[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord. – Psalm 27:13-14, Amplified Bible (AMP)

Prior to 1954, the world’s leading medical professionals, anatomical experts, researches, engineers, and physiologists had unanimously concluded that the human body was incapable of running the distance of a mile in less than four minutes. Some of their reasons and justifications for this conclusion were:

• Our bone structure was all wrong for the task
• Our lungs were functionally inadequate
• Our hearts could not withstand the strain
• Death would result from any such attempts

British track star Roger Bannister refused to listen to any of them. On May 6, 1954, in Oxford, England, he ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. The experts were wrong. To date, over 950 runners have run a mile in under 4 minutes at least 4,700 times, proving that before 1954, there were no physical barriers to the sub 4-minute mile, only psychological ones. What Bannister did was simply remove the limiting beliefs.*

Whether we are focused on avoiding failure or fully engaged in pursuing success, our ability to succeed in the task at hand is 100% dependent on God’s participation in the endeavor. I don’t care what we are doing at a given moment, we Christians will not succeed in the matter unless God allows us and empowers us to succeed. God often ties His enabling to our willingness to trust Him, and, as a result, we can often trace our failures to our lack of trusting Him. Had Bannister continued to be a slave to the limiting beliefs of his day, he would have never broken the 4-minute mile threshold. Likewise, as long as we continue to be enslaved by our doubt in God’s love for us, in His ability to provide for us, and in His power to succeed when all mankind sees nothing but failure, we will never obtain the prizes that God wants us to enjoy.

David’s solid belief in God’s goodness on Earth, as well as in Heaven, helped him obtain peace in the midst of being hunted. We can have that same peace in the midst of any situation as long as we will do what David did: trust that we will see God’s goodness in the land of the living. God’s goodness may not take the form that we would like it to, but no matter. Whatever God deems to be good is better than anything we could imagine for ourselves.

* SOURCE: South Carolina Real Estate Commission 2014-2016 Core Course, “Stepping It Up: Professional Expectations and Obligations.”

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