Facing Giants

No matter who we are and what our lives look like on a day-to-day basis, we all have stressful, overwhelming circumstances that we find before us throughout our lives. Mountains in our path that seem immovable. Maybe you're struggling to pass your Geometry class or perhaps one of your loved ones just got diagnosed with cancer. Whatever the situation is, no matter how big or small it is, it often feels so large that we don’t even know how we are going to get through it. We hit a wall and there doesn’t seem to be a way over or around it. We’re trapped and overtaken by fear.

Ever since I started first grade, I have been very shy and insecure. I have ADHD and dyslexia so I struggled to learn how to read, which made my self-confidences crumble, and I didn’t think I was good at anything. This included talking and interacting with new people. I was terrified of saying and doing the wrong thing and humiliating myself or offending someone. At school, I didn’t talk to anyone except my best friends unless I had to, and I did my best to avoid having to talk to new people wherever I went. When I was thrown into a large crowd of people I didn’t know, like at a party or school event, I would become overwhelmed and often have a panic attack and hide. This continued all throughout grade school and into middle school. However, I met Christ when I was 11 years old and, throughout the next few years, he spoke to me and helped me learn to trust him and let go of my fear of what others think of me. When I was 15, my youth pastor asked me if I would be interested in preaching in front of my youth group. I had started my ministry website and blog two years before, and she said that she thought God had given me a gift for teaching others about his word. I told her I would think about it and get back to her. As I prayed about whether or not I should take her up on her offer, the Holy Spirit gave me a sermon to preach.

On the night I was to preach my sermon to the youth group, I began to feel anxious and doubt whether or not I would be able to even be brave enough to get up out of my seat and walk over to the puplet after the worship service was over, let alone preach my sermon. There were over 20 students there that night and, in the past, I had barely been able to give a 5 minute speech. I couldn’t help imagining myself getting up in front of all those teenagers and opening my mouth to speak and no sound coming out. I pictured my brain going completely blank and not being able to remember a single thing I was going to say.

Finally, the worship service ended and it was my turn to take the floor. I said a quick, silent prayer, asking God to please give me courage, and then got up out of my seat and walked to the pulpit. To my surprise, the words I had planned to say came to me right away and when I opened my mouth to speak, my voice was low and clean; full of confidence. I continued speaking and pretty soon I had completely forgotten my nerves and was able to preach more confidently than I had back at home when I have been practicing in my room with no one listening. God had answered my prayer. He had given me courage. Without him, I wouldn’t have even been brave enough to get up out of my chair.

In the book of 1 Samuel in the Bible there is a story of a young man named David who found himself in a very stressful situation. His country, Israel, was at war with Philistia. The Philistines had a warrior named Galioth who was over nine feet tall. For forty days, Goliath and the other Philistines would come to fight the Israelite army and everyday, when the Israelites saw Goliath, they would run and hide. Now, David was the youngest member of his family and while his older brothers were facing the Philistines with the rest of the army of Israel, he had to stay home and watch over his father’s sheep. One day, his father, Jesse, asked him to take some food to his older brothers and find out how they were doing. David reached the army, just as Goliath was coming out of his camp to challenge and taunt the Israelites. When he saw Gailoth he began asking why no one was going out to fight him. When Saul, the king of Israel, heard about David and how he was going around the camp asking the soldiers why no one was going out to fight Goliath, he asked for David to be brought to him. David told Saul that he could fight Goliath. Saul laughed and told him that he wouldn’t stand a chance because he was only a boy and Goliath was a well seasoned warrior. “But, David protested. ‘I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,’ he said. ‘When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this pagan Philistine, too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! The Lord who rescued me from the claws of the lion and the bear will rescue me from this Philistine!’

“Saul finally consented. ‘All right, go ahead, he said. “And may the Lord be with you!”

“Then Saul gave David his own armor, a bronze helmet, and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before.

“‘I can’t go in these,’ he protested to Saul. ‘I’m not used to them.’ David took them off again. He picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them into his shepherd's bag. Then, armed only with his shepherd's staff and sling, he started across the valley to fight the Philistine.

“Goliath walked out toward David with his shield bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this ruddy-faced boy. ‘Am I a dog,’ he roared at David, ‘that you come at me with a stick?’ And he cursed David by the names of his gods. ‘Come over here, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals!’ Goliath yelled.

“David replied to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of The Lord of Heaven’s Armies-the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you and I will kill you and cut off your head. And then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! And everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord’s battle, and he will give you to us!’

“As Goliath moved closer to attack, David quickly ran out to meet him. Reaching into his shepherd’s bag and taking out a stone, he hurled it with his sling and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and Goliath stumbled and fell face down on the ground.

“So David triumphed over the Philistine with only a sling and a stone, for he had no sword,” ( 1 Samuel 17: 34 - 50). David wasn’t afraid to face Goliath because he had confidence in the Lord. He knew that he couldn’t rely on his own strength but that God was on his side and would enable him to defeat Goliath. David was just a shepherd. He had never even wielded a sword before, but his faith was greater than the whole army of Israel. In a song he wrote, David sang, “In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall,” ( 2 Samuel 22: 30). The Apostle Paul wrote, “for I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength,” (Philippians 4: 13). Whatever giants we may be facing, God is on our side. All we have to do is put our faith in him and step into the fight.

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