From childhood we have heard and read of giants. What kid has not heard of the giant that Jack encountered when he climbed the bean stalk? Of course most of those giants were just fairy tale giants, not real giants. History abounds with the mythological giants and also with records of actual humans that are referred to as giants, though not nearly as large as those fairy tale giants. The Bible also records the existence of giants. The first mention of giants is found prior to the flood of Noah’s day (Gen. 6:4). Of course, the most famous of Biblical giants is Goliath, whose height was somewhere around nine and a half feet (I Sam. 17:4). There is even mention of a giant who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot (II Sa. 21:20). The Biblical giants we wish to use to introduce our thoughts for this article are those that the spies found when they went to spy out the promise land (Numbers 13). Though all the spies agreed that the land was a wonderful land full of the blessings that God had promised them. However, ten of the twelve spies were intimidated by the strength and fortifications of the people of the land, especially the fact that there were giants in the land. They balked at doing that which God required of them because of their fear. In reference to the giants they said, “and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers” (Num. 13:33). We have often used the term “grasshopper complex” to describe the condition of thinking one just can’t do what God has commanded of them. Our focus of this article is those giants, not physical ones, for I do not know any myself and have not heard that there are any real difficulties than anyone has been having with them. We will be talking about figurative giants, things that just seem to be too big of an obstacle for us to overcome. Often, though these things are “giants” we can’t even see them ourselves. Whatever these figurative giants are, they need to be slain so that we can enter into our spiritual promise land.

A figurative giant that turns millions away from following the commands of the Lord is ignorance. We often point out that ignorance is not an ugly word. We are all ignorant. Ignorance is simply the absence of knowledge and no one has all knowledge, thus we are all ignorant. However, there are some things we simply cannot afford to be ignorant of, and the will of God is one of those things. It is amazing how often one can hear someone say, “I don’t know much about the Bible, but” and then go on to give their opinion of how one should live in order to be saved. Paul said that his fellow Jews were ignorant of the righteousness of God and had devised their own way of righteousness (Rom. 10:1-3). He also indicated that they were lost, by way of saying he desired that they would be saved. This ignorance giant must be slain and no one can slay it for us, we must slay our own ignorance giant. Your preacher or other church leaders can study and learn the word for themselves, but they cannot overcome your ignorance giant. It is not noteworthy that the apostle Paul told Timothy, who had been sitting under the feet of Paul and working with Paul, to “study to show thyself approved of God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15). Rest assured, if Timothy needed to study the word for himself, so do you and I.

A second figurative giant that must be slain is tradition. Let’s face it, traditions can be hard to break. Tradition itself is neither right nor wrong, however tradition is not the source of authority when it come to following the commands of God. We can refer again to Paul who points out himself that he was very sincere and actively involved in his traditional religion, but that he was wrong and had to turn from those traditions and obey the commands of the lord (Acts 26:5; Gal. 1:13-14). We have heard individuals when presented with truth from the Bible say, “We are of such and such denomination and you are not going to get us to change”. Such a mindset is one that needs to slay a tradition giant.

Materialism is another giant in need of slaying. Far too many parents strive to assure their children are prepared to make a living without assuring they are prepared for eternal life. Material prosperity can be great, but when one fails to faithfully follow the Lord in order to accumulate physical wealth, he or she had encountered a giant they must slay if they hope to see heaven. When Jesus told the rich young ruler that he needed to cast aside his riches, he went away sorrowful; he was unwilling to battle such a large giant (Mark 10:17-25). He had earlier said, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and loose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark 8:36-37).

Our list could go on an on with things (often things not wrong within themselves) that one must overcome in order to fully follow the commands of the Lord. Peer pressure, apathy and even family can be hard giants to battle, but battle them we must if they stand between us and heaven. David saw that Goliath had to be slain so he did it. Let us do the same.

https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/web1_Robert-Oliver-1.jpg

By Robert Oliver

Contributing columnist

Send any questions or comments to: [email protected]