How to Conquer a Giant

“What is the matter?” Asked Mrs. Hamlin. “What is hindering your work?”

Mr. Hamlin glanced up from his paper. “The work?” he said. “O, the old story; there are ‘giants’ in the land, and the committee feel like ‘grasshoppers’ !”

It was Earl’s turn to look up. Earl was reading, but he generally had one ear for any conversation that was going on around him. His eyes went back to his book, but he kept wondering just what his father meant. Of course there were not giants these days! He waited until his father was turning the paper to another page, then he asked his question: “Father, what do you mean about ‘giants’ and ‘grasshoppers’?”

Mr. Hamlin laughed. “Your ears heard that, did they? Why, I meant what the ten spies did when they whined about giants, and called themselves ‘grasshoppers,’ instead of seizing their chance, as the other two wanted them to do. Don’t you remember the story? I fear you are not remembering your Old Testament history as you remember your school history. The report of the spies is a very interesting story; you better look it up in your Bible and read it.”

“I remember about it now,” said Earl, “and 1 can guess what you mean about the committee. There are lots of giants around nowadays, aren’t there?”

“Plenty of them!” said his father. “Look out that none of them scare you away from an opportunity.”

Earl laughed, and went back to his book.

The next day Earl was in the dining room doing his homework from school. His friend and classmate, Howard, sat on the arm of the large rocker, waiting for Earl to finish.

“I do wish you would come on!” he said. “The boys will be waiting for us at the ball field; I told them I would bring you along right away and the fun will all be over before we get there at this rate.

“Oh dear,” said Earl, consulting his book. “That is not the right answer either.”

“Of course it is not. I knew it would not be. There is not a student in the class, who has been able to find the answer to that question. Why, I know, because I heard them talking about that very one; and haven’t I done that seventy-five times myself? My brother Dave tried to do it for me, and he did not get it either; he said there was some trick to it.”

“I would like to find the trick,” said Earl, wistfully.

“Well you can’t. I tell you there is not one of them who can. You need not think you are smarter than anybody else. We won’t get marked on that one question; they do not expect us to get it. I heard Professor Bowen tell Miss Andrews that there would not be a student in the room who could conquer it.”

“Is that so?” said Earl, running his fingers through his hair, and looking wearily at the long row of figures in his book.

“1 don’t have it so far, that is for sure; and I’ve tried it in every way I can think of. I do not know if there is any use for me to go over it again.”

“Of course there is not! It is just one of those mean old trick questions that nobody is expected to get. So just put up your books, and come on. I know the boys have run out of patience with us for being so late.”

It just happened at that moment that Earl’s cousin, Carol, came into the room. She was seventeen and Earl admired her extremely. He had known her only three weeks, and already they were the best of friends; he valued her good opinion next to his father’s and mother’s. She had heard what had been going on between Earl and Howard and she simply replied, “And there we saw the giants.” And then she vanished to the other room.

Earl’s face reddened.

“What did she say?” asked Howard.

“O, never mind what she said! She was talking to me. Look here, Howard, You may as well go down to the ball field where the boys are waiting and tell them I won’t come and they don’t have to wait for me any longer. There is no use in you trying to change my mind; I am going to conquer that question if I have to sit up all night to do it. I am not a grasshopper, and it has to be done!”

“O, I think you are a bit crazy,” growled Howard. “We won’t have half as much fun without you; and, besides – why, you began to put away your books and were about to come.”

“I know I did; but I am not quitting now, and I will not come with you. Go ahead and tell the boys I am sorry, but it is not my fault; it is this old giant of a problem that is trying to beat me; and he can’t. I do not feel a bit like a grasshopper.”

“Say,” said Howard, “what have giants to do with that example? She said something about them.”

“They have nothing to do with it,” said Earl, with energy, “and I will prove that they have not. Now please leave me to my studies, I have a battle to fight.”

Howard groaned, and growled and finally left.

The next morning, just as the students has seated themselves into their Math class, it was announced that company was corning to listen in on the Math class.

“Just our luck!” muttered Howard. “Any other morning this term I should be ready for them. Did you know they were coming, Earl?”

No, Earl did not. He looked up in surprise. There were not only his father and Cousin Carol, but also a stranger, a fine looking man, who, it was presently told the class, was Judge Dennison, who used to attend this school when he was a boy. And then, in came Principal Bowen, along with several other parents. They all took their seats and stayed through the entire hour.
Work went on well until that fatal thirty-ninth question was reached, and Howard was called upon to go to the board and write his answer.

“I cannot do it, Miss Andrews,” he said, “I tried it as many as fifty times, 1 think, in fifty different ways, and 1 could not get near the right answer.”

“That is very sad!” said Miss Andrews, trying not to laugh. “If you had not tried so many ways, but worked faithfully at only one way, you might have had better success.”

Then she called the boy next to him, with no better success. A long row of downcast eyes and blushing faces. Some of the students confessed that they had not even attempted the problem, but had been discouraged by the reports of others.

“Is there no one who is willing to go up to the board,” said Miss Andrews, “and attempt the work, carrying it as far as they can?”

At just that moment she caught sight of Earl Ha1nlin’s face, and spoke to him.

“Will you try it, Earl?”

And Earl went. Silence in the classroom. All eyes on the blackboard, and the quick fingers of one boy handling the chalk. How fast he worked! Had he multiplied right? Yes, that was right. He kept on working and got to the place where none of them knew what to do next. But he knew! Without a pause or any confusion, he moved on, through to the very last figure, which he made with a flourish. Moreover, he also knew how to explain his work, just what he did, and why he did it. As he turned to take his seat, the admiring class, whose honour he had saved, broke into applause, which the smiling teacher did not attempt to stop.

“I think we owe Earl a vote of thanks,” she said. “I confess my surprise as well as pleasure in his work; I did not expect any of you to succeed. In truth, I gave you the example rather as a test of patience than in the hope that you could conquer it. You remember, however, that I gave you permission to get help if you utterly failed. Will you tell us, Earl, if you had any help?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said Earl. “My Cousin Carol helped me.”

And then Cousin Carol’s astonishment suddenly broke into laughter.

“I have not the least idea what he means,” she said, in her clear voice. “I was so far from helping him that I tried all by myself to do the question, and failed.”

The class began to cheer again, but hushed suddenly to hear what Earl was saying.

“All the same, she helped me,” he said, sturdily. Then, seeing that he must explain, he added, hurriedly: “We had been talking about the giants, you know, and the grasshoppers, just the night before, and I thought to myself then that I was not a grasshopper, anyhow; but I never thought about the question being a giant, and I was just going to give up when Cousin Carol came to the door and spoke about the giants, and then I went at it again.”

Some of the students looked hopelessly puzzled. Mr. Hamlin’s face was one broad smile. “Students of Old Testament history have the advantage here today, I fancy,” he said.

“Earl,” said Miss Andrews, “are you willing to tell us how long you worked on that question?”

“I began it at six o’clock,” said Earl, “and I got it just as the clock struck eleven.”

There was no use in trying to keep that class from cheering. They felt that their defeat had been forgotten in Earl’s victory.

Mr. Hamlin and Judge Dennison stood talking together after the class was dismissed.
“Do you know, I like best of all that word of his about his cousin’s helping him?” said Judge Dennison. “It was very good to see the determination of your son, to keep working and it took brains to study out that puzzle; but that little touch that showed that he was not going to accept the least scrap of honour that did not belong to him was what caught me. You have reason to be proud of your son, Mr. Hamlin.”

“He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” Matthew 10:22. “Fight the good fight of faith,” 1 Tim. 6: 12.

The math problem can be compared to our salvation – eternal life. None of us are expected to get it. Some people work hard. They try, and try, and try again, yet they keep failing. Others just look at the strait and narrow road to heaven and they don’t bother to try.. They take other people’s word for it that it is too difficult to attempt.

Only a few – two in a city and one in a family – will make it. But some will be there. Just like Earl’s math problem, it will not only take endurance and persevering effort, BUT also the help from some outside of ourselves. Our help comes from Jesus, who gives us strength and motivation to go on. Although Cousin Carol. failed at the math problem, her motivation was what Earl needed to go on. Jesus is our never failing helper.

In the end Earl gave all credit to Carol. Likewise when we are in heaven, we will not take credit to ourselves for being there, but will give all honour and glory to Jesus. We will not glory in the hard labour in our battle against sin and the long hours of missionary work that we have put in. Although we have done a part ourselves, we realize that without Jesus we could not have made one little step on the right direction.
So don’t give up – the giants can be conquered.