Shattering The God's Within Chapter 11 Facing Giants - Character Amidst Chaos "We live in a time when many of our pseudo gods are falling. The pseudo gods of money and jobs are collapsing under an unstable economy. The pseudo god of family, a common idol especially among religious people, is falling prey to dysfunction and dissolution. The pseudo god of fame is prey to a muck-raking media. Many of the things we hold dear are being removed from us, so we are left with confusion and chaos. We fear the future, the crises we face seem insurmountable; they loom like monsters on the horizon. How de we deal with the powerful, dangerous giants that threaten our world?" "Once again, let us turn to King David and the historic example he set for us (I Samuel 15-17). But before we consider his technique for dealing with giants, lets take a look at his introduction to royalty. David might have seemed an unlikely candidate for the challenges he faced in his colorful career. Here's how that career began." Dr. Allen touches King Saul's reign and brings out the fact that King Saul refused to carry out God's orders. Then he states "We can't deal with the pseudo gods in our lives unless we learn to listen to God. In order to listen to God, we have to quiet the conflicting voices in our heads and allow his voice to be heard. Unfortunately Saul refused to listen, even when God spoke to him directly through His prophet." As we know God, rejected Saul as King and told Samuel to go anoint a new king. Samuel obeyed God inspite of his fears of King Saul discovering he anointed a new king and attacking him. So, we know the story, Samuel went to Jesse's house. And we also know that Jesse paraded his older sons before Saul, knowing that one of these would be picked. "But Samuel was a man of faith. When you fear God, you may get confused, but in your confusion, you will always say, "Lord, I don't know what You're doing, but You are God, so I bow to Your will." After God rejected all of Jesse's sons, Samuel asked him about David and Jesse replied. "I have one other little fellow, but he is certainly not king material. He hasn't been anywhere, he hasn't done anything, he hasn't gone to college, he's not been in the military, he has never fought any kind of battle, and he doesn't even know what's up or what's down. He's just an ordinary little shepherd boy." "Despite Jesse's protests, Samuel requested that he bring the child to him. So out of the backyard came David, dirt and grime all over him, a little shy, with his hair uncombed. As David walked in the room, God said to the prophet, "This is the king." "Jesse was appalled. "But he's so small. And he's weak." "Great is the mystery of godliness. God takes the small, mundane things in our lives and turns them into extraordinary miracles. God commanded Samuel, "Anoint the future king." Samuel obeyed and young David's destiny was sealed." AN ORDINARY JOB, AN EXTRAORDINARY CHALLENGE "When we are anointed, or called by the Lord, we naturally want to get right in there and be king. But consider what God did to David. "OK, I have anointed you. Now you go right back to those sheep." "God sent David to the backyard, where he had been all along. It was in that backyard that the development of his vocation took place. He had to take care of his flock. He had to face a lion and a bear, and in doing so, he learned to depend on God. That's where he wrote, "The Lord is my shepherd." "that's where he learned to use the sling, to choose the right kind of smooth stones. It was in his backyard that David was made ready. ----And it is in our backyard that we are made ready---in our room, in our kitchen, in that job we find difficult. In our every day life, God forms us.---- "One day Jesse said David go and take some cheese and bread to your brothers. It was a menial task, and someone else might have refused saying, "No way, Dad. I'm the future king. I'm not an errand boy." "But David was a young man committed to faith, and in God's economy, by learning to be a servant, you learn to be a king. It is only through service that greatness comes. So David took the lunch and went on his way." "While David was talking to his brother, Goliath came out from among the Philistines. He was nine feet tall, with armor weighing 125 pounds. He had a seventeen-pound spear, which he lifted high in the air. He shouted at the Israelites, "You choose somebody to fight me! If he beats me, we will be your servants. If I beat him, you will be our servants!" As Goliath walked, the ground shook, and the Israelites began to shudder. At his challenge they ran into the house of fear. COURAGE TO FACE GIANTS "There are many giants in our lives: the giant of crime, the giant of anger, the giant of economic insecurity, the giant of family disintegration, the giant of troubled children. These giants stand before us, and we find ourselves trembling like the Israelites. Frozen in our tracks, we find it difficult to fight because the giants are too big. "As we look at the rest of David's story, I would like to suggest a few ways to help us cope with some of the giants that paralyze us." FIRST, Recognize the Challenge Change the word problem to challenge. For David's brothers, the giant presented a problem, and it chased them into the house of fear. But David had learned that God is powerful and that life is filled with challenges." "Facing challenges means avoiding defense mechanisms such as denial. You have probably heard yourself say "It's not really a big deal. All things must pass. It will work out." "But if you don't handle it, it will work *you* out. Break the denial system." "Then watch out for the Blame Game." "It wasn't me! George did it!" Remember Adam? The blame game has been going on a long time. God said "Adam, why did you do it? You had such a beautiful garden!" "Adam said. "Well you know, its that woman you gave me. If you hadn't given me the woman . . ." "When God asked Eve she said, "Well it was that serpent. If it wasn't for that serpent. . ." And when God came to the serpent . . . .he didn't have a leg to stand on!!" "Be careful that in your time of challenge you don't use denial or the blame game." That defense may help you feel better temporarily, but it cannot help you to confront the challenge. SECOND, Face the Resistance "Where there is a challenge, there is resistance. First, we resist our own feelings of helplessness. We resist by being afraid; by experiencing fight or flight responses. Resistance also comes from outside ourselves. David's brothers were mocking him. "What are you doing down here, you little whippersnapper? You should be watching those sheep. What can you contribute to this battle?" "You have heard the voices: "You can't solve that." You'll never make it" "You've taken on too much this time. Your going to blow it." David probably heard the voices of resistance, but he did not allow them to dictate his response. No matter who you are or where you are, whenever you decide to do something you will feel a sense of resistance. When that happens, you must simply press on." THIRD, Transfer Meaningful Experiences Transferring meaningful experiences is an important process. David was able to transfer his experience in his backyard when God helped him fight a lion and a bear. Therefore, when he faced Goliath he was able to say, "As God helped me then, God will help me now." "Many of us want to face our Goliath's, but we don't want to face our lions and bears. We refuse to face our every day experiences, so when we come to face the big scary ones, we have nothing to transfer. Start preparing yourself for the battles of the future now. Face the small issues in your life, and in facing them you will be trained for victory in larger struggles. Faith means being faithful where you are." "Sometimes we have difficulty making the transfer. "Even though God has given us strength in the past and blessed us, we forget. Our heart is so full of pain that we cannot evoke the memory of His positive intervention, we cannot summon our evocative memory. It is important to keep our hearts nourished in faith, emptied of resentment, and open to love so we can know the grace of past experiences and future blessings. I suggest that prayer is the gift that makes our hearts fertile ground for grace." FOURTH, Use Your Own Experience and Talents "When David decided to fight Goliath, King Saul said to him, "Thats a great idea. I'll loan you my armor." Saul took his own armor and his sword and he put them on David. Little David was too small to carry such a heavy weight, and he fell to the ground. Don't we sometimes try to fight in somebody else's armor? Don't we try to apply someone else's ideas to our challenges? "No!: God said to David, "Use your backyard experience. You are not used to fighting in armor." "Healing always begins with what you have. Work on your body--start jogging, start exercising. Work on your mind--start reading, take a course. Work on your spirit--start praying, start reading Scripture. But start where you are. We can't use somebody else's armor. Don't just take what I say and apply it without thinking it through. Put is into your heart, pray about it and let God help you adapt it to develop the process of healing. FIFTH, Open Yourself to the Spiritual "The odds were against David. Goliath was nine feet tall, and David was a little boy. Goliath had powerful armor, and David had none. The philistines felt confident, David's side was totally demoralized. What David brought to that scene was courage and spiritual strength. "For years God had taught David about faith through the development of his prayer life. So when he came to the battle front, he saw the conflict through God's eyes, not from a purely human perspective." "When we look at our battle from God's perspective, we cannot lose. We may lose a job, but we are still winners. We may lose our fortune, but we are still triumphant. We may be divorced, or widowed, or otherwise trying to make it on our own. But spiritually, we are victorious. Christ has promised to be with us through the pain, to stand by us even when others desert us and we face life's hard questions alone. Though it may seem the battle is going the wrong way, Scripture assures us that we are "more than conquerors" in Christ." SIXTH, Ask for Courage Versus Fear "David's brothers along with the rest of Israel's army, were living in the house of fear. Remember, there are two houses in life: the house of fear (related to anger, guilt, and hurt) and the house of love (related to hope, faith, and courage). The only way we can remain in the house of love is through prayer. "Many people, despite the privilege of intercessory prayer God has given them, have gradually moved into the house of fear and hurt. The house of fear can produce performance, but it can never produce life. The house of fear can produce competition, but it cannot create compassion. Courage for David simply meant that God was on the throne saying, "Fear not, for I am with you" "God is love, so David stayed in the house of love. Will we consider giving love a chance? It is true that when we love there is vulnerability, and sometimes there may be anxiety. But in God's love there is always healing." "Fueled by love for God, David announced to Goliath, " I come in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted." This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands." (I Sam 17:45-46)" SEVENTH, Take Action With his five stones and his sling, David moved toward Goliath. The Scripture says, "When the Philistine looked an saw David, he disdained him.....And the Philistine cursed David by his gods" (vv42-43). David knew that there is only one God, so when he heard Goliath cursing him by his gods, David said to himself, The battle is over, because this battle is being fought by the one true God. "Here we see vividly depicted the battle between the pseudo god and the true God. And that is the battle in our lives today. It is not the odds we face, it is not the marriage, it is not the children, it is not the corporation or the government. It is the battle between the pseudo gods of the world and Jehovah." EIGHTH, Finish the Job "the sling was flung, and the stone flew and nailed Goliath in the forehead. After Goliath fell, David took his sword and ended the battle. If God calls you to do something, finish it. Complete the task to the glory of God, because the battle belongs to the Lord." "When we win we forget that there is always a reaction. Once the battle was over, people started singing. "Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his tens of thousands." Saul became very jealous and angry. For David the trouble was just beginning. It wasn't long before he was crying out. "Lord, what is this all about?" You gave me this big battle and victory, and now I am being chased by King Saul, the person I was trying to help." "Don't think that because we've killed one Goliath, our life will be forever trouble-free. There will be more; there will be giants as long as we live." "When I was at Yale, Jim, an older man, and I became close friends. He was a dear man, and we shared wonderful times together. A couple of years ago I went back to Yale to give a lecture and Jim called and said he wanted to se me. He had always been a wealth man and at eighty-two he was still driving a Cedilla. "As we talked he said "David, its been a hard time." He explained that three years before, his wife awoke one morning and said, "Who are you, and where am I?" Looking at her in disbelief, Jim said, "Dear, we've been married for fifty years." She just stared. "Who are you? I don't know you." "Jim told me, "David, my heart broke. I took her to the doctor, and he said she had Alzheimer's disease." "I looked at him and in my heart asked, God, Why? Why?" "Then Jim said, "David, I want to tell you something. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I'm very successful, but I'm a hard man. I've been hard all my life. In my company I would fire anybody who didn't get the job done right. I never tolerated weakness. I've had very little compassion. At eighty, I am healthy, wealthy, and can go wherever I choose. But in my prayer life, God has been showing me that even at this late stage in life, I need to learn compassion. So this morning I sold my beautiful house, and I'm moving into a nursing home with my wife to take care of her." "Today, if you went to that nursing home, you would see that dear man feeding his wife, trying to read her the Scriptures, But she is still saying, "Who are you? I don't know you." "The giant of Alzheimer's lives, but Jim has confronted it with courage and faith. He says, "I'm going to face it, and I'm going to face it in Christ. I'm not going to leave her. I'll stay there and read to her, I'll feed her. I'll love her." "There are giants in the land, there are giants in your home, there are giants on the job, there are giants in your heart. But the battle is not ours, it's God's. The battle isn't only about winning or losing, it is about being faithful. Sometimes the giants are sent to teach us to obey, to learn to listen, to feel compassion. Sometimes they are the pseudo gods we have raised up as idols, and it is our job to destroy them before they destroy us. But even our most terrifying Goliath's, when seen through God's eyes, can be viewed as messengers of His love. They are intended to show us that He is in control, that He uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and that faith is the victory that overcomes the world."