A personal reflection on pride, strength, leadership, self-reliance, and the uncomfortable possibility that sometimes the giant God is confronting is inside us.
FAITH
I AM GOLIATH
I like the story of David and Goliath.
It is easy to know who we are in that story. We are David.
But lately I have wondered if there are places in my life where I am not David at all.
What if I am Goliath?
“Pride rarely introduces itself as pride. Most of the time, it sounds like certainty.”
It sounds like knowing what needs to be done. It sounds like competence. It sounds like leadership.
And those things are good, until they become a wall that blocks God from my life.
Goliath wasn't defeated because he was weak; he was defeated because he was strong, and he thought his strength was all he needed.
“And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.”
— 1 Samuel 17:42, KJVGoliath looked at the situation with perfect confidence. He knew the odds. He knew his power. He saw only what was directly in front of him.
How often do I do exactly the same thing?
I look at a problem, and I rely on my experience. I trust my intellect, my skills, my ability to outwork everyone else in the room.
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
— Proverbs 16:18, KJV“Maybe the giant in my life is not standing in front of me. Maybe he is looking back at me in the mirror.”
It is uncomfortable to consider.
I am willing to fight giants, but I am less willing to realize I have become one.
When my first response to difficulty is strategy rather than prayer, I am acting like the giant.
When my confidence rests on what I have built rather than who God is, I am standing in the valley trusting my armor.
“Past victories can become dangerous when they convince me I no longer need God for the next battle.”
David understood where the real battle was fought.
“And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hands.”
— 1 Samuel 17:47, KJVThat kind of humility doesn't happen by accident. It is a choice.
“But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”
— James 4:6, KJV“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
— Matthew 18:4, KJVIf God resists the proud, then whenever I choose pride, I am asking God to stand against me. I am choosing the role of the giant.
I want to change that.
I want to stop trusting my own strength more than I trust the Sovereign.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:”
— Psalm 139:23, KJVBecause I would rather lose my pride than lose my ability to hear God. And I would rather be humbled now than spend my life becoming somebody I was never supposed to be.