Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture – “ He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”- 2 Chronicles 20:15
“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, and he will give all of you into our hands.”- 1 Samuel 17:47
Insight: Chances are we’ll never have to engage in a real fight with an actual Giant like David had to in facing Goliath, but we all still face giants in our lives. They can be areas of our life where we feel total helplessness to defeat them. This can be true of people who are addicted to drugs such as heroin or Oxycodone or alcohol or sex or gambling. No matter how hard they try in their own strength, they simply cannot overcome the giants they are facing. Do you have any giants in your life? If so, the lessons from the Bible are critical to understand how we must call on God’s power to help us achieve victory over the giants in our life, and acknowledge that in our own strength we are unable to secure that victory. We need to come in a posture of weakness and honestly confess our sin struggle and repent and ask for God’s help. Addiction of any kind is a giant that we can’t slay in our own strength. I have learned this the hard way, and I have also seen God’s remarkable ability to help slay giants in my own life that I was unable to.
It all begins with exchanging our weakness for God’s strength. In fact, according to Dr. Charles Stanley, many times “God allows Giants in our life to be able to display His power in our lives.” David was so confident of his ability to rely on God’s strength in his battle vs Goliath that he never hesitated to engage the Giant at all. In fact, David knew the battle was in God’s hand. 1 Samuel 17:45 says “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.” David’s faith in God gave him such confidence that he actually ran to the battlefield when everyone else was cowering and totally afraid of Goliath: “As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. 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 face down on the ground.” 1 Samuel 17:48-49 In order for us to defeat the giants in our life, we will also need to have a strong belief in God’s ability to deliver us. But we do have a role to play. We need to understand we are too weak to win the battles on our own, like both David and King Jehoshaphat did in the scriptures above. We must then ask God for His help. Then we must expect victory in God’s strength. As I have found in my own life, I cannot gain victory over the things I struggle with in my own strength, but I have learned to trust in God to deliver me from the giants in my life and He has never failed me yet and He will do the same for you.
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