Today’s Scripture Reading (December
10, 2012): 1 Samuel 17
Sometimes I
wish for the simplicity of being a child. When I was a child there were a
number of things that I did not have to struggle through. As a child I ‘knew’
that God existed. He had to exist because every trusted person in my life told
me that he existed. I ‘knew’ that God had created the earth and that he was
intimately involved with all of his creation. There was no question about God’s
power or about the existence of heaven – I was not sure that I wanted to go to
heaven, the grownups really needed to work on making heaven sound a little more
exciting to my young ears, but I did not doubt that it existed. The doubts came
later, but at that time I had what experts would now call a reflected faith – I
reflected the faith that I had experienced around me.
I think that
is where David found himself. He was the little brother; too young to go to war
with his brothers, but he reflected the faith that was around him. The result
of that faith was that he believed that the God of Israel was bigger than the Philistine
giant who was taunting the army of Israel. It was a faith born out of a childlike
innocence – a faith that the older brothers and the members of the army had
lost somewhere along the way.
But the
faith that we hold as adults has grown up. The faith we have as adults is
important – it is developed over years of experiences and trials. The faith of
the adult is actually stronger than the faith of the child. It has been
wrestled with over time and it has transformed into something very special. But
there are still times when we need to be able to take God at his word and come
to him with the faith of a child, believing that God is still bigger than the
evil giants that inhabit our lives – no matter where it is that those giants
are found.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Samuel 18
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