Learning to Wait On God

The scripture reading comes from 1 Samuel chapter 23 and 24.

1 Samuel 23 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen in your bulletin or in your own Bible.

In chapter 23 verse 14 we read.

And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness,

in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph.

And Saul sought after him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

David saw that Saul had come to seek out his life.

David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh

and strengthened his hand in the Lord.

And he said to him, Do not fear, for the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you.

You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you.

Saul, my father, also knows this.

And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord.

David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

Then the Siphites went to Saul at Acubert, saying,

Is not David hiding among us in the stronghold of Horesh,

in the hills of Hakkila, which is south of Jeshimon?

Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down,

and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.

And Saul said, May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me.

Go, make yet more sure.

Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there.

For it's told to me that he is very kind.

See, therefore, take note of all the lurking places where he hides,

and come back to me with sure information.

Then I will go with you.

And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all thousands of Judea.

And they arose and went as if I had a Saul.

Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma'on,

in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon.

And Saul and his men went to seek him.

And David was told, so he went down to the rock,

and lived in the wilderness of Ma'on.

And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Ma'on.

Saul went on one side of the mountain.

And David and his men on the other side of the mountain.

And David was hurrying to get away from Saul.

As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them,

a messenger came to Saul, saying,

Hurry, come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.

So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines.

Therefore, that place was called the Rock of Escape.

And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

When Saul returned from following the Philistines,

he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.

Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel

and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goat's rock.

And he came to the sheepfold by the way, where there was a cave.

And Saul went in to relieve himself.

Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost part of the cave.

And the men of David said to him,

Here is the day of which the Lord said to you,

Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand,

and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.

Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

And afterward, David's heart struck him

because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

He said to his men,

The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord,

the Lord's anointed,

to put out my hand against him,

seeing he is the Lord's anointed.

So David persuaded his men with these words

and did not permit them to attack Saul.

And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on its way.

Afterward, David arose and went out of the cave

and called after Saul,

My Lord, the king.

And when Saul looked behind him,

David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.

And David said to Saul,

Why do you listen to the words of men who say,

Behold, David seeks your harm?

Behold, this day your eyes have seen

how the Lord gave you today into my hand in the cave.

And some told me to kill you,

but I spared you.

I said, I will not put out my hand against my Lord.

For he is the Lord's anointed.

See, my father,

see the corner of your robe in my hand.

For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe

and did not kill you,

you may know and see

there is no wrong or treason in my hands.

I have not sinned against you,

though you hunt my life to take it.

May the Lord judge between me and you.

May the Lord avenge me against you,

but my hand shall not be against you.

As the Proverbs of the ancients say,

out of the wicked come wickedness,

but my hand shall not be against you.

After whom has the King of Israel come out?

After whom do you pursue?

After a dead dog?

After a flea?

May the Lord therefore be judge

and give sentence between me and you

and see to it and plead my cause

and deliver me from your hand.

As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul,

Saul said,

Is this your voice, my son David?

And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

He said to David,

You are more righteous than I,

for you have repaid me good,

whereas I have repaid you evil.

And you have declared this day

how you have dealt well with me,

in that you did not kill me

when the Lord put me into your hands.

For if a man finds his enemy,

will he let him go away safe?

So may the Lord reward you with good,

for what you have done to me this day.

And now behold,

I know that you shall surely be King,

and that the Kingdom of Israel

shall be established in your hands.

Swear to me, therefore, by the Lord,

that you will not cut off my offspring after me,

and that you will not destroy my name

out of my father's house.

And David saw this to Saul.

Then Saul went home,

but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you so much, Bernard and Angeline,

for reading.

I know it's a long passage,

but it's just really great to be able to hear God's word.

And this is an amazing story this morning.

So really welcome to all of you,

wherever you are.

Let's just start with praying

and asking God to really open our hearts this morning.

Father, you have been faithful to us.

You are continually faithful to us.

Father, I pray that this morning

we would be reminded again

of how faithful you are to us.

Forgive us where we lose sight of that.

Open our ears that we would not be like Saul

who is deaf to you,

but we would be like David

whose heart is open for you to speak.

Lord, I pray that our hearts would be

touched by you this morning.

Holy Spirit, would you come in power?

Would you speak to us right where we are?

Would you bring your word to bear on our hearts?

And would you lift our eyes up

to see how great and how glorious

and how big you are?

Lord, we pray even in the midst of this pandemic,

Father, you are still on the throne.

Help us to see you on the throne

and to trust you,

that you are good and you are faithful.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Great.

So we're going to carry on

looking in our series in 1 Samuel today.

And let me just start with this.

My son, Etienne, has a problem.

He's only two, but he's entitled.

You see, my one-year-old daughter, Elodie,

can be playing with a toy

and as soon as he sees her,

instantly he just cannot stand her playing with it.

If he's sitting down, he jumps up,

he starts screaming,

and he has to grab and snatch the toy away from her.

And they usually have a little bit

of a wrestling match for a while.

And even if he's eating,

we as parents will tell him,

hey, Etienne, just wait a minute.

You'll get a toy soon, but just wait.

But he can't wait.

Because, you know, when you're two,

you have to have everything instantly

in your timing right now.

And he will be seriously miserable

if he doesn't get things his way,

his timing, and what he wants.

And part of our parenting

and part of learning how to grow up

is teaching him and helping him

to learn how to wait without grasping.

And without that kind of sense of,

I need this, I deserve it,

entitlement right now.

But to know that actually he can trust

the Heavenly Father

who is an even better parent than we are.

And that's what actually this passage is all about.

And so I've got three things

that we're going to look at in this passage,

which is waiting, trusting, and then seeing.

Okay, so we're going to start with waiting.

Because we're looking today

at the story of David.

And if you've been tracking with us

over the series so far,

you will know that the people of Israel

have wanted a king to help fight their battles.

That's what was good in their eyes.

And they wanted someone

who was like the nations, who looked good.

And so God had given them Saul,

but actually God had then rejected Saul

and chosen David as king

because Saul, his heart was all about his own honor.

He was all about his own outward appearance.

But David's heart was a heart after God's own heart

and wanted to trust him and walk with him.

And so the whole of the story

is how God has been shaping and working in David's heart,

even in the mundane day-to-day of shepherding

where it looked like nothing was happening.

He was working in his heart,

preparing him for kingship

by teaching him how to trust him,

by teaching him how to see the bigness

and goodness of God,

which would stand him instead

for the rest of his life.

And up to this point,

everything had been going well for David.

Do you remember last week?

He's just killed Goliath.

He gets promoted to the king's court.

He's winning tons of battles.

Everybody loves him.

And then Saul hears the women saying,

Saul killed thousands,

but David,

his ten thousands.

And it says Saul was so angry,

his jealousy gets hold of him

and he seeks his life.

He seeks to kill him

because his jealousy just blinds him

to what God's purpose is

and what God has said.

And David becomes a rival

to exterminate and get rid of.

And so David has to go on the run.

And he goes on the run as a fugitive.

And though he is completely innocent,

he is driven out

and he wanders in the Judean desert.

We might have a picture of the Judean desert here,

going from place to place,

just running in hiding.

And scholars believe

that it was for at least seven years

that he's in the wilderness.

And then a total of 10 to 13 years

between the time when God had promised

that he would be king

and the fulfillment of that promise.

10 to 13 years.

All because of one man's insecurity

and hardness of heart and soul.

And in the waiting,

God's promises look further away

than ever before.

Because in chapter 23,

there's a part we didn't read,

which is just before this,

1 to 14.

David goes to the town of Kelah

and he actually saves this town

from the Philistines.

But then in repayment,

the people of Kelah

are getting ready

to betray him to Saul.

And so he has to run away.

And then we see in verse 19 to 29,

in this part of the passage,

David is in the territory

of the Ziphites,

who are descendants of Caleb,

who was one of the spies.

He went into the land

with Joshua into the promised land.

And they betray David

just out of personal ambition.

They see him there and they say,

hey, Saul,

isn't David hiding among us?

Now you come down

and our part shall be

to surrender him

into the king's hand

so they can get some favor

from the king afterwards.

I mean,

this is great, isn't it?

For someone who is meant to be king.

And you know,

what happens next is

it's actually like a Bond movie,

kind of car chase,

without cars.

But David is around

one side of the hill.

Saul is running

the other side of the hill.

And you can see

the drone shot of the camera

coming down

and Saul is closing in on David.

He's about to surround him.

He's cornered.

It's kind of nail-biting,

heart-pumping stuff.

And just as he's about to get him,

Saul's phone rings

and he gets a message.

He needs to fight a major fire

in another part of his kingdom.

The Philistines are attacking

and he has to back off.

And David,

with all that stress,

breathes a sigh of relief

and he actually calls this place

the rock of escape

because God has delivered him.

But it was super tight.

And you could,

you couldn't blame David

if at this moment,

with all that's going on,

he might have had some doubts.

He might have been going,

God, I thought you said

I'd be king,

but this wasn't what I bargained for.

I didn't expect this to happen.

This is way too stressful.

What's happening?

Where are you, God, in this?

But you know,

one thing this passage

is teaching us

is never despise waiting

because you know,

in the waiting,

God is often doing

his deepest work in our lives.

You know,

waiting is a workshop,

not a waste.

It's a faith factory,

not failure.

You know,

in my life,

half of my life

has been spent waiting for things,

for health,

for jobs,

for education,

for relationship,

for kids,

you name it.

And waiting,

I can tell you,

is super hard.

We know that.

It's super hard

because you're not in control

and things are uncertain.

And sometimes,

you know,

you can wait

and it can feel easier

when you really sense

God's presence is with you,

sustaining you.

But we even know

from the Psalms

that at times,

David didn't even feel

God's presence.

He says in Psalm 22,

my God,

my God,

why have you forsaken me?

God even seems absent

when he's trusting him.

Where does he go to

in the midst of this?

Where is God?

But the amazing thing

is that in the wait,

God is sculpting David's heart

to be a man of prayer,

a man whose faith

isn't in his feelings,

as we talked about

with the Lent thing,

but it's in the character

of his God.

Here's Psalm 54,

which is actually written

precisely at this time

when he's betrayed

by the Ziphites.

He says this,

he says,

oh God,

save me by your name

and vindicate me

by your might.

Do you see where

he's looking for his salvation?

He says,

strangers have risen against me.

Ruthless men seek my life.

And here's what he says,

behold,

God is my helper.

The Lord is the upholder

or the sustainer

of my life.

Do you see what's happening?

Right in the midst

of the wait,

he's learning to love God

and trust God for God,

to have confidence in him,

regardless of the feelings,

regardless of the circumstances.

He's getting character

formed in him.

Rock solid faith.

And for us,

many of us right now,

you know,

we're in times of waiting.

I mean,

there's the pandemic

that's going on.

There's a lot of uncertainty.

I'm not sure

what you're waiting for,

whether it's travel,

whether it's seeing family,

maybe it's other things.

Maybe it's the clarity

for a decision you've got to make.

Maybe there are desires

that God has birthed in your heart

and you just,

like dreams to be used

for his kingdom,

but it just seems like

it's not happening

and you don't know when

things are going to happen.

Don't despise the wait

because waiting teaches you

to let God be God.

And it teaches you

how to run to him

as your helper

and find him

as the sustainer

and upholder of your life.

And do you know

what we need in the wait?

We need a Jonathan

in the wait

because sandwiched

in the middle

of these two situations

with Keller

and the Ziphites

is verse 15 to 19

where it says,

And Jonathan,

Saul's son,

rose and went to David

and strengthened

his hand in God

saying,

Don't fear,

you shall be king.

This is amazing.

You see,

Jonathan,

I wish we had time

to do a study on this guy.

He is,

he's an amazing guy.

He's actually,

he's the Prince Charles of Israel.

He's next in line

to the throne.

He's the heir.

But instead of grasping

onto the power

that he thinks

he's entitled to,

thinking he deserves

the throne,

do you know what he does?

He lays down

being number one

and he says,

Hey, I'm okay

with being number two

because God,

I know what God

is doing here

and I can trust him

and he risks

his entire life

to come and encourage

and support David

right at the time

when he needs it.

You know,

right in our waiting,

we need promises.

We need reminders

of God's promises to us.

We need Jonathan.

We need a Jonathan

in our lives

and we need to be

Jonathan's to other people.

So look around

and see

your calling

actually this week

is who can I be

a Jonathan to this week?

Who can I be a Jonathan?

Who can I remind

of the gospel promises

that we can learn

to wait

because we have

a big and a good God

that we can trust in

who's at work right now?

Who are you a Jonathan to?

Because, right,

and here's the end

of the waiting.

Right, sorry,

here's the end

of the first part of waiting.

You see,

this is the last time

Jonathan actually ever

sees David

and spoiler alert,

Jonathan dies.

But he completes

his mission before God.

He's more successful

in God's eyes

than Saul,

his grasping,

entitled father,

Saul,

ever was.

That's the wait.

But secondly,

trusting.

And this is,

this is beautiful.

I love the way

this is written.

This is chapter 24.

Isaiah 24 · chapter mention

It's beautiful

but it's actually tragic

at the same time.

Because Saul,

he's not given up.

He's coming after him.

And so it says,

verse one says,

when Saul returned

from following the Philistines,

he was told,

hey,

behold,

David is in the wilderness

of En Gedi.

Don't you love

those kind of guys?

Like,

who told him?

David,

you know,

David's had enough

betrayal already.

But it says,

then Saul took

3,000 chosen men

out of all Israel

and went to seek David.

Do you know what?

David's got 400 men.

That's about 10 to 1.

This isn't fair.

Okay?

This is totally outnumbered.

But what's lovely is this.

This is the point

where actually the Bible

gets a little humorous.

It's actually about,

it's a little bit of toilet humor here.

And it's in the Bible.

So it's worth doing.

But it says here,

verse three,

and he came to the sheepfolds,

by the way,

where there was a cave.

And Saul went in to relieve himself.

Now,

David and his men

were sitting in the innermost

parts of the cave.

I mean,

just imagine,

it's a cave.

Okay?

It's dark.

It's smelly.

David and his men

are hiding there,

crouching down for their lives

to escape from Saul,

killing them.

And into their very cave,

out of all the caves

that there were,

and there were a lot,

wanders Saul.

He strips off his armor,

takes off his clothes,

totally naked,

totally vulnerable,

takes down his pants,

starts doing a number two,

right in front of them.

Now,

talk about low-hanging fruit.

Okay?

For a soldier,

this is about as low as it gets.

And the men of David,

they said to him,

here is the day

of which the Lord said to you,

behold,

I will give your enemy

into your hand,

and you shall do to him,

and here's the key,

as it shall seem good to you.

Literally,

that's what is good in your eyes.

You see,

it looks amazing.

God has promised you victory,

David.

He didn't tell you the timing,

but look,

it's right here

on a plate for you.

But the key thing

that David knows

is Saul is still

God's anointed king.

He's God's chosen man

for this role.

And to attack him

was to attack

God's chosen man

for all his faults,

for all he had done wrong.

God was the judge,

and to take

the judge's position

right now

was to attack God,

and David knows that.

I mean,

how do you know

if a circumstance

that God brings

is of God

or is a test for you?

Well,

it comes down

to actually

how attuned

your heart is

to the heart of God,

and how regularly

you've been allowing

his word

to be shaping

your heart

and your soul

and your life.

Because you remember,

just as in the Garden of Eden,

just as with Abraham

and Sarah

who were barren

with no child,

just as with Saul

is later on,

we always have moments

where you're tempted

to take a shortcut,

to do what is good

in your own eyes.

And what happens

when you come

into those moments

of temptation

where it just looks

so good

is

your inner lawyer

will give you

a thousand justifications

for why you should

do this thing,

even though you know

God's word

says no.

Here's four things

I think David's inner lawyer

would have said to him.

One,

I need this.

You know,

God doesn't want us

to suffer any longer,

right?

Here he is.

We should just kill him.

Years of hiding,

years of stress

and fear in one second

could all be over.

And it's also

for his men too.

It's not just for him.

You know,

they can't teach

much more of this.

We need this.

I need this.

Secondly,

he deserves it

because Saul

is evil

and unjust.

You know,

he's got every right

to feel bitter

about this.

He's innocent.

This is justice

to get back at him.

He deserves

to be taken down.

I need this.

He deserves it.

Thirdly,

I'm entitled

to it.

Now,

this is probably

one of the strongest

because David

has been promised

and anointed

as the future king.

It is

his

by right.

So,

he should just

take it for himself,

right?

He shouldn't have to

put up with any more

of this,

should he?

He's entitled

to it.

He needs it.

He deserves it.

I'm entitled

to it.

Fourth,

I won't get

another chance.

This is the ultimate

FOMO

because this is more

real than any of our

FOMOs that we face

in our life

because the opportunity

cost is huge.

the stakes

are not just your career.

The stakes are life

and death

for all of them.

That's pressure.

That's peer pressure

too from his men.

And you know,

the job or the relationship

that suddenly appears

and looks so good

but you know it's not

healthy spiritually

for you or for your family.

There's a temptation

for us

to shortcut God's promises

and his provision.

Do it in our timing,

in our way,

and especially,

some of you know this,

if you've been waiting

faithfully for a long time,

you can end up

losing hope.

And yet,

here's the thing.

Saul,

under pressure

from his men

in chapter 15,

he caved in

to them.

And David nearly does too.

He listens to them.

He creeps up to Saul.

He sees his robe

on the ground.

He cuts it.

Just as,

remember,

Saul tore Samuel's robe

to show that the kingdom

was torn from him.

So David cuts it

to show Saul,

it's not your kingdom anymore.

And just as he's going in

for the final kill,

it says this,

David's heart struck him.

Listen to that.

David's heart struck him.

This is incredible.

Given the pressure,

given the history,

given the waiting,

the spirit of God

pricks his conscience

with all of that,

all the justifications,

justifications,

it's a godly alarm system

saying you should not

be doing this.

And because in the waiting

he's constantly tuned

his heart to God

in his word,

in prayer,

in confession,

and repentance,

he listens.

And he obeys

in the heat of the moment.

And he trusts God's entire,

his entire life,

God for his entire life,

his entire future,

and that of his men.

And he says,

I'm not going to hold on

to any bitterness.

I'm not going to hold on

to entitlement.

I'm not going to try

and get my own way.

I'm going to leave judgment

in the hands of God.

And he says this,

he says,

the Lord forbid

that I should do a thing,

do this thing,

to my Lord,

the Lord's anointed.

Do you see who's

at the forefront

of his mind?

It's Yahweh his Lord.

And he turns around

to his men.

And I can imagine,

this is what they're saying,

they're going,

what are you doing?

You idiots.

Like,

you're never going to get

another chance.

Are you nuts?

And it was super heated,

and we know that

because it says in Hebrew,

it says David persuaded them.

In Hebrew,

it actually says

David tore into them,

meaning he went,

don't you dare touch them.

Because

they were not happy

about this.

But he's got a conviction

that trusting God

is going to work out

in the long run.

And Saul,

their persecutor,

gets up

and walks freely

out of the cave

to carry on hunting them

for another few years.

Wow.

You see,

faith doesn't always feel good

in the short term.

But faith is more solid

than your feelings.

Because God is more sovereign

than your feelings.

And God is our helper.

I want to turn to

bring up Bernard

to share a little bit

of some of his story

of how he's seen God

just at work in his life

in a very practical scenario

in the waiting.

So,

if we can just

hand it over

to Bernard.

Bernard

Thanks, Chris.

Boy,

it's kind of hard

to follow

on the back

of David's story.

But Chris asked me

to share

something that...

Bernard,

I think you're on mute.

Oh,

I'm speaking,

but maybe...

Can you hear me?

Can you hear me now?

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's kind of hard

to follow

on the back

of David

and Saul's story.

But Chris asked me

to share

something that

kind of happened

in my career

that required

quite a bit of waiting.

And so,

basically,

I've been

working for my company,

a IT and telecom company,

for 30 years.

I know

for a lot

of our young people

in Mortimer,

that would be

beyond

a lifetime sentence.

How can you work

for one company

for 30 years?

Three years

seems like a long time.

But,

basically,

what happened

was...

So,

I run

Asia Pacific

for this company

and I've been

doing it

since 2008.

So,

that's probably

about 13 years.

But,

actually,

it was the journey

of how I

got this role

that Chris

wanted me to share.

So,

back in 2003,

which is

quite a while ago,

nearly 20 years ago,

I was...

My boss then,

who was the head

of this region,

left

and four of us

was invited

to interview

for this job.

And then,

kind of long story short,

it came down

to two of us,

between myself

and a colleague

of mine

who's a little bit

older than me,

probably 10,

15 years older than me.

And,

in my final interview

with my then boss,

he asked

the standard question

of,

you know,

why would you think

best that you had...

Why do you think

you're the best candidate

for this role?

And,

boy,

when Chris

talked about

David

and his heart

struck him,

I had

kind of a similar

feeling at that point.

I felt like

that God

was speaking to me

and striking my heart

and basically said

to me

that,

you know what,

it's not your time,

you should recommend

your colleague.

So,

at that point

in the final interview

between the two of us,

I recommended

to my boss

that he should

choose my colleague

to be,

to take this role.

Thinking maybe one day,

you know,

it will be my turn.

But I really felt,

you know,

he had more experience,

he had another 10,

15 years more experience

than me

and so forth.

So,

I ended up working

for my colleague

for three years

subsequent to that.

And,

in that,

there was

a lot of

different

circumstances

where I was able

to support him.

He actually

fell into a bit

of a depression

in the middle of that

and I was able

to kind of support

him through that.

At the end of that

three years,

he left

the company

and at that

point,

I thought,

oh,

you know,

maybe it's my turn.

And then the company

decided to fly

somebody in from the US

and passed

over anybody

in the region

to take that role.

So,

then I worked

for this new boss

for another year

and then they moved

him on to another job

and I thought,

wow,

finally,

okay,

it's my turn

to do this role.

And then they decide

to do another

restructure

and merge

the region

with another region

and then they put

another boss

ahead of me.

So,

I was passed

over twice.

So,

this is now

kind of five years,

four years on

and now

I work for

my new,

second new boss

for another two years.

So,

now kind of six years

on from the time

that I felt God

saying,

you know what,

you should recommend

your colleague

and,

you know,

something happened,

an incident happened

and it actually

created a really

difficult situation

for my then boss

who had to take

responsibility

for that incident

although he wasn't

involved

and he left.

So,

now it moved

from,

it's now

the end of 2008

and at which

point

the company

then said,

okay,

we've kind of run

out of candidates

now.

All those people

we've put on top

of Bird

we've kind of run

out.

Maybe it's time

we asked Bird

to kind of

take the role.

So,

you know,

that was kind

of a long story

short.

It was about

six years

between the time

of my interview

and I was

appointed

for the role

and I know

it seems,

six years

seems a long time

probably especially

for those that are

young in their career

it seems probably

a lifetime

but,

you know,

what I didn't know

and it didn't to me

and it reminded me

of a verse

in Genesis

29

when

Jacob

was

waiting for Rachel

and Laban

kind of

did a

bait and switch

with Leah

and

but

in 20

in verse

20

it said

but they

seemed to him

but a few days

because he loved her

and

so actually

those six years

really didn't feel

like that long

to me.

I really felt like

and by the way

the time of waiting

is not a time

well I'm going to sit

on my hands

and feel sorry

for myself.

It was really

just a time

of

leaning

and trusting

in God

and really

he taught me

a lot

and one thing

at the end

of that

when I was

appointed to that role

and I've been in it

for 13 years now

was that

prior to me

the average tenure

of somebody

who survived

in this role

was two years

so

it wasn't

a

longevity role

and now

I've been in it

for 13

I don't know

if God wants me

to be in it

for any further

but I certainly

feel like

that

it was a time

of waiting

that God's timing

was surely

a lot better

than

my own timing.

So Chris

sorry

it was longer

than it

needed to be.

No that's great

thank you

Bernard

and I think

one of the things

that

just even

I'm sure Bernard

may not say this

but I think

just

you see how

just even

walking in

just the

ordinary faithfulness

of just trusting

God over

time

over time

and I know

even Bernard

you said to me

that one of the things

God had worked

in your heart

was actually

a desire

that you wanted

to see

the other people

succeed

as well

and I think

that comes out

of actually

a security

and a trust

that actually

you know

that actually

God has got you

and so thank you

so much for sharing

that I think

that's just

really encouraging

for us.

So I want us

to just finish

with one more point

we've looked at waiting

we've looked at trusting

in a God

who is faithful

and the last thing

is I want to do

is talk about seeing

because it's not

that actually

God always works

everything out

in our own way

and actually

this call

to wade

and to trust

is not a call

as Bernard said

to just accept

every bad stuff

that comes your way

and just live with it

it's a call

to a big vision

of God

which gives you

courage in uncertainty

so you don't grasp

so you don't live

and seek your own

entitlement

but actually

David gets up

out of the cave

and he goes

to confront Saul

he's not passive

in this at all

but his heart

is in the right place

before he goes

to confront

and actually

by the way

if you have

relational tension

never go and

confront someone

until you've actually

done heart surgery

on yourself first

because you'll only

make things worse

but David

at this point

he's seeking

to win

Saul's heart

to open his eyes

to see reality

and he shouts

to Saul

he goes

hey my lord

the king

and he bows down

and then he shows him

the cut robe

and he goes

see my father

see the corner

of your robe

in my hand

in fact the word

see is repeated

at least four times

in two verses

he says

do you see

do you see reality

do you see

every lie

that you have been

believing

is false

here is the evidence

in front of you

I could have

had revenge

I could have

held on to business

but I haven't

because I'm not

I'm not trusting

and getting my own way

in this

I'm leaving judgment

in God's hand

because I know

his hands are bigger

than mine

and he says

may the lord

judge between me

and you

but my hand

shall not be

against you

I'm not going to

take revenge

I'm not going to

attack

I'm not going to

withdraw

I'm not going to

do anything

except I'm bringing

the goodness

of God

to you

and Saul's eyes

which have been

blinded by this

ever deepening

spiral of grasping

and jealousy

trying to hold on

to his ambitions

and control

for one split second

are opened

and he sees

the reality

and he says this

you are more

righteous than I

for you have

repaid me

good

and the word good

is actually

repeated multiple times

good

whereas I have

repaid you

evil

you see

David's trust

in God

as the judge

when he could have

grown bitter

but he doesn't

he leaves

all of that

in God's hands

it leads him

to bring blessing

and good

to even the wicked

and unjust

people like Saul

whereas Saul's

trust in himself

leads him

to doing evil

to innocent people

and you know

we are the same

because in the

uncertainty of our

waiting

in the pain

of hurt

and betrayal

we can be tempted

to listen to lies

we can be tempted

to cling on to bitterness

we can be tempted

to look at the short term

to zoom in

on the macro lens

of just the moment

and try and get

everything for now

and miss the wide angle lens

of God's character

and his promises

because you see

before each one of us

today

you will have tests

on whether you're going

to trust God

in your waiting

or do what's good

in your own eyes

and God puts in front

of your face

this morning

as he wants to

every day

not a cut robe

but he wants to put

pierced hands

and feet

of Christ

before you

in front of your face

and says

see

you have in many ways

treated me

like Saul

in your entitlement

in your impatience

in your pride

in so many different ways

and yet

Jesus was

persecuted

a fugitive

betrayed

rejected

treated

far worse

than Jesus

than David

ever was

on our account

but I am so patient

with you

I am patient

wanting people

to repent

and come back

to me

do you know

Jesus could have

wiped out

every one of his enemies

like that

instead

he chose not

to take it into

his

grasp it

into his own hands

like Philippians 2 says

but he chooses

to take the nature

of a servant

he pays

the ultimate

cost

ultimate opportunity

cost

of death

on a cross

you see

David's life

was actually

protected by God

but Jesus

life was not

and I can imagine

in heaven

the angels

would go

are you crazy

God

do you not

know what

Chris is like

do you not

know what

you're entitled

to

do you not

know all the

things that

he has done

to you

and he would

say yeah

but my love

and my grace

come to

undeserving

entitled

and impatient

people

and I want

to give you

what you

don't deserve

the grace

of my

love

and a

relationship

with me

and he

is the one

who is crowned

the ultimate

king

the resurrected

king of glory

and if you

want to have

a big view

of God

right now

you've got

to place

his story

and overlay

it onto

your story

because sooner

or later

this week

you're going

to have

cave moments

in your life

maybe

and if you

haven't been

getting in

God's word

regularly

if you

haven't been

rehearsing

his love

and his

faithful to

you

thanking him

and allowing

his promises

to work in

your life

you'll believe

what everyone

else says

around you

and it will

be a lie

and you'll

be blind

to the reality

of the big

picture of

what God

is doing

and you'll

do what is

good in your

own eyes

and it will

cause harm

to others

but if you

tune your

heart

to the

ever faithful

suffering

love of

Jesus

towards you

then his

story will

reshape

your story

because what

you see is

he brings

life out

of death

when you

trust him

with your

life

there may

be moments

where things

will feel

like you're

dying

but he

always brings

resurrection

out of the

cave

you see

right now

I want to

ask you

where are

the moments

where you're

waiting

where are

the moments

where you

are in

pain

or frustrated

you see

God is

wanting to

work a

resurrection

story in

your life

but you've

got to get

off your

throne

like

Jonathan

you've

got to

trust him

with the

timing

like

David

and if

you take

the promises

of God

my God

is my

helper

the Lord

is the

upholder

and sustainer

of my life

and you've

got to wield

those every

day to help

you fix

your eyes

on Christ

and every

day we're

doing that

helping each

other with

that you

will look

back I

can guarantee

in years

to come

and say

Jesus

you are

more righteous

than I

I have

repaid you

with plenty

of sin

I've been

impatient

a whole lot

of other

things but

in Christ

you have

repaid me

with such

abundant

good

because

Jesus

you are

so good

to me

and the

question

is today

as he

puts that

in front

of you

will you

trust him

with the

weight

will you

trust him

with your

hurt

will you

trust him

and run

to him

and let

him

be the

God

of your

life

I want

to pray

for a

second

and then

we're

going to

move

into

breakout

rooms

but I

want you

to take

a second

to think

about

this

story

I want

you to

think

where

in this

story

resonates

with your

story

where

are the

areas

where

God

is

calling

you

to

trust

in

him

today

to

have

a

bigger

vision

of

him

and

his

goodness

and

his

love

what

resonates

in

your

life

where

is he

calling

you

to

trust

him

so