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 “Facing the Giants”

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We have been talking in our series about being “All In” in our relationship with the Lord, that it involves spiritual warfare. We often speak about our spiritual fight as being three-fold in nature: the influences of the world; the flesh which desires to be gratified; and the devil who is intent on destroying us… these are the three big giants.

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The story of David is an interesting one – he’s a shepherd boy who defeats the giant Goliath and a decade later he’s the king of Israel. So, by the time David is a teenager, he's preparing to walk on the battlefield to face the giant. How does this all happen?

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David's father sends him to deliver bread to the brothers and cheese to the army. While he is there on this delivery trip, he hears this giant bellowing from down in the valley - he's speaking curses against God. The men of Israel are intimidated by this brute. But David realizes something, this giant is not only a reproach to Israel - but he is defying the living God.

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1 Samuel 17:26 Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

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 So, David appears before King Saul and volunteers to go out against the giant. And Saul attempts to clothe David with his own armor. But David realizes that he can’t go with that - it was a fleshly attempt to do spiritual battle… and that leads us to this pivotal verse.

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1 Samuel 17:40 Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

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David selected 5 smooth stones; these stones could stand for:

A pure heart

A sincere faith

The mind of the Lord

A willing spirit

A walk in the Word

 

The victories that we see accomplished over the enemy are through our faith in a big God, our intimate knowledge of the Word of God and the power we receive through the Holy Spirit.