When you sit down in a chair, you are making a statement. You are telling everyone you trust when you sit in the chair, it will hold you up and will keep you from experiencing a painful, and potentially embarrassing, fall to the floor. Whether you realize it or not, you are making a proclamation of trust.
Each time we get a new group of kiddos at kamp, we stand outside on the blacktop while each kid is introduced individually in front of their peers and the whole staff. They walk them up on the stage and stand them on the top step of the podium and for a few minutes, they have everyone’s attention. While they stand up there, all of us counselors go nuts, screaming and yelling, and “pleading” for them to come to our barn. It’s pretty special for the kids.
Well, day one the Lord starting teaching me. And it happened at this little introductory, gala event. When they introduced Ryan Lynn, he was the smallest kamper I had been given so far. He later told me he was born way premature and that was the reason for his small stature. When they introduced Ryan and told him he would be in my barn, I ran to the bottom of the slide to wait for him and take him to the room. Ryan eagerly hopped on and made the less than five foot thrill ride to the bottom. But when his feet hit the bottom, he decided to use them for jumping and not for walking. He jumped straight into my arms.
Ryan made a profound statement in that moment. He trusted me. Even though he didn’t know me, he trusted. He knew I would catch him and knew I would hold him up.
Every term I have been reading the story of David and Goliath to my kids. And every time I learn something different. It speaks of courage, trust, power, honor, and love. When David first approached the King, Saul gave him his own armor and told him to go fight in it. But, it was too much for David. Too big. Too clunky. Too foreign. Too external. Instead, David went to the stream, laying claim to things he knew and trusted, five smooth stones. His reason being he had killed lions and bears and other beasts of the field and the Lord had always provided him strength and made his sling aim true. Why go anywhere else or trust in anything other than what the Lord had always provided David with? Who was Goliath anyway? Another beast of the field?
I think when David put on that armor, we catch a glimpse of something else. Why did David even go to Saul in the first place? Why not just go and kill the beast and get it over with? Why even hesitate? Did David need validation from somewhere or something? Was he scared? When David put on the armor, he is showing all of us his doubt and his fear. Did he speak to soon? Could he really kill the beast? So, he trusted in something other than what the Lord had blessed him with. He trusted in external armor belonging to someone else. And he realized it would never do. So, in his fear, he went back to the things he knew and found comfort and power in the Lord’s tools, which happened to be five smooth stones.
So, David went after the enemy speaking defiance to anyone who would challenge his God. The bible makes a point of telling us Goliath cursed David but David responded, simply saying, “How dare you stand against my God?” He closes his monologue (every great hero has one) to Goliath by saying the battle was already the Lord’s.
This story screams of multiple lessons to be learned. But, today, the lesson in trust. David trusted in what he knew. Five smooth stones. He trusted in the Lord to give him power. He knew the Lord had already decided the outcome of the battle. David had no idea if he would live or die, but he knew he must fight, must take a stand. So he did. With five smooth stones, he trusted in the Lord.
Just like David who is Just like Ryan, we must trust. We must stand on something, leaving the rest up to the Lord. We don’t learn how to trust by sitting in one place. We learn how to trust by jumping or running to meet an enemy who the bible calls a “champion.” Let’s pick five smooth stones and get after it. The battle is already the Lord’s, right?
When Ryan jumped, he made a statement. When you sit in a chair, you make a statement.
Why is it easier to trust a chair then a God who went to the cross for us? Besides, a chair has never been known to say, “I love you.”
Sit. Stand. Jump. Trust.
-kounselorjon