Sling It!Sample

N - Nouse over No idea

Have you ever heard the phrase “use your nouse?” In case you haven’t, nouse is about having common sense, being clever and able to see a situation better or differently than others and using that to your advantage. Sometimes, when facing giant-sized problems we need to use our ‘nouse’ and try a different approach.

In my giant-sized situation, I decided to approach my problem differently from how I have approached difficult issues before. Previously, in honesty, there are times when I have been defeated from the start. I find it easy to be negative and cynical and to live feeling overwhelmed. However, I started to look at all of the times in the bible when situations looked bleak, but God radically turned them around. I thought, if this is what God can do, then surely he could do it for me, too? I wrote the pertinent scriptures on flip chart paper and read them aloud daily. Instead of retreating in fear, I stepped forward in faith, and changed the way I approached the situation.

David used his nouse. He didn’t do the expected. He didn’t wear the king's armour and use a sword, which we think would be more effective than a sling and a few stones against a big, beefy giant. David did his sling thing; it was against the grain, but it certainly worked!

Pause and pray a simple prayer asking God for his perspective on your battle. Ask him for divine wisdom and creativity in how to approach your giant-sized situation differently.

In the battle against our giants, sometimes we need to use our ‘nouse’ and try a new approach.

The other Israelites had no idea how to deal with this giant - as we read on day three, they legged it in fear. David, in contrast, was full of confidence, believing that God was faithful. He acknowledged how God had saved him from the lion and the bear and had assurance that God would also save him from the hand of Goliath. Instead of doing the expected, instead of just standing and looking at the giant and having no idea what to do, he used his humble sling and he used his nouse. I’m praying for you today that God will give you a fresh perspective and a new, nouse-filled strategy for the battle you are personally facing.