Dancing With ChangeSample

Day 4: Discovering Your Purpose in the Midst of Change:

When we are infused with direction and purpose, we will have the courage and tenacity needed to take on giants. While shepherd boy David vs. giant Goliath is quite familiar to many people, widespread acquaintance with the basics of the story can turn it into a sort of cliché. We can shrug it off with an “I’ve already heard about that” attitude and miss the significance of what happened.

Start with Goliath - this man was no ordinary giant. 1 Samuel 17:4 says he stood “six cubits and a span.” This corresponds to nine feet, nine inches in our weight and measurement tables. What’s more, the armor he wore weighed five thousand shekels, equivalent to approximately 126 pounds.

First Samuel 17 says that Goliath challenged any Israelite to fight him, bragging that if anyone could defeat him, the Philistines would become servants to the children of Israel. Sad to say, no one in the Israeli army expressed a willingness to take on the challenge. They all cowered in fear, primarily because they didn’t know whose they were. Had they understood how powerful God their Father was, they would have looked at Goliath as a mere midget by comparison.

Whether it is trying to grasp the intricacies of modern technology or grappling with tools that seem beyond an ordinary person’s capacity, dancing with change in the twenty-first century can look every bit as fearsome as facing Goliath. That’s why how you look at situations in life is what matters. If your life is marked with destiny, you will look at life differently than others. You will consider trials, tribulations, failures, and defeats as opportunities to move closer to success. They become stepping stones to victory. Those who know who they are in God never shudder at the sight of giants. They look forward to confronting them, realizing that (like Goliath) the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

When you are dancing with change, you will also keep your eye on the prize. In the case of defeating Goliath, it meant something far greater than the Philistines becoming Israel’s servants. The king got involved when he offered his daughter, great riches, and a palace to the warrior who whipped the giant. Seeing the rewards that would come with victory gave David a hunger for success.