Says the Queen of Hearts again about another person who has cause her great pain. In the epic children’s story of Alice and Wonderland, we see the timeliness message of good versus evil. Nearly every time the world doesn’t go the way of the passionate Queen of Heart’s plans, she shouts in a command, “Off with their head!” While we understand this is not a great response to difficulties in life, I wonder if there isn’t some type of truth we can pull from it?

I was taken back to the historical and biblical account of David and Goliath. As found in 1 Samuel 17, we read about this enemy of God’s people who wished to enslave them. And their champion in the cause….

The had Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Their champion set the rules for engagement. Their champion was one to be intimated by. Their champion was an experienced warrior who feared very little. Their champion was unbeatable in their eyes and the Israelites surrendered to what they saw with their physical eyes instead of what they knew of their God. Time and time again, the Israelites had experienced miracle after miracle and victory of their enemies, but this enemy seemed to big. And for forty days, they were paralyzed with fear while the enemy taunted them – day in and day out.

We all know that David heard this taunting and called it out for what it was. He was young and “ignorant” in the eyes of the Israelites. He was inexperienced in life and battle – however, he knew who his God was and what He had done in the past. David had been with the Lord and saw an enemy whom the Lord could easily beat. And responded with reckless abandonment in the face of all potential fears. Fear is silent in the presence of faith.

And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” 45Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

48When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

50So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. 51Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

This encounter with God came into my life in a moment when I was being constantly taunted by the enemy with lies about myself, my family, my future and my faith. As I read this, I had also been watching Alice and Wonderland with my kiddos for the very first time. And then I heard the Lord speak – “off with his head!” David didn’t hesitate to cut off the head of the enemy as he spoke the viscous lies over the people of God. And once the head was cut off, the enemy complete fled. My new challenge for each day, each moment is to cut off the head of the enemy in my own soul – speaking it into existence.

Through out my journey, the song “Oceans” by Hillsong has became an anthem for me. It is a message of truth and reminders mixed with powerful ballads that ring a true battle cry. The lyrics are…

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour

While I’ve sang this song for many years, each crisis and moment in this journey reminds me of the lyrics I have prayed over myself. When I analyze the phrase “trust is without borders” leads me to that moment of David or maybe just the moment of the Israelites. They had never faced a giant like this before who taunted them so openly and so boldly. The Lord was building another faith foundation stone within them as His people, but they were too afraid to follow. It took the faith of one man to teach an entire army how God moves the borders of faith and what can be done. “Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander” is a loaded statement. We don’t choose things that are difficult in life, we run from them and even plan ways to prevent them. It was the Holy Spirit who moved Jesus into the wilderness to be tested, why do we think God would do any less for us? Becoming deeper in a relationship with him, means we experience things and life that we never planned on. It means truly trusting Him and His character in every moment. It means resting in the fact that He is God and His plans are always for our good.

I heard this statement once and it rings even more true here, “the greatest spiritual crisis comes when a person has to move a little farther on in his faith than the beliefs he has already accepted.” I dare say, I have lived my fair share of spiritual crisis. I dare say my beliefs have been challenged more than once. I claim Victory in the Grace of Jesus, but understand there have been more than one occasion that I have questioned and even yelled at the One I claim to love and serve. Life is difficult. It always has been, but as you get older you have to determine how you choose to look at those difficulties.

Will you choose foundational faith stones or will you choose to allow the enemy of our souls to create bitterness that takes root and bears fruit?

And as my favorite Dowager Countess of Grantham says, “That’s life isn’t it? Getting past the unexpected and perhaps learning from it.”