David asked the men standing near him, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" - 1Samuel 17: 26 (NIV)
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? For years I wondered why David referred to Goliath as such and one day God showed me through a sermon that because circumcision was the sign of covenant between God and Israel, David is simply asserting the fact that this giant is not under contract with God, but he was! Beloved, the promises God has for us are very real. The plan He has for us is very real. But so are the periods of refining. So are the tests of our faith. Refining takes fire and fire causes pain. But He will come for us and fulfill His good promise. We just need to better understand His promises.
The promises continue into verse 11, the one we all know. For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. How so many have distorted these promises and turned them into a pyramid scheme in the name of God. Perhaps looking at the King James translation will help clarify things:
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. - Jeremiah 29: 11 (KJV)
Thoughts of peace? Wait a minute, what happened to prosperity? Well, the reality is that the majority of translations including the ESV, NKJV, and ASV and NASB all deal with peace rather than prosperity. Perhaps this casts a better light on how God views our prosperity? Perhaps to God, our prosperity is found in a deeper sense of His peace. The peace which transcends our mere mortal understanding. The peace we so desperately lack in our valley. You see, God does have a plan to give us hope and a future but we cannot get there without His peace. The message I see here is that we often seek the wrong thing when we find ourselves in the valley. Sometimes we are so busy trying to find a way out while God is trying to show us the way through. That we are trying to escape that which God will use to refine us and strengthen our faith. As we saw when we examined Philippians 4:13, that verse is not about being able to do something as much as it is the ability to endure all things. One of the top listed things people wished they had was peace. The world sells a peace that is fleeting and conditional. God offers a peace that we cannot grasp with our finite minds and is free of charge. We have been conditioned by society and the church to equate prosperity to financial blessings. How many have all the financial blessing they could ever want and yet have no peace? Millionaire actor Jim Carrey once said, " I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. " There is no price tag we can place on the true peace of God. Here is what it sounds like:
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." - 1Samuel 17: 45-47 (NIV)
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." - Daniel 3: 16-18 (NIV)
These were all just teenage boys yet they understood the contract they were under. They understood the God they served. Their peace was who they were in who they served and was not conditional to their surroundings or predicament. That is prosperity beloved. Sell that from the pulpit. Celebrate that in the pews.
