Where Are You Looking?

A number of years ago when we lived in New Albany, Ohio, I coached our oldest daughter’s middle school rec soccer team. One Saturday we traveled to a nearby community to play a team that was undefeated. When we got to the field the outcome of the game was already decided in my girls minds. The smallest girls on the opposing team were much bigger than the biggest girls on my team. These girls were giant-sized. The coach was even big! Heck, those girls and their coach even scared me. As hard as I tried to convince my team that we could play with them, we lost and lost bad. The opposing team’s size intimidated us, and once fear set in, we were defeated before the start of the game.

Those same years I also coached our younger daughter’s U-10 soccer team. This team was very good and we were winning games easily. One particular game several of our girls were sick and could not play. We were shorthanded, but instead of seeing this as a giant obstacle, these little girls saw it as an opportunity to overcome the odds. Those girls played better, and harder, than I had ever seen them play, and we won the game with two less girls on the field than our opponent.

In the earliest days of recovering from a stroke, as my brain was struggling to process the world around me, and as I stared into the unknown, it took constant prayer along with encouragement from my support network and therapists to not allow fear to rule the day.  

We all face giants in our lives; things that just seem too big to conquer. These giants represent obstacles that often seem insurmountable. As we stare at these giant mountains or challenges, we are often defeated before the game begins.

A story in the Bible shows us two responses to overcoming the giants we face. In Numbers chapter 13, as Moses and Aaron were ready to lead the people into the Promised Land that flowed with milk and honey, twelve scouts (one from each ancestral tribe) were sent out to check out the land of Canaan.

The scouts confirmed that the land was plentiful (vv.25-27). But they also reported that the people who lived there were powerful and the cities fortified (v.28). The size of the people caused fear to rule their hearts, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are (v.31).” And in verse 33 we read, “We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”

But, quite the opposite, Caleb, one of the scouts, responded to that alarming news this way, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it (v:30).” He trusted God’s plan.

The truth is we need faith to not be consumed by the giants in our path. We need to completely trust that God is bigger than the biggest giant we face. Looking to God, rather than staring at the giant, will give you God-sized strength, and you can say with confidence, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

And not only do you find yourself with God-sized strength in those moments when fear sets in, you also never walk through your fears alone – “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13).

Are you looking at the giants or at God? Look past your giants and look to God.

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