Defeating Giants

Rev Gideon Lee

When we talk about giants the first story that comes to mind is David and Goliath. We all face giants in our lives. It could be a problem that is bigger than us and we cannot face it on our own. It could be your finance or heath.  We all have giants in our life. But the bible tells us we are more than overcomers. We are giant slayers. 

We can learn from this chapter. Due to time constraint, I won't be reading the whole chapter but I will briefly tell you what in this famous passage. Go read chapter 17 when you go back. 

1 Samuel 17

1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. 2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side:and there was a valley between them.

4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 6 And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. 7 And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron:and one bearing a shield went before him. 8 And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. 9 If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants:but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. 10 And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. 11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons:and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul. 13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle:and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 And David was the youngest:and the three eldest followed Saul. 15 But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. 16 And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 17 And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; 18 And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge. 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

20 And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. 21 For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army. 22 And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren. 23 And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words:and David heard them. 24 And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. 25 And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up:and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel. 26 And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? 27 And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.

28 And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle. 29 And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

30 And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner:and the people answered him again after the former manner. 31 And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul:and he sent for him.

32 And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him:for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. 34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth:and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear:and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.

38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. 39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. 40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand:and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bare the shield went before him. 42 And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him:for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. 43 And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. 45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield:but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. 46 This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear:for the battle is the Lord 's, and he will give you into our hands. 48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. 52 And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron. 53 And the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents. 54 And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.

55 And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. 56 And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. 57 And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, thou young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

This is a common Sunday school story. We all know what happened. The Philistines would send their challenger, Goliath. And they would say to the Israelites to send their best warrior to fight Goliath. 

Israel's best was Saul at that time. They chose him because he was head and shoulders above the rest. Like the shampoo. He was tall, well built and probably good looking. He was someone impressive. But Saul was in his tent. Goliath was 9 feet tall. You would probably be afraid of him. He was also a seasoned warrior. He was a soldier since his youth. He was a hardened battle trained soldier. It talked about his shield and spear. The spearhead was about 16 pounds. It would probably kill you if it dropped on your head. That was his armoury. He challenged the best of Israel and the best of Israel was quaking in his boots. 

Then came David. He was a shepherd boy. Still young, probably 14 or 15 years old. If you looked at them you would put your money on Goliath. 

We all face giants. Even pastors face giants. We can learn some principles from this passage.  

1. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

The passage before this, God said no to all the brothers as King when Jesse brought the brothers one by one. And God said man looks at the outwards but God looks at the inward. God asked if there was another and finally Jesse remembered David and said there is one more. When David came in God says anoint him and the bible says he was filled with the Holy Spirit. 

As Christians God has already given us the Holy Spirit but are we trusting and dependent on the Holy Spirit? It is not by might or by power but by the Holy Spirit saith the Lord. 

Nothing is impossible to God. If you face your problems on your own you will not see God at work. You won't see how God move. 

David was someone filled with the Holy Spirit and he faced his giant and the giant came tumbling down. 

2. You need to use what you have. 

What did David have? Just a sling. Saul wanted to give David armour but David just needed his sling. 

What you have in your hands no matter how small it is when we place it in God's hands miracles happens. 

Remember the feeding of the 5,000? The disciples just saw that they don't have enough. That's our problem. We only see what we don't have. 

But then came a boy with just 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Remember this is the boy's meal so it's probably 5 small loaves and 2 small fishes. Put that in God's hands and they were all fed full and there were left overs. 

God is asking what you have in your hands. 

3. You need to invite God into your situation. 

God is a gentleman. God didn't force his will on our lives when we accepted him into our life. David placed what he has in God's hands. 

He just had a sling where he put a stone in it and sling it. A sling is kind of hard to aim. As David in faith used what he has and as he swung and let it go, God took that stone and hit Goliath right smack in the centre of his head. It's not easy to aim for the head. That was probably the only gap in his armour. 

When we invite God into our situation, miracles happens. 

It was an insult that they sent David. Goliath was ranting that he was not a worthy opponent but David said he came in the name of the Lord God almighty. 

Most of the time we wait until it was a last resort to call on God. David said he came in the name of God. He invited God into his battle. 

How many of you wants to see your problems come tumbling down. Have you invited God into your situation? Pray without ceasing. Do your part but let God take over. 

Rely on God to remove some of those giants. Sometimes we need God to remind us through those giants that come our way. Have you invited God into your situation?

You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You need to use what you have now in your hands, just place it in God's hands. Have you invited God into your situation or is he just a spectator.