Thought for the Day – Wednesday 15th July
‘Now the Philistines gathered
their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at
Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. Saul and the Israelites
assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line
to meet the Philistines. The Philistines occupied one hill and the
Israelites another, with the valley between them. A champion named
Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height
was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat
of scale armour of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he
wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His
spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six
hundred shekels. His shield bearer went
ahead of him. Goliath stood and
shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am
I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? 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.” Then the Philistine said, “This day I
defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.”’ (1
Samuel 17 1-10)
Well, I suppose when the young shepherd boy David said to Saul later in
this story, “Let no one lose
heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (1
Samuel 17: 31) that there were possibly two different ways that David could
have been looking at Goliath.
He could have been thinking, ‘Wow, he is so big, I am out of here!’ or,
he could have been thinking, ‘Wow, he is so big, I cannot possibly miss him!’
That first response would have been a very negative one, whereas the
second would have been a very positive one!
You know, sometimes when we are faced with difficult challenges, when
we are faced with modern day Goliaths, it becomes so easy to think negatively
about the situation we find ourselves in and often the result of that
negativity is that we end up doing nothing at all about the situation – we just
say – ‘I am out of here!’
Conversely though, if we find ourselves in a difficult situation and we
do try to think positively about that situation, if we try to find even a
little hint of positivity, that attitude of saying ‘he’s so big I cannot
possibly miss!’ then often that positivity can result in some sort of
resolution of the situation. That resolution we find may not be as dramatic as
David killing Goliath with just his sling and a stone but it may make us feel
as if we are taking control of difficult situations and seeing them more as an
opportunity and not a problem.
When we think about sowing seeds of love as we are called and asked to
do by God, we could be tempted to have that first response of David’s and to
think that the task – a modern day Goliath for us - is just so huge that we
must get out of here! Our heads can fill up with negative thoughts and so as a
result we end up doing nothing at all.
How much better is it for us to have that positive attitude that David
had when thinking of the task God has given us and on seeing our modern day
Goliath standing there before us think ‘well this task we have been given to do
is just so huge that we cannot possibly fail to hit the mark for God.
Nobody has said our task of sowing seeds of love would be an easy one
and yes it may seem as daunting as having Goliath stand there right before us
but with a positive attitude like David’s AND with a remembrance that God is
ever present and has gifted us to fulfil our task then we can ‘hit the mark’ and
help to bring about God’s kingdom here on earth.
Prayer
Loving Lord,
When we are faced with difficult challenges and situations, when we are
daunted by the thought of sowing your seeds of love far and wide, help us to
have a positive attitude and to see in all situations opportunities and not
problems. As you sustained David throughout his life Lord, sustain us in ours
that we might confidently grow and sow seeds of love in your name and for your
sake. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment