Had he fallen from his bed and broken a bone? No, it couldn't be that. I would have heard a thump. Had he been stung my some bee or wasp or something? No, it couldn't be that either, we were still in the middle of winter.
As I quickly stopped next to his bed, I immediately asked, 'what's wrong?!?' To which he did not answer, but rather whimpered and rushed over to find safety against me. I was relieved that he had not been hurt in any way, but was still baffled as to what could have caused him such panic.
Again I repeat the question, 'Josh, what is the matter?' His big eyes stared up above his bed to something that looked like a tiny smudge on the wall and his little arm reached out to point at the thing.
'What is it Joshua?' I asked.
'A sp-p-pider' he shakily replied.
(To any animal right's activists, or 'catch and release' proponents, you may want to skip over this next part) I switched on the light and showed Joshua that it was only a very wispy non-threatening spider that could never hurt him. Next we took a book and together squished it and cleaned the spot from the wall.
We then checked together to be sure that there were no other threats, of the arachnid type, nearby. When Joshua was satisfied that the issue had been resolved, he reached up and gave me a big hug around the neck and said, 'Thank you Daddy. I love you. Good night.' And he laid down and fell asleep in the same short amount of time that it took to resolve the problem of the little wispy spider.
This account of my sons bedtime drama reminds me of how, so many times I blow things out of proportion. I see problems and issues so often as so much bigger than I should. I can even find myself paralyzed by fear over something because I am not looking at it from the correct perspective.
It reminds me of an account in the Bible found in 1 Samuel 17, where the army of Israel did the same thing. In fact, Saul, the king of all Israel, known for his height, ('a head taller than any of the others' - 1 Sam. 9:2) was also fearful and intimidated by one man, Goliath.
Today his name has been used as a metaphor for big things, people, problems, and so on. In the eyes of the army of Israel and in the eyes of King Saul he was a big problem! And from a human perspective, rightly so. This man was literally a giant, probably reaching nearly 9 feet tall! He was not just a 'bean pole' either. His height was matched by his strength. We know this from the account in 1 Samuel 17. The weight of his armor and his weapons were very heavy to be able to lift, much less to be able to use them in battle! Clearly in human terms, this giant was intimidating! He was the secret weapon of the Philistines, their mighty champion, tested and undefeated in battle.
Because of the fact that the armies of Israel and King Saul himself saw this champion through human eyes and heard his harsh, intimidating and threatening words repeated day after day, for 40 days, they 'were dismayed and terrified' (17:11). In fact when he came out to make his daily intimidating speech, the armies of Israel 'all ran from him in great fear.'
It was a bit like Joshua screaming out from his bedroom and jumping to the other side of the bed away from the 'terrifying spider'! They saw Goliath as something they could not deal with. And in fact, in their own strength they could not.
But the one young man, David, saw this giant as he really was, through the eyes of God. He saw thatthe man Goliath was no match for the living God, whom he saw as the Champion of Israel. So the young shepherd, David, said to the King of Israel, 'The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.'
David had the right perspective. God was the champion, and not him. He was the willing servant that God would use to fight this battle. His bravery came from the knowledge that the LIVING GOD of Israel would deliver him in this dangerous, life threatening battle. He knew to whom he should run. He knew not to run away from the enemy, but to run to God. Then, with God, he would defeat the enemy.
In the same way that my son ran to me to defeat the enemy, so did David look to God. Joshua, my son, saw the spider through the wrong eyes, until he saw the enemy through the perspective of his daddy. Then together with Dad's guiding hand, he was able to defeat the nasty, wispy spider. Then the beautiful thing of thanking me came next, followed by peace that allowed for rest after the battle.
This is the way we need to see issues in life. God is bigger than anything. He is more powerful than anything. When we run to Him and hang onto His mighty hand we can face the challenges and even the dangers of our lives. He is there for us if we just call out to him for our Salvation! If we put our trust in Jesus for our Salvation, and believe that He died for our sins and rose again from the dead, defeating both sin and death, the power of the resurrection is within us through His Holy Spirit. We can face issues head on because of Him and His power and not our own. He is MIGHTY TO SAVE!
Join us at the Crossroads Centre this Sunday and hear more about this powerful account and God's power to save. Hope to see you there.
--Scott Becker
