And the cycle begins...we try harder, study more, go to a counselor, pray and pray, take another class...striving to attain the unattainable. What complete insanity!
So who's expectation are we trying to achieve anyway? Family or Friends? Boss or CoWorkers? Church members or the Pastors? How about our own expectations? I don't know about you but I have circled this mountain more than I care to admit. When we find ourselves not meeting these expectations, we beat ourselves up with shame and worry that we are underachievers, inadequate and doomed to fail. We say things like I'm not good enough. I am useless. I will never be as good as everyone else. No one will want to work with me. I mine as well stop trying, and soon find ourselves throwing in the proverbial towel and giving up. It changes the essence of who we are when we disqualify ourselves as not being able. According to the Scriptures, we are more than conquerers in Jesus Name! Romans 8
What would happen if my aim was to be perfectly good enough, just as I am?David was a young man who encountered the "Are you kidding me? Who do you think you are!?!" "And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth." David recounts his achievements in the Lord and replies, "Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God." And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." David was confident in His God and the God-given ability He had.
So, Saul gave him a chance to prove himself, placing upon David the "expected gear." "And Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you!" "Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." Saul wanted to help David but for David, they only hindered him. "So David put them off. Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine."
I want to be more like David. When faced with an opportunity to serve, he recounted his accomplishments in the Lord, and walked in the expectation that he was perfectly good enough, perfectly able to accomplish the task before him with an opportunity to glorify the Living God in the gifting he had been given. This doesn't mean we ignore advice from others or that we are to ignore the suggestions of others. We are instructed to sharpen one another, but it is without imposing our way on the other. We must trust the calling, whether it be ours or of another, that God has spoken to them and they have all they need and now we must move in action by faith, trusting the Lord.
David believed he could conquer Goliath not because he had done it before, but because he trusted in the provisions of His God who had faithfully equipped him time and time before. He could have looked in the reflection of the giant's shield, seen his small frame, his lack of weapons like the others and begin to count up his losses, returning back home. There were countless, more than capable, enlisted soldiers to do the very thing he was saying he could. Thing is, no one had.
David took his staff in his hand...and walked out the door in his Perfectly Good Enough Boots, and he didn't fail. God provided. David believed.
What clothing are you wearing that is hindering you? Has another dressed you in battle gear that is too big for you, or too small? Did you possibly pick it up yourself? Only for you to realize, you can't fight in armor that isn't meant for you?!? Your armor is made for you! It is the Lord who equips His armies.
May I encourage you today that You CAN fight your enemy with God's armor. You ARE able to accomplish today what it is the Lord has called you to because He cares for you and He is with you. You are enough and with the Lord, you will have victory! He tells us the battle is HIS at the end of 1 Samuel 17! He will give you all the provisions you will need to fight the enemy, taunting you. Yes, our Goliaths are tall but how much greater is our God!?!
"And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field." Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." 1 Samuel 17:42-45
Thank You Lord our God for Your specific plan for us and despite what others think, even what we think of ourselves, that we can know what You think! Teach us Lord to know Your hand in the battle. Show us who we are in You. Strengthen us with Your Holy Spirit. We call upon Your identity and Name for the task at hand. Thank You Lord for Your patient, loving kindness as we strap on our Perfectly Good Enough boots. Thank You for loving me as the hot mess I am. Strengthen my boldness and grow me in confidence. Help me to be faithful in the little things Lord so that when the enemy stands taller over me, I will stand beside you and You will lift me up. He is no match for You. Greater are You than he who is in this world. He is just a snake who needs his head cut off, in Jesus name! Amen.
