Effectiveness of a Giant.

1 Samuel 17:4-7

4-7 A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.

As I was reading this scripture this morning, I started to realize that the sheer size of Goliath must have been something to behold. Not only was Goliath nearly 'ten feet' (v.1), he had to be able to wear his armor AND wield a spear, shield, and sword! More than likely, with all the muscle, he weighed nearly 600 lbs! That's a lot of weight and height. More often than not, as I was going to do myself, people share about the giants we all face in life. But God took it to a whole 'nother level. God quickened to my heart a verse in Psalm 37 at the same time. Psalm 37:1-9

1-2 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked. In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun. 3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last. Keep company with God, get in on the best. 5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back; he'll do whatever needs to be done: He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon. 7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him. Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top. 8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse. Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store.

What is interesting to me is that in the past, I have listened and felt dismay at the fact that so many unGodly people succeed with apparent ease. The problems are not that they have God's favor, or that they have anything special about them. This is where it gets a little hard to explain. When the bible talks about "The world" like "You are the light of the World" there are a couple ways to translate it. Depending on the verse and context, it could mean the earth. But most often, especially in the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, it means the system of man. The world is a picture of things that man in his sin has created and expanded. Some things are God ordained and designed, some are just human sin reaching out. Concepts of Justice, fairness among men, and freedom to Worship God come from God, while others come from man's attempt to create outside direct inspiration of the holy spirit. Selah. What God was explaining to me is that the only reason people succeed that are not followers is because the system is tailored to them. Like a perfectly fitted suit, people who succeed in the ways of the world don't have to try, they just do what comes naturally, they do what other unGodly people have done for Centuries. What that does is give believers an unclear and biased image of what success looks like. We look out at someone who makes money and the sin part of us says "man that person is blessed and favored by man, that's a good thing, I want that." Whereas the parts of us that are connected to God scream as hard as they can, "NO THAT'S NOT HOW IT GOES!" God's view of success is defined by how closely you

OBEY

Him. It gives us the perspective that the world and her system are a GIANT and effective. However, her effectiveness comes NOT from the favor of God, but from her natural strength, mostly fueled by the prince of the powers of the air, that's right Satan. The world looks like Giants, but God reminds us in Psalm 37, they are nothing more than "cut flowers" that wither. Why is this? Human effectiveness is designed to push incredibly hard for a short period of time. Marriages are failing because their commitment is not there. They only want what they want at the time. Humans are fickle, selfish creatures who don't want to change unless it does not cause pain. God looks at the foolishness of man and says "short term on your own merits is not what I want." He enables us to last, He gives us the tools we need to be effective long term, to serve him when all those around us fail and fall. The unfortunate piece to this is along with the short term strikes at effectiveness, the weight of the giant(the world) is not that she expects Christians convert, but that the short term successes put pressure on all believers equally and entice believers like a cunning prostitute in a war of attrition. Selah. SO many pastors fail because they fail to realize that the Giant of worldly effectiveness is crushing them. They want to have their building project be effective, they want to see souls saved, they want to see miracles. Not because God's name will praised because of it, but because they want to be effective. Have we as the people of God forgotten that our effectiveness is not tied to souls? It's not tied to how many people come to our shiny buildings with our flashy lights and rock concert like pandering? Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that having a good place for the church to meet and work out of is good. I am one of the first to want to make worship be immersive, but we make a mistake if we think that it honor's God one iota more than simple obedience. Selah.