March 15, 2026 | Facing the Giants
Facing the Giants
Numbers 13-14 Duet. 2-3
In “Facing the Giants,” George Waller uses Israel’s refusal to enter the promised land in Numbers 13 to 14 and Deuteronomy 2 to 3 to show that the greatest giant before God’s people was not Og or the other giants in the land, but unbelief in their own hearts. He contrasts the fearful, horizontal vision of the ten spies and the people with the God-centered trust of Caleb and Joshua, showing that Israel kept forgetting God’s faithfulness and responding to hardship with grumbling instead of worship. The sermon presses on the danger of treating God mainly as a giver of benefits rather than loving him for who he is, asking if we come to him as consumers who only want relief or as worshipers who want his presence above all. Waller’s main call is for believers to repent of self-centered unbelief, trust that God’s heart is to do his people good even through suffering, and learn to treasure God himself as the greatest gift.
Transcript of Facing the Giants
Introduction
George Waller: Thank you worship team. I, uh, feel like we could probably go home right now. That was wonderful. Um, one of the advantages, uh, I have when I get to speak two or three times a year as opposed to every week is, um, I have time to really sit with a passage for a long time. And, um, so this morning, coming up to this morning when Jed asked me about speaking today, uh, I thought, I know exactly, I had read a devotional, I knew exactly where I'm gonna go and the Holy Spirit said, well, I'm glad you know that 'cause you're not going there. And that was great.
In Psalm one 19. The Psalmist writes and says, the unfolding of your words give light and impart understanding to the simple. And I want to say to you as I come this morning, I feel like the simple and I am going to end up sharing really where the spirit of God has been working in my own heart, and I'm just inviting you along into my journey this morning, and I pray that the spirit of God will bless you as you travel along in that journey with me.
Opening Prayer
George Waller: Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for the presence of your spirit. We thank you for your word. We thank you that you have a purpose here this morning.
I ask you, father, help me to get out of your way and not hinder what you want to do. I am weak, but you are strong. Your word is powerful and so open our hearts up, still our minds. Shine your light into those dark recesses of our hearts and show us where you want to free us. Heal us. Stand us on our feet.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Reflecting on the Children of Israel
George Waller: If you looked on your bulletin, and there's this picture of this giant and it says, facing the giants. And, uh, so I thought I knew who the giant was. It was gonna be Og. Uh, Og will be a very little tidbit. There's a bigger giant that I want to talk about this morning. And where do I learn about this giant, I learn about him from the children of Israel leaving Egypt.
Very familiar story. I'm gonna talk you through it quickly. We're not gonna read 25 chapters of scripture today. We'll never get through it all. But what I do want to tell you is that there is a thread of consistency with them that each of us need to stop and consider and reflect upon how we reflect the children of Israel.
So if you know the story. They're in Egypt. They're basically slaves creating bricks outta straw and mud to build Pharaoh's buildings. It's horrible. God raises up Moses. Tells him, leave the desert. Go back up to Egypt. I'm going to use you to set my people free. He goes back up, tells them, I'm here to tell you that Yahweh is going to take you to the promised land.
Now if I'm an Egyptian and I'm out 95, 100 degree weather with straw and mud seven days a week, who knows how many hours a day and somebody comes and says, I'm gonna set you free. I'm in. Right? I am all in.
And so, okay, let's do this. So Moses goes to Pharaoh. Tells him that and Pharaoh says, yeah, right, sure, yeah. You're going somewhere. I don't think so.
So the Lord then begins to bring plagues halfway through the plagues. Pharaoh gets really ticked off, goes and says, okay, you wanna play? I'm gonna double your work. It's gonna be twice as hard as you thought. And the children of Israel come to those and say, look, we went, we didn't buy in on this. Please go away. We'll be better off if you don't say another word. Moses says, no, no, we have, we're gonna do this.
And so ultimately all the plagues end with the Passover and the death angel coming, and s slang every firstborn in the entire country of Egypt, except those who have the blood over the doorpost of their home.
That gets Pharaoh's attention and everybody else's, they say, please leave now. Oh, and here's our gold. Take it. Just get outta here. And so they do. And they're gone three days and they get to the Red Sea, and there's no way except one way in. And that means no way out except back. Unfortunately for them, Pharaoh changed his mind sends hundreds of chariots.
They see the chariot's dust on the horizon and panic sits in. And these people who were all in to get a better life and ready to go. Turn to Moses and says in Exodus 13, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would've been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
Well. That's a heart of gratitude, although I'll give 'em a pass. If I was there with 600,000 plus and animals and all the stuff, and I see the warriors of Egypt coming at me and a Red Sea in front of me, I probably would've been a little upset.
Well, you, you know the story. Moses prays. God says, look. I'm going to glorify myself. Put your staff in the water. It's gonna open up. You're gonna go across, and sure enough, the sea opens up. Draw land. Egyptians go across.
Now here's the incredible part. God has manifested himself in their presence by cloud, by day, and fire by night. They're panicking even though it's there. Moses opens the sea by putting his staff down and God honors that and boom, they go across.
They get all the way across. The Lord moves away so the Egyptians can chase them into the sea. Right? And I envision that they're like a hundred, 200 yards offshore. Everybody in Israel's on the shore thinking, okay, whoosh. Oceans close. They all die. Float to the surface. Dead Egyptian soldiers and Israel has a party.
Verse 31, Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
Okay. There's a scene in Princess Bride in the movie where this guy says that word that you use, I don't think it means what you think it means, right? They believed. I don't think it means what you think it means, and when most of us say, well, I believe it doesn't really mean what we hope. It means what we want it to mean.
Three days later, 72 hours after they've had this big celebration, seen this incredible miracle that will go into eternity as a testimony to the power of God. That story, 72 hours later, we're in the desert. We're thirsty, hundreds of thousands of us. We come across this pool, this water source. It's bitter and we can't drink it, and we are not pleased, and we grumble. Really not happy.
And God tells Moses, here's the solution. Throw the log in the water. It'll become fresh, and they can drink and they do. A few weeks later, God leads them into the Wilderness of Sin. They're starving. They're hungry. They complain about you brought us out here for all of us to starve our kids and our animals. Thanks a lot.
Are you beginning to see a pattern? God provides by his grace. Not long after they're out in the hot, hot desert, no water anywhere. If they're thirsting, their tongues stick sticking to the roof of their mouth. They are complaining majorly. God provides water.
We finally get to Mount Sinai. We're there for two years basically. And this is where God gives the law, gives the directions for building the tabernacle. Deals with a whole golden calf and idolatry and all the immorality and tens of thousands die. But ultimately everything's built for their tabernacle. God has come and the cloud rises and begins to move.
And so in numbers 10, we read this verse 11 and 12 In the second year, in the second month, on the 20th day of the month, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony and the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness Sinai. And the clouds settled down in the wilderness of Haran.
Spying Out the Land
George Waller: Now I have skipped so much stuff. Alright? I would encourage you, it's a blessing to go back and read all the detail, but the point here is this, even when they leave Sinai, it's an 11 day trip. Through the wilderness to get to Kadesh Barnea at the southern tip of what is going to be the promised land. 11 days. We have a little bit a hiccup along the way with a number of bits of drama, but they finally get there.
And when they get there, we get into the meat of the story of this attitude that has been from in Egypt. All the way through the wilderness, all the way around Sinai for two years and all the way up to the tip of the promised land.
Turn with me to numbers 13. Numbers 13.
And we're going to jump some verses here for the sake of time. Beginning in verse one. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I'm giving to the people of Israel. For each tribe of their families, you shall send a man, everyone, a chief among them.
Now what happens? Is we give, we are given detail about how every tribe selected a man, who he was, who his father was, his lineage. And these 12 men are brought together and they're going to be sent into, spy out, the promised land.
And down in verse 17 will continue. And Moses sent them to spy off the land of Canaan and said to them, go up into the Negeb and up, go up into the hill country and see what the land is and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds and whether the land is rich or poor and whether there are trees in it or not, be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.
Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes, so they went up and spied out the land of the wilderness. Now it's gonna describe the next couple of verses, the parameters of where that was, where the land was, the areas. They spy it out. The reality is it's a 220 mile walk from the south part of Kadesh Barnea, where they are at south part of the promised land, to the very northern part. So they're gone for practically six weeks, 40 days.
The Report Back
George Waller: And at the end of 40 days, verse 25, they return from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness at Paran and Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.
Now, I would imagine that the fruit was seriously impressive because Jesus had said, God had said it's a land of milk and honey, it's gonna be amazing. So I have no doubt that it was amazing what they saw.
Verse 27, and they told him we came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Verse 28. However.
No more chilling word. Can you read? Then, however, however, the people who dwell in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there, the Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along to Jordan.
Now I can imagine at that point, if you want to have verse 30, make sense, at that point, hundreds of thousands of Israelites are listening to this report. We have come through the wilderness, we have gone through all kinds of stuff with the notion that we were gonna get to go to the Promised Land, and now you come back and you tell us this is a death trap? No, no, no. Uh, this isn't what we bought off on.
Caleb hears this and he says in verse 30, but Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and occupy it for we are well able to overcome it. And then the man who'd gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we are. By the way, that's a true statement.
So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying the land through which we have gone to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim, the Sons of Anak who come from the Nephilim. And we seem to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seem to them.
Og, One of the Giants
George Waller: Now, I'm not gonna take the time today, but to give you some idea in Deuteronomy three. We're gonna see, uh, one of the descendants of these guys, a guy named Og and just a parenthetical verse put into the text there, tells us that his bed, many people think it's a bed, bed, it's probably more a sarcos sarcophagus of where they're gonna bury him, and it describes it. Essentially, it says that that thing is 13 and a half feet long and six feet wide.
Og is 13 to 14 feet tall. Okay. I don't know who the tallest guy in here is, but you're a midget compared to him. Okay? That's a dude, NBA would love that guy. He looks down through the rim, 13 feet, 13 and a half feet. To give you the idea, goliath was nine and a half August, four feet taller than Goliath.
So when the guys come back and they report, we, we see these people, they're overwhelmed and it later in scripture, we're told throughout the whole region, it is known you do not fight the descendants of the Anak. Those giants will absolutely destroy you.
The People's Reaction
George Waller: Okay, chapter 14. Then all the congregation raised a loud cry and the people wept that night. So they go to bed with this bed report and sleep on it. Next morning, all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, would that we had died in the land of Egypt or would that we had died in this wilderness rather than get smashed by giants.
Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt? And they said to one another. Let's choose a leader and go back to Egypt.
Verse five. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation and of the people of Israel and Joshua. The son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, the land which we pass through to spy it out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us. A land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord and do not fear the people of the land for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.
Who or What is Your Point of Reference?
George Waller: Now I want you to notice something Caleb and Joshua, their first point of reference is the Lord. The other 10, their report, not once, not once do they mention the Lord, their sight is completely horizontal. Tall structures of walls around cities, highly fortified. 13 foot giants. Lots of grapes. We'll get annihilated. Caleb and Joshua. You're looking in the wrong place guys.
What does the hundred thousands of Israelites say? Verse 10. Then all the congregations said to stone them with stones, and I'm pretty convinced they would've been dead right there on the spot save the fact: but the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.
And the Lord said to Moses, how long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?
And about those signs, let's just review quickly for a second. We're standing here. They've been gone six weeks. They come back. God has prepared them for this. We've had all the plagues of Egypt. We've had the Red Sea. We've had the bitter water. We've had no water. We've had no food. We've had the battle with Amalekites. We've had Mount Sinai. We've had the manna. We've had the quail. And I couldn't mention many more that are named in this journey through the wilderness that God has given signs to say, look, I want you to realize if I can do all this, a 13 foot giant's nothing. Right?
Wrong. It's everything. Why?
We Hurt the Heart of God With Our Unbelief
George Waller: Well, we'll get to that in a second. First thing is understand the heart of God is hurt and angered by the lack of connecting the dots of his faithfulness. His love for them, his provision for them by these hundreds of thousands of Israelites living in the moment, head down, looking at horizontally what they're facing with no notion of the presence of God in their lives. And so he's willing and ready to totally annihilate the entire nation.
As he was at Sinai and Moses intervenes one more time, says, please, please do not do that. Please don't do that. And the Lord relents and says, okay, but there is going to be a penalty to be paid. And the 10 spies who went into the land in front of all of Israel, die a plague on the spot. That should get your attention.
Then the Lord says, you were in the spying out the land for 40 days, for every day you're in the land. You're gonna spend a year in the wilderness, and every one of you of this generation who left Egypt, you're gonna die in the wilderness for your unbelief, for all that I've done and essentially spit in my face. And so that's what happens. For 40 years, Israel marches around Sinai. Oh no. Marches around the wilderness.
In Deuteronomy eight verse two, we pick up. After 40 years, the last one of that generation has died. And in verse two we read this.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart. Whether you would keep his commandments or not, and he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know all the ones that have died in the wilderness that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone. This is another way of saying, man does not live by all the signs that I have done for you. You don't live by that. Man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
The Heart of God is to Do You Good
George Waller: And he recount, recounts a lot of the things that God did. And down in verse 16, he says, speaking of God, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know that he might humble you and test you? I love this phrase. To do you good In the end.
There's the heart of God. All the hardship, all the trials, everything behind the heart of God is to do you good in the end.
Now, why that's important to catch. It's because we are so deeply committed to not suffering that any suffering we translate more often than not into the fact that God is not gonna do me good or I wouldn't be suffering. Right?
What do I see in what I've just recounted to you? Here's what I see.
The Danger of Viewing God as Just a Giver of Benefits
George Waller: One of the dangers in the Christian life is that we can stay around God, talk about God, sing to God, ask things from God, and still relate to him mainly as a giver of benefits.
I don't want you relating to me as a giver of benefits. If I'm a friend and have a relationship with you. I want you to relate to me as a person, whether I do benefits or not. And yet we come to God, just like the children of Israel. We will stay around and talk about and sing to and ask him of things with our primary motivation being, I want to get this from God.
That is what many evangelical leaders in the past years have warned us of.
A. W. Tozer said, we have lost our spirit of worship. Eugene Peterson warned that when faith enters a consumer mindset, and we are consumers in this society. Don't kid yourself. Every one of us we're consumers. In fact, the average person in America consumes $19,000 of stuff every year. The average person. We're consumers. So Peterson says, when we come to God with a consumer mindset, everything becomes a product that exists to give you something, including God.
John Piper warns against wanting God's gifts and not himself. And Tim Keller speaks of prayer, not just about getting things from God, but about getting more of God himself.
Now, all of these men are speaking to the same thing. We want God's help without really wanting God. That's what the children of Israel, were relying on. That's why they were never content. That's why they grumbled at every turn. As long as you gave me water, as long as you gave me food, as long as you opened up the Red Sea, as long as you got me to the Promised Land, but I didn't have to deal with giants in fortified walls, I am a happy camper, God. I'm all in.
What is the Difference Between a Consumer and a Worshiper?
George Waller: So the question is, what's the difference between a consumer and a worshiper? I ask myself that question.
So a consumer ask, what can God do for me? A worshiper asks how can I know God? Love God? Glorify God? How can I do that? In this circumstance? How can I love God, know God and glorify God in ICU for 77 days losing a lung? How can I do that?
Or do I go, God, get me outta here and don't let me have to have this surgery. I'm tired of this pain. Stop this. You said you're the Jehova Rapha, the healer. What's wrong?
Am I a consumer or am I a worshiper?
Bringing Our Concerns to the Lord, But As a Worshiper
George Waller: Now, hear me carefully. I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying here. It's not wrong to bring things to the Lord at all. Scripture tells us to do that. Ask seek, knock. Cast all your care upon him. We read in one Peter, we are invited to do that.
The problem is not asking for bread. The problem is, is when bread matters to us more than his presence. The problem is when relief matters more than repentance. The problem is when blessings matter more than the beauty of transformation in my soul, that requires fire.
That's why Psalm 27:4 is so searching. David writes one thing I've asked of the Lord and that will I seek after? That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. One thing I've asked, not due for. That I may gaze on his face all the days of my life.
That's a worshiper. That's the heart. Jesus in John six exposes the same thing, feeds thousands of people. They're finished. He leaves to go to the city and thousands of people follow him, and he turns and he points out, you follow me because you want more bread, come to me, not the bread. That's always the issue. We'll stop for the gift, but we won't move forward to the giver.
Imagine a son who only calls his father when he needs money. He never inquires about how he's doing. He never comes by a check on him. Spend time with him. But if he needs money, if his car's broken down. If he's hurting, then he is there.
That's happens often, and the father often will meet the need in spite of his attitude. But people who watch would say there's something not right In this relationship, the relationship has dissolved to nothing but usefulness When my father's useful. I'll spend time with him. Otherwise, I have no need of him.
We can do that with God. We can pray only when we're in trouble. We can open up the Bible only when we need a quick answer. We can come to worship only when we need emotionally lifted. And we can thank God for what he gives while quietly ignoring who he is.
That's not intimacy, that's spiritual consumerism.
What Does a Worshipful Heart Look Like?
George Waller: So what a heart that worships God. What does it look like? What is it that we want to ask God to do in us? I was convicted as I thought about this for myself because I think, I think I want this deeper in my life, and I pray this for each of you.
The heart that worships says, Lord, if you heal me, I will thank you. But if you carry me through a long valley of suffering, I will still clinging to you no matter what.
A worshiping heart says. Lord, I do want your provision. I'm in financial stress. I'm in emotional weakness. I do want your provision. More than that, I want your presence, whether you provide or not.
It says, Lord, do not just change my circumstances. They may be terrible at the moment. Don't just change my circumstances, Lord, change me. Change me. Leave the circumstances that they are until your work of grace is done in me,
then my life will glorify you. Whatever the suffering may be required, change me.
Questions to Ask Yourself
George Waller: I wanna get really personal this morning with you as I close. It is not a question of whether other people, I'll assure you they are. The question is, am I a consumer? Am I a consumer of Jesus?
So four questions to ask yourself if you want to kind of get an idea of that. If you're gonna write anything down, this would be what I encourage you to write down this morning. Four questions to sit with and be brutally honest with yourself about.
One, do I seek God mostly when I'm in trouble?
Do I seek God? Mostly when I'm in trouble. And the rest of the time, yeah, God's there, but I got life to do. But you know, in the pecking order, he just dropped down about 10 notches. I got other things. Oh, I'm in trouble. God comes to the top of the list.
Second, am I more excited about, answered prayer. Than I am about God himself.
You go, no, wait, what George? Here's what I mean by that. We pray and we say, God, we've got this person over here that's in great need financially. They're in trouble. We're asking you to provide this thousands of dollars because they need it, and by God's grace in miraculous ways, he answers that prayer, and I am so excited. Praise God.
Unfortunately, that's a very fine line between being excited about an event as opposed to being deeply moved by the faithful heart of a God who cares enough to do that, that it shows me the character and the heart of a loving father who just by chance can clearly provide all the money he ever wants to do. I stop at the event and forget about connecting what that says about the savior that I say I follow. Or does those answered prayers lead me to worship of such a great God. A consumer revels in the event. A worshiper falls in the face of such a glorious, loving father in heaven.
Third, if God said no to my request, would I still want to be near him?
I'm in trouble. I, I'm in financial trouble. I don't know what's gonna happen. I may lose everything Father provide for me. I'm trusting you. I'm doing everything you've told me to do, and it's crickets. We hear nothing. Where are you God?
I have sat in front of so many people in a counseling office in this very scenario who are jaded and angry at God because he did not do their agenda and they ran from him and turned their back and said, you are not worth my trust. When I needed you most you were not there. And I want to say something to you when you hear those words, underneath that is, it's all about me and not his glory.
Do you hear that? Beloved, it has never been about us. It's about his glory.
Fourth, do I enjoy God's gifts, but neglect God's voice, God's word, and God's presence? I'm so glad for the gifts God gives me. I'll call you when I need you, Lord.
Those questions can sting. They do for me, but they're good for us. They are. They're good for us. They expose what's really going on in our hearts.
The good news is this, beloved, the good news is not that true worshipers are naturally better people. We're not. The good news is that Jesus receives needy, messed up, mixed up self-centered people, and teaches them to love him. That's the good news.
That means if you see consumer tendencies in your heart, you don't. You don't need to hide. I don't need to hide. Bring that to Christ, confess it plainly. Just say, Lord, I have wanted your hand more than I've wanted your face. Forgive me, change my heart, and he will. He's patient, he's merciful.
He's just, he does not just give bread, he gives himself like we sang this morning. I don't know that there's a song that's much more a favorite song of mine than this one. Almighty Infinite Father, faithfully Loving Your Own. Here in our weakness, you find us falling before your throne. You are the one that we praise. You are the one we adore. You give healing and grace. Our hearts always hunger for.
A consumer comes to God for what God can give. A worshiper comes to God because there's no greater gift than God himself. That is where real joy begins. That is where worship begins. That is where your heart finally comes home.
Amen?
Closing Prayer
George Waller: Let's pray.
Father, we are humbled of your patience, your mercy, your grace. We acknowledge our self-absorption. We acknowledge our tendency to use you rather than to adore you and love you for who you are and not just what you do. Oh God, make us worshipers and lovers of you first.
You've told us if we will delight ourself in you first, you will give us the desires of our heart. So, Lord, make us as individuals and thus this church as a body worshipers of you. And we will give you the glory and the praise and the honor that you are so deserving of.
Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water and let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who has promised is faithful. Amen.