Killing Giants Series

Killing Giants

1 Samuel 17

No matter how long you’ve been a Christian or how much faith you possess, you will still have opposition in your life. You can be the nicest, sweetest, gentlest, kindest and most caring individual the world has ever seen, and there will still be somebody the next block over who doesn’t like you because your hair is the wrong color or your nose is too long or you are too tall or too smart or have too much money or not enough money or your voice is irritating or you smell different than they do. Not bad. Just different. Or a thousand other stupid reasons.

Then there are the people who don’t like you not because of anything you have done, they just don’t like anybody. Another set of people are not really against you, they are just for themselves. They cannot see past their current wants and desires to see your need or your pain. They see themselves as the sun and everyone else must revolve around them. For the most part you can ignore them. Unless of course you must work with them, then you do your best to show them there is only one Son and they are not Him!

Then there are people and situations that we will all face because life is full of sin and can be maddeningly unfair. There are bad situations you will encounter that are not of your own making, fights you will get involved in that never involved you, and situations you must face in spite of your best efforts to stay peaceful and true to God. This is what happens in the life of David as he encounters the giant Goliath. The war between the Philistines and the Israelites had been going on long before David was born. He didn’t start it. He didn’t know much about it. He didn’t know they had a giant of a man on their side. But still the circumstances turned so that David found himself in the midst of a battle he didn’t start, but he was about to finish.

Every single person here will face giants. The question before us this morning is not if we are going to face giants, but what we are going to do when the giants show up. Fortunately for us, David teaches us some great lessons about what we can expect and the things we can do when giant opposition enters our life. Are you ready to start killing giants? Let’s start reading 1 Sam. 17:1-11.

As countries sometimes do, the Philistines came to battle the Israelite troops. They stood opposite one another one opposing hills with the Valley of Elah in between. Depending on your translation, Goliath was between 7’0” and 9’9”. In other words, he was huge. For one man to come out and challenge another was not unusual in those days. But no one in Israel was willing to take the challenge, including Saul, who also stood head and shoulders above everyone else and should have led the battle. Because we will all face giants in our life of one type or another, I want to give you six key points to help you not only face your giants but kill them in the process. How many of you have a few giants in your life that could use some killin’? Okay. Let’s start.

Read 1 Sam. 17:12-27.

1. There will be preparation. Before you face giants, there will be a time of preparation. God doesn’t lead you where He hasn’t prepared you. After serving Saul as a harp player, David returned to his regular job of tending the family sheep. It was here, as we will see later, that David’s initial preparations came when he faced bears and lions while protecting the sheep. His father gave him a little job that was worthy of his age and experience and he showed himself faithful. This is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matt. 25:23). Then when Goliath came along, David had the experience that told him slinging a rock at a giant wasn’t any different than slinging one at a lion or any other animal. In fact in some way it was easier because the target was bigger! And just as Jesus said, they celebrated together.

Now, most of the time your preparation takes place when you are alone, in the desert or away from the crowd. It takes place when you’ve spent time with God, learning His character and His ways. It takes place in little ways when God says, “Sit and learn. Observe how this is done. Clean this room. Watch this child. See that need in My Kingdom and quietly fulfill it.” The preparation of God using you in big ways is seen in the way you take care of the little things. The details you use to sweep a room or clean a toilet is a good indication of the details you use when you work with God’s people.