Faith in the face of a fight – Lucy Grimble on her song ‘Goliath’ and the God story behind it.
Fresh off the bat of releasing a host of new songs, Lucy Grimble, London-based worship leader, talks to us about worship. Read on for a glimpse of how she partners with God to bring songs from heaven…
What’s in my hand? What’s in my eye line?
Reflecting on these two questions and trying to position myself like David in the face of opposition was the inspiration behind my new song ‘Goliath’.
I wrestled as I wrote Goliath and the result is a song that is unashamedly about faith. Inspired by the familiar story of a young boy against a fearsome giant, I found fresh ways to be inspired by David’s faith as I crafted the song. As I wrote I kept on coming back to these two same prompts…
What is in your hand?
What is in your eye line?
Goliath was defeated by one pebble from David’s hand. And yet, I don’t think it was the pebble that defeated Goliath. I believe it was actually David’s faith that won the fight. Yes, the pebble did the job, but it was David’s defiant faith that allowed him to stand in front of this problem and say with gall; “who are you uncircumcised Philistine to come against the armies of the living God?” It’s that faith and fire in David’s belly that propelled him to defeat Goliath.
And it’s the same with us. We all have things in our hand which, in the grand scheme of things, might seem tiny, insignificant, weak – and yet, when we hold those things up to God and ask for His strength, I truly believe that they become deadly weapons against the giants and spiritual enemies that we face in this life.
Hebrews 11 says that “without faith it is impossible to please God”, that faith is the very foundation that our whole Christian existence is meant to be built on. Not works, not rituals, not performance but bare-faced faith in Jesus. Total trust in His nature. Total dependence on who He says He is.
And that means that we, like David, are all able to see God move in our life. We are all invited to hold up the small things that we have in our hand to Jesus and ask for His help, and believe that He truly can do so much more than we can imagine.
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”
Ephesians 3:20 NASB
Goliath’s presence physically towered over David but when David looked out at what was before him on that day, I don’t believe his focus was on Goliath. I believe he saw Goliath but I believe He also saw something much greater – the armies of the living God. I believe that’s what gave David the shameless confidence on the battlefield because he saw something greater, stronger, more powerful and that’s what convinced him he could win.
It can be so easy to forget, in the heat of a battle, that God is to be our ultimate focus, not the challenges we face. As a people of faith, we are called to look to Him and keep our gaze on Him in the toughest of times, even when everything else screams at us for attention. Forget striving to be strong, faith means increasing levels of dependence on Jesus. Our faith is nothing without Him.
Facing up to Goliaths is so often a collective fight too, or at least it should be. I took the small pebble in my hand; the song ‘Goliath’, and lifted it up to God, to let Him take my humble offering and wield it against our enemies. The result? A partnership with International Justice Mission, the world’s largest anti-slavery charity. By donating the proceeds of the song I felt I was making room for God to work through it to achieve more than I ever could on my own (Find the link to the donation page for the song at the bottom of this page).
Is there something in your life, however small a pebble it may be, that you can lift up to God as a humble offering to Him?