Giant Killer
1 Samuel 17:1 – 12a, 40 – 51
When we think of David, we think: shepherd, poet, king, ancestor of Jesus and giant-killer. In short, one of the greatest men in the Old Testament. But alongside that list stands another: betrayer, liar, adulterer, murderer. The first list gives qualities we all might like to have; the second, qualities that might be true of any one of us.
The Bible makes no effort to hide David’s challenges. Yet he is remembered and respected for his heart for God. David, more than anything else, had an unchangeable belief in the faithful and forgiving nature of God and we need that in our lives.
We are going to be spending the next six weeks in a study from the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, with the help Max Lucado and his book Facing Giants, learning about David from the time that he is anointed by Samuel as the king-in-waiting until after the death of King Saul and the path to the throne of Israel has been cleared for David.
When King Saul became infatuated with his own power and wisdom and turned away from God, God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse to find God’s chosen replacement. Even though David had been chosen by God himself, to be the mighty King of Israel this did not mean that his life would be without challenges, maybe in fact it may have ensured that he would face challenges, God tests us that way.
We know about storms that pass through our lives, storms that come upon us quickly and challenge us and our faith for a brief time. But foreboding giants are different! Storms may rise up without warning but giants are there tormenting us day after day, looming nefariously over existence stealing joy, comfort, peace of mind and hope for the future. In their wake they leave despair, confusion, anger and bitterness. They drain our faith in a gracious and merciful Father.
As we will see in our study in these next six weeks, David had to face down his own personal giants of despair but his ability to destroy his giants should give us the strength and courage to face down ours! It starts in our scripture lesson today as we find the soldiers of Israel, including three of David’s brothers, facing a giant, in a mountain of a man named Goliath. The Message translation says this:
“He is a giant that is nearly ten feet tall as he steps out from the Philistine line into the open. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor, 126 pounds of armor at that! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail. The spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds.” (1 Samuel 17:4 – 7 MSG)
You see, the Israelites and the Philistines have been at war for years and this giant is the Philistine’s secret weapon! In those days armies would often avoid the high human cost of battles by pitting the two strongest warriors from the two sides against each other, one on one, man against man. The winner rules the day for his side, the losing side loses the battle, the soldier and maybe the war.
The Israelites have never beaten the giant and they have lost many of their best men to his sword. Twice a day for forty days the Philistine has come forward and taken his stand taunting the Israelites, in the morning and in the evening, and yelled across the valley between them:
Pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge you this day. Let us fight it out together!”
For those forty days, when Saul and his troops heard the giant’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope! The Israelites were defeated by the mere presence of the giant, by dread and fear.
We read what their giant looks like, but what about the giants that you are facing. What do your giants look like? What giants defeat you by their sheer presence in your life? What giants drain your faith and your hope? Max Lucado says
Your Goliath doesn’t carry sword or shield; he brandishes blades of illness, loss of independence, abandonment, or depression, broken relationships, and isolation. Your giant doesn’t parade up and down the hills of Elah; he prances through your home, your bedroom, your family and your thoughts. He brings bills you can’t pay, people you can’t please, illnesses you can’t beat, a past you can’t shake, and a future you can’t face.
How long has he stalked you? Goliath’s family was an ancient foe of the Israelites. Joshua drove them out of the Promised Land three hundred years earlier but when Saul’s soldiers saw Goliath they cursed him and mumbled, “Not again, how can this still be happening after all these years?” How long have your giants been tormenting you? For how long have you heard them yell across the recesses of your mind?
“Why do you come out to battle me again, you can’t win and you know it. I have proven it time and time again, you have never defeated my and you never will.”
When Saul and his men heard the Philistines’ challenge, they were terrified, and we all know that same terror in our lives when our giants reappear. We all have giants in our lives that we don’t know how to defeat but here today, David shows us how to do it.
Lucado sets the scene for us:
The slender, beardless boy kneels by the brook. Bubbling water cools his hand. He is searching for rocks. Stones. Smooth stones. The kind that stack neatly in a shepherd’s pouch, rest flush against a shepherd’s sling. Flat rocks that balance heavy on the palm and missile with comet-crashing force into the head of a lion, a bear, or, in this case, a giant.
David’s brothers cover their eyes, both in fear and embarrassment. Saul sighs as the young Hebrew races to certain death. Goliath throws back his head in laughter, just enough to shift his helmet and expose a square inch of forehead flesh. David spots the target and seizes the moment.
The sound of the swirling sling is the only sound in the valley. Sshhhww. Sshhhww. Sshhhww. The stone torpedoes into the skull; Goliath’s eyes cross and legs buckle. He crumples to the ground and dies. David runs over and yanks Goliath’s sword form its sheath, shish-kebabs the Philistine, and cuts off his head.
Now cynics and Bible deniers would suggest that David’s shot was nothing but a lucky shot. They would say that it was simple, pure, unadulterated luck that he struck the giant in the one place that could kill him, but we know different and more importantly David trusted and expected it to be different.
Do you see something other than the giant before you? Is that all you see? That was all that King Saul and the Israelites saw and heard. But David was different, he saw and heard more than just the giant. David’s focus was not on the giant but rather on God. David condemns the giant despite his obvious size and strength on his rejection of the God of Israel. David exclaims this about the giant: “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he defy the armies of the living God?” (1Sam. 17:26)
You see, unlike the others before him, David confronts the challenge of the giant by embracing God rather than fear. The other soldiers mentioned nothing about God when they saw the giant, David’s brothers never spoke his name either, but David takes one step onto the stage and raises the authority of the living God as he considers the giant.
Just a God-birthed announcement: “The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine” (1 Sam 17:37).
No one else considers God. David considers no one else but God. For the young David the matter is not about man versus man, not warrior against warrior, not small versus huge but rather this is “God-focused versus giant–focused.” David sees what others don’t and refuses to see what other do. He sees the giant, mind you; he just sees God more so. Goliath made fun of the young David, “how can he, this little man, seriously challenge me, a giant”. But David does not see it this way at all and returns the giants dismissive rhetoric by saying:
“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel” (1Sam. 17:45)
David knows that he is armed with much more than a slingshot and five smooth stones. David knows that those who are indwelt by the Spirit of God are also empowered by the armies of God to defeat our giants. Because of his faith “David hurries and runs forward to face the giant” (1Sam. 17:48).
When was the last time we did the same thing? How long since you ran toward your challenges? We tend to retreat, and for a moment, a day, or a year, we feel safe, insulated, anesthetized, but eventually we hear that giant again. He is boasting and bragging that we will always be his victim. But you need to know, in the same way that David did, the battles that you face are not your own, those battles are also the Lord’s battles
With that same confidence we need to rush toward our giants with a God-empowered soul. Glorify God and minimize the giant! Take your spiritual sling and your righteous stones and take a swing at your giant.
We read David’s story and wonder what God saw in him. As we will see over these six weeks, David fell as often as he stood, stumbled as often as he conquered. Yet he stared down Goliath and defeated the Israelite’s giant with the faith and courage that he found in his Father. Friends we need David’s story in these times with giants everywhere. Giants lurk in our neighborhoods. Rejection. Failure. Fear, Loss, Regret, Revenge. Remorse. All giants. We must face them, but we need not face them alone!
Hear the Good News my friends…….
Whatever troubles you are facing, whatever giants lurk in your mind, focus first, and most importantly, on God. Focus on the power of God, not the fear inspired by the giants.
David made only two observations about Goliath. One statement to Saul about Goliath and one to Goliath’s face: That is it, two Goliath-related statements. But he gives much thought to God. Nine times David invokes the power and authority of God as he faces the giant. He may be standing in front of a giant, but his God focused thoughts outnumber his giant focused thoughts nine to two. Are you four times as likely to describe the strength of your God as you are the demands of your day?
Hear this, dear ones, if you focus on your giants you will stay entrapped in fear and despair, in confusion and bitterness, in anger and loss. But if you focus on the power and authority of God over all things in all times you will overcome those giants with a single righteous stone from your sling.
So the next time you find yourself facing your giants and they cry out “why do you come out to battle with me, you know you cannot defeat me” focus yourself on the power of God that allows you to overcome everything that stands in your way. Lift your eyes, giant slayer and the God who made a miracle out of David, stands ready to make a Giant Killer out of you. Amen.