How to deal with something bigger than you
Somehow, in every basketball game I ever played, the opposing team looked larger than ours. Why is that?
I recently read about a 7 ft. 9 in. teenage basketball player in Florida. He has grown two inches in the last two months!
Our minds quickly perceive when we are outnumbered and outmatched. It is a survival instinct.
Goliath was seven ft. taller than David, yet David ran against him with a sling!
Here are the things you should remember when you come up against a battle where you are “outnumbered”:
1. God is with you.
In Deuteronomy 20, God told Israel that when they were outnumbered in a battle, they should not fear, for “I am with you.”
That little phrase means everything.
If He is with us, He is for us. If God is for us, “who can be against us?” (Rom. 8: 31)
That little phrase is all God told Israel when they faced the giants of Canaan: “I am with you.”
Say this out loud right now: “God is with me.”
2. Don’t be afraid.
Israel’s priest would face the soldiers of Israel and tell them,
“Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them” (Deut. 20: 3).
Fear turns to panic, and panic turns to dread.
Say this out loud right now: “I am not afraid.”
3. Do not listen to the fearful.
You become what you listen to.
“Faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17), and we could also say, “Fear comes by hearing!”
It’s not good for you to give attention to and listen to someone who is very fearful. It will grow inside of you.
“Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own” (Deut. 20: 8).
If you surround yourself with the fearful, your heart will faint like theirs.
Say this aloud: “I will not listen to the fearful.”
4. Try to make peace.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Mt. 5:9).
He told us to “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison” (Mt. 5: 25
Coming to terms is often better than a bloody battle.
Say aloud what some have called the “third option”: “my way, your way, our way.”
5. “Keep the fruit trees.”
When you are in a battle, try to minimize the long-term damage. Don’t involve other people, properties, or relationships unless it can’t be helped.
Don’t use a hammer on a thumbtack, and don’t use a backhoe when a shovel is all that is needed.
Say it out loud: “Keep the fruit trees.”
Now, you are ready for a battle where you feel outnumbered, even if it is with “Goliath!”
