22 DEALING WITH YOUR GOLIATH. 1 SAM. 17.

Before reading this I suggest you read the above Scripture, keeping it handy, as we go through the story. I believe it will help. We all have had or will have a Goliath at sometime or other in our lives, some of us more than once or twice. We really don’t know how to handle these Giants , all we want is for them to go away. Your Goliaths can take the form of people, perhaps an Alcoholic or Abusive parent, partner, Teacher or Coach, A place in which we might have found ourselves where we were very frightened, or in a situation from which we were, unable escape. The story of David and Goliath has a number of lessons in it which you will find worth taking on board and bringing to mind on such occasions. The first thing to remember is;-- If you have given your life to the Lord, He will not allow you to be in a situation you can’t handle, or extricate yourself from. He says so in His Word. He will always be there to help you, equipping you with the necessary tools and His Grace. “Fear not for I am with you.” appears several times in Scripture, in both the Old and New Testament. Every time you call on Him it shows Him you believe in Him and trust Him to get you out of the mess you have found yourself in. That’s Faith. Cultivate it, it works. In this Scripture the Philistines had come to make war against the Israelites and take their land. Both armies set up camp on the hills facing each other, with a valley between them. The Philistines Champion named Goliath a Giant from Gath who was nine and a half feet tall, (about the height of your ceiling) dressed in a bronze helmet which made him look even taller, wearing bronze shining clanking scale armour, a Javelin slung on his back, and a spear in his hand with a shaft the size of a weavers rod hanging from his shoulder making him very wide, very fierce and very scary, This Giant from Gath came out of the Philistine ranks shouting his usual defiance, he had been doing this everyday for forty days and intimidating the Israelites. (Forty is a number that comes up several times in Scripture, When God destroyed the earth with the great flood, it rained for forty days and nights,Moses and the Israelites were forty years in the desert, Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness, there are forty days between the Resurrection and the Ascension of Jesus in to Heaven. And there are several other occasions. Where the number forty comes up. Nobody seems to have come up with a satisfactory explanation for this, but I thought I’d mention it for your future reference if and when things happen.) However, on this particular morning young David arrived with his brother’s lunch and heard all the noise and confusion. On enquiring and hearing Goliath’s threats against the people of God, he couldn’t believe such disgrace was falling on Israel and their God, I’m sure when he heard that King Saul had promised Great wealth, Tax exemption for his family and to give his daughter in marriage to the man who would rid him of this giant, (v25) that would have been an added incentive for David, who said “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God.” His brothers heard him and told him to go home and back to tending his father’s sheep. So no support there,!!! David however, wasn’t going to be put off and went to King Saul himself, who also didn’t think he was up to the task and told him he was far too young, but David defended himself to the king saying “I’ve killed lions and bears with my bare hands when they came after my father’s sheep, I’d like a chance to have a go at this Blasphemer.”(v36-37) When The Lord is calling you to do a job for Him, you can be sure you will get opposition especially from your family and the Religious authorities. But when God sends you on a mission, He will guide, protect and be with you all the way. With reluctance King Saul agreed and ordered David to be dressed in the King’s own armour, but because David was only about seventeen or eighteen, the king’s armour was too big and heavy for him and he found he wasn’t able to walk in it. When you have a Goliath to fight, go to the Lord for your weapons not people, “Put on the whole armour of God” (Eph 6.10-17) This is very important, I believe every Christian should include those verses from Eph.6 each day in their morning prayers, especially these days in these troublesome times that’s what will win the battles of today. David removed the armour, picked up five stones and pulled out his Shanghai, ( Soft quiet speech will win people over much better than laying down the 10 Commandments.) This really upset Goliath, not only were the Israelites sending out a kid to fight him, but he wasn’t even dressed for the occasion nor did he have any of the regular weaponry. In fact The Giant was so insulted that he started with “the language’. Then David replied “You come against me with sward, spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of The Lord God Almighty, The God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistines army to the birds and the wild animals and the whole world will know, there is a God in Israel, all these gathered here will know that it is not by sward or spear that The Lord saves; for the Battle is The Lord’s and He will give all of you into our hands.” A word here about battling against Satan, I believe if we want and indeed need God’s help and intervention we have to call out to Him loud and clear by name (The Lord God Almighty) We are calling on His name, His power and His activity to descend on us as David did, Not because he has a hearing deficiency, but that everyone around us will know The Battle is the Lord’s and HE will fight for us and give us the victory, and HE will get the credit not us. Also we need to be specific, You see, we not only want God to be with us but we need His strength and ability to get the whole job completed. This requires Faith and confidence in God and His mighty Power. If we pray and ask God, He will give us this power and the victory. We can practise it with smaller things, as David did (Bears and Lions) God demonstrated His power with those animals in preparation for the Giant that was to come, also I believe David spent a great deal of time with God while tending his father’s sheep day after day. It was that developed relationship with God that gave David the confidence and strength he needed at that time. I believe there is no power without prayer and no prayer without power. A Casual prayer life will produce a casual powerless, weak relationship with God, whereas regular, sincere, heartfelt, prayer produces a sincere loving powerful relationship with Him.. If you have read the story from 1.Samuel 17 you will know that things happened just as David said they would. When you are on God’s side things happen, You will notice I said “When you are on God’s side, rather than when God is on your side.” Why? Because we are flawed, inhibited and have preferences. Whereas He is perfect and doesn’t have any of those characteristics. When you are on the side of God, The Spirit will lead you with Truth, Honesty and Integrity, these are God’s characteristics. But, this will only happen if you, (like Joshua) humble yourself and submit your plans to God, Then the walls will fall down and you will be triumphant but He will get the Victory not you or me. It will be a case of “see what our GOD can do. Not see what I can do.” It’s interesting to note in v 54 that David took the Giants head to Jerusalem, I would say to put it in his trophy cabinet, (Look what can be achieved when God is in control). And he put the Giant’s weapons in his own tent. Why? So he would always remember how useless they were in the presence of His God. Which reminds me of a story I heard about Muhammad Ali who once was flying interstate in America, and there was some turbulence, the captain asked all passengers to fasten their seat- belts, Ali didn’t cooperate with the request and when the hostess told him to do so he replied “Superman don’t need no seatbelt.” She instantly replied “Superman don’t need no aeroplane either.” Laughing he complied.---So we always need to keep the (Seatbelt) God’s armour fastened tightly around us, we never know when all we have left are those “Everlasting Arms.” Thank you for reading my thoughts on how to defeat the Giants that come into our lives, God will come to the aid of all who ask Him, especially those who cultivate a deep personal relationship with Him., God Bless, protect and preserve us all as w, with God’s help deal with the Goliaths that come into so many of our lives today. Remember,There’s no prayer without power and no power without prayer. There’s nothing Almighty God can not do for His children if they humbly sit at His feet and ask His help . Phaline. ------------------------