09(1Sam 17,01-50) Since God Be For Us

A young woman named Florence Chadwick attempted to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast in 1952 in an attempt to set a record for covering that distance. When she entered the water, a heavy fog had settled itself on the path before her. Blinded by fog, she became disoriented and discouraged and gave up. When she finally decided she couldn’t go on, her escorts in a boat helped her out of the water. The escorts feared to tell her the truth--Florence was less than 300 yards from the goal. Her only reply after learning how close she actually came was, "All I could see was hopeless." Her clouded vision kept her from victory.

A.     How do you see your challenges?

§  When you stand on a hillside and see a 9 ft giant warrior taunting you, how do you view him?

§  Is he an insurmountable obstacle or an opportunity for the glory of God to be revealed?

B.     We can’t avoid Goliath--he is necessary to our growth as Christians.

§  Your Goliath may be an addiction, habit, attitude, job layoff, financial or marital problems.

§  Haddon Robinson said, "In any situation, what you ARE determines what you see, what you SEE determines what you DO." Keep that in mind as we study the two views of Goliath.

I.       The view of the faithless brings fear, resulting in dominance by the enemy.

A.     Fear comes when we live by sight, not by faith.

§  It is a limited view because the spiritual is not involved, only the natural, physical.

B.     We see obstacles as undefeatable giants because of their imposing physical character.

§  Goliath is estimated to have been 9 ft tall. Look at v.24-25--

§  "defy" means "to taunt, ridicule, humiliate".

§  Isn’t that what the evil one wants to do in your Life, to see us cower so that he can mock us?

Goliath for you may be he a habit, bitterness, unsettled matter, problem from the past, difficult moral decision, etc.

C.     If I try to quit that habit or fight that problem, my life will change too much.

§  I’m afraid I stand to lose too much if I try to defeat Goliath, lose at least an arm if not more.

§  With a habit or addiction, the actions controls me, I don’t control it.

§  "I’ve been doing it for too many years. It is therefore heavily armored, and it controls.

§  If we face up to our sin or obstacle, we fear that the giant will fight back; which it will.

D.     The real tragedy happens when we try and pass off our defeated attitude on others.

§  David comes walking up, and asks, "Why doesn’t somebody put a stop to this?"

§  The reply  in 17:33 is typical--"You can’t win this victory; you’re too young!"

§  Don’t you get tired of hearing that? "Our churches can’t do that, we’re too small; you young people can’t do that, you’re too immature; you can’t do it because _________ ," just fill in the blank with any convenient excuse.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Let’s look at Goliath from another viewpoint.

II.    The view of the faithful brings courage, which results in totally dominating the enemy.

A.     Courage comes when we live by faith and not by sight.

§  It comes because we have confidence in God’s unlimited power, not our physical limitations.

§  The view of faith sees obstacles as potential victories because of our God.

B.     Obstacles are not just a threat to ourselves, but a defiance and insult of our God and His abilities.

§  David saw this.

§  It really upset him when he saw the soldiers of the Living God cowering as if they had no Helper.

§  Look at the attitude David displays in 17:26--

You see, the eyes of faith see a completely different issue: it is not a threat to my security, but it is a defiance of the power and very character of the LORD of Hosts!

C.     Ignore the doubts expressed by the faithless around you, 17:33.

§  Your God has said certain things and made certain promises. Are they not good enough?

§  When we listen to doubts, we are listening to the physical limitations.

D.     Act boldly in the face of intimidating circumstances, 17:43-47.

§  When everything has been believed, prayers made, it is time to act.

§  All the things shared up to this point are meaningless if they are not acted upon.

§  Goliath must be faced. He must be confronted. Whether your Goliath is a present dilemma or pain carried over from your childhood, it is time to face him.

§  Had David said all these things about courage and faith, and then went back home without acting on the conviction that this giant insulted David’s God, he would be as big a coward as the men who fled at the sight of Goliath.

You may wish to avoid saying what you feel needs to be said to your husband, wife, or best friend, but Goliath will not fall unless you load your slingshot and go to that person.

E.      David surrenders it to God, putting the credit where credit is due--45-47.

§  He lets everyone know that it will be the Lord Almighty who will defeat Goliath.

§  Then (v48) look what the one who sees with eyes of faith does: he RUNS out to meet the Philistine.

§  He acts boldly, running to meet the one who would defy God.

III. Conclusion.

A.     Difficulties are God’s errands.

§  When we are sent on them, it is not a sign of His distaste for us, but His confidence in us.

§  The question is, are we confident in Him?

B.     What are your Goliaths?

§  What is it you live in fear of, that dictates how you will live, act, and feel?

§  If my life is dominated by someone other than the Holy Spirit, I am being defeated by Goliath.

§  Is it your temper? bitterness? pain from the past? your future scares you?

§  It is time for the army of the Lord to stop allowing these issues to dominate us and thus ridicule the reputation of our Father in Heaven.