2 Samuel 21:15 – 22 “Once again the Philistines waged war against Israel, and David and his servants went down and fought against the Philistines; but David became exhausted. Then Ishbi-benob, a descendant of Rapha, whose bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels (7.5 lbs or 3.4 kg) and who was bearing a new sword, resolved to kill David. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck the Philistine, and killed him.
Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel may not be extinguished.”
Some time later at Gob, there was another battle with the Philistines. At that time Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.
Once again there was a battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.
And there was still another battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha, and when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of David’s brother Shimei killed him.
So, these four descendants of Rapha in Gath fell at the hands of David and his servants.”
David and his men are fighting the Philistines and four giants from Gath show up. Now, David was the one who proved to the Israelites that giants could be killed in the first place; however, that might have been 40 or 50 years ago. David is no longer a youth with whipcord muscles and a deadly aim with a slingshot. We don’t know the circumstances; however, we do know that David becomes exhausted during the battle and nearly faints. A giant named Ishbi – benob is about to pick off David when Abishai, Joab’s brother, kills the giant. At that point, David’s men insist that he remain back in Jerusalem, lest he be captured or killed. After this, heroes in David’s army slay three more giants, all of them descended from Rapha in Gath, Goliath’s family.
APPLICATION: No matter our ages, we will always have to face giants and we will have to deal with them somehow. David faced his first giant at the age of fifteen and may well have confronted others after that. But for David, the time for fighting giants personally has ended. Here, David’s men, whom he has helped train, basically tell David, “It’s OK, boss. We’ll take it from here.” These heroes go on to eliminate four giants, including the one that is threatening to kill David. David has shown the way, and now it’s the turn of these men to do exploits.
But aging does not always give us a free pass to get out of facing giants. I won’t tell you my age; however, recently, someone in the small Ghanaian town where I work referred to me as “Great – Grandma.” I am a general and pediatric surgeon, one of two doctors in a bush hospital in a rural area. This last week was full of giants! Here is what I wrote to one friend:
This last week was hellish! Back in the end of March I operated on an 8 – year – old boy from Togo with a typhoid perforation. Everything went fine and he went home successfully. BUT he went home and ate local fruit with seeds the size of cherry pits! People SWALLOW these seeds for some reason. The seeds backed up in this kid’s bowels and he got a bowel obstruction. Two weeks ago, a colleague operated this kid on a Sunday. Subsequently, the bowel failed to function. Monday the kid was draining feces from his wound; when I opened him up, there were holes everywhere. I have never had to close a patient without trying; however, I closed this kid and told the parents that only God could save him. God took him to Himself on Tuesday.
After that operation, I did an emergency C – section on a young lady with obstructed labor. Monday night/Tuesday morning a 20-year-old Fulani guy came in from Togo with a horrific wound on his left forearm. Somebody had attempted to kill him with a cutlass, and he had thrown his arm up to save himself. Amazingly, there was a blood supply; however, both bones in the forearm were broken and the laceration ran around 3/4 of the arm. We did a temporary closure in the middle of the night, and then a better closure/reduction on Tuesday.
Wednesday, I operated a lady with a small bowel obstruction. In addition to the scar tissue from a previous operation, this lady had also eaten a large quantity of that same local fruit, swallowing the seeds and making the obstruction far worse. Wednesday night a 4-year-old child was brought by his grandmother. The kid was pale and seizing from malaria. We transfused the kid and began treating him, only for the parents to arrive the next day, complaining that grandma had not consulted them before bringing the kid. That situation lasted until Friday morning, when they signed out against medical advice. The father was worried about money; however, the mother wanted to go home and do sacrifices to fetishes! Well, the kid was on oxygen, so he died shortly after we disconnected him.
My colleague was out from Monday through Wednesday evening; meanwhile, I had several OB problems I was managing in addition to the things I have just described. One lady with 5 previous pregnancies had a baby that died in the womb; we prayed and induced her and she delivered without an operation. A second lady who was on her seventh pregnancy had a delay in her labor. Just as we were wondering if we would have to operate her, she went into full labor and delivered.
On Thursday I did a recurrent groin hernia operation. The guy had his hernia fixed in 2007, but it came back only 3 months later – that tells me there was no repair in the first place. This operation took 3 hours, roughly three times as long as I would normally take! I have repaired thousands of hernias in my career, but this was one of the most challenging cases I have seen.”
What can you do when you find yourself facing giants? Ask God for help! God will either give you the strength and resources to meet the challenge or God will raise up others to help you. The operations I have described were made far easier by well – trained nurse anesthetists who cared for the patients while I was operating. In the old days, I either used local anesthetic or we did ketamine anesthesia. I had to train those giving the ketamine and then monitor the patient as well as operate. Praise God, I don’t have to handle anesthesia anymore, and the nurses assisting me have gained a great deal of experience. But I still rely on God for the strength and wisdom to carry out operations successfully.
One day, it will be my turn to hand over giant – killing to others. But until then, I will continue to look to the Lord, trusting that He will strengthen and enlighten me as He has done so many times in the past.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You that we never have to face giants alone. No matter the challenges, You are always with us. Lord, help us not to shrink back but to go forward, confident that if You bring us to a crisis, Your grace is sufficient to bring us through it. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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