"A ‘giant’ is a big, seemingly insurmountable problem or issue. Goliath was a giant. He was nine-feet tall, a champion, wearing heavy armour, standing and shouting, defying the people of God (1 Samuel 17:1–11). As well as physical giants, there are metaphorical ones. As the evangelist J John says, there are two possible attitudes when facing a giant. One is to say, ‘He is so big, there’s nothing I can do.’ The other is to say ‘He’s so big, I can’t miss!’
There are the ‘global giants’. These would include extreme poverty (as a result of which 30,000 children die each day), preventable disease (millions dying of diseases for which we have a relatively easy cure), the need for universal primary education (almost one billion people entered the twenty-first century unable to read a book or sign their name) and the need for worldwide water sanitation (which could be funded by the amount of money that Europeans spend on ice cream every year).
Then there are the giants faced in our society at a local and national level. In the UK these include knife crime, homelessness, the breakdown of marriage, family life and community, loneliness, exploding prison populations, failing schools, the decline of churches, church buildings closing and the rise of secularism and atheism. There is therefore the giant task of evangelising the country and transforming our society.
In addition, all of us, from time to time, will face giants in our own personal lives. These could include giant personal challenges in relation to your health, marriage, family, relationships or lack of relationships, job or lack of job, other work issues, or some sin or temptation or addiction or fear or loneliness or discouragement or debt.
The account of David and Goliath is obviously about tackling a giant. However, each of the passages for today tells us something about giant challenges.
Psalm 67:1-7
Think global
God loves the entire world. He wants every nation and peoples to know him, worship and love him.
The psalmist prayed for God’s blessing on his people in order that ‘your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations’ (v.2).
It is sometimes said that the people of God in the Old Testament did not have a vision beyond their own borders. However, we see in this psalm that the global vision was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.
The psalmist prays for the entire globe (vv.3–5). If we are to tackle the global giants we need a global vision. The words of this psalm are all about God. The size of your vision will be dependent on the size of your vision of God. As AW Tozer put it, ‘What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.’
Lord, be gracious to us and bless us. Make your face shine upon us. Make your ways known on earth and your salvation among all nations. May there be a global revival. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you."
1. May there be an internal revival, thank You for catching me every time I fall. Thank You, Lord.
2. Hallelujah for the gift of hands that we are able to use it to learn sign language.
3. Praise God for local experiences.
