David: The Giant Killer Series

SUPER MEN - David: The Giant Killer

June 9, 2019

1 Samuel 17:45-50 (p. 198)

Introduction:

When I was growing up my brother Sam and I would be glued to the TV set every Sunday afternoon at 1:30…Why? It was time for Ohio Valley Wrestling…We cheered, booed and sometimes got in trouble for acting out the moves of wrestlers life Jerry “The King” Lawler, Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Tojo Yamamoto, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka.

Many of these wrestlers went on to a much bigger stage in the WWF and WWE, but Sammy and I watched them every Sunday in a little arena filled with metal chairs…which would be used as weapons if necessary…and it was always necessary.

Every once in a while they would have midget wrestling…that’s what they called it back then…I suppose now it’d be called “Small People” wrestling. One Sunday afternoon, one of those small people challenged the wicked “Tojo Yamamoto” to a match…both Sam and I thought “He’s gonna die!” Tojo’s gonna kill him…Tojo was not only huge…he was a cheater…He had these wooden platform shoes that he would smack you in the head with…everyone hated this wrestler!

But in the amazing realism of Ohio Valley wrestling “the little guy won.” Not only did he win but he clocked Tojo in the head with one of his own shoes…I remember dancing around the room counting 1…2…3…“YOU’RE OUT!”

We all celebrate when the little guy wins…It doesn’t matter if it’s against Tojo Yamamoto, or Rudy against the world of Notre Dame history…we all pull for the underdog…Hollywood has made a fortune knowing this truth.

So when the shepherd boy David shows up on a mission to deliver a care package to his brothers who are on the battlefield…it gets our attention when a giant named Goliath steps out…He’s over 9 foot tall. His armor alone weights 125 pounds…the shaft of his spear is like a 4x4 beam…and the point weighs 15 pounds…to say the least…this guy is intimidating as he yells…

1 SAMUEL 17:8-11 (p. 198)

“Choose your best fighter…C’mon you losers let’s go! Winner takes all…Let’s fight.”

When King Saul and all his soldiers hear the challenge and look at the size of this guy…God’s Word says, “Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.”

It takes faith to come against a giant like this…one that makes us feel defeated and afraid even before the fight…and every one of us have found ourselves

I. IN THE VALLEY OF FEAR

Have you ever had an adversary come at you that was so big it terrified you? Perhaps cancer, a heart attack, the death of a child, divorce, financial collapse, a teenager in horrible rebellion.

What do we do when we find ourselves in the valley of fear?

God’s Word says, “For 40 straight days the Philistine Goliath came forward and took his stand.” Every morning for more than a month the Israelites’ enemy shouted “C’mon losers…Let’s fight…Winner takes all…By the way…Your God ain’t nothin’”

The Israelites including their King were captives to fear for more than a month.

Satan does exactly the same thing as Goliath…He stands next to the casket or in the hospital room, or in our homes and shouts…“I’m too big…this is too big…I’m gonna win…Your God ain’t nothin’.”

Satan operates in the arena of fear. And as our Lord Jesus Christ said, “He is the Father of Lies…it’s his native tongue.”

Satan would have us focus only on the giant standing in front of us…and have our hearts afraid of his message…The opposite of faith is fear. It’s when our hearts tremble. It’s when hope is replaced with dismay and doubt…It’s when the shadows in the valley of death seem too dark.

David would write later in his life these words…“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me God.”

[Suppose a big truck rushes by you one evening when you’re headed home from work…The lighting conditions are just right and it’s shadow falls squarely on your vehicle…it makes you jump…it scares you as the noises of the big truck wash over you…and then it’s gone.]

What God’s Word tells us is that no matter what Satan throws at us, as God’s people, it’s just the shadow…it’s not the truck…and that includes death.

We never face the giant on our own…As David tells Goliath “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands.” (1 Sam. 17:45-46)

You see it’s not what you fight against…It’s who fights for you…

The Israelites found themselves in a valley of fear…They needed a champion.