Max Lucado

by Facing Your Giants

  A. How would you answer Max’s question above?

  B. What have you tried to do to rid yourself of this stronghold?

  2. Wouldn’t you love God to write a nevertheless in your biography? Born to alcoholics, nevertheless she led a sober life. Dropped out of college, nevertheless he mastered a trade. Did-n’t read the Bible until retirement age, nevertheless he came to a deep and abiding faith.

  A. What nevertheless would you love for God to write into your biography?

  B. What nevertheless has God already written into your biography?

  3. You and I fight with toothpicks; God comes with battering rams and cannons. What he did for David, he can do for us.

  A. What toothpicks have you been using to fight your battles? How well have they worked?

  B. Have you asked God to do for you what he did for David? What was his response?

  4. Two types of thoughts continually vie for your attention. One says, “Yes you can.” The other says, “No you can’t.” One says, “God will help you.” The other lies, “God has left you.” One speaks the language of heaven; the other deceives in the vernacular of the Jebusites. One proclaims God’s strengths; the other lists your failures. One longs to build you up; the other seeks to tear you down. And here’s the great news: you select the voice you hear.

  A. Which voice do you most often hear—the one that trumpets God’s strengths or the one that recounts your failures?

  B. How can you get better at listening to the voice that builds you up and disregarding the voice that tears you down?

  Marching Orders

  1. Read 2 Samuel 5:6–10.

  A. What kind of opposition did David face here? How did he handle it?

  B. What reason is given for David’s military prowess (v. 10)?

  C. How can you best follow David’s example to succeed against your obstacles?

  2. Read 2 Corinthians 10:3–5.

  A. What kind of warfare is described in this passage? How much of this kind of battle have you seen?

  B. Who or what is the enemy, according to verse 4 (NCV)? What kind of weapons must be used in this fight? Where do these weapons get their power?

  C. What hard work is described in verse 5? Do you labor at this work? Explain.

  3. Read Ephesians 1:19–20.

  A. What resources has God given you in order to succeed in the Christian life?

  B. How do you know that these resources are sufficient to overcome any opposition you may face?

  C. How can what happened long ago be a source of strength for you today?

  Battle Lines

  An ongoing challenge can be tough to fight alone. Approach a trusted, mature friend, and enlist his or her help in tackling this stronghold. Make it a matter of sustained prayer, and ask your friend to do the same. Keep a journal to record the progress you make in attacking this stronghold.

  13

  DISTANT DEITY

  Reconnaissance

  1. Is God a distant deity? Mothers ask, “How can the presence of God come over my children?” Fathers ponder, “How can God’s presence fill my house?” Churches desire the touching, helping, healing presence of God in their midst.

  A. Do you think God is a distant deity? Explain.

  B. How would your life change if you were sure that God is not distant but very present in your everyday experiences?

  2. God comes, mind you. But he comes on his own terms. He comes when commands are revered, hearts are clean, and confession is made.

  A. Do you think it is good news that God comes on his own terms? Explain.

  B. Would you say that you revere God’s commands? Would you call your heart clean? Do you make it a habit to confess your sins?

  3. Scripture doesn’t portray David dancing at any other time. He did no death dance over Goliath. He never scooted the boot among the Philistines. He didn’t inaugurate his term as king with a waltz or dedicate Jerusalem with a ballroom swirl. But when God came to town, he couldn’t sit still.

  A. Why do you think David danced so energetically when the ark came to Jerusalem?

  B. Is the presence of God an occasion for dancing in your life? Explain.

  4. God loves you too much to leave you alone, so he hasn’t. He hasn’t left you alone with your fears, your worries, your dis-ease, or your death. So kick up your heels for joy.

  A. How does it make you feel that God has promised never to leave you alone?

  B. How can God’s promise to remain with you forever give you strength to move forward today?

  5. Uzzah’s lifeless body cautions against irreverence. No awe of God leads to the death of man. God won’t be cajoled, commanded, conjured up, or called down. He is a personal God who loves and heals and helps and intervenes. He doesn’t respond to magic potions or clever slogans. He looks for more. He looks for reverence, obedience, and God-hungry hearts.

  A. How do you display your awe of God?

  B. What is the connection between reverence, obedience, and a God-hungry heart? To what do these practices lead in the end?

  Marching Orders

  1. Read 2 Samuel 6.

  A. Compare verses 1–7 with Numbers 4:15. What went wrong with this first attempt to move the ark? How could the tragedy have been prevented?

  B. How does the Bible describe David’s conduct in verses 14, 16 and 20? What does this tell you about him?

  C. How does David respond to his wife’s criticism in vers-es 21–22? What does this tell you about his character?

  2. Read Matthew 28:18–20.

  A. Why can you be supremely confident that what Jesus gives you to do, you can accomplish (v. 18)?

  B. What part do you play in the task Jesus describes in verses 19–20?

  C. How does verse 20 make it clear that this promise and mission were not intended only for Jesus’s first-century disciples?

  3. Read Hebrews 10:22.

  A. What are we encouraged to do in this verse?

  B. How are we encouraged to do this?

  C. How are we able to do this?

  Battle Lines

  Many of us are so accustomed to the comforts of modern life that we fail to appreciate the magnificence of God’s creation. To heighten your appreciation of the majesty and grandeur of God—and to gain a greater awe of his power—find a place far from city lights, and spend a few hours in the open countryside, taking in the majesty of a night sky. Count the stars, if you can, and remember that God created every one and calls them all by name. What an awesome God he is!

  14

  TOUGH PROMISES

  Reconnaissance

  1. A promise prompted David. The king is kind, not because the boy is deserving, but because the promise is enduring.

  A. What promises have meant the most to you over the years? Who made them? How did they keep them?

  B. Why is an enduring promise so comforting? Would you say that your own promises are enduring? Explain.

  2. God makes and never breaks his promises. The Hebrew word for covenant, beriyth, means “a solemn agreement with binding force.” His irrevocable covenant runs like a scarlet thread through the tapestry of Scripture.

  A. How has God shown his commitment to keeping his promises in your life?

  B. How does it make you feel to know that God’s promise provides the foundation for your salvation?

  3. Your eternal life is covenant caused, covenant secured, and covenant based. You can put Lo Debar in the rearview mirror for one reason—God keeps his promises. Shouldn’t God’s promise keeping inspire yours?

  A. How would your life be different if God did not keep his promises?

  B. Why should God’s promise keeping inspire your own commitment to keeping promises? Does it? Explain.

  4. You’re tired. You’re angry. You’re disappointed. This isn’t the marriage you expected or the life you wanted. But looming in your past is a promise you made. May I urge you to do all you can to keep it? To give it one more try? Why should you? So you can understand the depth
of God’s love.

  A. Of the promises you’ve made, which seems most in jeopardy right now?

  B. How can keeping your promise help you to better understand and appreciate God’s love for you?

  5. When you love the unloving, you get a glimpse of what God does for you. When you keep the porch light on for the prodigal child, when you do what is right even though you have been done wrong, when you love the weak and the sick, you do what God does every single moment.

  A. What “unloving” person(s) does God call you to love?

  B. Think back through the past week. How has God continued to demonstrate his love to you, despite unloving actions on your part?

  Marching Orders

  1. Read 2 Samuel 9.

  A. What prompted David to ask about Saul’s family?

  B. At first, what did Mephibosheth think about all this new royal interest in him?

  C. How did David’s actions help to set Mephibosheth’s heart at ease (v. 7)?

  2. Read 2 Corinthians 1:20.

  A. How many of God’s promises have passed their expiration date?

  B. For whom are God’s promises valid?

  C. How do we best honor God for keeping his promises?

  3. Read 2 Peter 1:3–4.

  A. What do we lack in order to grow into mature believers?

  B. What kind of promises have we been given?

  C. What do these promises enable us to do?

  Battle Lines

  The book of Genesis contains many of the most important coven-ants in the Bible. Take some time to study the following covenants, keeping in mind your relationship to them: Genesis 6:18–22; 9:9–17; 15:18–19; 17:2–14, 19–21 (also see Exodus 2:24).

  15

  THIN AIR-OGANCE

  Reconnaissance

  1. David suffers from altitude sickness. He’s been too high too long. The thin air has messed with his senses. He can’t hear as he used to. He can’t hear the warnings of the servant or the voice of his conscience. Nor can he hear his Lord. The pinnacle has dulled his ears and blinded his eyes.

  A. In your own words, how would you describe this kind of altitude sickness?

  B. When are you most in danger of suffering from this kind of altitude sickness?

  2. How is your hearing? Do you hear the servants whom God sends? Do you hear the conscience that God stirs? And your vision? Do you still see people? Or do you see only their func-tions? Do you see people who need you, or do you see people beneath you?

  A. How would you answer each of Max’s questions above?

  B. In what area of life may God be trying to get your attention right now?

  3. David never quite recovered from this bout with this giant. Don’t make his mistake. ’Tis far wiser to descend the mountain than fall from it.

  A. What do you think Max means when he writes, “’Tis far wiser to descend the mountain than fall from it”?

  B. What mountain may you need to descend voluntarily, at least for a time?

  4. Pursue humility. . . . Embrace your poverty. . . . Resist the place of celebrity.

  A. What would it look like for you to pursue humility?

  B. What poverty do you have that you should embrace?

  C. How can you best resist the place of celebrity?

  Marching Orders

  1. Read 2 Samuel 11:1–26.

  A. What was the start of David’s problems in this chapter?

  B. How did Uriah—a Hittite, not a Hebrew—show him-self to be far more honorable than David (v. 11)?

  C. How does this incident illustrate the truth of Numbers 32:23?

  2. Read Proverbs 16:18.

  A. How does pride destroy a person?

  B. In what way did David show himself prideful in the incident with Bathsheba?

  C. What kind of destruction and fall did David experience when God revealed his sin?

  3. Read 1 Peter 5:6.

  A. What command are believers given in this verse?

  B. What promise is given to those who heed the command?

  C. When will God fulfill this promise?

  Battle Lines

  Time after time in the Bible we are told to humble ourselves. In what area of life do you most need to humble yourself ? Spend some time thinking about this, and then lay out a plan with specifics of how you can actually do it. Determine some practical, concrete steps you can take this week to humble yourself in this area. Then take them.

  16

  COLOSSAL COLLAPSES

  Reconnaissance

  1. David seduces—no mention of God. David plots—no mention of God. Uriah buried, Bathsheba married—no mention of God. God is not spoken to and does not speak.

  A. Do you think this absence of God is the cause or the result of what happened in David’s life? Explain.

  B. Why do you think God does not speak to David during all this evil activity? Why is he silent?

  2. God’s words reflect hurt, not hate; bewilderment, not belittlement. Your flock fills the hills. Why rob? Beauty populates your palace. Why take from someone else?

  A. What do you think hurt God the most about David’s sin?

  B. What do you think hurts God the most about your sin?

  3. Colossal collapses won’t leave us alone. They surface like a boil on the skin.

  A. Why do colossal collapses not leave us alone? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Explain.

  B. Have you ever suffered a colossal collapse? If so, what steps did you take to recover from it?

  4. You think my mom was tough . . . Try the hands of God. Unconfessed sins sit on our hearts like festering boils, poison-ing, expanding. And God, with gracious thumbs, applies the pressure.

  A. If God knows everything, then why is it so tough some-times to confess our sins to him?

  B. How can grace sometimes cause such deep suffering? How can pain ever be a gracious thing?

  5. God did with David’s sin what he does with yours and mine—he put it away. It’s time for you to put your “third week of March 1987” to rest. Assemble a meeting of three parties: you, God, and your memory. Place the mistake before the judgment seat of God. Let him condemn it, let him par-don it, and let him put it away.

  A. How does God’s putting away a sin differ from merely forgetting it?

  B. Have you asked God to put away your sins—all of them? Explain.

  Marching Orders

  1. Read 2 Samuel 11:27–12:25.

  A. Name all the elements of David’s behavior in this passage that displeased the Lord.

  B. How did the prophecy of 12:10 reach its culmination in the life of Jesus Christ?

  C. What was the first thing David did right after many months of willful rebellion (12:13)? How did God respond to him?

  2. Read Psalm 32:3–5.

  A. How did David feel during the time he tried to cover up his sin?

  B. How did God deal with David during the time he refused to admit his sin?

  C. How did God react when David finally confessed his sin?

  3. Read Psalm 103:11–13.

  A. For whom does the Lord have great love, according to verse 11? What does it mean to fear God?

  B. State the point of verse 12 in your own words.

  C. On whom does the Lord shower great compassion, according to verse 13?

  Battle Lines

  Is there some sin in your recent past that you have yet to name, con-fess, and abandon? If there is, take time right now to get before the Lord and name that sin for what it is—spiritual rebellion, a slap in God’s face, a dark stain on the holy person God has made you to be. Thank God that he has removed your guilt as far as the east is from the west, and ask him for strength not only to avoid that sin in the future but to gladly obey his counsel and his Word.

  17

  FAMILY MATTERS

  Reconnaissance

  1. Going AWOL on his family was David’s greatest failure. His passive parenting and widespread philandering were not sins of a slothful afternoon or the deranged
reactions of self-defense. David’s family foul-up was a lifelong stupor that cost him dearly.

  A. Do you agree that going AWOL on his family was David’s greatest failure? Why or why not?

  B. What, if anything, does David’s handling of his family have in common with the way you handle your family?

  2. David succeeded everywhere except at home. And if you don’t succeed at home, do you succeed at all?

  A. How would you answer Max’s question above?

  B. How does succeeding at home honor God?

  3. On your wedding day, God loaned you his work of art: an intricately crafted, precisely formed masterpiece. He entrusted you with a one-of-a-kind creation. Value her. Honor him.

  A. If you are married, describe the work of art that God loaned you on your wedding day.

  B. How can you value your wife in practical, obvious ways? How can you honor your husband in concrete, satisfying ways?

  4. Moms and dads, more valuable than all the executives and lawmakers west of the Mississippi, quietly hold the world together.

  A. Do you agree with the sentiment expressed above? If so, why? If not, why not?

  B. Describe the influence your mom and dad had on you.

  5. I suspect that David would have traded all his conquered crowns for the tender arms of a wife. But it was too late. He died in the care of a stranger, because he made strangers out of his family. But it’s not too late for you.

  A. What areas of your home would you like to see improve over the next year?

  B. What specific things can you do to encourage those improvements?

  Marching Orders

  1. Read 2 Samuel 13:21, 37–38; 14:28; 15:1–37; 1 Kings 1:6.

  A. What kind of father did David appear to be, based on the information in these verses?

  B. How did David fail as a husband?

  C. What could David have done differently to spare him the family troubles he faced?

  2. Read Proverbs 25:28; 29:11; Acts 24:25.

  A. Why is a man who lacks self-control like a city whose walls are broken down?

  B. What is the biblical name for someone who refuses to control his or her temper?