It's okay, God's got this!

I've hesitated for weeks to post this image. I honestly didn't want it to get stolen, hence the signature near King David. But I decided that it's something that God gave me, so it should be shared. Just to clarify, you are free to repost this and share it. At any rate I figured that this would be a good day to retell the story of David, and where the idea for this image came from.

If you're new to FireTime, the first thing you need to know about me is that I am a huge veggietales fan. I have all the classics, majority on VHS. My first word was 'veg-tales'. To this day I watch veggietales. One of my favorite veggietales shows, was Dave and the Giant Pickle. Which if you couldn't tell by the name, is the story of David and Goliath. In this show there's a song called 'Big Things Too' (go listen, it's not only funny if you get the jokes but it ties in with this message www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4DzO2…).

But before we get to this song, let's get into the scripture that aligns with what's going on in the song. 1 Samuel 17:31-40, "The things David said were picked up and reported to Saul. Saul sent for him. 'Master,' said David, 'don't give up hope. I'm ready to go fight this Philistine.' Saul answered David, 'You can't go fight this Philistine. You're too young and inexperienced -- and he's been at this fighting business since before you were born.' David said, 'I've been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I'd go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I'd grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no different -- I killed it. And I'll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. God, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will help deliver me from this Philistine.' Saul said, 'Go. And God help you.' Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, 'I can't even move with all this stuff on me. I'm not used to this.' And he took it all off. Then David took his shepherd's staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherds pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath."

In the song, 'Big Things Too', Phil Vischer put this scene to song. David, a kid no older than fourteen, goes to King Saul and volunteers to fight the giant Philistine Goliath. Not only does David volunteer, but he argues his ability to do so. In the song, there was a lyric that stuck out to me, 'With His help I know I can do big things'. Through this conversation between Saul and David, David is trying to let Saul know, 'It's okay, with his help I can do it'. And I find it particularly interesting how David went through to explain it.

To start, David uses a testimony of how he killed bears and lions to protect his father's sheep. He talks goes into details about how he would wring the necks of the lion or bear, and kill it. I don't know about you, but I can just see David using these instances as a parallel for defeating Goliath. You've heard God's people being called sheep time to time, and I'm pretty sure that Goliath was being compared to a lion and bear. When I first read it, I thought that David was bragging. But if you continue through David's conversation, David says that God was the one who delivered him. So what exactly is David doing? Is he bragging about him killing a lion and a bear, or is he bragging about God protecting him? I'd like to suggest that it's both. It's strange to think that you can brag about something you do and that God does at the same time. Normally when Christians brag about what they do, people get a little skeptical don't they? Do you have one of those friends who posts every time they pay for someone's meal at a drive thru? Honestly when I see that, I get aggravated because it seems like they're bragging about their charity and are looking for praise. But David isn't looking for praise in these verses.

Psalm 23:1-6 is a famous Psalm that David wrote. "God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I'm not afraid when you walk by my side. Your trusty shepherds crook makes me feel secure. You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I'm back home in the house of God for the rest of my life."

From David's conversation with Saul and the Psalm he wrote later in life, I can tell what he is doing. David isn't just bragging about his strength, or about how God protects him. David is using both to validate his confidence in God. If you read the beginning of the story of David and Goliath, you'll read about how the army of the Israelites and the army of the Philistenes were about to go to war. But Goliath, a ten foot Philistene with 126 pounds of armor on and a spear that weighed more than 15 pounds, steps up and challenges the Israelites to a one on one battle between each sides' champion. But nobody stepped up to fight Goliath. The Israelites cowered in fear of Goliath for forty days, as Goliath each day taunted the Israelites. God's chosen people, who literally had a God on their side, were not confident in his ability to protect them from Goliath.

My question is, what went wrong? Why did the Israelites loose confidence in God's ability to protect them? There could be many reasons for each individual in the army. Perhaps they didn't believe the stories they heard from when they were younger. Perhaps they believed, but didn't believe that God could do the same in their life. Perhaps they believed that they would have to rely on their own strength, instead of God's. Whatever the reason, David proved them all wrong. David goes to Saul to say that he is confident enough that he can defeat Goliath and that God will deliver him. I don't know about you, but David's testimony is astounding.

Often when we hear the story of David and Goliath, we think about how cool it was for a little kid to take down a giant. We love this story, we tell it to kids in youth services. But why do we love this story so much? It's because the faith of a little boy saved a whole nation from slavery. David stood in the gap for the cowering nation of Israelites, and gave God the ability to protect them. Now you maybe thinking, 'Couldn't God do it anyway?' Sure he could, but the Israelites wouldn't learn a thing. If God just took care of them all the time without them doing anything, they'd be like that forty year old man still living in his mother's basement. They would believe that everything was due to their power, and they would lose respect for God. If they lost respect for God, nobody would learn that the God of Israel is the one true God. But because David stood up, God was able to prove not only to the Philistines, but to the cowering Israelites that he was the one true God. David was able to restore the confidence of the Israelites, by proving his own.

Through David's confidence in God, he was able to do amazing things: he won more wars, became King of Israel, he had children, he repented of his sins, he wrote multiple Psalms, he ran away from God and had confidence that he could return. Through David, came Solomon who wrote many of the Proverbs. Through David, came the Savior Jesus Christ. Through all of David's ups and downs, I feel like his ongoing testimony is simply 'Don't worry, God's got this.' This life is hard to live. Anytime you read or watch the news, there's always a bad report. In our own lives, we have struggles. Not too long ago, there was a fire at my old trailor (which is nextdoor to our current house). My mom and I were hauling buckets of water, trying to contain the fire til the fire department made it. The fire took out an acre of land, an old chicken house, and half of the underpanning of the trailor. Unexpected things happen every day that throw your plans in the gutter. But through David, we learn that it's okay and that we can have confidence in God.  

So the fruit of this short and simple message is simple: Have confidence in God. Don't just know that God can do miracles, believe that he can do them for you too. If you don't believe, remember what God has done in the Bible, and believe that he values you just as much as he did David. We live in a broken world that needs to know that the Lord is God. Maybe you have someone in your life who's a Christian like you but doesn't believe that God can do amazing things in their life. David stood in the gap for his ken, and so can you. Don't worry, God's got this. With his help, even you can do big things.

If you liked this post please give me a thumbs up and if you have a question or a comment please email me at fire.time.rsmith@gmail.com. If you didn't see it yet, be sure to check out the latest episode of Church of Valatie on LINE Webtoon, or on Deviantart. God bless, and keep your fire for God, blazing!