Living by Faith

Hi, and welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Today's reading titled, Living by Faith, was written by Ann Cetus. Gary was experiencing some balance issues while walking, so his doctor ordered physical therapy to improve his balance. During one session, his therapist told him, �You�re trusting too much in what you can see, even when it�s wrong.

You�re not depending enough on your other systems, what you feel under your feet, and your inner ear signals, which are also meant to help keep you balanced. You are trusting too much in what you can see brings to mind the story of David, a young shepherd, and his encounter with Goliath. For forty days, Goliath, a Philistine champion, strutted in front of the Israelite army, taunting them to send someone out to fight him.

But what the people focused on naturally caused them fear. Then young David showed up because his father asked him to take supplies to his older brothers. How did David look at the situation?

By faith in God, not by sight. He saw the giant, but trusted that God would rescue his people. Even though he was just a boy, he told King Saul, �Don�t worry about this, Philistine. I�ll go fight him.� Then he told Goliath, �The battle is the Lord�s, and He will give all of you into our hands.� And that�s just what God did.

Trusting in God�s character and power can help us to live more closely by faith rather than by sight. Today�s Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 1 Samuel chapter 17 beginning with verse 32 and then verses 40 through 47. David said to Saul, �Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him.� Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd�s bag, and with his sling in his hand approached the Philistine. Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield-bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David.

He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. He said to David, �Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?� And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. �Come here,� he said, �and I�ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals.� David said to the Philistine, �You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I�ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord�s, and He will give all of you into our hands.� Let�s pray. Dear God, we know that You are powerful and loving and capable of all things, but when we are facing giants of our own, we can find it difficult to trust You. Please give us the trust and courage of David so that we too can stare our biggest fears in the eye and claim victory, knowing that You are for us and are working on our behalf. We thank You, Lord. It�s in Jesus� name we pray. Amen. Today�s encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries. I�m Rachelle Traube. Thanks for listening.