Pastor Esther Tham
30 May 2021
Today I would like to talk to you about, The Battle is the Lord.
We all will face giants (our struggles) at one time or another in our lives.
Giants are not something that we dream up. The giant that we may face today may be Covid-19 pandemic impacts in our life, it may be unemployment, careers, finances, health problems, depression, pressures, pains, relationship issues, family problems, struggles, fears, and sins. Any issues right now in our life. It is our giant.
When we are facing a problem bigger than us, we are facing our giant.
I remembered that during my teenage years, I practiced playing basketball, when I bend to bounce the ball, there will be someone in front of me trying to block me from passing the ball to my teammate. This person standing in front is best illustrate the obstacles, our problems in life.
We try to knock these giants down, but often they seem to only grow stronger with the passing of time.
And you are wondering how you will ever overcome such situation.
There is one obvious story about a boy and his battle with the giant. We are very much aware about the story of David and Goliath. We are very familiar with this story.
Today, as we look a little deeper, we will learn a great deal from it and how we can apply it into our lives today.
Turn with me if you will to 1 Samuel 17:40-51, allow me to let read this passage slowly for you.
40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 41 Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. 42 He looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
45 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. 46 This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 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.”
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.
So how are we to deal with our giants?
We can find the answer from this story. David defeated the giant, Goliath, just armed only with a sling and five smooth stones.
Only with that sling and stones, the Israelites were revived. Why?
It is just because the little shepherd, David answered the call of God and ring down the giant. We all have giants – of our giant our giant don’t carry swords or shields, but the weapon is the hardships we face, the problems that we have, the temptations that we can’t resist. Our giants are our life struggles.
Our giants can be anything which is opposed to God. Which may make us turn away from God. So, we need to overcome our giants in life. We need to face the giant – not running away, not hiding.
We know our Goliath- we can hear the voice, we can see his face – but is that all we can hear and see?
Why don’t we be like David, that we can see hear and see beyond.
When David confronts his Goliath, he continues in the same vein, taken from verses 45-47,
45 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. 46 This day the Lord will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 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.”
From these 3 verses, we know, David focuses on God. He sees what others don’t.
With all the giants we face, where is our focus?
1) Focuses on God
David knows his problem at that time, but he chooses to focus on God. He just sees God first and then he sees the problem.
David sees God in his glory.
Goliath was over 9 feet tall, that is taller than the ceilings in most of the apartments today. Goliath is big, he is huge. And definitely scary.
His coat weighed five thousand shekels; which it is equivalent to 57kg.
His spear, just the head of it weighed six hundred shekels, which equivalent to 7kg
Goliath is big. David is facing a giant.
It is not that David didn’t see the problem; he knew his problem. David can see and hear him. But he chose to only focus on God.
He just sees God more than his problem.
John MacArthur once said this, “The more you focus on yourself, the more distracted you will be from the proper path. The more you know Him and commune with Him, the more the Spirit will make you like Him. The more you are like Him, the better you will understand His utter sufficiency for all of life’s difficulties. And that is the only way to know real satisfaction.”
This quote reminds me of a situation that my family experienced last year.
My daughter is a close contact with one confirmed Covid-19 case. She went for a swab test.
Naturally, as a mother, I was worried and anxious. And you know, mommies… we have group chat, and I kept receiving messages regarding the situation.
The more I read the messages, the more worried I am. And during one of my conversation with my daughter, I brought this matter to my her. Told her that there are so many versions of news pertaining to her situation. And this really make me worried and headache.
The later is a wake up call for me. She told me that I should not continue reading the news since it makes me worried and headache. She told me to pray to God. He will protect her.
This is from a 6-year-old girl. She is the one who went for the test, but she is so strong. Or maybe she is not aware of the situation, or the seriousness of the issue.
She told us, that she is praying to Jesus and surely God will protect her. Isn’t that wonderful? This is what we always say, child-like faith.
She reminded me that I need to always looks to God and not my problems.
If we continue to focus on giants, which are our problems then we will stumble.
But, if we choose to continue focus on God, our giants will fall.
And, we praise God, my daughter result came out negative.
Continue to rely on God, and not on own strength.
Psalm 62:7, “My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock my refuge.”
1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
2) David allowed God to help him to defeat Goliath
Likewise, we need to allow God to help us defeat our giants.
We allow God to fight the battle for us.
God is greater than the giant that we face. The God who worked then for David is still at work now.
Malachi 3:6 tells us, I, the Lord do not change…
Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
David told Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:47, “for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”
This is the Lord’s battle; we are not able to defeat the giants if we face the giant in our own strength. We need to recognize that the battle that we are facing belongs to the Lord. This battle between David and Goliath, is the best example where David understood that it is not him to fight the giant, but God is the one fighting for David.
We are not alone fighting our life’s giant; God is fighting for us. The battle belongs to the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6, 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
We fight our giants with God’s help. We are not alone in the battle. God is with us.
He will never leave us nor forsake us.
If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8.31
Let us not fighting our giant by our own strength, let us allow God to fight the battle for us. He is with is.
Just like the song Way Maker says, God is our way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper. God is working, even we don’t see it. He never stops working. He is our Light in the darkness, He is our Hope.
Allow Him to defeat our giant for us. Continue to look to Him, focus on our Lord, our Saviour, and not our giant.
Face the giant with God in it.
3) Face our giant with God
Do not fear our giant. Fear paralyze us from moving forward.
Fear is a very powerful emotion in human.
When we confront a threat, our bodies will react. The physical reaction to fear is an increase in heart rate, sweating, we might run away from the situation, we don’t have the courage to face it.
David did not run away, he faces his giant, Goliath.
In 1 Samuel 17: 48, 49 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.
David did not run away, David didn’t back down, in fact, this shepherd boy (David) ran quickly toward Goliath, reaching into his back and take out a stone, and when he is closer to Goliath, he let go of the stone and it directly struck Goliath’s forehead and he fell.
David didn’t hesitate not even one second, he ran over to the giant and defeat him with a stone.
We face all kinds of giants in life, be it our health, financial problem, our worry, fear, stress, anxiety, insecurity, depression, or even our bad habit, temptation, an addiction, career, problem at work, and relationship. Or any situation which you are not able to see the situation improving, but it is getting worst.
Each time when we wake up, we just hope the giant is gone, but to no avail. The giant is doing their very best to pull you down. This morning, we want to be like David, stand up and confront your giant just like David did. Of course, we are not able to defeat our giant all by ourselves, David might not able to defeat Goliath without God.
With God all things are possible, no matter how big our giants are, or how bad our giants are. God is by our side, and that is all matter. God will give us strength that we need not only to face our giant but also to defeat it.
David went to the battle with confidence because he was aware that God is the source of his strength. Same, we can also have the confidence that God will give us the strength and courage that we need to face our giants in life.
David had learned this and able to write this in Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.” There are many problems David faced in his life, because of that it brought him closer and closer to God. We know that David is a man who is after God’s heart.
The giants we face can bring us closer to God. Trust God instead of our own abilities. Do not be afraid of the giant, because the battle belongs to God.
Stand firm to face our giant today, knowing that God will give us the strength and courage to defeat the giant as He did for David to defeat Goliath. David simply a shepherd boy who believes God for the impossible. David faces the giant like everyone of us does everyday. But, David choose to trust God for the impossible and faith brought out best of him.
Keep focus on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our life.
Focus on God, our giants will fall. Rely on God’s power and not our own.
Give ourselves over to God, let Him direct our paths and steps to defeat our giant.
Put our trust in God to help us to fight the battle.
He always keeps His promises.
Hallelujah.
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