Becoming a Giant Slayer

Entering into this moment of ever possible PEACE--

I make the CHOICE...

I see no other GUIDE,

I hear no other TRUTH,

I step only in the imprint of Your blazed trail;

and in THIS sacred moment,

the frightening & paralyzing fog proves no match

for YOUR PRESENCE

that hems me in behind and before...

There are giants in the land!  And they are big and tall and terrible giants. Some are so conspicuous they can be seen by the naked eye.  They are almost tangible to trembling human hands.  And it's true that before they round the corner you can catch a whiff of the the foul scent of  their wickedness.  And to attuned ears, even their tipped toed advances are heard.

Oh, but other giants are concealed...Yes, they are cleverly disguised.  In their masquerades they cover over pride and greed and lust and power and countless other lures.  Indeed, there have always been giants in our land--in our towns--in our backyards--in our lives!   

King David knew a thing or two about giants.  Indeed, he had seen his share of them.  And yes, he had a slain a few along the way.  As a young shepherd boy he had killed a lion and a bear.  You might say it was necessary training for a future "giant slayer"!  As a teenager he faced a giant of a man named Goliath.  A walking arsenal was this Goliath who stood over nine feet tall and carried 200 pounds of armor.  But on the day David faced this behemoth-sized foe, there was a greater giant that stared him in the face...Yes, David faced a giant of paralyzing fear standing in the ranks of the army of his beloved Israel.  And yet, resisting the jealous taunts from those nearest and dearest to him, David stepped past their cowering fear clothed in his simple shepherd's tunic.  Israel's King Saul tried his best to outfit the small and unprotected frame of this shepherd boy in his personal military armor.  Ahhhh, but the truth is this--you can't fight giants in just any ol' armor.  And so, David laid Saul's armor aside and wrapped himself in the power of God's mighty Spirit.   

It's true that the colossal Goliath fell on that day..And alongside him toppled the gargantuan giant of fear.  But in the years that followed, meaner and uglier giants pursued David.  By thirty, he had traded his simple shepherd's tunic for the royal and ornamental robe of a king.  And with the change of clothing came giants of pride and lust and deceit that knocked much closer than the guarded palace doors.  They pounded on the unguarded door to David's heart, and he answered clothed in the vestiges of this earth's power and position.

David's failures were grievous.  He took the wife of another man and sentenced that man to a sure and certain death--- sending him to the front lines of a brutal battle.  Yes, David had forgotten that you can't fight giants in just any ol' armor.  Oh, but David, with a heart broken by his sin, returned to God.  His grievous failures led him to humble dependence upon God's mighty power.  And so, King David, knowing he was but a sheep prone to wander, would be clothed anew again and again in the only true armor adequate to face the countless other giants in his lifetime. 

Indeed, there are giants in your life and mine that need to be slain.  Yes, there are big and tall and terrible giants.  May the ever present and ever possible PEACE of our Lord be magnified larger and grander in our view than any giant of difficulty that shadows our paths.  "Yes, Lord, make us giant slayers," I pray...