What should I do when God delays

I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Psalms 13.

Last week I said Psalms 1, but I changed it because I've I'm getting so caught up with what's going on in our church with our people.

Actually, Psalm 1 is going to be the one I'm going to use to end it with.

Because this is more important today.

Psalms 13.

It's right where we are in our congregation right now.

We've got, I counted at least seven church members right now with cancer.

That's not counting Roy's Susan's brother that's fixing to go through a blood and bone marrow transplant, which is very, very dangerous.

And if he didn't have it, he's gonna die.

But praise God, he got two tin matches.

And she's going to see him soon for a few days before he goes through that.

I visited with Patsy.

She's been having we just got a lot of people going through some storms.

Major, major storms.

Just found out some other storms have come up with some of our people.

So God just laid on my heart, as I've told you when I'm on, when I take my month off, I've been reading through all the Psalms, and I was four or five messages ahead.

And immediately after last week, I just knew in my heart, now psalmone needs to be the climactic message.

Because it's a power, we all love psalm one.

But where we are right now, I knew was about three weeks away.

I said, I'm gonna bring it in here, Psalms 13.

Now, next week, if God doesn't change the psalm like he did this week, we'll be looking at Psalms 138, and the title of that message is How Do We Worship in Time of Trouble?

Now that's gonna be, that I've already, I'm telling you, that's gonna be a great message.

Not because I'm preaching it, but because of the word.

I promise.

I've already gotten a lot of response from this series.

And uh, so thank you.

And I knew it was needed desperately.

Uh, God laid that on my heart in the spring, right before summer break.

In Psalms 1, today we're gonna be looking at, does everyone have an outline?

Raise your hand if you do not.

Everyone have a worship guide?

Okay, good.

Today we're gonna be looking at what should I do when God delays?

Or you might want to say, what do I do when God seems distant?

Ever been there?

Oh my.

Every one of us have.

Well, I got good news for you.

There's a man named David, a man after God's own heart, had that same feeling.

More than once, by the way.

More than once.

But right here, this is a powerful psalm that answers.

And David gives us the answers, I told you last week, how we can turn our despair into delight.

Right here in Psalms 13.

Now, the context right here is from the moment David killed Goliath.

Now that was a mountaintop experience.

And we know he had to be a teenager, probably around 18 to 19, because you had to be 20 years old to be in the army, and his brothers were in the army.

So, and we know David would have loved to have been in the army, but the problem was David played a very important part in his own home with Jesse, his daddy, because he was the main shepherd.

Isn't it a fitting that the chief shepherd chose a great shepherd, David, to be a representative of what a shepherd is to be.

Isn't that awesome?

So here he is, and the moment he killed Goliath, guess what?

You would think, yes, yes, and all the people were saying, yes, yes, except there was a problem.

From the moment he killed Goliath, he got into some big trouble.

They were going around, the women were going around singing, Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed ten thousands.

Saul got upset.

You would have thought that Saul would have been excited.

Here's my man that loves me.

Jonathan, Saul's son's his best friend.

Michelle, Saul's daughter, is one, is his wife, one of them.

I mean, wouldn't you, if that were your your father, hey, that's my son-in-law, wouldn't you kind of get excited about how God's using him?

Jealousy is a mean tool to say to.

Hello.

Amen.

It can bring out the worst in you.

And it did.

So Saul sets out to kill him.

So now David's running for his life.

Now he's already been anointed by Samuel in Jesse's house that he's going to be the next king.

Now here's the catcher.

You'd get excited, I'd get excited.

But do you know it was 15 plus years before he ever took the throne?

And during those 15 years, he had nothing but trouble.

Hello.

How would you like to say you're the next king and then everybody's trying to kill you?

I don't want to be king.

It wouldn't take me long.

I wouldn't be like Simba.

Simba, going to be king.

No, I don't want to be king.

If you told me the next 15 years I've got to run from a life in caves and deserts and mountains, from the enemy Philistines, do you realize David even had to act like he was crazy to keep from being killed by the Philistines?

I wouldn't have any problem acting it.

Watch it, Laney.

But so in this context, we see this was probably the most complicated period of David's life.

He was running from Saul.

Unbelievable.

He was nearly.

And then wait.

So David ends up with 600 soldiers that's running with him.

He's got a little army.

And then in 1 Samuel 30, and you've got to read it, it's a great story.

Then on top of everything, everybody's after him, with the king and all the army, all the kingdom, they're out to get him, to kill him.

Now, one of the enemies, while they're out on a mission, come and raid the camp and take all the men's wives, children, and everything they have, including David's two wives.

So they get back to camp, and David says, oh no.

And the men say, oh no, no.

You know what the men said?

Hey, we're going to stone you.

Now the 600 people, his own little group, that's the only ones for him, now they're against him.

They're thinking about stoning him.

Hello, you with me?

And listen to what Daniel, I mean David says in 1 Samuel 30, verse 6.

1 Samuel 30:6

I don't have time to read the whole chapter, but that one verse, after all this has taken place, David was greatly distressed.

You think?

You think you got it bad?

David is greatly, I love the way they use that word in the Hebrew, distressed, for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people were grieved, for their sons and daughters and wives had been taken, basically, and even David's two wives.

But David, now watch here, David encouraged himself.

I thought I had that verse up.

Do I have that verse up?

David encouraged himself.

Watch, in the Lord his God.

Guess what?

He had no other place to turn.

Isn't it amazing?

God will let us come to our ropes in.

So that we'll know there's only one place to turn.

There he was.

That's David.

This is the context in which he writes Psalm 13.

Six little verses that are loaded with a beautiful picture of a very distressful man.

But how he turns that displeasure, how he turns that despair into delight.

Are you ready?

Let's look at it.

How many of you need this right now?

I do.

Amen.

Because I I you don't understand how much I get involved with I'm hurting for our church and our people right now, our family.

Boy, we need this.

We need this.

I really believe it's perhaps out of this context of living like a hunted animal instead of being the anointed king of Israel that David wrote Psalms 13.

And notice how he starts out in verse 1.

And boy, this is good.

He says, How long will thou forget me, O Lord, forever?

How long will thou hide thy face from me?

O Lord, how long will you forget me forever?

How long will you look the other way?

Then verse 2, he says, How long shall I take counsel in my soul?

Oh, look at this emotions here.

Having sorrow in my heart daily, been there.

Some of us are there now.

There's sorrow in my soul now for our people that are going through what they're going through.

And all the stuff that's in their lives right now, the confusion and the defeat and the discouragement and the dismay that Satan's bringing in, trying to bring into our church because of all these circumstances and situations.

Having sorrow in my heart, how long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

You know what he's saying there?

How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

You feel that way?

I feel that way right now.

Lord, how long are you just gonna let Satan just keep knocking us down here?

That's what I feel.

How long?

How long?

How long?

And then he says, Will you forget me forever?

I meant, man, you know, but you remember what I used, what I used to, what I've preached over these years.

We're on the and we were on a mountaintop for a long time.

But you can't have all those mountaintops without valleys, and right now we're in a valley, but that's okay.

I know, I've seen the vision.

We're going to the mountaintop.

We can't give up.

See, he knows.

Satan knows what's about to happen.

Come on now.

And he's doing everything he can to stop it.

He tried to stop Calvary.

He's, hey, he tried to stop Jesus at the beginning.

He tried to stop Jesus in the middle, and he tried to stop Jesus at the end.

But he couldn't.

Up out of the grave he arose with a triumphant song.

How long David wrote this psalm when he was exhausted, depressed, and there seemed no way out of escaping the unrelenting pressure and just the unbelievable seeking after him by salt all the time, day after day.

He couldn't do anything but run and hide.

How long?

Most of us have been in a place like that.

Some of us are there now.

Perhaps there's a, and I just wrote a few things down.

I'm thinking, and this came from what I've just from our church.

Some of us have long-standing health problems.

Some financial situations that have no solution.

Maybe there's a personal relationship that places a constant source of strain on your life with your family members.

I know we all have that.

Or a difficult work-related situation.

Some of us have that.

Not us, not me.

I love to be your pastor.

Or maybe you have a wayward child from whom you've been praying for for years.

Whatever the cause, many of us find ourselves like David.

We're in David's shoes, asking.

How long?

How long?

Lord, how long?

You can scan the horizon for some sign of God's approaching deliverance, but day after day you feel like you're the battle is relentlessly going on and you feel like you're losing.

You feel like you're losing.

David was like an innocent child.

I thought about that.

Before the Lord.

He said the things that sometimes we think but are afraid to say them.

Like a child who unashamedly cries out, every one of you are going to laugh when I say this.

I couldn't help but think about this illustration.

David's like the little child in the back seat of the car when you just leave the house going on a trip and you get about 30 minutes out, and they say, How long?

Are we there yet?

How long, O Lord?

Psalms 13, we have the chance right here to look and to identify with a godly man who felt those pressures.

We'll learn how David answered his and our question.

What should I do when God delays?

Number one.

Now that was a powerful introduction because that foundation is so important for this whole series.

Because that's the title of the series.

What do you do when your life's turned upside down?

And I wanted you to see David's life upside down.

I mean, he, in fact, you're going to see in the next verse, verse 3, he's about to the place of death.

He thinks he's about to die.

Now, think a minute.

You would too.

Saul's trying to kill you, and now your own army's wanting to stone you.

You may be thinking, well, it looks like, Lord, you promised me I'm going to be king.

It looks like I'm fixing to come see you pretty quick.

So that's the context.

Let's go.

Number one, what did he do?

First of all, we've got to realize our struggle when God delays.

Look at verse 1 and 2.

We've read them both.

Look at them.

So often we fail to talk to God honestly.

And we just say, How are you doing?

I'm doing fine.

No.

I don't care.

Listen, if you're hurting, if you're mad, you're upset, tell God.

Get it out.

He knows anyway.

Well, I'm afraid of what people will think.

Who cares?

I'm not interested in what well we are.

We are interested in what people think.

But what we should be is, hey, how and what does God think?

That's all that matters.

Because if you get that one right, the other one takes care of itself.

And Satan's always going to be after you and throwing stuff at you.

So you can't worry about that.

You really can't.

The posture here we see with David before God.

People may not know how we are really doing, but God does.

He knows.

The eyes of the Lord in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15, 3.

So let's look at this.

When God delays, number A in your outline, hey, when God delays, we can feel forgotten.

Let's be honest.

Sometimes when God delays, we feel forgotten.

Can I get an amen?

Someone has said that it is the, hey, Spurgeon said this, sometimes that it is, hey, the length of the trial, not the severity of the trial.

Well, that's good now.

Because a lot of times we start out and we're excited.

Well, we may not be quite as excited, but we are, yes, in our spirit, we're excited, and let me explain that.

We're excited because we know God's gonna handle it and God can take care of it.

Because I can do all things through Christ which fix me, right?

You've been there?

And man, you just all right.

You call your people, your prayer group, you get everybody around you, your comrades, and we start praying, we get our prayer groups going, and we gotta do that.

And don't be bashful and don't be ashamed to ask people to pray for you.

I'm in trouble.

I want everybody praying for me.

I want everybody praying for me anyway because I'm gonna be in trouble.

I know where I'm I I'm either in it, out of going through it.

I mean, that's just my life.

It always has been because I stir up a lot.

I promised Susan when we got married.

You're not married, hey, you won't get the best-looking man, you sure won't get a man with money, but I can promise you one thing, your life will never be dull.

Is it ever how many years?

Bob, how many?

37?

37?

I always ask Bob how long he's been married.

Because I've been married a year longer.

37 wonderful years.

Maybe four of them bad, but most of them good.

Hey, hey, listen, listen.

Why?

Because we've been in the ministry.

When you're in the ministry of the Lord, I'm telling you, you're gonna have good days, you're gonna have bad days, you're gonna have all kinds of days.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

But bless God, you don't give up, you don't quit, you don't give in, you just get it back up and keep pressing.

That's what you have to do.

And that's exactly what David's saying.

Hey, but at the same time, we see he feels forgotten.

Look at what he says.

I love this.

Look at verse 1.

He says, How long?

He felt so forgotten.

Remember Job.

What about Job?

Remember him?

He was hitting in quick successions with a number of tragedies.

Watch.

His property was destroyed, his livestock was taken, his children and servants were killed.

He was patient initially, but as it went on and on and on, he got impatient too.

I mean, he even got to the point his wife turned to him and said, Why don't you just die?

Curse God and die.

That's a good supply.

My wife's not like that.

I wouldn't have been a good, I wouldn't have answered that right.

Job was a godlier man than me.

My wife had told me that.

Ooh.

But listen, think about that.

And then he got impatient after a while, and it went downhill after that.

Then he had his best friends come over and say, Well, it's your problem, Job.

You got sin in your life.

Hey, when I'm down, don't come over to me and tell me I got sin in my life.

Hey, if I got sin in my life, I know it.

And I probably do.

And I need to deal with it.

And hopefully I am dealing with it.

Amen?

But I don't need that kind of encouragement.

What I need is, brother, I'm here for you.

I love you.

Whatever I can do.

But I know I can pray for you, and I'm praying for God to intervene for you.

Amen.

The church is the worst place to kick each other in the.

Hey, when we're down, we just keep kicking.

This church doesn't.

Thank God.

Thank you, church.

Just being who you are.

You know why I think this church is so different than any church I've ever been in?

Because we started this church with not interested in your past, interested in your future, and God's got a fantastic future for you wherever you are in life.

Instead of being judged when you pull in the parking lot.

And I've been in those churches.

I've preached in those churches.

Oh Lord help me.

Thank you.

So God says it is as likely that, hey, now watch this.

This is going to be an encouragement.

I think the verse is up there for you.

In Isaiah 49, 15 and 16, you've got to hear this.

It is as much unlikely as God to ever forget you as a mother would forget nursing their child.

Now that's important for you to know that.

Can a woman forget her nursing child and not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget.

Yet I will not forget you.

Say this with me, church.

God will not forget us.

Say it again.

God will not forget us.

So rebuke that.

Rebuke it.

Rebuke it.

Not only can we feel forgotten, but now notice secondly, we can feel forsaken as well.

David feels that God has purposefully hidden his face so as not to have to remember David's situation.

Now that's something, isn't it?

Forgetting is one thing that can even occur accidentally, but to purposely be forsaken, that's a hurtful experience.

Have you ever purposefully know you've known that you were excluded from a group of people?

Remember growing up, oh, we all have been there, haven't we?

Some of you children and teenagers, you could be there right now.

Some of you adults.

I see it all the time.

I see it all the time.

Everywhere.

It's hurtful, isn't it?

Especially if you want to be in the group.

Or trying to be in the group.

So that's that's the way David's feeling like God.

Now what's this?

Oh boy, is this so realistic.

Lord, I'm serving you.

You've called me.

I'm doing exactly what you want me to do.

And man, I'm excited about it.

But now, God, everybody's trying to kill me.

Everybody's against me.

Lord, why is this happening?

I don't understand.

Where are you?

Now I think you've got mad at me or you've left me and you no longer, you anointed me, but now you want to take your anointing back.

I've been there, man.

I've been in a situation and I said, God, you call me here, but man, it ever, nothing's going right, nothing's happening, there's no victories, there's just defeat after defeat after defeat.

And then I look up and say, Why did you call me here?

Why did you put me here?

Why did you give me this job?

I pray, have you ever prayed for a job?

And then you get it and say, Man, I wished I hadn't prayed so hard.

Hello.

You with me?

Well, this is David.

And he says, Oh my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And by the way, when you go to Psalms 22, that prophetic psalm that he wrote, even though it had nothing to do with the kind of hymn, it's a messianic psalm about the crucifixion, but in reality it was.

I mean, by the way, the Lord felt just like David did.

He said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

So if Jesus can feel that way, we can too.

Hello?

Didn't think about that, did you?

Have you ever put those two together?

So not only is David feeling that way, Jesus did too for a short period of time.

Feel forsaken.

So when we pray to God in our hour of seeming abandonment, just remember God has heard the prayer before, even from his own son.

He knows what you're going through.

In fact, he deliberately, ooh, get your pen out.

Write it somewhere.

God gave me this and I looked at my dog bear.

He's when I'm studying, he gets right under my feet.

And I say, Whoa, bear, that's good.

Son, he jumped up and started licking all over me.

He doesn't like any shouting, though.

He doesn't, he'll run.

Susan the other day said, Woo! Bear went over there and just making sure he's she's okay.

I said, Ben, that's good.

And then I wrote it down.

When I'm studying and reading, and here's what I wrote down.

God, ready, deliberately turned his back on his own son.

So that he would never have to turn his back on us.

He turned his back on his own son.

So he would never have to turn his back on us.

Now that's the gospel.

He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities.

And the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

Can I get an amen?

Wow, that's good.

He'll never forsake us.

He'll never leave us.

Hebrews 13, 5.

And then thirdly, not only do we feel forgotten, forsaken, but verse 2, we can feel very frustrated.

Can I get an O me?

Notice what he says here.

How long?

How long?

This is the well-known experience, I think, David's feeling.

How long implies the passage of, implies the passage of time, but it's easy to get frustrated at least for two reasons.

Number one, look at verse 2.

He's frustrated because of his emotions.

Sometimes we allow the problem to take over our lives.

It just won't go away.

And I wrote this what brings this emotional upheaval onto us.

We get out of our practice with the our battle of prayer, our Bible study, our walking in the Spirit, and staying in close fellowship with our church and our people.

It behooves me that when people get into a situation emotionally or even physically, they can't handle and they're getting overwhelmed.

They want to get out of the word, they want to quit praying, and they want to quit coming to church.

That behooves me.

That's when you ought to double it, triple it.

John Denson sitting back there said, Pastor, I went through almost a whole series of revelation this week.

He was working on a fence all week.

And he said, Whew, I was just getting it.

Just filling your heart and mind with the word.

And then praying.

Reason I memorize scripture so much is because I pray back that scripture.

I need it in me because I can get discouraged quickly.

Not you, Brother Danny.

Yeah.

If I'm out of the word.

What keeps me on target is the word of truth.

Can I get an amen?

God's wisdom leading me and not Danny's.

I can mess something up real quick.

And then notice the second thing.

Not only was he frustrated because of his emotions, and by the way, look at what he says there in verse 2.

And boy, is that so true in verse 2.

Look at what he says.

How long shall I take counsel in my soul?

In other words, having sorrow in my heart.

He's emotionally distraught right here.

And then, secondly, we see that he is frustrated because of his enemies.

David had an enemy, King Saul, who was bigger and stronger than any human enemy we will likely ever have to face, you think?

Again, David spent approximately 15 to 18 years waiting to receive the crown God had anointed him to wear.

So notice the frustration here as David grew more and more frustrated because of his enemies.

As strong as Saul was, he is nothing to compare with our enemy.

Satan.

1 Peter 5, 8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, has a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

Fortunately, we can learn from David what to do when the enemy doesn't give up.

You remember what he said in I think I have Luke 22.

Do I have Luke 22 up there, 31 through 31 and 32 with Peter?

Yeah.

Watch this.

Remember Peter?

After he had denied the Lord?

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you.

Whoa, whoa.

Have you ever thought about that?

Hello.

You ever thought about that?

You're trying to do something great for God?

Or knowing that God's called you to do something great for God?

And all of a sudden, what?

Now Satan says, Well, let me have a shot at him before he does anything great.

Then you'll see what he's made out of.

Did that with Job.

In fact, God even suggested Job.

Think about that.

What if Satan's asking about you?

I kind of, you know, at first I said, I don't want him to ask about me.

But then I thought, what an honor.

When Satan's asking about you.

Because that tells me you got the potential.

That God's got a calling on you.

That he wants to turn the world upside down with you.

And you know what that means when I say that?

That means you fill your city with his doctrine.

You know what they said about the disciples?

They turned the world upside down and fill their city with their doctrine.

I want them to know that CCW turned Chelsea Westover upside down and filled our city with the gospel.

I don't care if I'm in Hoover, I don't care where I am.

When I get a chance, I'm saying Jesus is awesome.

And he wants to change your life.

And then notice what he says.

Indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may, uh-oh, sift you.

That means he's gonna turn you upside down.

He's gonna make you, he's gonna make you feel forgotten.

He's gonna make you feel forsaken.

But now notice the next thing.

Peter, let me encourage you.

I prayed for you.

When Jesus starts praying for you, baby, you in a special place.

Because not only can he pray for you, he can make it happen.

That your faith should not what?

Fall.

And my watch just said I fail.

I did not fall.

Now watch.

And when you have returned to me, uh-oh.

In other words, when you've gotten over your problem, your lack of faith, and you know who I am in you, I want you to go strengthen your brethren.

Everything you go through, God has a purpose for you to strengthen the brethren.

Is that not good, church?

So what you're going through right now, right now you feel like you may be forsaken and forgotten.

But God's getting you ready so that He can use you to strengthen the brethren.

To strengthen the brethren.

Never.

So, that brings us to the second thing.

Our supplication when God delays.

Look at verse 3 and 4.

The best and the really the only place to learn to pray is when you get in a situation and it drives you to your knees.

We find ourselves when we are in David's situation.

David repeats the word.

Now, watch this.

This was awesome when I saw this.

When, when in verse 3, he says, Consider and hear me.

O Lord.

In other words, turn and answer me, Lord.

And then I love what he says.

Oh Lord, my God.

That's personal.

Not your God, my God.

Now notice what he says.

Lighten my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.

Then, verse 4, lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

Now, notice here the foundation of our prayer.

I want you to see this.

This is good.

David prayed out of three fears.

I want you to see this.

He was fearful.

And notice why.

Number one, lest I sleep the sleep of death.

The thought of dying motivated David to pray.

Hello.

When somebody says you got cancer and you're going to die or you got a problem, and the possibility is Roy died, that'll cause you to go to your knees to pray.

You don't want to die.

No one wants to die.

So what do you do?

Don't worry about it.

Pray about it.

And you're always in that prayer with thy will be done.

And I'm going to help you here.

And when somebody says, and I've dealt with this recently, when somebody's praying for somebody to be healed and somebody goes on to be with the Lord, I'm going to help you now.

Hear me.

That is complete healing.

That is perfect healing.

He's gone to be with the Lord.

There'll be no disease.

There'll be no crying.

There'll be nothing up like that in heaven.

So don't get bitter and say God didn't answer your prayer.

That's not true.

That's not true.

To be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord.

Have you ever thought that God's got it under control?

I mean, he wants you to pray, but he really doesn't need your help.

Amen.

He knows what you need best more than you do.

And then notice second fear, lest my enemies say, I have prevailed against thee.

I like this.

David knows, right here, he is supposed to be the next king, but he is afraid that Saul is going to keep that from happening.

He's saying, wait a minute, Lord, your testimony's up here on show.

You've anointed me to be king.

Now I'm not going to be king.

And then third figure, lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.

All Israel knew about the struggle between Saul and David, and David did not want others who opposed him to have a reason to rejoice should he lose or should he be killed.

He said, it's going to be making a mockery of you, God.

I mean, he's just he and God are having a heart-to-heart talk.

Is that not good?

Which brings me to the second thing, the form of the prayer.

Look at the form.

David's, hey, three kinds of prayer mirror.

Watch.

Now those three fears mirror the needs he felt in his heart.

This is so good.

I'm there.

I want you to know I'm there.

It so radiates and relates to me when I'm praying right now for our church.

Look at verse 3 again.

He says, consider me.

The word actually means look on me.

This goes back to his feelings of having been forsaken and feeling, you know, that nobody cares, that God doesn't care.

He wants God to turn around and look at him again, right now.

He feels like God is not listening, let alone answering.

You ever been there?

Yes.

And then notice the second thing he says in verse 3.

Hear me.

David is pleading with God to hear his questions, and then having heard his questions, he's pleading with God to answer the questions.

And that's good.

And then look at the third thing.

Oh, yes, we need this.

We need this in our lives and our church.

Enlighten my eyes.

Look at it.

In like my eyes.

You know what this literally means, the Greek, the Hebrew phrase there?

Lord, put the light back in my eyes.

You know what it means?

Put the radiancy back in my life.

Put the joy back in my life.

Those who look to Him are radiant, they shall never be ashamed.

Lord, restore that first love in my heart, in my life.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

Restore that confidence.

Restore it.

Those who look to Christ, they have boldness and confidence.

Ephesians 3, 12.

That's what he's saying.

So David prayed.

But something is going to seem out of place in this prayer momentarily, and let me show you why.

In the last two verses, I love this.

This beaten down would-be king suddenly declares his trust in God.

Now, how is this possible?

Now look notice he's just been how long, Lord, last, last.

He's just an emotional roller coaster.

And then would you see this?

Because let me tell you something.

Saul's still trying to kill him.

Everything's going on in his life.

Nothing's changed.

But all of a sudden.

Ready?

Watch this.

Brings me to the focus of his prayer.

See, right in the middle of verse 3 and 4, David sharpens the focus of his prayer by addressing.

Watch.

Oh Lord, my God.

No matter how discouraged or defeated David got.

Now watch.

He never altered his focus.

He never cried out to the God of Baal or Astoria.

No, he didn't.

David attached his deliverance to the very one who was allowing his desperate situation to continue by looking away from the problems, looking to God, and notice he, David, made the choice.

He made a choice to change his attitude.

He made a choice to put his eyes on the God who allowed the problems instead of putting his eyes on the problems.

Because the problems didn't go away.

Hello.

But he had a new focus.

Psalms 141, verse 8.

Psalms 141:8

I think I have it on your outline.

My eyes are fixed on thee, O God.

And the Lord is my trust.

And we saw in Psalms 121, watch the first two verses, I will lift my eyes unto the hills.

From whence my health cometh, my health cometh from the Lord which made the heavens and the earth.

Isn't that not good, church?

Boy, is that not good?

The focus of our prayer.

See, what consumes your mind, listen to me.

What consumes your mind controls your behavior.

Let me say that again.

What consumes your mind controls your behavior.

That's why Paul said, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

2 Corinthians 10, 4 and 5.

Amen.

That's why he said, Thank on those things that are what?

True, honest, pure.

Philippians 4.

So, David made the choice.

Now you say this is not easy, preacher.

Absolutely not.

You must honestly get on your face before God and say, Lord, I've, and this is me.

Because this is what I've been feeling for all that's going on in a church.

Lord, I've let my emotions take over in my life.

I've let these troubles come in on top of me, overwhelm me.

I don't know what to do.

I know this is not the way it's supposed to be, oh Lord, in the midst of all this.

Help me, Lord, to see you as the mighty, awesome Jehovah.

Elohim, that you are Jehovah Jirah.

The God that provides.

Don't focus on your adversaries.

Write this down.

Don't focus on your adversaries.

Focus on God's abilities.

That's good.

Don't focus on your adversaries.

Focus on God's abilities.

Psalms 91, verse 4.

Psalms 91:4

Verse 4, let's see.

Psalms 91, 14, 15, and 16.

You gotta see this.

This is awesome.

Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him.

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

Woohoo! Are you ready?

He shall call upon me.

I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble.

I will deliver him and honor him.

And watch, look at verse 16.

With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Is that not good?

Church.

Wow.

Wow.

And then the last thing, number three, we're through.

Ah, thank you, Jesus.

Number one, our struggle when God delays.

Number two, our supplication when God delays.

And then lastly, our song when God delays.

Verse five and six.

Boy, this is good.

Oh, this is so good.

So good.

So good.

Verse five.

But I have trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.

I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt boundfully with me.

When David gets his eyes off Saul and his troubles, he is able to begin to rejoice in the Lord again.

Now this is a powerful reminder to all of us who like to share our problems with brothers and sisters that we got to be careful that we focus on the Lord more than our problems.

Can I get an Amen?

You go around sharing your problems with everybody, it's almost a oh, woe is me, and you're looking for sympathy.

Listen, Psalms, thank you, Lord.

Psalms 36, Psalms 37.

I've never seen the righteous begging for bread.

Amen.

We don't have to do that.

We don't have to go around saying, Whoa, it's me.

We can go around saying, hey, thank God for, hey, his victory.

We can go around saying, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.

Which brings me to verse 5.

We see our song is a song of triumph.

How did David get to that place of singing?

By keeping his eyes on God.

His circumstances.

Alright, here's another one.

I hope you enjoy these powerful statements.

I'm trying to remember where I found this one.

Ready?

Listen to this.

David did not allow his circumstances to overcome him after he took his eyes off the circumstances and put them back on God.

Now watch, watch what changed.

Watch this.

Watch this focus.

What caused the change?

All right, here it is.

David chose to interpret.

Now don't miss this.

David chose to interpret his circumstances by God's love.

Is that good?

And that means we know.

All things work together for good.

To them that love God, to them who are called according to its purpose, we know.

Because of his love.

David chose to interpret his circumstances by God's love rather than allowing, hey, the circumstances to interpret God's love.

Whew! Well, God doesn't love me.

Because everything's going wrong.

Everything's going wrong.

I must be out of God's favor.

Hello?

Been there?

Yeah.

Why?

When you say why me, that's what you're saying.

That's what we're saying.

And me too.

That we're out of God's favor.

You're never out of God's favor.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

You're never out of God's concern.

Exodus 30 says he always shows favor to his people.

Our song is a song of triumph, and B, our song is a song of thanksgiving.

Verse 6.

A song of thanksgiving.

Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful song.

I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountiful with me.

I will thank God for what he's done for me.

In this psalm, as we close, we find David reminding himself of what God has done for him in the past.

David remembered the victory over Goliath.

Think about that.

And his escapes from Saul and his other enemies, even deliverance from wild animals, a bear and a lion, when he was protecting the sheep.

I mean, he starts thinking back, and his confidence about the future then became based on his deliverance in the past.

God's going to deliver me.

I remember that giant.

You come to me with a sword and a spear and a shield.

But I come to you, Goliath, in the name of Jehovah.

Old bear comes up, it's going to get a sheep.

Lion comes up, it's going to get a sheep.

They forgot that David was the fastest sling in the West.

There goes the giant.

There goes the bear.

There goes the lion.

When I get to heaven, I want to ask David.

You know he the Bible says he grabbed the line by the beard and broke his neck.

Turned him.

Now I know he had to hit that line with a slinge first.

Those are the questions I can't wait.

See, y'all got a bunch of theology questions.

You have, y'all help yourself.

I got questions like that.

I'm gonna have the best time getting all those stories.

I can't wait to see if Peter agreed with me on some of the stuff he did.

Oh, it's gonna be fun in heaven, folks.

You may not think it feels right to sing in the midst of your trials, but it's not about your feelings.

Hello.

It's not about your feelings.

It's about your choices.

And your choices is character.

Amen.

You choose.

You have a choice.

You can be glad or you can be sad.

I'm choosing to be glad.

Now I'm gonna have my share of my pity parties.

But when it's all said and done, Jehovah.

Jehovah.

Jehovah.

The Lord that provides.

I wrote this to myself.

There's no such thing.

Now I'm talking this, I'm coming right out of my heart.

There is no such thing as instant godliness.

Faith has to be tested before it can be trusted.

And then I wrote this God has not forgotten you.

Learn to wait on him.

And then faith that is under attack is faith under construction.