September 27, 2020 First UMC Carroll “Defeating our Giants”

 

 

“Boy, you’ll never win” That was Goliath’s boast.  Boy, you are young, inexperienced, weak, and you’ll never beat me.”

We’ve heard that before haven’t we.

THEY say you’re too young to do that job.

THEY say you’re too fat or too scrawny, or too tall or too short you’ll never be able to do it.

THEY say you’ve never been good at… fill in the blank.  You’ve never been good at math, or reading, or managing money, cleaning house.  And you never will be.

The voices attack our self-esteem. THEY keep pushing us down.

THEY say you are weak.

THEY say you NEED another drink, another pill, another page of pornographic images.

THEY say you don’t deserve anything better than this.

The voices of addiction have a solid grip on us.

THEY say you’ll never get those credit cards paid off.

THEY say you’re no good at your job and you will be fired.

THEY say “you really couldn’t blame your spouse if THEY walked out on you.”

The voices attack our security and hope for a better tomorrow.

THEY say look out. Nothing is going to go right.

            When the car won’t start, THEY say you never do anything right.

            When you make a small mistake, THEY say you failed again.

            The voices peck away at us taking advantage of every little frustration.

            THEY say you ARE depression you’ll never be anything else.

THEY say you are bound to get Covid.

THEY say “The doctor wants more tests?” it must cancer.

The voices attack our health and wellbeing both physical and mental.

THEY say don’t trust anyone,

THEY say, he hits you because you deserve it.

THEY say just hold that grudge, you are right, and you don’t need them anyway,

The voices attack us in the relationships that are closest to us.

Who are these “THEYS” that keep pushing us down, keep holding us back, keep telling us, “you’ll never win?”  Who do THEY think they are?

These are the giants in our lives.  Some might be ten feet tall like Goliath. Ohers might be 10 miles tall. And others might be 10 inches short, just enough to make us fall flat on our face. 

I Want to be clear that I am not talking about voices one might hear if they are suffering from a mental illness. The voice I am talking about is our interior voice. We all have a dark voice in our heart… and we have to decide whether to listen or not.

 

In Chapter 17 of 1 Samuel, Israel is in a stand off with their perennial enemy the Philistines. Among the Philistines were a remnant of a people call the Anakin. They were said to be giants. Joshua 11 tells us “"There was none of the Anakin left in the land of the people of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain" (Joshua 11:22).”  Notice they were in Gath.  Who else do we know who came from Gath?  Goliath. It is quite possible that Goliath was a descendent of the Anakin and inherited his massive size from that side of the family.

 Depending on who is measuring, (because a cubit is the length of a forearm and that varies from person to person).  Goliath was between 7 and 10 feet tall. 6 cubits and a Span.  He was indeed a giant compared to the average 5-foot-tall Israelite.

So, the Philistines are lined up on one ridge with the Israelites on the other about 15 miles outside of Bethlehem. Twice a day Goliath came out to yell his challenge across the valley.  The offer for one man from each side to fight in order to settle the dispute was a type of representative warfare practiced by some cultures of the day, but somewhat unfamiliar to Israel.

For 40 days and 40 nights… the standoff continued. Not one man from the army of Israel stepped forward.  That didn’t seem likely to change.  Then a red head little brother of some soldiers shows up on the scene.

Why would he do it? David might have had several reasons to take on Goliath. Everyone said he could not do it.  That’s reason enough right?  I’m like that. 

Second, there was the reward including a cash reward, and no taxes for life, and marrying the king’s daughter.  But there was more. David took on Goliath because Goliath had insulted God.  By mocking the Israelite army, he mocked God. And the punishment for blaspheme was death. David says he has to do this because “this uncircumcised Philistine has defied the armies of the living God.” This is a religious quest for David. He is defending God ’s honor. Or carrying out the death sentence required in scripture.

David HAD to do this, but imagine the voices,

you’ll never win you are just a kid,

you’ll never win you’re just a shepherd.

You can’t do that no one from Jesse’s house has ever done anything important.

You can’t do this; you can’t even carry the weight of a man’s armor.

People like you can’t do anything. 

Too scrawny, too weak, too much red hair… the voices went on and on.

 

David’s only experience was killing lions and bear who tried to carry off the sheep. The standard tools of the shepherd would have been a staff and a sling. Not a slingshot, but a strip of leather or woven material with a pocket in the middle. Anything could be put in the pocket to be slung. I read a biomechanical research paper this week that said they were able to achieve speeds of 110 miles per hour right out of the sling. The damage that could be inflicted was determined by the weight of the projectile. According to the US Army’s lethality tables the sling could inflict enough injury for serious to fatal injury ranging from broken bones to penetrating the skin. It is not at all out of the realm of possibility that David’s sling could have killed Goliath.

 The two met, Goliath more self-assured than he should have been… and David swinging his sling, Goliath just laughed waiting for the stone to bounce off his armor.

And there’s the pitch and the hit right in the middle of the forehead.  It punctured the skin and must have crashed through the skull and sunk in. Homerun! And the giant fell like a tree.

Silence must have broken out on both sides… silent amazement which gave way to the Israelites giving chase to the Philistines, and the Philistines running wee wee wee all the way home.

 David’s speech is the key to understanding.

 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….  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

So here we sit with these voices in our lives… and what will we do.

 First, we have to Recognize that we all have giants. You are not the only one suffering with depression. You are not the only one who has lost a job. You are not the only one facing cancer.  And we all have something that is our giant.  Which brings me to step 2.

 Second, you need to "Name the  giant you are facing". You can't fight what you can’t or won’t see. As you think about this, dig a little deeper than usual.  If you live in constant fear of job loss. Maybe there is reason for that if the company is struggling, or you are not doing a good job. But often behind worries like that is fear that you are not good enough. Fear that you don’t really deserve this good job and someone will find out who you really are.   See what I mean… dig beyond the surface and be really honest with yourself. Identify your Giants.  It might be one of these 6 or something else completely.

You must face your giants. That might seem self-evident, but many times we don’t want to face our giants. We don’t want to admit we are addicted or depressed, or afraid, or unforgiving.  It is not attractive, but this is not a time for vanity. It is also not a time to run in fear.  Sometimes our biggest problem is not the problem we face, but that we won’t face our problems.

Maybe you don’t want to think about your problems because they are way too big and scarry and you think you can't solve them. Actually, you are probably right.  You can’t beat the giant by yourself because… because it is by definition giant. And we are not.    Where does our help come from, our help comes by the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth, and even made you.

But when you recognize the giant, identify the giant and face the giant you are well on your way to defeating the giant.

Well on the way, but not quite there. Don’t reach down to put on your armor. Don’t reach for your sword and javelin. Don’t strike off to slay your giants alone. You need your secret weapon, your sling and stone so to speak… You Don’t have to face those giants alone you need to trust the power of the almighty God with you.  And the giants will begin to fall.

So, take a step today.

Take a step closer and prove to yourself that giants are real, and you have one.

Take another step to see and name the giant in your life.

Take another step to look your giant in the eye and tell them I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel.

Take one last step to rise above your fear and reach out for the hand of the only Giant for whom you have room in your life… The giant loving most powerful gracious God.

 

Let’s listen to the end of voice of truth.