November 2005
Devotion
Knocking Out Goliath
CJ Rapp

Fear…it seems that I have become intimately acquainted with fear lately.  Fear of failure, fear
of not doing the right thing, fear of not being good enough, fear of letting people down, fear of
being horrible at teaching.  Honestly, there is never a time that right before I head out the door
to teach somewhere that fear does not take hold of my heart and shake me to my core.  But I’ve
also noticed lately a pattern for my fear.  Fear itself is beginning to develop a face…the face of
big, mean, ugly giant.  A giant that might look very much like Goliath might have looked
when David faced him.  Do you remember that Bible story from your childhood?  For the sake
of this discussion, let’s read from Samuel 17:

V4 “A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp.  He
was over nine feet tall.  He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of
bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin
was slung on his back.  His spear shaft was like a wearer’s rod, and its iron point weighed six
hundred shekels.  His shield bearer went ahead of him.  Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks
of Israel…Choose a man and have him come down to me.  If he is able to fight and kill me, we
will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects
and serve us.”

V32 “David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will
go and fight him”.  V 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the
stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand,
approached the Philistine. “David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and
spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the
armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by
sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s…Reaching into his bag and
taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead.  The stone sank into
his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.”

In my quiet time.  I realized that my fear shows up looking like Goliath.  It’s nine feet tall, it
stands and shouts to me all these horrible things, and it packs these big scary weapons that
intimidate me.  The giant shouts, “who do you think you are?”, “why would anyone want to
listen to you?”, “what do you think you can offer anyone?”…He shouts and then he laughs as
he watches the look of pain or panic appear on my face.  The weapons he carry’s are these; the
javelin is my past…he wants to throw it in my face to remind me of all those times I messed
up.  His spear is the expectations of the world, all the things I have to do and be to be of value
in society.   That sword is every lie that I have ever been told and believed, and as he shouts, he
swings his sword hoping to rip apart my dreams and God’s plan for my life apart.

What does the giant shout at you?  Does he yell that he hates the way you look?  Does he tell
you that you are unacceptable as you are?  Does he yell that you are not doing enough,
achieving enough, being enough?  Let me tell you everyone has a giant and he attempts to use
our insecurities as weapons.    The giant will point out every flaw, every shortcoming and try to
use them to back us in a corner and defeat us.  

The question is will you allow the giant to shout you down or will you shut him up?  Will you
pick up your five smooth stones and step out onto the battlefield of life with your sling, your
staff and your faith?  Will you back down or will you fight?  I have had to ask myself that
question lately.  I’ve had to look that giant in the eye and make some scary decisions.  David
did not blink an eye when called out by the giant.  David took on the challenge.  He stepped out
onto the battlefield and knew what the outcome would be…He trusted in His faith and He
trusted in God’s word.  

David’s weapons that day were a sling, and a stone.  The sling to me represents his faith in
God, and the stones represent Gods word.  By the way, did you notice in the scripture that he
took his staff along with him.  The staff is the tool of a shepherd…Jesus is the good
shepherd…David did not go to face the giant alone…God went with Him.  Because the battle
against fear belongs to the Lord!  The victory is found in our faith in Him and His word.  
When He tells you that He loves you enough to die for you (John 3:16) you can trust Him.  
When He says that He never will never forsake you (Hebrews 13:5) you can trust Him.  When
He tells you that you are intimately designed by the creator (Jeremiah 1:5) you can trust Him.  
When He says that you are royalty (Romans 5:17) you can trust Him.  

Beloved do you understand that for every lie the giant yells at you, God has provided a truth
that will crush the lie?  Do you know that for every weapon the giant pulls out, the Lord
declares, “no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that
accuses you.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and this is their vindication from
me.” Isaiah 54:17

In other words, there is no lie to big, no weapon so powerful that it can stand up to God’s
truth!  God’s truth will always defeat the lie.  Will you trust Him enough to step out and face
your giant?  Will you pick up your sling and your stone and stare down that giant, or will you
run from it?  I don’t know about you, but for me every time I take a step of faith, every time I
step out and face my giant, he shrinks and my faith grows.  Yes, there will always be giants, but
God is always with us.  His truth never changes, He can be trusted, and He is bigger and more
powerful than any old giant could ever be!  Remember the battle belongs to the Lord!  Tell
Him about your giant.  Tell Him about your fears, you can face them together, minute by
minute, day by day.  

Till next month, may the truth of God’s word be the weapon you use to silence the giant.

Love you guys,

CJ

My prayer for you:  Lord, help us all to learn to listen to your voice and not what the giant yells
at us.  Help us to learn that your truth is a firm foundation that we can build our lives on.  
Help us Father to keep our eyes fixed on you and not on the things that the world values
because those things are temporary.  Help us to remember that our true value and worth come
from you no matter what the giant yells at us.  In Jesus precious name, Amen.

For Reflection:  What does your giant yell at you?  What truths in the Bible can help you
overcome your giant?  If you are not sure check out the Treasure Trove page and complete the
exercise called Trash and Treasure.