GIANTS...THEY DIE!

GIANTS…THEY DIE!

“Giants, you die!
The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Giants, they die!
Just walk around your Jericho wall.
Now we come in Your name, and we stand on Your Word.
What is loosed in the heavens will be loosed on earth.
Let God arise; giants die!”

You know the story. Saul is rejected as King in Israel, David is anointed King in Israel, David serves King Saul, David kills Goliath, and then Saul resents David. In one sentence, I summarized chapters 15-18 of 1 Samuel. There is so much in these passages that we could study, but we are going to focus on the most well known chapter, that being chapter 17. We find the Israelites in a battle with the Philistines. On one side of the mountain are the Philistines, and on the other side are the Israelites with a valley between them. Then enters the champion of the Philistines, Goliath, measuring an incredible 9 feet 9 inches in height. He stood between the armies in full armor, yelling jeers at the Israelites. In verse 11, we find Saul and all of Israel “dismayed and greatly afraid.” I don’t blame them; I would have been scared out of my mind too. Saul and Israel had proven themselves to be greatly concerned about outward appearances (10:23, 24; 15:30) and able to be influenced by the fear of men (12:12; 15:24). It is only natural that Goliath would be their worst nightmare come true. In human terms, Goliath was invincible. However, David counted on the Lord being with Him and making the difference. “You come at me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied (17:45).” David goes on to explain that the battle is the Lord’s and that it will be the Lord who gives them the victory. David then slays Goliath and the Israelites are victorious against the Philistines.
What giants are you facing today? What strikes dismay and fear in your life? So often, we are just like the Israelite army when we face our giants. We stand there looking at the problem and see all the things that are impossible with the situation, and we just want to run. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” We have on our side the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is the one who has conquered the grave itself. Why do we stand there afraid of our problems?
We as a church are seeing God do some amazing things, while at the same time we have giants that are trying to stop what God is doing. We can either cower down to the giants, or we can stand in the name of Jesus and tell those giants to die.

Choose you this day whom ye will serve; . . .
but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Josh. 24:2, 15).

With God on our side,
Aaron Hodges