“The battle is the Lord’s.” 1 Samuel 17:47 NKJV
“To have God’s power, you have to be committed to God’s purpose and glory.“
My thoughts today are about “facing giants.”
Heroes are not self-made; none of us are. A person is shaped daily by their life experiences – prosperity and adversity, routine and extraordinary circumstances, personal choices, and especially, their experiences with God. Every person is the cumulative product of everyone and everything that touch their life, some less, some more. No one rises to such a pivotal, self-defining occasion without Godly preparation. The adrenalin of present danger is not enough to gather your wits, courage, and confidence and be victorious.
You will need an established history with God. David’s courage was shaped earlier by circumstances and experiences long before he ever imagined the possibility of facing Goliath. Most importantly, the true heart of his story is really about David and God! God said of David, “He is a man after My heart who will fulfill all My will.”
Give thought to how your life story is being shaped. Have you noticed how some people leave hearts and lives in better shape than others? The battle with Goliath is the event for which David is most known, but that was not really the biggest chapter in David’s story – maybe the most dramatic but not the most consequential. It was a big deal, but not much of a battle as battles go. A lot of threats and thunder, but over and done in minutes – kind of anti-climactic after forty days of Goliath’s threats and boasting.
I am captivated by the Bible’s description of the moment that set the course of the rest of David’s life, “When the Philistine drew near to meet David, he hurried and ran to meet the Philistine. David prevailed with a sling and a stone.” 1 Samuel 17:45-51 NKJV. He wasted no time; he hesitated not at all. He understood what was at stake – not merely the well being of Israel, the success of King Saul, nor even his own safety – at stake was the reputation of God among nations.
Why do you want to slay the giants? To be problem free? To avoid pain? To have bragging rights? To gain reputation and acclaim? To have God’s power, you have to be committed to God’s purpose and glory, not your own or another’s. Saul thought Goliath was too tough to mess with; David saw him as too tall to miss!
Every battle requires a strategy for victory. Spiritual success doesn’t just happen because you want it to. Saul and his armies’ failure teach how to avoid their “strategies for failure.” Listing hurts won’t heal them, itemizing problems won’t solve them, recording rejections won’t remove them, and rehearsing your defeats will not change them. Maybe you recognize some of the ways you may have unsuccessfully dealt with problems. There are things we all do that really don’t work.
Losing strategy #1. Avoid the inevitable. Running from your problem will not fix it. In fact, problems can grow larger, while you avoid dealing with them. 40 days avoiding Goliath gave him confidence of victory, while weakening their hope of victory. Better to face it sooner than later.
Losing strategy #2. Ignore the undesirable. The threats ringing in your ear don’t go away no matter how much you try to ignore them. You will wake up every morning and go to bed every night with their echo, and your dread of impending defeat. Goliath does not just go away.
Losing strategy #3. Hide from the difficulty. Running and hiding only emboldens your enemy, and raises your fear level. Israel’s army “saw Goliath and ran from him in great fear.” No one can win your battle for you, Only God can!
The winning strategy? Face the giant with courage and conviction, in the Name of the Almighty and for His glory. “It is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s!” God will triumph over all, but he will use you to throw the stone.
My prayer for you is: that you will face your problems with faith in God’s almightiness.