What Did You Say?
By Grant Gaines
If you want to be successful in any area of life, there is one key characteristic that you must possess. Whether it is in athletics, academics, or accumulating wealth, the level of your success will be directly affected by the level to which you possess this quality. And what exactly is this characteristic? It’s the ability to ignore.
Now before you raise your rebuttal, let me explain what I mean. I’m certainly not talking about ignoring the rules or turning a deaf ear to godly counsel—that would be foolish and sinful. Rather, what I am talking about is your ability to ignore, or block out, the doubts.
“You’re not good enough.” “You’ll never make it.” “That idea will never work.” “Just give up now.”
As you climb higher and higher up the ladder of success, these doubts will scream louder and louder until you have no choice but to buckle under their condemning voice…if you listen. But in order to break through the ceiling of mediocrity, you need to learn to plug your ears.
And just so you don’t think I am sharing some happy-go-lucky self-help philosophy, let me turn your attention to one of the most famous stories in the Bible—David and Goliath.
You know the story—a nine foot giant named Goliath was verbally harassing the terrified troops of Israel for 40 long days (1 Samuel 17:16) when a young and lanky teenager named David came to the battlefield to deliver food to his older brothers. When David heard the Philistine blaspheme his Lord and Savior, he had his “Popeye” moment and was so enraged that he decided to do something about it.
It was at that time that David overheard some of the soldiers around him say, “…Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:25, NIV).
David was so shocked to hear that this lucrative award would be given to whoever went out to fight this defiant giant that he had to ask them again, “…What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel?…[So the men] repeated to him what they had been saying…” (1 Samuel 17:26-27, NIV).
“But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. ‘What are you doing around here anyway?’ he demanded. ‘What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!’” (1 Samuel 17:28, NLT).
At this point, David had a choice to make: he could either listen to his brother’s belittling comments and go home with his tail tucked between his legs or he could ignore what his brother said and go on to live out one of the greatest stories in the history of creation. And in case you didn’t already know what David chose to do, 1 Samuel 17:30 (NIV) paints the vivid picture of David’s decision—“He then turned away [from his brother] to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before….”
I love that—“he then turned away”. That’s what we need to do to be successful. We either turn or our dreams burn.
I believe that we all have the potential to live out David and Goliath type stories throughout our lifetime but are too quick to listen to the doubts that smash our hopes and dreams. I believe that we give up hope much quicker that God wants us to. Whether it is a bad doctor’s report, business report, or report card, we are too easily swayed from our God-given passions because we listen to every doubt and condemnation that comes our way. Rather than listen to the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit which reminds us that, “…With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:26, NIV), we listen to the naysayers.
How about you, what voice are you listening to—the voice of doubt of the voice of destiny? And more importantly, what doubt are you going to turn from today?
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
