Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
1 SAMUEL 17:36
Most of us prefer instant results to having to go through a preparation process. When things don’t happen as quickly as we would like, we tend to give up or drop out. How many diets have we started and never finished? How many New Year’s resolutions have we made and never followed through with? How many books have we bought and never read? The list could go on and on.
We are often guilty of “talking a great game” and then not following through with our actions. Lip service and heart commitment are two very different things! For the runner, there must be an absolute commitment to training in order to sacrifice the time needed to discipline, test, and strengthen the mind and body. It is the same for us in our spiritual lives. We have to lay a foundation that will support us in the future. If David had not been keeping his father’s sheep in anonymity and obscurity, he would never have had the training to kill a lion or a bear. If he had not killed a lion or a bear, he would have never been prepared to fight and defeat Goliath. He built his strength in the preparation process.
Even though one of my primary gifts is that of preaching and teaching, I rarely ever preached when I was a youth leader in my local youth ministry. During that season of my life, I served by using my car to drive young people to youth meetings, setting up the youth auditorium, vacuuming the floor, cleaning the toilets, and doing whatever else needed to be done. Although I had a dream and a desire in my heart to preach all over the world, I knew that God needed to do a deep work in me so that he could do a great work through me in the future. While I found this preparation phase incredibly frustrating, lonely, and sometimes tedious, I know that if I had not stayed committed to the preparation process during those years, I would not be doing what I’m doing today.
MOMENT OF REFLECTION
How willing are you to stay with the preparation process no matter what?