ASKING THE QUESTION, “WHY?”

We ask a lot of questions, but perhaps the most asked question is, “Why?”

Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways? Why does your nose run and your feet smell? Why call it a building if it’s already built? Why are they called apartments when they are stuck together?

But the toughest, most painful question, is when you hurt or someone you love hurts and you ask, “Why?” For some of us, we ask it when we have a flat tire. Or get a cold. Or get caught in a freak rain shower. But we also ask it when the doctor says the tests results are positive, or when the boss calls you in and says, “We are going to have to let you go.” We ask it when there is too much month left at the end of our money. We ask it when we see our children’s dreams crushed. We ask it when people we deeply care for and are good people seem to get the raw end of the stick while others far less good seem to do well.

Our questions are important to God and there are many times in Scripture when people asked, “Why?” Many of the Psalms are written by David when he was hurting. Sometimes he received an answer. Sometimes he didn’t. The disciples asked Jesus why a man was born blind. The book of Job is of a man deeply hurting who wants to know why.

Somewhere along the way we have become convinced that life should be all good, all the time. Somewhere we have become convinced that if you are following God and God is good, life should always be good. And life isn’t good all the time. Life has a way of reminding us that we are broken people living in a broken world…and it hurts.

And somewhere we become convinced that if I just knew why this happened, it would be easier to take. But it isn’t. I live with a type of muscular dystrophy. I know the explanation of why I have it. I know there are deletions in part of my chromosomes of my DNA that allow a toxic protein that is used in my development as a fetus to “leak” into my muscle cells and it kills my muscle cells. I know the explanation, but it doesn’t help me walk better. It doesn’t help when my muscles ache. Knowing why something happens doesn’t always help to bear it.

I could tell you of the theological reasons of sin entering the world through the fall of man, but that doesn’t really help in a hospital room or the funeral home. We can ask, “Why” till Jesus comes again but we never get a response that makes us say, “Ah! So that’s it!” And we can go on with life.

Suffering is unfair. It kidnaps your attention and tries to force us to focus on our pain. But what it cannot do is steal Jesus Christ from you. If you can look away and beyond your pain to Jesus, you don’t always find the reason, “Why”. But you can find strength and comfort in His presence and His promise and His power and His love, even if you hurt. And in remembering and knowing, “Who” you are better able to face the question, “Why?” Trusting is not ignoring your feelings or pain. Trusting isn’t pretending everything is fine when it isn’t. Trusting is living a life of belief in and obedience to God, even if you never find the answer to “Why”.

Wait On the Lord

WAIT ON THE LORD

2 Samuel 2:1-5; Psalm 130:5-6

In my years of being a pastor as well as my personal and family life, I have spent more than my share of time in a place where time seems to stand still – the waiting room of doctor’s offices or hospitals. The waiting room is not only a place where old magazines go to die. It is also a place where life is put on hold. In the waiting room, it feels like hours have passed, and yet when you look at your watch, it has only been 20 minutes. When we are in the waiting room, it seems as if progress has come to a screeching halt!

Perhaps today you feel as if you’re in the waiting room. Maybe one of your loved ones is ill and you’re praying that God would heal them. Maybe you’re in a job situation that you consider unbearable, and yet you have no other choice that to endure it. Maybe you are single and you’re searching for Mr. or Miss “Right”. Maybe your children are in preschool and you can hardly wait for them to grow up so you can have more freedom. Maybe you’re a teenager and you just can’t wait until you learn how to drive or are old enough to move out on your own. Maybe it is a family situation where your children or spouse is causing you grief and you are begging God to change them.

You feel as if you are in the waiting room. You feel like you are in the midst of a crisis and it seems as if God has led you down a long hallway with a huge sign over it that says, “Waiting Room”. And you enter that room and you wait, and you wait, and you wait. For you, time has stopped. You have entered the waiting room and you have no idea how long you’ll be there.

I think it is easy to have a romantic view of the history of David as King of Israel. David’s life is such a great story isn’t it? The good looking shepherd boy who becomes king. The youngest son who is chosen and anointed by God to lead his people. The young lad who defeats the battle seasoned giant Goliath. The musician who turns out to be a great warrior. The young leader who is falsely accused and has to run for his life and becomes the leader of a band of guerrilla warriors. The middle aged king who falls in love with the beautiful Bathsheba. It has all the elements of a great movie. That is until you read the details of the story. Then you discover that sometimes the fulfilling of God’s plan takes more than romantic wishful thinking. You discover that many times fulfilling God’s plan involves years of being in the waiting room.

God was finished with Saul. He has disobeyed for the last time. His kingdom is doomed. So Samuel was dispatched by God to Bethlehem to anoint Saul’s replacement. When Samuel gets there, David isn’t even present! No one even thought to invite him to the party! No one dreamed David was a contender for king. He was doing what young boys his age did – tending his father’s sheep. We are not sure how old David was. Some scholars think he was 16 years old. Personally I think he was at least a couple of years younger. When Samuel anoints him, David must wonder how long it will be before he becomes king. The answer is that it is much longer than he imagines and much more difficult also.

David is selected as Saul’s private musician and armor bearer. He is in the king’s palace. Surely, he can’t be far from ruling over Israel now. David is still too young to go to the front lines so he continues going back and forth from the sheep to comfort Saul with his music when he shows up to check on his brothers one day to find Goliath taunting and challenging. David stands up to Goliath and kills him. This makes David an instant hero. Maybe this will be the event that makes David king.

The people love David and so does the king. However, while it is David’s music that calms Saul’s troubled spirit, it is the other music on the hit parade about David that pushes Saul over the edge as the women begin to sing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” (1 Sam. 18:7)

At first, Saul keeps his jealous rage to himself. He seeks to bring about David’s death in a way that will make it look like an accident. He throws his spear at David, but people probably write it off as temporary insanity. Then Saul seeks to have David killed in battle. He appoints David commander of a thousand, thinking the same zeal that prompted David to take on Goliath will cause him to get in over his head in a military endeavor with the tragic and sad result of getting David killed. However, everything Saul tries to destroy David just serves to elevate him in power and popularity. Saul offers David one of his daughters for a mere 100 Philistine foreskins. Instead of being killed, David kills 200 Philistines, gains a wife that loves him more than her father and more admiration and respect from all but Saul.

Surely, it won’t be long now before David becomes king. Then Saul’s jealousy becomes public. He orders Jonathan and all his servants that David is to be put to death. He sends men to arrest David in his own home, but his efforts are foiled by his own daughter. From this point on, David keeps his distance from Saul.

David must flee and become a fugitive until God brings about some remedy. David ceases to be the rising star in Israel with whom everyone wants to be associated and becomes public enemy number one with whom most Israelites are afraid to be associated lest they also incur Saul’s wrath. What happened to God’s promise that David will become king?

Life in the waiting room for David must have seemed dark. It must have seemed that someone lost his file as his name is not called.

David goes through many experiences all of which will make him a better king. He is now much better prepared to reign as king. But God is not ready yet to make him king. It is as long as 15 years from 1 Samuel 16 where David is anointed as king and 2 Samuel 2 where he is anointed as king but then it is only king of one tribe, Judah. Even after being anointed as king of Judah, he must wait another 7 ½ years to be anointed king of all Israel.

David is not an opportunist who will stoop to any means to gain the throne God has promised him. Neither will David look the other way when others do evil to facilitate his ascent to the throne. David is a man who understands what being God’s king is all about. He is a man who understands life in the waiting room.

One of the most important exhortations of Scripture is the call to “wait on the Lord”. Even though God has promised special blessing for waiting, waiting is one of the most difficult exhortations of Scripture. Why is it so hard? We are so prone to take matters into our own hands and follow our own schemes. Yet over and over in Scripture, we are told to “wait on the Lord.”

I want us to take some time this morning to see how David teaches us some lessons about waiting on the Lord.

Body

I.                   WAITING IS A SIGNIFICANT PART OF EACH OF OUR LIVES.

We don’t like to wait. Ours is a society that has grown accustomed to immediate gratification. We have cell phones with texting and email to make communication instant. We have microwaves to make heating food faster. We have fast food so we can eat on the run. We have airplanes to make travel faster. We have computers that run faster when compared with the computers of only a few years ago. We have coffee brewed in less than a minute, instant oatmeal and maybe even instant milk to go on top of it. We ride to work at 60 mph and complain at how slow the traffic is. We make copies in seconds and fax them around the world in minutes. Publishers Clearing House tells me every week that I may be an instant millionaire if I return the certificate by a certain date.

Yet even in our modern age of conveniences, waiting is still a big part of life. When we think of waiting, what comes to mind? We might conjure up visions of an airport terminal, a doctor’s waiting room, the line at the supermarket, or being stuck in rush hour traffic. The fact is most of us are waiting for something most of the time.

I couldn’t wait to get to my 16^th birthday, so I could get my driver’s license. When I was engaged, I could not wait until the day or our wedding. When in seminary, I couldn’t wait to graduate and pastor a church full time. Young people wait to grow up and enjoy the rights, privileges and responsibilities of adulthood.

Couples waiting for children have to wait at least 9 months for a child and many wait much longer. Many wait for recognition and rewards in their work while others take shortcuts to get ahead.

Almost every Christian has some form of pain or suffering for which they wait for deliverance.

·          Maybe you are in a job situation that is really tough to endure and you are waiting and hoping that conditions will change for the better.

·         Maybe you are without a job and waiting for news on an application.

·         Maybe you are ill or have a loved one who is ill and wait for your health to improve.

·         Maybe you are on a diet and waiting for your weight to drop a few pounds.

·         Maybe you are a single person and waiting for Mr. or Miss Right.

·         Maybe you are waiting for your spouse or child to become interested in spiritual things.

The simple fact is that in spite of our modern age and our dislike for waiting, life is full of waiting. And one of the most challenging exhortations of Scripture is to “Wait”. We have been conditioned to believe that life’s problems can be solved instantly and while we are saved the moment we trust in Christ, God takes a lifetime to mold us into His image.

II.                 WAITING ON THE LORD MEANS WAITING FOR THE PASSAGE OF TIME.

This is one of those “duh” points! The point is the promise God made to Israel and to David took a long time to be fulfilled. The period of David’s life from 1 Samuel 16:1 to 2 Samuel 5:5 can be summed up by 2 words:

1.      Time

2.      Trouble.

We often speak of the patience of Job. However, this morning, we are thinking about the patience of David. I am amazed at his willingness to wait on the Lord to give him the throne in God’s time.

Perhaps it is my own impatience when it comes to waiting, but I am amazed that David could be so patient with God. I’m afraid

that I have often been tempted to take matters into my own hands. I’m not sure I could have turned down the opportunities David had to strike Saul down. David was firm in his belief that no one should raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed. Not him. Not anybody else. So David had the Amalekite who assisted Saul in his suicide killed and rewarded the men who buried him after he died.

God often brings His promises and purposes about in this way. God is not in a hurry. God has all the time in the world. In fact, God is bigger than time and certainly not limited by time. Throughout the Bible, we find God promising things that  men and women had to wait to receive.

·         God promised Abram and Sarai a child but they had to wait 25 years to get him.

·         God promised Noah there would be a flood but it was a long time coming.

·         Moses waited for 40 years on the backside of the desert for God’s call.

·         God made Jacob wait 14 years to get the wife he wanted.

·         Joseph languished in prison for 15 years before God vindicated him and had to wait a long time to see his father and family and he did not get back home till after his death.

·         The Israelites had to wait 430 years in Egypt before returning to the Promised Land.

·         Even Paul spent 17 years in preparation for the ministry God called him to on the road to Damascus.

·         For 2,000 years, believers have been waiting for the Lord to return.

The point is waiting is part of God’s design of things. Waiting is no accident. It is part of God’s purpose. Waiting means the passage of time.

(Psa 130:5)  I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.

(Psa 130:6)  My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

The Psalmist was comparing waiting expectantly on the Lord to the night guards of the city who watched the passage of time as they anticipated the coming dawn when they would be released from their duty. The coming of the dawn was certain, but not without the passage of time. You couldn’t hurry it up!

In our “I want it now” generation, we must understand and accept the fact that waiting on the Lord always involves the passage of time just as it does when we are waiting for the news, or waiting for a special TV program or waiting for a plane to arrive or waiting for retirement. Waiting on the Lord means enduring the passage of time.

One day a friend of Phillip Brooks, a great preacher of another generation, called on him and found him impatiently pacing the floor. He asked what the trouble was. With flashing eyes, Phillip Brooks said, “The trouble is that I am in a hurry and God is not!”

Andy Stanley makes a great statement. He’s talking about waiting on God and he says, “We look at our watches; God looks at the calendar.”

No doubt there are a number of things you are waiting for also: victory, healing, peace, growth, vindication, or success. Today, I encourage you to remember one thing: God is on His way. Sometimes the night seems to last forever. Sometimes His silence seems permanent. That is because we look at the clock while He looks at the calendar.

Eccl. 3:11 says, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”

We cannot see the whole scope of God’s work, but the scope exists. And we may not see the big picture, but there is one. Today might be just another day of waiting for you, but you can make it better. Take your eyes off the clock and turn them toward Jesus. Spend this time in expectation rather than desperation. God is at work in your life, making all things beautiful in their time.

Waiting on the Lord is not only a significant part of our lives. It also means waiting for the passage of time.

III.              WAITING ON THE LORD MEANS CONFIDENT EXPECTATION.

Waiting includes the concept of hope and trust. When you wait for the news on TV, you are trusting and expecting your TV to work, and that the station will be on the air and able to broadcast. When you wait to hear whether or not you have been accepted for the job you’ve applied for, you are not only hoping to get the job, you are hoping your credentials and qualifications are more than sufficient.

Let’s go back to that passage in Psalms 130:5-6 I read a moment ago.

 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.

My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

When like those guards we wait for the morning, we are waiting for more than simply time to pass. We are waiting for the sun to rise and the day to break. We are waiting for the light to replace the darkness and the cold to be replaced with the warmth of the sun.

Waiting involves an expectation of something special. Waiting means anticipation, expectation, and confident hope in something that will take place. Waiting on the Lord is like waiting for the sun to rise – waiting expectantly for the Lord’s answers to human needs as the sun brings the warmth of the day.

As the watchman waits for the sun because he knows it is reliable, so the Psalmist waits for the Lord even more because he knows the Lord is more reliable than the rising of the sun.

That’s why David could wait all those years for God’s promise and plan to come to pass. The ability to wait on the Lord stems from being confident and focused on who God is and in what God is doing. It means confidence in God’s person: confidence in His wisdom, love, timing, and understanding of our situation. It means knowing and trusting in God’s principles, promises, purposes and power.

(Psa 62:1)  My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

(Psa 62:2)  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

(Psa 62:11)  One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard: that you, O God, are strong,

(Psa 62:12)  and that you, O Lord, are loving. Surely you will reward each person according to what he has done.

It is in times of waiting for God that many have failed in their faith and obedience. Waiting is a test of our faith and endurance. Satan often tries to use times of delay as proof that God either doesn’t know or doesn’t care. He seeks to get us to doubt that God’s promises will ever be fulfilled. He tries to get us to act independently of God to obtain these things on our own, rather than to wait for God to give them to us. He seeks to raise doubts about the goodness of God as though God were withholding something good from us. He works at promoting distrust in God and His Word. He urges us to seize the moment, to use questionable means, and to use others as means to our desired ends.

Times of waiting on the Lord are designed to be times when our faith is stretched and we draw closer to Him. Ever noticed how many of the Psalms are written during times of waiting? The question, “How long…” is found often in the Psalms. Waiting on the Lord helps us develop patience and endurance. It calls upon us to have faith in God’s promises and to act on the basis of what God said, rather than upon what we see. Waiting enhances our appetite for the good things God has in store for us. Waiting requires us to set aside our desire for immediate gratification by some easier way and to trust in God’s timing and activity.

IV.              WAITING ON THE LORD INVOLVES TAKING THE RIGHT ACTION AT THE RIGHT TIME.

When we think of waiting, we might envision just sitting back, not doing much of anything…just waiting for something to happen. Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' come
Watching the ships roll in
And then I watch 'em roll away again.

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watching the tide roll away
 I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time.

That is not the kind of waiting the Bible speaks about.

Have you ever watched what people do while they are waiting? Some do absolutely nothing. Some crochet or do needle work. Some read. Some work on a laptop. There are constructive things to do while you wait.

David waited over 20 years to reign over Israel, but it was a very busy time in his life. David did more than just run for his life. He delivered the people of Keilah (1 Sam. 23:1-5), and he did good to the people of Judah (1 Sam. 30:26-31).

Waiting on the Lord involves

1.      Things we do – doing the right things.

2.      Things we are not to do – refraining from wrong things.

3.      Things that happen to us, in us, and for us in the process of waiting.

Waiting on the Lord involves careful obedience by faith. (Lam 3:24)  I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

(Lam 3:25)  The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;

When we are waiting on the Lord we spend time in God’s Word…studying, seeking answers, and claiming God’s promises. We spend time in prayer…praying about the issues and praying for wisdom and discernment.

We spend time meditating on who God is, what He is wanting to do in us and through us and on what we need to do.

David spent much of this time of waiting in praise and worship, writing so many of the Psalms. While we may not be able to do what we would most like to do, we can do what God has given us to do, while we wait on the Lord to fulfill His promises and purposes.

Satchel Page threw his first major league pitch at the age of 42. He was good enough to play in the majors at age 18, but he couldn’t. Satchel Page was black. Seven years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball, Satchel Page who was an undisputed superstar everywhere but in the major leagues got his chance.

There was criticism for adding such an old man to the roster. Some sportswriters called it a publicity stunt. Others said Satchel Page was just getting the break he deserved for years but doubted his ability to compete at age 42.

He silenced his critics by winning his first 3 games as a pro. He shut out Chicago twice in the process. He went on to win 28 games during his pro career and even made a brief comeback at age 59, pitching 3 innings. He knew all along he was good enough to pitch in the major leagues and when he finally got the chance, he proved it.

He had the ability to make throwing a baseball look effortless and spent his life perfecting the art. And eventually, he got the chance to show the world he could compete with the best.

David waited years before he was finally crowned as king. But he spent those years waiting on the Lord, getting ready for that day.

CONCLUSION – A Dutch Proverb says, “An ounce of patience is worth a pound of brains.” Patience is a necessary ingredient for success. American humorist Arnold Glasow said, “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg – not by smashing it.”

The essence of living by faith is patience. Think about the evil and suffering we unleash on the world because of our impatience. From traffic accidents to people who steal from others because they won’t take the time or exert the energy to work for the things they want. Think about the suffering unwanted pregnancies have caused because a couple could not wait for marriage to have sex. Think of the number of people who have put themselves in plastic prison because they could not say no to impulse and have racked up a huge debt.

Not only would life in general be better if people were more patient. The truth is the lack of patience in our Christian walk keeps us from being the strong disciples of Christ we ought to be.

(Isa 40:31)  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

How about you? How patient are you? How patient are you with annoying people?  Are you patient when you are in a hurry? Do you have the ability to delay gratification? But really the question goes deeper than that.

Do you have patience to wait on God’s timing? Are you willing to trust in Him when you are living in the midst of the story, or do you want to fast forward to the end? Do you want to skip the struggle to get to the resolution, or in the struggle are you content to trust in God, letting the unseen faith in God anchor you during troubling times?

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:

Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,

And the Master so gently said, “Child, you must wait.”

“Wait? You say, wait!” my indignant reply.

“Lord, I need answers. I need to know why!

Is Your hand shortened? Or have You not heard?

By Faith, I have asked, and am claiming Your Word.

My future and all to which I can relate

Hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?

I’m needing a ‘yes’, a go-ahead sign,

Or even a ‘no’ to which I can resign.

And Lord, You promised that if we believe

We need but to ask, and we shall receive.

And Lord, I’ve been asking, and this is my cry:

I’m weary of asking! I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate

As my Master replied once again, “You must wait.”

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut

And grumbled to God, “So, I’m waiting…for what?”

He seemed to kneel and His eyes wept with mine,

And He tenderly said, “I could give you a sign.

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.

I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.

You would have what you want –But you wouldn’t know Me.

You’d not know the depth of My love for each saint;

You’d not know the power that I give to the faint;

You’d not learn to see through the clouds of despair;

You’d not learn to trust just by knowing I’m there;

You’d not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You’d never experience that fullness of love

As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;

You’d know that I give and I save… (for a start)

But you’d not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight,

You’d never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that “My grace is sufficient for Thee.”

Yes your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,

But Oh the loss! If you  lost what I’m doing in you!

So be silent, My child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.

And though oft’ may My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still, “Wait.”

God is the same God in the beginning of the promise, during the struggle and when He gives you the desire of your heart. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. And that you can depend on. God’s will will be done…in His time. Wait on the Lord.

Mark S. Wheeler, “Hurry Up & Wait” Dallas Seminary, Kindred Spirit

Bob Deffinbaugh, “Waiting on the Lord”, Bible.org

Illustrations from sermonnews.com and aboutSunday.com

Defeating the Giants in your life

DEFEATING THE GIANTS IN YOUR LIFE

1 Samuel 17

We are on a journey this year reading the Bible for life…reading the Bible chronologically to get a grasp of the big picture of Scripture. Pastor Wright and I were talking a couple of weeks ago. I told him that this is like taking a journey by train across the country. You see many wonderful sights and there are places you would love to stop and take a closer look at, but that will have to wait for another time. We are on a journey seeing the story of God’s salvation.

God’s people have settled in the land and things are not going well. At the end of Judges we saw everybody doing what is right in their own eyes and moral deterioration, spiritual idolatry and sexual immorality is rampant.

This week we saw that they wanted a king. They did not want a king that would help them relate to God. They wanted a king that would be just like the other pagan nations around them. So this week we saw King Saul and King David side by side in a startling contrast.

We know a lot about David. 66 chapters in the Old Testament are used to describe his life; millions of birth certificates bear the name David because he’s such a popular historical man; thousands of flag poles in Israel carry flags displaying the Star of David; Michangelo carved a 14-foot statue of him. We know a lot about David. We know he beat Goliath.

We love it when the underdog wins. We love giant killers. In 1952 Hickory High School with 63 students, defeated South Bend Central, with a student body of 2,800, in the finals of the Indiana State High School Boys Basketball Tournament. In the finals, they represented all the little guys everywhere and in one shining moment they rose to the occasion. They became state champions.

Deep within us is a place where we celebrate when the “favorite” bites the dust. We love it when the underdog wins. That’s why we pay big money to see movies such as The Karate Kid or cheer when Rocky Balboa goes the distance with Apollo Creed or Luke Skywalker defeats the emperor and turns Darth Vader around to good at the end. People love to see someone beat the odds and beat the “giant”. Whether it’s Indiana Jones taking on the Nazis or George Bailey taking on greedy Mr. Potter, or the USA Hockey team in the ’72 Olympics, we love the underdog story.

That’s one reason this Bible Story has become so popular through the years. It’s the ultimate story of a boy who went out to do a man’s job, faced the giant and defeated him.

But I suspect what we really want to know is how to defeat the giant issues that confront us in our lives. That’s what we are going to talk about.

We know what it is to face giants. In fact, giants are the rule, not the exception. The giants for us are those frustrating problems that stomp through our lives time and time again.

·          Sometimes our “giants” are influential people who oppose us such as family members, bosses, teachers, or fellow workers.

·         Sometimes our giants are habitual sins that we have trouble standing up to.

·         Sometimes our giants are the opinions of others. We don’t want to go against popular opinions.

·         Sometimes our giants are difficult circumstances that threaten to overwhelm us.

·         Sometimes our giants are illnesses in ourselves or in those we love.

·         Sometimes our giants are huge financial problems.

We’ve all been to the place where we’ve had to deal with giants; giants like worry, doubt, fear, anxiety, depression, or insecurity, and just as the giant Goliath was real, your giants will be real too and will pose real threats to your well being. How do you defeat the giant issues that confront you in your life?

Body

I.                   FACING GIANTS CAN BE A DISCOURAGING EXPERIENCE.

Just a bit of experience here: The Philistines had come as sailors (almost Viking-like) and settled in 5 strong-hold cities ruled by 5 vicious leaders. They held a monopoly on iron works and blacksmithing. Their weapons of war were notorious. The chariots had spinning swords on the wheels that would mow down foot soldiers like mowing grass. Sometime before the Philistines had slaughtered 30,000 Israelis in one battle alone. So it seemed there were many reasons to fear these guys.

In chapter 17, the Philistines gathered on one side of the hill with Saul and the army of Israel on the other side with a valley in between. It was a standoff. If the Philistines tried to come up the hill they would be slaughtered, but Saul can’t advance his army either.

Then from the Philistine side, walks a mountain of a man, Goliath. The Bible describes Goliath’s imposing stature in verses 4-7. Goliath stood over 9 feet tall, many translations are more exact…9 feet 9 inches tall! Goliath is NBA material all the way. He’s standing about eye level with the rim! That works well in basketball.

Since most door jams are 6 foot 8 inches tall, the top of the door jamb would hit him about chest high. Since most ceilings are 8 foot, his head would be in the attic!

But he’s not just tall. He has a bronze helmet on his head and a coat of armor that weighs about 125 pounds. That’s a coat! He is wearing more than some of the Israelites weigh.

In addition to this coat, he had bronze armor on his legs, a sword of bronze between his shoulders and the head of his spear, the point, weighed 15 pounds. And as if that were not enough, his shield bearer went before him. Not only is he this giant brute man with all this heavy armor that he is able to move fluidly in, he’s got a sidekick who goes with him and carries a shield the size of a man.

He marches out from the Philistine side belching out blasphemies and taunting the Israelite soldiers with an ancient tradition of single combat. Goliath proposes a little game of one-on-one, winner take all. Rather than the whole armies of both nations fighting, he suggests one man from the Israelite side come and fights him. This plan saves time and potentially unnecessary bloodshed, but it only works if someone accepted the challenge.

When Goliath says, “Am I not a Philistine?” in verse 8, the Hebrew text actually says, “Am I not THE Philistine?” He is saying, “I’m the baddest man the Philistines ever had. If you want to find out how bad I am, just come on down and fight me.” Arrogance drips off of every word.

Now what would you do? Maybe you’re 5’8”, a 25-year old hardscrabble farmer with a wife and 3 kids back home. Would you go fight Goliath? It would be suicide! At least that’s way the men of Israel felt. Vs.11 Even Saul, the closest one physically qualified to go to Goliath, who stands head and shoulders above everyone else is scared to go.

Later it says King Saul even offered rewards of riches, the right to marry his daughter (which later we learn wasn’t really a prize) and exemption from taxes for his father’s house doesn’t bring any takers.

Facing giants can be a discouraging experience because giants are tough! It is easy to say how you would fight a giant when you are centuries and miles away wandering through somebody else’s landscape. But it is another thing all together when you find yourself “nose to knee” with a giant in your own backyard. But you see, we all face giants of one type or another from time to time. There are moments when it seems that the giants of life just flat knock us over.

Many of us feel like the guy who got knocked down while crossing the street by a motorist who was driving too fast. The driver leaned out the window and shouted, “Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” The fallen man responded, “Why? Are you coming back?” We all get knocked down from time to time.

There are people who intimidate you not because they are so big physically or threatening. It’s just that their personalities are so strong, their tongue so biting, or their ability so great that we feel like a dwarf in their presence.

Facing giants can be a discouraging experience. Maybe you have family problems that are dragging you down…children who defy you, parents that are overly demanding or a mate who is unresponsive and you just don’t feel like you can cope. Maybe you have an illness that is wearing you down and there seems to be no answers.

Perhaps you have a certain temptation that looms before you like a Goliath. One pastor said he put this saying on the church sign, “If you are tired of sin – come on in.” Then someone wrote underneath in a marker, “If you’re not, call 277-“The pastor said the thing that upset him the most was that the line was always busy! We understand what Paul meant in Romans 7, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead I do the very thing I hate.”

Facing giants can be discouraging because they keep coming! Verse 16 tells us Goliath marched out with his challenge and threat twice a day for 40 days. Giants don’t easily go away. Sometimes we think that if we just ignore the problem long enough – the giant – will just go away. They just keep coming back mocking us.

It was a dark and dreary day in 1916, a day suited to the most brutally devastating rout in all of football history. Georgia Tech had an awesome football team trained by John Heisman, the man college football’s highest award was later named after. Heisman was a fanatic. He wouldn’t let his football players use soap or water before a game because he considered them debilitating. They couldn’t eat pastry, pork, veal, hot bread, nuts, apples or coffee. The reason? “They don’t agree with me so they’d better not agree with you!”

Georgia Tech was intent on building their reputation so they hired a small college, Cumberland College, to play them guaranteeing Cumberland College $500 to play. Cumberland College had several players who had never even played football before. The man who agreed to the game left the school and the football team in charge of the team manager. They only had 16 players because they lost 3 players at a rest stop! Georgia Tech scored 63 points in the first quarter, averaging touchdowns every 1 minute and 20 seconds.

The team manager for Cumberland paced the sidelines encouraging his team to “hang in there for Cumberland’s $500.” They did and with it collected the worst loss in college football history: 222-0!

Ever felt like that? Facing giants can be a discouraging experience. It can make you feel that you’re not big enough, strong enough, or have enough time or resources to do anything about this giant mocking you.

II.                 CONFRONTING GIANTS TAKES A COURAGEOUS RESPONSE.

For 40 days Goliath issues his challenge to the frightened Israelites, but the dawn of the 41^st day marked the end of the bully from Gath because into the battlefield came a teenage shepherd boy, David, who responded with faith rather than fear.

Samuel had secretly anointed David king. Three of his older brothers were in the army and his father sent David to check on them and take some goodies (vs.17-18). So David takes off with some popcorn, biscuits and cheese! When David gets there, he gives his supplies he brought, greets his brothers and Goliath marches out to once again give his challenge, but look at the difference perspective can make. Vs.26

Everyone else saw only a giant. David saw a mortal man defying Almighty God. God was a real to David as Goliath was to the soldiers. So when he heard and saw this huge Philistine he couldn’t believe it. Why weren’t the soldiers of Israel furious with this giant? David searched for someone to stand up to this giant and they said, “Are you kidding? I don’t have a death wish!”

David refuses to listen to his brother’s criticism or be intimidated by Goliath’s size or threats. David volunteers to fight him? Why? David didn’t see the giant as a problem as much as a possibility to show the glory of God.

Confronting giants takes a courageous response. The normal reaction to a giant is to run away. Vs.24 Rather than face an intimidating person, we ignore them, rather than confront a difficult problem we use all kinds of ways to escape including drugs, alcohol, pleasure, sleep, or even suicide. Rather than get help for our temptations, we give in or hope it will go away. David refuses to run. That takes courage. How did David take that type of courage?

HAVE GOOD EYESIGHT. David could see the giant from the clear perspective of God’s limitless power. To face your giant, see that God is infinitely bigger than any “giant” you face. I’m not talking about self-confidence. I’m talking about GOD confidence.

David could see that in spite of his size and armor, Goliath was nothing compared to God. The rest of the soldiers looked at Goliath and said, “Look how much bigger he is than us.” David looked at Goliath and said, “Look how much smaller he is than God.”

They said, “He’s too big to hit.” David said, “He’s too big to miss.” David said, “What giant? The only giant in my life is God.” We need that perspective to defeat the giants in our life. We need to see that 1 John 4:4 is not a cliché but fact – “Greater is He Who is in you than he who is in the world.”

Bruce Larson tells who 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 counseled 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, was struggling to hold the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world and he can barely stand up under the burden.” Bruce would point out that is the way you can live, trying to carry the world on your shoulders.

Then they would walk across the street to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and behind the altar was a statue of Jesus as a boy, perhaps 8 or 9 years old, and with no effort at all, He is holding the world in one hand.

Evil has a way of deceiving us – like those trick mirrors at the fair – so that when we look at the bad that is coming our way it looks bigger than it really is. How can you confront gigantic problems in your life with courage and defeat them? Have good eyesight. See God as He really is.

REJECT HUMAN OR WORLDLY SOLUTIONS. The moment you decide to act for the glory of God, you set yourself up for criticism. Eliab tries to put a guilt trip on David in verse 28.

Eliab had 2 problems.

1.      He was a jerk.

2.      He was a coward.

He couldn’t stand the thought that his kid brother could do something he couldn’t do. David answers in language any kid brother will understand in verse 29. David just turns away. Eliab wasn’t the giant. Goliath was. We need to know who to fight and who to leave alone. We can spend all our energy fighting each other when we ought to be fighting the devil.

Word gets to Saul and he tries to discourage David. Vs.33 Saul said, “You can’t. You don’t have the size for it.” However, God doesn’t fight on the basis of size. When one Christian is defeated, he assumes every Christian is defeated. When one is backslidden, they think all are that way.

There is irony here as Saul, who is not willing to fight, tries to tell David how to fight. He puts his own armor on David. After all, Saul has no intention of using it. Saul is a 52 extra long and David is a 36 regular. David can’t even move!

When you face a giant there will always we those who give you human solutions. They’ll advise you, “Go ahead and fight them”, “sue him”, “Let’s just tie one on”, “Dump them and get a divorce.” There will always be those who suggest to you to use the world’s armor…do things the world’s way. Reject the human solution and search for God’s solution.

REMEMBER PAST VICTORIES AND GIVE GOD CREDIT FOR THEM. Vs.34-37. We tend to forget our past victories. We can document every prayer God didn’t answer the way we thought He should, but tend to forget all the blessings God has given us. Spurgeon said, “It has been well said that we write our benefits in dust and our injuries in marble.”

David remembered past victories God had given him and verbalized that God could and would do it again. David chose 5 smooth stones. Why 5? Jewish rabbis say he took 5 because Goliath had 4 brothers. David thought he might have to deal with all of them.

He goes toward Goliath and Goliath can’t believe what he is seeing. He is insulted! He has been saying, “Choose a man…” but instead here comes a boy! Vs.43-44 That is Old Testament trash talking!

Notice how David replies. David doesn’t say, “Well, I sure hope not” or “Maybe so, maybe not.” Vs.45-47. Goliath had what the world said is a winning combination: size, skill, weapons. David just had God, but God was enough.

There are things we need to know to defeat these giant problems in our life. Facing giants can be a discouraging experience. They are tough and they keep coming at you. Confronting giants requires courage as you see from God’s viewpoint, reject worldly solutions and remember past victories.

III.              TRUSTING GOD COMPLETELY IS A REWARDING EXPERIENCE.

David, the Lord’s giant, goes out to fight Goliath, the spiritual dwarf with a well-worn sling and confidence in God. David introduced Goliath and all the Philistines to the Lord of Hosts whose name had been blasphemed long enough.

Like a leopard leaping to the attack, David launched himself up the hill toward Goliath. The sling whistled ominously as he whirled it over his head. Then the thong was released. The stone struck Goliath like a bullet. The giant crashed down the slope, face forward, his skull shattered by the rock. David rushed up to the fallen giant picked up his massive sword and severed his head. The battle was over.

Because of David’s trust in the Almighty, he conquered Goliath. Because of the victory, David received some personal rewards from King Saul and David instantly became a national hero. But the greatest satisfaction was that God’s name had been honored and that is the real point.

Did David know something the other men of Israel didn’t know? No, he didn’t. They also knew God was great and mighty and powerful. They knew He was the Lord of Hosts. It wasn’t a matter of knowledge. Anyone of them could have killed Goliath if they had been willing to take that first step in the name of the Lord. The difference between David and the other soldiers was not that he had faith and they had doubts. Or that they had doubts and he had none. The difference was David acted on his belief and ignored his doubts while they acted on their doubts and ignored their belief.

Faith isn’t waiting for 100% assurance. Faith is not waiting until all your doubts are gone. If you wait for that, you will wait forever. Faith is seeing the giant, understanding the odds, believing God wants him gone and then taking that first step.

CONCLUSION – A certain archaeologist was digging in Israel and found a tomb. After examining it, he called the curator of a prestigious museum and said, “I’ve just discovered the 3,000-year-old body of a man who died of heart failure!” The curator said, “Bring him in. We’ll check it out.” A week later, the amazed curator called the archaeologist. “You were right about that body and the cause of death being heart failure. How in the world did you know?” The archaeologist replied, “Easy. There was a piece of paper in his hand that read, ’10,000 shekels on Goliath.’”

God loves to defy the odds! God loves to go giant killing. Do you face a giant now? Got an intimidating person in your life? Don’t shy away from them. Confront them in love and prayer. Is there a problem you just can’t cope with? Don’t try to escape it. Meet it head on seeking God’s solutions, remembering God’s past victories, confidently turn it over to Him and then do what you can do. Do you face an overwhelming temptation? Don’t just throw your hands up and quit the fight. Take whatever steps you

need to clean up the whole mess. One person with God is always a majority. If you do, you’ll find a renewed faith in God for “The Lord can save without sword of spear, because the battle is the Lord’s.”

A friend of Nancy and mine named Becky Howard wrote a song based on this passage.

David was a little guy puny as could be

Compared to old Goliath who stood tall at nine foot three.

When David threw the sling he knew that God was on his side.

The sling flew straight. Goliath fell. This lesson we can’t hide.

The little things are big things in God’s eyes.

The big things are small in the same way, too.

No matter what the test, just put your fears to rest.

The Lord has given strength where strength is due.

The little things are big things in God’s eyes.

The big things are small in the same way, too.

When you think your strength is small,

Just give to God your all,

And in His power He will see you through.

Trouble comes and swallows you.

Life doesn’t seem so fair.

Problems seem like boulders

That are much too big to bear.

But with the Lord, the problem’s small

And tiny to behold.

Stand in His strength, and trust in Him

Though small you can be bold.

The little things are big things in God’s eyes.

The big things are small in the same way, too.

No matter what the test, just put your fears to rest.

The Lord has given strength where strength is due.

The little things are big things in God’s eyes.

The big things are small in the same way, too.

When you think your strength is small,

Just give to God your all,

And in His power He will see you through.

Claim the Word, stand on His name.

Your problems just won’t be the same.

What’s big is small.

What’s small is big.

Believe this truth and then proclaim…

The little things are big things in God’s eyes.

Illustrations from Preaching Today.com and sermoncentral.com

Rick Ezell, Defining Moments

Timothy Smith, sermon, “David and the Dwarf”.

Ray Pritchard, sermon, “How to Kill a Giant”

Becky Howard, “The Little Things are Big Things in God’s Eyes.