Me: Looks like you have someone to protect you there.
Prodigal; It feels good to have a protector.
We imagine a hero receiving the applause and the cheers. He is bowing to the crowd. He receives the trophy, money, title, reward or praise. We have seen the movies, shows and novels that have the grand scene of the hero defeating his foe and everybody cheers.
I want to remember another hero, one we know. David against Goliath. When did you first hear this story? Maybe you don’t remember, because you have seen and heard this story over a thousand times.
The story is one of a hero. A small young man fights against a giant of a soldier. He fights in the name of the Lord and wins. He saves the day for God’s people.
Then we get inspired. We want to be a hero. Is that wrong? Of course not. What the Lord wants to show us is that His way of being a hero can look different. I want to show you some verses first.
1 Samuel 17:33-37 (NKJV)
And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. Moreover, David said, “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”
And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
After examining this scripture, we learn something about God’s heroes. David first became a hero, alone with only God as a witness. David already had two major battles before he ever saw Goliath. He had fought a lion and a bear. Not a teddy bear. Not a lion cub. He fought them with a gun? He fought them with his brothers? He fought them from a distance? No, he fought them alone with his bare hands. He grabbed at them by his hands all alone with God by his side.
Before you are a hero in public, you have to fight your battle in secret with God. That is where many of us fail. David could have let that one lamb be eaten and shooed the lion and bear away. Nobody would have blamed him from losing one lamb to a huge beast. David stood his ground and risked being hurt to do what God called him to do. God had called him to protect the lamb and that is what He did.
He risked his life without anyone ever really know why he did it. He risked his life for a lamb who would not tell others about what he did.
That is God’s hero. I know you want to be a hero in public. God wants you to be a hero in secret first. He wants you to fight and risk your life, with only God as a witness. Then and only then can you be a hero for God.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
