Facing Your Giants (2) Series

David was able to overcome Goliath even though he was smaller, younger, untrained and inexperience. He wasn’t terrified because he was not focusing on the giant.

• We need to WATCH WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT because whatever we focus on affects us. We are easily overwhelmed because we tend to BELIEVE what we see.

• Pause and reflect. REFOCUS and see things from a spiritual perspective.

If God is present and still in control, then DO WHAT YOU POSSIBLY CAN.

• God prepares us for the challenges of life. God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. (cf. 1 Cor 10:13)

• God will not lead you to where His grace cannot sustain you. So don’t look at what we do not have. Think of what God has given us.

Offer to Him our best. Don’t have to be someone you are not, or try to fit into someone else’s armour. Take what you have and use them for the glory of God.

David showed us that he knows very clearly where his strength lies.

3. REMEMBER WHERE YOUR STRENGTH LIES

At least three persons taunted David in this chapter. That’s everybody actually.

• One is his oldest brother Eliab (17:28-29). “Why have you come down here? You don’t belong here, you are supposed to be looking after the sheep. How conceited you are…” (He has already forgotten about the loaves of bread that David brought from home).

• Two, King Saul: “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.” (17:33)

• Three, Goliath. He despised him and cursed him (17:43). “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?”

No one supported David. No one encouraged him. Imagine you are trying to get something done and everyone around you thinks and says that you are not up to it.

It reminds me of the story of the TWO FROGS. (Pretend that you have not heard it.)

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. It’s impossible for them to get out.

The two frogs jump and jump with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to give up, it’s no use. They were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs was so discouraged he gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. The bunch of frogs kept yelling. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. Everyone was surprised.

After catching his breath, he said, “Thanks, thanks for cheering me on!” The frog explained that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the whole time.

None of these discouraging remarks gets to David. He wasn’t really disturbed.

• The words seek to draw his attention to himself – “Look at you!” That’s precisely the ‘problem’ – David wasn’t thinking about himself.

• This whole challenge has nothing to do with him; it’s about the glory of God.

Listen to what David says to the Philistine: 1 Sam 17:45-47

45 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give all of you into our hands."

David wasn’t bothered by what people say because His confidence is in God, not in himself. If it’s not about me, then everything you say about me is quite irrelevant.

• David’s confidence is in God and in God alone, not even in his sling and the stones (even though he is really good at using it and can boast about it).

• He thought nothing about himself or his skills, nothing about the armour or sword or battle plan. Just God and God alone David trusts.

And he is not being presumptuous. He trusts Him because God has proven to be faithful and true. He has past experience to prove it, when he fought the lion and the bear.