.....Goliath!

"And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath..." - 1 Samuel 17:4

Pretend you don't know how the story ends. Pretend you don't know what happens to Goliath as he brazenly and boldly flexed his muscles in full view of Israel's army. Pretend you're still in the nightmare with them...and it is a nightmare.

On the conservative side, Goliath was anywhere between nine and ten feet tall, and his might was every bit as impressive as his height. He wasn't just tall; he was also strong enough to wear a coat of armor weighing 125 pounds. He carried an enormous spear with a head on it that weighed 15 pounds.

We toss around the words "invincible" and "untouchable" quite a bit, but if there was ever a worthy application of these terms, it was Goliath's physical prowess. No other man was anywhere close to him. He had no peers, no rivals, and he probably started to doubt he would ever find anyone or anything that would even remotely challenge his strength. Like the polar bear in its natural habitat, there was nothing for Goliath to fear because nothing was a match for him. He was at the absolute top of the food chain!

Whether we want to admit it or not, a lot of us can be filled with that same sense of arrogance. If it's not our physical strength, it can affect us in a multitude of other ways. Our pride can deceive us into thinking we're invincible or untouchable. We think we have a situation under control or that we're the sole exception to a rule that applies to everyone else.

When that happens, we lose touch with the reality that we're actually very vulnerable and touchable. We can be brought down really quickly if God desires to do so in order to humble us and remind us that we're nothing apart from Him.

Goliath gives us a graphic picture of how destructive it is to be self-deceived by our own strength.

Father, may his story be a constant reminder to us that our real strength is in You and nowhere else...Amen!