Facing the Giants (2)
(Trusting God in tough times)
1 Samuel 17:45-49
In the Armenian sermon my
first point was
1. Trusting God despite upcoming obstacles.
2. Trusting God means declaring (revealing) that you
Trust God
Goliath was verbally
threatening the Israelites and their God. Everyone was scared and was trying to
escape. When he heard the threat, David verbally announced that he would challenge
this man with the HELP of God.
“Who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (v26)
“The LORD who
delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me
from the hand of this Philistine”. (v37)
“You come against me with
sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty,
the God of the armies of
-In the New Testament we read
about a woman who was suffering with bleeding for twelve years. When she heard
about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because
she thought touching Jesus’ clothes with faith would heal her. She was healed
immediately. Now Jesus stopped and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark
5:21-31) Why Jesus wanted the woman to reveal
her faith? She was hiding and her faith was enough to heal her, yet she wanted
to touch Jesus in the crowd so no one would notice it. Jesus wanted to reveal her faith. Jesus wanted her to affirm her
faith publicly. There is healing in declaring your trust in God.
-Yesterday, I spoke with a young pastor’s wife
who lost her husband. He was a pastor, a healthy man, who had a heart attack
while performing a baptism in the church. She is now a widow with two very young
children. I asked her how she was managing. She said, “I walk day by day with God’s grace
trusting God to lead me every day.”
Exposing your life to God is
good. Declaring that you believe in God, and more, trusting in Him despite the
circumstances is healing and powerful. David did that.
3. Trusting God does not mean being passive.
Lately I have been listening to
a series of lectures from a famous Old Testament teacher, Bruce Waltke. In one of his lectures, he tells how he loves
playing with his grandchild. One of their favorite games is David and Goliath.
Of course he will be Goliath and his grandson will be David. They use ping pong
balls as the stones that David used. Waltke taught his grandson that he should throw the ping
pong saying, “The battle is the Lord’s; by the help of God I will throw this
ping pong” and he (Bruce) would fall down. Once the grandson threw the ping
pong, and the grandfather did not fall down. Then he remembered he should have
said, “by the help of God.” Another time the grandson said, “By the
help of God fall down” but did not throw the ping pong. Obviously the grandfather
did not fall. You see the professor was
teaching his grandson that David trusted in God’s help and did not stand and
watch.
David first convinced the king
that he was a brave shepherd, and he knew how too
protect his flock from wild animals. Then he was armed like a warrior. That was
not his style. He took off all the heavy accessories and he fought like
shepherd. He used his brains to find the weakest point of this giant, and then
you know the story.
Trusting God means also being
ready to put all your abilities in God’s hand so God can work through us.
4. Trusting God means not to give up despite what others do and say.
Jesse’s sons were in the
army. They did not like to see that their brother David in the camp. David’s
oldest brother Eliab was not happy at all and he rebuked David for leaving the flock
and coming to watch the war. (v17:28-30)
David was angry, but that did
not stop him from telling the king he could challenge this GIANT. David trusted
God.
The woman who touched Jesus
was considered unclean. She could not touch anything; she could not sit on a
chair. She did not pay attention to her religious regulations. She risked it
all and touched Jesus. She trusted Jesus.
Do you have people who mock
your faith in God?
Do you have people who discourage
you from trusting God?
5. Trusting God means to know him in at ALL TIMES.
Not just when there is a crisis.
Not just when things are good and trusting makes sense.
David was a man of God all
his life, in all situations.
It is not wise to turn to God
only when one is facing a crisis.
Let me ask you these tough
questions so you can examine yourself:
-Did we trust God when
everything was plenty?
-Did we ask God’s will when
we were doing financially well?
- Does our trust in God
depend on circumstances?
In order to trust God we must
know Him in an intimate, personal way.
Listen to what King David said
about trust in Psalm 9:10
“Those who know your name will trust in
you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”
It is not just knowing facts
about God. The Word of God is not just any documentary book. It is a book of
life. It is seeking God when you are in pain or in joy. It is to know Him by
name. It is seeking God when it makes sense or when it does not make sense. No
wonder I push you as your pastor to be part of a Bible Study group. You cannot
know God in dreams. You cannot know God by just listening to sermons. You need
to know God personally, through Jesus our Savior who helps you know God in an intimate
way.
This sermon is for you if you
feel 2009 is going to be terrible year.
This sermon is for you if you
are worried about your job.
This sermon is for you if you
think you will face financial problems.
-God is calling you learn to
trust in Him. Learn to have an intimate relationship with God. God is telling
you, “Spend time with me.” (prayer)
-We had a deficit. Great,
this means we will learn not trust in our finances; it means God is calling us
to learn to trust in Him.
- God is calling you to be
wise in planning and using your resources wisely.
-Did we prioritize our
finances?
-People are talking about
savings. People are trying to find ways to cut unnecessary expenses. You know
where the problem is. We should not use money anyway in unnecessary expenses
even when we were doing well financially. PRIORITY is not a word in crises only.
It is a word in all times.
In the insert you can find
some tips about how to manage your finances.
But most of all, I am
challenging you to learn to trust God.
May God help you to trust Him.
Amen