God, giants and me

It's easy to feel small.  If you don't feel that way already the world around you will make you aware of how small you really are.  And, of course, there are always those pesky giants to deal with.

My first encounter with the giants was in middle school (or, as we described it, Jr. High School).  I had never encountered giants before that time, but I ran into them there.  It surprised me at first because they didn't seem that big, but as fear grew of the bullies and their stories, these little giants became bigger and bigger.

Most of the giants I have encountered over the years have not been big in stature as the world would describe a giant, but they were big to me.  These giants caused fear, anxiety and the threat of harm or hurt if I got in their way or crossed them.

Today we each live with giants all around us, giants we fear and giants we avoid.  Others may not see them but we do!  They define our lives and challenge our faith. 

The reason the story of David and Goliath is so fascinating to us, especially when we were children, is that we all knew about other giants in our lives and to see someone like David slay his giant thrilled us and gave us hope.....maybe the giants can be beaten, maybe I don't have to cower in fear all my life.  Maybe I could slay my giants.

David gave us hope and a new vision of how to look at giants because he saw someone greater than the giant in front of him.  He saw and trusted God.  And when we trust God it makes our giants much smaller than we think they are.

One of my childhood giants was a boy up the street. He was my age, my height, but he was a bully...a giant.  He would sit on the roof of his garage after school and harass us as we walked home each day.  One day, for no reason at all, he hit my younger brother in the stomach.  When I heard of it and saw my brother's tears this giant had to be conquered.  In a rage of anger I went down the street and quickly dealt with my giant.  He never bothered us again. Never.

My giant killing days as a child were all done in a rage of anger, but the giants of our adult years are much bigger and anger, fists and a good fight will not conquer them.  Now, to deal with our giants, we need a big God.

When fear of the giants comes realize it's simply because you are not looking at a big God.  Giants can only grow in size when we lose sight of the God who is Lord of our lives.  When I see God right sized I've always discovered the giants seem to become much smaller than I ever imagined them to be.  When God is in your sights giants simply become target practice for our slingshots.