Is There Not A Cause?

As our church, Become Church, dedicates the first 21 days of consecration to the Lord in 2013, I would like to share a thought from the Word about Joshua.  And as we look also into the life of David, we read in I Samuel 17:9 where we observed how David’s brothers in their jealousy refused David’s aid to fight the giant Goliath, and in David’s defense David stated, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?”

David, another example of a yielded life to God, was also one who realized that other people’s lives were affected by his obedience. That opportunity when coupled with preparation equaled blessing in the sight of God and man.

Isn’t that so true in life? That not only opportunity coupled with work equals blessing, but opportunity coupled with preparation equals blessing?

While David’s brethren looked on day in and day out, in fear of their ‘obstacle’ (Goliath, who had an undefeated record amongst the Philistines), unassuming David while bringing lunch to his brothers, whose main concern even in obscurity was trusting and serving God on the backside of the mountain -tending sheep and warding off bears, and lions, obtained the preparation from his ‘secret times’ with God to show forth God’s faithfulness before his brethren who were lacking in their hearts to make a difference.

Unlike his brothers, David did not see an ‘obstacle’, David saw an ‘opportunity’.  And the reason his seeing was different from the others was because preparation bred faith in knowing that God would back him, as he put his continual trust, above all else, in God.  Do you trust God?  Let’s not allow God to have to look for another because we are not prepared to stand in the gap to make a difference.  Ezekiel 22:30 states, “And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.”

Let us be a people who will prepare in prayer, prepare in seeking, and prepare through stepping out, trusting God and showing up when needed; not found hiding from the obstacles that will present themselves in our lives.