“Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied.” I Samuel 17:45
“ Don’t let the failures of your past become the giants of your future!”
I am going to do something I suppose is a little unorthodox. People seem to wait until their problems are resolved before they write about them. Well, I am going to share something with you right here while I am in the thick of it. The Lord is leading us to sell our house and relocate. If you have read one of my previous postings entitled,” Bitter to Sweet,”(click this link to catch up on the story) you understand that the last time God lead us to sell our home and move, it didn’t quite turn out the way we expected. In fact, it did not go very well at all initially, and the remnant of those negative experiences seem to have settled in the recesses of my mind.
Recently, while I was wrestling with this decision to sell our home and the uncertainty of our future location, the Lord spoke to me very clearly, saying,
“ Your past is yelling at your future like Goliath in the valley with the children of Israel. Don’t let your past failures become so elevated that they become the giants of your present. You’ve got to shut them up.”
I suppose it goes without question to say that we’ve put the house up for sale and continue to actively seek God’s face for confirmation regarding where we are moving. There is nothing like the wisdom of God. He knows exactly how to sum up a situation.
Are your past failures yelling at your future? According to 1 Samuel, the Philistine army was standing on one mountain while the army of Israel stood on the opposite mountain with the Valley of Elah between them. Interestingly enough, the word “Elah” means “terebinth,” or “oak tree.” It was by the terebinth that kings, leaders and prophets either arose to their positions, or fell (see Judges 9:6, Judges 6:11, 2 Sam. 18:9…). Goliath was an intimidating 10 foot tall giant with a coat of armor weighing 5,000 shekels of bronze (about 125 lbs) and a spear weighing 600 shekels of iron. Goliath would stand and yell challenges at the army of Israel, who responded by retreating and cowering in fear. Sometimes our past failures are just as intimidating and can immobilize us, hindering our ability to move forward.
You know the story. A young boy by the name of David started his journey to kingship when he defied this giant who dared to speak against the living God. When Goliath said he would “..give David’s flesh to the birds,” David did not cower in fear. He confidently declared “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will smite you and cut off your head!” Those were big words coming from a teenager armed only with a sling shot and some stones, but David knew he served a BIG GOD. At the end of the day, things happed just as David had declared it, and he not only shut the mouth of that defiant Philistine, but when he cut Goliath’s head with his own sword, it was the Philistine army that was retreating!
Today, take a page from David’s book. When the giants of your past begin their intimidating challenges, rise and respond in king-like confidence by reminding the past about the great and mighty God of your future. Don’t let the failures of your past become the giants of your future!