FRIDAY May 17, 2019
Facing a Giant
And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.
1 Samuel 17:4-7
The Philistine champion Goliath came out to challenge Israel. His height was nine feet, six inches tall––that was tall! This well-known Philistine enemy was truly a giant. Goliath’s armor was about 150 pounds in weight. His spear weighed 20 pounds. Goliath was completely decked out––there was hardly a place on him that was not covered with armor. He was totally protected––ready for battle––a formidable foe.
Can you imagine him as he descended into the valley? He began to cry out to Saul and the men of Israel, “Hey, send someone to fight me!” He would intimidate Israel. They would look, tremble and run––they were all afraid. Goliath was a descendant of the Anakites (Deuteronomy 9:2 NIV). They had become such a thorn to the children of Israel. When the children of Israel were to take possession of the Promised Land, the spies they sent in gave them a bad report, causing them to disobey the Lord:
…“The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were likegrasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:32-33).
How would you feel if you had to face a giant such as Goliath?
He who fears God has nothing else to fear––we should stand in such awe of the living Lord that all the threats that can be used by the proudestpersecutor should have no more effect upon us than the whistling wind.
~C. H. Spurgeon~
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