Ep 150 | Cover to Cover 29 | Pastor Ryan Clark | July 19, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

The story is told about a father who was driving with his family on vacation when he came to a large sign that read, "Road closed.

Do not enter."

The man decided not to obey the sign because he was confident that by not obeying the sign and going down that road, they would save a little bit of time.

His wife was resistant, of course, to the adventure, but there was no turning back for this persistent road warrior.

After a few miles of successful navigation, he began to boast about his good decision to ignore the sign.

His proud smile was quickly replaced with humble sweat when the road led to a washed-out bridge.

He reluctantly had to turn the car around and retrace his tracks several miles back to the main road.

When they arrived at the original warning sign, he was greeted by large graffiti letters on the back of the sign saying, "Welcome back, stupid."

My way or the highway, huh? Well, in the road of life, what is our road map? What is the sign that tells us what to do and what not to do? That's the Bible, isn't it? And that's why we are, over the next two years, going through this sermon series cover to cover.

And we are literally going Genesis through Revelation because the Bible is our road map to this life and even to the life to come.

Now you've heard those words, right? My way or the highway.

My way says I'm gonna do it my way.

I'm gonna do it the way that just comes naturally to me.

Well, what comes naturally to us? Sin, disobedience, right? Well, we're going to turn this around a little bit here today, and we're gonna call this message My Way or the Most High's Way.

In other words, am I going to choose my way, or am I gonna choose God's way? Because God's way, as we find it written out in the words of scripture, are always in the long run way better for us.

So as we go through, and we're gonna be looking at two accounts here today from our readings, My Way is gonna be represented by King Saul, and the Most High, or God's Way, is represented by David.

The first instance that we're gonna be looking at comes on the heels of David's great defeat of Goliath in 1 Samuel, Chapter 17.

1 Samuel 17 · chapter mention

As they come back into town in Chapter 18, there is King Saul and all of his army, and there's David alongside of him.

And all of the ladies are singing and chanting, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David has slain his tens of thousands."

Well, immediately King Saul did not like that very much.

And it says in Chapter 18, "Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly.

'They have credited David with tens of thousands,' he thought, 'but me with only thousands.

What more can he get than the kingdom?' And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

The next day, an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul.

He was prophesying in the house while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did.

Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, 'I'll pin David to the wall!' But David eluded him twice."

So here we have King Saul, and in his jealousy he started thinking, "This guy's out to get me.

He's out to get me.

He's out to get the kingdom.

I got to take this into my own hands.

I got to deal with this myself."

And he takes his spear and he throws it at David, and David just barely gets away.

From that point on, David was on the run from King Saul.

And in chapter 26, we have this instance from our readings this week.

It says, "So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head.

Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

Abishai said to David, 'Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands.

Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear.

I won't strike him twice.'"

So God had put Saul and his army in this deep sleep, so much so that David and Abishai could walk right up to Saul, and this whole thing could be over right then.

Remember, Saul thought that David was out to get him.

David knew that Saul was out to get him.

And they could have put a quick end to this right then.

"But David said to Abishai, 'Don't destroy him.

Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,' he said, 'the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed.

Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head and let's go.'"

This great opportunity to get revenge, to put an end to this person that is out to get him, and David said, "Far be it from me.

I'm not gonna do that.

If God wants to do that, He can do it, but I'm not gonna take it into my hands."

And then having taken the spear and the water jug, he goes far away, and once Saul wakes up, he says, "Look, I've got your stuff.

I could have killed you, but I didn't" My Way or God's Way? My Way is to think that I have to defend myself As I was preparing for this message, I was just thinking over the last few years all of the times that maybe someone came in or I saw someone uptown or something that, that said something that was a little cringey, you know? One of those things that rubs you the wrong way.

They said just the wrong thing.

And I thought about how many times immediately I have something come back to my head, a zinger, right? I've got to defend myself.

If I don't defend myself, who will? Maybe I get into work at 9:30 some day and someone walks up to me and goes, "Are you just getting here?" Grr.

"What time did you go to bed last night? I went to bed at midnight, 'cause I got home at 9:00 last night."

Right? And you think, "I've got to defend myself."

Well, that's our way of doing things.

And by the way, our way is the natural way God's way is the supernatural way of living life, and it's always a lot better.

God's way is to teach us to ask for Him to defend us when it seems like somebody is out to get us.

Saul did things the human, natural, sinful way.

David did things the supernatural, God's way.

And God wants us to learn from these accounts as well and learn how to do what doesn't come naturally, but we can by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Romans 12 it says, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil.

Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone.

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath.

For it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay,' says the Lord.

On the contrary: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.

Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

God says, "Listen, you remember your job and let me do my job.

Your job is to love people unconditionally.

Whether they treat you well or whether you think they're out to get you, you are to love those people.

My job is to discipline and take care of those kind of things on your behalf.

So you do your job and let me do my job.

Don't be overcome by evil, but instead overcome evil by being good continuously."

That's what David was doing, and that's what God would have us to do in this world where we're gonna have so many opportunities to be offended Jesus puts it this way: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven."

And so it's not just, "God, you take care of that person."

It's saying, "Lord, if there's any vengeance that needs to be taken, I'm gonna leave that up to you.

But in the meantime, out of my love for this person, bless them.

Help them through their life.

Lord, if there's anything that is a struggle in their relationship with you, fix that for them.

May you make yourself real and known to this person."

That's what it looks like to be children of our Father in heaven.

My way or God's way? Secondly, in 1 Samuel 28 it says, "Now Samuel was dead, and Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah.

Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa.

When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid, and terror filled his heart."

So during Saul's and later in David's reign, it always seems to be these mighty Philistines that are always attacking.

And they had really made inroads into the land of Israel.

And so that Saul and his army felt like they were being backed into a corner, and he was scared to death.

"What should I do?" Well, Samuel had passed away and he had rightly expelled all the mediums and the spiritists, the witches from the land And now he's getting a little nervous.

He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.

Saul then said to his attendants, "Find me a woman who's a medium so I may go and inquire of her."

"There is one in Endor," they said Have you ever called out to God and didn't hear a clear answer right away? I mean, that's happened to all of us, right? That happened to me this week.

I called out to God, and I didn't have a clear answer right away.

Well, that's what happened to Saul.

Initially, he did the right thing.

He called out to God, "God, what should I do?" But when God didn't answer him right away, he said, "Well, I've got to find out what I'm supposed to do.

I got an idea.

Is there a witch around?" Now, like I said, initially he had done the right thing.

He had expelled all the witches.

But then when he got really nervous and God wasn't answering right away, he decided to do something that was despicable to God.

Look at this passage from Deuteronomy 18.

"Let no one be found among you who practices divination or sorcery, who interprets omens, who engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, who's a medium or spiritist, or who consults the dead.

Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord."

God doesn't mince words when it comes to this kind of thing, does he? And these kinds of things still exist in the world today.

Oh, they may have different names like a Ouija board or tarot cards or witchcraft or daily horoscopes, but it's all basically the same thing.

It's all completely detestable to the Lord.

Why? Because in all of these things, you're trying to get information or you're trying to get power by bypassing God That's why it's detestable to Him.

He says, "I don't want you to bypass me.

I want you to come to me."

Saul says, "Well, I tried, but you didn't answer right away, and so I had to go to something else."

What should have Saul done? Let's come back to that.

Now, look at what happens when David gets nervous.

When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.

So David and his men wept and until they had no strength left to weep.

David's two wives had been captured, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him.

Each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters, but David found strength in the Lord his God.

So the situation here is David and his men go back home to where they're living in the city of Ziklag, and to their horror, they find that the city has been razed to the ground.

It's on fire, and all of their loved ones, their wives, their children, have been taken captive by their enemy.

If that isn't bad enough, then all of David's men begin looking at him as the one that did this and start talking about killing him.

That would make me nervous But look at how David responds.

"Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, 'Bring me the ephod.'

Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?' 'Pursue them,' he answered.

'You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.'"

What did David do? David didn't go to witchcraft, he didn't go to tarot cards, he didn't go to a Ouija board.

What did he do? He went to the Lord his God.

And we don't know how long he had to seek the Lord before he got an answer, but we do know this, he sought Him until he got the answer that he needed.

My Way or God's Way? My way, the natural way, the sinful way, is to not seek God at all when I need help or when I need information or when I need wisdom.

Or to seek Him for a little while, but then give up when I don't hear something right away, and then take it into my own hands and do something that is oftentimes displeasing to God.

That's the natural way of things.

That's what comes naturally to you and me.

God's way is to teach us to seek Him until we find Him, to not give up.

That's what Saul did.

He gave up too early.

In our highlighted verse of the day from Psalm 63, you can highlight this in your Bibles if you brought it along here today.

These are David's words.

He said, "You, God, are my God, and earnestly I seek you."

That means I'm seeking you with all my heart.

"I thirst for you.

My whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary, and I beheld your power and your glory."

How much is David seeking the Lord? As if he was out in the middle of the desert with no water and he's seeking for water with everything that he has.

And he says in verse two, "I know that you're gonna come through for me because I've seen you in the past.

I've seen you do amazing things.

I beheld your power and your glory, and so I'm not giving up on you.

I'm gonna keep on seeking you and seeking you and seeking you until I find what I need in you."

In Jeremiah 29, God promises an amazing promise.

He says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.

I will be found by you," declares the Lord.

If you seek the Lord with all of your heart and he never shows up, then guess what? Let's call a spade a spade.

God's a liar, but he's not.

If you seek him with all your heart and don't give up, you will find him.

He says, "I will be found by you."

What do these two lessons, the first one about not taking revenge on those who hurt you or threaten you, and secondly, seeking the Lord for wisdom until we find Him, what do these two things have in common? The answer is this: They both require us to do something that none of us like to do.

Wait on the Lord.

Here's our very important point of the day: God is frequently, in our estimation, late.

But when it seems like He's taking His own time in coming to our rescue or defending us or answering our prayers, it's not that He's not listening, and it's not that He's tardy because He's always on time in Heaven's perfect time.

But oftentimes He's inviting us into an even deeper seeking of Him maybe than we've ever done before, and He's inviting us into ever deeper faith in Him and in those promises that He's made to us.

Here's the Good News.

2,000 years ago, God's Son, Jesus Christ, came here to this earth, and like Noah said a little bit ago, He always chose God's way.

Not the natural, sinful way, He always chose God's way.

He lived His entire life that way, and then He went to a cross and dealt with the sin that once separated us from God so that God could now hear you and help you when you call out to Him.

That's what the Gospel is all about.

God always wanted to have a relationship with you, but that sin that you and I have, it kept us from Him doing that.

And so He sent Jesus to take our place with His perfect life and His substitutionary death so that now God can hear us when we call out to Him.

When we say, "Lord, you defend me," when we say, "God, I don't know what to do.

What should I do?" He always hears us, and in His perfect time, because of what Jesus did on that cross, He can come to your and my aid.

That's why Jesus came in the first place.

In Isaiah 30, it says, "Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you.

Therefore, He will rise up to show you His compassion, for the Lord is a God of justice, and blessed are those who," there it is again, "wait for Him."

In Proverbs 14 it says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads only to death."

That's represented by My Way.

God through His Son Jesus Christ has a better way for you and for me recognizing that we are forgiven, recognizing that now God is close to us, recognizing that now he can come to our aid.

May we regularly choose this week God's Way over Our Way.

Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.