Faith In The Face Of Your Giants
I just finished reading a book titled “The Movement Made Us” by David Dennis, Jr. It is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it to your reading. The author describes a scene where his father is meeting with Dr. King and other civil rights leaders from SNCC, CORE and the SCLC. They were trying to determine whether or not to continue the bus rides (known as “freedom rides”) that were designed to dismantle segregated interstate bus travel in the South. The activists on the initial freedom ride had been attacked, beaten and their bus set on fire. Resuming the bus rides could potentially end with some of the riders being killed. But the deciding factor in that meeting for the students who would eventually continue the rides and end segregation of interstate transportation, was the statement “this room isn’t big enough for God and fear“. In 1 Sam. 17:31-37, 45, 48-50, David decided that his faith in God was greater than his fear of the giant Goliath. I pray that you would invoke a faith in God like David’s, in the face of your giants. And then, may God get the glory and give you the victory. Amen
What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Sam. 17:31-37) David had confidence that God would keep him and make him successful in his quest to defeat the giant called Goliath. David explained to Saul that the reason for his confidence was his faith in the living God who had already delivered him from existential threats before. David’s faith in God can best be summed up as… God’s done it before, He can do it again!
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. (1 Sam. 17:45) I have one question for you… between David and Goliath, who came to this battle with the greater weapon(s)? The answer… Whenever you show up with God, you always have the One who is greater than any weapon that the enemy can bring against you! David was confident in his faith in the Lord despite the overwhelming size and strength of Goliath.
As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. (1 Sam. 17:48–50) Goliath arrogantly moved to attack David, and instead of backing up, David ran to meet him. With a just stone and a sling, David felled Goliath. David never doubted God, and his faith crowded out whatever fear he may have had, so that Gd got the glory and the victory.
David originally went to the battlefield to bring his brothers some supplies. But when he got there, he saw the army of Israel afraid and immobilized in the face of a giant enemy. In our lives the enemy can sometimes appear to be formidable and cause us to be fearful, unable to move forward into the place God has called us to. In those times, we need to remember this story of David and Goliath. We need to know that our God is bigger than whatever stands in our way and He’s more faithful than our fears. Whenever you find yourself feeding into your fears and telling everyone who will listen about how big your giants are… stop it! Then, like David did, stand strong in your faith and tell your giants about your God…. then watch as God gives you the victory and gets His glory!
Blessings, Rev. Glenn
