DEFEATING THE GIANTS IN LIFE
- Read 1 Samuel 17:1-52
This is a passage, an account; most of you are very familiar with, the account of David and Goliath. There are several items I would like you to notice with me as we look at this passage. First, I would like you to notice that difficulties in life are inevitable.
I. DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE ARE INEVITABLE
- 1 Samuel 17:17-18, 20
Now, who was David? David was the son of Jesse. He was a young boy. In verse 33, Saul called him a youth, and that word carries the idea of someone around 12-13 years old.
What was David doing? David was minding his own business! He was doing what his daddy sent him to do. He was taking food to his brothers in the army, and checking on them. When David arrived, he heard Goliath’s challenge.
When David left his dad’s house that morning, was he looking for trouble? When David started out that day, was he itching for a fight? No! David was minding his own business, doing what his dad told him, when he heard the giant’s call.
My friend, difficulties in life are inevitable. If you are alive, you will face difficulties. You will face struggles. You will face seemingly impossible odds. It’s part of life. Difficulties in life are inevitable.
II. YOUR RESPONSE TO DIFFICULTIES IS OPTIONAL
While difficulties in life are inevitable, your response to those difficulties is optional.
- 1 Samuel 17:11
- 1 Samuel 17:26b
Let’s face it Goliath was a big guy. He was huge. His head was almost as high as a basketball goal. The armor he wore weighed 125 pounds, probably more than David did. He was huge.
Saul and the other soldiers looked only at the giant. They looked at the obstacle and responded with fear.
David was different. When he looked at Goliath, he didn’t see an obstacle. He didn’t see a giant. He looked and saw an opportunity for God to work, so David responded with faith.
David and the soldiers both looked at the same situation, but they saw completely different things.
“A young woman named Florence Chadwick attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast in 1952 in an attempt to set a record for covering that distance. When she entered the water, a heavy fog had settled itself on the path before her. Blinded by fog, she became disoriented and discouraged and gave up. When she finally decided she couldn’t go on, her escorts in a boat helped her out of the water. The escorts feared to tell her the truth – Florence was less than 300 yards from the goal. Her only reply after learning how close she actually came was, ‘All I could see was hopeless.’ Her clouded vision kept her from victory.” (David Beirne, Facing Your Goliath, Sermon Central).
Difficulties in life are inevitable, but how you respond to those difficulties is optional. It’s up to you and whether you see that difficulty as insurmountable, or as an opportunity for God to work.
Haddon Robinson has said, “In any situation, what you ARE determines what you see, what you SEE determines what you DO.”
My friend, I don’t know what difficulty you are facing right now. I don’t know what struggle has come your way. For some of you, the giant in your life may be an addiction. For others, your giant may be a physical problem. Your giant may be marriage or family problems. You may have the worse boss in the world. I don’t know what your giant is, but I do know that God is bigger than what you face.
> 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Tell somebody, “God is greater than Goliath!” Tell somebody, “God is greater than any giant!”
Goliath may be 10 feet tall, but my God made the dirt he’s standing on. Your Boss may be a terror, but my God made the air he’s sucking in. Your bills may be threatening to drown you, but my Abba; my Daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Your relationships may be suffering, but my God changed a persecuting Saul, into a preaching Paul.
You may be sinking into the darkness of despair, depression, and discouragement, but my God put life into the rotting corpse of Lazarus, and He can give you joy again too. He raised a sinking Peter from the waves and He can lift you. You may be looking around and all you see is darkness, but my God opened the eyes of the blind and He can give you a new vision. You may feel locked into a situation, powerless to escape and powerless to change. You say, “I’ve been defeated too long. There’s no hope for me.” Never forget, they said that about Jesus too, but after 3 days God rolled the stone away!”
My friend, God is all-knowing. Nothing can come your way that surprises Him. God is all-powerful. Nothing can come your way that He can’t handle. God is ever present. No giant can catch you, without God at your side.
When everyone else was trembling in their boots, David looked at Goliath and said, “Boy, you don’t know who you’re messing with.”
That’s all easy to say, but how do you do it? How do you defeat the giants in your life? How do you become, as Paul describes it in the NT, “more than conquerors?”
GUIDELINES FOR GIANT KILLERS
If you want to be victorious in life, if you want to be used in a mighty way, if you want to make a difference, there are several guidelines you must follow.
1. Ignore the Naysayers – First, when facing giants, ignore the naysayers. David saw the problem. He saw there was a situation that needed to be dealt with, and when he began to seek counsel all he heard were naysayers, people who told him it couldn’t be done. My friend, when you decide to take a stand, when you decide to trust God, when you decide to live differently, naysayers will come who tell you it can’t be done. They come in many different forms.
a. The Jealous – v 28. In chapter 16 of 1 Kings, we find that David’s oldest brother was passed over by Samuel, and David was anointed to eventually become king. We see how his brother responds in this verse. He attacks David. David has done nothing wrong. He hasn’t bragged or anything, but his brother, in a jealous fit, accuses David of every wrong motive in the world. He even accused David, a man the Bible describes as a “man after God’s own heart,” of having an evil heart.
My friend, if you decide to take a stand for God, if you decide to take a stand of faith and to take God at His word, some people will question your motives. They will question your spirituality and your heart. If you live differently than they do, some people will attack you out of jealousy. Ignore them.
b. The Backslidden – Not only will jealous people attack you, but the backslidden will try to dissuade you.
- 1 Samuel 10:22-23
- 1 Samuel 10:10
- 1 Samuel 16:14
God chose Saul and set him as king over God’s people. Saul was a giant of a man, prepared to fight other giants. On the day Goliath came, however, Saul was unable to stand before Goliath because God’s spirit had left him. He once trusted and obeyed God. Now, he’s a backslidden shell of what he used to be.
So how did he respond when Goliath came? He, with his troops, trembled in fear. How did he respond when David was brought before him? According to chapter 17 and verse 33, Saul tried to discourage and dissuade David. He told him it couldn’t be done.
My friend, pay no attention to the counsel of backslidden brothers. They may try to impress you with what they used to accomplish, or with how they were once used by God, but because of disobedience they are no longer filled with the Spirit and so their counsel is less than worthless.
If you want to be victorious, if you want to make a difference, if you want to slay the giants in your life, ignore the naysayers.
2. Review the Victories – Not only must you ignore the naysayers, but also, review the victories.
- 1 Samuel 17:34-37
When a giant confronted David, David reviewed the victories. He looked back at how God had been faithful in the past. He said, “God helped me when a lion attacked me. He gave me victory when a bear attacked me. If God protected me then, if He helped me then, He will help me now.” David reviewed the victories.
When struggles come, when hard times approach, review the victories. Review the times God has been faithful in the past. Review the times He has answered your prayers and taken care of you in the past. Review the victories.
If you want to be victorious, ignore the naysayers. Review the victories. Third, Trust the Lord.
3. Trust the Lord –
- 1 Samuel 17:37
- 1 Samuel 17:45-46a
When David went to fight Goliath, he didn’t trust his own strength. He didn’t trust his own ability. He didn’t trust in his own planning. He trusted the Lord. He said in verses 45 & 46, “I come against you in the name of the Lord. The Lord will hand you over to me.
It isn’t you that will defeat that giant. It isn’t you that will win the victory. It is God. Jesus Himself said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Trust the Lord. Trust that He knows what’s best. Trust that what He leads you into He will lead you through. Trust the Lord.
Ignore the naysayers. Review the victories. Trust the Lord. Forth, get to it.
4. Get to It – Get to it. If you have a situation to handle, if you have a problem to deal with, if you have a giant in front of you, then get to it. Put actions to your words. Look there at verse 48.
- 1 Samuel 17:48
David trusted God so strongly, so confidently, that verse 48 tells us that he ran toward the giant. He didn’t hang back hoping things would work out. He charged the situation. He looked forward to seeing God work.
There are those who would say, “Well we need to wait and pray about this. We need to pray that God will strike this giant down.” Well, sometimes God works like that, and sometimes, after praying, God expects you to get on with it, and to trust Him to use and work through you.
David didn’t jump out there in his own strength. He ran out there because he trusted God and because he was led by God to do so.
You know, sometimes we can use prayer as an excuse not to be obedient. God tells us to do something, and instead we sit around and pray about it.
We probably have more people in this country praying for revival today, than at any time in history, and yet we see little if any reviving happening. Could it be that we’re praying instead of repenting? Could it be that we’re praying instead of obeying? Could it be that we’re praying for people to be saved, and allowing that prayer to take the place of the witness we are supposed to give? Could it be that we’re praying God will work miraculously in our finances, while we refuse to arrange our finances according to His priorities? Could it be that we’re praying God will heal our relationships, while we refuse to confess, to admit to one another the things we’ve done wrong to make the situation worse?
Don’t sit around whining about the giants in your life, if you’re doing nothing to help the situation. There’s a time for praying and a time for doing. Get to it! Don’t sit there and kid yourself by thinking about what you’re going to do one day. Get to it.
Mr. Meant-To has a comrade,
And his name is Didn’t-do.
Have you ever chanced to meet them?
Have they ever called on you?
These two fellows live together
In the house of never-win,
And I’m told that it is haunted
by the ghost of might-have-been.
Dear friend, God can, God will defeat the giants in your life. He will give you victory, if you get to it.
What is the giant in your life today? What difficulty are you facing today? Will you today, step out and say, “God, I will trust you.”? …
