Face your Giants!!

|“³⁸ So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. ³⁹ David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.” 1 Samuel 17:38-40|

Early in the morning, 4 am, I woke up… I had this dream in the night that I found myself running away from a monster that was after my life. At such a point in time, what do you do? everyone is dead asleep save my mum who was deep in prayer and my dad would be awake anytime from now to prepare for his early morning shift in the barracks. One thing is sure… if the monster is real, I am convinced that it can’t come home because I know my dad will take care of it. but hold on, Does he even know that I had such a dream? and so I choose to keep it to myself and I get back to bed hoping that I won’t see the same monster again. I spend the whole day replaying the dream in my  mind and all I pray is that in he evening, the monster won’t come again in my dreams.

This is the story of our lives. Each and everyday of our lives we are faced with monsters and giants in our lives that are after our lives, our faith, our careers, our families, loved ones… name them. But unfortunately, we are all running away from them. It is true that we want to fight them off and deal with them once and for all but we do not have the courage. At times, we want to find someone we can share with about the giants but hold on; what will he/she think of  me? You are struggling with what to do. I did struggle whether or not I should tell my mother or dad about the dream but I choose to keep it to myself. And this is the same story of many of us. We have struggles and battles that we are fighting each day but we are afraid to share.

The children of Israel have been camping in the valley of Elah in battle with the Philistines. Not one day, not two days but 4o days, they have been camping at the valley, but one thing you realize from the scriptures is that everyday, they came, drew lines ready for battle but no battle was fought. Why?  One man, a giant challenged them to give out a man who will fight him and who ever won, the defeated became the slaves of the others; but for 40 days, Israel had no one to fight Goliath. But one day came when David was sent to take food to the battle field.

Everyday, we are facing challenges in our Christian walk of faith, difficulties in our workplaces, we are faced with death, betrayal, debts, diseases, addictions and habitual sins that we struggle with; and the question you ask God is; “when will I get delivered from this? When will these battles ever end? You will realize that David always faced challenges in his life. One time he is fighting a bear, a lion, Goliath, other times he is being trailed by Saul, Nemesis, the Amalekites have come and taken away his wives, children and possessions of his soldiers…temptation of Bathsheba, killing of Uriah, writing songs in the wilderness, name them; - he was always in battle, and so we are everyday that we wake up. Each and everyday, the devil has a new scheme against you to bring you down.

From the story of David’s life, we can learn a few things from his battles in life. In his life, he fought many fights and defeated many kings; he made grievous mistakes before God but we still see God saying that he was a man after his own heart. Three things that I derive from his life is that David realized:

• When we focus on God, our giants fall, but when we focus on our giants, we fail. - The armies of Israel looked at goliath each and every day but rather than them seeing their Great God, they saw the big giant ahead of them.
• No giant is too big: - from his life, we have many testimonies of the battles that the Lord gave him victories, and we can too rest assured that God will give us victory too.
• How to face our Giants: - David was not afraid of goliath; and the bible tells us that he ran towards him and killed him. You too can face your giants today and defeat them.

The bible tells us that David didn’t use the royal armor that he was given by Saul to fight goliath. Instead, he used his sling and five stones. He refused to use the armor for he had not tested them. (vs. 38). He went down to the river and he CHOSE 5 smooth stones and with them, he approached goliath with them. In life, you need to make important and critical decisions to face your giants, fight and kill them once and for all. The five stones that David took signify the following:

1. The stone of the PAST: - David remembered the past victories that God had given him when he was in the wilderness taking care of his fathers sheep. This is what he told Saul: |“But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.”(1 Samuel 17:34-35)| God has given you victories in the past; use them as a testimony and encouragement for you to face the current giants in your life.
2. The stone of PRAYER: - David went down the valley to the stream to choose his stones before he went up for the battle against goliath. “Never face your giants before first facing God.” When we go down on our knees, we can stand up tall and face any giant. It is said; “He who kneels before God can stand before any man” but you can’t stand if you have not taken any time to kneel down. Prayer is essential in our lives and it is the source of our strength and victory. Every time David prayed, he had victory but whenever he didn’t, he failed terribly. Go down on your knees before you go up to fight or face anything ahead of you everyday.
3. The Stone of PRIORITY: - What matters to you most? your reputation, gaining fame or popularity? David didn’t think of the fame that he would gain after he killed goliath, he didn’t mind the reward that Saul had set for the person who would kill goliath but what mattered most to him was the reputation of the name of the Lord. He was angered that the name of the Lord was being defied by Goliath. This is what he says: |“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”… “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 the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.”| (1 Samuel 17:26, 45-46). What matters in your life as a Christian is the name of the Lord. God allows us to face these giants in our lives so that He can display His strength, power and glorify himself. What if you stopped running away and complaining about the challenges that you are going through and you saw them as an opportunity for God to show how strong he is in your life? Remember, He works all things together for our good. We learn from David that our priority is not our comfort but God’s glory.
4. The stone of PASSION: - David had passion to see the glory restored back to the name of the Lord after goliath had defied the Lord. The bible tells us that David ran towards goliath. He didn’t go hiding or creeping secretly, but he ran towards goliath and struck him down. God wants us to have the passion that David had and use the same to confront our giants. When is the last time that you faced your giants without jittering? Most times, we run away from the giants in our lives but we need to face them. Let us not run backwards but lets run forward and fight them.
5. The stone of PERSITENCE: - You may wonder why David choose five stones and not more or less. The bible tells us that goliath had 4 relatives and they were bigger than him. David knew that once goliath fell down, most probably, the other four will appear and thus he needed to be ready to strike. You need to know that there are some giants who will not die with the first strike, thus, you need to be persistent and fight on till they die. One effort is not enough, Once you fail, keep trying and you will make it. keep fighting and eventually, the giant will fall.

My brother, my sister, don’t focus on the giants in your life, but rather focus on God. No giant is too big to fight if God is your God and you rely on Him. Face and focus on God and your giants will fall but the minute you focus on your giants, you fall. What is that giant in your life that has brought you down always? This giant has always been challenging you and you fear and you do not have the courage to face it and fight it.. today, you can go down on your knees, face God and then come up and face the giant and I promise you, the giant will fall!

Blessings!!

Shalom!