How to Take Down the Giants Standing in Your Life

Introduction

Everyone faces giants. They are the children who dread school on Monday morning, the adult who drags himself out of bed because he is discouraged, the difficult coworker you have to put up with, the debt that keeps growing, the anxiety that will not let go of you. Giants are those battles that are bigger than you, that seem too big, too strong, too well armed for you.

David Pothier, at La Chapelle, returned to the most famous story in the Bible: David and Goliath, in 1 Samuel 17. Two armies face each other. Each chooses its champion. The Philistine champion steps out from the ranks: Goliath, nearly nine feet tall, a bronze helmet, scale armor, a javelin, a massive sword. Facing him, a fifteen-year-old shepherd boy, five feet tall, with a sling and five smooth stones. On paper, it is already decided. Except David wins. And the army of Israel starts running after the Philistines.

David Pothier draws five very concrete principles from this account for facing the giants standing in your life. The last one turns the whole perspective upside down, because it reminds you that you are not David in the story, and that is where the best news is found.

Article outline

1. Consistency in the shadows produces giant-killers
2. Push back against rejection and refuse to live off others' approval
3. Run toward the giant instead of fleeing the problem
4. Cut off the giant's head, not just knock him down
5. Christ, the greater David, crushed the greatest giant

1. Consistency in the shadows

Before becoming king, before facing Goliath, David is a shepherd. In his day, keeping sheep was not a respected job. It was second-class work, the kind of task nobody wanted, the kind nobody saw. And yet David stays faithful. When his older brothers go off to war with Saul, David, too young for the army, goes back to tend his father's sheep (1 Samuel 17:14-15).

A common reading turns David into a young man who dreams of the palace and grows impatient in the fields. David Pothier suggests the opposite: that is not David's heart. David considers it important to take good care of his sheep, because he is faithful in small things. That is exactly where many people lose their potential and their calling: in a lack of faithfulness in unseen things.

You want to become the president of the company, but you are not willing to sweep the floor. You want to become a pastor, but you are not willing to stack the chairs. David Pothier quotes Admiral William McRaven, author of Make Your Bed: if you want to change the world, start by making your bed in the morning. Great things are almost always small things repeated a million times with consistency. Consistency in the shadows produces giant-killers. So the question is simple: do you do the bare minimum when you are asked for something, or do you do a little more?

2. Push back against rejection

When David arrives on the battlefield, his older brother Eliab despises him (1 Samuel 17:28). And this is neither the first nor the last time David will be rejected in his life, by his brothers, sometimes by his father, later by his own children. David Pothier is direct: whether you are young or older, you will not accomplish what God has for you if you need everyone's approval.

He shares his own story. In high school, he was pushed aside, rejected, mocked. Monday morning was the worst part of his week. But looking back, he understands that God was not punishing him. God was blessing him. Because to become the person God was calling him to be, he could not be with "them." If he had been included in their group, he would have been pulled in a direction that was not his own.

So if you too are pushed aside, if you were not invited, if you feel rejected, do not cry too fast. God may be preserving you. You are not called to be like everyone else. Everyone else stays in bed on Sunday morning, you come to church. Everyone else does whatever they want, you are called to something else. You are a child of God. You are a warrior of the Lord. You are a giant-killer.

3. Run toward the giant

Verse 48 says David runs toward the giant. That is decisive. For forty days, morning and evening, Goliath comes out to defy the army of Israel. That is eighty times King Saul hears the challenge, and eighty times he sweeps the problem under the rug. David hears it once, and he runs toward the giant.

David Pothier insists: problems do not go away because we ignore them. He tells the story of his dishwasher that had a small leak, several years ago. A small thing, he did not have time. Three weeks later, he was tearing out a section of his house full of mold. There is always a price for ignoring problems. Your debts will not pay themselves off because you ignore them. Your purity struggles will not resolve themselves magically once you get married. Your tensions at work or in ministry will not disappear on their own.

David Pothier quotes Jeff Bezos: most of the stress in our lives comes from knowing what we should do and not doing it. So stop running, stop ignoring. Run toward the problem. Why? Because you have the power of the Holy Spirit in you, and when you start moving, it releases the power of God, the favor of heaven, the strength that will let you resolve these situations. "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

4. Cut off the giant's head

In verse 51, David does not stop at knocking Goliath down with his sling. He runs, takes Goliath's own sword, and cuts off his head. He wants to make sure the giant will not get back up. David Pothier warns right away: this is a metaphor. It is not about hurting anyone.

But spiritually, it is a powerful principle. Some have thrown the stone, knocked their giant to the ground, but let him get back up. You knocked the giant down, but you still look at his photos, his social media. You knocked the giant down, but you kept his number in your phone. You knocked the giant down, but you still answer his texts. You knocked the giant down, but you open the door of your apartment again.

David Pothier quotes John Piper: "If you don't kill sin, sin will kill you." Cut off the head. Delete the app. Cancel the subscription. Unplug the internet, throw your phone in the river if you have to. Cut ties with that Goliath. Cut up your credit cards. Pour the bottles down the drain. When a believer decides to finish off sin, God releases the strength of heaven to help them do it. But you have to be resolved.

5. Christ, the greater David

Here, David Pothier turns everything upside down. When we read David and Goliath, we naturally put ourselves in David's place. That is a mistake. The Bible speaks of Jesus from beginning to end, and the real question before every story is: where is Jesus in this account? Jesus is not Goliath, nor the Philistines, nor King Saul, nor the army of Israel. Jesus is represented by David.

Bad news: you are not David. You do not have his courage. You look more like the army of Israel, hiding in their tents, paralyzed by fear. Good news: precisely because of that, you do not need to be David. There is a greater David. A greater champion, who did for you what you were unable to do for yourself.

David fought a nine-foot giant that had the appearance of a serpent, the Bible emphasizes his scale armor and the bronze, a word close to "serpent" in Hebrew. But Jesus fought the true ancient serpent, the one from Genesis 3, the head of the dragon, the head of Satan. He crushed it by giving his life on the cross. Jesus is the greatest champion in all of history, and it is because he defeated the greatest giant that you can, today, face the smaller ones standing before you.

Key takeaways

• No one is exempt from giants. Being a Christian does not spare you from anxiety, rejection, temptation, discouragement, or debt.
• Consistency in small, unseen things prepares visible victories. Make your bed, take care of your sheep.
• Find your identity in God, not in everyone's approval. Rejection can be the very place God shapes you.
• Ignoring a problem gives it time to grow. Run toward the giant while it is still a giant, not yet a disaster.
• A sin you do not finish off will get back up. Finish it: cut off access, cut off contact, cut off the means.
• You are not David. Christ, the true champion, crushed the ancient serpent at the cross. Your strength to fight comes from his victory.

Personal application

1. What is the giant standing before you right now, fear, debt, rejection, a toxic relationship, an addiction, a job you dread? Name it clearly.
2. In what "small thing," unseen by others, are you called to be faithful this week, without waiting for anyone to notice?
3. Whose approval are you seeking to the point of delaying what God is calling you to do? Who have you given too much power over your life?
4. What problem have you ignored for too long? What is the first concrete step to run toward it today?
5. What giant have you knocked down without cutting off his head? What access, what number, what app, what bottle do you need to remove for good?

Verses cited

• 1 Samuel 17 · the account of David and Goliath
• 1 Samuel 17:14-15 · David goes back to tend the sheep
• 1 Samuel 17:28 · Eliab despises David
• 1 Samuel 17:42-51 · the confrontation and the victory
• Genesis 3:15 · the promise to crush the serpent's head
• 1 John 4:4 · he who is in us is greater

FAQ

Does becoming a Christian make the giants in my life disappear?

No. David Pothier says it clearly in his message: being a Christian does not mean you will never face giants. Anxiety, fear, discouragement, loneliness, temptation, everyone goes through it. What faith changes is how you fight them: you no longer face them alone, and you no longer rely on your own strength alone.

Why does David represent Jesus in this story, and not me?

Because the whole Bible tells the story of a promised Savior, announced as early as Genesis 3:15, who would come to crush the serpent's head. David faces a giant described as a serpent (scale armor, a Hebrew word close to "serpent"), and he crushes him. It is a foreshadowing. The true champion, the one who crushes the true ancient serpent, is Jesus at the cross. In the story, you are more like the army of Israel, saved by the champion.

Practically speaking, what does it mean to "cut off the head" of a sin?

It means removing the practical possibility of falling back into it. Delete the app, cancel the subscription, remove the number, cut up the credit card, empty the bottles, avoid the place, change your route, ask someone to hold you accountable. As long as you leave the giant a way to get back up, he will get back up. Spiritual victory almost always comes down to very concrete decisions.