December 17th: Face Your Giants

1Samual 17:4-10, 33 & 40-50

“ 4-7 A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine army line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.

8-10 Goliath stood there and called out to the Israelite troops, “Why bother using your whole army? Am I not Philistine enough for you? And you’re all committed to Saul, aren’t you? So pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge the troops of Israel this day. Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!”

33 Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting business since before you were born.”…Saul said, “Go. And God help you!” 40 Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack, and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath.

41-42 As the Philistine paced back and forth, his shield bearer in front of him, he noticed David. He took one look down on him and sneered—a mere youngster, apple-cheeked and peach-fuzzed. 43 The Philistine ridiculed David. “Am I a dog that you come after me with a stick?” And he cursed him by his gods. 44 “Come on,” said the Philistine. “I’ll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I’ll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice.”

45-47 David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”

48-49 That roused the Philistine, and he started toward David. David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David reached into his pocket for a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine hard in the forehead, embedding the stone deeply. The Philistine crashed, facedown in the dirt. 50 That’s how David beat the Philistine—with a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him. No sword for David!”

Have you ever noticed how unexpectedly God saves his people? No one thought a baby once floating in a basket would save the Hebrew people from slavery.  No one could have expected that a Joseph, a young brother sold into slavery would be used by God to save his family and his people; and who could have believed that the Savior of the world would  be born in stable and laid in a manger! 

In today’s story who would have guessed, that another leaf, another child, another rescuer would come from the youngest, smallest, son of Jesse!  David would be one of the very first branches on that wonderful, mysterious Tree of Jesse!

Yes David, a young, baby faced, teenage boy would be the next in line to save his people.  This time the people of Israel had come up against two giants. One was a giant Philistine army and the other was a literal giant of a man.  To say they were scared would be like saying I hate spiders…a huge understatement!  They were frightened, scared, terrified, horrified, but the worst of it was that they were shamed.

Every time that giant stepped onto the battlefield, he cursed at the army of Israel and he cursed about their God!  He thought he was the biggest, baddest game in town and God’s children, HIS chosen people that God had SWORN to love and protect, just stood there afraid.  The grandchildren and great grandchildren of the people who had literally been marched through the sea that God parted right down the middle for them to escape Pharaoh’s army, were now trembling at the thought of fighting one giant.  Instead of being fighting mad about the rancid words spewing from that giant’s mouth about their one and only God, they were offering a reward to anyone willing to face Goliath.  The king even promised one of his princess daughters and no taxes for the rest of their families’ lives to the one man brave enough to stand against Goliath.

When young David heard about this reward, he asked “What’s in it for the man who kills that Philistine and gets rid of this ugly blot on Israel’s honor? Who does he think he is, anyway, this uncircumcised Philistine, taunting the armies of God-Alive?” In other words David was asking “where is your righteous anger men of God?”  In David’s eyes, the reward for killing the giant was getting rid of the shame that this foul-mouthed villain had caused God’s people.

You see, the special thing about David was not that he was bigger or stronger or even smarter than any of the other men of Israel, the thing about David was that he had absolute, complete, unwavering and willful confidence in the power of God! Could he defeat this giant…NO!  Could the Army of Israel defeat this giant…NO!  Could Yahweh the One and Only God defeat this giant…YES!  

And that’s just what happened!  This kid, full of righteous anger, had it out for the man who had bad mouthed his God and he knew that through him, GOD would take Goliath down!  No need for armor or a sword and shield, just five smooth stones and absolute confidence that when he sent that rock flying, that God would bring him the victory.  And God did.  That foul mouthed giant took a rock to the forehead and fell flat on his face!

Do you have that kind of confidence in Jesus?  Do you believe that when you serve in the name of God amazing things can happen?  Did you know that God needs big and small rescuers?  All you need are eyes to see the need and injustice around you and then the confidence that God can use you to save those who are hurting and shamed.  We are not meant to cower while others suffer.  You don’t even need the stones, you just need to trust your powerful God.  What rescuer's dream do you have?  No matter if you dream to rescue someone from hunger or hurt or bullying or loneliness, your faith can give your dreams flight if you fully trust and have confidence in your rescuer, Jesus Christ.

Discussion Questions:

1.  What made David so special that he believed he could face down a giant.

2.  Sometimes bad situations or the hurts of others are the giants that need to be faced in our lives.  Can you think of some of those kinds of giants in your life?

Family Activity:  Color your ornament for day 14 and talk about how your family might be able to face a giant together.  How could you possibly use your time or money at Christmas to serve as rescuers in the name of God?

Prayer for the World: Pray that arguments against the Bible’s reliability would be debunked.  The majority faith believes the Bible has been corrupted by its translators.