Facing Your Giants- Hard Promises

Facing Your Giants- Hard Promises

Everyone has had their fair share of promises in life. Whether, it’s the promise of keeping your room clean. Or a promise to keep those grades up or maybe even a promise to keep those secrets or favors of a friend. At one point or another we have all made promises some more frequently than others.

So what do they really mean? Well in terms of the dictionary it is something to be vowed to be done or something to be asked and finished. In terms of the bible is a whole other story. (Literally)

So again I’m talking about the very cool and awesome David. This man was a guy who faced many giants such as this one. I find David to be quite the role model because well he messed up just like we do. Yet he also faced the same challenges as we have or will eventually, and sometimes is comforting to know that in your hardships you’re not alone.

So David was a very loyal friend, king, Shepard (in the beginning) and he had a lot of great qualities one of which was keeping promises.

Growing up and even now I’ve always been known as one of those "People Pleasers" and yes if there was something to be done I would be the first to volunteer no matter what the job or how much it would take out of me. I made many promises and over time I started to make way too many. Whether it was cleaning the storage room of the class room, or taking over a school group project, making sure I was helping the green team and their garden planting projects I was always one the first one on the job.

 So this is why this became a challenge, you see growing up I didn't have many good friends in fact I found it kind of challenging to make them. So instead I put myself in clubs, volunteer work, or anything I could get my hands onto and just did that.

Eventually people liked me for my kind heart and compassion towards others but then things became stressful when I could barely find time for myself. I started to eat less, play sports less, and even do a whole lot less of my own homework. Soon I crashed with fatigue and late night tea runs weren't helping any. Then I realized I had over booked my life around helping and making everyone else happy except myself. I loved doing the work but in plain honesty I was miserable. So I gave up a few clubs, learned a new word called "No" that took a lot of extra stress from friends and I was able to steady myself and pace my workload again.

So I’ve kept many promises and soon I couldn't bare it and broke them. Sure people were disappointed, but losing sleep over a group project wasn't exactly healthy either.

David was like me only he kept the biggest promises the ones he knew he could. You see after his best friend died (Johnathan) he had first made the promise to him to take care of any descendant of his and after searching and looking he had found someone. It was Johnathan's son Mephibosheth (yes I know a mouthful) and he welcomed him into his home and a place at his table. Sure to the servant of David this seemed quite foolish since his friend was already dead and Johnathan's son was a cripple so why bother with the kid? What David says next however, is true deep love for the promise he made to his friend.

“David’s friend may have died, but his covenant had not. Though he had many reasons to forget the promise he made he kept on through with it and found a greater connection and meaning behind it.”

-      Max Lucado

Imagine being Mephibosheth an unknown cripple in a fallen society suddenly brought up to live at a kings table to be treated with high respect. You can just imagine how amazed and happy he was with his life and David was happy to have brought the faith and hope into his life. That's your story too! We are not born as a child of a king, only children to be raised by average parents yet imagine this:

“You are not going to believe this but the King of Israel has a place for you at his table and he wants you in his family"

-      Max Lucado

Surely you may not have physically forgone this scenario but think about it, we are all invited to God's table he promises a place in heaven for us once this life is over. He promises forgiveness of sins, and he promises to always walk with us when we can see no light. Yes search and you will find God fulfilling all these promises day in and day out, through every one of us.

So I can't be like god and help billions of people with billions of struggles, jobs, favors and yes promises but I can do my bit in the world to keep a few of them. I may not have the strength to do them all but at least I know somehow if not by my hand God will fulfill those hard promises himself.

Written by: Angelica Anderson