The Valley of Indecision
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
"Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. A champion went out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [9 feet, 6 inches]. He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. He had brass shin armor on his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield bearer went before him.
"He stood and shouted to the armies of Israel, and said to them, 'Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Aren't I a Philistine, and aren't you servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants, and serve us. The Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, so that we may fight together.' When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul" (1 Samuel 17:2-12).
There the two armies stood, facing each other overlooking the "Valley of Indecision." To the Israelite army, it looked like insurmountable odds: Goliath, a giant over nine feet tall, against any one of their soldiers! Have you ever faced such a challenge, such an overwhelming evil force, where it seems like there's absolutely no way you could ever come out alive? Then along comes David, who seems like a smart-aleck teenager to his older brothers as he brags - "I can do it! Let me at him!" And he did it. With a slingshot and five smooth stones, David overcame Goliath's coat of armor, brass helmet, spear and javelin by sending a stone straight into Goliath's forehead, killing him instantly, snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat! Then he cut off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword.
Think of the terrible odds that Noah faced: "God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make an ark of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ark, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch" (Genesis 6:12-14). Put yourself in Noah's shoes: "How on earth am I ever going to build this Ark? It's HUGE and I've only got three sons, everyone else is totally evil and against me!" But he did it anyway!
Remember the story of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal? "Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? if the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. The people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men" (1 Kings 18:21-22). There the people stood in the "Valley of Indecision." Which side would they choose? One against 450 might seem like pretty lousy odds... but one believer plus the Lord is a majority!
John the Baptist preached to the multitudes - "'Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. All flesh will see God's salvation.' He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, 'You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don't begin to say among yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father"; for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn't bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.' The multitudes asked him, 'What then must we do?' He answered them, 'He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.'" (Luke 3:5-11).
Some of the people responded, they repented and were baptized, then they brought forth fruits worthy of repentance - good works. Others held back, resting on the laurels of their ancestor's faith, Abraham's obedience flowing from his faith. That's the easiest excuse: "My parents raised me right, I went to Sunday School and church every week!" - they say as they sit on the couch, watching TV until midnight on Saturday and then sleep in on Sunday morning.
St. Paul wrote to the Hebrews - "Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today if you will hear His voice, don't harden your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me by proving Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, "They always err in their heart, But they didn't know My ways"; As I swore in My wrath, "They will not enter into My rest."' Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called 'today'; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:7-12).
The Apostle is referring to the time when the Israelites, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, grumbled and rebelled against Moses time and again for forty years. Even though they had been set free externally, they were still slaves internally, in their hearts and thoughts. They had fallen away from the living God. To them, it was simply the natural, normal thing to do: complain and be uncooperative if things weren't just right. "Why cooperate with this guy Moses? Look what a poor leader he is! See what a mess he's gotten us into!" But none of those do-nothing complainers made it into the Promised Land, not a single one of them.
Cicero, the Roman statesman and philosopher who lived just before Christ's birth, once said - "More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision." It's easy to complain, to sit back and do nothing, to waste our time watching TV or doodling on Facebook when there are more useful and important and even urgent things that we could and should be doing. Many people are afraid to take positive action because they fear they might fail, but the biggest failure is the failure to step up to the challenge and act. "Not to decide is to decide not to." Not making the decision to take action is actually making the decision to do nothing!
David took a big risk when he faced Goliath. Noah stepped up to the plate and took the challenge to build the Ark when it seemed an impossible task. Elijah staked his life on facing down the prophets of Baal. What is the challenge that God has given you? Are you going to decide to accept the risk of trying, or are you afraid of failure or making a fool of yourself? The biggest fool was that unfaithful servant who buried his talent in the ground, risked nothing... and lost everything!
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
To keep our websites free,
please Support Agape Restoration Society: click on the "DONATE" button there.
Also, please Share Our Vision with your family & friends.
And shop at our Amazon.com Store too: when you purchase an item
using our link, a few percents are credited to our affiliate account.
No comments:
Post a Comment