He crouches down and sits beside your bed, hoping to be the first voice you hear when you wake up in the morning.  He slimes his way into your waking thoughts, those first emotions you have while your head is still on your pillow.  He wakes you up with worry and sweat, and stirs you with stressful thoughts.  If you are dreading your day before you even begin your day, you can be sure that your giant has been by your bed.

And he’s just getting warmed up.  He breathes down your neck as you eat breakfast, whispers in your ear as you walk out the door, shadows your steps, and stays with you.  He checks your calendar, reads your email, and constantly talks trash with you all day.  “You don’t have what it takes!”  “You come from a long line of losers!”  “Fold your cards and leave the table.  You’ve been dealt a bad hand.”

He’s your giant.  Your Goliath.  Given the chance, he will turn your day into his Valley of Elah: taunting, teasing, boasting, and trying to shame you with his monstrous claims all day long.  Goliaths still roam our world.  Debt.  Disaster.  Dialysis.  Danger.  Deceit.  Disease.  Depression.  Super-sized challenges still swagger and strut, they still steal our sleep and embezzle our peace and defraud us of our joy.  But they can’t dominate you!  You know how to deal with them!  You face giants by facing God first!  Focus on giants – you stumble.  Focus on God – your giants tumble!

You know what David knew, and you can do what David did.  You can pick up five stones and with God’s help, do five things.  First, The Stone of the PAST.

Goliath jogged David’s memory.  The Valley of Elah reminded David of something.  While everyone else quivered, David remembered.  God had given him strength to wrestle a lion and kill a bear.  Wouldn’t God also help him with this giant?  A good memory [of what God has done for you] makes heroes.  A bad memory makes wimps.  A bad memory made a wimp out of me last week.  Goliath woke me up in a sweat early in the morning, worrying about the spiritual health of our church.  Where is our congregation headed?  How are we going to get there?  How are we going to accomplish all we need to accomplish in order to reach our goals?  How will we ever grow to the point where we will be self-supporting and vibrant and have our own place?

Then, working on these sermons, I remembered David.  As he faced his giant.  What odds did he have?  What did he do?  He remembered God’s victories for him!  So I began to do the same.  Look what God has done here!  This was the church planter’s graveyard.  For years, nothing was going on here.  Then through his miraculous work, God brought you good people together.  He helped us accomplish great things.  We have seen crowds from our community in here hearing the Gospel.  I have heard you encouraging and building each other up in the Word.  I have seen the Holy Spirit bring people here to faith.  God led us to this place.  And on and on.

God has done it before!  He will do it again!  When we remember that, you are going to see your “Goliath” buckle over and fall face first onto the ground!  Take Goliath Down!  1 Chronicles 16:12 says: “Remember his marvelous works which He has done.”  Friends, let me encourage you to catalog God’s successes.  Keep a list of his world records.  Has He not walked you through high waters?  Proven to be faithful?  Have you not known his provisions?  How many nights have you gone to bed hungry?  How many mornings have you awakened in the cold?  He has made road-kill out of your enemies!  Forget today’s worries!  Remember yesterday’s victories!  Pick up the stone of the PAST.

Then pick up The Stone of PRAYER.  Before going high, David went low; before ascending to fight, David descended to prepare.  Don’t face your giant without first doing the same.  Dedicate time to prayer.  Dedicate time to the Word of God to listen to Him!  The Apostle Paul wrote: “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph.6:17-18).

Prayer and listening to God spawned David’s successes.  When his and his men’s wives and families were taken from Ziklag, he showed wisdom because he “found strength in the Lord his God.” (1 Sam.30:6).  When Saul’s soldiers tried to capture him, David turned toward God: “You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.” (Ps. 59:16).  How do you survive being a fugitive living from cave to cave?  David did it with prayers like this one: “Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge.  I will take refuge in the shadow of your sings until the disaster has passed.  I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills his purpose for me.  He sends from heaven and saves me…” (Ps. 57:1-2).

When David saturated his life with God and God’s Word, he stood!  When he didn’t, he fell!  Do you think he spent much time in prayer the evening he seduced Bathsheba?  Did he write a psalm the day he murdered Uriah?  I doubt it!  Any lessons for us here??  Isaiah said: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” (26:3).  God not only promises peace, but perfect peace!  Undiluted, unspotted, unhindered peace!  To whom?  To those whose minds are steadfastly fixed on God!  Forget occasional glances!  Dismiss random ponderings!  Peace is promised to the one who fixes his thoughts and desires on the King!  Ask for his help!  Pick up the Stone of PRAYER.

And then don’t forget The Stone of PRIORITY.  Putting God first.  Worship.  Remember your highest priority: God’s reputation.  David jealously guarded it.  No one was going to defame his Lord!  David fought so that “the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel…for the battle is the Lord’s.” (1 Sam. 17:46-47).  David saw Goliath as a chance for God to show off!  Did David know he would exit the battle alive?  No.  But he was willing to give his life for the reputation of God.

What if you saw your giant in the same manner?  Rather than begrudge him, welcome him!  Your cancer is God’s chance to flex his healing muscles.  Your sin is God’s opportunity to showcase grace.  Your struggling marriage can billboard God’s power.  See your struggle as God’s canvas!  On it He will paint his masterpiece work of art!  Show God’s power to everyone!

Then reach for The Stone of PASSION.  David ran, not from, but toward, his giant!  On one side of the battlefield, Saul and his cowardly army gulped.  On the other, Goliath and his hellions scoffed.  In the middle, the shepherd boy ran on his spindly legs.  Who bet on David?  Who put money on the kid from Bethlehem?  Not the Philistines!  Not the Hebrews!  Not David’s brothers or David’s king.  But God did.  And since God did, and since David knew God did, the skinny runt broke into a sprint and began swirling his sling.  He ran toward his giant!

Friends, do the same!  What good has problem-pondering gotten you?  You’ve stared so long you can number the hairs on Goliath’s chest.  Has it helped?  No!  Listing hurts won’t heal them!  Itemizing problems won’t solve them!  Categorizing rejections won’t remove them!  David beheaded his giant because he emphasized the Lord!   Take up the stone of PASSION!

One more stone.  The Stone of PERSISTENCE.  David didn’t think one rock would do.  He knew that Goliath had four giant relatives.  “Ishbi-Benob, [who was one of the sons of the giant], one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed three hundred shekels.” (2 Sam. 21:16).  Saph made the list, described as one of the sons of Rapha, one of the sons of the giant.  (2 Sam. 21:18).  Then there was another, Lahmi, “the brother of Goliath, the Gittite, “who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.” (2 Sam. 21:19).  Goliath had some big brothers for David yet to face!  Another giant “had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot – twenty four in all.  He also was descended from Rapha.” (2 Sam. 21:20).

So why did David grab five stones?  Could it be because Goliath had four relatives the size of Tyrannosaurus Rex?  For all David knew, they’d come running over the hill to defend their kin.  David was ready to empty the chamber if that’s what it took!

Imitate him!  Never give up!  One prayer might not be enough!  One apology might not do it.  One day or month of resolve might not suffice.  You may get knocked down a time or two… but don’t quit.  Keep loading the rocks!  Keep swinging the sling!  Keep focusing on God!  David took five stones.  Do the same.  Past.  Prayer.  Priority.  Passion.  And Persistence.  The next time Goliath wakes you up, reach for a stone.  Chances are, he’ll be out of the room before you can even load your sling!

Friends, do you believe that Jesus is your Saviour and your Lord?  Maybe you haven’t yet.  Maybe you have never realized how much Christ loves you.  But now you do.  Jesus did not disown David.  He forgave David!  He loved David.  He led David.  He gave his life for David.  Friends, He won’t disown you!  He will never let you down!  He has forgiven you your faults!  He wants you to trust that!  He wants you to know everything will work for your good!  Your greatest Goliath has fallen!  Your failures are past history and death is destroyed!  The same power that made midgets out of David’s giants has done the same with yours!  Amen.

This sermon adapted from Max Lucado’s book: “Facing Your Giants.”