There's a kind of problem that doesn't go away when you ignore it. Maybe it's a fear that keeps coming back. Maybe it's a sin you've fallen into more times than you can count. Whatever it is, you've tried to handle it on your own, and it hasn't worked.

Most of us have something like this. The Bible has a name for it. It calls these problems giants.

The story of David and Goliath shows us how to face them.

The story

Israel's army had been camped across a valley from the Philistine army for forty days. Every morning, a giant named Goliath came out and shouted insults at the Israelite soldiers. Every morning, no one stepped up to fight him. The whole army was paralyzed by fear.

David was a teenager. He wasn't a soldier. He had come to the camp to bring food to his older brothers. When he heard Goliath, he didn't see what everyone else saw. He saw a man defying the God of Israel. He volunteered to fight.

When King Saul tried to put armor on him, David refused. He couldn't move in it. He went out to meet Goliath with five smooth stones and a sling. Before he threw the first stone, he said this:

"You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven's Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. Today the Lord will conquer you. And then everyone assembled here will know that the Lord rescues his people, but not with sword and spear. This is the Lord's battle, and he will give you to us." (1 Samuel 17:45–47, NLT)

Then he killed Goliath with one stone.

The story is famous. What it teaches about facing our own giants is less famous. There are four moves David made that we can learn from.

Bring the giant into the light

The first move is admitting the giant exists.

Most of us don't want to do this. We'd rather pretend the fear isn't there, or tell ourselves we'll deal with it later. We push it back into the shadows where we don't have to look at it.

David did the opposite. He looked at Goliath and named the problem out loud. Then he volunteered to fight.

You have to do the same with whatever you're facing. Name it. Tell someone trustworthy. A giant in the dark only grows.

Don't try to fight it alone

The second move asks more of you. You have to stop trying to handle it yourself.

Saul tried to put his own armor on David. David turned it down. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight by being a better soldier. The fight wasn't his to win on his own.

When you're facing a giant, your instinct is to grind through it on your own. You think if you just gave it more effort, you could beat it. You can't. That's not how giants get defeated.

This is where prayer becomes a starting point, not a last resort. You bring the giant to God before you try anything else. You ask Him for what you can't get yourself.

Trust God to fight for you

The third move asks even more. You have to believe God will help.

David told Goliath that the battle belonged to the Lord. He wasn't being humble for show. He believed it. Goliath was bigger and more experienced. None of that mattered, because David wasn't fighting alone.

Most of us claim to trust God when nothing's at stake. The trust gets tested when the stakes are high. When the diagnosis comes back, or when the sin won't let go, that's the moment when "I trust God" stops being a theological idea and becomes the thing you're doing.

You can't trust God in the abstract. You trust Him with the specific giant standing in front of you.

See your giant through God's eyes

The fourth move changes how you see everything.

Israel saw a giant they couldn't beat. David saw a man defying God. Same Goliath, two different views.

Whatever you're facing today seems bigger than you because, on your own, it is. But that's not the right comparison. The right comparison is your giant against God. And God is bigger.

Seeing the giant through God's eyes changes how you face it. The problem may be just as big as you think. God is bigger.

One last thing

These four moves don't make the giant disappear. David still had to walk down into that valley. He still had to face Goliath.

But he wasn't fighting alone, and he knew it.

You're not fighting alone either. Bring the giant out of the shadows and stop trying to handle it by yourself. Trust God with what you're facing, and let Him show you how big it is in light of Him.

Then take the next step. The Lord rescues His people. He hasn't stopped.