"You will have strength for all your days." Have you ever
looked up the Unity Daily Word message on the day you were born? This was mine. I wondered
if I was going to need strength to get through the experiences yet to come. Was this a
revelation of my future? Now that many years have passed, I remember my message of
strength and have grown to understand that strength is not something which I ever lack. It
is something which, from time to time, I need to remember that I already have as a
God-given faculty.
There is a character in the Old Testament who is known for his size and appearance of
great strength. His name is Goliath. Not only was he strong, but he also was well
protected with armor. You would think a little shepherd boy wouldn't have a chance face to
face with such an adversary. The shepherd boy, of course, was David who had no sword,
staff or armor. What he did have was a sling and a few small stones. When you think of the
great power of Goliath, it seems impossible for this young boy to defeat the champion of
the Philistines. Goliath can represent human strength, material strength, or the
appearance of being strong by stoicism or physical power. We can display a certain bravado
by saying to life, "I can handle anything." And we can. We can handle many
emotional challenges by simply shutting down so that we feel nothing. "I don't feel
anything. I am strong; nothing bothers me." And yet, inside, it may constantly be
wearing us down.
David seemed so small and ill suited to the task of overcoming something so strong, big
and seemingly impossible to defeat. Yet a deep spiritual strength can overcome anything
that is material or a product of this world. In the depths of the inner spirit, the true
source of strength is found. What is it to be strong in the face of challenges? It is the
ability to stand firm in the belief in a higher power, that you can get through and even
beyond the experience, and in a positive outcome. For many years I thought of strength as
something to do with power and with overcoming. However, in Twelve Powers of Man, Charles
Fillmore calls it by two other names: stability and steadfastness. Isn't true strength the
ability to remain steadfast, the ability to hold on to the conviction that there is
another side or an answer no matter how things look? We really do have strength for all
our days; we have the power to remain steadfast in the face of life's challenges.
What happened to great Goliath? David hit him in the forehead with a small stone and he
fell right over. He was not very stable. Sometimes neither are we. We waver between faith
in God and the belief in something other than God. "There is a way through this. No,
there isn't! There is no way out. Well, maybe there is. What do I have to do? How can I
fix this?" There are times when we are as unstable as a reed in the wind as we try to
find an answer or some cure. Goliath trusted in his physical strength, his ability to
stand and fight, and it failed, as it often does. Isn't there a limit to how long you can
humanly hold on or how long you can do something yourself? How long can you hold five
pounds of sugar in the air? We all reach a point where we cannot hold it any longer. How
long can God support the universe? There is no end to that.
David, whose name means beloved, represents love - not as human attachment or
attraction, but as the idea of spiritual unity and oneness with the source of all. The
conflict between David and Goliath represents steadfastness and stability in the
conviction that God lives, moves and works through us to bring into expression the highest
and best. Personal power and physical strength will eventually fail but spiritual strength
cannot fail no matter how things appear. In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor
Frankl wrote about his experiences in a concentration camp during World War II. He said
that those who had no sense of purpose did not survive. Those who did not have a
foundation based upon something other than their own physical strength did not make it
through.
It does not matter whether you have been in pain, feeling worried, fearful or any other
difficult experience. Goliath eventually falls; personal power is exhausted. What did it
take for David to triumph? It took a stone, one true thought such as, "Of myself I
can do nothing but through Christ, I can do all things." It is God individualized,
the Christ, which strengthens you. In this awareness you find your point of true power.
Here is your stability. Be steadfast in your thought and you are strong and stable in your
life. Remember, "You will have strength for all your days."
Copyright © 1998 by Greg W. Neteler
Used with permission.