What's your giant?

1 Samuel 17

It all started when they wanted a king. 

Even though God had always been more than enough for them. 

Even though his love had opened seas and split rocks and rained bread from heaven, even though he had led them across the desert, toppled the walls of their enemies, even kept their shoes and clothes from wearing out along the way. 

Maybe the parents had stopped telling the stories. Maybe the children had stopped listening. Whatever the case, God's people looked at the people around them and said, "We want what they have. We want to be like them." 

And when at their insistence God gave them a king, the king did what kings almost always do because they are just like the rest of us. 

He stopped looking at God. 

When the people stopped looking at God and started looking at the king, as long as the king was looking at God, things were sort of OK. Not the best they could be, of course. But OK.

But enemies rose up all around, as enemies do when they sense easy prey. And the king looked at the enemies, and the people looked at the king, and all of them were afraid. Then the stories of old seemed like just that--stories--and it's hard to act upon a story when you are staring a real-life enemy right in the face. 

I don't want to admit that I am just like that king and just like those people who quaked in their tents at the battle line drawn up right across the valley from the enemy. 

There they sat day after day as the giant stepped forward with his terrible, towering, armor-clad, muscular splendor, a smirk on his huge face. "I defy you!" he would cry, and then he would just wait for someone to finally step forward.

But the people fled in terror. For forty days. 

For forty days their lives stood still, held captive by fear and by a giant that was too strong for them. For forty days they stared at that giant and at the long row of enemy tents, and each day the victory seemed more impossible. Each day they gave up just a little more, and soon that giant would get what he wanted. Surrender.

You know the story. Along comes this boy, ruddy, fresh from the fields, cheerfully strolling into this camp of despair. His older brothers fill him in on the situation and he is dumbfounded. I love his incredulous question: "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 

The men in the camp say the situation is impossible. His brothers accuse him of cockiness and trying to get attention. Saul tells him he is too young. But in the end these desperate warriors send young David armor-less to stand before Goliath. 

There must have been something about him that gave them hope. It had to be more than just his bold words. Maybe a look in his eye, an easy confidence. A peace.

People who are with God a lot are like that. People who know their God and remember his faithfulness don't have to look at the giant. They are already looking at something much bigger. 

David kept a record of God's power. Just read the psalms. When questioned by Saul, he said, "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.”

And when Saul gave David his own armor and sword and David laid those down, I can't help thinking it was a way of letting go of all control. After all, the victory wouldn't have been nearly as spectacular if David had been wielding a sword. He faced that giant with a stone and a sling, knowing the power was all God's.

David's words to Goliath are worth remembering:

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. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

God does not save by sword or spear. He doesn't need them. And whatever you think you need to defeat your giant? He doesn't need that either. 

David was as confident in God's love as he was God's power. He knew not only that God could do it, but that God would do it because God loved him. 

Maybe we need to stop staring at the giants and start remembering. Maybe we need to quit listening to the voices around us and be with our God instead. Maybe we need to let go of the sword, step up to the battle line, and watch God work.