More Unauthorized Use of Wise Words

We dig James McDonald. He is the real deal. This e-devotional spoke to us, maybe it will speak to you too.

FAITH TO KILL A GIANT By Dr. James MacDonald
All the men of Israel, when they saw Goliath, fled from him and were much afraid. …26And David said to the men who stood by him, "For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" 1 Samuel 17: 24,26

If I said the name Goliath, you picture that hairy giant of a guy that the shepherd-boy David brought down with a slingshot— right ? That whole reversal on the battlefield always makes us smile—because we know how it ended.

If you would have said the name Goliath to any soldier serving under Saul, you would have seen pure fear. For more than a month, they had witnessed this arrogant enemy/bully challenge their army every day, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.� 1 Samuel 17:10-11 says, “When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.�

So along comes young David on a pretty ordinary day bringing his brothers lunch on the battlefield when out comes Goliath for his daily taunt.

Now David knew the same thing that Saul and his army knew. David knew that God had promised to protect His people and his faith just flourished with that reality, even when the rest of them cowered, paralyzed with fear. When David heard Goliath’s proposition, he thought, ‘Now let me get this straight, all I have to do is fight him and this will all be over—that’s it?’

But before David did his famous slingshot routine, he had to overcome a couple major obstacles. The most obvious one was standing right in front of him. Was there anything, humanly speaking that told him he was the guy to take Goliath on? No. But he didn’t see what everybody else saw. If David had walked by sight, he would have noticed an opponent much stronger with more battle-experience than him.

Too often, we fail to win the victories that God would have us win because of the simple obstacle of sight. Do you see what everybody else sees or do you see what God sees? Like Saul’s soldiers, have you been paralyzed for forty days by only seeing a giant, listening to his taunts hammer your hope, and injure your heart? I know what the problem is—you’ve got your eyes off the Lord and on the giant. The only way that David could have said, ‘Who is this giant to defy the armies of the living God?’ was this very simple fact: David had his eyes on the Lord.

Facing a giant today? Forget what you see. Get your eyes back on the Lord. Believe what His Word has told you—your victory is secure in Christ.