Scripture: 1 Samuel 17 v 32 - 37: "And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
33 And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
34 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
37 David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee."
There will come a day when the enemy sends a giant against you usually in the form of an overwhelming problem that causes you and those around you to quake in their boots. This is what happened when the Philistine giant, Goliath, challenged Israel to send their best man against him to settle the battle.
For a month King Saul hid in his tent while Israel trembled as Goliath laid his daily challenge against them. One day the young shepherd, David, was sent to deliver some food to his brothers and was shocked to hear what was happening on the field. He announced that he would take on this uncircumsized Philistine himself. He was declaring that he, David, was under God's Covenant of protection while the enemy was not.
Saul offered David, who was only 17 years old, his very strong and heavy armour. David tried it on but it was too big and clumsy for him. He took instead something that he was adept at. His sling and five stones.
There stood Goliath about 10 foot tall with massive armour and a huge sword. David had faith in the power of God and his sling. Simple, unshakeable faith. His first stone killed the giant, who was still mocking and taunting the slender boy in front of him. David took the huge sword and decapitated Goliath, and the weapon became known as the Sword of David. The Philistines lost and became part of the army of Israel.
What we know, WHO we know that is true and accurate, is Our Lord Jesus Christ, who by one sacrifice of Himself settled our enemy forever. By His Blood He destroyed satan's power forever for those who believe. And use the Godly authority over him to secure our own lives.
When Peter declared You are Christ the Son of God, Jesus responded, Upon this rock will I build My Church. He had a play on names as Peter's name means small stone but the Rock is the declaration that Jesus is the Son of God. It was a revelation to Peter from our Father. Peter was not the rock on which the Church was built, that some still believe.
Jesus is the Rock in our sling when we by faith call upon Him in our time of need no matter how big our 'giant' is. People will counsel us to solve things by various worldly means. This would be like wearing Saul's armour - far too big and heavy for us.
1 Corinthians 10 v 2 - 4: "And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."
God called David "A man after My own heart". Not because David was sinless but because he had a soft conscience. He always knew when he had disobeyed and was quick to repent to stay in right standing before God.
This enables God to keep us safe if we too keep short accounts with Him. Don't harden your heart and refuse to communicate with people who may have hurt you, rather diminish Satan's plan by being reconciled. Forgiveness of wrongs is what God has done for us, and we must do the same.
So if you have a giant problem facing you then bring it to the Lord, the Rock, who will crush that giant and give you the victory. The world has some giants slaying them right now: Climate change, Coronavirus, Cancer, Coronary Heart Disease, Confusion of minds and if they would turn to Christ Jesus, He would have the answers they need. He is the big C that cancels theirs.
There is another Giant causing massive alarm in Ukraine, and the rest of the world, right now. Many Christians are calling on God to stop this horrible war. If Ukraine falls to Russia, then many other nations of the former Soviet Union are going to be recaptured, while Europe waits their turn. We need David and his sling to sort this out. Fast.
Yesterday, the Israeli President Bennett has been in a meeting with President Putin for about four hours. He is attempting to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine. He has a soft sling and a snowball to try a gentle approach to the Vohdz, who always gets his own way. It is like Moses beseeching the hard-hearted Pharoah to let God's people go. It took ten devastating plagues to soften his heart. Let us pray that Bennett has the heart of David to make his snowball effective.
David won the hearts of Israel the day he killed Goliath, and eventually became their king, but first God had to crush the new proud jealous giant called King Saul who stood in David's way. The prophet Samuel even told David in prophecy that he would be the next king of Israel. Saul found out and tried to kill David, but the Lord protects those who walk in His ways and rejects those who defy Him.
So make sure of God's constant presence and faithfulness over you and your family by trusting Him and being obedient. Whatever giants need to be slain in your life rely on the Lord's might and strength to deliver you. He will send you the courage and faith of David to see you through.
Isaiah 54 v 17: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."
When we fully submit to God and serve Him with our whole hearts, no weapon......gun, sword, words, pandemic, blackmail, force, intimidation, wrath, terrorism, accidents, disease, demons.....shall prosper. We have the shield of faith, yeah, the whole armour of God, the power in the Blood of Jesus, and the Rock of Ages. These form unbeatable protection against seen and unseen foes.
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Jesus, our mighty King, who can never be defeated. His Kingdom is an eternal safe house for all who believe. If you have not yet submitted, been forgiven, been set free by the Blood of the Lamb, do it now and be forever a born again child of God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, by Your word we live. You say Trust Me in all things and we do Lord. We trust You to slay our giants and give us victory in all things. No matter what confronts us we have Your armour upon us including the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit. Nothing is too difficult for You. Help us to remember all these things when a giant appears. In Jesus' name. Amen.