FACE YOUR GIANT!

Years ago my wife and I would sit to enjoy some downtime and we began to get hooked into popular television sitcom shows.  There were many details about the sitcoms that we didn’t like, but we kept watching, we kept laughing, we kept ignoring.  I remember the jokes about how the kids in the family disrespected their parents, or how the husband disrespected his wife, or how meddling in laws would usurp a parents authority.  And we laughed.  Although those things weren’t prevalent in our family and our relationships, the fact that we were being desensitized to the topics became obvious to us.  The enemy uses the “repetitive” nature of this theme throughout most of the shows today to desensitize people to just laugh it off and move on.  Without confrontation, the deterioration of our founding principles will eventually erode.

Most people don’t enjoy confrontation, in fact they avoid it!  However, what you fail to confront you will not change.  In 1^st Samuel 17:10 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.”  In verse 16 it says the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.  Talk about repetition.

King Saul and the rest of his army failed to confront the problem at hand.  They went to bed at the end of the day and then they got up the next day with the expectation that their problem would just go away.  But each day the Philistine continued to present himself.  King Saul and his army ignored him and failed to deal with their problem.

Problems don’t go away, addictions don’t go away, and marriage problems don’t go away.  You can’t sleep them off in hopes that tomorrow things will be different.  In fact, your problems won’t go away until you face them.  It can be overwhelming when thoughts and words come your way  taunting you and driving you to the ground with words that say “you can’t do it,” or “you won’t make it,” or “you’re not good enough.”  Mix those words with other insecurities or weaknesses and you have the recipe for going nowhere fast!

In 1^st Samuel, it took David, a man who knew His God, a man of faith and experience.  After first slaying the lion and then the bear, he knew what God would do for him to confront this Philistine.  All of the men of Saul’s army had this opportunity, but only David acted on it.

You have to be willing to seek God for the strength, direction and solutions to your problems.  And then be bold enough and confident enough IN HIM to put them into action. Go ahead, take your giants head on, you will succeed!