Facing the Giants

Facing the Giants is one of my favorite movies. I love the "feel" good movies anyhow, but then you throw in God and football, it should have won the academy award. Well, at least the "Fighting Heart" award. We love the stories where the "underdog" beats the powerhouse giant. That's why one of the most beloved stories in the Bible is David and Goliath. Most of us have heard this story of the little boy who defeated the Giant, but I want to talk about the less talked about story of God's people being defeated by the giants before the battle ever began.

This story takes place in Numbers 13:

(v. 1)The Lord now said to Moses, "Send out men to explore the land I am giving you,

the Israelites...(v. 3) So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve

men. (v. 17). Moses gave the men these instructions as he sent them out to explore the

land:"Go north through the Negev into the hill country. See what the land is like, and

find out whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many..."

(vs. 27) This was their report to Moses: "We entered the land you sent us to explore, and

it is indeed a bountiful country-a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit

it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large. We even

saw giants there... (v. 30) But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before

Moses. "Let's go at once to take the land. We can certainly conquer it." But the other men

who had explored the land with him disagreed. "We can't go up against them! They are

stronger than we are! So they spread this bad report about the land...(Numbers 14:1)

(v. 3) "Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to die in battle?" (vs.7) Moses said to all the people, "The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us." (v 10) But the whole community began to talk about stoning them...Ad then the Lord said, "How long will these

people treat me with contempt? Will they ever believe me, even after all the miraculous signs

I have done among them....(v. 21) Surely as live, and as surely as the earth is filled with

the Lord's glory, not one of these people will ever enter that land."

God was giving them this land. He said, "send them out to explore the land I am giving them." The God of the universe promises these people this land, land flowing with milk and honey. Land like they have never known, but yet they never got to experience it because they chose to focus on the Giant and not God. It sounds crazy to us right? Wouldn't you believe the God of the universe? If God is for you who could be against you? What could giants do to you when you have God telling you, "Im giving you this land." It's sounds crazy, yet we do it ALL the time.

Jesus said, "I have come so that you may have life and have it to the full." (John 10:10) That is our promised land....and life to the fullest, more than we can ever imagine. But then there are the Giants.....

-Giants of fear

-Giants of depression

-Giants of disappointment

-Giants of regret

-Giants of discouragement

-Giants of doubt

-Giants of failure

-Giants of being overwhelmed

-Giants of thoughts of inadequacy

And Giant after Giant after Giant....all keeping us from entering the promised land of life to the full. So...how do we become a David and defeat the Giant and not an Israelite, wondering aimlessly because of the Giant? We don't tell God how big our Giants are, we tell the Giants how Big our GOD is!!!!!! God asked, will they ever believe me after all the signs? We must choose to remember time and time again that God has been faithful in the past and will be faithful again in the present and future. We remember all the little victories on this journey of life and trust God that more Victories will come. We will Believe God when he says, "I have come so that YOU may have life, and have it to the full!" We were not created to just stroll through life, but have it to the full. We were not created to just survive this life, but to have it to the full. We were not created to just "put up" with this life, but to have it to the full!

What Giants to you need to kill in order to have life to the full?