Pastor Tasha Alison, of the Church of the Nazarene in Largs, writes for the News

Facing Giants

Every Wednesday afternoon at 5pm, families with young children gather at LargsNaz for Souper Awesome Storytime. For about an hour, we eat soup, enjoy an activity, and listen to a Bible story. Last week’s storytime featured a story found in the Old Testament, in the book of Samuel, about a terrifying giant and an unlikely hero. The story begins with a battle between two armies. The Israelites camped on one mountain and the Philistines on the opposite mountain with a valley between them. From the Philistines’ camp came a colossal giant named Goliath, fully clothed in bronze battle gear, armed with an enormous spear, spewing insults, and he demands that the Israel army send over a soldier to fight him. As you can imagine, the Israelite army was afraid.

While this was happening, David, a young shepherd boy, was given some bread and cheese by his Dad and told to check on his brothers, who were brave soldiers in Israel’s army. When David arrives, he hears Goliath, this giant of a man, cursing God, swearing, and challenging the army to send one man to fight him.

David was young and certainly not a soldier, but he believed God would help him win a fight with Goliath. Of course, no one, not even David’s brothers believed he could win; however, the king gave in and dressed him in bronze battle gear, which was of course, way too heavy, so David removed all of it, and walked toward the giant armed with only his sling and a few smooth river stones.

As the giant approaches David, shouting and calling him names, David reaches into his bag, picks out a stone, places it into his sling and with a whip of his arm, sends the stone soaring through the air toward the giant. The stone hits Goliath in the forehead, killing him instantly.

David knew this battle, which seemed so much bigger than he could handle on his own, wasn’t his to fight alone. David understood that God was with him and would give him the strength he needed to face Goliath.

Are you facing giant things in your life that seem overwhelming or just too hard to deal with alone? My prayer for you today is that you, like David, will know that God is with you, giving you all of the strength you need to face whatever challenges come your way.