1 Samuel 17:50 “So David triumphed over the Philistine with
a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine
and killed him.”
2 Samuel 21:18-22 After this, there was another battle
against the Philistines at Gob. As they fought, Sibbecai from Hushah killed
Saph, another descendant of the giants.
During another battle at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair from
Bethlehem killed the brother of Goliath of Gath. The handle of his spear was as
thick as a weaver’s beam!
In another battle with the Philistines at Gath, they
encountered a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot,
twenty-four in all, who was also a descendant of the giants. But when he defied
and taunted Israel, he was killed by Jonathan, the son of David’s brother
Shimea.
These four Philistines were descendants of the giants of
Gath, but David and his warriors killed them.
David and his men faced actually, physical giants, men of
ginormous stature and strength. Our
giants may be unemployment, illness, depression, marital problems, rebellious
children, abandonment, sexual abuse, bills, grades, pornography, addiction, a
career, a mistake, or the future. Whatever
our giant, the key is facing it.
How many times have we come through a battle only to find
another one waiting for us? When we are
looking forward to a rest, the enemy is gearing up for another
confrontation. Another giant rears his
ugly head.
We need to remember that Goliath has brothers. They enemy is full of schemes and tactics to
use to try to defeat us. We need to
remember a few things when the giants roar:
1. On our own the odds
are against us.
As David and his men realized, the giants we face are large
and well trained. They have a “never
back down” mantra and their punishment for failure is great (they already have
hell to look forward to).
Praise God
we don’t have to face the giants alone. Hebrews 13:5b God has said, “I will never fail
you. I will never abandon you.”
2 Kings 6:15-17 When the servant of the man of God got up
early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and
chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to
Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side
than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!”
The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the
hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.
Elisha’s servant could only see the enemy, but in reality the
Army of the Lord vastly outnumbered the enemy’s army. When God opened his eyes he was able to see
that they victory was ensured if they relied on the Lord.
The same is true for us.
The giants might be big, but our God is bigger. The numbers might be great, but the Army of
the Lord is greater.
2. We must see God.
When David approached the camp of Israel he realized that
the army was not seeing God but the enemy.
As in 2 Kings 6 their vision was clouded so they could only see the
giants, the vast hordes of the enemy.
They were cowering in fear because they had poor spiritual eye
sight.
David saw God in the battle. He told Goliath that his God
was bigger and more powerful than he was.
1 Samuel 17:47 David replied to the Philistine, “You come to me with
sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of
Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
“Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and
cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the
birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in
Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people,
but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you
to us!”
In our battles, we need to remember that God is
greater! We need to tell out giants how
big our God is.
1 John 4:4 “But you belong to God, my dear children. You
have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in
you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”
3. We need to
understand the Battle is the Lord’s!
David understood this principle. He told Goliath that the Lord would conquer
him. He never once took the battle as his
own. David told Saul that God would
defeat the Philistine and rescue David as he had in the past.
1 Samuel 17: 34-37 But David persisted. “I have been taking
care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to
steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from
its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to
death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan
Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who
rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this
Philistine!”
2 Chronicles 20:15 He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah
and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be
afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours,
but God’s.
If we are living in obedience and walking in the Spirit, the
battles we face belong to the Lord and he will rescue us. We may have to take up stone and slingshot
but it will be the Spirit who directs the stones path!
4. We must focus on
God NOT on the giants!
David made only two observations about Goliath in 1 Samuel
17. One statement to Saul about Goliath (v.36). And one to Goliath’s face: “Who
is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living
God?” (v.26). That is it. Two Goliath-related comments (and tacky ones at that)
and no questions. No inquiries about Goliath’s skill, age, social standing, or
IQ. David asks nothing about the weight of the sword of the size of the spear.
But he gives much thought to God. As we read David’s words
again, I count nine references to the Lord. God-thoughts outnumber
Goliath-thoughts nine to two. How does this ratio compare with yours? Do you
ponder God’s grace four times as much as you ponder your guilt? Is your list of
blessings four times as long as your list of complaints? Is your mental file of
hope four times as thick as your mental file of dread? Are you four times as
likely to describe the strength of God as you are the demands of your day? (Max
Lucado)
Conclusion: The whole matter may be summed up with the
following couplet:
Focus on giants – you stumble.
Focus on God – your giants tumble. (Max Lucado, Facing
Your Giants, p.9)
All Scripture is NLT unless otherwise stated.
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