On July 4th we celebrate Independence Day which marks the day we declared our independence

from England. These celebrations always remind me of the greatest freedom and liberty of all
that which we have in Christ Jesus. I find that as I look to and wait on God I become more
aware of His presence and His willingness and ability to deliver us. We find examples of this in
the bible as well as many scriptures that tell us that as we wait and look to God is situations we
will grow in our trust toward God.

The following is part of the record when David defeated Goliath. As you remember the
Philistines and Israel were camped on opposite sides of a valley and each day Goliath would
come out and taunt Israel demanding that they choose someone to fight him. Here is a short
description of that:

1 Sam. 17:8-11 KJV

8
And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come
out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a
man for you, and let him come down to me.
9
If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I
prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.
10
And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we
may fight together.
11
When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and
greatly afraid.

Notice how Goliath referred to Israel as servants of Saul. Since Saul was their king, they were
his subjects, but more importantly than being that they were the servants of who? God! In light
of that they should have looked to God in this situation and trusted God to show them how to
overcome. Instead of that they were dismayed and greatly afraid. I am reminded of Psalms 56,
which according to the title was written by David.

Ps. 56:3-4 KJV

3
What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can
do unto me.

Well, David comes along at a time when Saul was taunting Israel and he reacts in a way very
differently from the rest of Israel. As we read through this record we will find out that he had
already experienced Gods deliverance in the past so in this situation he was confident that God
would deliver him once again.

1 Sam. 17:32-50 KJV

32
And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and
fight with this Philistine.
 33
And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with
him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

David tells Saul that he will fight. Upon looking at him Saul doesnt see a great warrior; he sees
a shepherd boy. He expresses his lack on confidence in Davids chances to defeat Saul.
Remember that more than just Davids life is a stake. If he loses, then Israel loses. Look at
Davids response. He relates previous experiences when God delivered him while he was
dealing with life threatening situations with a lion and a bear.
34
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion,
and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
35
And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when
he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
36
Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be
as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

So David describes his success at protecting his flock by smoting a lion and bear. Notice that he
gives Gods perspective on Goliath. Mans perspective was given earlier in the record when
Goliath was described as a huge invicible warrior. David describes him as an uncircumcised
Philistine who was defying the armies of the living God.

When we are confronted with situations that intimidate us we need to look at them from Gods
perscpective. Now David goes on to explain how he slew the lion and the bear.
37
David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out
of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said
unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.

Look at what he said. The Lord delivered me and he will deliver me again. Davids experience
with receiving deliverance from God gave him great confidence in this new situation.
38
And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head;
also he armed him with a coat of mail.
39
And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not
proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them.
And David put them off him.

I am sure that the armor that Saul gave David was great. After putting the armor on, David
realized that he had no confidence in the armor because he had no experience with it. He
decided to remove this wonderful protection and look to the protection that he had already
proved his sling shot and more importantly, God!
40
And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook,
and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his
hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
 41
And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield
went before him.
42
And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was
but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
43
And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44
And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls
of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

So Goliath tries to intimidate David. His size, strength, and words had already intimidated all
Israel, so he used more of the same. Unlike Israel, David was not intimidated because he saw
things from Gods perspective and already had experience Gods great deliverance.
45
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear,
and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

David saw things from Gods perspective. What was a sword and shield, even really big ones,
compared to the might and power of God? Goliath was not defying just people, he was defying
God.

In light of that, David looked to God for his victory. Notice what he says, This day will the
Lord deliver thee into mine hands:
46
This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take
thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day
unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know
that there is a God in Israel.
47
And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for
the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.
48
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David,
that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
49
And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the
Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face
to the earth.
50
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the
Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

So Davids previous experience with God delivering the lion and the bear into his hands prepared
him to look to God once again in order to defeat Goliath.

As we go through life we can grow and rely on God sooner, even when the situation is
intimidating. That occurs as we put our confidence in Gods ability instead of in our own ability.
Rom. 5:3-4 KJV
3
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh
patience;
 4
And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

Rom 5:3-4 AMP

3
And not only this, but [with joy] let us exult in our sufferings andrejoice in our
hardships, knowing that hardship (distress, pressure, trouble) produces patient
endurance; 4 and endurance, proven character (spiritual maturity); and proven character,
hope and confident assurance [of eternal salvation].

Tribulation refers to pressure, stress, or affliction.

These verses are addressed to the church. We boast in afflictions. Really? I would rather avoid
afflictions. The reason we boast in affliction is because we can use them as an opportunity to
grow. When we are pressured or stressed we can look to God and wait for Him. Then God
delivers us and we grow in our expectation of God delivering us the next time so we will have
more patience next time.

2 Cor. 1:3-4 KJV

3
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and
the God of all comfort;
4
Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which
are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Our God is the God of all comfort. When we are experiencing tribulation, affliction, He will
comfort us. Then we are able to comfort other who are also experiencing trouble.

2 Cor. 1:8-10 KJV

8
For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia,
that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of
life:
9
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but
in God which raiseth the dead:
10
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he
will yet deliver us;

Notice that Paul and company were not just slightly troubled. Things were so bad that they
wanted to die. That is pretty bad! What did they do in that situation? Like David, they didnt
trust in themselves, but they trusted in God and God delivered them.

Look how verse 10 finishes with an affirmation that we trust that he will yet deliver us. When
things look bad we place our confidence in God.

Isa. 40:28-41:1 KJV

28
Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the
Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his
understanding.
God never gets weary. Our problems are never, ever too big for God. Our problems are never
too many for God. We can never bother God too much with our problems. First of all when
we come to Him for help He is not bothered. He is delighted that one of His kids would come to
Him for help. The second is that He never grows weary of blessing us.
29
He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Of all people, youths and young men are tend to be the strongest and most vigorous. Even they
grow faint and weary at times. Compared to them those that wait upon the Lord do not faint.
Why? Because God renews their strength. Even when they have to exert a great deal by running
they wont grow weary.

2 Cor. 12:7-10 KJV

7
And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I
should be exalted above measure.
8
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

So Paul was confronted with a difficult situation. It is described here as a thorn in the flesh.
This thorn in the flesh was a messenger from Satan. Satan sent it to hurt Paul. The word
buffet means to strike with the fist or treat with violence. Talk about tribulations and
affliction. Paul did the spiritually logical thing, he went to God about this problem. Apparently
He didnt get an answer right away (or maybe not the answer he wanted) so he went to God a
second and third time. God did answer him and here is what God told him.
9a
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in
weakness.

So God told Paul that His grace was big enough to take care of Paul. He also told Paul that His
strength was perfectly accomplished in weakness, meaning that when someone stops looking at
their own ability and looks to God, then God can work in a situation. Here is Pauls response to
Gods answer.
9b
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me.
10
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

So Paul concluded that he would take pleasure in infirmities and so on. That sounds very similar
to Romans 5:3. Why would Paul do that? Because when things are difficult he can once again
accept his own weakness to handle the situation in look to God for his strength.
We can all take pleasure in tribulation. Why not? After all it is rather certain that we will all
experience some sort of affliction, stress, or pressure in this life. At least that is what Jesus
Christ said.

Jn. 16:33 KJV

33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye
shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Jesus told his disciples that in the world ye shall have tribulation. He didnt stop there. He told
them that in him they could have peace because he had overcome the world.

So as long as we are alive we will have problems. Each of us experience our own set of
problems. We can either complain about our problems or we can look to God and His strength
and willingness to take care of our problems.

Ps. 143:1 KJV

<A Psalm of David.> Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy
faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

When David had a problem he went to God in prayer because he recognized that God was
faithful to answer Him. As we look to God to handle our current problem we build experience
on which we develop confidence to go to God and wait on him the next time and the next time.

When we get weak in our minds we can always speak in tongues to remind us that God is right
there with us and that He will give us the strength we need.

Rom. 8:31-32
31
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32
He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things?

If God be for us, who can be against us!