Goliath Must Fall for Young ReadersSample

Day 1–Dead, But Still Deadly

The epic tale of David and Goliath is one of the most well-known stories in the Bible. On one side stands the Philistine army, with their nine-foot-tall champion named Goliath. On the other side of the valley stands the Israelite army cowering in fear under the leadership of their king named Saul. For forty days Goliath insults the Israelites and calls them cowards. Day after day he has been daring  them to send out one soldier to face him man to man. The Israelite army was scared.

You might have a nine-foot-tall giant in your life—one that taunts and terrifies you. Or maybe you’re battling a whole team of giants. There may be problems coming at you from every side. Some kind of giant is standing in front of you taunting you and teasing you. Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s anger. Maybe it’s a feeling of rejection. Maybe it’s the sneaky feeling of needing approval from others. It might even be an addiction to video games or YouTube.

I don’t know what worry or fear is keeping you up at night or making you want to stay under the covers all day. But the good news is that God has made a way for these giants to fall. It starts with believing that even though the giant you’re battling might be big, it’s not bigger than Jesus. In fact, He has already defeated the giants in your life. Jesus has, in fact, already defeated every giant. And He is inviting you to come and see what He has done.

Jesus has already won. However, as we read in 1 Peter 5:8, the devil still “prowls around . . . looking for someone to devour.” In many ways, he is like a snake with its head cut off. When you kill a snake, you have to be sure to bury its head, because the fangs still have venom. If you step on a dead snake’s head, you can still get poisoned. In the same way, even though Jesus won, Satan can still tell us lies. His lies poison our hearts and will steal our hope and our joy. 

The goal then is to not step on the snake’s head. That means resisting the devil (see James 4:7) with God’s help (see 1 Corinthians 10:13) and believing that Jesus is the ultimate giant-slayer (see John 3:8).  It means remembering that He is your David in the story—and you can never bring down giants through your own courage, willpower, or efforts. It’s always Jesus who brings the giant down.

If you truly want to change—if we truly want our giants to fall—then we have to trust Jesus—completely (see 2 Peter 1:3).