the battle

There are many things churning below my surface today, but the one that keeps rising are thoughts of David.  

Ever since Vilmer reminded me that the battle here is not ours, but at the feet of God, my perspective has been peering over that battle field with the cowering Israelites and the mocking giant.

Goliath's challenge to Israel in the name of his pagan gods was not ultimately in defiance of King Saul, nor the Israelites, nor David.  And it was not for self-preseveration nor for ego defense that David went out.  David rose and went and fought that "All the earth may know there IS a God in Israel, and that the battle is the Lords."  (1Samuel 17)

And as that giant's challenge reached the feet of our God, it was His to fight, not Israel's.  Not David's.

Nobody thought David, a boy coming with sticks and stones, could defeat Goliath.  And they were right.  Even David knew he couldn't.  "I come at you today in the name of the Lord you have taunted" David declared, and his effort, a pathetic pebble from a scrawny kid, in the hands of God, sunk in and defeated.

You know, when I asked just a few days ago for help for Emmaus, I was asking you well-established business people, you churches.  I was like Saul, most comfortable to have the situation addressed by a strong soldier sporting some shiny armor.  

And praise the Lord, I know there is indeed help coming from that field.  Frankly, I wasn't asking you, young sister, to talk to your high school classmates and raise up your minimum wages.  I wouldn't have asked you, retired women, to generously doll out your widow's mite.  I never would have uncomfortably approached you, fellow Haiti missionary, to fork over your precious and much needed tax return.

But all that's exactly what has happened.  What felt like Goliath a few days ago has arisen many Davids with many pebbles, and again--the battle, the challenge--is STILL NOT MINE to approach, but His.  And He is.  And He's using His children.  And as we've seen from David's story, it is enough.

And I wasn't ASKING for the funeral to be given to Junior.  I wasn't ASKING for the Gospel to be preached in the midst of utter darkness.  I wasn't asking for a David in the midst of a battle.  I was just hoping God could use Christ in Junior, in some small way.  And yet the battle, I'm reminded, is the LORDS.  And He can do with it what He wants.

And Junior never should have asked.  And his family never should have agreed.  And Matt should be here right now, not on the road to Port.  And the guys should be polishing off their breakfasts, not piled in the cab and in the back of our truck in the scorching sun on the dusty road, heading to Port with him.  And you, guy that doesn't know us and doesn't know Junior and doesn't even know Haiti, you never should have listened to that still, small voice and found the $500 this whole thing is going to cost and sent it off to Haiti.

In my battle, none of that stuff ever would have been.   

But the challenge of the world, of Haiti, of Satan, of man...they're not challenging ME.  It's HIS.

And even when 1 man stands before hundreds, speaking the foolishness of God before the wisdom of men, God works in that man.  God works in Junior.

And even when 10 men (yep, I said ten.  Junior. Matt. Berthil. Jean Marc.  Leandre.  Gesner.  Jodenel. Simeon.  Belony.  Samson) stand before a thousand, that all the earth may know that there IS a God in Haiti, God rises to the occasion.  Comes out to meet the challenge.

When Goliath called, and mocked, and taunted, and challenged, his voice did not echo over the empty valley forever.  There were many many people who were fully aware of the fight who God could have used.  But they just plain didn't believe the battle was actually HIS.  Just plain didn't trust Him enough TO be used by Him.  OUCH.

It's true, they also didn't take any risks.  They may have been the "smarter" ones.  

But they entirely missed out on being used by Him.  And were NEVER heard of again.  And David, he was given the label, the legacy, the stories I long for greater than any other tagline: a man after God's own heart.


TODAY there is a quiet battlefield, in a small valley, on a small island off of Florida.  And for many years, silence has echoed in response to much taunting, many lies, much challenging.  

But there are some small boys.  A witchdoctor's son.  A pasty foreigner.  A tiny man who used to beat the drums. A tailor.  A preacher.  A soccer player.  A poor man who lives to serve children.  A student.  A musician. An orphan.

And they're coming before the challenge not with sticks and stones, but with Bread and Water.  That all the earth, that every man, woman and child may know that there IS a God in Haiti.  That there is a freedom from chains.  That there is a hope for a future independent from the past.  That there is a rebirth available to grown men.  That there is a Light in the Darkness.

Today, they stand.

I am with them.

Gesner

Belony

Samson

Simeon

Junior and Jodenel

Matt

Leandre

Jean Marc