David slew Goliath but also knew the temptation to lose heart and spiritually faint. As he confronted Goliath so he confronted the temptation to faint with TRUTH…and FAITH in the truth about God and in particular HIS GOODNESS… And IN THE MIDST OF TEMPTATION TO FAINT, he CHOSE, firmly persuaded he “believed to see” once again God manifesting His goodness!
David testifies to his confidence, strength in God is Good! The way the passage is written is that “If I had not known the goodness of the LORD then I would have perished….despaired”
Some wrongly believe that to follow the LORD means somehow you are kept from trouble, temptation, of any sort, that somehow you have entered into a “Bubble” where you are off limits and guaranteed protection from trials. Not so. James wrote “WHEN you encounter trials of various types…”-{Read James 1;2-5}. Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” {Read John 16:33}. But both do not leave us without assurance of how we can live by faith applying His Word in difficulties and temptations and troubles and know He is victorious and He gives us purpose and power in these difficulties to trust Him and by faith follow His Word, and HONOR Him and not sin against Him in the matter…{Read 2 Peter 1:3-4; Phil 2:13; 1 Cor 10:13}
There are opponents to our faith, such as the “Goliath’s” we can see, the thought of despair we cannot see but can feel and both are overcome by faith in His faithfulness and belief in His character that He is Good and Does Good!{Read Psalm 119:68}.
So, whatever you are facing today, …
REMEMBER and SPEAK TO YOURSELF the TRUTH and remind yourself by choosing to THINK about HIS GOODNESS…not only in your past, but present and future goodness He has lavished, is lavishing, will lavish upon you. Fight for your thought life. Speak the Word of God to yourself over and over and the Holy Spirit will use it to strengthen you! That is part of His GOODNESS to you!
PRAY and ask Him to remind you of how He has shown His goodness to you as fuel to strengthen your faith.
Perhaps it is not a physical Goliath you are facing, it may be unseen thoughts seeking to pull you down to spiritually Faint, YIELDING TO DESPAIR. Take Hope in the Living LORD, GOD… You will see once again “…See the Goodness of the LORD in the land of the Living. ” And if you look around you will see even now tokens and expressions of His goodness to you…
Don’t be passive,
Don’t believe the lie that you have to submit to despair and spiritually faint
Don’t believe the lie that God is not good
Believe God in this temptation you are going through that He is faithful and He provides the way of escape as He promises in 1 Cor 10:13 and Psalm 27:13 tells us how the Psalmist dealt with the temptation to despair AND DOUBT HE IS GOD AND CARES FOR YOU!
- Choose to THINK on TRUTH and
- Choose to TRUST The LORD who is good and does Good!
Remember the song, “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good He’s so good to me”
“…BELIEVE {FULLY EXPECTED} TO SEE THE GOODNESS OF THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING”