3.167 Recall the Help You've Already Had

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

When you're facing those challenges, the Goliaths in your life, do you tend to make the list of all the reasons it's not going to work for you? I know sometimes I find myself in the list of all the reasons why Goliath's going to win this one. And I'm speaking, of course, of the Goliaths in our own lives.

And this is in that same conversation from yesterday. He's still talking to Saul and trying to convince him that he's going to be the guy to go and fight for Israel. Verse 37 says, "David said, 'Moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.'" And Saul said unto David, "Go, and the Lord be with thee." Now David shared his own past here with Saul saying, "Look, I've taken out lions and bears that come and attack my sheep.

What's any different to Goliath from a lion or a bear?" And it ultimately convinces Saul. Now, what came to mind here with me was when we face our challenges, we tend to look at the reasons why we're not going to be able to get over this challenge. And it brought me into a memory of listening to a Paralympian speak.

This was years ago. I think it was Bonnie St. John.

I think it was. She's a she's a skiing skier, a Paralympic skier. What's the difference between the two?

I don't know if they even sell the band boxes like that anymore, so find yourself a different box. But what she stuck in there were these little tiny collections throughout her life of times when she overcame difficult challenges, and she stuffed them in that box. And then on the days when she was facing a new Goliath, when she had a new challenge or she just didn't feel mentally like she was able to overcome the challenges she was facing, she'd go to that first aid kit and she'd go through the items, and it would help her recall the days in her past where she had overcome challenges back then.

I think David's doing this same thing here, yes for Saul, but also for David himself as well. When we face challenges, how many times do you take an opportunity to pause and think back to how resourceful you've already been in the past? How many times do you make a list of all the ways the Lord has blessed you in the past through your challenges versus focusing on the reasons why this challenge is not going to be able to be overcome by you?

My friends, you have a challenge today. Make yourself a first aid kit. The Bible says that the Lord has already had an impact in his life.

And because he knows that, he can go forward knowing that the Lord will continue to have an impact in his life. Sometimes when we're facing challenges and we focus on all the reasons why it's not going to work, instead of making a list of how it could work, let's take an opportunity to simply make a list of all of the times in our past when it did work. That can help each one of us in facing our challenges today by remembering how we've overcome our challenges in the past.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.