ANNOUNCEMENT:
My first fundraising deadline was May 18th. I needed to have $5000 in my funding account. But I EXCEEDED that amount at a grand total $5422 fundraised!!! God is so good! This is all possible only because He is with me every step of the way. Even when my steps are slightly off target or not so much a step as it is me stumbling over backwards. But God is for me, He’s got my circumstances in His hand, and He has the final say in how all this turns out. More and more God is teaching me a simple truth:
He will exceed your wildest expectations.
God WANTS to exceed your wildest estimation of his blessings for you.
He will ALWAYS out give you
He will ALWAYS out love you.
He doesn’t want to to give you the bare minimum so he can watch you scrape by. He wants to see you THRIVE! Time and time again we see this in His word.
You could look at Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water to wine. The wedding feast was already in full swing, at the point where the host usually begins serving cheaper wine because the already intoxicated guests won’t care. Jesus could have given them their need, more wine, to meet the expectation. But He exceeded the expectation. He turned the water not only into wine, but into wine that far greater even than the wine that first served at the beginning of the celebration, and the guests could certainly tell.
You could look at when Jesus fed the 5000 men and their families. He didn’t just multiply the bread and fish to feed them all, which in and of its self would have been miraculous enough. There were leftovers. Baskets upon baskets of leftovers.
You could look at King David. David trusted God. He was even called “a man after God’s own heart” and he knew God would give him victory when he faced Goliath. He picked up 5 stones not because he doubted, but because he was experienced. He was a Shepard, and the Word says he was used to defending his father Jesse’s flock from wolves, bears, and even lions. He looked over at the enemy lines and saw a beast of a man mocking his heavenly Father’s flock, so he did what he always did.
Let me paint a picture for you real quick. Actually, this may take a second, but bear with me.
You are a soldier in the Israelite army. The enemy lines are arrayed in front of you, armed to the teeth with sword, javelin, and spear. One man stands apart, in front, hands held high swinging a sword around as he barks insults at you and the rest of the Israelite army. He stands 6 cubits and a span high (9 feet 9 inches) and is wearing glittering bronze scale armor weighing 5000 shekels (about 125 pounds) Rather than large scale bloodshed, the two armies will settle the battle with a fight of two champions, one representing each army. Today marks 40 days now that Goliath has dared someone to step forth and challenge him. But how could anyone challenge HIM!? Rumor has it that the man must be part giant, it would certainly explain his ridiculous size. The man is practically an army unto himself, a champion indeed! Who would be stupid enough to challenge him in single combat?
Suddenly, you hear arguing behind you and you turn to see a young man arguing with King Saul himself. You peg him at about 16 years old at best, maybe even as young as 13. To your utter shock the king of Israel seems to concede some point to the boy. He then puts his own cloak on the boy along with a coat of armor and a bronze helm!? This makes no sense. He isn’t even old enough to go to war, and the king himself is outfitting him….. And even more surprising, the boy turns the king down, shrugs it all off, and takes off toward the river.
Shifting gears to David, you see Goliath, and you are astounded that no one has done anything about this yet! You know that you are fighting with God backing you and that He will give you victory! Saul tries to give you armor and a cloak, but it’s too heavy, unfamiliar, it’ll only slow you down. He hands you a sword, but it’s not a weapon you are trained with. You’ve spent your whole life defending your father’s flock from lions, bears, wolves and panthers. When they took a sheep, you walked right up, grabbed them by the fur, clubbed them over the head and took the sheep straight from their mouth. You see Goliath as a beast threatening you Father’s flock. So, you grab the weapon you are most familiar with, a leather sling. A militaristic weapon in its own right, ammunition would have been a round stone about two or three inches wide, but the smooth stones from the river bed will have to do. Sizing Goliath up as you would any other beast, you figure you can bring him down within 5 shots, so you grab five stones.
You approach the front lines. Your heart starts pounding in your chest.
Ba-bum
You see Goliath standing before the philistine army, bellowing his challenge and throwing our insults.
Ba-bum
He challenges your people.
He challenges your God…..
Ba-bum
God has sent you to answer that challenge.
Goliath turns and rests his Gaze on you:
“Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine curses you by his gods. “Come here,” he says, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”
Your reply:
“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. 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!”
You ready your first stone. Every shot has to count, so you aim for the head, you aim for a kill shot…..
Ba-bum
……and your aim is true.
Ok, FIRST OFF, this gets a little graphic for a typical Sunday school story. They tend to leave out the head removal part
SECOND, notice David threatens to cut off Goliath’s head, but he isn’t even holding a sword! He fully intends from the beginning to take Goliath down and use his own sword to do the deed.
THIRD……..God exceeded David’s expectations. He exceeded David’s need. He came through in a way that I’m sure was shocking. The author of the book of Samuel is not entirely clear as to why David grabbed five stones, but he killed Goliath with the very first. So say it was because Goliath had four brothers. There is some scripture that backs up the possibility of Goliath having siblings, but nothing conclusive. I think it’s simply because David knew what he was doing. David was cautious. Sure, taking out an opponent with a perfect headshot on the first try is an extremely desirable outcome, but it’s unlikely. I think David knew he would win, but he didn’t know it would be that easy. I think he went into it expecting more of a fight, more of a struggle.
But God has other plans. He not only gave David his need, a victory, He gave David an irrefutable victory that was so awe inspiring of a tale that we tell our kids of it even today, over 3000 years later.
Each and every one of us has a Goliath in our lives. A mountain too high to climb, a sea too broad to cross, a goal that seems……….impossible. But you know what set David apart? Why he was called a man after God’s heart? It wasn’t because he was a good shot with a sling, it wasn’t because of bravery or any sort of confidence in his own abilities. It was because of faith. It was because of his trust.
David trusted God. He trusted God enough to walk out onto that desolate field between two armies and face down an enemy that to him should have looked invincible. But he knew that God was on his side. “And if our God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) He knew that God had already given him victory before the battle was even fought. All he had to do was step up to the plate and God would take care of the rest. “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.” (Deuteronomy 20:4)
What is the Goliath in your life? What is that goal that seems impossible, that hight so unreachable that you look at it and just think “why bother?”
For me, right now it’s fundraising for the World Race. $18,000 is a LOT of money to raise! It’s more money than I have ever had, it’s more money than probably the worth of everything I own together, including my car. I looked at that hurtle a couple years ago and thought “God that mountain is just too big. You’ll have to send someone else because I certainly can’t do it.” And I was right, under my own power, that isn’t something I could manage. I honestly don’t think I have the sort of people skills necessary to pull together those sort of resources, yet here I am, I’ve already achieved my first fundraising goal because I’m not doing this alone. The King of heaven’s armies is behind me, pushing me forward. He is at my side, steadying my feet when I grow weary. He goes before me, clearing the way for me and winning my battles before I even fight them. He isn’t just going to meet my need, He is going to go above and beyond it.
He wants to do the same for you.
Whatever your giant is, he wants to give you victory, to topple it in a spectacular way that leaves you staring, dumbfounded at how good He is. Give him your battle, give him your struggle, and in return, He will be your victory.
Thank you for reading, thank you for your prayers and for supporting me and this crazy journey that God has called me to. My next financial deadline, or should I say God’s next victory in in my fundraising battle, is July 20th. By that point, I need to have raised $10,000. If you would like to support me, to partner with me in this mission to help spread the Gospel in Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and South America, you can do one-time or automatic monthly donations by clicking the HERE or the “Donate” link at the top of the page.
Blessings to you on your journey,
Matthew Alexander
P.S. I’m kind of a grammar nazi, so I apologize for any typos or misspellings, I was a little rushed in proofreading 😉
