“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might”
Ephesians 6:10
Human beings have an identity crisis. We do not fully understand who we are. Believers in Christ also have an identity crisis. We do not fully understand who our God is. Both of these weaknesses cause us to have identity amnesia.
One of my favorite stories in the bible is in I Samuel 17, when the giant Goliath met his match in a little shepherd boy named David – and more importantly, David’s mighty God. The Israelite army was camped in the valley of Elah, where they came face to face with the Philistine army and their secret weapon – Goliath. Some ancient texts give Goliath’s height at 9 feet 9 inches tall. The Cavs would have loved to draft him. Even though God had clearly promised Israel that He would deliver their enemies into their hands, rather than boldly confront the big bully, the Israelite army ran to their tents and hid in fear. For forty days they laid in a fetal position under their blankets, defeated and terrified. Obviously, Israel was having an identity crisis. They forgot they were God’s chosen people.
Then one day, a little freckled-face harp playing shepherd boy brought peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to his brothers on the battlefield. As soon as he assessed the size of Goliath and the fear-trembling Israelite army, he wondered why his hometown team was cowering in trepidation. So he shockingly announced that he would take care of the big brute. Was he arrogant? No. He simply did not have an identity crisis like the others. He knew exactly who he was, but far more importantly, he knew the power of his God. Thus David marched onto the battlefield, looked up at the enormous tyrant and said, “I come to you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel. Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut of your head.” (I Samuel 17:45-46) Then David picked up one little stone, hurled it at the Philistine, and down the big boy went. After that, David walked over and cut off the giant’s noggin. Victory belonged to David’s God!
How many victories have you had in your life lately? Perhaps you aren’t having many because you are having an identity crisis. You don’t fully understand who you belong to, and who your God really is. David knew exactly what it meant to be a child of the living God – do you? David drew the right spiritual conclusion about his God, and himself – are you? David didn’t see himself as the only army. He saw his God as the supreme army – can you? Today we need to wake-up from our identity crisis and see who we really are, and more importantly, who our God really is. It’s time to rise and shine!
Darlene