{"id":9694,"date":"2021-07-26T02:28:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T02:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/?p=9694"},"modified":"2021-07-26T02:28:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T02:28:14","slug":"live-with-your-eye-on-past-victories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/?p=9694","title":{"rendered":"Live with your eye on past victories"},"content":{"rendered":"

When David heard Goliath\u2019s threats and insults, a righteous indignation rose up in his chest. He knew he had to do something. Saul was less than enthusiastic about David\u2019s idea. Essentially, he told him, \u201cThere\u2019s no way you can fight that giant and live.\u201d It\u2019s not surprising that Saul would doubt David\u2019s ability. Not only was he prone to fearing those who might outshine him, but Goliath was a formidable opponent.<\/span><\/p>\n

David\u2019s confidence, especially when contrasted with the fear of the experienced Israeli army, must have seemed like laughable na\u00efvet\u00e9. Saul was an experienced warrior and a war hero in his own right. Yet even he was not lining up to fight Goliath. Saul and his men were not cowards. They were simply seasoned warriors who recognized the immensity of the challenge before them. They were, in some ways, wise to avoid conflict with the giant. It is no wonder, then, that Saul immediately discounted David. Nothing on the outside of David indicated that he would have even a chance of success.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet David did not let this discourage him. David had seen God come through and help him overcome the odds, and he knew God would do it again. David had seen seemingly insurmountable situations before. He had faced terrifying opponents who seemed to have the advantage, and yet he had come out the victor. David recited his history as a defense for the likelihood of his future success. This account of God\u2019s goodness swayed King Saul, and he gave David permission to fight the giant.<\/span><\/p>\n

We all have victories in our history\u2014moments when circumstances were dire, yet all the pieces came together at the last second. Some of these victories are small, and some are big. We all also have defeats in our history\u2014times when we made poor choices or when the choices of others caused havoc in our lives. Too often, we remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember. We have a choice when viewing our own personal history. We can live with our failures as the standard, or we can live with our victories as the standard.<\/span><\/p>\n

David chose to live with his eye on his past victories, and this gave him the grit he needed to believe he could win against Goliath. Later in his life, we see David making a similar choice when he was faced with the devastation of his city, the kidnapping of his family, and the rumblings of betrayal from his men. In the face of such dire circumstances, David strengthened himself in the Lord (see 1 Sam. 30:6). I believe one of the ways he did this was by recalling his history with God and the many times God had come through for him in the past. Based on that history, he strengthened his heart to have hope for the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the same way, our history with God should serve as a powerful reminder of His nature and power in our lives. We access the grace and the anointing of our personal encounters with God in past seasons by remembering those encounters and our experiences of God\u2019s faithfulness. Often, the best way to recalibrate our thinking and perspective is to remind ourselves of our testimonies with God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that God has come through for us in the past brings strength to our present.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

adapted from \u201cGiant Slayers\u2019 by Leif Hetland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When David heard Goliath\u2019s threats and insults, a righteous indignation rose up in his chest. He knew he had to do something. Saul was less than enthusiastic about David\u2019s idea. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,51,45,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-identity","category-mindset","category-obedience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9694"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9694\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9695,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9694\/revisions\/9695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}