The Game Of Thrones- Israel’s Experience With Human Kings” Series

The Game of Thrones- Israel’s Experience with Human Kings”

Giants in our Lives

Every Sunday School student knows this wonderful story of David and Goliath. God used a brave young man full of faith to face a nine foot tall giant of a human for God and His people, Israel. With sling in hand, he chose 5 smooth stones from a brook and yelled charge as he ran into a valley of certain death. God guided his actions and the stone right between the eyes of the giant who fell flat. Then David grabbed the sword and took the head of Goliath.

David is not the only person to come up against a giant. All believers will find themselves face to face with big challenges. On a few rare occasions you find yourself staring into the eyes of a Goliath! When a “giant” comes into your life either fear or faith will take over. Most often it is fear and an expectation that we are about to be squashed!

For 40 days the Giant Goliath threatened the army of Israel yelling obscene threats against the God of Israel. The bible tells us that King Saul and those in his army were “terrified and ran from him in great fear.” (17:11,24)

Fear or Faith… that’s the choice when facing “giant obstacles”.

Satan stands before the local church today and defies the living Savior and His church, and the people are, for the most part, huddled down and frightened. The Question: Who will stand and hurl the stones at those seeking to destroy Christian lives. In the Middle East? In our nation… as the Supreme Court discusses “same sex marriage”. Giant issues. Goliath stands waving his spear high in the air challenging someone to defend the name of God, and the church. Satan is a beligerent foe. We know that Christian lives, Christian values are under attack. Sometimes we wonder if the “giants” are too big to defeat.

Paul says in (Eph 6:12)It’s True! "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." The enemy is all around us today. We are faced with Goliaths from every angle.

What are the giants in your life? Your Goliath may be an addiction, a constant bad language habit, a negative attitude, a job layoff, financial problems, marital problems, a life threatening illness.

Well, we are not the first to be afraid of “giants”.

This famous bible story is really about the continuation of God and his promises which began in the Garden of Eden. God is faithful. He promised Adam and Eve that He would send a Savior to redeem humanity from the fear of the grip of death. Fear or Faith That is what faced Adam and Eve that fateful day in the Garden of Eden. What enabled them to step out from hiding? “Faith” God made a promise…. He would send a Savior who would defeat Satan’s power by rising from death and giving every believer the power of the Holy Spirit.

I want to turn the clock of history back ……

When the Children of Israel left slavery behind in Egypt, their backpacks were full. They were given the wealth of Egypt. A song was on their lips. A bounce was in their step. Then they reached the “sea”. They saw the dust of the Egyptian army closing in. They wailed. They cried. Fear or Faith? They had just experienced great miracles in Egypt! Yet fear gripped their hearts.

God tells Moses to strike the water… The sea folds back and they cross on dry land. The Egyptian army is swallowed by the sea. The Israelites rejoice and sing again.

“I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted”

“The horse and its ride he has hurled into the sea”

“the Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my

salvation”

Well, that lasted about three days. They began to wail. They cried. The grumbled against their leader…. The water at their new stopping point was bitter. Undrinkable for man and animal.

Fear or faith? Again they chose fear. Fear comes when we live by sight, not by faith. The view of the faithless is the view limited by sight and short memories of God’s past action in one’s life.

We see obstacles as undefeatable giants because of their imposing physical character—

God tells Moses to toss in a piece of wood and the water became sweet.

God did not give up on them. He had promises to keep and generations to go before the Messiah would arrive. He made this promise:

“If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, (just a few weeks ago) for I am the Lord, who heals you.”