A
favorite activity with Henry, our three-year-old grandson, is reading with him
before bedtime. In a picture from
Henry’s first month, he is lying on a blanket, and I am right next to him
holding up a little book and “reading” its simple words. Now he has quite a collection of books and
also brings some home from his library visits.
But even with so many books, one of his favorite tales is about David
and Goliath in First Bible Stories, a
very simple children’s collection here at our house. It is so curious how children want to read
the same stories over and over, but stories of faith can never be recalled too
often.
Having faith,
keeping faith often involve facing overwhelming odds and troublesome
circumstances yet holding fast to an expectant confidence in God’s ability to
powerfully intervene and turn things around.
Such was the case with David, the young shepherd boy, when he hears
Goliath challenging and taunting the Israelites for the 40th day in
a row. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he
should defy the armies of the living God?” he asks with boldness (1 Sam.
17:26). David’s trust was in the power
of God, and the Philistines fled when their giant was felled by the stone from
the sling of the young boy. Simply told
in the children’s book, Henry could probably read David’s story to me at this
point. He does “read” other much longer books
with dramatic flair!
God has made major changes and transformations
after a period of 40 days or even years in other well-known Bible stories. Early in the Old Testament, God had been
grieved by the wickedness of the people He had created and decided to destroy
all life except for Noah, who “walked with God” (Gen. 6). Noah followed God’s instructions, building an
ark for his family and every animal species to ride out the flood killing everything
outside--washing away evil and starting over. Conversely, the Israelites wandered in the
wilderness for 40 years for not obeying God’s guidance and instruction.
After
Jesus’s baptism, He fasted and prayed in the wilderness for 40 days and
successfully resisted all three temptations of the devil (Mathew 4). This was a dramatic and necessary initiation into
His earthly ministry, which radically challenged the religious folk and
masterfully displayed both the compassion and power of God. Following His crucifixion, “He showed
Himself to these men (apostles) and gave many convincing proofs that he was
alive. He appeared to them over a period
of forty days and spoke of the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3 NIV).
Over
the Christmas holiday, I realized is 40 years ago this winter that my life
veered from a normal, healthy narrative to a more unusual story. Over that winter, after several months of
illness, I was diagnosed with paratyphoid, not your typical winter malady. Filling in the years from then until now
would require something of book length although there were years of healthy
living woven in. More recently, however,
I have felt challenged by giant-like seeming symptoms of pain and rather
frustrating efforts to find a diagnosis and relief in the medical world.
Thankfully,
I have also sought God and listened for His voice of guidance, hope, and reassurance,
and His promises of healing. I have been
changed and transformed over these 40 years, including innumerable occasions when
hope for good health was on empty but God’s reservoir of courage and power “rekindled”
gifts of faith and belief. My own
version of Henry’s favorite story with its “stone in the forehead of the giant”
before me by the strength of and confidence in the God David relied on—sounds
like a plan to me.
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