Defeating the Giants in Your Life

INTRO
Do you remember the times when you’ve struggled with something or you’ve been fighting a battle and its left you feeling like you’ve been run over by a Mac truck? We feel like we’re always spending our time trying to defeat a giant? If we’re fortunate enough, we don’t make it there often, but the reality is, we all make it there at some time. In some cases, we’re up against a problem or distraction. In other cases, we’re fighting sin that has got a hold of us, and as much as we want to defeat that giant in our lives, it rears its ugly head again and again.

We’ve all been to the place where we’ve had to deal with giants; giants like worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, or insecurity. Whatever it has been, we’ve wandered through those dry valleys looking for answers, and sometimes we come up empty. We feel a lot like David standing in the intimidating shadow of Goliath.

Bruce Larson, in his book “Believe and Belong” tells of how he helped people who were struggling to defeat the giants in their lives. He writes, “For many years, I worked in New York city and counselled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with these situations. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a perfectly proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under his burden. ‘Now that’s one way you can live,’ I would point out, ‘trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now, come across the street with me.’ On the other side of Fifth Avenue is St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and there behind the altar is a statue of Jesus as a boy, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort, he is holding the world in one hand.”

The truth is, we have a choice, and we are faced with a question: Who are we relying on to defeat our giants? Who are we counting on to carry our burdens?

Goliath was David’s giant to overcome. It was his distraction and his problem. In fact, Goliath was Israel’s giant to overcome. Even though the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul at this point in his life, he was still leading the army of the Israelites in battle. And by this point, Saul had lost all confidence in God’s leadership, not only in his life but also in the life of his nation, and it became very evident in the way Saul led his troops against the Philistines. For a long time, Saul and his men would wake up every morning and stand face to face with their giant. But that was the problem. They were facing their giant day after day after day. There was a key element that was missing in their battle strategy that forced them to waste time dealing with the same giant every day.

Take your Bible and turn to 1 Samuel 17. Here we read of one of the most famous battles not only in the Bible, but also in all of history. David faced a physical giant in Goliath, but we face giants of our own all the time, whether they are mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual giants. So we must ask, how do we defeat the giants in our life? What do we learn from David’s giant-killing that we can use ourselves?

BODY
David lived by a simple principle to defeat the giants in his life. HE HAD NOTHING