Mark Sorensen “What’s up with the squirrel, dad?”
This was the greeting we received from our son as he walked in the door of our home having traveled back from the University of Memphis for Christmas break last December. Now, I confess, I was expecting a greeting more along the lines of, “Mom, Dad, I missed you guys so much!” Or, possibly, “It’s so great to be home!” I would have even settled for his typical, “Hey, I’m broke. Can you guys give me some money?” Instead, his opening statement after a four month absence was this: “What’s the deal with the squirrel?”
Obviously, a question that random has to be investigated. So he takes me outside and that’s when I see it for the first time. In our front yard, about ten feet up in the air and three feet out on a limb is a squirrel, a dead squirrel, just sort of hanging there by his back legs, front arms extended looking down. Now. I had many thoughts when I saw this. First and most obvious? How on earth did this happen to poor Rocky? (Yes, I named him. I bond with animals quite quickly.) The second question and, probably the most important question followed: how do I get him down? I confess that we didn’t have a ladder at the time of the Rocky incident and he was too high for me to reach. So, what transpired the following five days was this: I would get out of my car, walk the sidewalk next to the tree with the hanging lifeless acrobatic squirrel, and cover my eyes avoiding the obvious. I knew I had to get him down. I knew I had to address the situation. But, secretly, for a couple of days I was just hoping that, somehow, the situation would take care of itself.
We can do the same with situations in our lives, can’t we? Maybe if we just lower our gaze, cover our eyes, and walk around the issue, then it will just correct itself.
I recently taught on 1 Samuel 17 and the story of David and Goliath. It’s a familiar text but, sometimes, familiarity can be dangerous when we lose the power found within the story. Take Goliath. Here you have a nine foot, six inch giant wearing almost 200 pounds of armor. Twice a day for forty days he approaches the Israelites, God’s chosen people by the way, and mocks them, taunts them and challenges them to choose a warrior to fight him. And what happens? The Israelites lower their heads. They run away. They do exactly what I did with poor Rocky. Maybe the situation will just fix itself. Maybe the giant will go away. Maybe, just maybe, I can hide out over here and wait it out. The only problem with that? Goliath didn’t go away.
Enter onto the scene David. Still a child who was just bringing bread and cheese, per his father’s instructions to his brothers. It’s David that’s the one that calls out the Israelites fear and in doing so he is brought before the King, Saul. It doesn’t take long for Saul to see David’s heart and passion and Saul hands over the fate of the Israelite army into his hands. And the rest, they say, is history. David slays the giant.
Perspective is key, here. Giants need to be addressed. They need to be looked at and reminded that, as David said in 1 Samuel 17:47, “for the battle belongs to the Lord”.
So, now it’s your turn. What’s your giant? What’s that foe that has been greeting you every day pushing you down and making you believe that you will never overcome that addiction, never find restoration in your marriage, never find the forgiveness you are seeking? Face the giant. Claim 1 John 4:4:
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
I loved a quote I read once that said, “Don’t tell God how big your problems are. Instead, tell your problems how big your God is.” The same can be said over giants. Let’s tell those giants how big our God actually is.
