David - Facing our Giants

[0:00] I think often it's good to have a scripture that actually rather than take a bit of it we actually get to grips with it and I can't think of a better one for this morning as we think about our month where we look at heroines and heroes of the Bible.

[0:17] When I was eight I remember vividly that there was a thing in our house when my granddad was dying and we never mentioned the word cancer. In fact it was never ever mentioned. If we did we said it as we often did in a hushed and whispered barely audible tone and that granddad's sea was getting worse. What's that got to do with this morning's theme? I think it's got everything to do because as we try to grasp what God is saying through this scripture for us we need to get real with the issues that we are facing and that's what this scripture is all about. You know where we often give in to the giants that somehow hold some power over us or we think they do. The Philistines were a threat. They were a very threat not to the existence of Israel but what they did what they needed what the Israelites needed was spiritual not just tactical leadership and David steps up to the plate. The Israelites knew that the Philistines had superior military might. They were. They didn't line up. The Israelites were more like a guerrilla. They liked to attack and go, attack and go. That wasn't their tactic to sit there in the middle and just face one another. Had Saul their leader forgotten God?

[1:49] I think he had. Where was God in the equation? Wasn't God big enough anymore? Had the whole of the Israelite army forgotten that God was bigger and could do what he said he did? And maybe we feel like that when the bullies of this world, when the voices get louder and louder, that almost we get to the point where we start to believe them. And this was in the position that they were in. And here comes David, the shepherd boy, the one that was seemingly overlooked when in the calling, yet he was the one that God was calling. And I don't know about you, David had come to visit his brothers. Why did he come to visit his brothers? He'd come to bring them food. I think he'd come to give them spiritual food, which is what they needed more than actually the food in their stomachs, to give them some hope and a purpose in what he was calling them to do. Sometimes people, we've got to step up and we've got to take a lead. God was already building David up for this moment. He couldn't understand why his people didn't trust in God. Do you ever feel that frustration? Come on, stand up. There was Goliath proud and imitating, as some would say, taunting, goading, saying that he had more power over them. And they were believing it. And they were backing off. Enter David, already anointed. God is with him, chosen over his brothers. There's something about this that really makes me value young leadership, something new that comes in that is exciting. And he is sent by his father to the front line. And here is this young shepherd boy important because he goes as he is. And we get this lovely picture of him, the king trying to put his armour on him to make him something that he isn't. This isn't him. Do you know what? The thing about David is that he knows who he is. He knows his strengths. He knows where his strength is. And his strength is in God. He doesn't need somebody else to put stuff on him. How often do we go out into the world in our own strength? Trying to put stuff on to make us, it often makes me think, you know, sometimes we get these spiritual bursts of energy, don't we? We're facing something, so we top up with a bit of spiritual energy just to try and get, rather than this thing of, yeah, we'll stand and we face this in God's strength. And that's how David came to the battle. He trusts in God. Maybe it's something that we lose from our youth in that confidence of, I can do this. Maybe that is something that David is moving in, in God's strength. We see the Philistines army and Goliath. When I read this scripture, I think

[5:06] David's not fazed by that at all. He's not fazed at all. He knows what he's facing and he knows that God is with him. Now Saul the king may have a very reduced faith, but I think that says many about, you know, you are only a boy. You are only, you are only. And maybe some of us have had that spoken over us. And that's very powerful words to shake off. You are only this. We have the strength of God with us to face those situations that God calls us to face. And David lays out his credentials in verse 37.

[5:49] The king caves in and then the king says, but you have to do it my way. No, your way doesn't work. This is the way God has called me to do this. So perhaps lesson one, God sends some amazing people to do some amazing work. Don't write people off because they don't fit with your way of doing it.

[6:18] How often do we do that? Lesson two, when someone comes to you in the power of God, especially to dig you out of a hole to save you, don't slap your own rules and regulations on them. Allow God to do what God is going to do.

[6:40] We know it, don't we? I'm sorry you can only do this if you've been in church for so many years. I'm sorry you can only do this if you conform to our rules and regulations. No. David is coming in the power of God and people are hearing and need to listen and they do. You see in this story there is a new freedom, there is a new trust that's around, a new sense of the Spirit's power at work, you know, that will rock this impotent army that have been sold this lie that they are useless and that God isn't with them. They've come to believe that. David comes, he is clothed in the power of God and he trusts. And David chooses what he normally works with to get the job done. How often do we move to things like programs and things like this that we think are going to be the next thing that's actually going to achieve what we feel that God wants us to achieve? And what does David come with?

[7:46] Five smooth stones. Because this is what I work with. This is what I know. This is what I do to get the job done. And people laugh at him and I'm sure they did. Yet God has given us all the resources that we know that we need often to do what he's calling us to do. Maybe it's our time. Maybe it's our money.

[8:15] Maybe it's whatever it is. Maybe it's whatever it is. But God is giving us what we need. And we need to believe that, people, more and more and more and trust as David did. I don't know what the giant is that you're facing in your life at the moment or the giants, but it was pretty big for David.

[8:36] David, but David trusted. Lesson three. Don't be intimidated. You know, we have these fears, don't we? Earlier at Terb Fact, we had these five things that we did and we either wrote them down or we scribbled or we pictured or whatever they were, these five things. And then we screwed them up and we threw them at Goliath because they weren't going to hold, have any hold over us anymore.

[9:11] And how often do we hold on to those fears? So lesson three is let go of your fears and trust in God. Hand him to them. See what God wants to do with those things. Ask his guidance.

[9:26] Maybe for you it's Brexit. My goodness, Brexit, Brexit, Brexit. Just might as well all pack up and go home, haven't we, and sit in a hole. You know, maybe it's the bully that shouts. Maybe it's somebody that's bullied you for years. Whatever it is. Maybe it's an attitude. What do you need to face your giant? It's knowing that power element from God that David has and knows and gives us in order to do that.

[10:01] There's another lesson in this. Remember, God is always bigger. God is always bigger than your giant. And the giant sneers and spits insults at this young lad. But most giants are weak.

[10:16] This man who they bring out every morning to intimidate fear into a whole army. And it takes a young lad to come out and say, who do you really think you are?

[10:32] You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, yet I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty. How often do we need to say those words again and again and again?

[10:45] The things that we are struggling with. He also is quite graphic about how this will happen. Lesson six. If God gives you a job, finish it off. Don't just keep putting it off. David had a job to do. He could have stepped back into the army and he could have thought, no, I'll go back and think about this. God had given him a job to do that day and he got it done. What is the job that God has given you that you've been putting off? I had a very dear friend of mine went to a church with a very clear God-given vision. I think five people in the church held the checkbook for that church and wanted to keep it small, personal and very closed. That church had been kept bound up for years and they thought he was a bit of a lightweight. The five people left with their checkbooks and the church is now about 550 people and growing because he is moving in the power of this. Don't be intimidated by your giants. A dear friend of mine, Bob, faced cancer every step of the way. He died four years ago. He never backed down. He trusted in God and brought people to faith in his journey with cancer. That was his journey. He knew that God had asked him to bring people to faith through his illness and he died in the faith of Christ. Face your giant and finish the job.

[12:23] Let's just remind ourselves of maybe what God's asking of us this morning. Don't write people off because they don't fit with you. Celebrate the gifting of the body of Christ.

[12:45] Two, don't slap your way of doing things on others and therefore hinder God's purpose. Encourage and build one another up in what you've been called to do.

[12:59] Three, face your giants in God's strength and power and don't live in fear. I love that thing in the Bible, wherever an angel appears to people, it says, do not be afraid, do not be afraid, do not be afraid. We get it. Do not be afraid.

[13:20] And remember, God is always bigger than your giant. Whatever that might be for us, for if you're listening on a podcast, whatever that is today, whatever your giant you think is, God is bigger and trust in him. And finally, coming to land. If God has given you a job, you may have put it off.

[13:50] You may have put it on the back burner. You may have thought, this isn't for me. It's too large. It's too big. It's too grandiose for me, this small person. Do the job that God's given you.

[14:06] Because he has given you the strength and the power to do it. Trust in God, who is mighty and powerful. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.