And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he is a man of war from his youth." But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it rose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defeated the armies of the living God." Moreover David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of the Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go and the Lord be with you!" (1 Samuel 17:33-37)
So, you are willing and ready to face your giant. You've prepared yourself to approach it and look it straight in the eye, and then the inevitable happens. Doubt tries to creep in. In David's case, the doubt that tried to creep in came in the form of King Saul's voice. It came from someone David probably looked up to, someone he respected, someone he revered as God's anointed. All these things are key. So now, please hear and heed this: when you have decided to face your giant and find yourself excited that you are finally going to deal with whatever has been plaguing your life; when you begin to tell people you love and respect of your plan to give up this and that, beware of the responses and advice you will receive from friendly voice and smiling faces.
So, you are willing and ready to face your giant. You've prepared yourself to approach it and look it straight in the eye, and then the inevitable happens. Doubt tries to creep in. In David's case, the doubt that tried to creep in came in the form of King Saul's voice. It came from someone David probably looked up to, someone he respected, someone he revered as God's anointed. All these things are key. So now, please hear and heed this: when you have decided to face your giant and find yourself excited that you are finally going to deal with whatever has been plaguing your life; when you begin to tell people you love and respect of your plan to give up this and that, beware of the responses and advice you will receive from friendly voices and smiling faces.
From some of those voices and faces will come seeds of doubt. "Oh, you don't really have to give that up." "You can do this or say that, God understands." "That's not really sin." These are things you will here, and possibly believe in a moment of weakness, causing you to back away from facing your giant, allowing Goliath to continue his dictatorship in your life. Now , please hear this also: in addition to being way of friendly voices and smiling faces, you must also beware of that fearful voice that comes from within; the voice that tells you that you are not strong enough to face your giant; that you are who you are and your are never going to be anything else; the one that tells you that God doesn't love you because you have the giant in the first place. You have to beware of these voices and when you do hear them, you need to be able to silence them.
To silence both the internal and external voices, you must take the second step toward defeating the giant. Recall the times that the Lord moved in your life and did for you what you couldn't do for yourself. David does by this recalling the memories of his victories over the lion and the bear. Remembering what God has done for us in the past is essential to what we will allow him to do for us in the future. There is no doubt in my mind that there have been great victories in the lives of the believers; it will be the recollection of those victories that give us the strength to move forward. So, when you are ready to face your giants, disregard those seeds of doubt planted by others and yourself. Let God's work in your life be what you listen to. Remember what he has already done for you, the blessings he has bestowed, and the victories he's gained. If you can do this, you will be one step closer to defeating the giants in your life.
Prayer for the day: Precious Lord, your enduring love surrounds us all our lives. Bring to our memories the way your love has touched our lives in the past. Strengthen us to resists the voices that weaken our resolve to face the giants that threaten our lives. Amen.
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