Imagination and Courage (Sep. 16, 2007)
Imagination and courage September 16, 2007
1 Sam 17
BI: When God dominates our imagination, we can take risks.
People who are over 90 years of age, according to a survey, tend to have 2 regrets as they look back over their life. They regret not taking more risks; they look back across the years and wistfully wish they had taken more risks…more chances… not played it so safe. They wished they had spent more time with people they loved.
Sydney Harris has said, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
regret for the things we did not do is inconsolable."
In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society the eccentric prep school teacher John Keating (played by Robin Williams) tells his students to listen to voice that whispers, Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day, make your lives extraordinary…
Later Keating will say, “Suck the marrow out of life—but don’t choke on the bone.”
The story of David and Goliath is a remarkable story that can show us how a person can seize their divine moment….
It’s a story that you will likely be at least somewhat familiar with. As adults we may be inclined to quickly dismiss the story because it takes place in the long ago and the far away—in a world that seems so different from our own. Or we may be tempted to dismiss this story as merely a children’s story. But as we look at this story, we are going to see how the story of David and Goliath enables us to really live our life in a way that will minimize our regrets and help us step into the adventure of life that God is calling us into.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to 1 Samuel 17 vs. 1
1 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them
The Valley of Elah where the Israelites were camping was like a canyon. It was probably about 1 ½ kilometers wide. At the bottom of the canyon between the slopes was a stream bed with some smooth stones. Each side of the canyon stretched about a kilometer up. On one side of the canyon camped the Israelites. And on the other side camped the enemy of the people of Israel, the Philistines. The leader of the Philistine was an impressive man named Goliath.
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.
That’s about 2.9 meters or 9 ½ feet tall. And to give you some perspective, the tall centers in the NBA (National Basketball Association) are a little over 7 feet tall (Yao Ming is listed at 7 foot 6). The hoop in basketball is set at 10 feet. If Goliath were alive today, he could stand under the hoop and dunk without jumping—that’s tall!
(vss. 5-7 describe Goliath’s armor).
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels [b]; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. [c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Not only is Goliath extremely tall and physically imposing, but he has this high-tech protective equipment (high-tech for his time, that is). Goliath is almost completely covered from his head to his feet. Goliath’s armor alone weighed 125 pounds. The head of his spear weighed 25 pounds. In addition to all this armor, he had a shield bearer in front of him, a man who would carry a man-sized shield for extra protection. According to verse 11, Goliath struck terror into the heart of Saul the king of Israel, who was himself a large man, and all the Israelites.
8 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. 9 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."
It was very common in this time for armies to send a representative from the other army to do battle. The obvious advantage of this kind of representational fighting was that it saved lives and money.
Goliath didn’t just issue a challenge to the people of Israel once, but he issued it again and again over a 40-day period. As we see in verse 11, Saul and the people of Israel were quacking with fear. No one from the Israelite side had volunteered to fight Goliath. If the people had been living in our times, they would have figured that beating Goliath in a fight would be about as likely as beating Tiger Woods in golf or Roger Federer in tennis.
While this taunting was going on by Goliath, 20 kilometers away in the small town of Bethlehem a teen-age boy, too young to be serving the army, was dutifully watching over his father’s sheep. His 3 eldest brothers were part of Saul’s army and his father asked him to run a brown bag lunch—of bread and cheese to them.
So David goes to the canyon of Elah and, as he approaches, Goliath came out for the 41st day and issued the same challenge to the Israelites. And according to verse 24, all the Israelites fled in fear.
In verse. 26 David asks,
26….Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
And then, according to verse 28, when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he burned with anger and asked David, “Why have you come here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know conceited you are and wicked your heart is; you came down here only to watch the battle.” David’s eldest brother is trying to humiliate his youngest brother in front of the other men. David simply responds by asking (vs. 29), “Now what have I done? Can’t I even speak?”
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul and Saul sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are little more than a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
What enabled David to face Goliath? It wasn’t David psyching himself up by saying the bigger they are the harder they fall? That may true, but this is certainly not what David was doing to ready himself psychologically for battle against Goliath. It was the reckless of youth or David was in some drug-induced state…
No, David’s recounts the times when he was keeping his dad’s sheep and a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock. And David recalls how God enabled him to go after it, to strike the lion or the bear and rescue the sheep from its mouth.
In verse 37, David credits the Lord for having rescued him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear. David’s thinking, David’s imagination, was dominated by things that God had done for him.
Then we see in the text that Saul tries to fit David into his own armor, but it did not fit him. He wasn’t used to it, so he took off Saul’s armor and instead he went down to the stream, and he selected 5 smooth stones…
Eugene Peterson in his book on David, Leap Over a Wall, writes, “In my imagination I see David kneeling at the brook to select stones for his sling. The text doesn’t say that he knelt, just that he chose 5 smooth stones from the brook, but he must have knelt to select the stones. I see him kneeling, David kneeling at the brook.”
And Peterson asks, “Are we going to live our life from our knees, which is a symbol of our submission before God, a life conscious of God, a life where God dominates our imagination?”
David’s imagination was dominated not by Goliath, but by God. We see David kneeling, and then we see that David making his way to Goliath. Goliath looks him over and sees that he was little more than a boy. He says to David, “Am I a dog (not a term of endearment in the culture) that you come at me with sticks.” And Goliath is offended that the people of Israel have sent such a frail representative to fight him and he curses David “Come here,” he said. “I will give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.”
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. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head.
And as the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him, he reaches into his bag, and takes out one his stones as the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slings it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone…
What enabled David to charge against the giant Goliath? It wasn’t him psyching himself up with the words “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” It wasn’t the recklessness of youth. No, it was that David had knelt before God, not just at the stream, but throughout his life. And his imagination was more dominated by God, than Goliath. He saw Goliath, to be sure, but he saw God even more clearly.
When our imaginations are dominated by God, a couple of things will happen. One is that we will be free to become our true self. We will not be forced to imitate some one else to live a “secondhand” kind of life. We read that (vss. 38-39) Saul had encouraged David to wear Saul’s armor and tunic into battle, but they did not fit David. And so instead, David said, “I cannot use these. I am not used to them.” So instead, he went down to the stream and chose 5 smooth stones. It took a certain inner security for David to not use Saul’s protective armor.
When you know that your imagination is dominated by God, you will be free to be the person that God created you to be. You will be secure enough to live out your unique calling.
I am a fan of the Seattle Mariners baseball player, Ichiro. Part of what has made Ichiro a great batter is that he has trained and he has learned to play baseball as a physically smaller player in a way that is suited to his particular design. I remember being on a plane from Osaka several years seated beside the person who recruited him to the Mariners. I asked the recruiter who himself had been a baseball player, “How was it that Ichiro is able to hit the ball so consistently?” This recruiter coach said, “Well, when a lot of players get up to bat, they try to hit the ball out of the park; whereas Ichiro isn’t trying to get a home run every time, he is just trying to make contact and get on base because he feels that is where his greatest contribution to the team will be.” He can hit home runs, but he knows if he tries out of the park at every at bat, his battling will go down. When he bats as the pitch is coming he’s already moving in the direction, because his eyes work better that… it looks a little that works better for the way his eyes work…
Ichiro has learned to play baseball in a way that is consistent with the way he’s made us, and to play like that, to live like that, takes courage… When our imaginations are dominated by God, like David’s was, we are free to not wear Saul’s armor, to not live by some one else’s script, but free to be our true selves….
And we see that David is living out his true self because his imagination is dominated by God, and not by Goliath, but we also David running toward Saul in battle armed with only a sling and five stones. And when our imaginations are dominated by God, one of the things that will be true of us is that we will be bold. We will take greater risks, knowing that God is with us.
In the movie, Almost Famous, the mother of the aspiring, teenager entertainment journalist says, (quoting Goethe) “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” And when our imaginations are dominated by God, we can be bold because we know that a mighty force will come to our aid.
In the book of Daniel, when the three young men who are followers of the living God, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were commanded to bow down to the statue of gold or else face death in a fiery furnace, they responded with great courage and they said to the king, “We will not bow down to the idol of gold.” When the king responded in anger by saying, “Don’t you know that I could have thrown into a fiery furnace and who will save you then?” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego responded by saying, “We will not bow down before the idol of gold. Our God is able to save us, but even if he does not, we want you to know that we will not serve your gods and worship the image of gold you set up. “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were bold enough to defy the order to bow down to the idol of gold, even when they knew it might cost them their lives because they knew God was able to save them.” (They didn’t know whether God would choose to save them or not but they knew that God was able to)…
When our imaginations are dominated by God, we will have greater boldness; we will have greater capacity to take risks because we know that the living God is able to deliver us. If our imaginations are dominated by God, we will be able to do things that we would not otherwise be able to do because we know that a mighty force will come to our aid.
Like David, is there something that God is calling you to trust him for?
It may not be as dramatic as facing a 9 ½ foot giant, but in your mind and your heart it may feel like God is calling you to face a big giant…
Perhaps it is a giant inside of you, something inside you that you need to confront. The former secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold, has said that the journey within is the longest journey of all. Perhaps God is calling you to confront some fear, some issue inside you, perhaps with the help of a friend, a counselor.
Or perhaps the giant in your life is something to do with a relationship…maybe you need to confront some one … or ask forgiveness perhaps you need to declare your care for some one… or become more transparent in a relationship…
Or God is calling to honor and trust him in financial matter…
Or perhaps the giant that God is calling you to face involves sharing your faith if you believe. It can be easy for some of us who believe to talk about our faith in God with other people who believe. It can be harder to do that for some of us who don’t believe…
Or perhaps is calling you to trust him to live out a dream… something you though you ought to do for a long time….
Later this month we are going to be rolling out the opportunity to learn about, and get involved in, a mission to Cambodia... Perhaps the risk will be to spend some time in a culture that is totally different from here and serve at risk children or even people in prison…
Living life with an imagination dominated by God will enable you to live be your true self and live a life with far more risk, far more dangerous, far more fulfilling than you could ever live otherwise.
I want to live a life where some things in my life that can only be explained by God. John Ortberg, a pastor in the San Francisco Bay area, asks himself, “What am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God?” It’s a great question, “What am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God?”
And when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were old men, they probably looked back occasionally and said wistfully, “Wasn’t that moment when God rescued us in the fiery furnace the greatest moment of our lives?” And I am sure that David, as an old man, looked back on his life with a sense of wondering attitude and how God delivered him and his people from the hand of Goliath.
When you get to the end of your life, don’t be like those people who are over 90 and who look back wistfully and regretfully because they wished they had taken more risks. Allow your imagination to be dominated by God and not by Goliath…
Be bold, as God leads you, knowing that a mighty force will come to you aid.
Prayer…
(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)
1 Sam 17
BI: When God dominates our imagination, we can take risks.
People who are over 90 years of age, according to a survey, tend to have 2 regrets as they look back over their life. They regret not taking more risks; they look back across the years and wistfully wish they had taken more risks…more chances… not played it so safe. They wished they had spent more time with people they loved.
Sydney Harris has said, "Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;
regret for the things we did not do is inconsolable."
In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society the eccentric prep school teacher John Keating (played by Robin Williams) tells his students to listen to voice that whispers, Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day, make your lives extraordinary…
Later Keating will say, “Suck the marrow out of life—but don’t choke on the bone.”
The story of David and Goliath is a remarkable story that can show us how a person can seize their divine moment….
It’s a story that you will likely be at least somewhat familiar with. As adults we may be inclined to quickly dismiss the story because it takes place in the long ago and the far away—in a world that seems so different from our own. Or we may be tempted to dismiss this story as merely a children’s story. But as we look at this story, we are going to see how the story of David and Goliath enables us to really live our life in a way that will minimize our regrets and help us step into the adventure of life that God is calling us into.
If you have your Bibles, please turn to 1 Samuel 17 vs. 1
1 Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. 2 Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. 3 The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them
The Valley of Elah where the Israelites were camping was like a canyon. It was probably about 1 ½ kilometers wide. At the bottom of the canyon between the slopes was a stream bed with some smooth stones. Each side of the canyon stretched about a kilometer up. On one side of the canyon camped the Israelites. And on the other side camped the enemy of the people of Israel, the Philistines. The leader of the Philistine was an impressive man named Goliath.
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.
That’s about 2.9 meters or 9 ½ feet tall. And to give you some perspective, the tall centers in the NBA (National Basketball Association) are a little over 7 feet tall (Yao Ming is listed at 7 foot 6). The hoop in basketball is set at 10 feet. If Goliath were alive today, he could stand under the hoop and dunk without jumping—that’s tall!
(vss. 5-7 describe Goliath’s armor).
5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels [b]; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. [c] His shield bearer went ahead of him.
Not only is Goliath extremely tall and physically imposing, but he has this high-tech protective equipment (high-tech for his time, that is). Goliath is almost completely covered from his head to his feet. Goliath’s armor alone weighed 125 pounds. The head of his spear weighed 25 pounds. In addition to all this armor, he had a shield bearer in front of him, a man who would carry a man-sized shield for extra protection. According to verse 11, Goliath struck terror into the heart of Saul the king of Israel, who was himself a large man, and all the Israelites.
8 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. 9 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."
It was very common in this time for armies to send a representative from the other army to do battle. The obvious advantage of this kind of representational fighting was that it saved lives and money.
Goliath didn’t just issue a challenge to the people of Israel once, but he issued it again and again over a 40-day period. As we see in verse 11, Saul and the people of Israel were quacking with fear. No one from the Israelite side had volunteered to fight Goliath. If the people had been living in our times, they would have figured that beating Goliath in a fight would be about as likely as beating Tiger Woods in golf or Roger Federer in tennis.
While this taunting was going on by Goliath, 20 kilometers away in the small town of Bethlehem a teen-age boy, too young to be serving the army, was dutifully watching over his father’s sheep. His 3 eldest brothers were part of Saul’s army and his father asked him to run a brown bag lunch—of bread and cheese to them.
So David goes to the canyon of Elah and, as he approaches, Goliath came out for the 41st day and issued the same challenge to the Israelites. And according to verse 24, all the Israelites fled in fear.
In verse. 26 David asks,
26….Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
And then, according to verse 28, when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he burned with anger and asked David, “Why have you come here? With whom did you leave those few sheep in the desert? I know conceited you are and wicked your heart is; you came down here only to watch the battle.” David’s eldest brother is trying to humiliate his youngest brother in front of the other men. David simply responds by asking (vs. 29), “Now what have I done? Can’t I even speak?”
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul and Saul sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him."
33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are little more than a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth."
34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you."
What enabled David to face Goliath? It wasn’t David psyching himself up by saying the bigger they are the harder they fall? That may true, but this is certainly not what David was doing to ready himself psychologically for battle against Goliath. It was the reckless of youth or David was in some drug-induced state…
No, David’s recounts the times when he was keeping his dad’s sheep and a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock. And David recalls how God enabled him to go after it, to strike the lion or the bear and rescue the sheep from its mouth.
In verse 37, David credits the Lord for having rescued him from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear. David’s thinking, David’s imagination, was dominated by things that God had done for him.
Then we see in the text that Saul tries to fit David into his own armor, but it did not fit him. He wasn’t used to it, so he took off Saul’s armor and instead he went down to the stream, and he selected 5 smooth stones…
Eugene Peterson in his book on David, Leap Over a Wall, writes, “In my imagination I see David kneeling at the brook to select stones for his sling. The text doesn’t say that he knelt, just that he chose 5 smooth stones from the brook, but he must have knelt to select the stones. I see him kneeling, David kneeling at the brook.”
And Peterson asks, “Are we going to live our life from our knees, which is a symbol of our submission before God, a life conscious of God, a life where God dominates our imagination?”
David’s imagination was dominated not by Goliath, but by God. We see David kneeling, and then we see that David making his way to Goliath. Goliath looks him over and sees that he was little more than a boy. He says to David, “Am I a dog (not a term of endearment in the culture) that you come at me with sticks.” And Goliath is offended that the people of Israel have sent such a frail representative to fight him and he curses David “Come here,” he said. “I will give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.”
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. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head.
And as the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him, he reaches into his bag, and takes out one his stones as the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slings it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone…
What enabled David to charge against the giant Goliath? It wasn’t him psyching himself up with the words “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” It wasn’t the recklessness of youth. No, it was that David had knelt before God, not just at the stream, but throughout his life. And his imagination was more dominated by God, than Goliath. He saw Goliath, to be sure, but he saw God even more clearly.
When our imaginations are dominated by God, a couple of things will happen. One is that we will be free to become our true self. We will not be forced to imitate some one else to live a “secondhand” kind of life. We read that (vss. 38-39) Saul had encouraged David to wear Saul’s armor and tunic into battle, but they did not fit David. And so instead, David said, “I cannot use these. I am not used to them.” So instead, he went down to the stream and chose 5 smooth stones. It took a certain inner security for David to not use Saul’s protective armor.
When you know that your imagination is dominated by God, you will be free to be the person that God created you to be. You will be secure enough to live out your unique calling.
I am a fan of the Seattle Mariners baseball player, Ichiro. Part of what has made Ichiro a great batter is that he has trained and he has learned to play baseball as a physically smaller player in a way that is suited to his particular design. I remember being on a plane from Osaka several years seated beside the person who recruited him to the Mariners. I asked the recruiter who himself had been a baseball player, “How was it that Ichiro is able to hit the ball so consistently?” This recruiter coach said, “Well, when a lot of players get up to bat, they try to hit the ball out of the park; whereas Ichiro isn’t trying to get a home run every time, he is just trying to make contact and get on base because he feels that is where his greatest contribution to the team will be.” He can hit home runs, but he knows if he tries out of the park at every at bat, his battling will go down. When he bats as the pitch is coming he’s already moving in the direction, because his eyes work better that… it looks a little that works better for the way his eyes work…
Ichiro has learned to play baseball in a way that is consistent with the way he’s made us, and to play like that, to live like that, takes courage… When our imaginations are dominated by God, like David’s was, we are free to not wear Saul’s armor, to not live by some one else’s script, but free to be our true selves….
And we see that David is living out his true self because his imagination is dominated by God, and not by Goliath, but we also David running toward Saul in battle armed with only a sling and five stones. And when our imaginations are dominated by God, one of the things that will be true of us is that we will be bold. We will take greater risks, knowing that God is with us.
In the movie, Almost Famous, the mother of the aspiring, teenager entertainment journalist says, (quoting Goethe) “Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.” And when our imaginations are dominated by God, we can be bold because we know that a mighty force will come to our aid.
In the book of Daniel, when the three young men who are followers of the living God, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, were commanded to bow down to the statue of gold or else face death in a fiery furnace, they responded with great courage and they said to the king, “We will not bow down to the idol of gold.” When the king responded in anger by saying, “Don’t you know that I could have thrown into a fiery furnace and who will save you then?” Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego responded by saying, “We will not bow down before the idol of gold. Our God is able to save us, but even if he does not, we want you to know that we will not serve your gods and worship the image of gold you set up. “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were bold enough to defy the order to bow down to the idol of gold, even when they knew it might cost them their lives because they knew God was able to save them.” (They didn’t know whether God would choose to save them or not but they knew that God was able to)…
When our imaginations are dominated by God, we will have greater boldness; we will have greater capacity to take risks because we know that the living God is able to deliver us. If our imaginations are dominated by God, we will be able to do things that we would not otherwise be able to do because we know that a mighty force will come to our aid.
Like David, is there something that God is calling you to trust him for?
It may not be as dramatic as facing a 9 ½ foot giant, but in your mind and your heart it may feel like God is calling you to face a big giant…
Perhaps it is a giant inside of you, something inside you that you need to confront. The former secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold, has said that the journey within is the longest journey of all. Perhaps God is calling you to confront some fear, some issue inside you, perhaps with the help of a friend, a counselor.
Or perhaps the giant in your life is something to do with a relationship…maybe you need to confront some one … or ask forgiveness perhaps you need to declare your care for some one… or become more transparent in a relationship…
Or God is calling to honor and trust him in financial matter…
Or perhaps the giant that God is calling you to face involves sharing your faith if you believe. It can be easy for some of us who believe to talk about our faith in God with other people who believe. It can be harder to do that for some of us who don’t believe…
Or perhaps is calling you to trust him to live out a dream… something you though you ought to do for a long time….
Later this month we are going to be rolling out the opportunity to learn about, and get involved in, a mission to Cambodia... Perhaps the risk will be to spend some time in a culture that is totally different from here and serve at risk children or even people in prison…
Living life with an imagination dominated by God will enable you to live be your true self and live a life with far more risk, far more dangerous, far more fulfilling than you could ever live otherwise.
I want to live a life where some things in my life that can only be explained by God. John Ortberg, a pastor in the San Francisco Bay area, asks himself, “What am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God?” It’s a great question, “What am I doing that I could not do apart from the power of God?”
And when Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were old men, they probably looked back occasionally and said wistfully, “Wasn’t that moment when God rescued us in the fiery furnace the greatest moment of our lives?” And I am sure that David, as an old man, looked back on his life with a sense of wondering attitude and how God delivered him and his people from the hand of Goliath.
When you get to the end of your life, don’t be like those people who are over 90 and who look back wistfully and regretfully because they wished they had taken more risks. Allow your imagination to be dominated by God and not by Goliath…
Be bold, as God leads you, knowing that a mighty force will come to you aid.
Prayer…
(The sermon can be heard on line at: www.tenth.ca/audio)
posted by Shigematsu at 12:33 PM
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