BEHAVIORS AND ATTITUDES

Our behaviors impact our relationships. So, how do we behave, in various situations particularly in situations that could lead to  conflict? Simple e.g.: I overhear someone in office saying’ That Preetha…I don’t like her at all. She is so bossy.’   Now, there are many ways that I can choose to respond to this trigger. I am using some imagery for illustrating.

1.     Be aggressive, attack, confront, like a cheetah pouncing on its prey.

2.     Become passive aggressive, withdraw, avoid the person. Like a turtle tucking its head beneath its shell.

3.     Phone a friend, gossip, spread the news. Like a parrot, repeating everything.

4.     Be Neutral. Not letting the situation affect my peace or happiness: Like a dolphin that always appears to have a smile on its face. 

5.     Be big hearted, forgive and continue being good to that person -Like a giraffe which apparently has the largest heart in the animal kingdom.

Though, as Christ followers, we are expected to choose option 5 (i.e. to respond in love), we are likely to choose other options (i.e. react in anger). And, what’s more, we often try to rationalize our behavior saying’ I had no option but to retaliate/ confront/ ignore/criticize, because of the way that they treated me. Which implies that not I, but people and situations around me control the way I react.

Jesus tells us- Mathew 5: 44 -47

⁴⁴ But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

In other words -Don’t allow the behaviour of others to influence your behaviour. Regardless of how badly others treat us, we are commanded not only to love, bless and be nice to them but also to pray for them.

⁴⁵ That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

This verse speaks of the Characteristic of God. Characteristic means   a typical  quality of someone or something, that never changes regardless of external influences. For example -sugar.  The characteristic of sugar is to add sweetness to our food. Now, whether you add it to milk, chocolate, bitter gourd or vegetables, the intrinsic quality of sugar remains the same. It doesn’t vary with the type or quality of the food into which it is added.

The characteristic of our Heavenly Father is to love, which never varies regardless of type or quality of people on earth.  It is equal towards all. Not more towards the just, not less towards the unjust.

⁴⁶ For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans the same?

⁴⁷ And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? do not even the publicans so?

Loving only the people who are good to us brings us no benefit That’s our comfort zone and requires no special effort from us.   However, loving people who rub us the wrong way, is difficult.

You see, it is so much easier to think that the other person is irritating or stupid or an idiot and that they need to change, rather than to bring about a change in ourselves. Because that involves putting pride and ego on the back burner and bending.

So, how do we apply this teaching to our lives? 3 points

1.     Invite God into the process.: God gave the children of Israel around 600 + commands and laws which they were supposed to follow. These 600+ commands were reduced to 2 and finally to 1 by Jesus, just before He was crucified, which became the overarching ethic on which Christianity is based. That command was to love one another as Christ loved us.

Notice Jesus commands us to love, bless and pray for our enemies.

Peter tells us in 1 Peter 3:8-9 Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁸ Finally, all of you be like-minded [united in spirit], sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted [courteous and compassionate toward each other as members of one household], and humble in spirit; ⁹ and never return evil for evil or insult for insult [avoid scolding, berating, and any kind of abuse], but on the contrary, give a blessing [pray for one another’s well-being, contentment, and protection]; for you have been called for this very purpose, that you might inherit a blessing [from God that brings well-being, happiness, and protection].

So, make a list of all the people who irritate, upset, humiliate you. Every morning ask God to bless the people with whom we have issues, relationally. And pray for all the people on the list that you have created.  This allows God to deal with our hearts and set it right. To pluck out any root of bitterness or anger from our hearts and fill it with his love, which would then enable us to respond with love in any situation.

2.     Create a habit of being flexible, letting go of pride and bending. Just as physical bending strengthens us physically, bending our ego strengthens us spiritually and keeps us emotionally healthy. ‘Is that difficult?  Yes, of course. Is it Impossible? No. Otherwise most of us in the corporate world, who have to deal with irritated clients and bosses, would be out of our jobs. For, all organizations expect their staff to be pleasant to the most unpleasant client and polite to the rudest of customers.  And if we can do it at our workplaces, why not outside? And just like physical bending, bending our ego, becomes easier when we keep doing it regularly. What’s more, if we don’t make a habit of bending, very soon we may reach a state of such stiffness where we cannot bend at all

3.     Value other people’s assessment of our behaviour rather than only depending on our own assessment. We look at situations and people through different lenses which are coloured by factors such as our upbringing, our self-esteem, our friends, family, etc. That is why every person assesses the same situation differently. Hence, for women, the mother in law is always the villain of the piece but the mother is an angel and a daughter is sugar and spice but a daughter in law is all that is not nice. You see, it’s all a matter of perception and our perception need not be right, every time. Therefore, by all means phone a friend, but not the ones who will endorse your behaviour all the time, or those who will add more fuel to a fire that you have created, but those who are emotionally stable and would be able to point you in the right direction.

A verse that is quoted very often-Math 5:13 tells us that ‘We are to be the salt of the earth’ but an equally important verse not quoted as much is Mark 9:50 

Salt is good: but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace one with another.

Salt has 2 basic properties-It not only adds flavour to our food, but it is also an excellent preservative. But if salt somehow loses these inherent chemical properties, it cannot regain them again." 

And if we are the salt of the earth then we need to be careful not to lose the qualities of salt within us. To flavor relationships with love and thereby preserve them.

We have the power to choose our attitudes, let us choose wisely.

I WAS ONLY KIDDING

Thanks to our Pastor, we have been regularly learning about the impact of a spoken word. Today I want to share something along the same lines. A very commonly used phrase which sounds deceptively innocent, but which has far reaching consequences- The phrase is “I was only joking, or I was only kidding”. This phrase is so   frequently used that it almost sounds clichéd. It is used as a disclaimer when we want to enjoy a joke at someone’s expense or mock or fool others or just pull someone down.

E.g Wow! The house looks clean, today. “Was the internet down? followed by Never mind. I didn’t mean anything. Just kidding ok?”.

From social media to workplaces and homes, sarcasm has completely permeated our culture. 

Oscar Wilde said, “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” The dictionary defines sarcasm as sneering, taunting or cutting remarks.” The origin of sarcasm is from the Greek word “sarkazein” which literally means “to tear or strip the flesh off.” 

I never imagined that there would be a scripture relevant to this. But surprisingly there is, proving that if we look hard enough there is a scripture for every situation, every problem and every need that we have. So, this is Proverbs 26:18-19.

NIV says

¹⁸ Like a maniac shooting
    flaming arrows of death
¹⁹ is one who deceives their neighbour
    and says, “I was only joking!”

And the King James version says-

¹⁸ As a mad man who casts firebrands, arrows, and death,

¹⁹ So is the man that deceives his neighbour, and says, Am I not in sport?

Sarcasm is only one aspect of the word “deceive” mentioned in the verse. The word “deceive” in Hebrew “ramah" means to deal craftily, to delude, to fool or betray. This could include lying about someone or talking in a manipulative or deceptive manner to someone. 
According to the scriptures, the effect of such words is as devastating as the effect of the actions of a mad man who flings lethal instruments indiscriminately, in all directions. The outcome in both cases can only be destruction.

Although, we may try to justify our words, by declaring that it was just for fun or we didn’t mean anything by it - Scripture tells us that ‘Out of the abundance of our hearts our mouth speaks. The fruits of our lips (i.e. the words that we speak) comes from a tree that is already rooted in our hearts. And just like a cherry tree can give only cherries or an apple tree only apples, what is rooted in our hearts gives rise to the fruit of our lips.   Hence taking jabs at people and claiming that it was just a joke and that we didn’t mean anything by it, makes as much sense as a cherry tree saying -The fruits on this tree are not cherries, they are just jokes, I don’t mean anything by them. If we have said it, it’s there buried deep somewhere in our hearts, we may or may not be  aware of its existence. Nevertheless, it is there for sure.

Matthew 12:36 Amplified Bible (AMP), says

³⁶ But I tell you, on the day of judgment people will have to give an accounting for every careless or useless word they speak. Note it says: every careless or useless word, it does not say except jokes or words which were not spoken seriously etc. It says every careless or useless word.

So, it’s very important to recognize the root that produced the fruit. Was it an underlying sense of hurt, offense, bitterness or rejection? You see, hurt people tend to hurt other people, offended people tend to offend other people and so on. Whatever it is, once we recognize the root, we need to repent, seek forgiveness and ask God to help us deal with it.

I would like to close with a few lines from an article written by Dr. Hyder Zahed-Huffington Post Blog

“Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble.

Perfecting the speech is one of the keystones of mature people. Be kind to all and speak words that are beacons of inspiration, enthusiasm and encouragement to all. There are certain rules that should guide all our communications with others. Always speak the truth, avoid exaggerations, don’t use your words to manipulate others, and most importantly do not use words to insult or belittle anyone.

ANGER

Anger has become a global phenomenon. Just like global warming, we may soon have Global angering. People are getting angrier. Why, even cartoon characters, toys and games are getting angrier.  First we had only Donald Duck. Now we have   Squidward and  Buttercup and  Angry birds. 

Today, I want to very briefly share 4 points on anger and forgiveness.

1.    Pause: Anger is a strong feeling of hostility in response to pain or injustice, which incidentally all of us experience. It is a natural human emotion.  The Bible never refers to experiencing anger as sin. Ephesians 4: 26, says - When angry, do not sin; which implies that it is one’s reaction when angry that has the potential to be sinful, not the anger itself. Therefore, pause for a moment before reacting. And choose to do what the Scriptures tell us, and not what we feel or don’t feel like doing. for e.g: choosing to remain silent when we feel like retaliating; choosing to speak kindly to  someone, at whom we feel like snapping, choosing to honour our parents, when we don’t feel like honouring them etc.

2.    Forget:  The Bible specifies a time duration for which we can remain angry. It says’ Do not let the sun go down on your wrath. So, it is ok to go to bed hungry, thirsty, sad, or confused but it is not ok to go to bed angry. Reminds me of a story of a little boy who had a fight with his brother and became very angry with him.  When his brother tried to make up, he refused. Bedtime came, and their mother asked, “Shouldn’t you  forgive your brother before the sun goes down?  Looking perplexed, he blurted out, “But how can I keep the sun from going down?” Sometimes we are like that little boy. We hold onto grudges for a very long time, quite forgetting the fact that anger within us destroys us more than the person at whom it is directed. Animals too react in anger in fight or flight situations, but that lasts only for moments, maybe for the 5 mins or 10 mins when  they face the situation. After that they forget all about it. Humans are the only ones who  have this remarkable  capacity to keep  anger within themselves  for prolonged periods of time. However, research proves that our bodies are just not equipped to sustain such emotions for long, and this  ultimately leads  to  harmful physiological  effects .

 No, we can’t keep the sun from going down. But we can keep it from setting-on our anger. And that means we must forgive.

3.    Forgive: The root of “forgive” is the Latin word “perdonare,” meaning “to give completely, without reservation, or unconditionally.” When we give a gift to someone, our motivation is not to get something in return but to make the recipient happy. Similarly, our motive in forgiving people is not to make us feel good, although that is  definitely a desired  byproduct, but our motive in forgiving people should be  to  free  them  from feelings of guilt or shame that they may be experiencing.  That’s tough, but then we need to remember that our role model, Jesus experienced   a horrible death on the cross, for sinners like us, not because the experience on the cross made him feel good, but so that He could free us from our guilt and shame.  

4.    Pray: In Mathew 5: 44-we are told to pray for those who persecute us. That’s not a suggestion or a request, but a command from God. To be very honest, praying for people who had offended me was never on my priority list. Strange, that Jesus specifically asks us to pray for our enemies but never specifically asks us to pray for our loved ones. Why would Jesus want us to have this discipline in our life? 2 points

• ·         While superficial hurts are easy to deal with, deep wounds don’t heal; they create  bitterness in our heart , even when we verbally forgive the person responsible.  Praying every day for people who hurt us, allows God to deal with the root of bitterness in our hearts and heal it.
• ·         Love, is the impetus for true forgiveness and this can only come from God. As we pray, God fills our hearts with love, thereby enabling us to love and forgive our enemies.

Before I close, I would like to leave you with a thought – True forgiveness is unconditional, and it is ushered in by Love. We need to have  both these qualities with us, as we live in an increasingly hostile and unforgiving culture.  

Dealing with offenses

Offense is defined as: resentment brought about by a perceived insult.

Nowadays, tolerance levels have dipped dangerously, People take offense for the slightest of reasons.  Your Instagram post could upset someone, your tweet could create controversies.  Overtaking someone on the road, liking or not liking someone’s social media posts, forgetting birthdays, anniversaries, etc can snowball into major issues. Your speech may offend someone; your silence may offend someone. The list goes on.  

The word ‘offence’ is derived from the Greek word ‘skandalon’, which refers to the trigger/bait of a trap. Once baited, the victim would totally be under the control of the trapper.
Offence is a bait that Satan uses to entrap believers. Once trapped, he can easily manipulate us into emotions like anger, bitterness or hurt. Satan’s aim is division and his strategy is offense.

Jesus said, “It is impossible but that offences will come:” (Luke 17:1). So, the question is not   whether we have opportunities to be offended, but how we respond to them. 

Offenses can be likened to needles which prick us. Needle pricks are not pleasant; they hurt.  And its worse, if you allow the needle to remain inside of you. But there are people who allow needles to enter and stay inside of them and remain offended for ages.  That’s not a happy state to be in.

We all have different degrees of resistance to offenses and based on this we can categorize people (this is just for illustrative purposes) 

1.     Balloons- One prick with a needle and pop it goes.  This typifies people who always get offended, no matter what you say or do. You could say that they are searching for reasons to get offended.

2.     A cotton ball- It is easy to stick a needle into a ball of cotton. It may not go pop like a balloon, it’s somewhat better than a balloon. This represents people who get offended, frequently.

People falling into these two categories generally have poor self- esteem, they are not comfortable with who they are, which causes them to take offense at the slightest provocation.

3.     Soft rubber ball- a needle can go through with a little bit of effort, not too easily though. These are people who get offended, sometimes.

4.     Hard rubber ball- Sticking a needle into a hard rubber ball is not easy.  It may or may not go through depending on the force you apply. These people are rarely offended.

5.     The season ball- It is impossible for a needle to ever go through a season ball. This typifies a person who never get offended, regardless of the level of provocation.

People falling into categories 4 and 5 are generally well adjusted, content with who they are, so what others speak or think about them doesn’t affect them.

Regardless of the category we fall into now, our aim should be to move to Category 5. How can we do that? 3 points ….

1.     Remember the Cross: We serve a God who did not get offended though He had every right to get offended. He was stripped, whipped, flogged and nailed to the cross on our behalf. The Creator Himself was crucified by His Creation but He chose to forgive his torturers. There is absolutely nothing that we have to face today, which is greater than what Jesus faced. Let us be encouraged by his example of dealing with offenses and no matter what the provocation, make a conscious decision to not get offended.

2.     Know your worth- Too often, we allow the words or actions of others to define who we are. The reason why so many of us battle poor self-esteem is that we become too dependent on opinions of others. Offenses will always come, because people have this enormous propensity to be careless with their words.  But we need to realize that our worth is not determined by what others say or think about us. Rather it is determined by the price that was paid  for purchasing us. For e.g. I have a bottle of Chanel. I know its value because it burned a hole in my pocket. So, even if someone says that it is worthless, I would just think - Not true. Similarly, Jesus paid a very high price to purchase us, and our value is determined by that.  If someone says something to the contrary, we should think – Not true and let the comment pass.

3.     Lower your expectations- In relationships there are expectations and this is especially true in marriages. Expectations from spouses, children, parents, bosses may not always realistic and so may remain unfulfilled. And when people don’t live up to our expectations, there’s a chance that we will get offended. The difference between what we expect and what we get determines how offended we become. Greater the difference, greater the offense. Simply put- 0 expectation= 0 chance of getting offended. Therefore, let our expectation be only from God, not from people.

I would like to close with a quote “To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something”.

                                                                  

Lessons from the life of Jacob, Leah and Rachel

Today I want to share a little bit from the life of Jacob, Leah and Rachel.

So, first Jacob’s life…. Jacob, fleeing from the wrath of his brother, Esau, lands up with his Uncle Laban. Laban had 2 daughters Leah and Rachel. The Bible tells us that,  Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful but Leah had weak eyes. (Genesis 29:17), whatever that means, but   it obviously wasn’t anything complimentary. In fact, it subtly conveyed the fact that Leah was not as attractive as her sister.   Jacob predictably falls  in love with Rachel and offered to work for seven years for her hand in marriage. But after the ceremony, he found himself married to the wrong person, Leah, instead of Rachel. Jacob, who had deceived his poor blind father, pretending to be Esau, was now deceived by Laban.  We keep sowing all kinds of  stuff during our lifetime, could be  bad or good, kind or unkind, truth or deceit. We may remember it or  forget all about it. But the principle still holds. What we sow, we will always reap. It may or may not be immediate. 

MISTAKEN IDENTITY….7 years earlier, Isaac thought that it was Esau he was blessing. 7 years later Jacob thought that it was Rachel he was marrying.

Coming to Leah. Categorized as tender eyed, eclipsed by her sister, yoked to a husband who obviously loved her sister more than her; Leah must have felt lonely and rejected. In a world, which attaches a lot of importance to outward appearances, the not so attractive, not so smart, not so talented people may often find themselves sidelined. Many of us can identify with Leah, many of us who have faced rejection at some time or the other, from people around us. Who may cry their hearts out bitterly into the pillow at night, but put on a brave face by day. But the  Bible say’s Gen 29 v³¹ When the Lord saw that Leah was not loved, he enabled her to conceive. Isn’t it encouraging to know that God notices the unloved ones; He chooses the one’s whom the world rejects and blesses them?  We can see that from verse 32 onwards, how Leah was blessed.

³² Leah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben,^[b] for she said, “It is because the Lord has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now.”

³³ She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Because the Lord heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon.^[c]

³⁴ Again she conceived, and when she gave birth to a son she said, “Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” So he was named Levi.^[d]

God had blessed Leah with 3 sons, but that wasn’t enough for her; she still craved for her husband’s love and approval, which obviously wasn’t forthcoming. So, she remained in her misery. That’s what happens when we are too focused on getting approval from the people around us and not focused on God. Unless we learn to find adequacy in Him who is El Shaddai, the All Sufficient One, a God who is more than enough for us, nothing ever will be enough for us.  

Let us look at Rachel’s life. Rachel apparently had everything going for her- beauty, husband’s love. But she could not have children Gen 30 v 1 says "Now when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister. Just think about the irony of the situation. Both sisters were miserable and envious of each other…

Although everything looked great from  the outside, Rachel was empty on the  inside. Her sister was fruitful, but she was barren.

You see many times we look at outward appearances of people around us and think that they lead wonderful lives. Great pics on FB, Instagram… awesome vacations, beautiful clothes, houses  etc.  In effect, they project a grand lifestyle, when they may actually be empty from within. We compare their projected images with our real images and wrongly conclude that everything is perfect in their lives. When we look at the lives of people around us- projected or real, we need to be careful not to give place   to envy in our minds. Envy is no solution to our problems. It only makes us blind to what we have and focused on what we lack.

Lessons from the life of Jonah

Today, I want to share a few lessons from the life of Jonah (Chapter 1). First, the story very briefly and then the lessons I learnt from it.

Jonah was a prophet of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II. His  commission, was to convey a message from God to the people of Nineveh.

The Assyrians who were barbarians noted for their brutality,had by then destroyed the entire northern kingdom of Israel. The book of Jonah begins with a command from God, to Jonah, to go to Nineveh and prophesy to its wicked inhabitants. But Jonah was not overly enthusiastic about this assignment; in fact he was  reluctant to go, not only because he knew that they would laugh at him, but he also greatly feared that they would kill him if he went and preached to them. It is easy to understand his reluctance, if we visualize ourselves in an identical situation.  Imagine, if God were to tell us today, 'I'm going to bring terrible judgment on Pakistan. I want you to go to there and tell the terrorists to repent.' Just think about it… They would chop off our head in 2 minutes. Our first response then, would be to flee as far away as possible.

Jonah also had another selfish motive in running away from his assignment. He wanted God’s judgement to fall on the Assyrians in Nineveh and see them destroyed even as they had destroyed his beloved Israel.

So, Jonah, headed in the opposite direction to a place called Tarshish. Nineveh was about 500 miles to the east of Israel and Tarshish was about 2500 miles to the west, on the coast of what is currently Spain.  Jonah  was wasting his time and money to do something he was not supposed to be doing, rather than investing these resources to do the thing that God was calling him to do.

Isn’t it strange that a prophet like Jonah imagined that he could escape God and his assignment by running away to Tarshish?

To continue with the story, Jonah was now on the ship, sleeping blissfully.

All the while the ship sailed smoothly over the sea, Jonah forgot all about God and his assignment. But then God sent a fierce storm and the ship was on the verge of being broken to pieces. While Jonah was surprisingly still asleep below the deck of the ship, the sailors tried to do everything within their power to save the ship. They threw out the excess baggage and even cried   out to their gods for help. Then the sailors cast lots to determine who was the cause of their misfortune, and not surprisingly, Jonah’s name came up. Knowing full well that he was the root cause of all the trouble, Jonah offers to be chucked overboard.  And so, the sailors reluctantly threw him  overboard. 

Now Jonah’s very life was in danger. Did Jonah deserve to escape from the situation? No: But the Lord "provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah and bring him safely ashore.

So what are the  lessons that we can take from this story?

1.     We serve a God of second chances. In this book we see God who is revealed not so much as  powerful and  mighty, but as a loving and caring God who wants to extend his grace towards everyone. Jonah did not want the Ninevites to escape the wrath of God. Jonah’s hatred for Nineveh was probably greater than his love for God and that is what ultimately caused him to disobey God. But God loved these Ninevites, even though Jonah hated them. And I sometimes think that there is an awful lot of Jonah in us. It is funny how sometimes we want God’s grace for ourselves when we sin and fall short but we do not want God to extend the same grace to others when they fall short. We forget the fact that we serve a God who loves each of us equally and unconditionally: He cannot love me more if I do something good or less if I sin and fall short.

2.     Are we  on the right boat. Like Jonah, there are times when we go to great lengths to do the things that we are not supposed to do rather than the things that God is calling us to do. Jonah  was in the wrong place with the wrong set of people. For, though the sailors needed to be on the ship on account of their work, Jonah had no business being on board with them. He was supposed to be in Nineveh doing the work that God had assigned to him. So he found himself in the middle of a storm caused by his own rebellion, which affected not only him but also the sailors on the ship.

 When we are in a place other than where God intends for us to be, he can cause a storm to shake up our life and bring us back on track. Though the storm may have been intended for us, our friends, family or acquaintances could also be affected. Then they would be left with no other option but to throw us out of their life.

3.     Be careful about who is travelling with you in your boat. The reverse of the above statement  also holds true.  We can be a Jonah or we can have a Jonah with us. The sailors were affected by the storm meant for Jonah and as soon as they threw him out, the storm was stilled. Note, they were reluctant to chuck him out in the beginning, but when the fury of the storm kept increasing, they had to throw him out. Is there a Jonah in our boat? Someone or something (it could be anything- a relationship, an attachment, a person, an emotion) that is causing a storm to brew in our life? Then, don’t hold on. We need to let go, before we become victims of a storm not intended for us.

4.     God’s provision does not always come gift wrapped per our specifications. Sometimes we fail to recognize a provision because it was not what we expected. The fish may have been smelly and  dirty; but it was really a provision from God for Jonah’s escape. Had God not send the big fish at the right  time, Jonah would surely have perished.  But did Jonah see it as a provision. No, . Not immediately. To him it appeared to be more of a problem than a solution.  But when God put Jonah in the belly of the fish, we see him repenting and getting back on track  to achieve God’s purpose. That might not have happened if he had been  rescued by a big comfortable ship.  Many times, we see too see God’s provision as a problem. But what we need to remember is that God does not work as per our specifications. He has his own reasons for doing something. He may put us in an uncomfortable place for a while  to reroute us and point us in the right direction, so that we can achieve the purpose for which he has called us.

A fresh look at the story of David and Goliath

We’ve all heard the story about how a young shepherd boy defeated a huge Philistinian giant, and delivered God’s people from the clutches of the Philistines. The account of this epic battle is recorded  in 1 Samuel, 17. The Israelites were pitted  against  the Philistines. Both armies were encamped on 2 mountains on opposite sides of   the valley of Elah.

Running away from challenges: Goliath, was the tyrant used by the Philistines to bully the Israelites every day. This bullying did not happen   for 1 or 2 days but continued twice a day for 40 whole days.  Interestingly, every morning, God’s people followed the daily army drill. They dressed for the fight, picked up their weapons but when they heard Goliath’s challenge, they turned and fled away from the challenge.  And their leader –  king Saul – who was supposedly responsible for taking up the challenge sat fearfully in his tent.

Isn’t it interesting that Goliath never once attacked the Israelites, he just challenged them from afar but that was sufficient to scare the Israelites.

A common tactic used to demoralize your opponent is to create fear in their heart. If you succeed in doing this, they may give up  or even if they fight, they would  do so halfheartedly and eventually lose. So, in effect, you’ve won the battle with your words before it even began. Here Goliath was doing something similar. In fact, Goliath defeated the Israelites on basis of fear alone. The fight had gone out of the Israelites long before the battle began.

This is a significant strategy of that the devil uses against believers. For some of us the battle is over even before it begins.  The fight goes out of us when we are faced with a challenge- a bad prognosis, financial problems, challenges at workplace etc. What we need to keep in mind is that intimidation and creating fear is the most powerful tool of the enemy. Before we face any challenge, we must face our fear itself. John 1: 1 says ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. Today we have the scriptures with us, we have Jesus in our midst. Why should we be intimated?

Accepting the challenge: What about David? He was seeing the same Goliath, he was hearing the same threats, yet he was unmoved. One reason was that he was looking at Goliath through an entirely different perspective. He was not focusing on how big Goliath was, his focus was on the bigness of his God as compared to Goliath. The Israelites on the other hand saw only how big Goliath was. God was relegated somewhere to the background.

Also, David was not focusing on the threats of Goliath but on the faithfulness of a God, who had rescued him from difficulties earlier. David knew that the same God who delivered him from the lion and the bear would also deliver him now.

Second reason is in chapter 16 where we see how Samuel anointed David to be set apart for God. David was filled with the Spirit of God and so he could stand up to any intimidation.

 On the other hand, Saul who was the logical choice to fight with Goliath, was scared. At one time, he was a fearless leader who had led his people to victory many times.  But that was before the Spirit of the Lord departed from him. As the Spirit left Saul, his courage also left him.

Today, we are a people set apart for God. We have his Holy Spirit inside of us. Why should we then be intimidated?

The fight: This was not a fair fight at all. It wasn’t Goliath against David. It was Goliath against David and the Lord God of Israel. The battle was over for Goliath before it began. He was a dead man as soon as David accepted the challenge.

But David was wise with his words, “the Lord will deliver you into my hand.” David was bold, but his boldness was in God,  not in himself. He did not forget that this was not his battle, this was the battle of the Lord.

And poor Goliath – he had no idea what was about to hit him. Infuriated at David’s boldness, he advanced to kill him. But David didn’t run away like the other Israelites. Instead, David hastened to meet the Philistine.

Goliath with all his weapons of war  and David with just his staff and sling. David hurled a stone from his sling with all his might, and that was the end of the mighty Goliath.

I would close with some footnotes:

1.     Goliath never leaves if we don’t take up the challenge and fight back.  Here we see Goliath came back twice each day for 40 days until David finally went down to face him in the valley. Our giants are similar. They will never depart on their own. Until we stand on the Word and the promises of God and fight in Jesus’ name, they will never leave.

2.     David needed Goliath: Though he probably didn’t realize it, Goliath was good for David. David who was to become King needed to gain the confidence of the people that he was qualified to lead them. When David defeated Goliath, he proved a point.

We too need our Goliath’s or the challenges in our life so that we can grow in and through them. God uses every challenge we face to make us stronger. 

3.     There is some amount of doubt and some amount of belief in all of us. Faith is choosing to believe inspite of our doubts. Everyone knew that God was all powerful and well able to deliver them from their enemies.  Many times, we have head knowledge which we don’t put into practice. Anyone could have overcome  Goliath had they taken a step in faith. David kept his doubts aside and chose to act by faith and God honoured him.