Facing the Giants

At times in life, we have the occasional giant that crosses our path. Have you ever had a giant in your life? It might be a tyrannical boss, or it could be a middle school bully. Sometimes our giant is an adventure that seems too much for us to be able to handle at the time, maybe climbing a rock wall. I personally do not like heights.

These giants are formable, but normally they don't pop in our lives too often, thankfully. But the type of giants that occur on a more regular basis are the ones that show up in our dreams, causing us to wake up in a cold sweat or exhausted from the stress. These giants may follow you around, dragging you down emotionally, introducing thoughts of self-doubt, making you feel like you aren't good enough, or maybe that nobody likes you. Maybe your giant is fear or anxiety that exhausts you as you do battle with this giant daily. Or maybe your giant is a workload that never seems to get smaller. Piles of laundry, loads of dirty dishes, tubs full of dirty children, countless errands to run, numerous bills to pay, and that ever-growing grass that never seems to stop growing and always needs to be mowed. We all have our own personal giants of life. Some of them are physical, but often they are mental, emotional, or spiritual. Throughout the Bible, we have been provided countless stories of men and women who battled their giants, men and women of faith, just like you and me, who didn't have the strength on their own to prevail, but did so solely through the power and the mighty hand of God. Giants that were too big to overcome, giants that had existed their whole life, physical giants who mocked them and made fun of them, and mocked their God, and mocked our God, just as in the case with David. Psychological giants that caused them to make poor decisions. As I already stated, God's Word provides us with tools necessary to battle and overcome the giants of our lives. Our spiritual swords can be made sharp, and our spiritual armor can be made strong. Yet we must still face and battle the giants in our lives. So today, let's explore the basic building blocks to facing and battling the giants in our lives.

This isn't anything new. These are things we have probably studied and looked at from time to time. Hopefully, we'll take a little bit of a different angle, maybe with some of the scriptures we use. But I'd like to look at these basic building blocks that we must implement and use as we face and battle the giants in our lives. So let's dive right into these building blocks and start with the first one. Point number one, we must have a solid understanding, belief, and faith in God and His righteousness. This is nothing new to us. We know that everything starts with God, everything starts with His Word, everything starts with His truth, and with us believing it, and then us implementing it in our lives.

This is the beginning of having wisdom, as we're told in scripture. Let's open our Bibles this afternoon. First, the book of Proverbs, chapter 1, because the book of Proverbs opens with instructions to finding the path of knowledge. Proverbs, chapter 1. Here at the very beginning, it starts out by saying, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, and we believe the beginning here, he's talking, most likely wrote this, most likely to encourage his own sons.

It says, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, and this is the purpose of these Proverbs that he was to write, to receive the instruction of wisdom, of justice, of judgment and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear an increased learning, a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb or an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles.

And this is the key, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, befools, despise wisdom and instruction. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Let's flip ahead to Proverbs 9 to continue this thought. Proverbs 9 verse 9. Again, from the book of Proverbs 9 and verse 9, we're given this instruction. It says, give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser.

Teach a just man and he will increase in learning. And here in verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Remember how the last passage in Proverbs 1 verse 7 said it's the beginning of knowledge. Here, we're told it's the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me, your days will be multiplied and years of life will be added to you.

And then there's a beautiful Psalm in Psalm 111 verse 1 that I'd like us to read through today. Psalm 111 and verse 1. Again, we know everything starts with God. All knowledge, all understanding, all wisdom. This isn't mine and yours. I remember that prayer often as I consider the messages I'm sharing and as we all gather here together. This book, this is not my knowledge. This is not my wisdom. This is God's wisdom that he gave us to edify us, to strengthen us, to lead our lives in a powerful way when we're dealing with our own struggles or dealing with those giants in our life.

And as we read through the Psalm 111, consider the power in these words as we read through here and the excitement that we have in God that he wants us to live this way of life and all that he has for us. Psalm 111, and starting right off in verse 1, it says, Praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious and his righteousness endures forever. He has made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear him. He will ever be mindful of his covenant, those promises that he's made to you and me that we can hang our hat on.

It goes on in verse 6, He has declared to his people the power of his works in giving them the heritage of nations. The works of his hands are very injustice and his precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do his commandments. His praise endures forever.

We know that knowledge and understanding of God's word and his instruction, of course, is that very first beginning steps to overcoming our giants. We're listed through here. We just see how amazing our Father is. Everything that he has given to us in knowledge and in wisdom and in physical health and blessings that we're able to perceive and ultimately to have redemption. To have our sins forgiven.

To have a new purpose. A new path that we can walk. And we just see this as we go through that passage. Just how great our God is and that he gives us this basis to start our life on. This basis to overcome weaknesses that we have and to grab and to face our giants and then to do battle with them. This is, of course, the basic step of all the other steps that I'll share with you today.

But we must start there knowing that God's word is true and it's solid and it's to be part of our life. But the second point that we must remember as we face those giants, we must analyze and understand the makeup of our giants. We must analyze and understand the makeup of our giants.

What are the giants? What are the weaknesses or the challenges that you are dealing with in your life today? I think if I pause the sermon right now and said, let's go around the room, we'd fill it up. We'd be here until tomorrow because our lives are challenging at times and we all have unique things that are going on. As I was thinking through the sermon, I couldn't stop thinking of so many people, so many of my brothers and sisters here in Ann Arbor and Detroit, and the challenges that they're facing. My mind just kept spinning because I don't think any of us are immune to a giant that we're doing battle with today. In the Book of Numbers, we have recorded for us the account of the Israelites being brought to the doorsteps of the Promised Land. They are able to now see and taste and to picture with their own eyes, no longer is it a dream. Maybe what is God going to bring us to? They're at the doorstep of what God wanted them to inherit and all that God had brought them through, leaving Egypt, of the miracles of parting the Red Sea, and all these things that he had done, they're at the doorstep. And they were instructed to send spies, one from each tribe, so twelve in total, to search out the Promised Land that God was going to give them. And in Numbers 13 and verse 25, we have the report of the spies. Numbers 13 and verse 25. I love how this passage is described because I think you and I, as we read it, we could picture ourselves there, whether we're one of the spies, hopefully we're the Caleb or Joshua. We're picturing ourselves of one of them, but we could also probably picture ourselves as the Israelites themselves. The way that this passage is described as the report goes through, you can just feel the tension that is here in these words. Numbers 13 and verse 25.

And it says, and they returned from spying out the land after forty days. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron, to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Peron and at Kadesh. And they brought back word to them and to all the congregations and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him and said, We went to the land where you sun us.

It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Remember they had a bundle of grapes? I don't remember what you call it. What is that thing that all the grapes hang on? But they had it and it was between two poles. It was so great. I almost think of it as plumb-sized grapes or something like that. This is what they brought back and they were sharing and they were able to see the fruit of this land, this blessing that God was about to give them. Verse 28 says, We saw the descendants of Aenach there.

Of course, the descendants of Aenach were a race of abnormally large people. They may have been between seven and nine feet tall. That would be my dream team for putting a basketball team together if I could. Seven to nine foot tall men and probably women, too, as well. And so these were the descendants of some of the land that God was going to give them that was living there at this time. If you jump to verse 13, it says, So this is that report that they had just talked about.

And so Caleb then speaks up, one of those twelve spies who went in there, and he says, And then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.

Here's that power of one of the spies who had seen it with his own eyes, but yet he had faith in God. He had no doubt in his mind. He was ready to do battle, ready to go forth. But verse 31, But the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants.

And all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak, come from the giants. And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. So these giants, these huge men, saw the Israelites, and they recognized him as being weak and feeble, not able to care for themselves.

You've got to remember, Israel was not an army. It wasn't a trained army. They didn't have all the weapons of warfare. They didn't have the horses. They didn't have the chariots. They didn't have all the implements of war. Yet, and here, these giants, they were trained. They had fortified cities. They had weapons of warfare. And so here we have the issue. Here we have our giant. As we consider that we must analyze and understand our giants, what are the giants? What are the weaknesses or challenges you are dealing with today? As we heard in our sermonette, is it political or social views that are all around us and ingrained into the fabric of this nation?

Regardless of your political view or involvement, I believe we all have concerns about the leadership in this country and the direction we are heading as a whole. Regardless of political views, again, we can easily see that this nation is not moving closer to God and his standards, regardless of who's in control of the White House or who has the most power in Congress. The current state and political unrest in this nation could be one of your giants.

Maybe your giant is a health issue that seems to go unresolved and you feel you are losing hope that it will ever get better. When giants show up in the form of health challenges, we can't help but to have our breath taken right out from us. The giants go right to our core and have a way of stirring emotion deep inside of us. Often the feelings and emotions are so real, they feel like a physical part of our body. Our health challenges seem like a physical part, like a third arm, a fourth ear.

Hopefully you don't have a third ear, but if you did, it would be like a fourth ear. Or maybe a sixth finger on your hand. They feel that real. They feel that challenging to us. And it grabs our thoughts. It grabs our feelings. Maybe this is your giant. Maybe your giant is a fear of the present or future situation that's happening in your life. Sometimes we think, if today is bad, oh boy, I can't imagine what tomorrow's going to bring.

We could have a fear that grips our mind and heart and just seems like it won't let go. Could be a financial fear about our family or about our jobs. Could be a fear about something that is affecting our family, something that's going on in our midst. That is hurting our heart, creating fear, creating just this tension within our lives. Or maybe your giant is a weakness you have in following God's way. So we stated at the beginning, God's Word provides us the way we are to live our lives.

And when we fail to heed His instructions in righteousness, we sin and fall short of the standard that God has set. Maybe these are sins that exist in your life. Big sins, small sins. These are relative terms that we sometimes put on them because to God, all sin is sin. He doesn't view sins as large or small. Sometimes we, in our own minds, battle that challenge. We know the grip that our sin has on our life.

We know the struggle it is to overcome these giants in our lives. What are your giants? What are the things that you need to analyze and to consider and to think about as you prepare to face these giants? As you prepare to face and do battle with these giants?

We must take time to evaluate and determine and think about. And these aren't things we normally want to do. We don't want to bring up what is it our fears are. I don't know if this is a guy trait or not. Sometimes challenges that come up, I'd rather just push off to the side. Let's worry about that tomorrow. I don't feel like worrying about it today. I've got enough on my plate to worry about. And so that's sometimes my first reaction to things. But we must analyze. We must consider what are the giants in our lives.

The third point to consider as a basic building blocks when we face and battle our giants. Again, elementary, you're going to say you've heard this a hundred times, but we must take these giants to God. We must take these giants to God. It's too basic of an answer, right? Seems basic, but I know at different times in my life I have started problem solving before taking it to God.

I started coming up with a solution to how I'm going to deal with my giant before I took it to God. It's a tendency I think we've all done, and a tendency we have, and I think it's something that we've all done at times.

Maybe before taking it to God, you did internet research on something. For me, Dr. Google is the scariest place for me to go when I have a health challenge or something going on.

Dr. Google is not wise places to start.

Before taking it to God, maybe you took it to friends or family to get their ideas or their advice.

Or maybe before taking it to God, you had to fight fear and anxiety within your own mind about these things.

As we continue to consider Caleb and these spies, let's look at Numbers 14 in verse 1 now.

And consider that we must take our giants to God.

Numbers 14 and verse 1. The story continues.

So all the congregation lifted up their voice and they cried, and the people wept that night.

And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, If only we have died in the land of Egypt, or if only we have died in this wilderness, why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?

So they said to one another, Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.

As you have faced your giants and maybe not took them to God at first, have you had other outside fears come in, other outside ideas come in, other outside weeping?

happen, as they did here. We don't see one time through this passage just saying, Hang on, hang on, we've got to take this to God first. Hang on, God has brought us this far. He's not going to leave us here to die. We don't read that right here.

Reading through this passage, you can feel the panic setting in. You can feel the suddenness that they are all talking about. Imagine the stirring of this huge camp.

People looking at one another and thinking, Who's going to be our leader? I don't know. I like that guy. He's a pretty good guy.

People saying, Well, what about my children? I just had this beautiful baby born to my family. What are we going to do? Just reading through this, you can feel the tension that is building. And at no point, again, do they pause and take their literal giant to God. These are literal giants that they had that they were facing, but they don't take them to God.

But Joshua and Caleb did try to redirect the congregation back to God. We see that in verse 6, continuing on. Numbers 14, verse 6. But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephona, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes. And they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land we possess, though to spy out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

This is that account that I wish we would have saw at the beginning, right? As we read through that. That if this would have been the attitude the Israelites would have had, can you imagine the way that God would have blessed them? If they would have taken their giant to God. If they would have laid it at his doorstep and said, God, we don't know how this is going to work out, but you do. And so we're giving it to you. We know there's multiple stories when we read through the Old Testament accounts of God's people going up against their incredible giants. And the times it didn't go well are the times that they took it upon themselves and said, Let's go and take the city. Let's go and fight this army. Let's go and do these things because they were doing it under their own rationale. And more often than not, they faltered and they fell. Lives were lost. But we see so many times, time and time again, when they said, Hang on, let's go see what God wants us to do here. Let's ask for his leadership. And some of the things that God inspired them to do seemed crazy. Some of the times where he said, OK, pick this number of people and then divide it and then have this group. And it kept getting smaller. These men who were going to go battle. Or they would battle these kings that actually gathered together because they saw how Israel was coming into the Promised Land, how they took the city of Jericho, how they took the city of A.I. And they all of a sudden said, Wow, if they can go up against these cities and take them so easily, what are they going to do to all the rest of us? Let's group together. Let's get our armies together. And the numbers were ridiculous. And again, Israel didn't have the chariots. They didn't have the horsemen. These other nations did. And they brought them all up, getting ready to fight. And God said, Don't worry about it. I've got this. And hailstones. It says, hailstones came down from heaven and devoured them and just killed them all. These could have been even maybe physical stones. If nothing else, blocks of ice that wiped out these armies. They didn't even have to do a single thing because they took it to God. And God was the one who led them through. When we pause and we take our giants to God, God can set all things up in the proper order if we let Him. When we do these things and we give it to God, it's funny how that next week at Sabbath services, the perfect person comes up to us to encourage us. Or when we start our internet research and we go to Dr. Google, the first article we find, it's funny how it sets us on the right path. Or the next time we open God's Word, the Bibles that we have in our labs, how amazing it is that sometimes you open it right to a scripture that is exactly what you needed for that day.

God so much wants a relationship with each of us. He wants to know what is on our minds. He wants us to talk to Him as we would a perfectly loving and understanding Father. But the majority of Israel, not having faith in God and not taking their giants to God by doing those things, He ultimately judged the majority of those living, disqualified from receiving the promise of the land He had for their inheritance.

At this point, as this point iterates, we must take our giants to God and share our concern with these giants, with our eternal Father. Because Israel did not, because they had fear in their hearts, because they murmured, because they wanted to go back to something that was disastrous for them. Egypt? That's their best option! God said, you're going to wander for 40 years. And those of all adult age, you're not going to get to see this promise land, except for Joshua and Caleb. We must take our giants to God. It seems like a trivial point, doesn't it? It seems like it's too basic. But we know from Scripture, and we know from our own lives, that this is what we must do. We have to take them to God, asking for His help, His guidance, His deliverance. The fourth point, after doing that, is we need to be calm, and we need to look, and we need to evaluate how God will provide deliverance from our giant. We need to be calm and look, and we need to be calm, we need to look, and we need to evaluate how God will provide deliverance from our giant. Most times, this is the hardest part. I think we can all agree this is probably the most difficult part of the process. Waiting on God, pausing our lives, not pausing our lives, but pausing our minds to start fixing, to start doing. If you are one that has found this to be easy, please come talk to me after services, because I want to pick your brain. I want to learn how you've somehow figured out this is the easy part or that this is not a challenge for you. Because we've all taken things to God, and for me, being patient and waiting on God is hard. It is so hard. Let's turn to Psalm 27 and verse 1. Psalm 27 and verse 1.

I think us guys have an even harder time. We seem to be fixers. That's what my wife tells me. Just listen to me. I don't need you to fix me. We like to fix things, and so when we have our challenges and we've evaluated them, we know what our giants are, and we've taken it to God and we left it at His feet, I know I like to get into fixing mode, problem-solving mode. Here in Psalm 27, we have an encouragement from David. Here he says, So imagine, as we read through this passage, David resting, David evaluating what's going on. He sees the dangers. He sees his giants. But look at how God provides deliverance. Verse 4.

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. He's got that forward thinking, that forward vision that He's keeping there of what God wants Him to do. For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle, He shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. Therefore, I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing praises to the Lord. Here, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. When You said, Seek my face, my heart said to You, Your face, Lord, I will seek.

What an encouraging thing to think on in the midst as we wait for God. That waiting is hard, but when we think about what God wants us to do, when we can offer praise to Him, when we can picture what He wants to do in our lives, we can picture that overcoming of life, overcoming of our giants, and not knowing when it's going to happen, but knowing in His goodness He will make these things happen, knowing that His eternal plan were to be part of. These are what we can put our thoughts on as we're in our waiting moments. Continuing on in verse 9, He says, Do not hide your face from Me, do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been My help, do not leave Me nor forsake Me, O God of My salvation. When My Father and My Mother forsake Me, then the Lord will take care of Me. Teach Me your way, O Lord, and lead Me in a smooth path because of My enemies. Do not deliver Me to the will of My adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against Me in such as breath out violence. He says, I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He acknowledges it's hard to wait. It's not fun to wait. But He says, I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And then verse 14, Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. It's so hard to wait. Too often we take our giants to God, but then two minutes later, after getting up from our knees, we start looking for the answers. Too often we rush to make a decision or decide the next direction to go. It takes faith not to act. It takes faith to wait on God. But what was it that we heard in the Psalm of David? The Life Application Study Bible says this about the passage we just read through. It says, Waiting for God is not easy. Often it seems that He isn't answering our prayers or doesn't understand the urgency of our situation. That kind of thinking implies that God is not in control or is not fair. But God is worth waiting for. We are called to hope in and wait for the Lord because often God uses times of waiting to refresh, renew, and teach us. It finishes up here, the Life Application Bible does. It says, Make good use of your waiting times by discovering what God may be trying to teach you in them.

Often when dealing with our giants, we learn more about who we are and what God can do for us as we wait. As we focus on our giants, as we take our giants to God, we learn more about who we are and what God can do for us. This doesn't mean we just go through and we sit still and we never do anything. We do have to go on living life. We have to go on taking care of ourselves.

We have to go on caring for those around us. We have to go on strengthening our relationship with God. And it means we still have to continually evaluate how God wants you and me to face and to handle our giants. Back to the story of Caleb and the giants in the Promised Land. I don't think Caleb ever lost the thought of facing those giants. Those 40 years that he had to accompany Israel as they wandered in the wilderness, he never forgot those giants that he wanted to face. Those giants that he wanted to overcome. But he had to wait 40 years. He had to wait 40 years for God to give him an opportunity to face his giants. I've never had to wait on something for 40 years.

I didn't have a trial at age 3 that I'm still waiting to have resolved.

Yet Caleb waited for 40 years for that opportunity to come, which brings me to point 5. When God provides a direction, then it's time. Act on your giant. When that time and that day and that hour comes and he provides a direction for you or for me to go, it's time for us to act on our giant. This is one of those action parts of following God in your life. As we move through the phase of where we're looking for God's guidance, there comes a point where we need to take action. This means that we must be constantly ready to choose the path and to go forward.

As we move confidently, we must move forward with our eyes still wide open to evaluate what God is wanting us to do. Sometimes, though, we start down that path. We see God's blessing. A door opens and we start running. Our vision becomes tunnel vision. We just start focusing on that end goal. Sometimes we miss the mark that God is... That's the first door. There's multiple doors. He's opening multiple directions. We still have to keep our eyes and our vision open to the path that God is wanting us to go. We just spent time evaluating where He wants us to go, but then sometimes our nature wants us to stop evaluating at that point, to just plow through. And because we've been waiting for these decisions, we've been waiting for a door to open, I encourage each of us to go forward with confidence, but go forward with our eyes still wide open, still beseeching God, still taking it to God, asking God, I feel like this is where you want me to go. I'm going to take a step and go through this door. Continue to lead and guide me. Continue to show me and make sure that this is where I want to go, because it's like a room in a mansion. There's so many rooms in a mansion. You don't just go through the first door and just keep walking straight. Sometimes you have to turn in the hallway and go left. There's another door. You've got to go through that door, and then you go find there's another hallway, and you go down that hallway, and there's another door. We have to continue to evaluate our surroundings. We must go forward with confidence, but keep our eyes open. I think any of us who've prepared messages have felt that. There's been times I thought that God was inspiring a message. I sit down, start to write it, and before I know, I'm in left field. That God has taken me there. Not a place that I thought I was going to go, but I saw the inspiration. He took me someplace I didn't expect him to take me, but had I just plowed forward with my original idea, had I not been willing to consider that God is leading me and taking me someplace else, that message would not have been where he wanted it to go. What about handling a tricky situation in your own life? Have you ever had those? That you're not sure exactly the best way. There's four doors that you could all go, you could open. You don't know which one it is to continually take it to God. So you finally make a decision, you go through that first door. But if you just keep piling through that, maybe you realize that this isn't where I'm supposed to be. That's why we do go forward with confidence, but we make sure that God is continuing to guide us, continue to keep looking to him. As we continue to consider the story with Caleb, let's look at Joshua 14, verse 6.

I love the book of Joshua. It's to me like an action-adventure comic book. I think I've told you that before. It's something you can almost put yourself in the shoes of all these different men who had these adventures. Joshua himself, the things that he had to do at different times. And here in Joshua 14, verse 6, though, we're going to focus on Caleb again, because he's going to get his opportunity to face his giant.

Joshua 14, verse 6, The servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh, Barnia, to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless, my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. So this is as they're starting to divide up the Promised Land. They have conquered Jericho and they've conquered A.I. They have conquered and conquered and conquered. God has said it's time for peace. Divide up the land. And Caleb was one of the first to get his division. Even though he wasn't one of the twelve tribes, he was part of a tribe, he got to be one of the first to pick his land. Guess where he picked? Guess where he picked? He said, So Moses, verse 9, swore on that day, saying, Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God. Verse 10, he says, And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years ever since. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years. There's about up to this point five years of battles and conquest that happened. The Battle of Jericho, the Battle of A.I. So now five years have passed. That's what adds up to these forty-five years. He's eighty-five years old at this point. And he said, as he said in verse 10, these forty-five years ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness, and now here I am this day, eighty-five years old.

And yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me. I feel like I want to get pom-poms out and start cheering them on. Because he says, As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me, just as my strength was then, so now my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day. For you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, these giants, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. How powerful! For forty-five years, he'd never lost sight that he wanted this land. Not only did God promise it to him, but that he wanted to battle his giants. He wanted to take them out.

In verse 13, And Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb, the son of Jephana as an inheritance. Let's flip ahead to Joshua 15 in verse 13. Joshua 15 in verse 13 as we continue the account here. This is now to Caleb, the son of Jephana. He gave a share among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord, to Joshua, namely, Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak. So remember those giants? Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak. It wasn't good enough that Anak only had one son that you had to battle, not just one giant. He drove out three of his sons from there. Sheeshiah, Ahimah, and Talmia, the children of Anak. This amazing account that we have recorded in God's Word talks about how Caleb drove out the giants. Him, his sons, his grandchildren, all of those in his family. Caleb wanted this land. He wanted to face his giants. I wish this is the part that I can't wait to meet Caleb someday, because I want to hear how this went. We don't have recorded. It's another one of those gaps in God's Word. We don't have recorded how this occurred. I can't wait to hear the story of him facing his giants and running them out of town. When dealing with our giants, we have to remain as faithful as Caleb did. It took 45 years of waiting for Caleb to get his chance to drive out his giants. But when the time came, he was bold and he was confident, not in himself, but in God. Caleb was not afraid to take on the giants in his life. We also have to always trust that God will drive out the giants in our own lives as well.

Do you want to share one caution? We must be careful as we battle our giants not to act out of fear. There comes challenging times in our lives where our giants create an inward feeling of fear in our lives. Maybe that we can't handle it. Maybe we can't battle our giants. Maybe we can't overcome. Maybe this isn't the right path to walk. Maybe this won't work out the way that I'm praying about that I hope for.

But in 2 Timothy 1 verse 6, it's a memory scripture. 2 Timothy 1 verse 6 and 7. Let's go ahead and turn there. I don't like to just read or to breeze through scriptures. I like for our eyes to be on them. 2 Timothy 1 verse 6.

The Apostle Paul was talking to Timothy, reminding him of his past, reminding him of what he's always learned, what he was taught by his grandmother and mother, these instructions that you and I have, these instructions that you and I have been given, many of us, since being little kids on blankets. He reminds Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 verse 6. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. We don't have to approach our giants in fear. Fear likes to be that thing that Satan throws at us. Are you sure you can handle this? Oh, you've battled this giant your entire life. You think now you're going to get it? You think today you're going to have the strength to take on this giant? Where do those doubts come from? They come from Satan. They come from our human nature side. But God says he hasn't given us the fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. We have the ability with God's spirit to be calm in the face of storm or of fear. Often, our calm demeanor doesn't make sense to those around us. Have you ever seen somebody facing their giant head on? And yet they're at peace with it? It doesn't make sense. They're ready to tackle their giant. You're ready to run out the door. It doesn't make sense. But with God's spirit, we can do all things. We know that God's not going to leave us. He's not going to leave us hanging in a dire situation. So we don't have to make decisions based out of fear.

Even Jesus Christ said in Luke 12 and verse 8, we are given instructions by Jesus Christ himself. Let's turn there. Luke 12 and verse 8.

Because he says you're going to have times that you're going to get dragged in front of the authorities, the unrighteous leaders of your nation, maybe of your workplace, maybe of your school. You're going to have to account, why are you going to the feast? Why are you taking time off on Saturday? I need you to work. Everybody else is here working. Why are you not? These types of giants that sometimes you and I face, and we have to go and we have to take a stand. But Christ here in Luke 12 and verse 8 says, And then here's that passage I was talking about. Now, when you say, I'm not a man, I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man. I'm a man.

And then here's that passage I was talking about. Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates andology and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Again, we don't have to have fear when we face our giants. We shouldn't make decisions based out of fear when we face our giants, with our bosses, our teachers. Make that stand for God and His truth. Fear is a faith killer. It truly is. Fear just gets to the core of our faith and just starts trying to crumble that foundation that God's built in our lives.

So as we continue and as we conclude, we all have giants in our lives. Maybe that physical person in your life, that's an obstacle in your path. Or again, it could be a mentor, psychological giant, that you battle daily. But we have God on our side. We have the Creator of the universe as our support. We may have threats hurled our way, as David did when he faced Goliath. Or we may have to take a stand against our giants, as Caleb did. This land that he wanted, this land that God promised him, and he never for 45 years lost that vision of wanting to face those giants. The fact is that God is greater than any giant that you or I are going to face ever in our lives. We're eight weeks away from the spring holy day season that we so eagerly look forward to during these winter months. It's a time of inward examination, a time of reflection, and it's one of the best parts of it. It's a time of refreshing. A time that we can have that renewing of our spirit, that time we can go to God and have that renewing of that covenant we made to him at baptism. As we close, let's read again Psalm 111 in verse 1. We're going to have our giants. They're going to be formable. They're going to be big. They're going to be scary. They're going to be ugly. They're going to be in your and my life.

But if we keep Psalm 111 in the front of our mind, if we can go back to Psalm 111 from time to time when we feel our knees are shaking, when we feel like the foundation under our feet isn't solid, when we don't know if God can do what he promises he can do, when those doubts come into our mind, if we can go back to Psalm 111 and just focus on the words. Think about what is being said here. And remember, this is the God you and I have in our lives. This is the power that we have working within us. Not just on the outside, as a parent guides their child by reading their hand, that's not how God is working in mine and your lives. He's working from within. He's working with our hearts, with our minds from within, not just taking us by the hand, but leading us from within at the core of who we are. Psalm 111, verse 1, Praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them. His work is honorable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion. He has given food to those who fear Him. He will ever be mindful of His covenant. He has declared to His people the power of His works and given them the heritage of the nations. The works of His hands are of verity and justice. All His precepts are sure. They stand fast forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. He has sent redemption to His people. He has commanded His covenant forever. Holy and awesome is His name. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.