I have been watching reports on world events and you have to love my family who is always up for some bible discussions. Our latest discussion led us to talking about revelation and the second coming of Jesus. I have to be honest, looking at all of the crazy things happening in the world, I have pondered if our Lord will come back some time soon.
It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.
1 Corinthians 15:52
The bible says it will happen when we least expect it. I honestly have feared this moment since I was young and first heard of it. The whole idea of the world colapsing as we know it, the dangers and trials that will come after. The thought of the anti-christ walking among us. But as an adult, I have come to have peace about it. Revalation is a hard book to read for anyone, but my husband and I decided to read it last year together. My inlaws also read through it and it often becomes the discussion. What will it be like, will God allow us to see the destruction? Or will He shield our eyes? Will it come tomorrow? or ten years from now? Will it come 100 years from now? What will the rapture look like? Will we just dissapear befores peoples eyes like a vanishing ghost? Will we rise up on clouds to our Father? Will we know everything immediately? Or will we get to sit at our Father's feet as He tells us great tales? Will I know who my family is when I get there? Or will the glory of God be so much that I won't care?
I have so many questions! I have a tendency of not wanting to be suprised. I want to know what will happen, when it will happen, and how will I feel about it. I guess I want to control it. That's always been my biggest delihma with God, I want to control things that happen to me, I want to have a say. I never thought I wanted to let that go, until the day I did. I will never forget how free I felt in that moment! Along with the control, guilt, and worry left me as well! I have to remind myself daily to let God handle it. That I don't have to be in control, God's got me, He won't let me fall.
Throughout the Bible, it says "Fear not". Some people say it's in there 365 times, I won't claim that, simply because I don't have the proof to back it up and I would never want to talk falsly against God's word. But I do know from reading that it is in there a whole lot! Many times it is followed by the fact that we serve the God most High! Like in Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
In verse 10, God states, "Be still and know I am God;". He wasn't saying, "Hey there's nothing scary out there." Of course life is scary! There are terrors all around us, no matter where we live, no matter our race, no matter our background, no matter our age, no matter our size, we are all afraid of something. God didn't say that life would leave us untouched. He said, "be still and know I am God." Be still, don't be scared, do not fear, because I am God, I am the I AM, I am your Father, I love you and nothing can stand against me!
It was once said, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but acting despite of fear!" Which brings me to David and Goliath....
For those of you who don't know much about the story, David was a young boy who defeated Goliath, the Giant. But first I want to give you an idea of what yound David was up against....
Goliath was a Phillistine warrior, estimated to be about 7 feet tall (if you read a newer translation of the bible it states over 9 feet tall, but according to the dead sea scrolls and other older hebrew text he was about 6'9 so that's what I'm going with.) and his armor weighed about 126lbs and his sword was about 15 lbs. The average height, according to the research I've done, of the men in the bible was between 5'2 and 5'6, so you can see how they would have seen Goliath as a giant. It would be like putting someone even shorter than me, up against a NBA star! Not to mention, he's hauling that armor and sword around like it didn't weigh anything, his armor weighed more than a typical middle schooler!
David was a faily young boy as the bible puts it. In fact while the Isrealites shook in fear not knowing who to send to fight the giant, David volunteered. King Saul, didn't want to send him, he thought it would be suicide for the young boy. But after much persuasion, King Saul allowed David to go...
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”
38 Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. 39 David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.
“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
1 Samuel 17:32-50
David didn't go into the fight believing that he was actually big enough to kill the giant, but on the belief that our God is the God most High and He will not forsake us. Just like David we are going to face giants in our lives. So we can go into battle knowing that, even though the situation may be scary, our God will never forsake us either!
Another saying I love it this, "Don't tell God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your God is!"
My prayer today is for me and all my brothers and sisters, Father I pray that when giants rise up and threaten and terrorize, that we stand strong, knowing that with You all things are possible, and nothing can stand against YOU! I love You and praise You!
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