Facing the Giants
(Trusting God in tough times)
1 Samuel 17:32-37
Wherever I go to visit, I
hear “Badveli, 2009 is not looking very good.” I see people who are confused about an ambiguous
future. It seems 2009 looks like a
“giant” and we, small individuals, are facing a “giant” over which we have no
control. King Solomon, the wise man,
said in the Book of Proverbs, “Do not boast about
tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs
27:1). Every day we hear about layoffs,
foreclosures, and bankruptcy. We all are
in the same boat. Our church budget
closed the year with an unprecedented big deficit.
Beside this economic crisis,
we also hear about sudden deaths of beloved ones. We hear about health problems affecting a
loved one or us. We see the escalation
of the war in the
I am reading
a book called “Trusting God Even When Life Hurts” by Jerry Bridges. Let me quote this statement, “The moral will
of God given to us in the Bible is rational and reasonable. The circumstances in which must trust
God often appear irrational and inexplicable. The law of God is readily recognized to be
good for us, even when we don’t want to obey it. Yet the circumstances of our lives frequently
appear to be dreadful and grim or even tragic” (page 16). In his book, Bridges argues that it is easier
for Christians to obey God than to trust God. We obey laws, we obey Christ’s teachings, (sometimes we don’t). But concerning trusting Him, we hesitate, or
our faith is weakened.
In the beginning of 2009, we
as a church are preparing to have our congregational meeting. As your pastor and shepherd, my role is to prepare
you for this meeting. For me that
meeting is not just a business meeting. The decisions of this meeting should be based
on our spiritual life and commitment to Christ. We all agree that the year ahead looks pretty
shaky, yet we are children of our Lord, and our ruler is God Almighty who revealed
His love and sovereignty to us in His Word. Therefore, my message to all of us is that
although we are facing the “giants” and we feel “small”, yet we can face them
with the help of our God, who is greater than these circumstances. As a pastor, I hope I can help you learn to
trust God and obey Him in all circumstances.
King Saul was confused. Although
He believed in God, YHWH, but he trusted more in his own wisdom. He thought he took good decisions without
asking God. He was in front of a tough situation;
he was facing a well-equipped army, the Philistines. Yet instead of fighting as an army, the
Philistines sent a giant man (Goliath) to fight with one of the Israelites.
The challenge for the Israelites was, “Who
would be the one facing this giant?” We
read, “When Saul and all
1. Trusting God
despite upcoming obstacles:
Today’s passage is a great
one. David and Goliath, a young boy and
a 9-foot man fully armed with almost 250 extra pounds of armor. The picture represents impossibility. Here comes the issue of TRUSTING GOD when
it does not make sense. Everyone was
afraid, including the king. Everyone saw
an “impossible situation.” David was not
afraid to try, because he trusted God.
We will see more later in the English sermon.