BY: Courtney Goad
Instagram: @courtneygoad_
You can find these incredible giants in Louisville KY. Thomas Dambo is an artist based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Thomas makes beautiful and fun projects out of “trash” / recycled materials. Dambo transforms by-products or unwanted items into new materials, thereby reducing waste. These three giants are all made from recycled and re-purposed wood – including storm debris, bourbon barrel staves and scrap from the local Louisville Slugger Bat Factory. You can find them in several states in the US and also overseas.
“I place my giant trolls so people have to go away from their smartphones and into nature to find them. I think the most beautiful things you find in life are not the things you see outside your window but find when you get lost and go on a detour on the journey to your destination. By doing this he hopes to inspire people to have fun and think of trash as a resource.” – Thomas Dambo”
While admiring the giants that Thomas Dambo had created I began thinking of how we all will face giants at some point in our lives. And by giants, I am speaking of daily life problems and circumstances. It could be a giant of fear, depression, temptation, and the list goes on. Often times, you may find yourself wondering how you will ever overcome this certain situation.
Too often, we as people define God by the size of our problem instead of defining our problem by the size of our God. Think about it, we turn to God only when we have a need and in so doing we box God into the shape and exact size of the problem we face. Our focus needs to be on Him who is far bigger and greater than anything when we can ever imagine. While we may look the part on the outside, deep inside we know there should be more victory, freedom, and joy. We are simply not overcoming the giants in our lives, something is holding us back. We face the reality of various giants all around: at work, at school at home and in all life’s adventures. They appear so big and impossible and in many instances, we have just accepted them. In doing so, we have allowed their power to become come to our bondage. This bondage becomes our new normal.
The Israelites lived in defeat for forty days until an unlikely hero arrived. Unnoticed by those around him, David was a young man whose victory over Goliath began in obscurity. His story, like most of ours, started in a place of insignificance. David’s life is a testimony to us that victory begins wherever we are right now. Goliath was not the first “giant” that he faced and he would not be David’s last. In understanding how David was victorious, we also learn how to become giant slayers in our home, our relationships, and in our workplace.
It must have been incredibly scary to stand before a giant, and even scarier to do it without a sword. If we can picture the scene, I do not know many of us that would have had the courage to do what David did and put down the sword and take off the armor. There is more than a small measure of vulnerability here! God wanting us to get victory in our lives sounds wonderful until you tell people that the key to victory lies within them. Then all of a sudden they do not really believe that a ‘sling and stone” can win the battle. People do not think they have what it takes. Their giftings are not the “right” ones. If they could only have Saul’s shiny armor they could do it. Not only do they not believe that victory can be obtained in the “now” but they are insecure about the weapons they have been given.
I wonder what David must have thought when he bent down to select the stones that would fill his pouch and be his weapon against Goliath. There must have been a brief moment of inner tension when the reality of his fight sunk in. Were there any second thoughts in ‘the calm before the storm’? God was willing and able to use David just as he was. David was all God needed, nothing more, nothing less. When we yield ourselves to God, He will use us as we are. We do not have to spend the rest of our lives looking at what God is doing in and through others. We simply have to yield ourselves to the Lord, and He will raise us up to do the impossible.
After hearing Goliath’s threats, David immediately and boldly calls forth his victory in the Lord. What is amazing to notice in the passage is that David tells Goliath that he will cut off his head. Yet, if you recall, David did not have a sword. David must have been eyeing the sword of the nine-foot giant. Not only did the sword fail to intimidate David, but he already saw it as his! David not only saw the victory over the giant, but he claims the weapon of the giant as his very own. While most people would have been afraid of the sword coming against them, David claimed that very thing for the purposes of the Lord’s victory. After Goliath fell, “David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the scabbard. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword” (1 Samuel 17: 51). So often we fear the ‘sword of Goliath.’ It is hard to have faith when we see what is coming against us. And yet, if God uses all things for the good of those who love him (Romans 8: 28), then even the worst situations can bring about something good. This is easier said than believed. It can be easy to profess faith in overcoming giants. But it is a different story when a real giant shows up with a real sword that can potentially destroy us. It is hard to balance God’s faithfulness during certain circumstances, sometimes we can only see the sword. The challenge is to take each situation and ask God how He wants to grow us and to see that He may have a good purpose for us through what we see, even when things are at their worst.
What a victory it was as David boldly defeated the giant Goliath, armed only with a slingshot and five smooth stones. And it was all because a little shepherd boy answered the call of God. So how do we apply this story to our daily life? We need to recognize that we all have giants. We all face severe hardships and obstacles. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful, He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can handle. That is why giants defeat us again and again—because we face them in our own strength and we lose. We need to realize this is the Lord’s battle. .Goliath had come into the actual territory of the Israelites. He had crossed their line. He was taunting them. And if you tolerate a Goliath, he will take over your territory. He will come right up on your doorstep. Whatever your giant may be, force it into the light of day. Stop rationalizing it. Stop excusing it. Realize you cannot defeat it in your own strength. We also learn from this story that we must attack our giants. If you tolerate a giant, he’ll take over your territory. He will come right up onto your doorstep. That’s why you do not run from giants, you attack them. That’s what David did. As Goliath moved closer to attack, David ran quickly to meet him. David did not just hold his ground; he ran in Goliath’s direction. And he did not just attack his giant; he finished him off. Every giant is conquerable. Let’s face our giants in faith and realize that God is bigger than any problem than any obstacle we will face in life
Many of us have forgotten who we are, we have forgotten that we are children of the Living God, and sons and daughters of The King. We fail to see our inheritance, which was provided through the cross. We have settled for a life that was never meant for us. The giants in our lives have become our stopping point. And the lies of the enemy have defined us. However, we do not have to let it define us forever. The fact that God used a stone in the hand of a young shepherd boy to slay a giant is compelling evidence that God can accomplish victory in any situation. He does not need things to be perfect. He does not need us to be holier than we already are. He simply needs us to believe in Him. If it is about how holy we can become before God can use us, then it was never about Him. God’s strength is indeed made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12: 9).
The story of David is the story of each of us. God used a boy to defeat a giant is a message about how God wants to use each of us individually. David did not look like a victorious giant slayer. Neither did he look like a king. In the same way, we do not see ourselves as victorious. We believe we do not have much to offer. As a result, we resign ourselves to slavery. Intimidated by the giants around us and shackled by sin, victory has become a word we use, but not a realm we live in. The bondage we find ourselves in is an affront to the finished work of the cross, and it diminishes faith in the living God. The fact that God used a stone in the hand of a young shepherd boy to slay a giant is compelling evidence that God can accomplish victory in any situation.
How long since you loaded your sling and took a swing at your giant? Lift your eyes, giant-slayer. The God who made a miracle out of David stands ready to make one out of you. Just keep in mind, there is no victory without a fight.
Leave a comment