Facing Your Giants Series

III. The Battle Is The Lord’s

David’s brothers cover their eyes, both in fear and embarrassment. Saul sighs as the young Hebrew races to certain death. Goliath throws back his head in laughter, just enough to shift his helmet and expose a square inch of forehead flesh. David spots the target and seizes the moment. The sound of the swirling sling is the only sound in the valley. Sshhhww. Sshhhww. Sshhhww. The stone torpedoes into the skull; Goliath’s eyes cross and legs buckle. He crumples to the ground and dies. David runs over and yanks Goliath’s sword form its sheath, shish-kebabs the Philistine, and cuts off his head.

You might say that David knew how to get a head of his giant. When was the last time you did the same? How long since you ran toward your challenge? We tend to retreat, duck behind a desk of work or crawl into a nightclub of distraction or a bed of forbidden love. For a moment, a day, or a year, we feel safe, insulated, anesthetized, but then the work runs out, the liquor wears off, or the lover leaves, and we hear Goliath again. Booming. Bombastic.

Try a different tack. Rush your giant with a God-saturated soul. Amplify God and minimize Goliath. Download some of heaven’s unsquashable resolve. Giant of Divorce you are not entering my home! Giant of depression? It may take a lifetime, but you won’t conquer me. Giant of alcohol, bigotry, child abuse, insecurity…you’re going down. How long since you loaded your sling and took a swing at your giant? (p.6)

One might read David’s story and wonder what God saw in him. The fellow fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered. He stared down Goliath, yet ogled at Bathsheba; defied God mockers in the valley, yet joined them in the wilderness. An Eagle Scout one day. Chumming with the Mafia the next. He could lead armies but couldn’t manage a family. Raging David. Weeping David. Bloodthirsty. God-hungry. Eight wives. One God.

Acts 13:22 reminds us that God said that “David was a man after God’s own heart.” A man after God’s own heart? That God saw him as such gives hope to us all. David’s life has little to offer the unstained saint. Straight-A souls find David’s story disappointing. The rest of us find it reassuring. We ride the same roller coaster. We alternate between swan dives and belly flops, soufflés and burnt toast. In David’s good moments, no one was better. In his bad moments, could one be worse? The heart God loved was a checkered one. We need David’s story. Giants lurk in our neighborhoods. Rejection. Failure. Revenge. Remorse. Giants. We must face them. Yet we need not face them alone.

Transition: Focus first, and most, on God. The times David did, giants fell. The days he didn’t, David did.

IV. Focus on God Not GIANTS

David made only two observations about Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. One statement to Saul about Goliath (v.36). And one to Goliath’s face: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (v.26). That is it. Two Goliath-related comments (and tacky ones at that) and no questions. No inquiries about Goliath’s skill, age, social standing, or IQ. David asks nothing about the weight of the sword of the size of the spear.