Defeating the Giants in your Life

Scripture : 1 Samuel 17:1-17:58

• Keywords: Patience, Anxiety, Giants,) Do you remember the times when you’ve struggled with something or you’ve been fighting a battle and its left you feeling like you’ve been run over by a truck?

• We feel like we’re always spending our time trying to defeat a giant?

• If we’re fortunate enough, we don’t make it there often, but the reality is, we all make it there at some time.

• In some cases, we’re up against a problem or distraction. In other cases, we’re fighting sin that has got a hold of us, and as much as we want to defeat that giant in our lives, it rears its ugly head again and again.

• Let me pause here to address a misconception that is taught throughout the church, in America.

• Almost every time someone posts on Facebook that they are going through something tough, some well-meaning Christian tries to ease their burden and we usually hear the cliché: “God will not put more on you than you can handle.”

• While this sounds really good and sounds familiar, this is not in the Bible.

• Cole Brown, in his teaching series “Lies my Pastor told me” says this, in his blog titled God Will Put More on You Than You Can Bear :

• My pastor had a remedy for suffering in the form of a simple ten-word sentence: “God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” That was often the extent of his counsel, which, as you might imagine, made his counseling appointments rather brief. If you pay attention to social media, you know how often this counsel is repeated. People are told to hang in there, because—you guessed it—“God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” That’s unfortunate, because it’s untrue. God’s Word does not teach that he will not put more on you than you can bear.

• People often defend this idea by pointing to the Apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:13-14, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to us all. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” This is a magnificent promise! But it is not a promise that God will not allow us to face unbearable suffering. It is, instead, a promise that God will not allow us to face inescapable temptation. In context, Paul is reminding the Corinthians that God intends for them to learn from Israel’s history. The specific lesson he wants them to learn is that they can and must flee idolatry in all its forms.

• When people say, “God won’t put more on you than you can bear” they are hoping to comfort people who are hurting because of painful life circumstances. Unfortunately, this cliché has a tendency to do the opposite. It can actually cause tremendous discomfort and lead people away from the Gospel, the source of true comfort.

• The cliché can cause discomfort by making the suffering person feel that, if they feel overwhelmed, something must be wrong with them. Why are they falling apart under the pressure? If they believe that “God won’t put more on them than they can bear,” then they are really left with only two options: to believe that they simply don’t have enough faith and are failing to trust in God, or to believe that God has abandoned them and left them to face their suffering alone. Either way, they won’t be comforted. In fact, their discomfort has only increased because now they fear not only whatever circumstance they are facing, but also that they have lost necessary faith in God or that God has abandoned them.

• The truth is, God often puts more on his children than they can bear. The Apostle Paul himself, who wrote 1 Corinthians 10:13-14, discusses his own unbearable experiences in his second letter to the Corinthians. After describing some of the sufferings he and his team faced on their gospel mission he explains, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure , so that we despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:8, emphasis mine). Paul would not dare say, “God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” He knew first hand what it’s like to suffer beyond what you can humanly endure. His suffering was so intense that he “despaired of life itself.”

• And Paul is not the only biblical example. Elijah faced challenging circumstances that led him to conclude, “I have had enough, Lord” and then ask for God to take his life (1 Kings 19:4). The Angel of the Lord did not deny Elijah’s claim. Rather, the Angel of the Lord acknowledged the truth of his words and declared that Elijah’s circumstances were “too much” for him (1 Kings 19:7). Moses likewise faced suffering that was beyond his ability to bear and voiced his frustrations to God in prayer. “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me” (Numbers 11:14-15a, emphasis mine). As with Elijah, the Lord did not disagree with Moses’ assessment. He responded by relieving some of Moses’ burden. In addition, the Psalms are filled with the cries of desperate men, overwhelmed by the sufferings of life. Even a quick glance at psalms like Psalm 6, 42, and 88 reveal God’s people suffering beyond what they can bear.

• Telling suffering people, “God won’t put more on you than you can bear!” tends to lead them away from the means to true comfort God has provided. The truth is God at times intentionally gives you more than you can bear by yourself so you will rely on God and God’s people. This is the argument Paul makes when he shares his unbearable experience with the Corinthians. After explaining the suffering was more than he could bear he writes, “But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God” (2 Corinthians 1:9). He is explaining that God intentionally gave them more than they could bear so that they would depend on his strength instead of their own.

• Later in the same letter Paul shares a similar experience. After repeatedly asking the Lord to heal his unbearable physical pain, Paul writes that the Lord replied, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Those words brought Paul great comfort. So much so that he decided, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

• For Paul and for others it is a comfort to know that God bears the burdens that we cannot. We will never experience this comfort if we live as if “God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” In reality, God often gives us more than we can bear and invites us to bring the excess weight to him and to his people. This is why the Apostle Peter urges us to “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7) and Paul encourages the church community to “carry one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).

• The entire message of the Bible is that you cannot bear your own burdens and that Jesus loved you enough to come to earth and bear them for you. Jesus says it bluntly: “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15: 5), but then offers the words of ultimate comfort: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). In light of that we ought never to say, “God won’t put more on you than you can bear.” Instead, we ought always to say, “God won’t put more on you than he can bear.”

• We’ve all been to the place where we’ve had to deal with giants; giants like worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, or insecurity. Whatever it has been, we’ve wandered through those dry valleys looking for answers, and sometimes we come up empty. We feel a lot like David standing in the intimidating shadow of Goliath.

• Bruce Larson, in his book “Believe and Belong” tells of how he helped people who were struggling to defeat the giants in their lives. He writes, “For many years, I worked in New York city and counselled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with these situations. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a perfectly proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under his burden. ‘Now that’s one way you can live,’ I would point out, ‘trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now, come across the street with me.’ On the other side of Fifth Avenue is St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and there behind the altar is a statue of Jesus as a boy, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort, he is holding the world in one hand.”

• The truth is we have a choice and we are faced with a question: Who are we relying on to defeat our giants? Who are we counting on to carry our burdens?

• Goliath was one of David’s giant to overcome. It was his distraction and his problem.

• In fact, Goliath was Israel’s giant to overcome. Even though the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul at this point in his life, he was still leading the army of the Israelites in battle.

• ADD Moment: I watched a video this week of part of a sermon by a young preacher. He reminded me that although Saul served as king of Israel for 40 years, God withdrew his anointing after the first two. God left him in position. He said that God is the only boss who will fire you and let you keep on working. Ref: Matthew 7:21-23(NLT) “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

• And by this point, Saul had lost all confidence in God’s leadership, not only in his life but also in the life of his nation, and it became very evident in the way Saul led his troops against the Philistines. For a long time, Saul and his men would wake up every morning and stand face to face with their giant. But that was the problem. They were facing their giant day after day after day. There was a key element that was missing in their battle strategy that forced them to waste time dealing with the same giant every day.

• Take your Bible and turn to 1 Samuel 17. Here we read of one of the most famous battles not only in the Bible, but also in all of history. David faced a physical giant in Goliath, but we face giants of our own all the time, whether they are mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual giants. So we must ask, how do we defeat the giants in our life? What do we learn from David’s giant-killing that we can use ourselves?

• David lived by a simple principle to defeat the giants in his life. HE HAD NOTHING TO PROVE AND NOTHING TO LOSE.

• He realized that everything that he was and everything that he had belonged completely to God. Even as he stood on the battlefield, he was there under the authority and direction of God. He wasn’t there to impress Saul or Goliath, or his brothers or friends. And he wasn’t there to prove anything to any of Saul’s soldiers who were probably bigger and stronger than he was. So, why was he there? David was there fighting that battle because someone was standing there making a disgrace of the Living God, and now David was the only one who would stand against that.

• The story goes that the Israelites and Philistines met in the Valley of Elah to battle. The Israelites were on one side and the Philistines on the other side of the valley and each had a battle line. If one side wanted to relay a message to the enemy or taunt them without having to attack them, they would send a soldier to the battle line to do that. Everyday for 40 days, this Philistine named Goliath would step out of his ranks, go to the battle line, and he would trash talk Israel. Chapter 17, verses 4-7 gives us a very physical description of Goliath. He was huge! He stood about 9 ½ feet tall, and wore a bronze armor that weighed 125 pounds. He wore bronze greaves, which are like leggings to protect his legs, and had a javelin and a spear with an iron point that alone weighed about 15 pounds. His armor alone weighed close to 200 pounds, maybe more.

• The guy was MASSIVE! And he approached the battle line and wanted to play “Let’s Make A Deal.” He said to the Israelites, “Choose a MAN to come and fight me, and if I defeat your man in battle, you will become our servants. But if you find someone who can beat me, then we will become your servants.” And after he said all of that, he stood there and had the audacity to say, “I DEFY THE RANKS OF ISRAEL.” Translation? If you’re too chicken to send someone to fight me, then your God can’t be much better. Do you know how Saul and his soldiers reacted to that? Verse 11 says, “they were terrified.” For 40 days, twice a day, Goliath would put on this show, and we see the reaction of Saul and his men again in verses 23-24 – they ran away in fear.

• There was something about the way Saul was approaching this giant that was different from the way David would approach him.

• When you look at this, there seems to be a sharp contrast in how to battle a giant. Notice how Saul approached the situation. They kept putting it off, and the more they delayed, the more intimidated they got. And the more intimidated they got, the harder the problem became for them to handle. It’s the same thing when we battle our giants. We wake up every morning and walk to the battle line. We look across the valley and see the intimidating problem standing there. And it happens day after day, and the more we delay in battling the giant, the more intimidating the problem becomes and the harder it is to handle later. But do you notice what David did? He shows up, surveyed the situation, recognized the problem, and immediately took action. He even went through the proper channels, even though the leadership was not leading. And the next morning, the Israelites would not have that giant to worry about any longer.

• David could fight this battle because he had nothing to prove and nothing to lose. It’s not that David didn’t realize what was at stake in fighting Goliath. I’m sure he knew that one wrong move could cost him his life. But what was Goliath doing? He was making a disgrace of God and His people, and David would not stand for that. You see, David didn’t go to the valley of Elah expecting a battle. The reason he went was because he was sent by his father to check up on his three older brothers who were soldiers in the army. David more than likely had no idea who Goliath even was. But that’s the way it is with giants that we battle. We never expect them, they just show up. David fought with nothing to prove and nothing to lose. Too often, we fight our giants with everything to prove and everything to lose, and we get so caught up in the battle that we don’t see beyond ourselves. But we must remember that God is bigger than our problems; God is bigger than our giants; and that day, God was bigger than Goliath.3 STRATEGIES FOR BATTLING YOUR GIANTS…1. Never assume that what worked for somebody else to defeat their giant will automatically work for you.In 1 Samuel 17:32, David came to Saul and asked permission to fight Goliath in battle. Remember the description of Saul? Chapter 9 says he was “without equal, very impressive, and was a head taller than any of the others.” He was a big boy. Remember the description of David? Chapter 16 says he was “ruddy,” which means healthy. But that description still gives us the imagery of a tall and scrawny looking kid, and now he is wearing Saul’s armor, and he’s probably swimming in it. Finally, David takes it off and says he can’t use it to go into battle because its too big. The point is David did it the way God asked HIM to do it, and it’s the same for us. God created you in a unique way, and that means that when you battle your giants, he will give you a unique way to handle them and defeat them. Your giants are YOUR giants, and we can not approach them trying to be somebody we are not.

• ADD Moment: Ignore those lists of prayers. You can’t use the Bible as an incantation book, which allows you to use this prayer for this problem and another one for another problem.2. Trust first in the Lord and not just in the weapons you’ve been given.beginning with verse 40, we are told that David and Goliath approached each other in battle with their own weapons. There are a lot of helpful methods and materials out there that have helped people in significant way to overcome their giants and allow for productive growth. But there is only one sure method and that is trusting in the Lord. David expressed four times his trust in the Lord before, during and after the battle. Finally, he defeated the giant because he trusted in God to show him the unique way that God wanted him to fight this battle. Don’t expect God to deliver you the same way he did before. David had all of the odds against him including going against someone more than twice his size covered in full armor, and all David had were five smooth stones and a slingshot. But the lesson will always be the same: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE ABILITY OF A HEART COMMITTED TO GOD. David was committed and God used him in a way that would change him forever.3. Celebrate your victories.David had a disgusting way of celebrating his victories. Verse 51 tells us he killed Goliath and then cut off his head. That act was symbolic of two things. First, it was a way of making sure Goliath was dead. Second, the fact David has Goliath’s head to carry around was like a trophy he could parade in front of everyone. David also took all of Goliath’s weapons and stood them up in his own tent. Every morning when David woke up, he would see the weapons of his enemy, and be reminded of how God delivered him in that battle. It would also motivate him when fighting future battles. Start your own trophy case. There’s nothing wrong with celebrating your victories as long as appropriate credit is given to God.

• Revelation 12:11 (KJV) And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

• The British Army knew how to celebrate their victories. In 1978, there was a fireman’s strike in London, England. The Army was called in to handle the emergency fire fighting operations. One day in January 1978, they were called by an elderly lady in South London whose cat had climbed a tree and wouldn’t come down. So the army arrived quickly, discharged their duties, rescued the cat, and life had returned to normal. The lady was so grateful, she invited the firemen in for tea and crumpets. They celebrated their victory. As they were leaving and saying their farewells, the men got back into their trucks, and you know what they did? They ran over the cat! The moral of the story is celebrate your victories while you can. You never know when you may have to fight your next battle!CONCLUSION:Senator Mark Hatfield writes of touring Calcutta with Mother Teresa and visiting the “House of Dying.” It was a home where sick children are cared for in their last days and where the poor line up by the hundreds to receive medical attention. Hatfield was watching Mother Teresa and her companions care for those who had been left by others to die and he remembers being so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the suffering they faced everyday. Hatfield approached Mother Teresa and said, “How can you bear the load without being crushed by it?” And Mother Teresa responded, “Senator, I’m not called to be successful. I’m simply called to be faithful.”

• All of the giants that we battle are designed to bring us closer to God. We can’t go into battle to build up an impressive record of wins or go thinking that we’ll fight the battle under our own strength. This is simply a call from God to stand up to the giants in our lives, and to be faithful to him as we battle.

• David did not kill Goliath. He was merely the instrument of destruction that God used to kill Goliath.

• Have you given your battles to God? Or are you still fighting your giants on your own? We need to echo the call of David, “…the battle belongs to the Lord