Psalm 23
A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
David spent his life trusting in God. David knew even in the valley of the shadow of death, which is the worst thing this world has to offer, God was there. This is the writing of the young shepherd boy completely dependent on his God. Are we dependent on God no matter what happens? David’s dependence allowed him to know that when he fought the Giant that the victory had already been won as long as he trusted God. Victory comes when our hearts are devoted to God.
Goliath would come out every morning and night for forty days and challenge the people of God. This man was intimidating, even the head of his spear weighed 15 pounds. His breastplate weighed 175 pounds. You can see why the people were scared to death of this man. They got scared because they looked at the obstacle instead of their God. How many times does this happen to us? When we focus on the problems that we are having there is no power, but when we focus on God nothing is impossible. No man was willing to make a stand against Goliath. When Goliath was defying Israel, he was also defying their God. This is what David understood, so when he came he could not understand why anyone had not taken a stand.
How could David know that God would defeat Goliath? Because God had been faithful to give him the strength to defeat a lion and a bear, he knew he could defeat Goliath with God’s help. Are there times you find yourself questioning whether God is faithful? One of the best ways to trust is to remember what God has already done. Keep a journal of what God has done in your life and it will give you courage to face your day by day giants. God had always been faithful to David and will always be faithful to us. In this battle, David knew he had a part to play, but this was God’s battle to win.
Saul gave David his own armor. It should have been Saul that was out fighting this battle for the people, but he sent a young boy to fight. I wonder how many God has battles to fight and we say no? We all have Giants in our lives, things that look like they can not be conquered. By our own strength, we can not overcome. By God’s Strength the giants in our lives will fall just like Goliath did. What are some giants we face in our lives? Many people face the Giant of financial stress and unemployment, the giant of depression, the giant of addictions, the giant of temptation, the giants of Anxiety and fear, the giants of loss and suffering. We all have Giants in our lives. If we continue to trust God, these Giants will fall. If we try to conquer them on our own we will be defeated.
David started his life with Triumph. The last part of David’s was filled with trials. David fell into sin with Bathsheba and then had her husband murdered. His first son that they had died. His house and line divided into civil war. David was not perfect, he made a lot of mistakes but he was still listed in the Hall of Faith and is remembered in the New Testament as a man after God’s own heart. David’s salvation and ours would be brought through his very own descendant Jesus Christ. Sin is the greatest Giant we could have ever faced, and that giant has already been toppled by Jesus Christ. When we trust God, our Giants will fall.
Leave a Reply