How To Face a Giant: Sermon 1 Samuel 17:1-50

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire.

His footsteps shook the very ground they stood on. With every step he took their hearts became more and more afraid. He stood over ten feet tall. The armor that he wore on his body weighed 150 pounds, which was more than any of their whole bodies weighed. The head of his spear weighed 19 pounds and he could throw it with deadly force and accuracy. He was a fearsome sight and just the mention of his name made his enemies quake in their boots and he knew it. He thought he was invincible and most of the people who saw him would agree. He was the original weapon of mass destruction and his name was Goliath. Who could face such a beast in battle and be victorious? Many men had tried and all had failed. Some had said that an entire army could not kill Goliath. So on that day when he stood in front of the army of Israel and taunted them, the men of Israel wanted to do something about it but were too afraid. But in the end it was not a warrior using human weapons that defeated the giant, but a boy welding only the weapons of God.

We face our own giants everyday. That statement has almost become cliché because it has been used by so many preachers but it is true. Everyday of our lives present new problems and new challenges, we remember from last week about the manure that happens in life. Some of these challenges seem as overwhelming as that giant standing before the army of Israel. No matter what it is or how daunting the problem might be with the weapons of God

Fortunately for us God gives us a strategy for going into battle with these Goliaths. We cannot win in a battle of strength, but if we employ a little strategy we might be able to turn the tide on these seemingly overwhelming enemies. Before we see a winning strategy, let’s look at an example what not to do. This example comes from Saul, not the one in the New Testament, but Saul the first king of Israel.

Saul tried to defeat his Goliaths using his own means, ignoring the will of God. He thought he was doing the right thing, but in every decision he made without God in his corner he just fell further and further away from the power of God, until he found himself, the king of Israel, quivering at the sight of this monster. Saul tried to fight his giants on his own and failed miserably.

Let’s switch gears now and talk about a man and a strategy that works. The Bible describes David as a man after God’s own heart, a righteous man, a man who is the true king of Israel, but at the time of the story David is just a boy, but even as a boy he knows the right strategy to face the problems of life. David sees Goliath, he sees this ten foot tall monstrosity but unlike the rest of the great warriors of Israel, he does not fear. Why, because David put his entire faith and trust in God and God gave David the power to defeat the giant.

A few weeks ago we talked about fear and faith and how faith is the enemy of fear. We talked about how faith is inversely related to fear, as your faith rises, your fears diminish and when we have our full faith and trust in God then we have no fear. David knows that God is on his side and he has 100% trust in that knowledge. He does not cower in the face of danger and adversity, but looks Goliath dead in the eye with the full confidence of God and employs the “God first” strategy. You must acquire the power of God before you can defeat your giants but once you have the backing of the Almighty then even the biggest Goliaths are no problem to handle. Once you have God on your side then you can use the weapons of God just as David did when facing Goliath. These weapons of God are found in 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 which was our call to worship this morning. In that Scripture Paul lists the weapons of God that we can use to face our problems, to face our Goliaths with the full backing of God.

First on the list is purity. We must be pure in heart and in mind. We must not have any ulterior motives in facing our problems. We cannot use the weapons of God to rip other people off. We cannot use the weapons of God to exact revenge on those that have wronged us. We cannot use the weapons of God to harm those whom we hate. We must have pure and holy reasons in order to have the backing of God. David had no ulterior motives in facing Goliath. He only wanted to serve God and to bring glory to God through the defeat of this enemy. He didn’t want glory for himself, but glory for God and for God’s people. This wasn’t a power play to take the kingdom away from Saul and it wasn’t an offensive move, remember that Goliath was picking the fight. David was pure in mind and heart and only wanted to serve God and do God’s will. Are we as faithful in our daily lives? Do we do everything for the glory of God? We pray the Lord’s Prayer every Sunday and in that prayer it says “thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” and we should do everything in our lives according to the will of God and for his glory. I don’t stand to preach to you this morning because I like to hear the sound of my own voice but because I want to do God’s will and glorify God’s name. When we are pure in heart and mind then we are able to use the power of God to defeat any Goliath that comes our way.

The second weapon of God is knowledge. We must have the proper knowledge if we are going to defeat our Goliaths. How can we trust in God’s promises if we don’t understand them? How can have faith that conquers fear if we don’t understand what we should have faith in? We must have knowledge if we are to grow in the Spirit, like we talked about last week. We must study daily in the Bible. We must come to Church, to Sunday school, and we must come to Bible study to discuss this book and to understand what God has in store for us. David had no fear of Goliath because he had knowledge that God was with him and he placed his faith in that knowledge. Before we face the giants in our lives we must have the knowledge and then place our faith in that knowledge that God will bless us in everything that we do is in his will. How do we know what is in his will? We pray, we asked God personally about what he wants in our lives. Secondly, we study this book, because within its pages lies the will of God.

Thirdly, we must have genuine love; this goes back to being pure in mind and in heart. We must have that kind of love that we discussed a few weeks ago, remember agape, that unconditional love, that accepts, forgives, supports, and frees. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that we can have all the knowledge, we can prophesy, we can speak with the charm and eloquence of a Washington DC politician, and we can quote this book from Genesis to Revelation, but if we have not love it is utterly and completely worthless.

Fourthly, and finally we must be truthful in our speech. We have to have open and honest relationships with one another. We have to love each other enough to have the courage to intervene when we see someone being overwhelmed by a Goliath. We cannot simply look the other way. If we cannot be open and honest with one another then how can we be open and honest with a lost and lonely world? David was honest with Saul and told Saul the king that he was wrong and that David could defeat this giant. We have to be willing honestly evaluate our own battles and to be honest enough to tell others and to help others when they can’t see Goliath looming over their head. We must honestly share our knowledge and in love and purity show them that there has never been a giant that God couldn’t slay.

Each of these weapons must be used together in order to weld the power of God. Take one away and the rest are worthless. David needed his sling, but also needed stones, take part one away and the other has not effect. Remember it was not by David’s power that Goliath fell, but by God’s power through David.

We are always going to face giants. They sneak up on us sometimes and other times we are just too blind to see them stand there in front of us. We must always have our God weapons ready and remain on the alert. We cannot defeat Goliath on our own. On our own we simply shake in our boots at the monstrosity. However, with the power of God, we have the courage and the faith to take on any size challenge. We have to things God’s way, because his way holds the power. If we hold fast to God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter in the stormy blast and our eternal home, then God will hold fast to us.