This weekend, the Reverend Derrick Tickner from Shepshed has shared his thoughts on the ‘giants’ we face in our lives.
Who or What are Your Giants?
(How are they to be overcome or banished?)
Reading: I Samuel 17
Imagine the scene if you will: on opposite hillsides two large armies are gathered, ready for battle. In the valley that separates them, there is a fast running stream which polishes its pebble base and glints in the morning sun. One side seems to have the military advantage in the shape of their champion- a massive giant of a man with a bellowing voice. Every morning and evening that voice echoes across the valley, challenging the opposing army to produce its own champion, for a man-to-man contest that will decide the outcome of the battle.
Enter a young lad, sent by his father to bring food supplies to his older brothers who, like the rest, are mesmerised by this opposing hulk of a giant. . . But, of course, you know the story well. It’s David and Goliath! What is David’s view of this giant of a man? ‘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. This day the Lord will hand you over to me . . .’ (1 Samuel 17 v.45, 46).
Allow me now to change the scene. This time it was Norwich City’s football stadium, and the background was the day before one of Dr. Billy Graham’s evangelistic rallies. I was among a group of counsellors who were being briefed by a member of the Graham team. I shall never forget his closing words: “Always remember the Scripture: “‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts.” (Zechariah 4 v.6)
Paul puts it another way. ‘The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds’ (2 Corinthians 10 v.4). We are indeed involved in a spiritual battle. Sometimes it is temptation of one sort or another; sometimes it is loneliness or the feeling that nobody cares for you, or your family has somehow forgotten to keep in touch…Let us together recall what is perhaps one of the greatest of all the promises God ever made: ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’ (Joshua 1 v.5).
Why not write it out large and put it somewhere where you can easily see it day by day! Our God is greater than any giants that life may put in our way!
You can listen to Maranatha! Music ‘The Battle Belongs to the Lord’: