1 Samuel 17:16  For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand”.

For the Israelites Goliath, at over nine feet tall in full bronze armour, was a real threat to life and limb.  Even by today’s standard Goliath would be seen as an extraordinary giant and therefore not to be taken lightly.  But Goliath was not the giant who quietly did his own thing hoping no one would notice him.   He was the in your face giant who shouted his challenge every morning and evening, mocking his opponents with his threatening words and doing his utmost to provoke them into fighting him. His threats worked as the Scriptures tell us that from the king to the lowest private in Saul’s army “were dismayed and terrified” (v. 11) and were unable to go beyond drawing up battle lines for forty (40) days.

 Where in our lives are there champion giants present, driving fear in us morning and evening?  Where do we find ourselves less than productive because of inner and/or outer threats which drive fear down to the marrow of our bones? Are we producing only thirty or sixty times what was sown in us when we are capable of  a hundred times because we crippled into inaction?

Well today the giant that is defying the armies of the living God will be defeated today.  No more!!! This is the last day that the giant will shout his usual defiance to God’s people.  How is this possible you ask?  It is possible because into this stalemate situation walks the giant slayer. 

When the giant gave out his usual challenge he thought he was talking to the same people that he had been talking to for the past forty days.  But the Lord’s anointed, upon whom the Spirit of God had come in power, had arrived for a visit.  Maybe if Goliath had just kept quiet during David’s visit maybe his giant threats would have continued but having threatened God’s armies and all the army ran away from him in fear, David’s passion was aroused.  Hear David’s words “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  David’s words were so radically different from what anyone had said in the past forty days that they were reported to the commander in chief, the king himself, who wanted to meet this fellow.  With the Spirit of God resident in him, David casually tells the king “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him” (v. 32).   

David then describes to Saul his past experiences that prepared him for this moment. David affirmed that his relationship was with the living God, not a static, dead God.   This organic relationship enabled him to deal with threatening situations that defy God’s people operating effectively (lions, bears) and so this situation was no different.  

Do we have that kind of relationship with God?  Have we been filled with God’s Holy Spirit?  Are we exercising our faith in the Lord Jesus in our daily challenges so that when the Goliaths show up, we can say like David:

Remember now the living God lives in us and He has not given us, “the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7).  We are to confront the giants in our lives that are preventing us from going forward but we can only do it in the name of the Lord Almighty and the battle is His not ours ((v.47).  Let us today run quickly towards the giants that despised and defied us and in the power and strength of the Lord, slay and destroy them with our slings and stones: “for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds (2 Corinthians 10:4).  We do not fight like normal human beings “for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).

Rise up today and slay your giants.

PRAYER

God my Lord and Master, the giants in my life have crippled and threatened me for so long that I am crippled into inaction and unable to fight properly against the enemy of my soul.  Forgive me for focusing on the giants instead of you the Living God Almighty who is in charge of the battle.   Anoint me and fill me with your Spirit so that I will have the power to rebuke the evil in my life and slay the giants in your name and move on in victory.  In Jesus name Amen.