Dr. Richard L. Strauss
November 26, 1978
There were some big men in Bible times. For instance, there was a fellow in Deuteronomy, chapter 3, whose name was Og. And he was the king of Bashan, and it says that his bed was 13-1/2 feet long and 6 feet wide. That was the world's first king-sized bed!
The Philistine warrior Goliath, God's Word tells us, was over 9 feet tall. That's a big man.
Then there was a whole tribe of giants that had the entire nation of Israel running scared. They're called in Scripture the Anakim, or the sons of Anak, because they were descendants of this man Anak. When the Israelite spies first laid eyes on the Anakim, I think they must have thought they were on another planet. I mean, they were scared.
"There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight" (Numbers 13:33).
I would imagine they were exaggerating just a bit. But even if they weren't, these men were big. No question about it, they were giants. And I would like you to see where they lived because that's really the subject of our study this morning. It's in chapter 13 of Numbers.
"And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there" (Numbers 13:22).
So those giants lived in Hebron. Hebron was in the hill country in the southern part of the land of Israel. You can see it right here on our map just a little west of the Dead Sea. The city is also called in the Scripture "Kiriath Arba" after one of its more prominent citizens who happened to be the father of Anak. His name was Arba.
Hebron lay on a ridge, or actually two ridges moving north and south, about 2,800 feet above sea level. The city was built up these ridges so that it really looked more or less like an ancient San Francisco. You can visit it today and see the slopes on which the houses are built. It also had rich soil in its environs and was very close to the brook Eshcol. As a result, it abounded with luscious fruit. In Biblical times, there were grapes and pomegranates and figs. And if you were to visit Hebron today, you would see fruit stands with far more than just that on them. There would be apples and prunes and plums and apricots and oranges and nuts and melons. It's just a fruitful, fertile area.
But I'll tell you what they grew best in Hebron: They grew big men. According to Numbers 13:33 and several times over in the Old Testament, Hebron is called the center of giant country. If there had been a National Basketball Association in Bible times, there's no question about who would be on top of the league: The Hebron Hippos. They would have cleaned up the league, you know. But since there wasn't any NBA in the Old Testament, the giants of Hebron cleaned up on everybody else instead. And as the children of Israel themselves pointed out in Deuteronomy 9, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?" They knew right well that nobody could, not in their own strength anyway.
Well, I want to take you on a trip to Hebron today, right into the heart of giant country. You don't need to be afraid because we're just going to go in the Word, all right? And the Lord is going to teach us something from these giants.
Actually, we want to visit it four times on four different occasions, in four different time frames with four different people—the major characters whose lives revolved around Hebron. It seems like everybody who came to Hebron faced a giant of some kind or other. Some faced those literal, physical sons of Anak, but others faced other kinds of giants, what we might call figurative giants. Obstacles, problems, trials in their lives—the kind of giants you and I face in our lives. And maybe by examining the way they faced their giants, we can find some help from God this morning to face some of the great problems that some of us are encountering right now today.
The first mention of Hebron in the Bible is in Genesis 13. The first Biblical character to come to Hebron was Abraham. It was shortly after his nephew Lot had chosen the fertile plains of Jordan, the Scripture tells us, that Abraham moved to Hebron.
"Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord" (Genesis 13:18).
Mamre is more or less a suburb of Hebron. Now, if you'll leaf through the next few pages, you'll see that some great things happened to Abraham while he was at Hebron. God renewed His covenant. He defeated the kings from over in the area of Mesopotamia. But it's over in chapter 18 where I want you to look where Abraham faced a great giant. Let's call it the Giant of Doubt.
1. The Giant of Doubt
"Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him" (Genesis 18:1-2a).
Two of them, we later learn, were angels. One of them was a pre-incarnate appearance of the Son of God, because the Scripture says, "And God talked to him." So God was in one of these men speaking to Abraham.
Now, three times in the Bible, we're told that Abraham was God's friend. And friends share things with each other. God is about to tell Abraham something that nobody else on the face of this earth knows anything about or knew anything about in that day. You see, down in verse 17.
"And the Lord said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?'" (Genesis 18:17).
No, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to share it with him. Friends ought to be open and share with one another.
"And the Lord said, 'Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know'" (Genesis 18:20-21).
"Outcry against" Sodom and Gomorrah really means that their sins cry out for judgment. God says, "I'm going to go visit, see what really is going on in Sodom."
Now, Abraham knew exactly what God was saying. God was saying, "Abraham, I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah." Incidentally, Sodom and Gomorrah is down at the south end of the Dead Sea, so we're about 25 miles south of Hebron.
The fact that God was going to destroy those cities was a problem to Abraham. In fact, it deeply disturbs him. Listen to him question God.
"And Abraham came near and said, 'Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?'" (Genesis 18:23).
After all, Abraham's Nephew Lot was in Sodom. He didn't think Lot deserved the same punishment that those unbelievers in the city deservedthose vile and godless people. And it's a problem to him that God is going to destroy that city where his nephew Lot lives.
Of course, that's a problem to many of us, too. We know that God is just when He punishes sin. But is it right for good people to get hurt when He does? That's a problem to us. It hardly seems fair. Maybe sometimes we see our own loved ones suffer along with unbelievers and we say, "God, that's not fair." We know God is sovereign. We know He can do whatever He pleases. But what He does we don't always like too well, do we? It doesn't seem to us to be exactly fair.
And this whole doctrine of the sovereignty of God which is so clearly laid down in Scripture becomes a giant obstacle to our faith. Yes, we know God can do what He pleases, but what He pleases doesn't please us. And it doesn't seem to be fair. And so we begin to doubt God. We doubt His justice and His righteousness and His fairness. We begin to wonder about this whole business of His sovereignty. It becomes an obstacle to our ability to put our whole-hearted confidence in Him and just rest in Him when things do not go exactly as we feel they should.
Listen to Abraham bargain with God.
"'Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You!'" (Genesis 18:24-25a).
"God, certainly You don't put the righteous in the same category with the wicked."
And he finishes up his bargaining with this:
"'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'" (Genesis 18:25b).
Now he wants to believe the answer to that question is yes. Of course the Judge of all the earth will do right. He'll never do anything but right. He wants to believe it. He's trying to believe it. But he's struggling with doubt even as we sometimes struggle with doubt.
Maybe we wonder if God is really just, really fair. When we see people in our world starving to death, some of them probably believers in Jesus Christ, is that fair? Or when we know that God lets nations bomb each other and innocent victims get killed, some of whom are Christians. Or when He allows a madman like Idi Amin of Uganda to kill hundreds of thousands of people and many of whom are obviously Christiansit's one of the reasons he killed them. Or another madman like the "Reverend," so called, Jim Jones who beguiles unsuspecting people who are searching for truth and some meaning in their life. And they all end up dead in some jungle in Guyana, South America. And we say, God, "Why did You let that happen?" And we wonder, is God fair?
Or when He allows airplanes to fall from the sky and righteous people are blown to bits along with unrighteous people. We don't understand that. And we struggle with giant questions, just as Abraham did.
As you know, Abraham continues his bargain with God. And he works his way all the way down to 10, in verse 32 before he finally quits: 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, 10. "God, if there's 10 righteous people, will You spare the city?"
And God says, "I'll spare it for 10." But Abraham knew in his heart there weren't even 10 righteous people in all of Sodom and Gomorrah. He's embarrassed to go any lower.
He decides he's going to have to just trust God. It's a hard thing to do, I realize. Most of us find it very difficult. And Abraham did ,too. But he finally decides there's just no other alternative. He's not going to bargain with God anymore, and he decides to trust Him.
God didn't spare those cities. He judged them. He destroyed them with fire and brimstone from heaven. But in His grace, He did deliver Lot and his family. All except Lot's wife, of course, who wanted to go back so God let her stay there, you know, in the form of a pillar of salt. She stayed there permanently.
See, God worked it out. God did what Abraham wanted Him to do. He worked it together to glorify Himself. It was in a manner totally different from what Abraham expected. But it helped Abraham overcome his doubts about God's justice so that Abraham could become a great man of faith.
Now God does the same for us. He doesn't always tell us why He allows the things He allows. I can't tell you why things happen like we've seen this week in that great tragedy in South America where 912 people lost their lives needlessly. I can't tell you why. But God does assure us that He's in control of this world. And what He allows, He'll always use for the best. He'll work it together for good. He gives us enough information in His Word to help us believe that. For instance, He tells us over and over in the Word and demonstrates it in various ways that suffering molds character and it makes us more like Jesus Christ when we respond to it as God wants us to. And God would really be doing us a disfavor if He always protected us from all suffering.
He also tells us very clearly and shows us indisputably how He can sometimes accomplish more through death than He can through life. And He certainly makes it clear to us that we're far better off in the presence of Jesus Christ than we are even on this earth.
So how can we even begin to doubt Him? Why should we let the giant of doubt intimidate us and rob us of the blessing that is ours when we put our full confidence in the wisdom of His sovereign decisions? Do what Abraham did: just trust Him. Just believe that He's going to work all things together for good, that He's a good God and He only allows to happen what will be best. Abraham faced the giant of doubt in Hebron, and he conquered it by faith.
2. The Giant of Grief
The next great biblical character identified with Hebron is Abraham's grandson, Jacob. You might turn over to Genesis, chapter 35. It was in Hebron that Jacob was reunited with his aged father Isaac, after working for his uncle Laban 20 years in Haran. Remember, he came back with his wives and children and flocks and herds.
"Then Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had dwelt" (Genesis 35:27).
Now, Isaac had been living in Beersheba, which we're going to study next week [add link in HTML]. But he moved up to Hebron, and that's where Jacob met him when he came home from Haran. Evidently, Jacob, after returning from Haran to Hebron, settled down here and made this his home. And he faced a great giant in Hebron, what we might call the giant of grief.
Abraham had faced grief here, too. In fact, it tells us back in Genesis 23 that Sarah died in Hebron and Abraham bought a cave called the Cave of Machpelah. He buried Sarah in that cave. And Abraham trusted God, and faced and worked through his grief admirably. He was a great testimony to the inhabitants of Hebron through that experience.
Jacob faces a loss in Hebron, too. His loss is that of his beloved son, Joseph. Turn over to chapter 37, verse 14, where we learn that Jacob sent Joseph from Hebron all the way to Shechem to check on his brothers. That's a pretty long hike from Hebron all the way up to Shechem, which is nearly midway between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. But he sends Joseph there to check on the welfare of his brothers who are grazing their sheep up there near Shechem.
When his brothers saw Joseph coming, they decided to take advantage of the situation and rid themselves of this pesky kid who had become his father's favorite and for whom his father had made this beautiful coat of many colors. So they took Joseph and they sold him to those Midianite merchants who were on their way to Egypt. And then they dipped his coat in blood and they took it home to Jacob at Hebron.
"Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, 'We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not?'" (Genesis 37:32).
Deceitful fellows. They knew it was his coat.
"And he recognized it and said, 'It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.' Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, 'For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.' Thus his father wept for him" (Genesis 37:33-35).
Now, that's an extreme case of grief, isn't it? Grief reactions like this are to be expected. Psychologists tell us that there is a progression in grief that nearly every loss sufferer goes through, whether it's the loss of a significant person through death or divorce or distance, or whether it's the loss of some other significant part of our lives like a job or our business or financial security or our home or our health, or maybe just a broken dream. Many people go through this process, but we're talking particularly about the loss of a person through death.
It often begins with shock and denial. That's the first step. Almost always, when a person hears that a loved one has been taken from them, their first word, the first thing out of their mouth is "no, no." And they go on denying it. Oftentimes, "No, no, this couldn't happen to me. No, God wouldn't let this happen to me." Shock and denial.
The second step in the grief process is often what the psychologists call anger turned outward. We begin to blame other people. We blame the doctors for not doing enough. We blame friends for not caring enough. We blame pastors for not visiting enough. We may even blame the deceasedfeel anger toward him for putting us through this pain and suffering we're experiencing. We get mad at the poor person who's died. And that does happen. And we certainly often get angry with God. Why did God let this happen to me? Anger turned outward. It's the second common stage step in the grief process.
The third step is what they call anger turned inward. Now we begin to feel guilty for blaming other people and for blaming God, and guilty for not treating the deceased better when he was living. In fact, we begin to blame ourselves for almost everything. That's the third step in the grief process. Anger turned inward.
The fourth step is what they call genuine grief. This is the free flow of tears, a genuine sorrow at our loss. And this is healthy. God expects us to sorrow. I mean, after all, we've lost something significant, someone we love. While that person is rejoicing in the presence of Jesus Christ and we can rejoice for them, we still sorrow at our loss. After all, it may be many yearsif Jesus doesn't come soon—many years before we're reunited with that loved one. And we have every right to cry about that. And it's healthy to cry about it. And the quicker we come to genuine grief, facing our loss honestly, not blaming others, not blaming ourselves, but just weeping over our loss and the sorrow we feel. Oh, it's a different kind of a sorrow than the world feels. Theirs is hopeless, a sorrow that has no hope of reuniting with the loved one. But ours is a hopeful sorrow, but it's sorrow nevertheless. And the quicker we can come to this point, the better we will be. This is healthy.
And it leads to the fifth step, which we call the resolution of grief. And this, of course, is when we regain our purpose in life and our satisfaction in living. And we realize that God is with us and God still loves us. And we go on to pick up the pieces and make our lives meaningful and live them to the glory of God.
Now, some go through this process quicker than others. Some may go through some of these things in a matter just of minutes, actually, and it depends on our emotional and spiritual maturity. Almost all go through them. Not all, but almost all. But the length of time it takes will depend on how much we've grown in the Lord. For some, it may be minutes, weeks, others months, others years. It depends on our perspective, really, whether we look at it what we might call horizontally, as the world looks at it as if there is no God, or whether we look at it vertically with our eyes upon God realizing that He is in full control of the situation, that He's a good God, and He only allows what happens to be best. He does only good. And He works all things together for good. And He uses even our grief and our loss to strengthen us in our faith and make us more like the Lord Jesus.
I would have to say, according to what we've read in the Scripture, that Jacob seems to be facing his loss horizontally. He seems to have forgotten that there's a God above who's in control of all things. As a matter of fact, years later, he's still angry. Turn over to chapter 43. You remember when his son said, "Dad, we've got to go back to Egypt and buy more food to get us through this famine"? He refused to let his youngest son, Benjamin go.
The prime minister of Egypt, who happened to be Joseph, and they didn't know it, demanded that Benjamin come back with him next time. He wasn't with him the first time. And Jacob is all upset, and he fusses at Judah and even blames him for telling the prime minister of Egypt he even had a younger brother. He's really upset about it, but he finally relents.
"'Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!'" (Genesis 43:13-14).
That last sentence interests me. I don't know what it means. I have to confess to you. I'm not sure. I don't know whether Jacob has come to the place of triumphant trust in God through grief, saying, "Yes, even if God takes all of you, I'll have to trust Him." Or whether it's just kind of a blind, stoic resignation. "You know, if I lose you, I'll lose you. The best I can do. Guess you have to go." I don't know what it is. I would like to think that Jacob finally came to triumphant trust in God.
And I would like to think that we who know Him, who know Him through His Son, Jesus Christ, and we who believe His Word and are convinced that He is a good God and that He only does good things, that He works all things together for good, that we could trust Him through our grief as well. That we could look at it not on the horizontal plane, as the unbeliever does, but with our eyes fixed upon God and trust Him and then move through these human reactions rapidly, if we go through them at all. Rather than let them drag on into years sometimes of discouragement, depression, that dishonor the God we claim to know and the God we claim loves us, and the God we claim meets all our needs. What a mockery for Christians to say they believe in God and to say, yes, He satisfies, and yet to allow grief to destroy their lives for years.
You see, this is a choice we have to make. It's the choice to trust Him. We can do that. We can believe that God is in control of our lives and only allows to happen what He's going to use for good and trust Him. But it's our choice. There is no other way to face the giant of grief triumphantly than to trust Him.
3. The Giant of Uselessness
Of course, the greatest hero of Hebron is a man named Caleb. He was the one who faced the literal giants, the sons of Anak, and his story is told in Joshua, chapter 14.
The conquest of the land was nearly finished now when Caleb approached his friend and general, Joshua, one of his fellow spies who had spied out the land years before. And after rehearsing what had happened years before and what Moses had said to him, he says to Joshua:
"'Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.' And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance." (Joshua 14:12).
This is really incredible. Caleb would have to displace those Anakim to get Hebron. And do you know how old Caleb is on this occasion? You can remember a few years back, we preached a message on Caleb, and the Scripture tells us very clearly he was 85 years of age. He was 85, when he said to Joshua, "I want Hebron."
Now, I would think that this would be about time for a man to begin enjoying his retirement. Wouldn't you think that? He's 85. You'd expect him to choose a shady grove of trees near a babbling brook and find himself a nice comfortable rocking chair and rock himself to glory. I mean, that's what a lot of people over 65 have decided to do. Some under 65, for that matter. That possibility certainly went through his mind. He must have faced the giant of uselessness: the temptation to just loaf around, you know, putter around in the yard, watch tv. After all, hadn't he earned that privilege? For 85 long years he'd served his God well.
But evidently, as far as Caleb was concerned, one lifetime even of 85 years was not long enough to include any wasted time. God had commanded the children of Israel to take all the land, and as long as Hebron was occupied by the Anakim, the job was unfinished. He knew that by God's grace and through God's power he could take it. And he looked on Hebron as a challenge, a job to finish for the glory of God.
Turn over to chapter 15 and see it.
"Now to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a share among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, namely, Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak). Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak from there: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak." (Joshua 15:13-14).
I don't know how he did it, but he did it by the power of God. He conquered both the giant sons of Anak and the personal giant of uselessness.
This is a very real giant facing a lot of retired people today. Their companies are finished with them for all practical purposes. They told them they're no good anymore and they put them out to pasture. So they're feeling useless and unproductive and worthless and they fall into a habit pattern of putting around with inconsequential things, frittering away valuable time God has made available to them.
Oh dear retired person, may I remind you that the work of God is not finished yet? There's a big world to be won. There's a lot to do. There are many little jobs that are a part of God's plan for this world. And much of what needs to be done can be done by people, even retired people, who are willing to accept it as a challenge and trust God for strength and wisdom and power to do the job they can do, and get victory over this temptation to just let life pass them by. Oh, trust Him, won't you? Trust Him for the strength to do what needs to be done and then volunteer to do it for the glory of the Lord. Trust Him.
4. The Giant of Delay
The next Biblical events in Hebron revolve around the life of David. King Saul is dead now. Turn over to 2 Samuel, chapter 1. Saul is dead and David is the rightful king. God had chosen him, Samuel had anointed him.
But one thing hindered him from becoming the king of all Israel, as God promised him. It was the fact that Saul's general, Abner, had taken Saul's son: a man by the name of Ishbosheth. Abner made Ishbosheth the king over the northern tribes. And those tribes refused to bow to David's sovereignty. They would not submit to his rule. Only Judah recognized David as king.
Now look at 2 Samuel 2.
"It happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?'
And the Lord said to him, 'Go up.'
David said, 'Where shall I go up?'
And He said, To Hebron'" (2 Samuel 2:1).
So here we are back in giant country again, this time with David. So David moves his headquarters to Hebron, and it becomes the capital city of Judah. And David rules over Judah from Hebron.
"And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months" (2 Samuel 2:11).
He waited seven and a half years in Hebron for what God promised him was his, what he had a right to: to be king over all Israel. For David, you see, Hebron represented the giant of delay, but he conquered that giant by faith. And he waited patiently for God to work and give him what God promised him in the first place.
Now, David had a lot of faults, no doubt about it. But with all his faults, he's still one of the greatest men of faith in the Old Testament. And during these seven and a half years of delay, some unbelievable things happen that are just almost too incredible for our minds to grasp. For one thing, Joab, his own captain, treacherously murders Abner, the captain of Ishbosheth. Now, you would think that would be a great thing for David. I mean, after all, now this captain who made Ishbosheth king in the first place is dead. It weakens his army. It's going to give David the opportunity to take over the whole land. I mean, this is the open door he's waiting for. You know what he says?
"Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, 'Tear your clothes, gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn for Abner.' And King David followed the coffin. So they buried Abner in Hebron; and the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. And the king sang a lament over Abner and said: 'Should Abner die as a fool dies?'" (2 Samuel 3:31-32).
"For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's intent to kill Abner the son of Ner" (2 Samuel 3:37).
David didn't tell Joab to do this.
"Then the king said to his servants, 'Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?'" (2 Samuel 3:38).
He actually honors him, the man who is keeping him from what God promised him. He honors him in death.
That's faith, friend. That is faith. David was convinced that God would give him the throne over all Israel in His own time and in His own way. And there was no need for treachery and deceit.
And the next thing we read in this passage is even more amazing. Ishbosheth had two leaders in his army who were leaders of sort of raiding bands. Their names were Baina and Rechab. And they could see the handwriting on the wall. They knew that their own king, Ishbosheth, was losing power and that David was coming on. And they wanted to get in David's good graces.
So they decided to double cross their king. And they slipped into his bedroom while he was taking his nap and they neatly sliced off his head. This story is Rated R, but it's in the Bible right here. And they delivered his head to David at Hebron. They expected to be acclaimed as heroes.
Now you might think David would be kind of happy about this. After all, this was the last obstacle. Now the king was dead. He could now be king over all Israel as God promised him.
"But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, 'As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from all adversity, when someone told me, saying, "Look, Saul is dead," thinking to have brought good news, I arrested him and had him executed in Ziklag—the one who thought I would give him a reward for his news'" (2 Samuel 4:9-10).
He reminds these two traitors what he did to the fellow who brought the word that Saul and Jonathan were dead.
"'How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?' So David commanded his young men, and they executed them" (2 Samuel 4:11-12a).
David avenges the death of Ishbosheth, the man who was keeping him from having what God promised him.
You see, he is genuinely incensed that these men would dare to take this matter out of God's hands and settle it themselves. David was a man who learned to wait on God. Even when his men encouraged him to take Saul's life so he could have what God promised him, the kingship, he said, "Shall I touch the Lord's anointed? Never. Absolutely never."
David was a man who knew how to live with delays and trust God. He was committed to wait for God's timing, however long it would take. He had faced the giant of delay and had defeated it by trusting God. And God honored his faith.
In 2 Samuel 5, he is crowned king over all Israel, as all the elders of Israel come south to Hebron and make him king.
Now, maybe you are facing a giant of delay. Maybe you've been praying for years for some loved one. That unsaved loved one just refuses still to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ—won't even listen to it. Maybe it's a problem at work that just drags on. Maybe it's pain that just won't go away. Maybe you just never have had enough money to make ends meet, and you wonder if it always will be that way.
God says, trust Him. Do what He tells you to do and live like He wants you to live. But trust Him. He'll work it out. It may not be by your timetable or in the way you think best, but He will work it out for good. And your place of delay will be like David. It will become your place of glory and blessing, just as Hebron did.
There was one more giant David faced at Hebron. When his son Absalom, after he had moved to Jerusalem with his throne, his son Absalom organized a revolt, you remember. Hebron was the center of it. When the trumpet sounded, the people of Israel cried, "Absalom reigns in Hebron!" David faced that one, too.
It was probably the greatest challenge of his life. But as we saw in Psalm 55, that was when he learned to cast his burden upon the Lord because God would sustain him and never suffer the righteous to be moved. David faced giants at Hebron, but he conquered them by faith.
5. Facing Your Giants
What giants are you facing today? Maybe doubt, as Abraham faced. Grief, as Jacob faced. Maybe uselessness, as Caleb faced. Or delay as David faced. Or maybe some other that we've not even mentioned. Discouragement or fear or loneliness or boredom or rejection. Or maybe it's the giant of some sin or temptation, like lust or greed or pride or temper or some other besetting sin. There's only one way to defeat them. And that's the same way these men of old faced their giants in Hebron: by utter surrender to God's will and implicit unquestioning trust in God.
God is with you. Whatever your problem today, He wants to help you, but you have to let Him. The choice is up to you.
Trusting Jesus as Your Savior
The same thing is true if you've never trusted Christ as your personal Savior. Maybe some giant obstacle is keeping you from trusting Him. Like doubt or pride or fear of what people will think or an unwillingness to forsake your sin. Oh, God wants you to trust Him, to lay hold of Him. He sent His Son to die in your place and pay for your sins. And He asks you to put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, and He'll forgive you and impart to you everlasting life. Trust Him. Let's pray.
Father, we ask you now to work in our hearts and accomplish Your own good pleasure.
While we're even asking God to do that, we would wonder if maybe some of you who came into this service this morning have never yet trusted the Lord Jesus as your personal Savior from sin. Would you take advantage of these quiet moments at the conclusion of this message and trust Him?
You say, "I don't understand what that means." Let me explain it to you.
The Bible teaches us that Christ died for our sins. It teaches us that there is no other way to obtain God's forgiveness but to believe that Christ died in our place and purchased our forgiveness. We don't earn forgiveness of sins by doing good deeds. The best we can do will never erase the consequences of our sin. We must believe that Jesus Christ died in our place and put our trust in His shed blood for forgiveness and for the assurance of eternal salvation.
Will you do that this morning? If you will, I'd like to suggest that you settle it in prayer right now, in the quiet of your heart. Just say something like,
Lord, I'm a sinner. I admit it. I believe that Christ died in my place and paid for my sin, and I want to put my trust in Him as my Savior. Lord Jesus, I'm trusting You now. Come into my life and save me from sin.
And He'll do it. He promised he would.
Closing Prayer
Father, we pray that some may avail themselves of this opportunity with the message still ringing in their hearts and the Spirit of God still convicting. God, give them grace to trust the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior from sin. We ask it in His name and for His sake. Amen.
Continue to BB-2: Meet Me at the Well (Beersheba)