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There is a certain story that we find in the Bible that is very familiar to the average Christian who has been in church for any length of time. It is found over in 1 Samuel 17:1-11. It is the story of David and Goliath. It starts off by telling us that there was a literal valley between the armies of the Philistines and the armies of Israel. And there was this massive champion of the Philistines who challenged Saul's army to send down one of their best fighters and meet him in that low place of the valley. However, when Saul and all Israel heard this giant Philistine's taunting words they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Oh, how Israel should have remembered what the Word of God declared!
Psalms 121:1 (KJV)
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
It is never a good idea to gaze at the low places of life, nor should you come down to the enemies low position to fight him either. We should make him come up to us to the high place if he wants to battle us. Too much focus on the low places of life is to fail to look above from where our help comes from. The problem with most of us is that we tend to regard things as humans rather sons and daughters of God. In other words, we place a great deal of attention to our five senses. What we can taste, touch, smell, see, and hear. Therefore, if we can't taste it, touch it, smell it, hear it, or see it, then we really don't believe in it. It is for this reason that we have so much trouble trusting God, simply because God cannot be perceived through our natural senses.
The Bible teaches us that God is a Spirit, and those who wish to worship Him must do it in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Therefore, man does not see God through natural eyes...it must be with his or her faith eyes. One of the first problems we might have in looking above to where our help comes from is that we CAN'T see God, naturally speaking of course. If we could see him like one of our family members we would have little trouble trusting Him. If it were more common to hear God's voice audibly, we'd be much more inclined to put our faith in Him. Unfortunately, because I can't see God naturally, or hear Him audibly, or touch Him with my physical hands, it's easy for me to forget that God is near me.
A second dilemma why we fail to look higher to our Help in times of trouble, is that we CAN easily see our problems! These assault our five senses on a continual basis, and because we can see them, hear them, and touch them; they reinforce themselves as being more real to us than what we can't see spiritually. These circumstances or problems will then occupy my future, invade my serenity, dominate my thoughts and plunder my peace of mind. They are consistently before our conscious mind and thereby constantly mocking and depriving us the victory that belongs to us.When we are greeted by these problems each morning as we awake; and day after day they promote our lack in ability to overcome them, they eventually breed fear in our minds which ultimately takes away our peace and is much more likely to produce confusion.
It is most common for us to look into the valleys of life, to see and hear our giants standing there taunting and humiliating us; and that's usually where our gaze stops and sadly we will look no further than that low place. Ever notice how we tend to always stop with our focus on the problem, and thereby infusing us to forget that above that problem is a God who is: - Greater than any problem that we might be facing.
- Bigger than any mountain that needs to be climbed.
- And stronger than any enemy that should attempt to come against us!
We just need to raise our faith eyes a bit higher and see that our Help is there! We need to get our eyes off the valley of despair and upon the glorious hills above!
Now, by the time David arrives on to the scene, Goliath has already been stepping out in to the valley and breathing threats against the people of God for 40 days. And, for 40 days, Saul and his mighty warriors would focus on this Philistine gargantuan and that's where their visual rested. They could never get around his threats, or his size, or the thunder of his voice as it echoed throughout the valley. They could never bring themselves to believe the promises of God that He would deliver them from this enemy. They could never get their sight above the vision of that desolate valley, or in terms that we might understand: above the problem, and therefore it filled their horizon, and that's where Saul and his armies placed their: - Focus
- Hope
- Faith
- and courage...
...and that's where it completely stopped! Yet, here comes a 17 year old boy who is too naive, or too full of the Spirit of God, to bow down to this irritating problem. Note: that David never once called Goliath a giant! The startling comparison between Saul and his army and this boy named David is that they were both looking at the same problem. Yet, Saul perceived that the giant was too insurmountable to eliminate, while David didn't even see Goliath as being a giant at all. Saul's eyes stopped upon the size of Goliath, but David looked much higher! David said you can stop with the problem if you want to, but I'm going to look to the Problem Solver!
If you will recall from another account from God's Word; it was while walking on the water toward Jesus that Peter looked down, and the Bible says he "saw the wind boisterous." If that is where Peter's gaze would have stopped, he would have certainly drowned. But, when he looked up and began to focus on Jesus again, Peter was lifted from the sea and returned to the safety of the boat. If Abraham would have considered his own body obviously too old, he wouldn't have had the faith to believe God for a son; but he looked above the circumstance of the natural and got a hold of the promise from God's high perspective.
2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
If we walk by sight, we will definitely be discouraged more often: living in fear, and our problems will be dominating our life. But somewhere along the line we have to start looking through our faith eyes. We need to get our vision off of the valley and place them above; this is where our Help comes from. We need to stop looking down and start looking up. Stop looking at the problem, and start looking at the Problem Solver! Let me close with this: I know that many of us are facing very real problems today. - Financial problems
- Health problems
- Spiritual problems
- Marital problems
And for many of us, these problems are giants within our lives that have us sitting in our tents, to afraid to come out or expect anything to be different than what has been daily taunting and humiliating us to our face. Please hear me correctly...I am not minimizing the reality of these problems that any one of you may be faced with, for I know they are real in their nature. I know that none of you are making them up, and I agree that they do exist and can be intimidating to say the least. But, I am trying to encourage someone here today with this paramount truth; and that is you're not looking high enough if they are succeeding to paralyze your life from mobilizing effectively in the promises of God. If you are spending all your time gazing into the valley of problems; then please lift your eyes higher and realize there is help from above. If God is for you...I ask you: who could possibly stand against or oppose you, really? Therefore, lift up your eyes to the hills, from where comes your help! Ain't nobody in the valley worth having a picnic with I assure you.
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