Re:Generation نموونە

See an Opportunity

The way we respond to our giants has a huge impact on our lives. The difference between King David and King Saul is how they viewed Goliath. Saul saw only the impossible task of a giant staring him down. David saw something very different.

My wife and I were renovating a house a few years ago, just before our first child was due. We were on a very tight budget and I was trying to do most of the work myself but I had to get some friends in to help. When I was in work my phone rang and it was one my friends. 

“It’s not good news mate” he said, “The whole floor is rotten.”

Our new house suddenly became unlivable. 

My immediate reaction was as you can imagine. Frustration, uncertainty, fear. 

But in that moment I remember God whisper to me, “How are you going to choose to see this, as an enemy or an opportunity?”

It was an opportunity to learn. It was an opportunity for faith. It was an opportunity to reshuffle things and work harder. It was an opportunity to trust God with our finances rather than shrinking back. 

It was an opportunity for humility, after all I’d sold it to my parents that this would be an easy conversion and now I was going to have to eat my words. It was an opportunity for humility in having to ask someone if we could stay with them because the house was now inhabitable, not great for my expectant wife.

The first words to come out of David’s mouth on arrival at the battle line were, “What’s in it for the man who kills this Philistine?” David saw an opportunity. We need to get this attitude when it comes to taking down our giants. David’s perspective and posture made a way for his faith to flow and for God to move.

- When something challenging comes your way, what do you see? A problem or an opportunity?

- What’s the other side of your Goliath?