August 10, 2025
In the Shadow of a Literal Giant
1 Samuel 17:1-32
In the early 1900s, an entrepreneur named Sam Eyde bought a plot of land in Norway with the intention of building a hydroelectric plant there. As he began his project, he also established the town of Rjukan that is still a thriving community to this day with a robust population of about 3,000 people. However, as this town and electric plant began to be built, the people began to struggle with their health and started to exhibit some strange symptoms that doctors still don’t fully understand to this day. Some said these health problems were caused by a hormonal imbalance. Others said it was because there was a disruption of their circadian rhythms. Even doctors couldn’t agree on what exactly was happening to the townspeople. They were all in agreement with what was causing their problems. You see, the town had a very unique feature that was causing these health issues in its population. This town was almost always in the shadow of a giant mountain. We are all probably familiar with towns that exist around higher altitudes that don’t see the sun for months at a time and those who live there have to use sun lamps in order to get the benefits the sun brings, but Rjukan was different; they had the sun, it was just partially obscured by the giant mountain’s shadow and that shadow was causing issues in their daily lives. The town's founder realized that the town's people could not go through life in the shadows, that they must be in the light, so he came up with a plan to help the people. He built a gondola lift to take the people to the top of a mountain so they would be able to enjoy and walk in the light daily. This solution made the health issues that the town's people were facing come to an end.
There is no doubt that all people need to be in the light, not just for our physical health, but it is imperative for our spiritual and eternal health as well. Jesus, Himself, is recorded in John 8:12 saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” One of the things I enjoy most while participating in mission trips is getting to meet people from different backgrounds. I enjoy learning about their unique foods, their unique hobbies, their unique culture, and their unique problems. No matter who we meet or where they are from they all have one thing in common — they are all sinners in need of a Savior and the only Savior for all of mankind is Jesus Christ. He is the light that we need in all of our lives. He brings us out of the darkness of sin and you can experience it right now, by putting your faith in Jesus Christ and making Him Lord of your life (Romans 10:9). As we have seen time and time again in Scripture, once you have the light of Jesus that brings eternal life, you can never lose it. That is the light Jesus is referring to here. It is a salvific light. However, as a Christian, we can have the same problem as the people in Rjukan. We can have the light of Jesus in our lives. It never leaves, but there can be giants in our lives that cast shadows and affect the health of our daily walk with Jesus. Paul knew this could be a reality for Christians as he wrote to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 5:8, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” We cannot live as children of the light if we are constantly standing in the shadows. We have to always be in the light. Peter addresses this as well in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are not like that (those who live in darkness), for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.” We are called to live lives that reflect the light of God into a world of darkness. We are not going to be able to do that if we are in the shadow of a giant. If we try to live in that shadow we are going to suffer in our daily lives just like the people in Rjukan did. We must do something about it. Unlike the people in Rjukan, we cannot circumvent our giants — we must destroy them. So this morning I want to start a new sermon series called “In the Shadows of Giants”. We will look at men and women who had to face giants in their lives and through God’s help, destroyed them and God was glorified. I think it's only fitting to start a series on giants by looking at the man who had to face a literal giant in his life — King David.
Attributes of a Giant - 1 Samuel 17:1-7
The Philistines mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah at Ephes-dammim. Saul countered by gathering his Israelite troops near the valley of Elah. So the Philistines and Israelites faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them. Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bronze leg armor, and he carried a bronze javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver’s beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield.
If you are not familiar with this story, let me catch you up on the context in which the story of David and Goliath plays out. Saul was King and had disobeyed God. His pride had caused him to do what he thought was best and not what God had commanded and because of his disobedience the spirit of God left him and God chose another man to be king. God sent His servant Samuel to the house of a man named Jessie to anoint the new king from his sons and God selected the youngest — a young man named David. David was also a musician who was enlisted to play the harp for King Saul to soothe him when he was troubled by the giants in his life, never knowing that the one who played for him was the one God had chosen to succeed him as king. That’s where we are at when we see the Israelites preparing for war as they face their giant. Before we jump into our text this morning, we need to understand that although our giants might all be different, they will still have many of the same characteristics and that is what we will see here in these first few verses in 1 Samuel 17. The first characteristic I want you to notice is found in the first few words of the first verse, “The Philistines now mustered their army for battle”. The Philistines were a thorn in the side of the Israelites for many generations. The conflict between them started when the Philistines were in possession of the land that God had promised Israel and He had commanded them to drive them out of that land (Numbers 33:52). However, they did not drive them out; they let them linger (Joshua 13:1-3). Of course Israel did have victories over the Philistines from time to time, but they were not obedient to drive them out and the giant lingered and the Israelites suffered. When it comes to the giants in our lives, we can have the same problem, we can have victory here and there over our giants, unless they are defeated once and for all through total obedience to Christ, we will always struggle with them. We must deal with them in the way God commands us to deal with them. We are then told about the place that the Philistines were camped. In this statement we see another truth about the giants in our lives. They set up their camps in places that belong to God. Psalms 24:1 tells us that the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, so that means since he is the one who owns it, he can do what he wants with it. We are told that this is the land He promised to the Israelites, but the Canaanites were now camped in a place that rightly belonged to God and whom He chose to grant it. As a follower of Christ, we totally belong to Him. 1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price." When we look for the giants in our lives, we need to understand where they are setting up camp is not theirs. It belongs to the Lord so they must not remain. They must be removed and driven out. The author goes on and uses three verses to describe the giant who was the champion for the Philistines. More effort went into describing the giant than to describe the conclusion of the confrontation and I think it’s because God wanted us to see how terrifying this giant was to the Israelites. If we look at this from a human perspective, this giant looks too big to defeat. That’s what our enemy wants us to do, to fear, it’s the opposite of what the perfect love of Christ brings into our lives (1 John 4:18). Therefore, when we look at the giants in our lives that are keeping us in the shadows and away from the fullness of Christ, it’s going to be scary. Now that fear in your life might not be the stereotypical fear we think of. It could look like dread, avoidance, overthinking, guilt or shame. Fear can come upon us in many different forms and it’s not only an emotion. There is a physical toll that fear will take on our lives, and it’s a toll that will be removed once the giant is removed. Not only do all our giants have some of the same attributes, they also have the same message.
Message of a Giant - 1 Samuel 17:8-11
Goliath stood and shouted a taunt across to the Israelites. “Why are you all coming out to fight?” he called. “I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul. Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!” When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.
The message of the giant Goliath starts with his name. Goliath is actually a Hebrew name that comes from the Hebrew word “Gala” that means to remove. That’s exactly what Goliath did to the children of Israel and is exactly what our giants do in our lives. They remove our peace, they remove our joy, and they remove our purpose. This is why giants are dangerous, because it’s in Christ that we have peace, we have joy, we have purpose. When we take our eyes off Christ and dwell in the shadows of our giants, we can lose all of those things because we are too focused upon the giant and not upon Christ. Then the giant utters his message to the children of Israel in the form of a champion’s challenge. This was common at the time where one champion would face another from an opposing faction in order to spare lives on both sides. Sort of a winner takes all format, but in this message we see some truths about the message of our giants. The first thing is that the giants try to make us forget our identity. He calls the children of Israel mere servants of Saul. That was not the identity of the Israelites. They were not defined by their king, they were defined by their God. These people were God’s people, they were God’s possession (Deuteronomy 7:6-8), but the giant wanted them to forget who they were and adopt a new identity. When they forget who they are they will begin to fear and the giant keeps on by telling them that his intention is not just to merely frighten them. He plans to enslave them. This is just like our giants. They try to get us to forget our true identity. We are not defined by anything this world might try to label us. We are told we are not good enough, that we are failures, that we are worthless, that list goes on and on, but that’s not who we are at all, what we are in Christ is what defines us. Romans 8:38-39 says in Christ we are forever loved. Isaiah 53:5 says in Christ we are healed. Psalms 18:32 says in Christ we are strong. 1 John 2:12 says in Christ we are forgiven. Ephesians 1:5 says in Christ we are adopted. Colossians 2:10 says in Christ we are made whole. Isaiah 43:1 tells us that Christ calls us His own. Joshua 1:9 tells us in Christ we have hope. Esther 4:14 tells us that in Christ we have purpose. 1 Corinthians 15:57 says that in Christ we are victorious. John 14:27 tells us that in Christ we are peaceful. John 15:11 tells us that in Christ we are joyful. Psalms 139:14 tells us that through Christ we are fearfully and wonderfully made. John 3:16 tells us that Christ thinks we are worth it. We must let God’s Word speak louder than our giants. They want to enslave you in sin and fear, but again the Word of God says that when the Son sets you free you are free indeed, so live that truth out and stop walking back into prisons which the blood of Christ has opened for you once and for all. Stop trying to put back on the shackles that Christ has removed from us in our lives. Let the truth of Jesus speak louder than your fear. Your giants are mocking you and are mocking your God. Don’t let them. Let your faith in God rule over your fear. However, that’s not what happened with the children of Israel was it? They let fear win, and they as well as their leader trembled. That was true of all of them until a true man of God came along.
Response to a Giant - 1 Samuel 17:20-32
So David left the sheep with another shepherd and set out early the next morning with the gifts, as Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelite army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. Soon the Israelite and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. David left his things with the keeper of supplies and hurried out to the ranks to greet his brothers. As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, came out from the Philistine ranks. Then David heard him shout his usual taunt to the army of Israel. As soon as the Israelite army saw him, they began to run away in fright. “Have you seen the giant?” the men asked. “He comes out each day to defy Israel. The king has offered a huge reward to anyone who kills him. He will give that man one of his daughters for a wife, and the man’s entire family will be exempted from paying taxes!” David asked the soldiers standing nearby, “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his defiance of Israel? Who is this pagan Philistine anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?” And these men gave David the same reply. They said, “Yes, that is the reward for killing him.” But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking to the men, he was angry. “What are you doing around here anyway?” he demanded. “What about those few sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know about your pride and deceit. You just want to see the battle!” “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!” He walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer. Then David’s question was reported to King Saul, and the king sent for him. “Don’t worry about this Philistine,” David told Saul. “I’ll go fight him!
No one in Israel's army would address the giant, they were too afraid, but God has his man waiting to deal with the giant. The first thing that David had to do to confront this giant was to step outside of his comfort zone. He was much more comfortable in the field tending to his sheep than he was on the battlefield, but David knew if he was going to confront the giant he couldn’t run back to his safe space. He was going to have to fight him in the open. Of course when David got to the battlefield everyone else was afraid and cowering from the giant, but David was starting to frame what was going on. He listened as the men spoke of the giant and what King Saul was going to offer to the man who would stand up against the giant, but those things were not what David was interested in because he understood what was really happening here. This was not a military problem. This was a spiritual one. This giant had defied the Living God. Every giant that you and I will ever face will be a spiritual problem, because it is impeding us in our relationship with Jesus. It's a spiritual problem and spiritual problems require spiritual solutions. So David trusted God. He knew God had protected him as he protected the sheep of his father's flock against all sorts of enemies, so how would God not protect him as He protected God’s people. David told the King he was going to fight. When David did fight he gathered 5 stones. We don’t know exactly why, some say it was to fight all 5 giants — Goliath plus the others mentioned in 2 Samuel 21, but we really don’t know. All we know is David was ready to be persistent if that is what it took to take down the giants. This is exactly how we are going to respond to our giants. We are going to have to know that to deal with them the way God has called us to is going to call us out of our comfort zone. Why? Because God’s ways are not our ways. When we are obedient it’s going to be uncomfortable at times, but it’s always good and it’s always the right way to deal with the problem. We have to understand that these issues are spiritual issues that we have to deal with, and that is through Jesus and obedience to His Word. We do this so the same thing happens that happened with David. God gets all the glory when our giants come crashing down. Sure, some people might say things, just like David’s brothers did, but that doesn’t matter; we know who we serve and who we are to please. We can’t give up when it gets difficult. That didn’t happen with David. It was a one and done deal, but it might take time with our giants. We cannot grow weary in obedience to Him, we must press on.
We have seen the attributes of our giants, the message of our giants, and how to respond to these giants. There is one thing we didn’t talk about. How do you know what your giant is? I thought about how to address this, but as I was on sabbatical, I spoke with people about the idea of a giant in their lives and I came to find out something. I didn’t have to explain it for them to identify their giant. As soon as I talked about it, they knew exactly what I was talking about. It is the thing that if removed would improve your spiritual life immediately. It's the secret sin situation that is standing over you casting a shadow, keeping you from walking in the light. It’s time to say, “I will fight the giant.”
