Giant Slayers

2 Samuel 21:22

These four were born to the giant in Gath, and fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

One of the great attributes of David's life is that he was a giant slayer. There is no doubt about the courage of David and his ability to face Goliath, the initial giant that he defeated. There are some characteristics of David that made him a giant slayer that every person who wants to slay the giants in their life must have if they want to become known as a giant slayer.

First, you must be a person of faith. Nobody will defeat the giants of life who are not willing to live by faith. David had the faith that the God who helped him to defeat the lion and the bear would also help him to defeat Goliath. If fear controls your life, the faith to defeat the great giants that you will face will never drive you forward. People of faith do not listen to fear. Fear is one of the greatest inhibitors to seeing what faith can do in one's life. If you live a life of allowing the “what ifs” to dictate your actions, you will never slay one giant in life. You cannot be afraid of the “what if,” but you must be willing to face failure and defeat if you will live a life of faith. The life of faith doesn't mean you'll never face failure or defeat. Instead, it encourages you to rise from those setbacks, learn from them, and ultimately witness the miraculous.

Second, you must be a person of courage. David showed courage by facing a giant who was much stronger and more knowledgeable than he. You must be courageous enough to ignore your weaknesses if you want to defeat the giants in your life. Courage tells you that you will never be as knowledgeable as you should, but it does not stop you from learning what you need to learn so you can defeat those giants. Courage challenges you to face things much greater than yourself, knowing that you have a God who is much greater than what you will face.

Third, you must be a person who is willing to be alone. David fought Goliath alone while the crowd hid in fear. Giant slayers have never been crowd followers; giant slayers have always stood alone while the crowd criticized. If you need to be in a crowd to determine your actions, you will never slay one giant in your life.

However, there is another very important truth found in this verse, and that is that David trained others to be giant slayers. One day you will no longer be able to kill the giants, but if you train others to do so, then slaying giants will become a multigenerational act. My friend, it is not enough that you defeat giants, but we also need the generation after us to learn how to defeat giants. The reason David was able to defeat all of the giants was because he had trained other men around him how to fight them.

One of the great attributes you must acquire is the ability to train others to do what you are doing. Whether you are a pastor, Sunday school teacher, bus worker, or ministry worker, you must train others how to slay the giant of building great works for God if you want to build a multigenerational work. If we never train the next generation how to be giant slayers, then we will only see great works done in our day, and the next generation will go the way of the world. Don't give excuses that it is not possible to slay giants today, but challenge the next generation to slay giants and train them how to do it, and we can see great works of faith done in every generation.