Defeating Life's Giants with Faith
1 Samuel 17:45–47 (NLT)
45 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. 46 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! 47 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!”
We all face giants in our lives—problems, and issues that seem insurmountable. It could be a giant of fear or a giant of personal sin that we fall into again and again. It might be the sin of pride, envy, gluttony, lust, or something else. So how do we deal with these giants? Look no further than the Old Testament account of David and Goliath to find your answer.
What can David's victory over Goliath teach us about defeating the giants in our lives?
Admit You Have a Problem and Accept Responsibility
First, stop rationalizing your giant and take it out into the light of day. Don’t attempt to put it back in the shadows where you can ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist. Sticking your head in the sand and hoping it goes away isn’t the answer. Admit you have a problem and accept responsibility for it.
Don’t Give Up
Second, don’t try to defeat this giant on your own strength; instead, turn to God for help. You may feel like giving up, but don’t forget that God is bigger than any giant you will ever face in your life!
Trust God
Thirdly, trust God to help you overcome whatever obstacle is before you. When we think we can conquer our problems by ourselves without God's help, we are taking credit away from Him—which is obviously wrong—and making ourselves an idol instead of trusting and glorifying Him.
See Your Giant Through God’s Eyes
Finally, when faced with a giant situation, look at it through the lens of faith rather than fear; look at your giant in the light of God rather than looking at God in the light of your giant! Is anything too hard for God? Of course not. No matter your fear, God is able to conquer whatever is in your way.
Take heart: no matter what type of giant stands between you and success in life right now (whatever success may look like to you), if you have faith that God will take care of it for you, then He will provide a way forward! Pray for courage to confront whatever challenge lies ahead, and trust that He will lead you through every step along the way!
In facing giants such as fear or personal sin head-on with faith in God's power rather than trying to tackle them with our own strength, we can learn a valuable lesson from David's story: nothing is impossible with God! Even if things seem overwhelming right now, remember that if we trust Him, He will give us courage and strength greater than any problem we are facing today. With prayerful faith come boldness and confidence; therefore, don't let yourself be intimidated by whatever giants stand before you—God is bigger!
With these four steps combined with a prayerful focus on Jesus Christ as our ultimate source of strength – anything is possible!