Before The Giant

Welcome to church, everybody.

It is so good to see all of you.

We're glad you all are here.

Welcome again to all of our campuses and again, happy Mother's Day to all of the moms.

If you have your Bible, would you kindly take it out?

And if you need a Bible and you raise your hands, the ushers will get them to you.

Let's hold it up all together nice and high and say this.

Ready?

Go.

This is my Bible.

It is my primary source of spiritual nourishment.

I will read it every day and become all that God wants me to be.

My mind will be renewed.

My life will be transformed.

I will become fully surrendered to Christ.

Therefore, I will hide his word in my heart so I can be all God has destined me to be.

Amen.

If you would kindly remain standing in honor of the Word of God, we are going to 1 Samuel chapter number 16, beginning in verse number 4.

The Bible says, So Samuel did what the Lord said.

Stop, hard stop.

That's a message, isn't it?

That's probably one of the most important messages you could ever get out of the word of God.

So Samuel did what the Lord said.

How many of you know the reason why life often doesn't go in the direction that God has promised is because we do not do what God said.

I like what Mary, the mother of Jesus, said at the first miracle.

She looked at everybody, they ran out of wide.

Here was her advice.

Whatever he says, do it.

How many of you know that is the greatest advice you will ever get in your entire life?

Whatever he says, do it.

He says, and he went to Bethlehem.

And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said, Do you come peaceably?

And he said, Peaceably, I have come the sacrifice to the Lord.

Sanctify yourself and come with me to the sacrifice.

And then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

And so it was when they came that he looked at Iliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.

But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused him, for the Lord does not see as man sees.

For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

Then Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these.

And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all the young men here?

And then he said, Well, there remains yet the youngest, and there he is keeping the sheep.

And Samuel said to Jesse, Send him, bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.

And so he sent and he brought him in.

And now he was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking.

All the good-looking people say amen.

How come that wasn't everybody?

Some of you have low self-esteem.

I said, Let all the good-looking people say amen.

Now some of you said it a little too loud, like like you're a little too convinced of that, right?

It said that he was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking.

And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is the one.

Then Saul took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that moment forward.

How many of you know this is where David's story begins?

David is not introduced to us when he defeats the giant.

He is introduced to us when he is overlooked.

And from the text, I want to minister to you not from the point at which the giant has come down, not from the point in which David owns the bragging rights.

I want to talk to you from the point of view before the giant.

Because how many of you know what happens before the giant has everything to do with whether the giant comes down or remains standing after the battle?

Let's pray.

Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, speak to every soul by the power of your Holy Spirit.

In Jesus' name we pray.

And everyone said, You may be seated.

Jesse brings out his sons, one after another.

Samuel is there, he's there to anoint the next king.

He looks at each one of them.

This is what a king should look like.

He said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before me.

And God says, Nope, nope, I've refused him.

Each one comes before, and they all look strong, impressive, and obvious.

And each time God said, That's not it, that's not it, that's not it.

Until Samuel presses the issue and he says, Are all your sons here?

And Jesse kind of like just, you know, almost ashamedly so, if you would.

And I know we're reading into the text a little bit, but he said, Well, there he is, and he's out tending the sheep.

And that statement kind of tells you all you need to know about how David was viewed before God ever used him.

He wasn't in the room, he wasn't considered, he wasn't part of the conversation, he was out doing in the field doing what he had always done while everyone else was being evaluated for something greater.

And I want you to see this clearly because this sets the tone for the entire message.

David was picked before he was popular.

There's so many people.

They think that God is only choosing the people who have status, and God only chooses the people who have followers, and God only chooses the people who are making it different.

But I want you to know that your selection, that God, God chooses you long before anybody ever knows you, and that God has an assignment for you, even when nobody, even you, doesn't think there is one.

And we love the part of the story where David's got the victory, and as we said, the bragging rights and the giant falls, but most people don't realize that Goliath didn't make David, Goliath revealed what was already in David.

See, it's before the giant shows up that God forms in us what it takes so that we can defeat the giant when it does.

And I want to show you today what God forms in every person so that we are ready for the assignment that He has for us.

And so before your giant goes down, number one, you need to learn how to handle rejection.

This is where your identity is tested.

Let's go back to the painful part of the story.

1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 11.

1 Samuel 16:11

Samuel said to Jesse, Are all the young men here?

And then he said, There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, he's keeping the sheep.

And the first thing God develops in David is how to handle rejection.

Because when Samuel arrives, David's not even in the house.

David isn't even invited into the process, he's not considered a possibility, he's not even thought of someone who belongs.

Jesse presents seven sons, and David is not one of them.

That means David wasn't rejected by strangers.

He was rejected by the people who are supposed to care for him.

And that hits different, doesn't it?

That hits a little different when somebody who don't know, who you don't really have any investment, doesn't rejection, you you can shake that off.

But when somebody who's close that makes you question, right?

That that sits deep, that lingers with you, you start asking yourself the questions, is what they fail to see in me really true.

It is why they're overlooking me really who I am.

And you begin to think about those things and maybe even internalize those things.

But there are three things that you need to do in order to handle rejection.

And here's what I want to share with you.

Number one, you have to have a good attitude.

You can't internalize it.

Because the easiest thing you could do is exactly that.

To believe that what they think or what they see or what they say really is who you are.

We all can internalize those things, but watch David.

1 Samuel chapter 16, verse number 12.

1 Samuel 16 · chapter mention

He was ready with bright eyes and good looking.

Can you say amen for the good-looking people in the house?

Now notice this though, it says he had bright eyes.

That's not just physical appearance, that's spiritual countenance.

Have you ever noticed bright eyes on somebody who has internalized a hurt?

What do you see on somebody who has internalized a hurt?

You see downshodten eyes, you see sad eyes, you you look at them, and you could tell something is off.

Why?

Because they are internalizing what has happened to them.

But when there's something alive in the eyes of an individual, even after they are rejected, it tells you that they have not internalized it.

In other words, he didn't let where he was diminish who he was.

You can be in the wrong place and still have the right spirit.

You can be overlooked and still have an expectation, you can be rejected and still have joy.

Don't let rejection dim your eyes.

Don't let it steal your expectancy.

Rejection should not convince you that your best days are behind you.

You need to know that they are still before you because God is in control of your destiny.

If you're gonna handle rejection, number two, you need to realize you can be rejected by people, but still selected by God.

Notice everybody overlooked him.

But God said, Arise, anoint him, for he is the one.

And this is the moment everything changes.

Before David David ever fought a giant, before he proved himself, before he ever stepped foot on the battlefield, God had already made a decision about him.

Your selection is not about your performance, it is about your preparation.

Listen to me carefully.

Some people think they are performing to be chosen.

They think that if I act right and speak right and do this and do that and do the other thing, then maybe I'll get selected.

But selection happens way before performance.

You were selected in your mother's womb before, before you even was.

While you were in your mother's womb, God has called you.

God put a purpose in your life, God has a mission on your life, God has an assignment for you.

Your performance doesn't determine your selection, but it prepares you.

And so before the foundations of the world, there's an assignment for David, and that means people's decisions do not cancel God's calling.

Just because someone didn't choose you doesn't mean God isn't going to use you.

And just because someone didn't see value in you doesn't mean that God hasn't placed value on you.

Why?

God sees differently.

What does God say to Samuel?

Don't look at his outward appearance.

I don't look that way.

Man looks on the outward appearance.

I see the heart.

See, people see what is visible, God sees what is hidden.

People saw a shepherd, God saw a king.

People saw a failure, God saw a success.

People see mistakes, God sees a masterpiece.

Why?

The reason God sees differently is because potential is always connected to its source.

Always.

That's why coaching tree matters.

Well, this one was raised up under this one.

That's why parents of athletes matter, right?

Why else is Bronny in the MBA?

Can we just be honest for a minute?

Now, compared to you and me, he's a world-class athlete, right?

Compared to you and me, he could hoop.

But compared to an NBA player, he probably doesn't belong on a roster.

But somebody believes that because he is the son of the maybe second, third, fourth, fifth greatest player of all time, not the first greatest player of all time, maybe the second, third, fourth, fifth greatest player of all time, because we all know who the goat is.

The goat is Jordan.

But because he's related, right?

They believe that there might be something in there that hasn't matured yet, something in there that has not come out yet, because the potential of a thing is always created to the source.

That's why pedigree matters in even in horses.

And see what God is trying to show us here is that the potential of a thing is connected to the source.

And every time we see in the book of Genesis, God gives everything He created seed, doesn't He?

Or the potential to reproduce.

And that means that the potential of a thing comes from what it's related to or where it came from.

So God gave trees seeds so that they can produce trees.

And God gave birds the ability to produce birds, and God gave fish the ability to produce fish, and so trees will never be more than trees, and birds will never be more than birds, and fish will never be more than fish, right?

Because the potential of a thing is connected to its source, right?

And every time that God created anything in the book of Genesis, he spoke to the source, right?

And so when God when it was time for God to create fish, he spoke to the sea.

And so if you take a fish out of water, what happens to the fish?

When God was getting ready to create plants and trees, he spoke to the earth.

And if you take a plant or a tree out of the earth, what happens to the plant or the tree?

It ceases to exist.

But when God was getting ready to create us, what did he do?

He spoke to himself.

Now, why is this important?

It is important because you have to realize that when you and I get disconnected from God, what happens?

We die.

That's why God told Adam and Eve, He said, In the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in that day, here's what the Greek Hebrew says in dying, you will die.

You will physically die, but you will spiritually die.

You will be shut off, disconnected from because sin disconnects us from God.

And that's why the only way to get eternal life and abundant life is to be born again and get recreated, reconnected to your creator.

The potential of a thing is connected and related to its source.

And so, what that means about you and me is that we have God potential on the inside of us, and this is why God sees so much differently than everybody else sees, because everybody else sees the exterior, but God knows the potential that is on the inside of you because you came from Him, and every living human being has God potential on the inside of Him, and so God sees differently.

Michelangelo, he was known to have said that whenever he created a statue out of stone or marble, he said he didn't just see the stone or the marble, he saw the masterpiece on the inside.

He said, My job is to take away everything that doesn't belong, so that the masterpiece can come through.

Do you know what God's job is?

Is to take away everything that doesn't belong, to chip away at all of the stuff that is hiding who you really are, that is hiding the God potential that is on the inside of you.

David was chosen.

If you're rejected by man, you can still be selected and used by God because God sees differently.

Everything shifts when you understand that you are chosen by God.

But lastly, about rejection, rejection can't stop what God has for you if you respond the right way.

So the third thing you have to learn when it comes to dealing with rejection is that you have to respond the right way.

Notice their rejection did not cancel the assignment.

Notice that the oil would not flow until David showed up.

Notice that even though David was overlooked, the anointing of God, the oil of God, the sign that he was selected would not go until David showed up, which means what they did to you can never stop what God has for you.

And that's why rejection is not an emotional decision.

Rejection is a spiritual decision.

You can't pretend like it doesn't hurt, that's not gonna fix it.

You can't blame everybody else, that's not gonna fix it.

The only thing that you can do with rejection in order to for it to turn you in the right direction is for you to give it to God.

Because the only one that knows what rejection feels like and can help you overcome it is Jesus.

Rejected by his friends, rejected by his family, rejected by creation.

But how many of you know that rejection did not stop him from fulfilling his destiny?

And when you give your rejection to Jesus, can I tell you what he does?

He puts you on the fast track to your right direction.

Rejection always turns in the right direction.

That's why if I give it to Jesus, I can forgive you.

If I give it to Jesus, what you did, what you said, how you looked at me, how you passed me over, all that kind of stuff, it done bother me none because I realize your rejection is not stopping my destiny.

You can't stop my destiny no matter how hard you try.

You can't stop my destiny no matter how hard you plan for it.

You can't stop my destiny no matter how many traps you set.

The devil can't stop my destiny.

My destiny is in the hands of God.

Your destiny is in the hands of God.

Matter of fact, there are times when you come to the realization of that and you get way past the rejection moments of your life, you want to go back and say thank you to all the people who rejected you along the way.

Because you're like, you know what?

I didn't see it then.

It just hurt back then.

I didn't see it then, but but but maybe maybe God was using you to close a door.

Maybe God was using you to redirect me because rejection always turns into right direction when you give it to God.

Look at example after example in the Bible.

David rejected by his family and redirected to the throne.

Joseph sold into slavery, second in command of Egypt.

Paul rejected as an apostle, wrote two-thirds of the New Testament.

Jesus rejected as a Savior, came up with the keys of death, hell in the grave.

If you're going to defeat your giants, you need to have you need to learn how to deal with rejection.

But number two, you need to learn how to handle success.

This is where our character is tested.

And it's the second thing God develops in David before the giant goes down.

And this is important because most people think success is easier to handle than rejection.

But in many ways, success is the greater test.

Rejection reveals what's in you when nobody sees you.

Success reveals what's in you when everybody's watching you.

And watch how quickly things change for David.

By the way, did you know you can go from obscurity to notoriety like that?

To invisible to be seen like that.

From rags to riches like that.

It looks like it's like that, but can I tell you there's a lot that's gone on already?

So to you, it seems like your breakthrough suddenly came.

What you don't realize is God is preparing you for that all along.

Watch the moment.

One moment he's forgotten in the field.

The next moment, then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers.

And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.

Now David has been anointed king.

Think about that.

The oil has flowed, the prophet has spoken, the calling has been confirmed, the spirit of God has come upon him, all in the presence of those who overlooked him.

Never worry about getting back at people.

Too many people spend all their life getting back at people.

You know what I've learned to do?

Just follow God.

You know why?

Because there comes a point at which when you follow God, you'd be like, How you like me now?

How you like me now?

Just saying, just just saying, yeah.

Y'all, y'all, how you like me now?

You know.

I mean, I know it's hard, but you know, sometimes you just gotta look back a little bit, just give a wink their way.

You know what I'm saying?

Rejection reveals what's in you when nobody sees you, but success reveals what's in you when everybody starts noticing you.

And no, notice what happened.

It David now gets anointed in the presence of all those who overlooked him, and guess what he does?

He goes right back to tending sheep.

And this amazes me because God anoints him for the palace but sends him back to the pasture.

Because before God elevates you publicly, he's got to see if you can remain faithful privately.

And here's what I've learned there are a lot of people that want oil but don't want the field.

There's a lot of people that want a platform, but they don't want the process.

A lot of people want a crown, but they don't want a character.

And David understood something powerful.

Just because you're anointed does not mean you are ready.

David doesn't walk around going, I'm the next king.

I'm the next king, I'm the next king.

You know what he does?

He doesn't start demanding recognition, he doesn't become arrogant because he got a word from God.

He simply goes back to doing what he's always faithfully done.

Matter of fact, look at this.

1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 15 says, And David occasionally went and returned from Saul to feed his father sheep at Bethlehem.

1 Samuel 17:15

Don't miss that verse.

He's anointed, but he's still serving sheep.

Success has not gone to his head.

There's a lot of people.

And you know, here's what happens with us.

We always think everything is somebody else's issue, right?

So when we talk about, make sure success doesn't go to your head.

You think of somebody all of a sudden, right?

You think of somebody, you know, they got too big for their britches, and you know, they don't come around here no more, and now they drive in that, they think they're all that, you know, they live in there, they're too good to come back to the neighborhood, right?

You're thinking about all those kind of people.

But can I bring it down to everyday life?

Because I'm telling you, I'm telling me, I'm telling you, don't let success go to your head.

What do I mean?

Let me give an example.

Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 11.

Deuteronomy 8:11

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God.

Lest when you have eaten and are full.

Stop.

Anybody gonna eat something today?

Can I see your hand if you're gonna eat something today?

Can I see your hand if you're gonna eat something today?

This is not a this is a rhetorical question.

It means everybody needs to participate.

Don't be arrogant, don't be rebellious, don't sit there going, I ain't raising my hand in church.

Can I see your hand if you're gonna eat something today?

The rest of y'all are fasting, right?

Don't forget the Lord your God when you have eaten and are full.

Stop.

I think this qualifies for almost everybody.

It goes on, it says, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, or let me say it to you this way when your business is doing real good, and your silver and your gold multiply, or your bank account is fat, and you have Multiplied and all that you have is multiplied.

And when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, and you say in your heart, My power and my might and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.

You shall remember that it is the Lord your God, for it is He that gives you the power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant.

Here's what it's saying: don't become an earthly success and a heavenly failure.

There's a lot of people that they don't measure success the right way.

They measure it the way the world measures it.

And so when they have a lot and when they're driving good, and when they're they're living good, and when they're eating good, and when their bank account is full and good, they think I'm successful.

You aren't successful in God's eyes if you have forgotten the God who gave you the gifting for you to get there.

How you handle success is you remember God every single step along the way.

If your success keeps you away from church, you're a failure.

If your success makes it so you rob the tithe, you're a failure.

I'm gonna preach real good right now.

I'm not gonna worry about what anybody thinks right now.

If your success keeps you away from what God says are priorities in your life, your family, your children, you are a failure.

It doesn't matter how much stuff you have.

We need to understand how we handle success.

How do we handle when God permit begins to promote us?

Some people get one compliment and become unteachable, one opportunity, and suddenly they're too important to serve.

One prophetic word, and now they don't think they need to be accountable anymore.

One financial blessing, and all of a sudden they don't need God anymore.

They're not praying anymore.

David understood if God opened a door for him, then God was responsible for the timing of the door, and David was going to handle success with a humble heart.

Most people don't see it this way.

He was faithful in the little, will be faithful over much.

David went back to the field, and then David was still running errands.

Fifteen years before David became king.

Samuel walks in, he anoints him.

Fifteen years later, he's still not king.

Some of y'all, five weeks later.

I don't understand.

God said this got this in store for me.

Five years, I know y'all just be quit.

You'd be like, ah, no, no way, I must have not heard God, so on and so forth.

See, we we think we control when God says it's time for the door to open.

God is preparing you, and some of y'all, you God may have a great plan for your life, but some of y'all need 15 years of training.

Some of y'all need 50, you know why?

Because you had 50 years of all the wrong stuff, and God needs to train you because what God has for you, God wants to make sure it doesn't destroy you, and so God is training you.

Do not despise ordinary moments.

David didn't understand that when he was carrying out a task, he was about to walk into his destiny.

David understood that God hides destiny in routine faithfulness.

He didn't know when he was going to deliver cheese and bread to his brothers that he was walking into his giant.

He had no idea.

I remember years ago, I was just walking in New York City trying to get a place to meet to have church.

And I walked into TBN studios just trying to get a place to meet.

And I walked, I walked in trying to get a place.

I walked out, host of the largest Christian television show in the world.

I didn't know it.

I wasn't even accounting on it.

I just walked in trying to obey, obey God.

Obey God, stay faithful, handle success the right way by being faithful.

But number three, third thing you need to know if you're gonna be prepared before your giant.

How do you steward the gifts God has given you?

This is what I call the competency test.

Everybody say competency.

It's a curse word in the church.

Church people think they don't have to be competent.

Church people, you know what, you know what church people do?

They create the anointing as an excuse for everything.

The anointing is an excuse.

Do you know it's an excuse not to study?

The anointing is an excuse not to be prepared.

The anointing is an excuse not to get excellent in a particular area, the anointing is an excuse not to get educated, the anointing is an excuse not to get trained in a particular area where society is advanced.

The anointing becomes an excuse.

Well, God will just do it.

Well, God will just do it.

Well, God will just do it.

Well, God will just do it.

You know what'll happen?

You will stay in the field for 15 more years.

David has to build his gift, he has to improve what God has given him.

He has to take what God has put in his hand.

What did God put in his hand?

The harp, the sling, and the sheep.

None of that looked impressive, none of that looked royal, but those were what God gave David.

And you know what David was committed to doing while he was waiting to be released?

He was committed to building and getting skillful in his gifts.

Gifting is what God gives you.

I got news for you.

Everybody's gifted.

Every person in this world is gifted.

How do I know that?

The Bible says that God has given gifts to everyone so that we can all do certain things well.

God doesn't create junk.

Every single person has a gift from God.

Gifting is what God gives you.

Skill is what happens when you are responsible with your gift.

And if all you do is stay gifted and never become skillful, you stop yourself from walking through the doors that God has for you.

1 Samuel chapter 16, verse 14 says, But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.

1 Samuel 16:14

Then one of the servants answered and said, Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing.

And the Lord is with him.

Therefore, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.

Now I don't know if you just caught that or not, but David got summoned to the palace because he was skillful.

He didn't get summoned to the palace because he was anointed.

He got because they didn't know he was anointed.

They just said, Hey, ever Saul had this evil spirit, and Saul would want musicians to come in.

And anytime a musician would play, the evil spirit would stay, it wouldn't do anything.

And Saul would be tormented, and he would throw out the evil mu uh the other musicians.

And then he said, I need somebody who can come in here and play something that can get rid of these things.

And they said, Well, just so happened that I was walking by a field one day and I heard this beautiful harp playing, and I looked out in the field and I saw a son of Jesse named David, and he was playing the harp.

And this kid can play a mean harp.

Bring him here, bring him here.

Why?

Why?

Because he can play a mean harp.

Now watch this, watch this.

But he was also anointed.

Some people are skillful and not anointed.

Some people are anointed and not skillful.

And then some people, come on, y'all.

Some people they are anointed and skillful.

And when the anointing and skill converges, watch out! Because evil spirits, the stronghold of the enemy, cannot stay in the presence of those things.

David gets summoned to the palace.

David doesn't try to open the door.

Guess what makes room for him?

The gift that he became skillful at.

And if you notice the text, listen to what it says.

He was skillful in playing.

Verse 18.

He was a mighty man of valor, a man of war.

He was prudent in speech, and the Lord was with him.

We found out a lot about David.

We found out stuff that people don't even think is important.

David was good looking.

God don't matter to God.

God looks at the heart, He don't look at the outward appearance.

You're messing stuff up.

You think that the outward is more important than the inward.

God said the inward first, but He didn't say ignore the outward.

Because there are some doors you will never walk into if you don't speak right or if you don't dress right.

And there are some people they don't understand because they keep saying, Well, somebody's got something against me, but maybe you got something against you.

Maybe the reason why the door ain't opening for you is because you have not taken the time to get skillful at your gift to learn how to talk right, and you showed up for the interview with a t-shirt on.

We have to understand that God is practical, and what we have to always understand is God gives us the gift, but what we do with the gift is our gift back to God.

You need to develop your gift, you need to develop, and when you do, guess what happens?

Conversations are happening about you that you don't even know about.

David was playing the harp, he had no idea somebody saw him.

You know how you get noticed?

Be faithful with your gift.

Faithfulness is not just showing up, it's being prepared when you do.

Some people say, But Pastor, I'm here every single week.

I know, but half the time you don't know what you're doing.

See, what we have to understand is there are dimensions to faithfulness.

Thank God for the people who just make themselves available.

And sometimes that's what you need to start.

Make yourself available.

But when you make yourself available and see that your competency level is not where it needs to be, the next level of faithfulness is now you're gonna get ready to do it absolutely the best you can.

Why?

Because you're doing it for God.

Imagine if I just showed up every week, said I had no idea what I'm gonna preach today.

I'm gonna do one of these.

Boom.

Okay, let's preach.

Could I do it?

Yes.

Why?

Because I'm gifted.

Would I ever do that?

No.

You know why?

Because I love God too much.

I love I love God too much to give God a sloppy gift.

What I want to give God is the best gift that I have, and then after I give God my best gift, I want to trust God to be everything that I'm not.

Competency.

But the last thing that you have to develop before the giant is your relationship with God.

And it's the number one thing.

The number one thing.

David pens one of the, if not the most famous, Psalm ever been written.

Maybe the most quoted Bible verse in history.

Maybe.

You remember it?

Psalm 23.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23, verse number four.

And this is perhaps that scripture people quote it all the time, but I don't know if they know what they're saying because it's more than just a poet, a poetry, or a poem.

It is a theological statement born from an experience of a man who didn't just know about God, but a man who walked with God.

And when you read the first portion of the psalm, it is all about God.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he restores my soul, he leads me beside still waters.

But when you come to verse number five, it changed from all about God to you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.

All of a sudden, God, David shifts from an impersonal to a you God.

God, you're my God, and God, you're everything to me.

And God, this is what you do to me.

And if David is telling us something about what valleys do and what tables do.

Because valleys, yea, though I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

David is telling us that during valley experiences, I learned to trust God.

But table experiences make me celebrate who I know God already is.

What you see is this shift, and it's telling us something important about what happens before the giant shows up.

Because before the giant shows up, the experiences that you have along the way create a trust in God that you'll need when the giant shows up.

So you have to understand something about shepherding.

What shepherds would do is during the hot summer months, when the fields were scorched, they would take their sheep to these things called table lands.

And these table lands were places that the shepherd had prepared so that the sheep would have everything they need during the hot summer months.

And that shepherd would go to these table lands way before he brought the sheep there, and he would prepare it, he would make sure that the greenery was plush and that there was no predators and no insects, and he would prepare this wonderful place.

But the only way to get his sheep to the mountaintop was through the valley.

Listen to me, listen to me.

Down is often the way up.

Y'all missed that.

Down is often the way up.

Lest a kernel of wheat fall to the ground and die, it remains alone, right?

But after it springs up, it has a harvest in our life.

Down is often the way up.

What happened to Jesus on the third day?

Down was the way up.

Though a righteous man falls down seven times, he rises up.

Can I tell you why?

Down is often a way up because valley experiences do something to your trust.

Valley experience, see, when they walked through the valley to get to the mountaintop, they had to stay close to the shepherd because there were predators along the way.

There was danger along the way.

There were things that could mud slides along the way.

There was darkness, there was cold along the way.

And so what they had to do is they had to stay close to the shepherd.

And the shepherd would use his rod and his staff, really the same instrument.

One side was a rod, the other side was a staff.

He would throw that thing at predators to protect the sheep.

And then when the sheep wandered off, he would pull them in to keep them close.

And sometimes just to let the nut the sheep know that he was still there as they were walking, he would gently just put his shis on the side of the sheep.

And that meant stay close, stay close, stay close.

I'm here.

And so as they wandered through those valleys, by the time they got to the table lands, by the time they got to the place that they desired, something was developed in their relationship with the shepherd, and that was absolute trust.

When David showed up before Goliath, David was positive what God would do.

Some of y'all are still wondering what God will do when your giant shows up.

There's no hint of wonder in David.

Saul said, You can't go out against him.

He said, Well, why not?

He said, Uh, your servant was out tending his father's sheep, and a lion came out, and I struck the lion, and a bear came out, and I struck the bear.

I caught it by the beard and I struck it, and I delivered the lamb out of its mouth.

And the same God who delivered me from the lion and delivered me from the bear will deliver me from this uncircumcised Philistine.

Lions and giants and bears.

Then he got out before Goliath.

And Goliath said, My dog, and my dog, that you come to me with sticks.

David didn't say, He didn't say, I came to you with my gift.

You know what he said?

He said, I came to you in the name of the Lord God of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you defy.

This day I will strike you down and take your head from you.

Why?

That all may know that there is a God who reigns in Israel.

David was sure.

Why?

Valleys, valleys, valleys, valleys.

David's field was the valley.

David's field was where God had shown himself to be strong.

Can I tell you why you ought to give God praise for every trial that he's brought you through, for every mountain that he's brought you over, for every trap that he has delivered you from, from every dark day that he has brought you up from, from everything that you have gone through.

You need to give God praise.

You know why?

Because what was happening is you are developing a trust.

So that way when your giant shows up, you are not wondering what God is gonna do.

You're not trying to figure out how God is gonna deliver you.

Now you know that you know that you know that you know.

Same God that did, well, they did this to me, but God, well they did that to me, but God, well, this giant is too big, but God, well, this lie is too tough, but God, well, this sickness is too tough, but God, well, this financial tragedy is too much, but God, but God, but God, but God stay on your feet and sing this all together.