Five Smooth Stones

What a week. Trying to keep up with events, without, at the same time, becoming beleaguered with the statistics, has become a full-time occupation. It’s a war zone out there, and we get to watch it all, in living color and front-row seats, from our “shelter-in-place” vantage point.

It’s all just too much for the average joe to process. Usually, when I’m this stymied, I automatically go to the Word for an image, a story that parallels a current situation. Locate the spiritual parallel, and inevitably, there’s a rich reservoir of wisdom attached to it.

I think of David, the warrior. Remember when all of Judah was paralyzed with terror as they came up against the Philistine army, and its champion, Goliath? Still a youth, and not actually a warrior on the field, as all Judah fled in demoralized terror from the giant, this stripling, an experienced shepherd, ran towards the giant with a challenge of his own.

25-26Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying,…For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

40Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, 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 NKJV

Of course, we know how this epic ends. Against all odds, the youngster took down the dread champion, stunning him with a stone out of a primitive slingshot. With only his inner strength of conviction and experience, David defeated Goliath.

Are you grasping the parallel? COVID 19 comes against us in all its vicious, consuming firestorm of facts, fears and forebodings. What of it? We possess the five smooth stones necessary for the kill shot; the irresistible, elemental truths of God’s Word. Take a lesson from the playbook of David; the fiercest of combatants may be brought down by the simplest of weapons.

When we’re overwhelmed, the best thing to do is come back to the touchstone. Remember the KISS principle? ‘Keep-it-simple, Saint’. In the midst of these tumultuous times, we can only control ourselves, and our immediate environments. By revisiting basic, powerful Scriptures (and repeating them frequently) we put the KISS principle in action both practically and spiritually. Not only that, we are speaking them, prophesying truth over the earth itself. The Lord has already decreed victory, ours is merely to enforce it.

You can’t get more primitive than five smooth stones. So, in the spirit of David, I’ve assembled five main scriptures that address our most instinctual fears inflamed by this pandemic.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me, ”says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. Psalm 46:1-3

Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]

Hebrews 13:5-6

Fear of the unknown, of lack, fear for the future, fear of sickness, death, fear of isolation, abandonment, powerlessness; these are the viruses we fight. “It is Written…”. Five simple promises that have the potential to detonate any threat the enemy throws at you. Satan knows how to push our buttons, but God knows how to silence the terrorizer.

We possess what is needed to bring down an epidemic. How’s your aim?

Image by Bing