David seemed like the least likely person to take on the giant, but he was the only person there who believed that God was bigger than the giant. So David, it says, "…ran quickly toward the battle lines to meet him." (NIV)
1 Samuel 17:33, here, we’re watching the army of Israel being totally intimidated by Goliath, the Philistine giant. David is this little guy who wants to go out and fight him. But Saul, the king, replies in verse 33, "…You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight him. For you are [only] a young man and he has been a warrior since his youth." (AMP). And then in Verse 37, David says, "…The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you." (AMP)
The Jews of Moses' day and Joshua's day; well, they made the same mistake when they measured the challenge in front of them. They looked at the Promised Land and they saw walls, and cities, and warriors that were bigger than they were.
Listen to Numbers 13:31-33, “But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.” (MSG).
They had men with them to say in essence, "God's Bigger Than Giants!" But unbelief won the day, and so the people got to spend 40 years wandering in the wilderness as a result. Listen to Numbers 32:10-13, “The Lord became very angry. And he said that no one who was twenty years or older when they left Egypt would enter the land he had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not one of those people believed in the Lord’s power, except Caleb and Joshua. They remained faithful to the Lord, but he was so angry with the others that he forced them to wander around in the desert forty years. By that time everyone who had sinned against him had died.” (CEV)
"It's bigger than God!" That's what unbelief says. It's what worry is saying. It’s what fear is saying. It’s what discouragement is saying. We don't really believe that theologically, but practically we seem to. We get beaten by the walls, beaten by the giants and the obstacles, because we think, "This one's pretty big, maybe too big for God."
But do you really want to miss the Promise because you doubt God’s Power? Do you really want to die in fear, because you didn’t live in faith? I think not!
So, what's the big thing that's making you afraid, making you discouraged? "These bills are bigger than God." Really? "This crisis is bigger than God." Is it? Really? "This pain, this illness, this family problem; it's bigger than...." Oh, forget it! It's nowhere near bigger than God! Nothing is! Compared to you, the challenge or the obstacle is huge. But what are you going to do with God, who created a hundred billion galaxies; who controls a hundred billion galaxies and everything in them? Why don't you measure your monster next to Him? You'll find your fear turning to faith and your stress melting into peace.
You’ve seen God heal, you’ve seen God deliver, you’ve seen God save, you’ve seen God do the impossible, and you’ve seen God turn it around in your favor. So why do you doubt Him now? You’ve seen God keep a roof over your head, clothes on your back, food on the table, clothes in the closet. So why do you doubt Him now? You’ve seen God protect you and provide for you. So why do you doubt Him now? What the doctors said before didn’t stop God from being God…what stops Him now? You’ve seen God grant you a job, a paycheck, insurance, transportation. So why do you doubt Him now?
Listen, there is absolutely nothing that God can’t do except lie and fail! “God is not a man that He should lie.” He has never failed us and He is not about to start now. So why are you allowing circumstances to crush your faith in God? Now, that’s how we need to view our God! Bigger Than All Things! Always in Charge no matter what becomes out of Control in our lives!
And I’ll be the first to tell you, this isn't what I’ve read, but what I’ve lived. I know what it feels like to feel as though your bills are bigger; the diagnosis is bigger; the pain is bigger; the enemies attack is bigger; the lack of employment is bigger; the lack of money is bigger; the lack of food and shelter is bigger. Been there! And I know first-hand the response on both sides. I know what it feels like to experience all of those things and feel as if God has forgotten you or that your situation is so big that God has to figure out a solution to your problem. And I can tell you personally, thoughts like that only bring about fear, worry, lack of sleep, loss of hair, loss of peace and joy, high blood pressure and the like. In other words, it does not help, it only hurts! But, I’ve also grown, matured and developed into a woman of faith. I learned to trust God to handle what I can’t get a grip on. And I’ve watched Him supersede even what I asked of Him in prayer. I learned how to look at obstacles, trials and struggles as only another means of increasing my faith, challenging my hope, building my trust, dependence and reliance on Him. I learned that my hardships and hard times were only teaching me to do more than read the Scriptures, but to apply them, live them and walk in them.
People of God, we need to learn how to measure our giants by the size of our God, not our God by the size of our giants! After all, what can be measured against God?
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