Praying in times of Discouragement

Turn with me in your Bibles this morning to Psalms 142.

And we've been looking at this series of what happens when your life is turned upside down.

We've had several in this church, including our family, with Susan's brother Roy.

By the way, you've been praying for Roy.

They just got back from the doctor this week and Thursday, and he's set to go for the transplant in about three weeks, is four weeks.

So let's give God a hand for that.

Amen.

And a lot of others.

Again, we just need to keep praying for our family, our church family.

And a lot going on, a lot going on, but greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.

Amen.

Praying in times of discouragement.

Does everyone have a worship guide?

If you do not, would you raise your hand?

We'd love to give you one.

Praying in time of discouragement.

Psalms 142.

It's amazing here.

David is in a cave.

Caves are interesting places to visit.

Have you ever visited a cave, a cavern?

Isn't it De Soda?

Don't we have some right here in our backyard?

Who's been there?

You know what?

I've been here seven years and I've not been there.

But I happen to have gone to the ones in Chattanooga.

Yes.

And they are deep.

And they are dark.

And I've thought to myself, Dr.

I don't know how deep we were, and we were going around and there's little water dripping and you're thinking, my first thought was, what if this thing caved in?

That was a bad thought.

Because that made me want to kind of get out of there right then.

Then the second thing I thought was, what if these lights went out?

Then my third thought was, what if there's creepy things on the floor?

Then my fourth thought was, I'm getting out of here.

But a cave is not a place that you want to hang a sign and say, home, sweet home.

But for David, for a little bit, it seemed like that might be where he was going to be.

He was running for his life.

In fact, we're not for sure, but we do know that he was running for Saul, and Saul was after him to kill him, really.

He was jealous.

And we see that possibly when you read Psalm 1 Samuel 22, 2, we see, and we're not sure, so I'll go ahead and bring this to your attention.

We're not sure if the 400 men were with him at this time when he writes.

He writes two cave Psalms, Psalms 142 and Psalms 57.

And we're not going to be looking at 57, we're going to be looking at 142.

And we got about three more messages in this series.

And then hopefully Reuben from Africa is going to be here.

And on that first Sunday in or second Sunday in October.

We're waiting to see for sure on this visa.

And then we're going to start by more short series before that is going first.

The older the work to work through, but it's the more the more about that over.

Because I got more for your time.

Difficult times.

You just don't have more two.

You have difficult times all through your life.

Can I get an amen?

And we saw that three or four messages ago that David was not just in trouble, but David throughout his life, from the moment he was anointed by Samuel at an early age to be the king, for which it was 15 years prior to Haim becoming king, and during that time, before he becomes king, he's now running for his life.

From King Saul, the man that he loved, respected, and served faithfully.

But because of a rage jealousy, King Saul was out to do David in.

Amen.

So the Lord's just agree, calling to say, I agree, I agree.

But now what's this?

So we don't know for sure that the 400 are with him at the time.

Now, they eventually show up, but we're not sure.

So David's possibly in there all by himself.

He felt all alone, trapped, and there was no escape.

Because outside, a major army is searching to kill him.

So he's down deep in this cave alone in the cave of Adullam, and he's there, and he I you know you got to be thinking about David and what he's thinking about.

Samuel had anointed him to be the next king of Israel.

Now watch.

Kings live in palaces, not caves.

Can you imagine what David's thinking?

Man, if this is what this is gonna be, I don't know if I want to sign up for this job or not.

Hey, you tell me, Samuel, the priest, the prophet, had said I'm gonna be king, but now I'm running for my life here in this dark, damp, dangerous cave with the bats and other creepy crawlers, or it seemed more like verse 7, the end of this chapter.

There's only seven small verses.

He says, It seems like I'm in prison.

But I want you to note today, caves are effective classrooms.

You may want to write that down.

Caves are effective classrooms in the school of faith and prayer.

Listen to what Spurgeon said, one of the great preachers of the European nation.

Spurgeon lived in the 1800s.

And listen to what he said.

He observed that David prayed when he was in the cave.

But he also observed that when David was in the palace and everything going well and he had anything and everything he wanted, he ended up in a bad relationship with Bathsheba.

Think about that.

Think about that.

So maybe these trials and tribulations can be for our own protection.

Just a thought, but a good one.

Think about that.

But caves are effective classrooms.

The caves have heard the best of the best prayers.

One of the main courses in the school of faith is learning how to handle trials.

So David, as a young man waiting to be king, found out that the classroom, hey, the classroom met here in a cave.

In fact, we see that he was being hated and hunted down by one of his, I'm talking about not just the king, but one of his mentors.

King Saul was very special to David.

David loved King Saul.

David had a chance to kill King Saul, but he said, I will not raise up my sword or spear against God's anointed.

So here he is.

He's trapped.

But David wrote these two Psalms, Psalms 142 and 57.

And here he teaches us how to pray when we feel trapped and alone, and no way to escape from the dark cave or overwhelming trials.

Have you ever been there where you're down?

I meant you could have lost a job.

You've just been through a divorce.

You've just been through a major tragedy.

Thinking about Darren's situation and other things.

And you just felt like there was no way out.

Ever been there?

Come on.

We all have.

If you haven't, you're going to be there.

That's life.

The good, the bad, the ugly.

And here's where David is.

Now you've got to realize he had just been promised that he's going to be the king.

And now he's in a cave, hey, surviving, just trying to stay alive.

And in this situation, and in the introduction, when God puts you in circumstances where you feel trapped and alone.

When you feel trapped and alone, what do you do?

Here, fill it in.

Cry out to him in believing prayer.

We cry out to him in believing prayer.

That's the only thing we can do.

Now let's look at David's response.

Here he is in this dark, deep cavern.

Hiding for his life.

And notice what takes place in these seven verses.

Let's look at David's response here.

Boy, this is powerful.

We see four things here.

We see his plea, we see his plight, we see his portion, and we see his prospect.

And I want to start with his plea first.

Well, actually, his plight.

His plea is in verses one through three, but I think we need to understand his plight before we see the plea.

And it's so good.

But notice, notice what David says in verses one and two.

David said, I cry out loud, verse one.

I make supplication, verse one.

Verse two, I pour out my complaint.

Verse two, I declare my trouble.

Now notice right here the first the first person pronoun continues throughout the psalm.

In fact, what we're seeing is our faith has to be a personal faith.

Can I get an amen?

Susan's faith won't work for me.

My faith won't work for Susan.

Your mama's faith won't work for you.

Your grandmother's faith mine had a bunch, didn't work for me.

But her prayers work for me.

But there's only one faith that's going to work for you, and that's your faith.

And no one can substitute their faith for you or give you their faith.

So we see how personal faith in God must be personal.

You must know God personally through personal repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, and you must know personally how to call upon Him when you feel trapped, alone, and under attack.

Because you will.

I've been in a ministry 40 plus years now.

I was trying to think back on the times that I have been personally attacked.

And I got discouraged, so I quit thinking that way.

Because I've had a lot of attacks on my life and my ministry over the years.

Listen, Jesus said, Woe unto you if all people speak well of you.

Luke 6.26.

Hello.

If you're really trying to fulfill the will of God in your life, I mean that's absolutely your number one priority, you're going to run into opposition.

Major opposition.

Especially if you're really trying to do something great for God.

And by the way, let me tell you what doing something great for God is.

Living a total spirit-filled, sold-out life for Christ.

I'm not saying you got to pastor a church of 5,000.

I'm not saying you got to have this and have that.

No, you just got to be a spirit-filled Christian, loving God and loving people.

And if you do that and really mean that and try to help people every day, you're going to, hey, you're going to come up against opposition.

You're going to have all kinds of things going on.

People talking about you.

You know why?

Because, hey, you know what I've learned over all these years?

That my life, your life as a spirit-filled Christian, brings conviction on people that aren't spirit-filled or people that are lost.

And I know what you're thinking because this is what I was thinking.

I'm not trying to do any harm to them.

I just want to love them.

Isn't it amazing when you try to love people yet they don't like you?

Isn't it amazing when you have a joy in your life and you're loving on people and you want them to have that joy?

They get bitter and they and they're jealous?

Amazing.

Here I am trying to do good and you don't like me.

Here I am trying to do good to you and you don't like me.

Isn't it amazing?

It really is.

And we must know that it's coming.

So, faith in the Lord must be strong.

Finally, my brother, and be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

It's unbelievable.

David had this feeling.

You got to see this.

Turn with me to 1 Samuel 17.

1 Samuel 17.

David had this feeling that nobody liked him.

Now he's in the cave.

And if you remember the background, 1 Samuel 17 tells us why he got, why he Saul turned on him.

First of all, this is awesome.

Here's a little shepherd board.

It comes up to the battlefield and he comes back.

I'm going to preach this message.

I think I'm going to preach this message because it takes a good 45 minutes to preach this whole, but it's fun.

It's awesome because it's just enlightening.

It's enlightening to all the truths that we face when we're in a difficult situation.

But David had returned to bring food to his brother, Eliab.

And Eliab was one of the commanders of one of the regiments in the army, no doubt about it.

And now you've got to remember, David had been on the battlefield as the shield-bearer and playing the harp for King Saul, but then he had to go back and take care of the sheep.

Because he was the shepherd boy.

So he had gone back to take care of the sheep, but then while he was being obedient, by the way, you know he didn't want to leave the battlefield.

Oh no, I'm getting another message, so let me save that.

But anyway, so David's dad tells him to take the bread of food, the bread and the meat, and go back and give it to the brothers and the army and some of his friends.

So he gets back to the battlefield and he sees this big giant up there making fun of Israel and the soldiers.

And literally the soldiers were terrified and nobody would fight him.

And everybody thought that if anybody ought to fight him, King Saul ought to fight him, because King Saul was seven feet.

The average David was 5'8.

David was my height.

But he was red-headed, freckle-faced, light-skinned, like Susan.

Or like Braden, my little grandson.

He reminds me that David had to look like that.

But anyway, there they are.

He comes up and he says, and he and he turns up and he says, wait a minute, who in the world?

And he he turns to his brother and he says, What are y'all letting this big giant make fun of God and you?

Now let me ask you, if you're David, three of the, hey, his best heroes was his oldest brother Eliab, the soldier, the commander of a regiment.

I mean, you know he looked up to his big brother.

My daughters think Eric, their big brother, can do nothing wrong.

And who else would he look up to?

Saul, the king.

He loved him, he served him.

And look what happens.

Look at verse 28.

And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men, and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Now why was he mad at David?

Because David had confronted him for his cowardness and him not wanting to take a stand, believing Jehovah to go against the giant.

Now, that's what he basically said.

He said, Who in the world is gonna let this giant defame our God and our army?

And look at look at what happens.

And Eliab unto the men, and Elab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why did you come down here?

And with whom hast thou left those few sheep?

Oh my soul, talking about belittling him.

Why are you here?

You ought not to be here, and who'd you leave that little handful of sheep with?

I meant just cut him to the courts.

I meant just nailed him.

And then looked.

And then he goes on and judges David's motives.

I've had more people judge my motives from me.

I've had people tell me what I'm thinking that I had no idea I was thinking.

I'm serious.

Every once in a while.

Every once in a while I'll say, Susie, you don't know that's my I'm thinking that.

You think I'm thinking that, but what if I'm not thinking that?

There's only one priest and person knows what I'm thinking, and by the way, he knows it.

He knows my thoughts, and that's Jesus.

That's scary, isn't it?

He knows your thoughts before you think it.

Oh, that's bad.

But now notice what takes place here.

I know thy pride, oh my, and thy, hey, naughtiness of thy heart.

Now he says you're just a prideful full of pride, young man.

And then he goes on, for thou art come down that thou might see the Bible.

All you want to do is come watch people fight.

And watch David's answer.

Awesome.

Awesome.

He didn't, he didn't get involved.

He didn't answer any one of those accusations.

Here's something to learn from.

When you're accused, you don't have to answer, hey, long as you're falsely accused.

Okay?

You hear me?

Jesus talks about that in Matthew, too.

People will accuse you as long as it's not the truth.

But hey, he didn't answer one of those accusations whatsoever.

Look at what he said.

Then he said, and David said, verse 29, what have I now done?

Is there not a cause?

I'm just standing for what's right.

I'm standing for Jehovah.

Is that not a cause?

Now what is Eli I'm gonna say to that?

Nothing.

Yeah.

Now, so guess what?

The news, somebody hears it going on.

He runs as King Saul says, there's a lad here that says he'll take on Goliath.

Now, for 40 days, no one has stepped forward to take on Goliath.

All of a sudden, King says, Well, bring him to me.

He brings him to him.

And then notice what happens with the king.

And Saul said to David, first of all, verse 31, and when the words were heard, which David spake, they rehearsed them before the king.

And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him.

Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

He didn't call him a great champion, he didn't call him a mighty man.

He just said, Him.

I fight him.

And then Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against the Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth.

And this man of war is a mighty, valid warrior from his youth.

In other words, now the king just there he goes.

You're nothing but a little shepherd boy.

I think David had enough.

And he turned and he said, Well, let me tell you something, King.

I fought a bear and I fought a lion and killed them both.

I got King's attention, long story short.

And I'm not gonna go into that, but I'm about to get in that message.

I gotta go.

Hey, hey, hey, but then what happens?

He lets him fight him.

He says, go, and then he tries to put his armor on, but that won't fit.

Hey, isn't that something?

After you tell somebody they can't do something, then when they decide they're gonna do it, you're gonna tell them how to do it.

Hello, just a thought.

If you're so smart, why hadn't you done it?

Why hadn't King Saul already fought him?

If he had had the faith, he could have defeated him.

Can I get an amen?

No doubt in my mind.

But anyway, now the king belittles him.

Now he gets before the giant, the giant belittles.

He said, You come to me with a stick.

God, today I'm gonna throw you to the birds.

And then he answers and he said, You come to me with a stick.

The sword, but I come to you in the name of Jehovah.

Jehovah! So all this led up to now David's the mighty warrior, the mighty commander of the army.

After this, Saul makes him army.

Saul makes him a commander over the army.

He had to be the youngest general over the army ever made.

Nobody ever talks about that in all the commentaries, but I'm thinking he was a young man when he became commander of the army.

I mean, he had to be probably 20.

Well, we know he wasn't in the army because you had to be 20 uh years old to be in the army.

So here's a man maybe 19 years old, and probably within the next year or two, he he's the commander of the whole army.

He goes out and slews 10,000 to Saul's thousands, and Saul gets jealous because everybody's going around singing about David instead of Saul, and now David's running for his life, and now David's in the cave.

Why?

Because he stood for what was right.

He did what was right.

Now watch this.

When you stand for what's right right here, and you're down, and this works right in, this is the heart of the message.

When everybody's against you, God is always for you.

His family was against him, his hero was against him, his enemy was against him, but God was for him.

Now, I don't know about you, but that's a little discouraging.

All because he's standing for what's right.

Woo!

So, that's the introduction.

Ready?

Number one.

Look at his plight.

Verses three and four.

Here's the enemy has made, hey, has David trapped?

He's trapped.

The enemy has, David says, has me trapped, lonely, with no one to care for my soul.

In the way where I walk, they have hidden a trap for me.

Look to the right and see, for there is no one who regards me.

There's no escape for me.

No one cares for my soul.

Look at what he says.

He describes his situation as being in prison, as I said earlier.

And again, we don't know.

We don't know if the 400 men are there with him or not.

We don't know if he's by himself, but he felt alone emotionally and spiritually, whether the men were there or not.

We don't know.

But if they were there, he still, now and I thought about this.

This is so real.

Boy, this is a good point.

Even with all those 400 people there, and by the way, they were misfits.

They were in debt, they were discouraged.

I mean, they were misfits.

400 misfits.

Can you imagine being in a cave with 400 misfits?

That's a problem within itself.

Because you're hearing all their problems.

So whether he's by himself or all those 400 men are with him, he feels alone and trapped, nowhere to go.

Because you write a man, if those men were with him, then David was in charge of them.

He had to feed them, he had to take care of them, he had to water them.

I mean, that would have been problems within itself.

I mean, so here he is.

Have you ever been in a situation where you feel like you can't get out?

And I mean, you know it's just pressure, pressure, pressure, and you feel like you're trapped, and all you want to do is say, That's what you're supposed to do.

That's what you're supposed to do.

That's what he did.

He cried out.

I believe he said that just that way, too.

He didn't say, Lord, I'm in trouble.

I need help.

My mentor's trying to kill me.

I got 400 misfits.

And I don't know what to do.

No, no, no, no.

He was, he, he had pulled out all his hair.

See, that's what's happened to me, all my hair.

Help! Help, please.

When David said, look, verse 4, look to the right and see, for there's no one who regards me, he means either that there was no one to defend him militarily, or there was no one to defend him by presenting his case in court.

Here's David's job.

When he says, No one cares for my soul, it may be that though the, hey, he was focusing on all the problems, whether it was just his problems or those 400 problems, he says, I'm alone emotionally and spiritually.

He was spent.

David felt trapped and lonely with no one to care for his soul.

That's pretty desperate.

That's when people commit suicide.

When they feel trapped and alone.

Nowhere to go.

No one to turn to.

They feel like, well, the best thing just ended.

Two vents a day kill themselves.

Why?

They feel trapped and alone.

I'm convinced when you get this low, you can do anything, even commit suicide.

And where to go?

I'm in a cave.

I'm trapped.

It's just a matter of time.

It's over.

So what did he do?

You and I don't have to be in the exact circumstances to have those same feelings.

Maybe you feel trapped and alone in a dark cave of guilt.

You know, guilt can do this to us.

Amen.

Guilt can do this to us.

Psalm 66, 18 says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.

Psalms 51, verses 1 and 4.

Psalms 51:1

Listen to what David cried out.

Have mercy upon me, O God.

According to thy loving kindness, according to thy multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out all my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before thee.

Wow.

Wow.

He knew the guilt of sin.

Or maybe you and I feel trapped and alone because we profess to be a Christian and we're made fun of.

Maybe we feel trapped and alone because we're not sure of our own salvation.

A lot of people are there.

Am I really saved?

If I'm really saved, why don't I do this?

Why not do that?

I mean, all this stuff just coming in on you.

Your feelings, your emotionals, your emotions physically and spiritually.

Or maybe the cave that has our feelings strapped and alone is not due to our sin or guilt, but rather to our Christian commitment.

We're just committed to live right, and the boss doesn't like us.

We don't laugh at his jokes, dirty jokes.

We don't bow to wrongdoing and cheating and school, bullying.

A lot of bullying is because, hey, people don't like you because you don't do what they want you to do.

You won't be like they are.

They want you to be like they are.

But as a Christian, our job is to, hey, make them want to be like us.

And let me tell you, all you got to do is live a spirit-filled life, a joy life and happiness and contentment and joy.

And people will be jealous because they want that, but they don't know how to get that because they're lost.

You feel trapped.

You know what?

When you start giving into the world, it's because you want to be accepted.

You want to be accepted.

That is Satan's number one trap, I'm convinced.

After 40 years of ministry now, even with adults, we do things that we ought not to do because we want to be accepted.

Well, I'm too old.

I don't like to say I'm too old.

But I'm too old to change my walk with God now.

I used to say I was too young to know better, but now I'm too old to change.

Because it works.

It's real.

Amen.

Following Jesus is real, folks.

He's my supplier.

He's my joy.

He's my comfort.

He's my healer.

He's everything.

Whatever your circumstances, if you have to, if you have made the commitment to follow Christ as Lord, you probably felt, as David has felt, no escape.

You felt lonely and no one who cares for you.

What should you do when you're there?

Again, hey, it's one of God's most effective classrooms in the school of faith.

Here it is, number two.

We see his plight, but now watch his plea.

Verses 1 through 3.

Help me, Lord, because you know my path.

Whoa, that's good.

Matthew Henry, one of the great old commentary writers and theologians of his day in the 1800s, actually, Matthew Henry was early in that in the 1700s, wrote, There is no cave so deep, so dark, but we may out of it send up our prayers and our souls in prayer to God.

Well, that's good.

So no matter how trapped or alone you may feel, you can still cry out to God in prayer.

Jeremiah 33, 3 says, Call unto me, and God says, Call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which you know not.

Is that not good?

This psalm teaches us some important lessons on how to be wise and skillful in prayer.

This is worth you being here or watching online.

Watch this.

I want to suggest three things.

A, prayer should be heartfelt and honest, but always in submission to God and his sovereign will.

Notice what he says.

Notice the intensity of David's prayer in verses 1 and 2.

I cry out loud, like a while ago when I said help.

I cry out loud with my voice to the Lord.

Now watch, I make supplications with my voice to the Lord.

I pour out my complaint before him.

I declare my trouble before him.

In other words, and then look at verse 5.

I cried out to you, O Lord, verse 6, give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low.

Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.

Wow.

The repetition here drives home David's fervency in his situation.

He is in deep water over his head, and so like drowning men, he cries out, help me, Lord.

When Peter began to sink after walking on water, people criticize him all the time, but like, hey, I don't criticize him.

Bless God, he had enough faith to get out of the boat.

Most people never get out of the boot.

That's what they say in northern West Virginia.

They don't ever get out of the boot.

They complain and tell you how you ought to get out.

They just don't get out.

But he got out and he started singing, and he didn't say, Our Father, who art in heaven.

No, hit a drown.

He's at happen.

You know what I like about this psalm?

We're not to be hypocrites with God.

What do you mean, preacher?

Tell him how you feel.

Tell him how you feel, because he already knows.

He knows your thoughts.

Listen to this.

Psalms 139, verse 1 says, Oh Lord, you have searched me and know me.

Psalms 139:1

Oh my goodness.

Then listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 9, 4.

Jesus knows our thoughts.

And then he goes on and says, Why do you think evil in your thoughts?

Ooh.

I mean, not only does he know your thoughts, he knows when they're good and when they're evil.

So be honest with him.

We're free to be honest with the Lord, but always with a submissive heart to his sovereign will.

Not my will, but thy will be done.

Most of the time we cry out, I know I'm guilty of this.

I cry out wanting the Lord to bail me out, but I want him to, and that's one good thing.

We need to do that.

We need to ask him.

But my problem is I want him to bail him out my way.

Am I the only one like that?

I'm in trouble and I got a good way to get out of this.

What do you think, Lord?

Hello, been there?

And you know what?

I never get an answer when I say that.

But you know when I turn and I say, okay, Lord, I've blown it.

I'm in trouble.

Or maybe I haven't blown it, but I'm still in trouble.

You either have blown it and you need to get right, confess your sin, get out of this, and then ask him to forgive you.

Then he's going to forgive you.

He always does.

If you confess your sins, his faith will just forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

My mind sometimes starts going so quick of what I'm saying, two or three frames down.

Because there's so much in me right now that needs to be out.

But you know, when I say, Lord, I've been trying to live for you.

Now he knows if that's true or not.

Come on, amenmy.

Come on, okay.

So you can't fool God.

Don't try to, hey, don't try to pull one over on God.

You make him fool me, but I doubt it.

Most of your tricks and all I dreamed up before I got saved.

You can't pull anything over.

So tell him.

Just tell him the truth.

That's what he's looking for.

I've messed up.

Will you forgive me?

And take me out of this prison.

Take me out of this cave.

Help me, Lord.

Show me the way.

I'll walk in it.

Now don't pray that if you don't mean it.

Because he's going to show you the way.

And you better walk in it, or the cave will get darker.

So he prays.

About everything.

You remember when your kids used to?

I was thinking back with Mary and Stephanie.

They were watching the other Sunday.

I don't know if they're watching right now.

They said, Dad, we were listening.

Started to text you.

You know, when my kids were younger and they had a complaint against me, and by the way, some of them were legitimate sometimes.

But how they came to me with that complaint made a major difference in my reaction.

For example, if they came to me and said, Dad, we didn't have Daddy's Day, and you promised us we were going to have Daddy's Day.

That'd break my heart.

And they were kind and loving, and I would apologize to them and say, I'm sorry.

But if they came to me and said, Daddy, you forgot Daddy's Day.

You just don't ever keep your promises.

Wrong approach.

Because now I'm going to deal with that ungrateful attitude.

Well, am I guilty?

Absolutely.

But they're guilty of that ungrateful attitude.

So here's what I'm saying, and I think this is a good example.

It's okay to be angry with God, but don't stay angry.

Be angry, sin not.

Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath.

Ephesians 4.

Okay?

In other words, okay, you're upset, but then calm down and say, Lord, hey, whatever you want.

Lord, I didn't like you, didn't do that.

Give them a listen on.

That's not the way you do it.

Lord, I'm sorry.

I've got a stinking attitude right now.

Would you forgive my attitude?

And Lord, I need your help.

I need your guidance.

I need your direction.

Because I'm in a mess.

That's a whole different approach.

Is that not good?

Is that not good, folks?

Because I've been in both, I've responded both ways.

And I'm gonna tell you.

One way you don't get anything, but most of the time more trouble.

Because you hadn't learned your lesson.

But when you get to where you can't do anything but look up and say, If you don't come through, I'm through.

Can I tell you my definition of faith I've been doing ministry 40 plus years?

Here's what true faith is.

It's worth writing down.

True faith is you believing in God so much that if he doesn't come through, you're through.

Shudrap, Meshach, and Abednego, they believed in God so much that if God didn't come through, they were through.

Daniel believed in God so much that if God did not come through, Daniel was through.

Now that's true faith.

You don't say you believe in God and you try to have five or six different things you're gonna do to try to get out of it.

He'll bring you to the place where you have no way out, like he did David.

There was no way out of that cave, but right out front.

And there was an army waiting to kill him out front.

If God hadn't come through, David was through.

Brings me to be.

Prayer is an acknowledgement of our own insufficiency and God's all sufficiency.

David admits that his spirit was overwhelmed within.

Look at verse 3.

He says that there's no escape.

Verse 4.

He was brought very low, verse 6.

His enemies were too strong for him, verse 6.

He felt like he was in prison, verse 7.

He was saying, I'm just about got, hey, I've just about got this figured out, Lord, but I need a little boost.

No, rather he was admitting his own insufficiency.

Lord, I'm through if you don't come through.

2 Corinthians 3.5, we're not sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is in him.

Amen.

I am the vine, you're the branches.

He that abideth in me bringeth forth much fruit, but without me, you can do nothing.

And then see.

Not only was it heartfelt and honest prayer, submitting to God's will, not only was it, hey, knowledge in his own insufficiency and God's all sufficiency, but see, it prayer is not to inform God.

Now, this is good.

Don't miss this.

It's not to inform God of our situation, but to prepare us to receive from him the things that we ask.

Isn't it amazing we start asking God for things that he already knows everything about?

And I'm not saying that's totally wrong, but think about it.

In fact, when I studied this, God really showed Me some truths that I had not really thought about.

God knows all things.

He knew, look, verse 3, he knew David's path.

So not only does he know our path, but he also ordains our paths.

Watch this.

Turn over to 139, turn back just a few pages and look at verse 16 in Psalms 139.

Thy eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect.

In other words, not even made yet.

And in thy book all my members, now watch, were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them.

Wow.

God already knows us before we formed.

How we're gonna be formed, what we're gonna be, and then what we're gonna, hey, how we're gonna live and what we hey, and then he just knows everything about us, and his will is for us to become like him and to do what he asks us to do.

He's already got you planned out before you come.

I can't comprehend that, can you?

Huh?

Come on, some of you look at me like you calf looking in fence post.

Can you imagine?

God already has you, hey, he's already got you figured out and gonna already have you made in his heart.

Is that not unbelievable?

So if he already knows what you're gonna be and what he wants you to be, why don't you enjoy it and be what you're supposed to be?

And don't ask me to repeat that.

Amen?

Think about that.

Being confident of this very thing, that he which begun a good work in you will perform it to the day of Christ.

Philippians 1 6.

If I was sitting here, he'd say, Preacher, that's good.

He's probably watching.

Your father knows what you need before you even ask him.

So prayer is not to inform God about our situation.

Well, why pray then, preacher?

That's what I wrote a question.

Prayer in part, now watch, is to help us recognize and verbalize our needs.

Okay?

That's okay to do that, so that we can consciously depend on God to supply those needs.

My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches and glory through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4.19.

Man, that's good.

Listen to Jonathan Edwards.

He lived, born in 1703, died in 1758.

Great theologian.

Now, the millennial generation may not, unless you have intentionally read about some theologians.

Let me ask you something.

Who has anybody read anything about Jonathan Edwards?

Two, three, four, three of us.

Okay.

I figured you had.

One of the greatest theologians to ever live.

And in his treatise on religious affections in the works of Jonathan Edwards by banner of truth, listen to what he said.

It is manifest we are not appointed in this duty, and then he puts in Prince's prayer, to declare God's perfections, his majesty, his holiness, his goodness and all sufficiency, or our own meanness, emptiness, dependence, and unworthiness, our wants and our desires, in order to inform God of these things, or to incline his heart and prevail with him to be willing to show us mercy.

But rather suitably to affect our own hearts with the things we express and so to prepare us to receive the blessings we ask.

Wow.

That literally means in everyday language that you get so totally enguffed with who God is through his word and his love and his compassion and who he is, his attributes in you, that you know God's gonna do what's best for you.

And that's all that matters.

I wish I could say I felt that way every day.

We can.

Can I get an amen?

We can totally be consumed.

Notice that David twice states the cry or supplication in verses one and two.

The Hebrew word there means an appeal to the kindness of the Lord.

Twice again he pours out his complaint and declares his trouble before him.

The Hebrew word there for before, before him, is literally to his face.

In other words, it's like David's face to face with God crying out.

Now, let me tell you something.

When you have a relationship with God where you are talking to him like you and I talk, and you feel that presence like you and I feel the presence when we're talking or counseling together.

Now, folks, that's what it means.

Most of the time we talk as if we know God's way up there and we hope he's listening.

No.

If we had the right relationship, not only are we standing face to face, but his ears right there.

I don't know about you.

I need that today.

I need that for Roy.

I need that for several of our people in this church that's got cancer right now.

I need that for some people's relatives I know are dying right now.

George, your hook, your dad, right now.

Don I'm thinking about your sweet wife.

Devil.

Right now.

We need that.

We need to be able to come into that kind of presence of an awesome real God.

Prayer's not just running through a list of requests, rather, prayer is coming into God's presence and communing with Him face to face.

That adds a whole different perception upon prayer.

Number three, look at his portion.

You see his plight, his plea.

Number three, his portion.

The Lord is my refuge and my portion.

Woo!

Look at what he says.

I cried unto you, O Lord.

I said, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low.

Although David was hiding in a cave, he didn't see the cave as his refuge.

But rather, the Lord, notice, look what he said.

He didn't look at his position as a future king as his portion.

Rather, he was in a cave or in a palace.

It didn't matter.

The Lord was his portion.

Psalm 16, 5, I think I have it.

Therefore, he says, O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance and my cup.

Hey, you maintain my lot.

In other words, you guard all that is in me, and you guard your blessings.

Wow.

The works of Jonathan Edwards, again, you can tell I've been reading parts of his book.

He doesn't use the word portion.

He is just describing God at his best portion, and listen to what he says.

God is the highest good of all creation.

Now, this is a 1700 theologian.

Listen at this.

God, no distractions whatsoever, but God in the book, reading and deving into the Word.

God is the highest good of all creation.

The reasonable and the enjoyment of Him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.

To go to heaven, listen to this.

I just shared this with Kathy.

To go to heaven fully to enjoy God is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here.

Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children or the company of earthly friends are but shadows.

But the enjoyment of God is the substance.

These are but scattered beings, but God is the sun.

These are but streams, but God is the fountain.

These are but drops, but God is the ocean.

Therefore, it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey towards heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives to which we uh to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life.

Why should we labor for or set our hearts on anything else but that which is our proper end and true happiness?

You know what that means?

Matthew 6, 33.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

When you go back and you read these 1700 and 1800 theologians, they have a whole different sense of who God is.

You read them and then read the modern-day theologians.

There's a big difference, folks.

And I'm not saying good or bad, but I'm just telling you, these men of God knew what it meant to really come into the presence of God.

And then the last thing, and I'm through.

His prospect.

Look at verse 6 and 7.

The Lord will deliver me so that I may give thanks to him in the company of the righteous.

Look, deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.

Bring my soul out of prison so that I may give thanks to your name.

The righteous will surround me, for you will deal boundfully with me.

Having thought about God as his refuge and portion, David now moves from despair.

Watch.

This is beautiful.

To confident hope.

He knows that he is weak, but his God is strong.

2 Corinthians 12, the Lord is my sufficiency.

He knows that his God is stronger than any enemies.

If God be for me, who can be against me?

No man can pluck them out of my father's hand.

Romans 8, 31 and John 10, 28.

So by faith he looks ahead to the time when he will give thanks to God by rescuing him, surrounded by God's people.

He's already through faith saying, I know God's going to deliver me and we're going to praise him.

Wow.

That's faith.

He's still in the cave, folks.

Note that David's focus is not deliver me so that I'll be happy again.

Hello.

That's not what he said.

Look, look, look.

So often that is implied, if not stated, our aim in prayers.

I'm unhappy in these trials.

Deliver me so that I'll be happy again.

But that's the wrong motive for prayer.

David wants to be delivered.

Watch.

Here it is.

This is beautiful.

So that I may give thanks to your name.

Some versions translate it, praise your name.

The Hebrew verb means confess or acknowledge.

David wants to acknowledge God's power and faithfulness and mercy in the company of the saints.

In other words, he wants God to answer his prayer so that he can glorify God.

Wow.

Now that's going to change our praying, whether what, regardless of what situation is, we want you to answer our prayer so that it brings glory to you.

Not that I want you to answer my prayer this way.

I want you to heal my loved ones because I don't want to live without them.

That's okay.

I'll pray that.

But sometimes that could be selfish.

Let me ask you a question.

And I ask myself, this is a tough question.

I never preach to you something that I have not already assimilated through.

I'll never do that to you.

If I was praying for a loved one like Roy to live, I'm gonna use our situation.

Which I am because of his three children.

He's 50 years old, he's a young man.

And I'm praying, Lord, please heal him.

Or Lord, please restore him.

For his wife's sake, his children's sake.

For our sake, because for Susan's sake, her younger brother.

For my sake, because I love my brother-in-law.

And that's the way we pray it.

I know that.

But can I pray?

Are you ready for this?

Can I pray, Lord?

I want you to do with Roy.

Think about that.

If we really believe God in control in everything, and we do, I do.

Then God give me the faith to trust you.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.

Acknowledge him and he'll direct your past and let me pray.

God, what brings glory to you?

Do.

But I want to be.

I'm trying to be.

That just needs, means that my faith needs to increase and I must decrease.

You're with me, church?

You're listening, church?

This church is God's church.

And we have to have the faith to believe that he will do what he says he'll do.

Not Danny's will, not the council's will, not your will, but Lord's your will.

What do you want to do?

That's it.

Now, folks, when we can get there, we'll know how to pray then.

And that's exactly where Jesus was when he said, Lord, I wish this cup could pass for me, but if not, not my will, but your will.

So it's okay to pray that other way, Jesus even did.

But then he ended with the, as I said earlier.

Pray a heartfelt prayer, but yet submissive to his will.

Is that not good, church?