“Facing Your Giant”
1st Samuel 17
David Henderson, Pastor
I want to begin this morning by asking you a personal question and I want you to respond by lifting your hand. How many of you would say that you have either faced a giant in the last year or that you are facing one now? I want to borrow from a phrase from Max Lucado because if you get this you will get the message today. Focus on giants, you will stumble. Focus on God, your giants will tumble.
David is certainly not the first person to ever face a giant and he certainly will not be the last. Giants are common and every one of us deal with giants in some form. The nation of Israel had an intense fear of ... a phobia of giants. It’s call FEE FI PHO.. BE...A. Not really, I made that up. The temptation for you today I believe is to say to yourself “I already know that story but don’t do that because I think you will find some things in this passage that are fresh and also some things that you will need. All of us pretty much fall into one of three categories here. Either we have just finished dealing with a giant, we are dealing with one now or we are about to confront one. No one is free from giants. So what we need is a strategy to fight them and that is what we find in this passage today.
Strategy #1. Describe your giant. Vv. 4-7. The giant’s name was Goliath. Most scholars believe he was just under 10 feet tall. He was decked out in body armor that weighed about 125 pounds. Now look at vv. 8-10. We see the word defy being used 6 times. That word means to humiliate. What Goliath proposes here was very common at this time. This was a one on one contest...winner take all. Each side would send one representative and the two would fight until one was dead. If the Giant/Philistine won then the Israelites would surrender. If the Israelites won then the Philistines would surrender. Problem was no one wanted to face the giant. And that is typical of where we are today. All of us have giants and it’s not much easier to allow them to control us than it is for us to confront them. You see facing the giant is ½ of the battle. Why? Because the giant will not go away until you face him.
Verse 16. Goliath had come out and challenged them every morning and every evening for 40 days. 80 times. And he was very intimidating. V. 24 says as a result they all ran away in fear. Let me ask you today, what kind of giant are you facing today. What intimidates you ? What overwhelms you more than anything else? What is the first thing you think about in the morning and thye last thing that fills your mind at night? Max Lucado says, “your giant doesn’t carry sword or shield, he carries blades of unemployment, abandonment, sexual abuse and depression. Your giant doesn’t parade up down the streets of Elah, he prances through your office, your bedroom, your classroom. He brings bills you can’t pay, grades you can’t make, people you can’t please, whiskey you cannot resist, pornography you cannot refuse, a job you can’t escape, a past you cannot shake and a future you cannot face!”
1st strategy. Describe your problem/giant. But don’t stay there. 2nd strategy. Make sure you are prepared. It is at this point that we are introduced to David. He was the youngest of 8 boys and he was out taking care of the sheep. David’s father, Jesse, told him tells David to go and find out how his 3 older brothers were doing on the battlefield. He also wants to send them some supplies. Grain, 5 lbs., 10 loaves of bread and 18 chunks of cheese. And David runs the entire way.... from Bethlehem to the valley of Elah. 18 miles. David knew how to do things.
V. 20 tells us he left the sheep in the care of another shepherd. Now this is often the way God uses us. He calls us to be faithful right where we are and then He gives us something greater to do. God is preparing you today for battles you will face tomorrow. So make sure you are prepared.
3rd strategy. Deal with pressure. Overcome it. David arrives on day 40 and hears the giant cursing and bragging. In v. 25 David finds out that whoever kills this giant would receive 3 things. (1) great wealth. (2) the king’s daughter and (3) tax amnesty. Sounds good at this time of year huh?
So David has now become weary of listening to the giant and in v. 26 he shouts who is this Philistine that he defies the armies of the living God? David’s older brother responds now. Eliab. He says I’m the warrior. You’re just a spectator. And David says “I just don’t get no respect.” Let me warn you about something here if you don’t already know this. When you decide to face the giants in your life you will be criticized by those who are closest to you. I know that some of you are experiencing incredible pressure right now from your family. And instead of helping you feel like they’re hurting you. If you decide to face your giants, mark it down, you will have opposition. But I love this response from David. V. 29. “Now what have I done?” Sounds like a little brother. “Can’t I even talk?” So Saul, king of Israel heard about David and he sent for him. V. 32 David says “I will go and fight!” V. 33. Saul says you’re not able. You’re just a boy. David says in verses 34-37. So Saul tells David to go for it. Trying to help, Saul gives him his armor, but it doesn’t fit. So David sets it down. You can’t fight your battles with someone else’s solution.
Strategy #4. Change your perspective. Haddon Robinson once said, “in any situation, what you ARE determines what you SEE; what you SEE determines what you DO. Everyone else thought Goliath was too big to kill, David says he’s so big, how can I miss? If you see yourself as a victim that’s how you will react but if you see yourself as a victor that’s how you will respond. Your perspective makes all the difference in the world. David was focused on God, not the giant. He didn’t ask what Goliath’s record was. How many knock outs does he have. How old is he? What’s his I.Q.? He asks nothing about the weight of his sword. Nothing about the size of his spear. Because that was not his focus. But he does give a lot of thought to the God he serves. If fear has paralyzed you then you have to get a different perspective. Focus on your giants, you stumble. Focus on God, your giants will tumble.
Strategy #5. Proclaim God’s name. When Goliath came closer to David and he saw his size and his youth he shouts out. V. 43. “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” He then calls out a curse on David and says “I’ll feed you to the birds and the wild animals.” David then does something here that is amazing. Let me show you two things first though to remind us all of the size of Goliath and how much his armor weighed. On the screen you can see a picture of Yao Ming. He plays for the Houston Rockets and is now the tallest player in the NBA. He is 7.5 feet tall. Everybody say WOW! O.K. now Goliath was 9.5 feet tall. Everybody say, are you kidding? Everybody. Glad you asked. I’m not kidding. Now to add to it ______________ stand up. How much do you weigh? 125 pounds. That’s the weight of the armor he was carrying around. Would you like to carry him everywhere you go? I gotta tell you that for me this would be intimidating.
So David does something here that no one else has thought of. Listen: vv. 45-47. Now God is introduced into this equation and everything changes. You see if you want to minimize your Goliaths, then you must magnify your God. That is what David does. He mentions Goliath two times, he mentions his God 9 times! Focus on Giants, you stumble, focus on God, your giants will tumble.
Strategy #6. Use the gifts God has given you and use them now. Saul gave him some armor. But it just didn’t fit. When I say use them I mean stop procrastinating. David decided he had to do something and he had to do it now. So he picked up the things he was familiar with. You know “little is much when God is in it.” His staff, his slingshot and 5 stones. Why 5? Well if you keep reading you learn that Goliath had 4 brothers. So that could be the reason. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure he had some reserve. David took action. Let me ask you how long has it been since you went head to head, face to face with your giant? The Bible says,”he ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.” You can’t just sit back and hope that things will get better. And with one stone he killed the giant. How long has it been since you ran toward your challenge?
Have you ever thought at what point did Goliath die? Now if you don’t know the end of the story after Goliath falls to the ground, David takes his sword and cuts Goliath’s head off. Then he took Goliath’s weapons and put them in his tent as trophies. On top of that Saul wanted to know who David’s father was and so he sent Abner to find out and David was still walking around carrying Goliath’s head. So when did he die. When David picked up the stones? When the stone hit him? When he cut off his head? Goliath was a dead man when David “approached the Philistine.” Faith is not talking about the giant. Faith is not praying for the giant. Faith is taking a step and facing the giant. When God calls you to face your giant, He may not tell you what the 2nd and 3rd steps are but go ahead and take the first one. Face your giant. David was a hero. And he was able to celebrate because he had just conquered his giant. You can do the same.
Bruce Larson, in his book “Believe and Belong” tells of how he helped many people who were struggling to defeat the giants in their lives. He says, for many years I worked in new York city and counseled people from my office. Often I would suggest that they walk with me from my office down to the RCA building on Fifth avenue. In the entrance of that building, is a huge statue of Atlas, with all his muscles straining, holding the world on his shoulders. There he is, the strongest man in the world yet he can barely stand up under his burden. Bruce would then say, “now you can choose to live that way”...trying to carry the burdens of the world all by yourself on your shoulders. But now come across the street with me. On the other side of 5th Avenue is St. Patrick’s cathedral and there behind the altar is a statue of Jesus as a boy, perhaps 8 or 9n years of age and with no effort he is holding the entire world in one hand.
Some of this sermon material was borrowed from Brian Bill, a pastor on this site and also from Max Lucado, an author.
