Don't Go There

[pdavelee]

What really jumped out at me during this devotion was the citation of David’s testimony in 1 Samuel 17:34-35. “When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.�

There are certain sticky issues that arise in my people’s lives that threaten to do them in. But the situations they face are so hairy, so big, so unpleasant, that everything in me screams, “Don’t go there! Run for the hills! Save yourself!� I know that someone I love is helplessly caught in the jaws of a predatory problem, yet my instinct for self-preservation wants to drown out the shepherd’s instinct.

In honesty I have to confess that on more than one occasion I’ve chickened out. I’ve listened to that voice and pretended not to notice the sheep being carried away. The size of the teeth on the problem intimidated me, and I backed away in cowardice.

What I need is the heart of David. A tenacious and courageous heart that will not back away from the predators that grab my sheep. Even when the predator is so frightful that I fear for my own well-being, I want to be the kind of shepherd that turns and faces the enemy, grabs it by the hair, and take it down.