Only Go Forward

A Series on Living in the Wilderness
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
1 Samuel 17:32-51

 [In this series, we will be looking at people in the Bible who lived in the wilderness. Not necessarily a wilderness of natural creation, but the metaphorical wilderness of life. In fact, there are times when we all feel like we are living in the wilderness. During those times, it’s important to remember that the Lord is always with you.]

  

This blog was posted on Saturday, September 11, 2021; twenty years to the day when nearly 3000 people died in the World Trade Center. My wife and I watched a six part series on the National Geographic channel documenting many of the stories of that day. One of the stories was about a marine by the name of Jason Thomas.

 

He was dropping his daughter off at the home of his mother on Long Island when she told him planes had struck the towers. Having left active duty in August 2001, Thomas quickly put on his Marine uniform, sped to Manhattan, and parked his car just as the North Tower collapsed.

 

When he arrived at Ground Zero he didn’t have a plan, but soon ran into another Marine veteran. Together, they decided to look for survivors. While walking on the rubble, firemen called out to them to come back because it was too dangerous. Thomas responded by saying, “We are U.S. Marines. We never go back. We only go forward”! As a result, they saved the lives of several people that day.

 

Jason Thomas was not looking to become a hero. He only responded to the situation and the calling he believed he had as a Marine. In the same way, David responded when Samuel visited his father Jesse to anoint David as King of Israel.

 

David never asked to be a hero when he volunteered to fight Goliath. He never asked to be the soothing musician that calmed King Saul’s tormented soul. He never asked to be the anointed King of Israel.  And he definitely never asked to be hunted down like an animal, while living in the wilderness, with the most powerful man in Israel trying to run a spear through him.

 

David never asked for any of these things, but he embraced them with the faith of a man after God’s own heart. And because of that, he was able to endure the wilderness. The wilderness where he ran for his life; he hid in caves; he pretended to be insane; and he prayed to the Lord for deliverance.

 

Sometime you may find yourself wandering in the wilderness. When that happens, be ready to respond by going forward with confidence like David did when he faced Goliath.

 

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied… ⁴⁷ All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”       NIV

 

Be ready to respond to the needs of people; to the Spirit of God; to God’s calling.

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams