How To Slay Your Giant

There are some classic old tales which really do survive a few retellings. Recently I stumbled across the David vs Goliath story again and initially I groaned a little inwardly. It’s a phenomenal story. A couple of details really stunned me. So you have this giant, right, a real killing-machine by the sounds of things, who has a shield-bearer running in front of him (so you’d be fighting two guys, effectively) yelling insults at you and your puny army. Everybody on your side of the valley is terrified spitless and getting more embarrassed by the day because you all know that your team has nobody to match this brute.

And then David turns up (he's not even in the army, he's a younger brother bringing some of the lad's their lunch boxes from home) with a totally different attitude. Even his initial reaction to seeing the giant-warrior is completely different. Everybody else has seen the giant and are intimidated, but this little guy sees what is going on and gets angry! He is offended because the giant is insulting the “army of God”! David reckons that the disgrace can not be borne any longer, if no one else is going to check the giant's unabashed disdain for Israel and their God then he will shut him up.

The situation must have been absolutely terrifying. Two massive armies are facing off against each other across a valley and a 3 meter tall giant, who is armed like a tank, is staring the Israelites down. Goliath has a javelin, a spear, a sword and a shield bearer. David has a sling and a stick!

The question I asked myself was – what made this little guy so convinced that he could take down the beast when everyone else was terrified? This was a suicide mission! If he failed it wouldn’t just be hugely embarrassing, it would be a swift and brutal death! Why did he even attempt it?

The answer is that David’s confidence didn’t come from his skills as a warrior (truth is, he was a very good shepherd but he had no experience fighting trained warriors.) His confidence came from the fact that he knew God’s psychology. He knew that it’s not the biggest guy that wins the fight. He knew that it’s not the vast army that wins the war. He knew that all God is looking for is faith and obedience. David knew that even if he were 10 years younger and Goliath were 5 meters taller, with God on his side the result would still be the same - victory! I realised that all the legends of my faith have had this same ability, the ability to see with their eyes of faith that there are more fighting for us than we think. The odds are not what they seem. And so may you and I live this year with the same faith. With our God we know that we can face every challenge without fear. We can stand with a quiet confidence that no matter how many come against us, we are still in the majority.