Daily Disciples Devotional - July 23, 2008

Today's Reading:  Psalms 33; Acts 24

Today's Thoughts:  Facing the Giants Today

David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." 1 Samuel 17:32-33

I remember learning the story of David and Goliath in Sunday school. As a child, I tried to picture the scene of this teenager going up against this scary, mean giant. How big was Goliath in comparison to David? Where did David get such courage to even think he could defeat him? In reality, all of the odds were against David. David had not ever fought in a battle. He had no experience, no armor, no weapon, and no one fought alongside him. Who was he kidding? But David had something far more powerful than physical stature, experience or weapons: he had faith in his God. 

Do you ever feel like you are in the midst of a battle where the odds are stacked against you? Or maybe you see the giants, hear their taunts and decide to flee and hide out, as opposed to standing up to them, as the Israelites did before David arrived? Today, we are all in a battle and there is one clear enemy. Make no mistake about this fact: “your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) Satan will use whatever tactics he can to get to us, to frighten us, and to keep us from fighting back. He will play tricks on our minds so that we see giants that are not real. He will deceive us into believing that we have no ability to win. One of the best tools Satan has against us is fear. Fear keeps us from facing the giants. Fear keeps us from ever achieving victory because we are afraid and run from the battle. Fear becomes our own trap of despair, depression and disillusionment. So often, the battle takes place in our own minds with giants conjured up in our thoughts, but we must understand that this is not God’s will for us.

Where did David get his courage? He believed in his God, the God of Israel. He believed in all that he had been taught about God, and he had witnessed God’s faithfulness and protection in his own life. And on this day, he was willing to put his faith to the test. David took a huge step of faith, depending completely on the Lord to save him. With one sling of one rock, the giant fell. For us, today is our day of victory. Today is the day to face the giants in our lives. In faith we step out, stop running, stop hiding and stop believing the lies of the enemy, Satan. In faith, we face the enemy head on and we claim victory in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. He has fought the battle and won, on our behalf, but we need to step out, stand up and sling the rock. Today is the day.