If you want to be used—really picked up and significantly utilized—by the living God, you're going to have to fight the giants. If you think that sounds simplistic, you're right. It is simple. But it is also the truth.
Joshua and Caleb were used by God. They didn't squander or waste their lives. They were used, made a difference, contributed, gave more than they took, and, consequently, their lives are remembered and valued to this day. Why?
Because they were willing to fight the giants.
You probably know the story. Joshua and Caleb were part of a 12-man team sent out by Moses to do some advance reconnaissance work in the land of Canaan. The children of Israel had just left behind hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt and were headed to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan. In Numbers 13, God told Moses to pick a leader from each of the 12 tribes to do special ops in Canaan.
The 12 completed the mission and returned to give their report to Moses and the people of Israel. They reported that it was a fabulous land of "milk and honey." They even brought back a cluster of grapes with them—a bunch so heavy it took two men to carry it.
But then they got down to the nitty-gritty. They told Moses and the Israelites that the people in the land were strong, and their cities were fortified and very large. This news evidently created a stir among the people because Caleb had to quiet them before he could say to Moses, "‘Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it’" (v. 30, NKJV).
Then the men (except for Caleb) who had gone with him to recon the land said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are" (v. 31). These 10 spies are quaking in their boots. All those different people-groups they saw have given them the heebie-jeebies. The battle hasn't even begun, and these guys are already looking for the locker room.
But they hadn't finished with their cowardly report. The King James Version does the best job of capturing the trembling in their hearts and the shaking of their voices:
"But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (vv. 31–33).
Did these 10 men go on to be used by God? Did they ever inspire anyone with their example? Did they ever lead men into battle? Were they remembered as men of honor and courage?
Are you kidding me?
These men were scared of the giants in the land. But what type of giants do we face today? Heart attack, loss of job, a wife with cancer, a son in jail, fighting off a foreclosure—those all are legitimate giants.
But what is the greatest giant of all?
I teach a men's study in Dallas on Wednesday evenings, and I recently asked that question of the men: "What is the greatest giant of them all?"
When I asked for verbal feedback, it came fast and furious. The answers ricocheted from every corner of the room:
"Pride!"
"Pornography!"
"Lust!"
"Guilt!"
"Regret!"
"Failure!"
"Betrayal!"
I interrupted the responses and said: "Those are very good answers—very wise answers—but they are all wrong. What else have you got? What is the greatest giant of them all?"
"Selfish ambition!"
"Greed!"
"The love of money!"
"Multiple divorces!"
"Growing up without a father!"
"An ex-wife who degrades you before the children!"
"Failing as a father!"
"Lying!"
"Breaking a trust!"
"Fear!"
I broke in and said: "I want to commend you for those answers. They aren't superficial, and they are gut-level honest. And those are all big giants. But once again they're all wrong. Let me give you the answer. The biggest giant of them all is … God."
And just that quickly, the room of several hundred men grew very quiet. In fact, you could have heard a pin drop as the reality of the answer penetrated the mind of every man in the room.
Every man has fought—and is fighting—giants. And make no mistake, these giants are huge. Sometimes, however, in the process of grappling with these intimidating, overwhelming giants, we forget the greatest giant. God is the greatest of all the giants.
Joshua and Caleb knew that, and that's why they stood up and spoke against the panic of the other 10 spies. In our own history, colonial leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock knew it as well, and that's why they stood and spoke against tyranny in the name of almighty God.
God is the trump card of your life. It doesn't matter what giant you may be facing—booze, porn, guilt, lying, cocaine, failure, invading armies, whatever—God trumps your giant. He will always trump the giants—every single one of them. But we can so quickly forget that He is there.
Taken from Battle Ready by Steve Farrar, copyright 2009 David C. Cook.
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