What to Do When You Want to Snap |05.25.25| Facing Giants pt.2

Have you ever lashed out because you were hurt, or scared? One of my favorite funny clips right now is the video filter prank where it looks like someone is standing right behind you. Take a look at the screens…

[VIDEO: GIORDANA PRANK]

[intro]

Maybe you’ve lashed out like that when a fly lands on you, or when you walk through a spider web.

There was one time when Emmy was a baby, and she was practicing a growly voice, and I was up with her in the middle of the night, and she was just AWAKE. So I’m sitting on the floor and she’s just playing and crawling, but I kept the lights off, and I start to doze off.

And the next thing I know, this little growly creature is crawling across the floor towards me and I *almost* punched…

How many of you know that sometimes courage isn’t about action, it’s about RESTRAINT?

Sometimes true leadership is about holding your tongue instead of speaking your mind? Sometimes the greatest test when you’re facing a challenge isn’t about what you DO, but about what you DON’T DO?

Because we’re spending these few weeks talking about the challenges we face, the giants that seem so big and threatening that push us to react. Last week, we looked at some helpful guidance for how to find courage to STEP UP when we face a giant, but what about when we feel trapped?

What about when our back is up against a wall? What about when we feel under threat, and we feel the temptation to TAKE CONTROL? Because you’ve been hurt, or overlooked, or someone did you wrong…

And you feel the pressure to act, even though you know that if you act now, in your own power, in your own timing, you might be trading your integrity for a short-term fix.

You know the situations that make you feel like this.

It’s when the bills are stacking up, and money stress gets the best of you, and you start to cut corners, or you start overworking, or you start neglecting down time with your family because you “can’t afford to rest.”

It’s when you hear your “friends” talked about you behind your back, and you feel betrayed. And instead of confronting it with love, you take a little revenge by spreading a little gossip of your own, or practicing the cold-shoulder treatment towards them.

It’s when you’ve been praying for God to change something — an addiction, a diagnosis, a broken relationship. But the longer he seems silent, the more tempted you are to “just fix it yourself,” no matter the cost.

This is what it feels like when the giant we’re facing pushes us to grab control, because we feel the fear that if we don’t act, if WE don’t make it happen…then we’re done for.

[Scripture Ref]

And in our Scripture today, we’re going to see how David comes up against a challenge that pushes his back against the wall and tempts him to take control, even though God had spoken and had promised.

So open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 24, which can be found on p208 of the OT in the black, seat-back Bibles. David has already been anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel. God has spoken and has chosen him.

Then he defeated the giant, Goliath. Now he’s a war hero. His popularity is growing, but Saul is still king. And Saul starts growing jealous and suspicious of David.

David is a threat, so Saul tries to take matters into his own hands and kill him. Now David is on the run. He KNOWS that God had promised him, but what he sees in front of him and what he experiences every day doesn’t seem to line up with that promise.

He had found the courage to STEP UP to the threat of the giant, but when stress and pressure are mounting on every side, and you have the opportunity to act in a way you might regret…how do you find the courage to HOLD UP and LOOK UP?

Now, Saul has been pursuing David for a while with a jealous rage and a fear that David is going to attempt a coup.

[1 Samuel 24:1-2]

Saul has intentionally chosen 3,000 men to hunt down David, while David is on the run with maybe 500-600 tag-along guys who support him.

[1 Samuel 24:3-4]

Yes, you heard that right. Saul is going to “relieve” himself.

They didn’t have roadside port-a-potty’s back then, so any old cave off the trail will do.

But it JUST SO HAPPENS that David is in THAT cave!

V4 And David’s men whisper to him, “This is it! God has made a way! This guy has been trying to destroy you. CLEARLY, this is your sign that you must destroy him!

Clearly, David’s men had the belief that opportunity is the same as permission. They see an OPPORTUNITY to take revenge, so it “must” be God’s will!

And David sneaks up towards Saul…with a knife.

But at the last minute, instead of taking Saul’s life, he cuts a corner off of his cloak. I don’t know if Saul was wearing the cloak while experiencing intestinal distress, or if it was folded up in the corner away from him doing his business, but David chooses to take a trophy instead of take a life.

[1 Samuel 24:5-7]

And it seems like immediately, David was convicted.

V6 Just because Saul had lost his way didn’t change who he was: the Lord’s anointed. He was still the king. The one that God had chosen.

I don’t know if I treat people with that sort of respect. No, I usually let how I feel about someone dictate how I treat them.

Don’t we normally justify dehumanizing people because they’ve done something we don’t like?

“They cut me off, they don’t deserve my smile.”

“They yelled at my kid, they don’t deserve patience or understanding.”

“They are a greedy, selfish person…they don’t deserve my kindness.”

I mean, it might be true that they did those things in those ways…but does that stop them from being made in the image of God? Does that make them any less deserving of decency?

v7 David, out of respect and reverence to the Lord, refuses to allow his men to finish the job he didn’t do. Because he personally felt conviction about honoring Saul, and that level of integrity gets extended to the people he was responsible for.

I mean, after all, if WE don’t take revenge, but we let someone else do it on our behalf, is that any different?

[blank]

And you’ve probably never been in the situation David was in, where it was literal life or death stakes, but when you’re misunderstood, or accused, or hurt…do you fire back?

When someone betrays you…do you seek revenge…justice?

We all have “cave moments”, where it feels like THIS is the perfect time to act! This is the perfect opportunity to get our justice! But sometimes God’s whisper says, “wait.”

And it’s in those moments that we can seize the opportunity to TAKE CONTROL, or we can SEE the opportunity to allow God to transform us to become more like Jesus.

Because sure, David chose restraint over revenge in this episode of his life. He came out on top and with his integrity intact.

But Jesus is the better David. When Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, Jesus told him to put it away. When he was on trial, Jesus didn’t defend himself by slandering his opponents.

On the cross, Jesus didn’t retaliate against his executioners, because he trusted God’s plan.

Sure, David was shaped in a cave, learning to ignore the voices that demanded death… But Jesus was buried in a cave, defeating death itself and bringing out resurrection and new life for all who receive his gift of grace.

So when stress and pressure are mounting on every side, and you have the OPPORTUNITY to act in a way you might regret… how do you find the courage to HOLD UP?... LOOK UP?

[4Gs]

We need to preach the good news to ourselves. That’s why I’ve been introducing us to this tool called the 4Gs. It’s four statements about who God is, and therefore how WE get to respond.

[God is Great]

And today, we need to use the second statement to preach the good news to ourselves that God is Great – so I don’t have to be in control.

Because every single day, we are met with situations that come at us where we think we need to take control. We think no one else will work for our good unless WE do something.

Situations like when you’re sitting in traffic and don’t know when the cars in front of you will start moving again. And you get ANGRY because it looks like you’ll miss your doctor’s appointment.

Situations like when a woman I know was stressed. Replacing the family car had wiped out their savings. Now she’s worried they won’t have enough money at the end of the month…so when her husband comes home with an expensive-looking bunch of flowers to cheer her up, she just bursts into tears.

Because when you don’t truly trust God’s sovereign control, that he’s actually working in the waiting, what happens? You might try to take control yourself in harmful ways, through manipulation or domination.

You might wear yourself out with busyness or frustration.

You might become preoccupied with the bills, and money becomes our main obsession. All because we don’t believe our Father knows what we need.

But Jesus goes straight to the heart of our problem: it’s our little faith. He tells us in Luke 12, “Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life?... O you of little faith! 29 And do not keep … worrying. 30 For it is [people without faith] that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

But it's so hard to trust God, because when things aren’t going our way, we get irritated and want to take control to ensure a better outcome for ourselves.

When our safety is threatened, our fear leads us to take control — to rage against the threat — to fight back to create our own safety.

But in both cases, it’s because we don’t TRUST that God is in control. So we try to take control.

We don’t trust that God has a plan. So we make OUR plan move forward.

We don’t trust that God is…God. So we become our own “god” and force our plan on everyone around us.

But, if we can preach the gospel to ourselves…if we can learn to trust that God is Great, that he’s sovereign:

Col. 1:16 “for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.”

He’s powerful: 1 Chron 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

He has a plan: Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Ephesians 1:4 “he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.”

He’s able to work things for good: Rom 8:28 “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

If we can remind ourselves of that over and over again, then we can trust that he’s able to plan and act and orchestrate waaaaaay better than we ever could.

And that means that we don’t have to be in control, because we can trust God’s plan, God’s timing, God’s methods. Ps 145:3 “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised.”

[God can work]

And that’s how we can see that the giants we face, the cave moments we experience…God is able to USE that to shape us.

God can work THROUGH the challenge you’re facing to grow you… if you trust him.

He actually WANTS to form something in you. God was forming something in David: honor, integrity, Spirit-led leadership.

And God wants to transform you, he wants to help you grow, through whatever situation you find yourself in.

So what if we saw the cave we’re currently in, where we feel our back against a wall, and we are feeling the temptation to take control…what if the cave is the classroom that God is using to prepare us for what he’s leading us towards next?

[Ask God]

What if we asked God this week: how do you want to TRANSFORM me THROUGH this challenge I’m facing?

What if you prayed that today, and then made a choice to join in with whatever work he’s bringing about? I can guarantee that it will lead to more Jesus-likeness in your life. It will bring about greater things in our life than we could ever create on our own.

Because we usually want escape… But God wants growth.

We want solutions… But God wants transformation.

We want relief… But God wants to produce resilience and the fruit of the Spirit in us.

So don’t waste the waiting. God is working in the waiting. And he’s inviting us to join in with his work.

So…Ask God how he wants to transform you THROUGH this challenge you’re facing…and join in.

Don’t just pray for the problem to go away.

Don’t just ask for the pressure to stop.

Instead, ask:

God, what are you trying to do IN me through this?

What are you forming in me?

Where am I trying to take control…when I SHOULD be trusting you instead?

Because, if God is Great, you don’t have to force your way through this. You don’t have to MAKE it happen. You don’t have to be in control.

You can trust. You can wait.

You can let HIM work.

While Jesus was in the grave, God used the waiting, the darkness, the cave…to bring life to the world.

So what dark place are you in right now? It’s not the end. God is still working. You CAN trust him.

Isn’t that good news?