And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
Fearing The Giant
Goliath was the Philistine’s champion. Literally the word in Hebrew means a man between the two camps;” This was a warrior who did not fight in the ranks like an ordinary soldier, but came forth into the space between the hostile camps to challenge the mightiest man of his enemies to come and fight him.
He stands 9'6” to 9”9" tall, his chain mail weighs 125 pounds, his spear head weight 15 pounds. Just his armor probably weight as much as David. Goliath is one of the Anakins, a family of giants from Canaan. When the 12 Hebrew spies saw them, they told the rest of Israel it was impossible to conquer Canaan. But of course, Joshua and especially Caleb had run them out of the promised land, and taken over the very mountain fortress they once owned. Some of the Anakins had found refuge in the land of the Philistines. Now here in 1 Samuel, once again an Anakin giant is causing fear in the armies of Israel.
Goliath’s challenge caused so much fear among the Israelites, that they fled and simply would not fight. (In another Jewish writing, it is said that Goliath boasted of having killed Hophi and Phineas, Eli’s sons and was the one who took the Ark of the Covenant from Israel.)
The Philistines were a great seafaring people who basically ruled the Mediterranean coastlines countries until the time of the Greek and Romans. The Philistines of Canaan have been the arch enemies of Israel, since before the time of Samson. One of the reason they were so dominate is that they could smelt and fashion iron before other nations learned how and they guarded that process as a national secret, denying weapons of iron to other nations like Israel. So not only was Goliath much bigger, much stronger, more experienced in war than David but he also had weapons that were far superior to anything in the Israel war camp.
Fearing Our Giants
In our battles of faith, our enemy is Satan and like Goliath, he uses fear to try and dominate us. In fact, most of the spiritual battles that we should be engaged in, are not lost but instead are never fought. Like the armies of Israel in the valley of Elah, we, the warriors of the Christian army of the Lord are too often afraid to engage the enemy. We are afraid we will lose and therefore we don’t enter into the battles that we have been left on this earth to fight.
Fear is the most effective weapon that Satan has in his arsenal. If he can make us afraid to fight, then he wins every time.
We don’t fight the battle of Creation vs. Evolution, because we fear that atheist and evolutionists have better reasons for believing in billions of years instead of thousands of years.
We are afraid to fight the battles against societal sin and without excuse or exception, call sin, sin, abortion, the murder of a unborn child, Homosexuality a perversion and Transsexuality a mutilation of one created in the image of God.
I’ve been accused on places like Facebook and recently even in a person’s home, of condemning homosexuality too much. I’ve been told it’s just another sin and you should single it out. Actually, homosexuality and all the sexual sins that flow from it, like transsexuality, and pedophilia are not just a sin against God’s law, but a rebellion against God’s creation of themselves and a sin against society. It is a sin that affects not just one person but families, their futures and a nation.
Like abortion it is considered an abomination by God because it is destructive to all who are affected by it. Yes, we must continue to love those caught up in it but you cannot approve of it, nor be afraid to battle against it with truth and love. But most Christians won’t because we are afraid our families which are begin destroyed by these sins against nature, will not have anything to do with us, and our friends will call us haters, racists and bigots.
But the battle we most fear to fight is the battle for men’s eternal souls, we are afraid to tell the Gospel, to witness to a lost and dying world, because we are afraid we won’t have all the answers or that someone will ridicule or shame us.
Fear, when it stops us from being in the heat of these spiritual battles is a sin because it defies the commands of God and it ultimately, gives victory to Satan. Fear robs us of most of our Christian victories.
Paul’s instructions to Timothy: His son in the faith, Timothy, had a problem with fear and Paul addressed it in 2 Timothy 1:6-8 Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Timothy had to fear not just ridicule but death, and yet Paul says, “stir up the gift of God and don’t be ashamed.”
Before any battle can be won, you must overcome fear. You won’t win every battle, but you won’t win any if you let fear keep you from the battle. Overcome the fear and now like David, you can fight for the Lord.
