Learning from the Giants

This is a pretty epic book. I read Learning from the Giants by John C. Maxwell with my accountability group, which consists of 3 other friends. We meet on a regular basis to challenge each other to grow in God. 

This book is a great resource for Bible study groups with friends or church families. This book is a bit different to ordinary Bible study guides you’ll find. It gives you the perspective of each “Giant” and also has very deep discussion questions at the end of each chapter. A bit different from the usual “what did God say in this verse?” and “why do you think ‘X’ felt this way?”, which always ends up being very text ‘book-ey’ in a group setting. 

I really liked this book because it gave me and my boys an opportunity to debate, to be vulnerable and to discuss deep topics we wouldn’t normally talk about. 

There are 9 “Giants” in this book. I’ll briefly touch on each one and share my reflections: 

Elijah is a manly man. Probably looked like a caveman (I’ll leave the imagination up to you. Or I can give you an image below of what I think he may have looked like? 😂), and he was also a very godly man. I’ve personally been praying that God will give me the same courage and faith Elijah had, to be bold in everything that I do.

He was a man who confronted false prophets in the ancient version of a rap battle, but instead of rapping, he would perform miracles, proving that there is only one true God. However, despite proving everyone wrong, people’s hearts were not changed, and Jezebel vowed to kill Elijah. So he fled. 

This chapter taught me that when I set certain expectations on people, I’m only bound for disappointment, and my love for people would be based on the result of how they react, rather than loving them for just the way they are. Love needs to be unconditional, not conditional. 

But only in Elijah’s solitude, he was reminded of God’s grace. So now, most of my morning, I’m spending time with God in solitude - before the break of dawn. That’s the only hour when I have undisrupted time with God and learn to love like Jesus. 

Elijah’s protege, Elisha, challenged me the most. Because sometimes, if not, most times “what we want isn’t what always serves God best”. I briefly touched on this theme in my last blog here. Not every dream we have is meant to be fulfilled in our timing - or even in the way we imagine. God’s purpose always takes priority over our personal ambitions. 

Elisha served under Elijah for, possibly close to a decade! This has taught me to be faithful in the unknown. Elisha’s example challenges me - even when we feel like we could be doing more, he shows us what it means to be faithful in the waiting. That’s a tough pill to swallow. It’s like us knowing that we deserve a promotion, we know we are gifted with certain skillsets, we know that we can sometimes do a better job than others, but we need to be patient. Sometimes that requires just waiting in the unknown. 

Elisha was a man who was initially doing a lot of farming, and probably being Elijah’s Executive Assistant, scheduling his next miracle battle. But later he ended up doing more than Elijah. In fact he doubled what Elijah did. But that required patience. 

This book in the Bible reminds me that Satan’s pride makes him foolish. Satan thought that he could convince Job that he is defined by all the materialistic and external factors of his life, such as money, popularity, reputation, family etc. But despite all the attacks that he has put on Job, Satan was proven wrong. Job was defined by the love and relationship with God. This challenged me to become a better version of myself. Why? Satan may be foolish, but if I fall for his trap, I become more of a fool than THE FOOL! Which has clearly happened before…. (mindful that Satan is cunning, intelligent and strategic - 2 Corinthians 11:3)

So how was Job able to withstand all the temptations and hardship that he faced? He was aligned with God - and the trial only revealed the depth of faith. 

So how does that translate to today?

That means, I need to be in constant conversation with God each day. Spend time in the word, in prayer, be content, work on developing the fruit of the spirit. Why? Because “[character] is the only thing you can keep in the darkest of times” states Maxwell. 

Maxwell goes on by saying that “anyone can have a good attitude in the good times. The test is if you can have a good attitude in adversity”.

Jacob is a character that reminds me a lot of myself. I have strong work ethics, always wanting to be ahead of others. I may have not taken anyone’s birthright but I am the only son. This gave me a huge advantage in getting the attention from my Asian parents, since they’re the baby boomer generation. My parents would also often tell me stories how my grandfathers from both sides of the family would favouritise me.

Unlike Jacob, who fought for blessing, I was given much from the start - maybe too much. But both of us had to learn that blessing ultimately comes from God. 

Just like Jacob, I often tried to take control instead of trusting God - and only in my own “wrestling” moment did I finally surrender. 

One of my mentors, Ps Eddie would say “in marriage you have to die to yourself daily”. And this applies within the relationship with God too. Only when you lose yourself, will you find your identity in Christ.  

Maxwell quotes Warren W. Wiersbe: “If you can explain what God is doing in your ministry, then God is not really in it.” 

Deborah reminds me that everything in my life will go ahead according to God’s plan and timing. Israel cried out to the Lord for 20 years under oppression before God raised up Deborah as a leader. Twenty years. TWENTY YEARS! Absolutely insane…

Essentially, it is impossible to fully fathom what God is doing and what he’s going to do and when he’s going to do it. But His plans are always higher.

This Giant revealed that I have been my own god. It teaches that pride separates us from God; God calls us to humility and trust; God’s salvation is a gift, not something we accomplish; and God is bringing a future kingdom of justice, peace and healing. 

We need to know the depth of how broken we are. We can’t fully appreciate or respond to who God is until we recognise the depth of His grace. The more we understand the depth of our brokenness, the more we begin to grasp the fullness of God’s grace. 

This broken, disobedient fool gets me every time. Every time I read about Jonah, he reminds me that I can never be too broken, too flawed or too far gone for God to use.

Even in my disobedience God can redeem my story and still bring glory to Himself - just as He did with Jonah, changing a whole nation.

So then, if I am obedient, how much more can God use me? 

This dude is an absolute machine. He is the definition of resilience. Maxwell simply explains that Joshua didn’t get to pick his people, his team nor did he conquer armies with experienced or skilled people. It was simply ordinary people who depended on an extraordinary God. 

And the most nerve-racking thing is that he had to do all this without Moses! Imagine being handheld your entire life and then suddenly you have to lead a group of people into war. Even without Moses by his side, Joshua wasn’t alone - God himself went with him. This is the kind of faith I would like to replicate. 

It reminds me a lot of marriage. No one can ever fully prepare you for it. But just like Joshua, I’m learning that no one is ever fully “ready” to lead. But through God’s grace, I’m being equipped to love and lead my family with faith and humility - always centred on Christ. 

Finally Daniel - Please go read my first blog here. PLEASE!

If you have a group of people that you are hoping to grow with, where you can challenge each other, this is the book to read! 

Give it a go and let me know your thoughts in the comments below:

https://amzn.to/3KobKN3