When The Battle Comes

Most of us are familiar with the story of David and Goliath. It truly is one of the greatest victories in all of Scripture. David, a mere shepherd boy stands to face the giant, Goliath in battle and he wins.

This is the kind of story we need to hear isn’t it? After all who doesn’t have a giant or two in his or her life that continues to taunt us and try to make our life miserable.

What do you do with the giants in your life anyway? Everybody seems to have advice for us don’t they? It is so much easier to counsel someone else on defeating the giants in their life than it is for us to receive counsel for our own.

I recently received an email entilted, “Wise Advice from Kids.” It goes like this.

1. Never trust a dog to watch your food. Patrick age 10

2. When your dad is mad and asks you, “Do I look stupid?” don’t answer him. Michael age 14

3. Never tell your mom her diet’s not working. Michael, age 14

4. Stay away from prunes. Randy age 9

5. Never pee on an electric fence. Robert, age 13

6. Don’t pull dad’s finger when he tells you to . Emily age 10

7. When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair. Tonya age 11

8. Puppies still have bad breath even after eating a tic-tac. Andrew age 9

9. Never hold a dust buster and a cat at the same time. Kyle age9

10. If you want a kitten, start out by asking for a horse. Naomi age 15

11. Felt markers are not good to use as lipstick. Lauren age 9

12. When you get a bad grade in school, show it to your mom when she’s on the phone. Alisha, age 13

13. Never try to baptize a cat. Elaine age 8

It appears these kids have learned some valuable lessons about life experiences haven’t they? It reminds me of the wise school teacher who I understand sent this note to all parents on the first day of school: “If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I will promise not to believe everything he says happens at home.”

We too can learn some valuable lessons about life as we look at the battle between David and Goliath.

I. Lesson #1. Facing a giant is an intimidating experience!

A. This morning we can look back at David’s bravery and victory with the prefect hindsight and the safe distance of two thousand years. In fact, our distance can diminish how David must have felt at this situation in his life.

1. Goliath stood over 9 feet tall. And it wasn’t just his size that overwhelmed you; he had body armor from head to toe that could have weighed as much as 175 pounds. Plus he had a personal shield bearer to go with it.

2. And according to verse 16, for 40 days, every morning and every evening Goliath would march toward the army of Israel taunting his size and his strength daring someone to take him on. Now that is intimidating!

3. But then aren’t all of our giants intimidating? That is why we call them giants, because they are bigger than we are.

4. That is how it is with the giants of fear and worry, for example. They don’t come just once; they come morning and evening, day after day, relentlessly trying to intimidate us.

5. They may come in the form of a person, or a pressure, or a worry. In fact, few things are more persistent and intimidating that our fears and our worries, especially when we face them in our own strength.

6. When the battle comes and our giants are at the door, it is usually intimidation that sends us in a full retreat! When they intimidate us, we get tongue – tied. Our thoughts get confused. We forget to pray. We focus on the odds against us. We forget whom we represent, and we stand there with our knees knocking.

7. But David’s eyes were not on the giant. Intimidation played no part in his life. He may have appeared to others to be an ant before the elephant, but David was not listening to the others. He told Goliath in verse 45, “I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel,….

8. This was the secret to David’s life - The battle is the Lord’s. We need to stop waiting on the devil, fearing his arrival. Rather we need to be out looking for him, because the battle is the Lord’s.

9. Are you trying to do your own battle? Trying to fight it your way? Trying to outsmart the enemy, outfox him? You can’t. But God can!