Standing Firm Against Giants

It seems everyone in the media is talking about Brett Favre this week, so I’m not going to talk about his comeback with the Minnesota Vikings (whoops...I just did). This past week Y.E. Yang stared down the golfing “immortal” Tiger Woods and beat him in the PGA Championship (one of the four major championships of the year). It wouldn’t have been unusual if Yang would have wilted against Tiger since Tiger was 14-0 in major championships when leading going into the final round before facing Yang this past Sunday.

David was a small shepherd boy when he was sent to the battlefield to provide food for his brothers. He likely had no idea that God would move him to fight the giant Goliath (1 Samuel 17). Yet God provided David with all he needed in a slingshot and 5 stones. Later in life he was on the run from the Israeli king Saul due to Saul’s being jealous of David’s popularity with the Israelites. David had at least two opportunity to kill Saul and end his harassment, but knew that it was not God’s will for him to do so. Likewise, Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendnego refused to bow down to their king’s idols because they served the one true God (Daniel 3). Yet another example is when God used Elijah to show the nation of Israel the one true God against 450 prophets of Baal (1st Kings 18:20-40)

So, we have examples of Christians who were willing to stand firm for their faith against what the world would view as giants. We are told that “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea.’ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:6). So, do you believe that your God is able to slay giants? What do your actions say?

Who’s Name Are You Standing Up For?

Do you want to see a player get angry? Call them out and say they don’t have the ability will, or character needed to do the task at hand. This isn’t a newly found behavior…just go to a local playground and watch the response if a child is told the same thing. Have you ever thought that the reward for actively defending your “reputation” wasn’t worth the price to do it? A better alterative is to make sure people know the true nature of the God we serve.

Men like Pharaoh, the Pharisees, and Pilate were all worried about defending their reputation…you can see how that turned out. Men like Joseph and Job were more concerned with obeying God than proving their critics wrong. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendnego were thrown in a furnace for refusing to worship a god other than the God they served (Daniel 3). The furnace was so hot that it killed the soldiers who placed then in the furnace, but Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendgo walked out unharmed. David was determined to fight Goliath so God could show His glory in taking out this disgraced Philistine who was trying to defy the armies of the living God.

In Elijah’s day, the people of Israel began worshipping Baal…to the point where Elijah was God’s only prophet in Israel (there were 450 Baal prophets). Elijah had a contest with Baal’s prophets to show the people of Israel that God is the ONLY God (1 Kings 18:16-40). Baal’s prophets could not get Baal to light their altar for their sacrifice despite dancing and cutting themselves. Elijah poured water over his altar 3 times and prayed “…let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” God sent fire than burned the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil…it even licked up the water in the trench.

We can have 1 of 2 responses when others have a different view or criticize us. We can be about self-preservation/promotion and make it all about ourselves OR we can stop and think how will God be glorified in my response.

Mental Toughness

Did you hear about Tiger Woods winning the US Open this weekend while fighting through knee pain? If so, you may have seen the new ad featuring Tiger's father talking about him. In the ad he says, "Tiger, I promise you that you'll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life. And he hasn't; and he never will." Maybe in his admiration for his son Earl Woods forgot about Jesus, who exhibited greatest mental toughness of all time, or made an obvious exception in his head.

I am sure hitting a golf ball through distractions, the pressure to win the US Open, and knee pain is quite challenging. However, I doubt that Tiger will ever have to play golf after having a spear stuck in his side or being nailed to a cross. Don't get me wrong, I respect the heck out of what Tiger did this past weekend (even more so now knowing that he will need season ending knee surgery)…but it wasn't nearly the punishment that Christ went through for us and it didn't save my soul. So, not only is God better than Shaft…he's also better than Tiger.

We should be overfilled with joy that Christ our Lord has the greatest mental toughness of all time. How wonderful is it for us to be able to rely on the great I Am who does not change in spite of difficult circumstances (Numbers 23:19)? When we trust in God and His resolve, He is able to accomplish great things for His kingdom regardless of how the situation looks at the time. The accounts of David slaying Goliath (1 Samuel 17), the account of the fiery furnace (Shadrach, Meschach, and Abendnego in Daniel 3), Paul on his missionary journeys, and the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60) all show us how we can reflect God's mental toughness when we remain in Him.