Footsteps in Faith: Faith can shape our future
Chaplain (Maj.) Patrick Basal
130th Engineer Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command
Basal
When Michelangelo sculpted his magnificent marble statue of David, he claimed he simply chipped away until David emerged from his stony captivity. Michelangelo believed the image of David was trapped inside the block of marble.
Three years later, that image was set free for all the world to view.
Michelangelo wrote in his diaries, “It took 40 men five days to move it. Once in place, the statue was a warning … whoever governed Florence should govern justly and defend it bravely.”
Michelangelo’s message in stone was that those who would presume to lead a people are accountable to both God and man.
This ties us into the larger story of David, a study of faith and accountability; of a man who was a shepherd and king; a son and a father; a husband and friend; a warrior and a worshipper.
David, the man after God’s own heart, lived a life purposed by divine design.
The Bible teaches us that accountability to God begins by walking in obedience with the Lord, who brings us from famine to feast, from failure to victory, from alienation to family.
We learn that faith in God shapes our futures with unimagined possibilities; we are liberated from the prisons of doubt, low self-esteem and uncertainty when the sculptor of our destiny is the living God.
Because the eye of the sculptor sees something in each of us — what “could be” — our lives are open-ended; we walk with the promise that God can do something wonderful with our lives if we’ll simply let him.
However, this requires that his skilled hands chip away the unnecessary stone that so often traps and hinders our potential. Such processes are always difficult and often painful, but the polished result becomes a witness to the universe, for from dust and stone is born a child of the spirit!
As we search for scriptural truths about this shepherd king named David, let us also search our own hearts and stand ready for the touch of God, our heavenly sculptor, on our lives as well.
Category: Footsteps in Faith, News, Standing Columns
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