.  You actually have to fight against large animals.

Apparently it was a convincing argument.

Of course, he also claimed that the Lord would protect him.  That is the most important part of his claim – God was with him.  I’m sure Saul remembered what it felt like to have God’s presence with him, after all, the Spirit of God had been with Saul for some time – leading & guiding him as be began his rule.

So, Saul took young David at his word.

³⁴And David said to Saul, Your servant kept his father’s sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it.

³⁶Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God!

³⁷David said, The Lord Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you!

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

³⁹And David girded his sword over his armor. Then he tried to go, but could not, for he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them. And David took them off.

⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in his shepherd’s [lunch] bag [a whole kid's skin slung from his shoulder], in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand, and he drew near the Philistine.

Saul set out to make David go to battle looking like he wanted him to look – and like everyone around him looked.  He put his own armor on David (which tells me that David must have been somewhat tall, as Saul was head & shoulders above most of Israel) and girded him for battle as a soldier.

But David was not a soldier, he was a shepherd.

David put on the armor and tried to walk around, but he couldn’t.  He knew that if he were to go out and attempt to fight Goliath in something that was so foreign to Him it would be nearly impossible.  So he took it off.

Instead he took the staff that he had come with and the sling that he used to fight off wild animals.  Along the way he stopped at the brook and chose five smooth stones to use.

He trusted God to be his shield.

He went with what he knew, he played to his strengths.

He was familiar with the staff and the sling.  They were weapons he had wielded before with success.  I’m sure he has played at swords as a child, but he was not trained in hand-to-hand combat with one.  And given Goliath’s size, well, hand-to-hand combat most likely would not go well for him.  I mean the guy was nearly twice his size!  His head was at the perfect height to be cleaved from his shoulders… not exactly a pleasant thought.

So he walked forward with the tools God had given him in the past, and trusted God to provide the rest.  He didn’t even have the stones when he headed down, but he knew that God would provide those too.

He had no armor, he had no shield bearer.  He had no sword.  But he did have God – and that made all the difference.

He walked forward with certainty and purpose and full of faith that God would prevail… and those who taunt God would be destroyed.

We are backing up today to take a closer look at Goliath – and just why it was that he was so intimidating.

⁴Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.⁵He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.

⁶He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.

⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him.

Six cubits and a span.  That is what we are told is Goliath’s height (before or after his head was removed though?  sorry, bad joke)

So just how long is a cubit?

The research I did this morning points to the average cubit being about 18 inches long – although accounts vary from 12 inches to 24 inches.  A span is from the tip of your thumb to the top of your pinkie, fully extended – averaging about 9 inches.

So, if you multiply 18×6, you get 9 feet.  Plus 9 inches, that puts Goliath at 9’9″ tall.  Not exactly a small fry.

Then you add in all of that bronze armor.  Historians estimate that the scale-armor alone weighed about 155 lbs. – and that is before you add the weight of the helmet, sword and greaves and Goliath starts hefting that javelin around to toss it. This guy had to be more than just a tall skinny whisp of a man.  He had to be strong too.

Oh, and keep in mind that the Israelites weren’t exactly known as a tall group of people to begin with.  If David was in his late teens or early twenties, he could have been around 5’9″ in height – not exactly short, but not a towering presence either.  Or he could have been even shorter – around 5’3″.  The bible doesn’t share that information. But when you are up against someone who is almost 10 feet tall, what difference will a few inches make?

That’s certainly enough height difference to create a bit of an impression.  Then you add in the fact that Goliath was covered from head to toe in bronze armor – not the lightest to be sure – and was hefting around some heavy weaponry and you begin to understand the Israelite’s fear.

This was one big, strong dude.

This massive guy was calling someone out to stand toe-to-toe with him on the field of battle, and the fate of an entire country would be resting on their shoulders – the fate of their family would be in their hands.

No one was willing to take that risk – they were just too afraid.

They were looking at the physical presence and it looked impossible.  They were listening to his taunts and believed the lies that they would never measure up.  None of the men in the Israelite army could get past their fear long enough to take the step to faith that God would fight this battle for them.

Except David.

This week we will be studying the story of David and Goliath.  I am hopeful that we will be able to pull a variety of ideas from this passage to discuss.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

⁸He [Goliath] stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, “Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me.

⁹“If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us.”

¹⁰Again the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.”

Wow.  That sure was a mouthful.  Israel comes to defend their land against the Philistines (again), and they are taunted for even showing up!  Basically this guy is standing there asking them why the even bothered coming out – after all, they are just going to lose anyway.

Do you ever feel like that?

It doesn’t matter if I try to overcome _____________ (fill in your own blank), it’s bigger than me.  It’s more than I can handle.  I can try to fight, but I will just end up losing parts of me in the process.

But you show up.  You recognize the battle for what it is.  Then the taunts really start in.  “You can’t do this.”  “Don’t you see the opponent over there?  They are more powerful than you.”  “You are too weak to even enter into battle, why did you even show up?”

Ouch.

But I want to make sure you notice something hiding in the middle of verse 8.

“Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul?”

Um…

Well, not exactly.

After all, they were the children of Israel – servants of GOD, not Saul.

So not only is this guy berating them for even showing up, but he is ignoring God.  He is ignoring the fact that he is ragging on God’s chosen people, and thereby dissing God.

Stand back – lightning could strike at any time!

Here is an entire army worth of men who are under the protection of God, and they are letting the physical override the spiritual.

They are trusting their eyes instead of their faith.

This goes on for 40 days – they suffer through this large specimin of a man hurling insults to them day after day after day, and it’s beginning to take it’s toll.

They are discouraged.

They are afraid.

They are hiding from this giant of a man and believing the lies he is cursing them with.  Even Saul is cowering before Goliath.  He could order someone to go out and fight, but everyone is sure that it would mean certain death for whomever walks into that field.

They are not trusting God to protect them.  Instead, they have put their faith in Saul – and he seems terrified.  More than that, God has already left him.  God has already chosen a new king to replace him because Saul doesn’t trust in Him.  Saul trusts only in himself.

When we trust only in ourselves or those around us, we miss out on the blessing that comes through faith.  The blessing of God’s peace in the midst of trials, and the chance to lean into His strength and know that we are safe in His very capable hands.

The best part though?  Each time we trust in God, our faith grows stronger and we are quicker to trust in Him next time.

And there will be a next time.  There always is.

But God is always there.

Wow – I hadn’t realized how long it has been since I posted a setlist!  Life has been just a tad busy I guess.  Sorry about that!

This week’s topic was centered around worry in our home groups, and the passage we were focusing on was 1Samuel 13:1-14.  It highlights a time when Saul decided to take matters into his own hands instead of waiting on Samuel, or, rather, waiting on God.

Worry and impatience.  Anxiety.

There are so many times in the Bible where this comes up and causes problems for people!

With that in mind, our setlist focused on giving our anxieties to God and keeping a heavenly focus.

• Forever [F]
• Today is the Day [F]
• Rain It Down [A]
• We Will Worship You [D]
• kids storytime
• Beautiful One [E]
• announcements
• message – Staying Small in Your Own Eyes
• Trading My Sorrows [G]

It was a really great sermon, and hopefully we got a good recording of it.  I will post it this week if so.

I really liked leading Rain it Down and We Will Worship You back to back – the first focuses on crying out to God in the midst of the storms instead of trying to run away from them, and the second calls for is to cry out when we get too comfortable, to content.  These songs remind us that we need God in both the good times and the bad – not just the bad.  It is so easy to forget about God when everything is going well… but we can’t!  Our focus needs to be fixed on Him daily.  Our desire needs to be to have a relationship with Him daily.  We need to seek His face… daily.

And that is often so hard to do!

When things aren’t going our way, it is easy to cry out to God.  It is easy to admit that we don’t have it all together.  It is easy to admit that we need Him, because we (obviously) can’t do it on our own.  We need to translate that same need to when things are going our way too.  We still need Him, and we still can’t do it all on our own.  We just so often don’t recognize our need.

We need to continually focus on Him.

Yep, I admit it.  I’ve apparently gone awol.  Missing In Action.

Yeah – sorry about that.

It’s been a kinda busy month or so around these parts… ya know with taking 3- classes, having sick kids, Easter, family in town – twice, and me being stupid & throwing my back out (tends to make sitting nearly impossible!)

BUT – I think I’m back!  Yay!

Of course, along with the list above, there has been the spiritual aspect as well.  Personally I’ve been arguing with God (yes, again) and – as usual – He’s winning.  Don’t you just hate that?  He ALWAYS wins!  (thank goodness!)

I’ve finally determined that my personal lesson for 2010 (at least the first half) is just how much of a wimp I really am… and I mean in just about every way.  I can’t do this thing called life on my own, or in my own strength.  DUH!  I have to do this thing called life in HIS strength.

Living life in His strength just isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do because that requires you to turn over control.  Something that within our humanity we tend to find just a little bit difficult.  Sure, we say that we will lay our troubles at His feet, that He is in control… but as soon as we start to feel like we aren’t in control we try to take it all back again.

You see, it’s the leaving it there that’s the hard part.  Sure, we will turn it over to God when it starts to get hard.  When we start to feel overwhelmed.  But as soon as those feelings pass we start to justify why we really should take control again.  After all, we aren’t feeling overwhelmed anymore, so we can handle it… right?

WRONG!

Our lives are so far beyond our control, so far beyond what we can handle in our humanity that it’s nearly insane to even try.  We have a threat of losing our job – quick!  Send up a prayer.  We get bad news from the Dr. and quick!  Send up another prayer.  We have tried to put God in a little brass lamp that we can rub whenever we think we need something.  God is not a genie in a bottle.  God is not our personal “get me out of this jam quick” savior.  He is the God of the universe!

And once we get a glimpse of how great He really is, well, it should change us.

Jesus calls us to live out a life in submission to Him.  He calls us to take up our cross and follow Him – not to say a few words and expect Him to follow us around like a pet dog!  That’s the wrong kind of unconditional love.  In that scenario, well, we would be the dog.  We should be the one looking at our Master with adoring eyes and willing to do whatever He asks us to do – NOT the other way around!

Yes, Jesus Christ is our Savior.  But He is not going to save us from the trials of life.  He is going to save us from our sin.  The bible never promised that choosing to follow Jesus would be easy – in fact, it promises exactly the opposite!  To take up our cross and follow Jesus is to choose a life of persecution.  Is to choose a life of discomfort, of possible loneliness.  To choose to give up everything and follow His leading, no matter the cost.

I recently began reading the book “Radical – Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream” by David Platt, and I must say that he brings out some pretty hard truths in just the first chapter!  so far the line that got me the most was this:

And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves.

As Platt brings out in his book, we have begun to change who Jesus is to us.  We don’t want to believe that He would actually call us to walk away from our job or sell something that we like to help someone else – or even to choose not to buy something we want and give that money to missions.  We don’t want to think that he might actually ask us to leave our family of birth and risk our lives to tell people about Him!  No, that’s not what Jesus would ask us to do!

Um… folks, re-read the gospels and you will see… that is exactly what He asked His disciples to do.  To walk away from their livelihoods, their families and everything they knew, and follow Him wherever He would lead to – even unto death.

Wow…

And to think, I struggle with setting aside time each day to work on the bible study that I’m leading!  Here I am, an American Christian living in a 1500 sq. ft. house with 2 cars in the driveway and junk that I really need to figure out how to get rid of.  HEre I am with plenty of food in the fridge and pantry that my family can have something to eat whenever they feel a twinge of hunger.  I have fresh, clean water piped into my warm, dry house – so much that I don’t think twice about using it to take a longer-than-normal shower occasionally, and re-wash that load of clothes that got left in the washer a bit too long.

We are so full of ourselves!

We are so comfortable!  Proclaiming that we believe in Jesus Christ doesn’t bring any stronger persecution to us than perhaps some laughter around the water cooler.  We have good jobs, and so far no one can fire us for professing to be a Christian.  Our country is slowly losing it’s Judeo-Christian morals and values, but we are too afraid to rock the boat to say anything about it.

People in Asia are being killed because they profess faith in Jesus Christ.

They are being thrown in jail.  They are being tortured.

and they are glad to suffer for the sake of Christ.

I’m preaching to me here… I can’t think of any time that I truly suffered because of my belief in Jesus Christ.  Being teased at school doesn’t quite make that cut – especially when you grew up in a fairly “Christian” part of the country.  I do find myself wondering if I would have the strength to suffer for His sake.

I know that on my own, I would fail.  On my own, I couldn’t do it.

But I’m slowly learning that I’m not called to do anything on my own.

I am called to live out the life that He places before me… and to live it by and in His strength.

After all, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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And for those interested in “Radical” – you can download and read the first chapter here.  And while supplies last you can get a free copy of the companion book “The Radical Question” by going to WaterBrookMultnomah.com/RadicalQuestion

And no, I haven’t received a free copy of the book – I followed the same steps I just told you about and downloaded the first chapter… I’m still processing what I’ve already read, and I’m only halfway through chapter one.  I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the book… and a little frightened!  I know that God is calling me to go deeper with Him… but being the comfortable American that I am, that is a scary thing.

But is it worth it?

Absolutely.

I’m taking a class right now, and one of the required texts for reading is “Ancient-Future Time” by Robert E. Webber.

As I was reading today, I came across a sentence that caused me to stop and ponder it for a while – and I wanted to share those thoughts.

Mr. Webber made the following statement:

When we turn away from something, we turn towards something new.

Of course he was applying it to our turning towards God through Jesus and turning away from sin, however this concept (unfortunately) works in the other direction as well.

When we turn away from God, we are turning towards sin.  Or, if you prefer, when we turn towards sin, we are quite seriously turning away from God.

In our lives when we choose to turn away from some part of our lives, there will be something there that is different – and not always better for us.  Alternatevely, when we turn towards something new, we are making a choice to turn away from something that is presently a part of our lives.

The ideal is, of course, to turn towards God and away from sin, to turn towards truth and away from a lie.  The unfortunate thing is that we can also choose to turn towards sin – effectively turning away from God.

So what do we do when this has happened in our lives?  The correct choice is to make a course correction when we realize that it has happened.  We must then repent and turn back to God – and away from the path that sin is leading us down.  A path that leads to destruction and death.

How do we know that we have turned away from God?

The bible says that the Holy Spirit will whisper to us when we turn to the right or to the left to help us stay on the correct path, however we can condition our spirit to ignore His promptings – and the more we ignore them, well, the less we hear them in the first place.

THIS IS DANGEROUS!

Once we have conditioned ourselves to ignore Him, just think of how much harder it is once we desire to hear His voice again!  We must take the time and put in the effort to re-cultivate our spiritual ears to listen to Him, and while we are cleaning out our ears we must make the concious choice to die to the flesh in regards to the temptations of that path of sin!

Fortunately we serve a God who is a God of Love… a God that offers grace and forgiveness to us no matter how far we have strayed from Him.  We don’t deserve His love, grace and forgiveness, and there is no way we could ever work our way back to Him on our own.  BUT… He so desires us that He created a way for us to “get back into His good graces” as it were.

We must cry out to Him in repentance and ask for His forgiveness.  Until we are broken by our sin and cry out to Him we will continue down that same side road over and over again.

The choice of turning away from the sin and towards God MUST be a willful decision.  We can’t just float along through life and try not to ripple the waters around us.  It’s either walk-by-faith… or sink.

If we don’t place our faith in Jesus we will sink.  If we turn away from Jesus and look to the world, we will sink.  If, however, we will keep our hearts focused on Jesus, we will be able to walk on the water towards Him.  He has promised to give us whatever we need to get through the storms that we find ourselves in – but He never promised to take us out of the storms.

There’s a great new song out by Carlos Whittaker called “Rain It Down” that describes what we should be doing.  Here are the lyrics:

There’s a storm coming in the distance
Some will run to it and some will resist it
Our eyes will turn to the sky
With desert hearts looking to the heavens
Desperate for Your holy fountain
Our eyes will turn to the sky

Rain down on us Father
Rain down on us Spirit
Rain down on us Jesus
Rain down on us

There’s nothing like Your healing water
Pour it out on Your sons and daughters
Our eyes are lifted high
We are here and we are waiting
Flood our hearts ’til they’re overflowing
Our hands are lifted high

Come Lord we’re thirsty now
Come Lord and rain it down
Come Lord we’re thirsty now
Come Lord and rain it down

When we find ourselves in the midst of a storm we need to embrace it.  We need to cry out for God to rain down His healing waters upon our dry & thirsty souls – not cry out for it to be over.

We need to turn towards God.