Sunday, June 22, 2014

By: Brandon Bilbo

We Can Slay Giants!

Matthew 19:26 ...with God all things are possible.

There is one high school football game that I will never forget. As we pulled up to the stadium for this away game and looked upon the other team warming up, fear and doubt began to be released. One player began to stutter, "Did. You. See. The. Size. Of. The. Other. Team?" Wide-eyed, our players hesitantly walked off the bus.

At that moment, I knew we were leaving defeated, and we did. NOT because we were unable but because we THOUGHT we were unable.

When facing Goliath, David could have had a very similar response as my teammates. After all, even his family didn't have faith in him!

1 Samuel 17:28 says that when David's oldest brother heard David asking about Goliath, "he burned with anger at him and asked, "Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle."

In one statement, David's brother accused him of being conceited, wicked and questioned his motives. He also alluded to David being insignificant when he asked who David left his "few" sheep with.

After expressing his interest in fighting the giant, even a desperate King Saul said to David, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth."

Wow! Have you ever been looked over and looked down upon as David? Have others (maybe even your family) made you feel... Insignificant? Weak? Too small? Less than? Incapable?

David, a short, young shepherd boy had a choice-listen to the "crowd" or respond to the "cause."

Thankfully, he chose the second option. In verse 29, he responds to his brother, "Is there not a CAUSE?"

More importantly, he responds to King Saul's doubt with testimonies of God's faithfulness in the past. "The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine," he declared in verse 37.

I challenge you today to always respond to the cause and faithfulness of God rather than the negative voices of the "crowd." When doing so, you will slay giants!

Dear Lord, I thank You for Your faithfulness time and time again. Help me see the "giant slayer" in myself that YOU created me to be.

I thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.

Reflection: Do you feel equipped to slay the "giants" in your life?