Facing Giants With Nothing But Stones

Facing Giants With Nothing But Stones

SCRIPTURE: " And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine."

1 Samuel 17:40

Introduction

My brothers and sisters, allow me to pose this very serious and personal question and that question is Have you ever faced a giant in your life? Maybe you didn’t respond to that serious question because you might not know what a giant is! Well beloved, let me inform you what Webster tells us about GIANTS! I love Webster’s dictionary because Webster’s dictionary tells us that a GIANT is something or someone that is unusually large and powerful. A giant is not something that can be overlooked but something or someone that will cause you to back up for a moment. Most of us can remember growing up as a child hearing about GIANTS.

Most of us should be familiar with giants. We read about them as children in books, fantasized about them in fairytales and watched images of them in movies, videos and cartoons. We are familiar with giants!

Even today, in schools children learn of giants when they read stories that describe Gulliver's Travels into the land of the Lilliputians or chilling sound of "fe fi fo fum" of the giant in "Jack and the Bean Stalk." There is even a giant on the cans of vegetables we purchase in stores called the Jolly Green Giant.

Giants are usually referred to as larger than ordinary individuals, and because of their size are viewed as fearsome and grotesque. My brothers and sisters, in our lives we are often faced with giant sized problems that are fearsome and just as grotesque as any oversized giant. Sometimes it's a problem that keeps us late at night; other times it's situations and circumstances that seem too big to face at times. And if we can real with each other today, giant sized situations can make you feel like God has forgotten about you and your situation. Sometimes Life deals you a bad hand that you weren’t ready to be dealt. Sometimes it will seem as if you are experiencing “Hell” right here on earth! If can be real today church, the challenges we face everyday are real. Many of us don’t have any make believe problems; some of us are fighting to keep our head above water. Some of us are just trying to keep the car in the road. Some of us are trying to keep from going crazy! The truth of the matter is that sometimes LIFE WILL SERVE YOU GIANT SIZED PROBLEMS BUT THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD CAN HANDLE IT!!! GOD CAN HANDLE YOUR PROBLEM! GOD HANDLE YOUR SITUATION! GOD CAN HANDLE YOUR FINANCES! GOD CAN HANDLE YOUR FIXED INCOME! GOD CAN HANDLE THE FOLKS ON YOUR JOB! GOD CAN HANDLE THE FOLKS WHO CAN’T STAND YOU! GOD CAN HANDLE IT!!! BUT MANY TIMES, we get nervous because we focus on all the things that can go wrong. We ponder on the possibility of failure instead of bathing in the prospect of success. STOP THINKING THAT YOU GOING TO FAIL ALL THE TIME. STOP THINKING THAT YOU AIN’T GOING TO MAKE IT OUT OF THE STORM! WHEN YOU KNOW THAT GOD CAN HANDLE IT, YOU CAN LOOK AT THE PROBLEM AND SAY “I DON’T KNOW HOW AND I DON’T KNOW WHEN BUT I KNOW THE LORD WILL MAKE A WAY”. “Those who are prepared for the challenges of life can stand boldly, without fear of failure. THEY AIN’T SCARED OR SCURRED! They are confident that God is able to deliver them in any challenge.

As Christians, we ought to rejoice in the knowing that although we may face giants in our lives, God empowers us to overcome each and every one. Every day, we face the fearsome challenges of life with little more than a stone of hope, but God gives us faith for the fight. Every day we face situations that seem hopeless but God just keeps “MAKING A WAY OUT OF NO WAY”.

Exposition

I love today’s text because it focuses on the shepherd boy David as he rose to fight the giant named Goliath, using nothing but a slingshot and five smooth stones. In this episode of this text, Israel is under King Saul’s rule and Israel is being constantly faced to a challenge by the Philistines, who were natives of Canaan.

The text reveals that there is a forty day standoff between the armies of the two countries, Israel and the Philistines. The Philistines offered to settle the difference by a duel of the champions. In a duel of the champions, each country would send its greatest fighter in a one on one contest, fighting for victory for his country. This method would save needless bloodshed. They decided that instead of everybody fighting and dying on both sides, let’s pick our best man to represent for each army. So here it is in the text,