Choosing to Fight

Choosing to Fight

My natural tendency is to run. To hide. I don't like facing up to difficult or uncomfortable situations. I never have. I generally flee from conflict. From hardness. From danger.

But, David wasn't given this luxury. At least, he didn't claim it. I suppose he could have if he had chosen to. (I Samuel 17)

Life has giants. It just does. They are there whether we ask for them or not. We might be like David, faithfully watching over his father's sheep. Minding the business before us. But there was Goliath. And he was David's enemy. He was David's giant to overthrow. David could have hid. He could have run. But he didn't. He chose to not only overthrow his enemy, but to also overthrow his fear. God was on his side. God enabled him to stand. To fight. To overcome. 



Webster's definition of a giant is this:

1 : "an imaginary person of great size and strength."

2 : "a person or thing that is very large, successful, or powerful."



Some giants are very real and standing right in front of us. Physical things. Circumstantial. Evil oppression. Wrong doings. Wounds. While other giants, are imaginary. I think this is why Christ Jesus told us, "Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"; These could be things of our mind. As simple as, a negative thought. A wrong thought. Depression. Feelings.


Giants come in all shapes and disguises. We all have them somewhere in our lives. Whether in our past, our present, or near future. But one thing is certain. A giant must be defeated. And it must be defeated completely. And it can only be defeated by being faced boldly. David would never have defeated Goliath by running away or staying outside the camp with the sheep. In the same way, you will never defeat your giant by running or delaying or hiding either. How often I have tried to do this. But we forfeit what is meant to be our victory! And others suffer for it. David, although surrounded by an army of fellow soldiers, stood before Goliath alone. He didn't have a crowd behind him. At least, not one that was helping him. We must to be willing and ready to fight alone. Often our biggest enemy is discouragement, and often that comes from the people who are on our side of the camp. Like David's brothers. But, praise God, we are given an infallible weapon! Faith. David said, "I come in the name of the LORD". And that is the exact same name, to which we are promised, "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess". When God tells you to slay a giant, He also gives you the weapon in order to defeat it. David couldn't trust Saul's armor. We cannot just depend on what others suggest we fight with. It doesn't work. We go with God. And we go with what God gives us. We have nothing to fear from giants. We have all we need to stand strong. To stand confident. To stand ready. To stand victorious. We only have much to lose from ignoring them. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "There are two ways of dealing with adversity. One way, the easier, is to ignore it altogether. I have got about as far as that. The other and more difficult way is to face up to it and triumph over it. I can't manage that yet, but I must learn to do it."