Facing the Giant
What do we do when we’re afraid?
The question isn’t, what do you do when you’re afraid?
It’s what do WE do when WE’RE afraid?
Fear is a powerful force in our lives individually, but it’s also a powerful force in our lives collectively. And our enemy knows this.
[Tweet “Fear is a powerful force in our lives individually, but it’s also a powerful force in our lives collectively.”]There’s a lot for us to be afraid of right now. Race. Politics. Violence. Terrorism. And the list goes on & on & on…
So how do we respond in the face of collective fear?
What do we do when we are afraid?
There’s a story about that. It’s one of the most famous stories ever told. We most often read this story as an underdog story. We also use it to help people overcome their problems. But I don’t think this story is really about an underdog or about the personal giants you may face in your life.
What this story is about is what happens when the people of God, when a community of faith, becomes afraid.
David vs. Goliath
Goliath was a giant of a man. The Bible says he was over 9 feet tall. He was dressed in armor that weighed over 100 lbs. He was no joke!
I want us to engage this famous story once again today, but I want to approach it in a different way. Because I want you to see how the relationship between fear & faith plays out in this story.
Let’s skip through this story together & highlight a few ideas. If you want to read the whole story, go to 1 Samuel 17. It’s a great story!
1 Samuel 17.8-11
8 Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! 9 If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! 10 I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” 11 When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.
I’ll be honest. This is an incredibly bazaar statement. Why in the world would the Israelites be terrified & deeply shaken?
Throughout Israel’s history, God had done amazing things. Not only had God delivered the people from Egypt in one of the greatest stories ever told, the Exodus. God had sent different people time & again to rescue them & lead them. People like Deborah & Gideon. People like Samuel & even now, they were being led by their very first king, Saul. And during Saul’s reign as king this same army had experienced victory after victory over enemies like the Ammonites, the Amalekites & the Philistines.
So why are they now afraid? Why are they so terrified to go to battle & engage this enemy?
How afraid were they? We read this in verse 16…
16 For forty days, every morning and evening, the Philistine champion strutted in front of the Israelite army.
The Philistines knew what they were doing when they sent Goliath out to challenge Israel’s army. It was psychological warfare. They wanted to scare the Israelite army. And it was working. Their confidence was in their giant of a warrior. And what was revealed was that Israel had no confidence in themselves or in their God!
Fear paralyzes people.
[Tweet “Fear paralyzes people. #Choose2Believe”]Fear reveals what is most true about us.
It reveals where our hope is found & where our confidence lies.
At this exact moment, collective fear has gripped Israel’s army.
But then David arrives on the scene.
David is just a no name shepherd boy. His older brothers are in Saul’s army. And his dad, Jesse, is worried about them. So he sends David with some bread & other provisions to go to the camp & check in on his brothers & see how things are going with them.
When David get’s there, he can’t believe what’s happening. Listen to what happens…
20 So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. 21 Soon the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. 22 David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel.
24 As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright.
All faith & confidence in God completely disappeared. The army of Israel is scared to death. For 40 days they’ve stood frozen on their side of the valley of Elah. And their only plan to date is to stay on their side & hope the giant goes away.
How many times are we frozen by fear & just hope the giant, whatever it is, will go away?
But one thing is different this day from the 40 days that came before it. Because this time, there’s a shepherd boy full of faith who is present. He wasn’t there before. But he’s here now. And he hears what this giant has to say. But he’s not afraid.
32 “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!”
33 “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “There’s no way you can fight this Philistine and possibly win! You’re only a boy, and he’s been a man of war since his youth.”
34 But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, 35 I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36 I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37 The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!”
David, unlike King Saul & the entire army of Israel, is full of faith. Not fear. Why?
Because David REMEMBERS God’s faithfulness in the past & that gives him overwhelming confidence for the future.
[Tweet “When we REMEMBER God’s faithfulness in the past we have overwhelming confidence for the future.”]Why wasn’t David afraid? Because he knew His God was bigger than this giant.
And… we need to remember exactly who God is because….
The BIGGER our God, the SMALLER the giant.
[Tweet “The BIGGER our God, the smaller the giant. #Choose2Believe”]David goes on to defeat goliath in an epic battle using only a sling & a stone. Then, all of a sudden, the army of Israel immediately found their confidence again!
51b When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran. 52 THEN the men of Israel and Judah gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the Philistines…
It was only after David led the way in faith that the people of God found their faith.
What this story is NOT
This is NOT a story about YOU & YOUR giants.
I know so many times when we talk about this story, we talk about how you can overcome your giants in your life just like David overcame this giant. I get it. We love underdog stories & we love self help stories. But make no mistake about it, that is not what this story is about.
This story isn’t about David overcoming a problem in his life. This story is about US facing OUR giants.
How do we as a community of faith respond in the face of collective fear?
We need some David’s.
We need some men & women of faith to step up & lead us. We need some faithful men & women of God to remind us of what God has done in the past so we can have courage for the future.
We need to realize we’re afraid.
This is hard, because some of us act out in different ways & what we don’t realize is that at the very root of our behavior is fear. So we get angry. We send emails about our concerns & worries. We try to control people with our fear. We’re the ones holding up the train & we can say it’s for a lot of reasons, but the real reason is that we’re simply afraid. We afraid of what happens when we face the giant? What happens when things change?
We need to remember exactly who God is.
Regardless of what we’re afraid of or how big the giant is, we need to remember exactly who God is & what He can do.
Here’s why…
You can never doubt the power of an invisible God when facing a visible giant.
[Tweet “Never doubt the power of an invisible God when facing a visible giant. #Choose2Believe”]This is what we do. We become afraid, very afraid, because we see a giant in front of us. What we tend to forget because we can’t see Him, is the invisible God who is standing right beside saying, “Don’t be afraid.”
What do we do when collective fear grips a community of faith?
May we remember what God has done.
May we move FORWARD in FAITH with courage.
[Tweet “”Don’t be afraid.” #Choose2Believe”]
