Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, 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 (NKJV)
We all have our Goliaths. In this Goliath series, I wrote about just a few of them: addiction, sexual temptation, worry, idolatry, and self-defeat.
It’s true that each one of them is too much to handle on our own. Each Goliath really is too overwhelming…too intimidating…too much. And they actually are! We can pack it up and go home right now when even thinking of facing them alone. And you probably know people who try and fail, again and again.
But who was Goliath?
The Goliath whom David stood up to was no slouch or pushover. A literal giant, likely a descendant of the Great Flood-surviving Nephilim (more on that another day), Goliath intimidated the entire nation of Israel. Not a single warrior would face him, even after he constantly mocked and insulted them and God Himself.
The common Goliath killer
All Goliaths have a common killer, revealed by the young David, just a shepherd boy before he toppled the seasoned and trained warrior, Goliath of Gath: advancing fearlessly in the name of the Lord of hosts.
That word, hosts, in Hebrew is saba, refers to the armies (or hosts) of angels. (Not hosts in the hospitality sense!) When we, like David, face any Goliath with the God of angel armies on our side, there isn’t even a chance for the poor brute. In the face of faithless Goliaths, when we’re armed with our seemingly useless slings and stones and faith, God will use us to not only mow them down, but take us to the other side of whatever they were obstructing.
So fear not, fellow true believer! If you face seemingly impossible odds, and God is calling you to forget the odds and put your faith in the One who makes the impossible possible, do just that. Goliath may as well be a gnat when God is on your side.
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