“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”
- 1 Samuel 17:45 ESV
I’ve never actually seen a giant.
I’ve seen some pretty big dogs, though. And I’ve learned something important about big dogs: Sometimes they’re not nearly as tough as they look.
My human was sitting on the porch this morning with his Bible in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. That usually means I’m supposed to be quiet.
He was reading about David and Goliath.
Now, from a dog’s perspective, I think David had a pretty unusual approach to a fight. Most folks would’ve looked at that giant and thought, “Maybe today would be a good day to stay home.”
But David didn’t see Goliath the way everybody else did.
Everybody else saw a giant.
David saw a giant standing between God and what God had called him to do.
That’s a different way of looking at things.
And I think we sometimes forget that.
We all have Goliaths.
Maybe your Goliath is fear.
Maybe it’s regret.
Maybe it’s a relationship that’s broken, a habit you can’t seem to shake, a diagnosis, a financial burden, or a failure from your past that keeps whispering that you’ll never be enough.
And if we stare at them long enough, they can get bigger and bigger in our minds.
That’s what fear does.
It makes the giant bigger and God smaller.
But David didn’t walk toward Goliath believing in David.
He walked toward Goliath believing in God.
That’s the part my human underlined in his Bible.
David didn’t need Saul’s armor.
He didn’t need a bigger sword.
He didn’t need to become somebody else.
He simply trusted the God who had already been faithful.
David had learned in the pasture that God could handle lions and bears.
Now he was about to learn that God could handle giants, too.
Maybe that’s something we need to remember.
The faith we need for tomorrow is often built through the little battles God helps us win today.
So when your Goliath shows up, don’t spend all your time measuring the giant.
Measure your God.
Your Goliath may be big.
But God is bigger.
And the victory doesn’t always mean God removes the giant. Sometimes it means He gives you the courage to stand in front of it and say, “You may be bigger than me, but you’re not bigger than my God.”
That’s faith.
And if David can face a giant with a sling and five smooth stones, I figure I can face whatever is barking at me today.
David reminds me that faith isn’t the absence of fear.
Faith is deciding that God is trustworthy even when I’m afraid.
I don’t have to be bigger than my Goliath.
I don’t have to have all the answers.
I don’t have to pretend I’m fearless.
I just have to trust the One who is bigger than whatever is standing in front of me.
Keep the Faith… Carpe Diem
