Success through Being Proactive

1 Samuel 17: 12-50

Today’s message will be shorter than normal due to our time
of communion.

We continue our series on successful Christian living, and
today we consider the importance of taking initiative and being proactive in
the Christian life. Let’s start this topic by agreeing that when we speak about
taking initiative and being proactive, we’re talking about not sitting back and
waiting for life to happen to us … but rather getting out there and making things
happen. Being “reactive” means waiting for things to happen and then reacting
to what happens. Being proactive means being the one who makes things happen!
It is not only in Christian life, but in human life, that proactive people
achieve the most.

Does God wants His people to be proactive? Yes I believe He
does. God has given us a calling and a mission and He expects us to make it
happen. He does not call us to sit back and watch Him make His Kingdom come. He
calls us to extend His Kingdom by making disciples of all nations. He does not
call us to sit back and watch Him provide food for the hungry, he commands us
to clothe the naked, feed the hungry and give shelter to the homeless! God
calls His people to take initiative to make things happen in this world.

David, whom Scripture calls “a man after God’s own heart”,
was a profoundly proactive person. He made things happen! Today we look at just
one example of how he did that … and I think we can learn from it some very,
very valuable lessons about how God wants us to be proactive … because there
is definitely a right way and a wrong way to go about doing it. Many proactive
people are like bulls in a china shop … many are very self-centred and driven
by selfish motives … many are very rude and have abrasive personalities.
Clearly this is not the will of God for us.

So in a nutshell the steps for achieving success through
pro-activity in the Christian life, David teaches us, are:

1. Knowing the heart of God
2. Seeking the honour of God
3. Trusting the help of God
4. Stepping out in the hand of
   God

 

Knowing the Heart of
God

A big mistake many Christians make, is that we rush in to
making things happen because it feels right to us that we should do so. We want
to be a catalyst for the things we believe to be the will of God … but we
have not spent time getting to know the heart of God.

One thing that I admire about Rowan is how often he will come
to me and say, “Dave we have to pray this thing through … we have to hear
from God about this or that.” I have always felt that I am a person of prayer
… but I have realised that there are times that my desire to see things
happen can cause me to move before I have heard the heart of God on a matter.

Where did David’s confidence in knowing that God would help
him overcome Goliath come from? It came from the time that David spent with God
out in the fields with the sheep, playing his harp and worshipping God. It came
from his past experiences of God’s divine protection and intervention on his
behalf. It came from the many times his own father and mother had told him the
stories of God delivering His people from their enemies.

So David could look at a situation like the one with Goliath
and he could measure … hang on, here is a man who does not fear or
acknowledge God, openly challenging the power of God and making a mockery of
the people of God. Looking at that, and knowing God’s heart, David could
clearly see that it would be the heart of God in this situation to humble the
Philistine, to glorify God’s name and to protect His people.

When we are considering a particular situation and trying to
discern the will of God and whether we should be taking the initiative and
being proactive in a particular way … it has to start with us knowing the
heart of God in regard to that kind of situation.

2. Seeking the
Honour of God

“Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to
defy the armies of the Living God?” (v.26)

It is vital to realise that David did not decide to take the
initiative to defeat Goliath because of what was in it for David. Saul was
trying to get the soldiers to take up Goliath’s challenge by offering them a
self-centred reward – a wife and tax-exemption. But David was not moved by the
offered reward! David was moved by the honour of God. Goliath was calling into
question the power and the authority of the God if Israel … and David would
not stand for that!

We can not only make a mistake by being proactive before
knowing the heart of God. We can also make a mistake by being proactive for the
wrong reasons. As a Christian our drive … our motivation is not to be what we
can gain from our actions … it is to be the honour and glory of God. This
will often mean that it is not only about what we set out to achieve … but
HOW we set out to achieve it! We must desire that both through what we do and
how we do it … God will be honoured.

One of the greatest tragedies of Christian history is how, in
the Crusades, the church tried to get glory for God through the power of the
sword. With great passion they decided to take the initiative to win Jerusalem
back for the so-called Holy Roman Empire … but somehow conveniently forgot
that Jesus had preached peace, love, forgiveness and self-sacrifice … and had
Himself totally rejected the use of military power to achieve His goals. They
missed the heart of God … and they brought the name of God into disrepute
through their actions.

And in modern-times we see churches trying to make money “for
the kingdom” through gambling, through pyramid schemes, and even through
manipulative appeals for generous giving. We miss the heart of God and we bring
dishonour to the name of Jesus … the name of our God … through being
proactively stupid and un-Christlike.

In everything you do
… and in the way you do it … seek the honour of God!

3. Trusting the help
of God

I love what David says to Goliath in v.45. “Today the Lord will conquer you and I will kill
you and cut off your head.”

David stands in front of Goliath, while grown men and
hardened soldiers have been cowering in their tents for the past 40 days while
Goliath taunted them and their God … and he stands there with a sling and 5
small stones. Goliath is carrying a sword, a spear and a javelin. This is the
equivalent of a 15-year-old “plaas-japie” carrying a “kettie” into battle
against a soldier wearing a bullet-proof vest and riot-gear and carrying an
automatic assault rifle.

But when Goliath mocks David’s armoury his reply is simple.
God is going to “klap” you … I’m just here to clean up the mess. David’s
trust was absolutely in God’s help.

When King Saul had predicted exactly what Goliath was
predicting should David go into battle without armour, David’s reply was, “The
Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from
this Philistine.” The Lord will do it!

Many proactive people make the mistake of trusting in their
own ability. David showed us that our trust ought to be in God’s ability! So
even when we step out boldly – as we should – our boldness ought never to be
based on our abilities, but always on the ability of God!

I love that line from the Christian movie, “Facing the
Giants”, where the coach inspires his team by telling them: “Do your best and
let God do the rest!” That was David’s story in a nutshell … with his faith
firmly in God’s ability to help him and deliver him, he stepped out onto the
battle-field against a giant, and he did the best with what he had … and God
did the rest.

4. Stepping out in
the hand of God

“’I can’t go in these,’ David protested to Saul, ‘I’m not
used to them.’ So David took them off again.”

Saul wanted David to go in armour. David needed to go in
God’s hand.

Far too often in the Christian life, when we risk for God, we
have a Plan B, C and D just in case God doesn’t come through for us. Saul had a
Plan B for David and that was for him to wear Saul’s armour into battle. But
somehow instinctively, David seems to have known that in order to do this thing
right he had to be completely in the hand of God. He had to be in a situation
where, if God didn’t come through for him, he would be a goner!

This is the radical side of Christian pro-activity. When we
have sensed the heart of God calling us to do something radical for Him …
when we have discerned the way to do it in order to bring honour to God … and
when our trust is squarely in the help of God … then we need to jump out of
the boat and go way, way, way beyond our comfort zones … simply trusting that
God will come through for us.

Against all the odds, God came through for David. Against all
the odds God came through for Mark and Carolle! Against all the odds God has
come through for our Mission Week. But it talks us getting out there and
putting ourselves into a situation with God where if God doesn’t do something
miraculous all is lost. Are you and I willing to take that kind of risk with
God?

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