“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7
Let me tell you about the day my stone missed. Yeah, you heard that right. MISSED.
We all know the Sunday School version. Little David, big Goliath, perfect shot, giant falls. But here’s what they don’t teach you in Vacation Bible School – sometimes your stone flies wide left and the giant doesn’t read the script.
Our church was humming. The kind of humming that makes you rent elementary school classrooms because your walls can’t contain what God is doing. Strong leaders. Stellar staff. Rock-solid deacons. We weren’t just growing; we were bursting at the seams with both people and possibilities. Our building was small, our parking lot was smaller, but our faith? Man, our faith was HUGE.
Then came the land. The opportunity. The dream. Picture it: a new building, room to grow, space to become everything God had whispered in our prayer times. We bought the land while it was being perk tested, faith rising with every passing day. Then came the offer on our existing building – right in the middle of our testing period.
That’s when I made The Speech. You know the one. The “Let’s Step Out in Faith” speech. The “God’s Gonna Do a Miracle” speech. The “Sell Everything and Watch What God Does” speech. It was inspiring. It was passionate. It was absolutely devastating.
Because the land didn’t perk.
My Goliath didn’t fall. Instead, he walked over and throat-punched me with a lesson I’ll never forget. Here’s the crazy part: he didn’t take my life that day, but he snatched something way more precious – my confidence. The enemy’s smart like that. He knows sometimes it’s better to leave you breathing but break your swagger.
Picture this: No building. No place to call home. A piece of land worth less than the paper we signed to buy it. And people? They started jumping ship faster than rats from a flood. From bursting at the seams to fourteen people. Fourteen. Let that sink in.
For two years – TWO YEARS – I led what was left of God’s people like a shadow of myself. Where boldness was needed, I hesitated. When decisive action was required, I second-guessed. I was playing chess three moves behind while the enemy was playing for keeps. Some shepherd I was, trying to guide sheep through valleys I was too scared to walk myself.
But here’s where it gets good. (And by good, I mean God-sized good.)
The same God who wrote David’s victory story wasn’t done writing mine. Plot twist: Sometimes your greatest comeback starts with your biggest miss. He led me back to that valley – yeah, the same one where my stone went wide left, where my Goliath was probably still laughing. But this time? This time was different. Not because I got stronger, but because I got desperate enough to stop relying on my aim and start depending on His.
Let me drop three truth bombs from the valley:
- Defeat is an Event, Not an Identity “Though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” (Proverbs 24:16) Listen: God sometimes lets you miss so you’ll learn to aim with His eyes, not your own. Your “faith speech” might fail, but your faith doesn’t have to.
- Lost Ground Can Be Reclaimed “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (Joel 2:25) The enemy might steal your confidence, your building, and even your congregation, but God’s in the restoration business, and business is booming. That valley of defeat? It’s about to become your victory stage.
- Courage is Born in the Return “The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1) Real courage isn’t about never making a bad call. It’s about facing the consequences when you do. It’s not about being fearless – it’s about being faithful when your biggest faith move becomes your biggest face plant.
Here’s the mic drop moment: That giant’s punch taught me something David’s highlight-reel victory never could – sometimes God’s greatest works start with our greatest misses. Your Goliath might still be standing, but guess what? SO ARE YOU. And those fourteen faithful people? They’re worth more than a thousand fair-weather followers.
Because the God who specializes in resurrections? He’s pretty good at comebacks too.
How’s that for a plot twist in your faith story?
