Giant-killers

Marlon Furtado

One nice feature about international flights is having the opportunity to watch movies to occupy your time. The last time I flew to India on a mission trip I began watching the movie, Jack the Giant Killer. The movie was based upon the fairytale, Jack and the Beanstalk, with giants living in the clouds. I enjoyed the movie, but I knew it was fiction.

However, the Bible makes several references to real giants that lived on earth. One was named Og. He had an iron bed over thirteen feet long and six feet wide (Deuteronomy 3:11). Now that’s a king-size bed! But the most well-known giant was Goliath, standing over 9 feet tall. He was a warrior in the Philistine army (1 Samuel 17:4), which was at war with the army of Israel. He boasted that if any Jewish soldier defeated him, the entire Philistine army would surrender. As you can imagine, no one among the Jewish army wanted to fight such a huge man. This guy would make NBA players look small. Plus, he had all his combat gear on.

David was only a young shepherd, too young to be a soldier. While visiting his brothers on the front lines, he heard Goliath’s boast. At once he accepted the challenge. Why was his response so different from that of all the soldiers? The answer is found in 1 Samuel 17:45 – “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.’” David understood the real battle was between this man and God. David wasn’t intimidated by Goliath’s size or weapons. He kept his eyes on the Lord.

David killed Goliath, but you and I face giants of a different sort. They challenge our faith and seek to belittle our trust in God. They say things like, “You can’t trust God in this situation. He’ll never come through for you in time.” Or they say things like, “You’ve really blown it this time. You can’t expect God to keep on forgiving you over and over. When will you ever learn? God is upset that you keep on failing Him.”

Do you ever hear those taunts? It will help us if we slightly alter David’s reply to Goliath. We can say to these giants, “You come against me with lies to shame me, but I come against you with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. You haven’t simply attacked me, but you’ve defied the goodness of God and the blood of Christ.”

These giants try to put the focus on us. We will always have a degree of failure in our lives. But God never intended for us to be the major focus. We need to say, “You want me to focus on myself and my failures, but I’m going to keep my eyes and my attention on the only One who has never sinned, the Lord Jesus. I’m His child and nothing you say can ever separate me from His love.”

You will encounter circumstances and hear inner voices that try to thwart your confidence of God’s work in your life. Face your giants as did David. Don’t give up. Like Jesus, use God’s Word to fight your battles. “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

 

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