Some years ago now in South Africa, I attended a conference in Johannesburg which brought together well over one and half thousand Christians. The theme of the conference was "Giants" the ones that were looming and that needed to be identified and killed as David killed Goliath (1 Sam 17). The giants that the conference were talking about were things that were embedded in society following its move into democratic government; poverty, education, discrimination, corruption, etc. These are not simple things but as Christians we are told that slaying giants is very easy if God is beside us. We should not make the mistake of saying that God is on our side because that implies that there are sides, rather we need to understand that God is beside us walking along the way. Even if he challenges us at the same time with questions that point to our own lack of ability (Job 38.1-11). In our times of giant facing and fear that comes with it is the need to understand that God walks next to us granting us hope and courage to see our way through to ending the menace posed by the giant.
We all face giants at some time in our lives. Those giants may seem totally impossible to overcome and get around to continue our lives. For some those giants may be intimately personal, depression say, or the loneliness confronting us with the death of someone close. They may be slightly more distant such as persistent debt, mortgage repayments, etc. They may not affect us directly but may affect a community to which we belong, escalating costs, reduction in membership, etc. They, of course, may also be large and affect everyone such as those tackled by the conference. It does not matter what the size of our personal or collective giants we need to confront them in the same manner that David did with five pebbles taken from the stream of life. Needless to say, it is all very well to reel of some simple things like, faith, walking with God, love, hope and prayer as examples of pebbles to take into a fight. In the end David used only one of the pebbles not all five, So each pebble is good for one shot at the giants that face us and we have to discern which pebble to use so that we effectively destroy the giant. Is it really as simple as that?
No, it is not. Giants are however easily killed what is not so easy is the courage that David had to face, the terrors that the giants form in us. Remember that the rest of the army was terrified of the giant and it was that group terror that paralysed their actions. It was the realisation and example of one person that allowed for the success of the whole. Paul puts it slightly differently in the Corinthian correspondence but essentially the same thought is there and he leads through example in adversity (2 Cor 6. 1-13). We are to be lights in the world, a world that is filled with giants. We need to trust ourselves as well as trusting God's presence. Rachel Botsman (@rachelbotsman) points out that the essence of trusting ourselves is that ability to sit in the presence of doubts and uncertainty in order to learn and eventually grow. The understanding is that we grow from what our uncertainties and fears teach us, quite often reflected in the genre known as LitRPG or MMORPG books. Giants reach out into our hearts and kill us through the fears that creep in as we try to face them. Just as the disciples feared the gathering storm (Mk 4.35-41) we also fear what we cannot easily control. Yet, when the light of Christ is shone into the darkness we are able to overcome the fears and reach out to those who are around us and fear as well. Hope, love, prayer, faith etc are all their to help us in our journey travelling along the way that Christ has opened for us. Conquering the fears that overwhelm us in the presence of God. Facing challenge changes us, facing fear heals us, facing the giants makes us a community to be feared.
Only when we truly overcome the terrors that confront us as a family and community joined together will we become as Christ to our neighbours. Even at the darkest moment in our lives, if we look carefully, we will find that Christ's light is beside us guiding us along the stormy way into the brightness of a new future. In approaching our future, not only as individuals but also as faith communities we also need to come to this understanding and follow David and Christ with courage to face our fears of the future and our doubts as to our abilities. Like David we take it one step at a time, preparing and facing, as it is a giant that we can conquer if we allow ourselves to face the fear we all have that there is little we can do. In facing our future as a community we also have to sit with our uncertainties and trust in ourselves, as well as in God's saving presence to guide us in facing our doubts and fears. It is only when we do this that we can say as the murdered priest, Luis Espinal, wrote "Train us, Lord, to fling ourselves upon the impossible, for beyond the impossible is your grace and your presence; we cannot fall into emptiness. The future is an enigma, our road is covered by mist, but we want to go on giving ourselves, because you continue hoping amid the night and weeping tears through a thousand human eyes".
No comments:
Post a Comment