Brave Hearts

When I face a giant, my natural reaction is to want to run away. That’s normal; it’s called fear. Somehow I think that if I run away and ignore the giant, it will go away!

What about you? Do you ever do that?

Lost hearts run away from giants; brave hearts run toward them!

1 Samuel 17 – David & Goliath

The Israelites ran away after hearing and seeing Goliath. "As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright" (1 Samuel 17.24). David, upon hearing the giant, volunteers to take on the giant.  David says to Saul: "Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll go fight this Philistine!" (1 Samuel 17.32)

After exchanging trash talk, David runs toward the giant! "As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it from his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead." (1 Samuel 17.48-49)

Lost hearts run away from giants; brave hearts run toward them!

Are you a brave heart?
Remember David was "a boy," he wasn’t considered king material or soldier material, but he had a brave heart!

It’s really about HEART and PERSPECTIVE!
Next to God, there are no giants! Lost hearts are always focused on how big the giant is; brave hearts are always focused on how big God is!

What about the giant you’re facing right now?
Are you focused on the size of the giant or on God?  What do you need to do about it this week?

Toward the end of David’s life, Scripture reports on the battle with other descendants of the giants: "These four Philistines were descended from the giants of Gath, but they were killed by David and his warriors." It all started with David!

What would this Valley look like if we stop running away from the giants and we start running toward them with brave hearts?

O God, even when our knees are knocking and there are knots in our stomach, give us courage to run toward the giants in our lives! And as we do, help us to be good models for others so that they will be able to kill the giants in their lives, too! Amen.

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