Facing the giants

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 22 MARCH 2026 – MR PHILIP GRAHAM

1 Samuel 17 - Facing the giants

 

Everybody likes to cheer on an underdog, don't they? We all love a good underdog story. We all love to see somebody that beats the odds, don't we? Or take on the giant, take on the impossible and come through as the winner.  But tell me this morning if I was asked to for a show of hands and says who likes to be the underdog I would be pretty confident that nobody in here would put their hand up and say yes I like to be the one that's at the very bottom of the pile. I like to be the one that's the underdog. We like to cheer on the underdog and we like to cheer and hopefully the underdog will win and it makes a good story, doesn't it? But none of us like to be in that situation. And there's no doubt this morning there's some of you here and maybe you're in that very situation. I don't know you. I don't know your home life or your circumstances, but you're maybe faced with opposition this morning. You're faced with a giant that seems too strong for the resources that you have. Have you faced a giant where there doesn't seem to be a way out? Maybe you've faced a giant this morning or this week and there doesn't seem to be any way you think that you can win. But here this morning, we read in God's word of a young man who found himself in that very situation. There are so many traits in David that all of us can relate to. We can look at David's testimony, we see how he walked with the Lord, how he had a close relationship with the Lord. But in the same token too, David, like the rest of us, was a sinner. And David sinned against God. And of course we know about Bathsheba and how David let the Lord down and he let his people down. He let his family down. But then David was restored. And maybe as many times as we study David, we see ourselves in David and we can compare ourselves to how David reacted. And we too can relate to how David felt. David would definitely be have to be one of those characters in the Bible that I really enjoy studying. And as we come to look at him this morning, we see that David faced a giant. A giant who was out of this world, a giant who was larger than life. But our focus this morning is on David's response to all of this. How did David respond when his giant appeared? How did David respond to those who were watching on? As we look at how David responded, may we learn from his actions, may we learn from his attitude to his giants.

First of all, I want you to look at the crisis at hand. We all know the background to this story. As we read in verses 1 to 11, the Israelites were at war. They were at war with the Philistines and they had come to a standoff. Nobody was winning the war. And now the Philistines, they have rolled out their ultimate weapon if you like - Goliath. And Goliath the giant, he was giant in nature. He was a giant. Everything about Goliath was enormous. And the Israelite army was now in crisis because the Israelite army weren't expecting this. They weren't expecting this monster to appear on the battlefield. They were facing a challenge all of a sudden that they believed that they couldn't win. They realized this giant was so big that he could annihilate all of them. The crisis we face in our own lives. That crisis can take us by surprise as Goliath did these Israelites. Let's look at the characteristics of this crisis. Here's a characteristic. This crisis was larger than life. A champion named Goliath. He was from Gath. He was over 9 ft tall. Can you imagine this man standing in front of you? I think some of us read the stories and we see the pictures of David and Goliath and we don't totally comprehend how big this man was. The scripture gives us all the details. And I think it's important because the scripture details here how big this guy really was. Because I think the scriptures want us to realize that this guy to the human mind was totally indestructible. To the human mind, to the human heart, this guy would have put terror into those even that would have seen him walking down the street. Can you imagine bumping into Goliath and the size of him, nine feet tall? It tells us some of the characteristics of this guy here. He had armour on him. The armour that he would carried and it was 57 kgs. Can you imagine that weight on your chest? Not only that that but his legs were covered in bronze. Think of the weight of bronze and a bronze javelin and he had a spear and the shaft of the spear. A “weaver's rod” is 4 inches round. Can you picture the size of this man's hand? This guy was enormous. He was an absolute brute. He was indestructible. And as far as Israelite soldiers were concerned, Goliath was so big he couldn't be defeated. I'm sure they felt every emotion going when they seen that man. They would have felt fear. They would have felt anxiety. They would have felt helpless. Maybe you're facing a giant this morning. Yes, he hasn't got a physical appearance of Goliath, but to you in your heart and your mind, you're facing something so big that it brings terror into your life. You're facing something so big that you feel helpless, that you feel out of control, that every time you think about it, you're sick to the very pit of your stomach. The giants we face today are no different to the one we read here in the Bible. I don't know what your giant is this morning. That giant could be something as big as cancer. You've got a diagnosis that seems it's the end and what am I going to do? Maybe you have a failing marriage or financial problems and they are giants in your life and things in your life seem to be falling apart. Or maybe you're here this morning and you've nothing that I have mentioned, but you have something in your heart and it's massive to you. And maybe if you were to tell it to somebody else, they might say, "That's not a big deal" but to you this morning, your giant, it feels bigger than you are. It feels mightier than your It seems like it's going to take you down. It is larger than life. Notice something else about this crisis. Not only was it larger than life, but this crisis, it was going to defy our power. This crisis defies our power. You see, Goliath stood it and he shouted in verses 8, 9, and 10, and he was taunting the Israelites. He said, "Who's going to come and fight me? Who's going to come and take me on?" The Israelite army were in despair.  Goliath was defying the power of the Israelites and that's what giants do to us - they defy our power, they make us feel powerless they make us feel helpless. If you're anything like me you like to be in control of your life, you like to be in control of what you do at work and at home And I'm sure like the rest of us we like an easy ride. When a crisis comes along, well, that puts that all to bed, doesn't it? Because we like things to run smoothly. You like to be in control. But all of a sudden, when a crisis comes, everything becomes major. Everything seems to unravel. And you know what? That could be a problem at work. It could be a problem at home. Or maybe it's the inability to defeat some bad habit. But when the crisis appears, it defies our power. It makes us feel helpless. It makes us feel hopeless. But not only does the crisis defy our power, the crisis won't go away. We read in verse number 16 “and the Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days.” This crisis just wouldn't go away. And that's the problem with crisis. They just don't always just disappear. You know, this crisis wouldn't go away. This crisis was here not just for one day, not just for the afternoon or for the week. 40 days, this giant, this crisis turned up. It defied the armies of Israel. It showed its power. It turned up. And for 40 days, this crisis wouldn't go away. And that's the nature of crisis because if we don't deal with the crisis, it will eventually deal with us. You know, it's no good pretending the crisis doesn't exist. It's no good pretending the crisis will just disappear because by its very nature, it will continue to torture and torment you. And the problem is that most crises are easy to ignore at the early stages. It's rare that a situation goes from good to crisis level overnight. Usually there's a period of deterioration. In the situation were maybe marriages break down, there's a breakdown in communication. First of all, people stop talking, people stop communicating. That's how it starts off. It doesn't happen overnight. It's a gradual thing. And then all of a sudden it goes to crisis level and the whole thing is a mess. And very rarely a crisis is the result of a spur-of-the- moment decision, but it's usually a slow progression of detachment. When you get into financial difficulties, it usually starts off as a bit of an inconvenience. And if you don't deal with it whenever you need to, if you don't deal with it at the very start, that crisis will escalate and all of a sudden your financial problems reach crisis point and they seem to become unmanageable. If we try to ignore the crisis, it just simply won't go away. But that brings me to David's response this morning. David's response to this crisis. Yes, this crisis was larger than life. Yes, this crisis defied all human logic. This crisis wouldn't go away. But look at David's response. In the midst of this crisis, David arrives at the scene. He sees Goliath making his challenge. He sees the battle. He sees the Israelite army. They are overcome with fear. Can you imagine David arriving at the scene and there's chaos everywhere? And did you hear your man? Did you hear what's going on? Listen to him. He's shouting again. He's coming for us. What are we going to do? How are we going to match that? The Israelite army were in chaos. And David's response, listen to what he says. Verse number 26. “David spake to the men and stood by and saying, "What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and taketh away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine? And that he should defy the armies of the living God." You see, David was able to put the giant into perspective. David was able to put this crisis back in its place. He says to the the Israel army, "What? Why is all afraid of this unclean Philistine? This Philistine who's standing up there? Yes, he seems bigger than everyone, but why are you afraid of him?” He doesn't see what all the fuss is about. He realises the Israelites have taken their eyes off the only one that can rescue them. He says “this unclean Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God.” And here's the key this morning for so many of us. We need to keep our eyes on the living God. That was David's response to this crisis. He was reminding the Israel army, this Philistine army have so many gods. They have so many gods. And guess what? They're not even real. Their gods are dead. They're worshiping things that aren't real. They have their hope in Goliath. They're champion of war. Unlike today friend there's so many people and they take their eyes off the living God. You see the difference here is that David worshiped and he followed he had complete confidence in the one true living God. Today there are so many people and they follow gods, they follow religion, they follow people, they follow things, they follow everything other than the one true living God. And that's why people get themselves into such crises. That's why people get themselves all wound up in in circumstances beyond their control because they have their hope in gods. They have their hope in things that are not real. We think of Buddha this morning and he is dead. We think of Allah and he is dead. We think of the popes who people have put their hope in -they are all dead. But friend, this morning when we come to worship, when we come to God's word this morning, we're not taking it out of a story book. We're not taking this story out of a self-help chapter here to make us strong and to go out into the world tomorrow morning feeling that we can conquer our giants. No this morning we come to worship the living God. The living God who's in control of everything. The living God who holds each one of us who are saved in his hands. the living God who knows all about your circumstance this morning. The living God who understands how you're feeling. David had a relationship with the living God. And so should this Israelite army. But they had forgotten all that. They had taken their eyes off the one who could save them. They had taken their eyes off the one who had helped them. Had they forgotten about all that had happened before? Had they forgotten about the plagues in Egypt? Had they forgot how God had dealt with Pharaoh, who no doubt was larger than life, who had seemed to have control over all their lives. And what did God do? God took him out of the picture. He took them out of Egypt and then they come to the Red Sea and all of a sudden the Red Sea opens in front of them. Had the Israelites forgot about Almighty God? Had the Israelites forgot about Jehovah, their great God, the one who was in control of everything, who controlled the wind, the rain, who controlled the elements. But yet, this giant stands up in front of them and they quake at their knees. They quake at their boots. We can be critical of them, but we have to challenge our own hearts because we are just the same. We look around us and we see the beauty of God's creation. We see what God continually do does. But maybe you're looking at the news this morning and you're seeing what's going on in Iraq and you're thinking, "Lord, what's going on? The world is in crisis. You need to look to the living God this morning. Take your eyes off what's going on. Turn the news off, don't get consumed by the news. But as you turn on the news, pray over it and say, "Lord, yes, it's happening around, but guess what? You've already told us it's going to happen in your word. And you know what, Lord? You're coming back soon." Look to the living God because he is in control. That's what David did.  Don't take your eyes off the living God. Make sure you're in touch with the living God this morning. Don't wait till the crisis hits. And so many of us do. Don't wait till the crisis hits before we turn to our Bibles. Be in your Bible every day, every morning or every evening. Whenever you can get a chance, get into God's word. Make sure your relationship is right with the one true living God. For when these crises come, and they will. Don't think you're immune from crisis. They will turn up and whenever they do make sure you are in touch. Make sure you're in touch with the living God. Don't go grappling for verses whenever the crisis hits. Be in touch with God today for tomorrow so that when the crisis comes, you'll be able to look back at that verse and say, "Lord, yes, you give me that verse. You told me that you're in control. Lord, you have told me I'm in the palm of your hand. Lord, you have told me that I am yours now. I believe it. I trust you, God. I trust you that you've got me in this crisis." That's what David was saying here. He was saying to the Israelite armies, "God has brought me through so much and here's God's going to do it again, but you've got to trust him. You've got to believe him." You see, David's response to this crisis was just like the old hymnwriter. David was saying to these Israelites, God is bigger than any mountain. God is bigger than any giant. God is bigger than any problem that I can or cannot see. God is more powerful this morning. Do you believe it? Do you trust him? Do you understand it that God has you? God is mightier than anything you will face this week.

Secondly, I want you to look at the critics. If we aspire to be anything for the Lord, if we aspire to do anything for him, you will face criticism. You will face critics. If David had adopted the fearful attitude of the Israelite soldiers, nobody would have paid any attention to him. If David had landed on the battlefield that day and said, "Oh, isn't it terrible what's happening? Oh, this world is falling apart. It's terror. What are we going to do?" If David had presented that negative attitude like everybody else here, he would have been completely ignored. Nobody would have pity any heed to him. If David had joined the pity party, he would have been welcomed with open arms. But David didn't. Because David had a different attitude. David was going to be criticized. And David is not the only man in the Bible who was criticized. If you've been criticized this morning for doing something positive for the Lord, praise the Lord this morning because you're doing something right. You know, if you've been criticized this morning, you're in good company. We look at God's word. We have David. We think about Noah. Noah was building an ark. The people thought he had lost it. What was this guy building an ark for? We've never seen water before. And they criticized Noah. We think of Moses. He came to lead the Israelites. Moses, the guy from the wilderness, the guy who was looking after for the sheep. He was criticized. Whenever you want to do something positive for the Lord, don't be surprised if you get criticized. Look at verse 28. “And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David.” Eliab was angry. He was critical. He was running his critical eye over David. That's something about a critic this morning. When people start to criticize, they're usually obsessed with stupid, trivial matters. Look at Eliab here. David had come. He'd said he was reminding them about the living God. And Eliab's going, "What are you doing here?" He was obsessed with trivial things. hat did he say to David? “Where's your sheep? David? We are in the middle of a battle here. Goliath is about to annihilate the Israelite army. The whole army is in disarray.” And what's Eliab worried about? “David, where is your sheep?” Isn't that so pitiful? Isn't that poor? the criticism that David received in the middle of this crisis and they're worried. Eliab thinks that David should be worried about his sheep. Can you believe your ears? His critical spirit was coming out. The bitterness was coming out of Eliab. He didn't want David there. And that's what critics do. Whenever you're doing something for the Lord, when people start to criticize you, they'll pick the stupidest, silliest things to try and annoy you with, try to make you feel even smaller, try to make you feel irrelevant. Something else about critics. Critics look for the worst in people. You know, Eliab went on "David, I know your pride and the naughtiness of your heart." He started to pick holes in David's character. He started to point out all the things that he thought he could get David on. “Well, I know you're only here for a nosy. I know you're only here to gossip, to take back home what's going on here.” But it was all a smoke screen. Eliab wasn't actually doing anything. He was joining the party here, the pity party. He was down here with all the people that were discouraged and disheartened and didn't know what to do. Eliab wasn't going to go and take on Goliath. But the minute that David stood up and said, "Who's going to take on this man?" Eliab gets all critical and he starts to get cross. But here's something really helpful for you this morning for when people start to criticize. Let's look at David's response. David's brother criticized him. His own brother. That must have been hard. His own family started to criticize him, started to put him down. He accused David of neglecting his responsibilities. What did David do? Look at verse 30. “And he turned from him toward another.” David turned around. If Eliab wasn't going to listen to him David went over and said to the next boy, "Here, what's going on here? Have you forgotten about the one true living God? Who is this Philistine? Who is going to defeat him?" David turned his back and he ignored the criticism. David didn't get all revved up. And that's really important because it's in my spirit, too. When people criticize, sometimes it hurts. You want to protect yourself and you want to prove that you are right and they are wrong. And especially when people are criticizing and they're making false accusation, you want to make sure everybody hears the right side of the story. But how hard it is to turn your back and say nothing because the Lord will vindicate you this morning. And that's what David did. He turned his back and lab and he went and he told somebody else. He didn't need to try and start a full-blown blazing row with his brother. No. David done wisely. He turned his back and he told another.

Finally, I want to close with the contest. Until David stepped onto the battlefield here he was regarded as a little kid with big ideas. He was just a little shepherd boy. He looked after the sheep. But once he lined up with Goliath, it became obvious that David was mightier than all the men in the Israel army. David dictated the terms. Verse number 40, he took a staff in his hand and he chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd's bag. Goliath was forced to fight David on David's terms. Not with a sword and with a spear, but with five smooth stones. Even Saul tried to get David to take on armour. Saul tried to get David to wear his armour. David realized that he had never proved that armour. He had never swung that sword. He never held that shield. And he couldn't go into that battle knowing that he hadn't proved his weapon, knowing that he hadn't proved what he was wearing. And that armour would have ended up being a hindrance to David just because it was so cumbersome and so bulky. If David had worn Saul's armour into that battle, people would have been talking about it. “There's David. Look, he's got Saul's sword. He's wearing Saul's helmet.” He's wearing Saul's colours. He's got the shield. He's got the king's shield.” And if David had won that day with Saul's armour on, that would have been the talk of the whole story. And David left that armour behind because you see, David had proved the Lord time and time again. And David didn't want armour. He didn't want something that was going to hold him back. Secondly, David refused to be intimidated. As he went into battle that day, he refused to be intimidated by Goliath. Goliath was bigger, larger, louder than he was. But as David went into battle that day, he refused to be intimidated. Verse 44, we read, "The Philistines said to David, "Come to me, and I'll give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field." Then said David to the Philistine, “thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord.” The very end of that verse says that “all the earth may know that there's a God in heaven.” Think about the challenges that you have in your life. How do you speak to your giants this morning? What is your attitude toward the contest that you are experiencing where you sit right now? Are you intimidated? Are you afraid? Are you fearful for the week ahead? Or do you dare speak to your giant this morning? "Today, this day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand." Do you speak over your giants this morning? Do you pray over them and remind your giants that the Lord is in control? That the one true living God has got you in the palm of his hand? David's response to this contest is amazing. Verse 47, he reminds his giant, "The battle is the Lord's." Verse 47, the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. David response to this contest can be summarized by this simple statement. “The battle is the Lord's.” I don't know what you're going through this morning. I don't know the giant that is sitting beside you in the pew this morning, that's in your mind, but can I remind you that the battle is the Lord's. You've tried to fight your own battles. You've tried to paddle your own canoe and it hasn't worked. But now the Lord's saying to you this morning, “the battle is mine. I will defeat your giant this morning, but you've got to call on his name. The answer is not that David was braver than all the soldiers of that army. The answer is not that David was brave and the soldiers were cowards or that David was a winner and the Israelite army were losers. No, David could face Goliath because he believed in the one true living God. Do you believe in the one true living God? Can I invite you if you're not saved today to come and meet this one true living God? This God who can change and turn your life around. Are you saved? Are you washed in his precious blood? The Lord Jesus Christ died for your sins. He has taken your sins away and you can be forgiven this morning. Would you plead that promise over your giant this morning? Would you plead his precious blood over that giant? David believed in God. David believed in God's goodness. And David believed since God is good, the crisis cannot last. Since God is good, the critics, they can't be right. And since God is good, the contest this morning can't be lost. But you have got to leave it with the Lord. You've got to believe that God is in control. You've got to claim the promises. The battle this morning isn't ours. The battle is the Lord's. And you may be facing a Goliath in your own life. But remember David's response. David's response to the crisis was, "God is bigger than my problems." David's response to the critics, he ignored them. David's response to the contest was, "The battle is the Lord's." You know, I'm not naive to think that there's not a problem or a or an issue that will catch us unawares and it'll catch you at the worst time. But when it does catch you, turn to this verse, 1st Samuel 17:47, and remind yourself that battle is the Lord's.