Battling Giants

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One of the most iconic scenes from modern culture -

{clip of the Death star destroyed by tiny xwing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuKqcfO31is }

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The Death Star is enormous - it is capable of destroying entire planets - indeed it has destroyed a couple of entire planets - but a tiny Xwing fighter can fit down a trench and send a torpedo down an exhaust port to set off a chain reaction that destroys it.

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1 Sam17:2 Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him. 8He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel,

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A giant - a 7 foot tall man (image of wun wun from game of thrones)

The Isrealites are quaking in their boots

He is a giant - impossible to defeat - yet as the angel tells Our Lady in Luke 1:37 - nothing is impossible with God.

One thousand years later the Roman Empire was like Golliath or a Death Star - a mighty unstoppable force that no one could defeat. And yet a tiny little religion called Christianity, a religion of a minority people on the fringe of the Empire often taken up by slaves - that tiny Christianity manages to take over the entire empire. The brutal force that tortured people in the arena for public entertainment, where the rich could rape slaves any time they liked or kill them on a whim and brutality the just the whole system of the regime - that regime was conquered from the inside by a peace loving religion which said “love your enemies” and “the last shall be first”.

The story of David and Golliath - the story of a little boy who defeats the 7 foot giant - well in the days when children used to go to Sunday school it was one of the best known bible stories.

Nowadays - people are perhaps more likely to know Prince of Eqypt {clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DeWzsbkAcM or Joseph https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtpzoGj-1V8 }

But if you don’t know the almost fairy tale like story of David and Golliath, it is well worth reading 1 Samuel 17.

The Isrealite army are quaking in their boots before the giant Golliath. He challenges them to provide a hero for single combat, but everyone is to afraid to volunteer until a little boy, probably only about 12 years old steps forward - ““The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Sam 17:37)

And to Golliath he says

“You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, (1 sam 45-46)

he says - and much to everyone’s surprise he slays the giant.

In our own lives there can be many giants.

I know that as you listen to this you may be going through difficulties and obstacles that feel overwhelming.

And I know that sometimes it is a case of “Lord when you don’t move the mountains when I ask you to” And “what if Blessings come through raindrops”......(1)

Yet my experience is that God DOES answer prayer. Not every time, not in the way we want it - but yes in amazing ways.

On the one hand - to quote Pastor Rick Warren “Not everything in THIS life has a happy ending, but this life if not the end of the story.”

Or to Quote Julian of Norwich - “All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well”

On the other hand - God DOES slay our Golliaths. Things that seem impossible have been achieved

When in 1718 an unusual dwarf Quaker called Benjamin Lay began campaigning against slavery it would have seemed an impossible task - but God was calling him to do it - until in 1863 even America had abolished slavery…..