“And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” 1 Samuel 17:10-11
Fear is like a fog settling in a mountain valley. So thick you can’t see what lies directly ahead. It brings stress of what lies ahead just around the corner. Faith is like a death that lifts you over fear and through the fog.
FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
Look at David. Sent by his father to check on his brothers, he encounters an army standing before the giant Goliath. An army wrapped in the fog of fear. How does he react? With faith! He looks at this terrorized army and calls them out…
When you face fear with faith, there will always be someone like Goliath, the Philistine army and David’s brothers who will mock you. They will try to tear away at your faith, knowing even a slight tweak of doubt will destroy you. How will you react? Run away as Saul and the army of Israel wanted to do? Or, will you look the giant in the eye, bend over and pick up a stone with words or praise for God on your lips.
God fights your battles, for what should we fear? God is bigger than all fears we face. Step forward in faith, give praise to God and bend over to pick up the stone. That pebble of Faith is big enough to slay any Goliath.
“The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.” But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and he will give you into our hand.”” 1 Samuel 17:41-47