The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel, Classic Version, 2015Sample

Taking on the Giants

A ‘giant’ is a big, seemingly insurmountable problem or issue. Goliath was a giant. He was nine-feet tall, a champion, wearing heavy armour, standing and shouting, defying the people of God (1 Samuel 17:1–11). As well as physical giants, there are metaphorical ones. As the evangelist J John says, there are two possible attitudes when facing a giant. One is to say, ‘He is so big, there’s nothing I can do.’ The other is to say ‘He’s so big, I can’t miss!’   

There are the ‘global giants’. These would include extreme poverty (as a result of which 30,000 children die each day), preventable disease (millions dying of diseases for which we have a relatively easy cure), the need for universal primary education (almost one billion people entered the twenty-first century unable to read a book or sign their name) and the need for worldwide water sanitation (which could be funded by the amount of money that Europeans spend on ice cream every year).   

Then there are the giants faced in our society at a local and national level. In the UK these include knife crime, homelessness, the breakdown of marriage, family life and community, loneliness, exploding prison populations, failing schools, the decline of churches, church buildings closing and the rise of secularism and atheism. There is therefore the giant task of evangelising the country and transforming our society.

In addition, all of us, from time to time, will face giants in our own personal lives. These could include giant personal challenges in relation to your health, marriage, family, relationships or lack of relationships, job or lack of job, other work issues, or some sin or temptation or addiction or fear or loneliness or discouragement or debt.

The account of David and Goliath is obviously about tackling a giant. However, each of the passages for today tells us something about giant challenges.

Psalm 67:1-7

1. Think global

God loves the entire world. He wants every nation and peoples to know him, worship and love him.

The psalmist prayed for God’s blessing on his people in order that ‘your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations’ (v.2).

It is sometimes said that the people of God in the Old Testament did not have a vision beyond their own borders. However, we see in this psalm that the global vision was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

The psalmist prays for the entire globe (vv.3–5). If we are to tackle the global giants we need a global vision. The words of this psalm are all about God. The size of your vision will be dependent on the size of your vision of God. As AW Tozer put it, ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’ 

Lord, be gracious to us and bless us. Make your face shine upon us. Make your ways known on earth and your salvation among all nations. May there be a global revival. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.

John 15:1-16:4

2. Testify about Jesus

There is nothing more important and no greater privilege in life than to be a friend of Jesus. Jesus says, ‘You are my friends … I no longer call you servants … you are my friends’ (vv.14–15).

Having Jesus as your friend allows you to tackle the giants in your life, in the church and in society from a unique standpoint.

• Personal
  Jesus tells us that there are two secrets of Christian fruitfulness.

First, there is pruning (15:1–2). The purpose of pruning is so that you can bear even more fruit. Pain, sorrow, sickness and suffering, loss, bereavement, disappointment and frustrated ambition are some of the ways our lives are pruned.

John Stott comments, ‘To the uninitiated it looks very cruel. Sometimes only a stump is left – naked, jagged, scarred, mutilated – to face the storms and the cold of the winter. But when the spring and summer return, there is much fruit. The sharp pruning knife has after all brought a blessing.’

The second secret of fruitfulness is closeness to Jesus (v.4). We cannot take on the giants by ourselves. Jesus says, ‘When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing’ (v.5, MSG). We will only succeed in tackling the giants if we stay close to Jesus.

We need to cultivate a growing friendship (vv.14–15) with Jesus by spending time with him, and praying and listening to him through his word.

Jesus says that if you stay close to him (‘remain in him’) three things will happen in terms of fruitfulness. First, your prayers will be answered (v.7). Second, God will be glorified (v.8). Third, your joy will be complete and overflowing (v.11, AMP).

• Church
  There are massive giants facing the church today. The biggest giant is disunity. Disunity will only be overcome by love. Jesus said, ‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends … This is my command: Love each other’ (vv.12–13,17).
• Society
  Jesus warns us that we will face the giant of a world that hates us (vv.18–19). He says, ‘If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also’ (v.20). He says, ‘Those who kill you will think they are offering a service to God’ (16:2). There are parts of the world where this is literally true today. But Jesus warns us that, wherever we are, we should expect opposition, hatred and even persecution.

On our own we would have no answers but Jesus says, ‘When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify’ (15:26–27). The Holy Spirit enables you to testify about Jesus and to take on these giant challenges, to see our society transformed.

Lord, thank you for all your promises in this passage: that you love me; that I can be lastingly fruitful in you; that you give me joy; and that you call me your friend. Thank you that you promise to answer my prayers.

Help me to love others as you have loved me. Thank you that you have given me the Counsellor, the Spirit of Truth, to live within me.

John 15:1-16:4

3. Trust in God

David was extraordinarily gifted – naturally as well as supernaturally. He was handsome and in good health (16:12). He was talented musically (v.18). He was a gifted speaker (v.18). He had athletic ability (17:1–37; 18:11). He was a leader (18:13). He was successful (vv.14,30). He was famous (v.30).

Yet it was for none of these reasons that God used him. The Lord said to Samuel, ‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. Human beings look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’ (16:7).

David was outraged by Goliath’s defiance of the living God (17:26). He was a courageous leader. He says, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine [Goliath]’ (v.32). What lessons can we learn from the way in which David tackled this giant?

• Reject rejection
  Eliab said to David, ‘What are you doing here! Why aren’t you minding your own business, tending that scrawny flock of sheep? I know what you’re up to. You’ve come down here to see the sights, hoping for a ringside seat at a bloody battle!’ (v.28, MSG).

Yet David ‘turned away’ from Eliab (v.30).

The lesson we learn here is not to be put off if rejected or ill-treated. As Joyce Meyer writes, ‘God is not looking for someone with ability but someone with availability … keep your heart pure by refusing to allow hatred, offense, bitterness, resentment or unforgiveness to stop us.’

• Get involved
  David said to Saul, ‘Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him’ (v.32). He volunteered his services. I am always so moved and impressed by the way in which our congregation are willing to volunteer their services: praying, serving and giving.
• Trust God
  Saul says to David, ‘You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy’ (v.33). Yet David replies, ‘The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine’ (v.37a). He trusts God because he knows that God is with him (see 16:18; 17:37b; 18:14).

Ultimately, the reason that David was able to tackle Goliath was that he was anointed by God. ‘Samuel took his flask of oil and anointed him, with his brothers standing around watching. The Spirit of God entered David like a rush of wind, God vitally empowering him for the rest of his life’ (16:13, MSG). The only way you will be able to tackle the giants in your life, in society and in the world, is through the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, as I face the Goliaths in my own life, in my nation and across the world, I need the anointing of your Holy Spirit upon me, and your presence with me. Give me courage not to run away, not to lose heart and not to give up.

Pippa Adds

1 Samuel 16:7b

‘The Lord does not look at the things people look at. Human beings look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’

I have been guilty of judging people on their outward appearance. I have often met people that are very quiet and unassuming on the outside and I’ve hardly noticed them, but they are changing the world around them in wonderful ways.

David, however did have a fine appearance with handsome features, and was ‘ruddy’! I’m impressed already!  

Notes:

John Stott, Christ the Liberator, (Hodder & Stoughton, 1972) p.53

http://www.heartsandminds.org/poverty/hungerfacts.htm [updated 2011]

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty [updated 2012]

http://www.unwater.org/iys.html

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version Anglicised, Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 Biblica, formerly International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Publishers, an Hachette UK company. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a registered trademark of Biblica. UK trademark number 1448790.

Scripture quotations marked (AMP) taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Scripture marked (MSG) taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.