October 17, 2013 Conquer Giants

Read 1 Samuel 17

Conquer Giants

26 Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?

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32 “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”

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37 “The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”

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45 “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”

WHAT do you think makes the David/Goliath story so appealing? Is it the boy destroying the giant? Is it the brave boy going forth when fear grips the army of Israel? Is it “Good’ winning over “Evil”?

     I read something earlier this week about David’s victory. The person commented that David never referred to Goliath as a giant. Instead, “pagan Philistine” or “Philistine” is how David saw him—a man from another country who defied God—nothing more. David knew in his hear that God would use him to conquer the pagan man Goliath.

     In his trust, David confidently walked past the fear in the camp to encounter the enemy of God. “Fear” “giant” and “defeat” were not in David’s vocabulary because he trusted the power of God to act through him.

     Giants come against us, don’t they? They’re named Uncertainty, Hurt Feelings, Jealousy, Disappointment, Unforgiveness and Anger. They loom large before us. They mock us. They threaten us. And they never leave until we confront them and defeat them with our weapon of trust in the Living God. Giants get real small when we trust our big God to destroy them.

A Moment’s Thought: You can conquer giants one step at a time as you walk forward with God’s power.