WATCHWORD:
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”
12 Now David was the youngest son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
20 Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. 23 As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it.
Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”
33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.
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. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. Selected verses, 1 Samuel 17
Meditation:
Giant Slayer?
What are your giants? What causes you fear? Concern? Maybe it is something invisible, yet deadly? Like Covid? Maybe you are like our friends in quarantine, like being in jail, restricted to a room, a wing, a campus. It is a giant, one that has restricted freedoms, isolated us from our families, our loved ones, and yet kept us safe.
Maybe your giant is something else. An estrangement from a loved one over something, now hard to recall, lost in grief remembered. Maybe hurt feelings, unintended at the time, yet replayed over and over again, and as the encores repeat, the hurt deepens.
Maybe the giant was inherited, passed from one generation to the next, as in Biblical times when the conflict between the Samaritans and Judah persisted from before the Babylonian exile.
In Carol Kent’s book, He Holds My Hand, the reading for August 19 included this statement:
Sometimes (giants) come in the form of the mental attacks. You second-guess your decisions. You feel anxious and fearful. Your exhaustion leads to insecurity and hesitancy. You feel like there’s no way to succeed in life. At other times the giants come in the form of physical attacks—illness, headaches, surgeries, autoimmune diseases, debilitating arthritis… The fiercest giants come in the form of spiritual attacks causing you to question your faith in the wake of hardships and loss.”
It makes one wonder if part of the giant is our own pride, our own unwillingness to except responsibility, and to surrender it all to the Lord? And to trust Him. Or are we like Peter, John, James, Barnabus, Andrew and the others, fearful for the sea and forgetting, or simply not understanding what their Lord, walking toward them, did in feeding the 5,000 with a small boy’s lunch, that very day.
Hebrews (7:24-26) tells us — 24 But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever.25 Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save[d] those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf. 26 He is the kind of high priest we need because he is holy and blameless, unstained by sin. He has been set apart from sinners and has been given the highest place of honor in heaven.[e]
In fairness to the disciples, trusting Him to that degree was a lesson they were in the process of learning, but they did learn. All but John would be executed based on the strength of that trust in Christ.
What about us? The giant stands before us, threatening our very lives. And we have a choice. We can mutter, blame, get angry and complain. We can cast ourselves as victims, poor us. What did we do to deserve this?
Or we can ask Him to grant us clarity in our thinking. Then face our giant with controlled strength, calling on Him for the words or the necessary courage. He walks on water, he feeds thousands from nothing, and we can depend on Him.
Matthew, another one in that boat, tells us: “Humanly speaking, it is impossible, but with God everything is possible.” (19:26)
Amen.
Prayer in the Face of Giants:
Father, thank you because you are the only reason I have been able to keep going on, to keep standing, to keep believing, and to keep praying in the midst of this storm. You are m y rock and you have brought me out of every storm that has come my way. Jesus Christ, you are my living Hope! Please help me in my times of despair and depression to trust in you. Hide me in the shelter of Your love and lead me to the place of help that I need.
“Even thou I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Your rod and Your staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). I believe in Your promises and they keep me bold and strong. Lord, please help me in my times of despair and depression to trust in You. Hide me in the shelter of Your love and lead me to the place of help that I need. Even though my whole world screams I am timid and weak, I will take courage and refuge in You for You are my God and in You I trust. I will not be afraid my trust is in You. I love You for caring and protecting me. Thank You so much. I am blessed beyond measure. I pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.
