Duty and Privilege in Times of Great Distress 1

Q: What does the Bible say about God's presence in distress?

The Bible teaches that God is our refuge and strength, present in times of trouble, as seen in Psalm 46:1. In Psalm 46, we are reminded that God is not only a refuge but also our strength, present in times of trouble. This assurance calls us to recognize that even amidst despair and hardship, God remains with us, providing comfort and support. The experiences of figures like David illustrate that in our most distressful moments, we can strengthen ourselves in the Lord, actively engaging our faith to find solace in His enduring presence. Just as David did, we must look beyond our circumstances to the unchanging nature of God, who is always near to those who call upon Him.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are affirmed through His actions in history and the unwavering testimony of Scripture. The truth of God's promises is firmly rooted in His unchanging character and the historical accounts documented in Scripture. The Bible is full of instances where God has fulfilled His promises, reflecting His faithfulness throughout the ages. For example, David's life exemplifies how God's assurances sustained him, even when faced with tremendous trials and despair. As believers, we look back at these accounts which remind us that God does not lie; He is bound by His covenant to be our God and to never forsake His people. This covenantal faithfulness reassures us that the promises we find in Scripture are reliable and applicable to our lives today.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to strengthen themselves in God?

Strengthening oneself in God is vital for spiritual resilience and direction during times of trouble. For Christians, strengthening oneself in God is essential, especially during periods of distress. This practice enables believers to transcend their immediate circumstances and rely on God's truths and promises. Just as David did when confronted with formidable challenges, Christians are called to actively engage in their faith, reminding themselves of God's steadfastness and power. By doing so, they not only find personal renewal but also open themselves to guidance through prayer and the Scripture, leading to tangible actions that align with God's will. This strengthens not just their faith but also their ability to navigate life's trials with courage.

Q: What does Psalm 23 teach about God's comfort?

Psalm 23 teaches that God provides comfort and guidance, assuring us we will lack nothing. Psalm 23 is often regarded as a profound source of comfort for believers. It begins with the assurance that 'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,' highlighting God's provision and care. The psalm vividly depicts how God guides His people through life's challenges, even in the darkest valleys. The assurance of His presence—'for you are with me'—is a promise that brings peace, reinforcing the idea that no matter the circumstances, divine support is steadfast. This comfort enables believers to face trials with confidence, knowing that God walks alongside them, providing solace and guidance.

Q: Why does God involve history and biography in the Bible?

God includes history and biography to illustrate His redemptive purpose and principles through real-life events. The inclusion of history and biography in Scripture serves a dual purpose. Firstly, it expresses that God's redemptive purposes unfold in real space-time history, affirming that events, such as the creation and the fall, are factual and significant. Ancient narratives of figures like David not only recount their lives but also reveal underlying principles of God's kingdom. Through these accounts, we learn about His nature and how He interacts with humanity, thereby gaining insight into our faith. This historical context enriches our understanding of redemption and makes the stories applicable to our lives today. Each narrative acts as both a lesson and a testament to God's ongoing work in the world.

Now, have you ever wondered why
the Bible, the only written revelation of the mind of God given to men,
why so much of the Bible contains straightforward history and factual
biography? Have you ever wondered why so
much of this written revelation gives us the facts of the emergence
of tribes and of nations, their rise, and their foe. So much
of the history of individuals who are born, who live, who love,
who marry, who fight, who war, who serve, who die, and who are
buried. Have you wondered why so much
of the Bible follows the track of men and women such as Noah
and Abraham, Jacob, David, Solomon, Mary, Elizabeth, Ruth, Esther,
have you ever asked yourself why? Of all the things we wish
we could know, and which God could have told us, had he given
us a book that had far more of what we might call the didactic,
that God has given us so much history and so much biography. Have you ever asked the question?
You say, well frankly I haven't. Well I think you ought to. because
so much of the Bible is indeed history, and so much of the Bible
is biography. Now the answer to that question
has many facets, but suffice it to say that among the many
strands of an adequate biblical answer to the question, why does
the Bible contain so much history and biography, two stand out
among those many facets of the answer to that question, and
the first is this, The Bible is full of historical narrative
and biographical sketches because the God of the Bible, who is
the God of creation and redemption, works out his purposes of redemption
and judgment in real space-time history. The Bible records a
real creation by the Word and power of God in Genesis 1 and
2. The Bible records a real fall
when a real man named Adam and a real woman named Eve, in disobedience
to God, ate of a real piece of fruit. Doesn't say it was an
apple, but a real piece of fruit. If it were an apple and had a
tight skin, when Eve put her teeth into it, you could have
heard the snap that you hear when you bite a nice firm Macintosh
apple. And the juice would have spilled
down the sides of her lips. It was a real apple. And when
it says she turned and gave it to Adam, it was a real apple
that had specific weight as he held it in his hand. If you put
it on a scale, you would have seen how many ounces it was.
And in that setting, when God comes and says, I'm going to
enter this situation where man has defected from his allegiance
to me, aligned himself with the serpent of devil, and I'm going
to inject enmity between the woman and the serpent, between
her seed and his seed, there God announces that he is the
God of redemption and of judgment. And in fulfillment of that seminal
promise in Genesis 3.15 all the way through to Revelation 22,
God works out his redemption and his judgment in real space-time
history. so that we would expect that
this God, who is working out redemption, can use such terms
as these that we find in Galatians chapter 4. In the fullness of
the times, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under
the law. These are events in space, time,
history. And there is a second reason
why we have so much history and biography and it is this as God
is working out his purposes of redemption and judgment in human
history he's constantly illustrating the principles of his own kingdom
As that history unfolds and we read of the events of nations
and of tribes and of individuals, God is illustrating again and
again the principles that inhere in His gracious work and also
in His work of judgment. So when we come to the New Testament,
it should not surprise us to find the Lord Jesus in Matthew
24, 37 and following saying this, speaking of those events surrounding
his second coming in glory and in power, that's the focus in
that particular part of Matthew 24, other things are in focus
in other parts, as in the days of Noah. So shall it also be
in the day of the Son of Man. As in the days of Noah, they
were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage
and knew not until the flood came and took them all away,
so shall it also be in the day of the coming of the Son of Man.
What is Jesus doing? He's saying when you read the
history of the people before the flood, and of the flood coming
suddenly in mercy to take Noah and his family on the swelling
waves of the ark into safety, while judging others, that illustrates
a principle of God's activity in redemption and in judgment. Likewise, in 1 Corinthians 10,
11, after speaking of events of the children of Israel wandering
through the wilderness, Paul says, these things were written
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
In other words, that history has relevance for the people
of God in the New Covenant. It contains principles of the
things that God is displeased with, and the things that God
will judge, even among His people. And in that setting, fornication,
idolatry, and murmuring are specifically highlighted. Or take James, chapter
5 and verse 10. James says, You mean when I read the history
of Jeremiah and his being thrown down in a slime pit? That's not
just a history of Jeremiah. It is setting forth an example
to all of the people of God of the principles that will be operative
when they seek to be faithful to God in a hostile and in an
unbelieving world. And we could multiply passages.
Why does God give us so much history and biography? Because
redemption and judgment are worked out in real history. You see,
Bible stories are not religious myths. in which we have marvelous,
wonderful spiritual meanings, Bible histories, real history,
made of the stuff of real flesh and blood people, and real trees
of life, and real gardens of Eden, and real battles with real
clashing steel and real blood. And so we should not be surprised
that much of the Bible is given over to history and to biography. But also, God wants his people
enriched by that history and biography. We are not New Testament
Christians. We are whole Bible Christians. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
for training in righteousness. Don't ever say you're a New Testament
Christian, you're a whole Bible Christian, if you are indeed
a Christian living up to the standard of what God requires
of you. Now why did I take ten minutes
for that rather lengthy introduction? We're going to plunge into a
bit of Old Testament history. And if I were preaching a series
on the life of David, the first thing I would do is show you
David's place in the storyline of redemption. It would be irresponsible
to preach on the life of David without showing you how does
David fit in the large storyline of redemption. How does David
fit into Genesis 3.15? And we would see the unusually
strategic place that David has as God is working in history,
both in redemption and in judgment. But that's not my purpose this
morning, but we're going to look at David under that second category
of my answer to the question, why so much history and biography?
For in the extensive account of the life of David, there are
tremendous principles of the Christian life beautifully illustrated. Remember, to David was given
the largest bulk of the inner life of the believer as he is
the sweet psalmist of Israel. There is a richer doctrine of
the Christian life found in the Psalms of David than is found
anywhere else in the Word of God. And so it should not surprise
us that when we read the history of David's life, God is illustrating
tremendously vital principles of the Christian life through
David, who is our Lord's son, but of whom the Lord Jesus himself
was found in the line of David. And this morning, we're going
to look particularly at verse 6 of chapter 30 in 1 Samuel,
That will be the focus of our exposition, where we read at
the end of the verse, but David strengthened himself in the Lord
his God. And we're going to examine this
text under the title, The Duty and Privilege of the Child of
God in Seasons of Great Distress. The duty and the privilege of
the child of God in seasons of great distress. And what I want
you to note with me first of all is the historical setting
of this incident in the life of David. What is the historical
setting of this incident in which David strengthened himself in
Jehovah his God? Well, this portion that I read
in your hearing describes the most distressful period in David's
life prior to his ascension to the throne in Judah. David had many distressful periods. But if you read through the book
of 1 Samuel and up into 2 Samuel chapter 2, when he becomes king
in Hebron over Judah, you will come to the conviction that there
was no point that was lower, more intense in cumulative trials
and troubles than the passage read in your hearing. He had
been anointed king years before by Samuel the prophet and for
a while he was Saul's pet in Saul's court and David alternated
between the use of his harp and his sword And he'd go out with
his sword and slay his tens of thousands, and then he'd pick
up his harp and calm the evil spirit that was troubling Saul.
And for a while, he was Saul's pet. By use of his sword and
his harp, he endeared himself to King Saul. But after a while,
the scripture says, from that day forward, Saul eyed him. His eye became jaundiced. He
looked upon David no longer as pet, but threat. And in his insane
jealousy, he looked upon David as his greatest enemy. And then
for chapter after chapter in 1st Samuel, and many Psalms were
composed in this period, David is chased around Judea like a
cur dog, like a fugitive from the law. He's found in caves
and out in the open air, driven away from all of the society
to which his soul was so sensitive and accustomed. Until we find
here in this section, in chapter 27, David reaches a low point
where in his despair, he forgets the promise of God, he falls
into a period of unbelief and says in 27.1, David said in his
heart, I shall now perish one day by
the hand of Saul. Saul is going to get me. He forgot
the anointing by Samuel. He forgot the promise of God's
ultimate purpose which had bolstered his soul through many a dark
night and many a weary day. He says, I've had it. Saul's
going to get me. And notice what he does. There
is nothing better for me than I should escape to the land of
the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me and seek me any
more in all the borders of Israel. I shall escape out of his hand.'
And David arose and passed over in the six hundred men that were
with him unto Achish the son of Maoch king of Gath. And David
dwelt in Achish in Gath, he and his men, every man with his household,
David with his two wives. And it was told Saul that David
was fled to Gath and he sought no more again for him. Think
of it. David goes into the very association of the great enemies
of God. Remember the giant kids? He was
Goliath the what? The Philistine. The uncircumcised
Philistine. David says the only safe place
now is to make camp among the enemies of God. And he does. And if you read the subsequent
history, you find that God gave him favor with Achish. Achish
gives him a town of his own. A town of his own in which to
dwell with his 600 men. A town in which his wives and
the children of his fellow warriors will be safe. And in that town,
David does some very questionable things. You remember that he
engaged in commando raids to the south and was wiping out
Philistines and the enemies of God to the south of him and Achish
didn't know it. And then the time came when this
one of the five great kings of the Philistines gets together
with his buddies and they're going to have a massive military
endeavor that involves all of the Philistines. This is recorded
in chapter 29. And when they get together, David,
who would become sort of the personal bodyguard of Achish,
these other characters see David and they say, no way, Jose, this
guy's a Hebrew. And if we get into a battle with
the Hebrews, he's going to turn coat and he's going to turn on
us. We don't want him. And so much to his own, in a
spirit of reluctance, Achish says, David, I'm sorry. I still
love you and I still respect you, but you've got to go home.
So there's a three day journey between the mustering of all
the armies and the town of Ziklag, where David had left his wives,
the other warriors had left wives and children, and now that's
the background to our passage. All right? That's a broad overview.
Now, having looked at the historical setting of this incident in the
life of David, notice with me now the immediate situation described
in verses 1 to 3 of chapter 30. And it came to pass when David
and his men were come to Ziglag on the third day, the Amalekites
had made a raid, had burned it with fire, taken captive the
women and all that were therein, carried them off, went their
way. David and his men came to the city and behold it was burned
with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters
were taken captive. This was like Atlanta. after
Sherman and his troops went through in the Civil War. It was a scorch
and level operation. Now put yourself in the mindset
of David and his men. You thought you were going off
to war. You'd hugged your wives and your children. And you go
off at the rear guard of Achish and his army and you are told
you're not wanted. You've got to go home to wife
and children. And thinking what it's like when
you're on the way on a business trip, and some of you that have
been away on military expeditions, the moment you know home is in
your crosshairs. All of the excitement, you live
in your own mind's eye, as I have done dozens of times over the
years. What will my wife's face look
like when I see her after a time away? How will the children greet
me as they jump up into my arms? These were real men, dear people.
Don't read this stuff as though they were wooden soldiers and
drugstore Indians. They had real feelings, real
emotions, real passions. Men envisioning themselves embracing
their wives and hugging their children. And as they begin to
draw near to the city, they begin to see the curl of smoke. And
their noses pick up an acrid, pungent smell. And then they
move from a brisk walk to a breakneck run and they come to the gate.
And they look and they see their city is nothing but a pile of
charred rubble. Where are my kids? Where is my
wife? Can you feel something folks? Can you feel something? The Holy Ghost has described
this for us. Behold! Behold! It was burned
with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters
were taken captive. What happens when women and children
are taken captive in war? Rape! Brutality! Slavery! Can you be one of these
warriors? Envision your wife being molested,
gang raped by soldiers? Your children being put in shackles? That's the situation. There's the picture, the immediate
situation described. Smoldering embers and the desolation
and the mocking silence. of a burnt and an empty town. Now, what was the combined reaction?
We've looked at the immediate situation described. What was
the combined reaction as it is depicted, verses 4 through 6a? Then, in response to this set
of circumstances, David and the people that were with him lifted
up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. Now here are 600 soldiers who
can in the thick of battle, hour after hour, exert the power of
arm and shoulder and strength as they clash against the enemies.
Think of these Hebrews with their unfettered emotional expression. Weeping so hard until they're
utterly exhausted and the fountain of tears is dried up. That's
what the text says. It wasn't internal silent grief. The text said David and the people
that were with him lifted up their voice and wept. They sobbed
and wailed. This was the wailing wall created
long before it was raised up there in modern Palestine. They
wept, they wailed, until the fountain of their tears were
dried, and they had no more strength even to convulse with sobbing
and with the brokenness of their heart. And David's two wives
were taken captive, Ahinoam-Bedesh, Jezreelite, and Abigail, the
wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed. Sometimes you've got to use a
couple of English words to translate one Hebrew or Greek word, but
here you have two words in the Hebrew. The one, the intensive,
David was greatly distressed, and this word distress has the
idea of pressure, much like the Greek word phlipsis or phlebo,
to pressure, to compress. David was greatly pressured,
pressed in by the reality of these circumstances. He looks
about him and sees the charred city. He knows that his wives
have been taken captive And then added to that pressure is what
we read in the middle part of the verse. For the people spoke
of stoning him, because the soul of the people was grieved, every
man for his sons and for his daughters. Here's David, he sobbed
his eyes out, and with his fellow soldiers he can sob no more.
The Holy Spirit underscores that apparently at this time the recognition,
realization, my two wives have been taken captive. And as he
looks around at his men, he notices that some of them, their eyes
are darting around and they seem to land on any stone that is
big enough to be picked up and kill a man. And then he sees their eyes go
from the stones to him. And David realizes That these
people now, when they whisper, they're not whispering, hey guys,
what can we do to go get our wives and our kids? They're whispering,
let's get him. That's what the text says. They
spoke of stoning him. Think of it. These men who owed
their lives to David's leadership. They're now so vexed and frustrated
by this set of circumstances, they don't turn on God and curse
God, they turn on their appointed leader and say, let's get rid
of him. Let's kill him! Let's kill him. Now, if ever
there was a time when depression and despair were legitimate.
You got it right here. Right? If ever there was a time
for dejection, depression, despair, it was here. David's wives are
gone, the people have turned against him, and some of them
were scoundrels. You read on in this chapter,
verse 22, in another incident with this same group of men,
then answered all the wicked men and base fellows of those
that went with David. He didn't have a crack troop
of honorable men. Some of them were a bunch of
scoundrels. That's what the text tells us. And in another situation,
they showed their scoundrel-like heart. Maybe they were the ones
that turned on David. We don't know. But this much
we know, that in this situation of great distress, look at what
our text says David did. Contrary to all natural expectations,
contrary to everything that we would excuse in a good man in
these circumstances, but David strengthened himself in Jehovah
his God. That's why I've given as a title
to our sermon this morning, The Duty and the Privilege. of every
child of God in a period of great distress. What is it to do precisely
what David did? To strengthen yourself in Jehovah
your God. Now I want to unpack the text
under four heads. First of all, it was a conscious,
deliberate activity of the man David. Look what the text says. But David strengthened himself. Now some of you kids who are
learning how to break down a sentence, the subject of the sentence is,
you can say it, you can embarrass your teachers,
the subject of the sentence is, say it, David, right? The verb
is strengthened. The object is himself. It is not a passive construction. David was strengthened, and we
have to supply the agent, God, or his men, or the beautiful
scenery, or the birds chirping in the sky. It doesn't say David
was strengthened in the Lord, or that someone strengthened
David in the Lord. This was a conscious, deliberate
activity of the man David. David did something. In the midst
of this grief, in the midst of this crushing pressure, great
distress, David did something. He wasn't paralyzed by his circumstances. He did something. David did it. Consciously, deliberately engaged
in an activity. He didn't let his circumstances
dictate to him. He dictated to his circumstances. He determined that looking straight
in the eyeball of every real circumstance that said, David,
you've had it, you ought to curse God and die. He looked straight
through the circumstances to the realities of the unseen world,
and he strengthened himself in God. Now why do I press the fact
that it was a conscious, deliberate activity of the man David? Because
David said to himself, I will act and not be acted upon. And
if you and I don't learn that lesson, we'll be bullied by our
circumstances till we go to our grave and never come to any spiritual
stability. We as a church have come into
our greatest period of corporate distress in our 31 years of history. That's a fact. But it is not
a fact that the circumstances dictate to us what we shall be
or do. There are bigger realities than
those circumstances. I'm not angry because my eyes
pop out, I'm just excited. You'll have to forgive me when
I get excited and my eyes pop out. The truth of this, dear
people, You don't lie down and let your circumstances bury you
in despair, despondency, dejection, and unbelief. You look through
them to realities that will result, as it did with David, to you
strengthening yourself in the Lord. It was a conscious, deliberate
activity of the man David. It was an activity that was focused
upon Jehovah. Look at the text. But David strengthened
himself in Jehovah his God. It doesn't say he strengthened
himself in himself. Don't you get nauseous with all
of this chuck yourself under the chin you can do all you want
to do and you can be all you want to be. What a bunch of nonsense. When I hear this, you can be
anything you want to be. Well, you know, there are many
times when I look out my picture window in my study, and I see
those carefree birds, and we've got about ten different kinds
of birds in my... See, man, it must be nice to jump off a limb,
flap your wings, catch an updraft. I'd like to be a bird. But the
day I think I can be anything I want to be, and jump out my
study window, you're going to be visiting me in the hospital
or in the morgue. I can't be anything I want to be. That's
nonsense. And yet that's been pummeled
into this generation of self-actualization and self-realization and self-expression. Thankfully, David knew nothing
of that heresy. It doesn't say he strengthened
himself in himself, nor does it say he strengthened himself
in his 600 warriors. At this point, there wasn't much
comfort. They were looking at stones. I'm not going to look for help
for people to picking up stones to kill me. It doesn't say that
he looked forward in the hope of better days. No, he looked
not to himself, to others, to circumstances. It says he strengthened
himself in the things pertaining to Jehovah. Now what did that
mean? Well, if you want a lifetime
commentary on it, just live in the Psalms. Because in the Psalms
we have David's own inspired commentary on what this means,
to strengthen oneself in Jehovah. And time after time in the various
Psalms written in this very period of David's life, what does he
do that constitutes strengthening himself in Jehovah? Well, let
me just throw out several heads and a couple of illustrations
as seminal thoughts. He first of all reminds himself
of the changeless being of Jehovah. He strengthened himself Not in
Elohim. He strengthened himself in Jehovah,
his Elohim, his God. It was God as the eternal I Am. The God of the burning bush,
who when Moses says, when I go on your behalf, God, whom shall
I say has sent me? And God says, you tell them I
Am has sent you. I Am that I Am. I will be that
I will be. I am the Lord, I change not,
Malachi 3.6. And again and again in the Psalms,
David reminds himself of the changeless being of Jehovah. What of God changed when the
town of Ziklac burned? Nada. Zilch. Nothing. When the town stood
shining and bright and welcoming, it didn't affect God. And when
it was burned to the ground, nothing of God twitched or was
changed. What changed when David's wives
were taken captive and the wives and children of all the warriors?
Not a thing. God is the changeless eternal
I am. Though involved in even the falling
of a sparrow and the hairs you left on your pillow last night,
He is not changed in His being by anything that happens in His
world. You want to be strengthened in
the Lord your God? Stand in the midst of the acrid
smell of the smoke of dashed hopes and of burnt relationships. And feel the pang of the severance
of deep ties. And say, what has changed in
God? And the answer is nothing. Nothing. He reminds himself of the immediate
presence of God. Think of Psalm 23. Jehovah is
my shepherd, I shall not lack anything. And in all the imagery,
what's the baseline? For you are with me. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and
strength. The Lord of hosts is with us.
What more do we need to say? He is with us. He is with us. You want to be strengthened in
God? You remind yourself of the changeless being of Jehovah.
He is the eternal, changeless I AM. Remind yourself of the
presence of Jehovah. He is with us. Reminds himself
of the past dealings of Jehovah. You see David doing this when
he goes out to meet the Philistine? When they wonder, how in the
world, David, are you going to be a match for him? You remember
what he does? He says, look, I remember when I was a shepherd.
And when the lion came and the bear came, they were no match
for me. I kept them on with my bare hands. Who is this uncircumcised
Philistine? One can only wonder how much
of David's history was rehearsed in his mind as his eyes smarted
with the smoke of the ruins of the city. as he went back and remembered
all of the ways in which he had seen the mighty works of God.
Dear people, this present crisis does not negate thirty-one years
of the footprints of Almighty God in the life of Carnotty Church.
It doesn't obliterate a one of them! And those fit footprints
become the footprints pointing to the fact that this God is
our God forever and ever and he will be our guide even unto
death. When you've been in the way 46
years, you meet a crisis like this, it doesn't budge. You look
back to the time when God put his hand upon you as a pimple
faced insecure teenager and changed your life and set your face to
heaven and set it against anything that would stand in your way.
And you say, God, this is what you did. And this is what you
did. This is what you did. This is what you did. You're
no fickle God to leave me now. Some of you have been surprised.
You think I'm a good bluffer or maybe God is real to me in
these days. I ain't bluffing folks. And no
little part of strengthening myself in the Lord my God is
just to look back and look at his footprints in my life and
know that he's no fair-weather God. He strengthened himself
and the Lord is God. No doubt reminded himself of
the promises of the Lord. I shall one day perish by the
hand of Saul down to the Philistines he goes. This is the end result
of that period of what appears to be backsliding and unbelief.
And could it be that in the charred ruins of this city that had become
his illicit refuge, David experiences a personal revival and says,
what a dope I've been. Perish by the hand of Saul? God
through Samuel said I shall be king in Israel. I felt the drops
of oil on my head. That God cannot lie. And amidst
the charred ruins, He feeds upon the promises of God and he strengthens
himself in the Lord, his God. Dear people, this is what we
desperately need. Not only to engage in an activity
as did David, but in that activity focused upon Jehovah, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. Jehovah God, the Father, Jehovah
Jesus, Jehovah the Spirit. The things that really matter
have no relationship to how many people are in these pews. You
believe that? I hope you do. I hope you do. If you don't, you're in bad trouble.
The things that matter are not related to any human relationship. They are related to realities
that neither life nor death nor judgment can alter. And if you
are to be strengthened in the Lord your God, you need to engage
in that activity that focuses upon him. Thirdly, it was an
activity with respect to Jehovah as his own personal God. Look at the text. But David strengthened
himself in Jehovah his God. His God. And that brings us right to the
heart of God's covenant engagements in grace. What's the crowning
blessing of God's gracious covenantal commitments to his people? Is
it not that found in the language of Jeremiah 31, Ezekiel 36, quoted
in Hebrews 10, quoted again in Revelation 21, I will be their
God and they shall be my people. And when you come to the book
of the revelation, and there you see the consummation of redemption
in the new heavens and the new earth, that's stuck right in
the middle of it. God himself shall be with them
and be their God. And they shall be his people. You see, David was sucking sweetness
from the whole biblical doctrine of God's gracious saving covenant. He strengthened himself in Jehovah,
not the God or a God, but his God. He's in the possession of
faith. He's in the framework of God's
gracious, free, sovereign, covenantal commitments to be the God of
his people. And you see, anyone who's in
that framework knows that in himself he's offended God. God
ought to cast him off as a sinner. But the God of the covenant reveals
the framework of his covenantal commitments, and that's always
in terms of the mediator. Do you trace that to the Old
Testament? When God commits himself to Abraham,
he gives him these directions about strange sacrifices. What's he doing that for? God's
saying, when I covenant with sinners, it'll be in the context
of blood. Because I'm covenanting with
sinners, and my wrath must be turned away by a propitiatory
sacrifice. And that's why in Psalm 51, David
confessing his sins says, purge me with hyssop. that bush or
that bit of what material we ought to call it, that they sprinkled
the blood with. He says, purge me with hyssop and I shall be
clean. He knows that he needs the blood
of expiation. He needs the blood of atonement.
So this is the David who is strengthening himself in the Lord. His God
is not doing that as a perfect man. There is every indication
that this period found David in at least a somewhat backslidden
state. And yet he doesn't grovel in
his sin. He lays hold of covenant promises. If you, Lord, should
mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness
with you that you may be feared. And in the midst of our present
distress, many of us have discovered new depths of our own sin. We
are not a sinless people. This is not a sinless preacher.
But we can say we have walked in integrity before God, seeking
to follow the word of God. And God says, I shall be their
God and they will be my people. You see, you can't strengthen
yourself in Jehovah unless he's your God. And he's not your God
in any other framework, but his gracious covenant that involves
the work of a mediator. And when you come in the nakedness
of your need and lay hold of a Savior, Jesus Christ, God commits
himself to be your God. And he calls you his people and
even says you are his inheritance. Think of it. What's your inheritance? God brags and says my people
purchased with the blood of my own dear son. Everything else
is slated for the junk heap. That's what hell is. His possession is his people. And David had that joy. But then
fourthly and finally, We see it was not only a conscious,
deliberate activity by the man David, an activity focused upon
Jehovah, an activity with respect to Jehovah as his own God. But
now note in the fourth place, it was an activity that produced
undeniable results in David and all around him. How do we know
this just wasn't some kind of a mystic experience? David said,
I feel great, I've strengthened in the Lord my God, now I'm going
to write a book about it. No, look at the passage, verse
7 begins with a conjunction, and David said, now watch all
the verbs of action, David said to the priest, verse 8, and David
inquired of Jehovah, verse 9, so David went, verse 10, but
David pursued, following this strengthening of himself and
Jehovah, Activity is described as an undeniable, demonstrable
fruit of being strengthened in the Lord. He said, he inquired,
he went, he pursued. And when you boil it down, the
two major things that stand out in this passage are these. Here
were the two activities that were the fruition of David strengthening
himself in Jehovah. Number one, His renewed strength
in Jehovah resulted in a renewed commitment to seek Jehovah in
prayer. Notice the first thing he does,
and there's no record he did this, from chapter 23, 9 and
10 is the last time David called for an ephod. That was the priestly
garment. And David would put it on when
he would perform priestly function, not sacrifice here, but seeking
the face of God for guidance. And David, in chapter 23, it's
the last time we read that he inquired of the Lord. That's
why many commentators believe this period, David, was in a
period of a backslidden state. He did some very questionable
things. But be that as it may, what we know is marked out by
the Holy Spirit as the first fruit of his being strengthened
in Jehovah his God, is that he gives himself anew to pray. And I found a wonderful statement
in John Claiborne with respect to what God does in the midst
of trial in order to renew our prayers. Listen to Plato. By
these troubles and distresses, David was in great distress. By these troubles and distresses,
the people of God are awakened to their duties and taught to
pray more frequently, spiritually and fervently. Ah, what drowsiness
and formality is apt to creep in upon the best of hearts in
the time of prosperity. But when the storm rises, and
the sea grows turbulent and raging, now they cry as the disciples
to Christ, Lord, save us, or we perish. They say music is
sweetest upon the waters. I am sure the sweetest melody
of prayer is upon the deep waters of affliction. For these, among
many other righteous, wise, and holy ends, the Lord permits and
orders the trials and distresses of His people. Thunder and lightning
is very terrible weather, but exceedingly useful to purify
and cleanse the air. You see the point? All of this
great distress comes upon David. He strengthens himself in the
Lord is God, and David said, bring the ephod. I'm going to
inquire of Jehovah. For David, the accumulation of
distress, became the catalyst for the renewal of the spirit
of prayer. But then secondly, his renewed
strength in Jehovah resulted in present zeal to do the revealed
will of Jehovah. Verse 8, David inquired of Jehovah,
saying, If I pursue this troop, shall I overtake them? And he
answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and
you shall without fail recover all. So David went. He had a
word from God by direct revelation. We neither ask such nor expect
such, and we're suspicious of all who claim such. But the will
of God in this book is never done with alacrity, while all
you do is stand and weep by the ash pile. You know what I mean? You don't do the will of God
when you stand and weep by the ash pile. And all my town is
burnt, my possessions are burnt, my loved ones are taken from
me, woe, woe is me, no. He strengthens himself in Jehovah,
he goes to the throne of grace and he comes away a man invigorated
to do the will of God and even some of his younger fellow soldiers
are so weary from that three day trek. And you come to a town
that's burned, they have no food, they haven't eaten for a while.
David outstrips them in strength and leads his troops to recapture
his wives and the children. Read the rest of the story. As
Paul Harvey would say, now you know the rest of the story. Where
did that figure come from? In the man who was so weary with
weeping, he couldn't weep anymore. David, wait upon the Lord, shall
renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk
and not faint. Dear people, it's true. I told
a preacher who called me this morning that if God continues
to give me the strength he's given in this day, these days,
I'll accomplish more in the next 10 years than I did in the previous
30. I'm not doing speed and I'm not
drinking extra coffee. But as you people pray, and as
I have sought God in the Psalms that come alive, it is true,
they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And when
we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, this is the fruit
of it. We are driven anew to the throne
of grace, and we come from the throne of grace with our Bibles
open, and we say, what is my duty? With the smoke of the burning
city still making our eyes tear, and we go forth to do the will
of God. What God requires of this church
has not changed one bit because of the defection of some from
our midst. God has not said, beg me leave
to rewrite my word and wait and mourn and be filled with self-pity
while I give you new marching orders. All that God requires
of us is in this book. And he's calling us to strengthen
ourselves in him and commit ourselves to do the will of God as clearly
revealed in his written word. Well, we come around full circle.
You see why so much of our Bible is history and biography. I could
have stood up with a New Testament text such as Philippians 4.13. I can do all things through Christ
who strengthened me. So yeah, that's Paul. But you
see David, possibly in a backsling state, standing amidst the smoke
and the rubble and the heartbreak of his wives and the children
of his warriors taken captive, and he strengthens himself in
the Lord his God. He inquires of the Lord, he goes
forth with the directions of the Lord in the strength and
in the power of the Lord, and he soon will be brought to the
place which the Lord himself had said would be his place of
service and responsibility. I want to close by telling you
how Spurgeon affirmed this truth in his own life. He has a sermon
on this passage that I read after I prepared my own sermon and
I said, well, got to stick this in there somewhere. I, this is
Spurgeon speaking, the preacher of this hour, beg to bear my
little witness that the worst days I have ever had turned out
to be my best days. And when God seemed most cruel
to me, He was then most kind. If there's anything in this world
for which I would bless Him more than for anything else is for
pain and affliction. I'm sure that in these things
the richest, tenderest love has been manifested toward me. I
pray you, dear friends, if you are at this time very low and
greatly distressed, encourage yourself in the abundant faithfulness
of the God who hides himself. Our Father's wagons rumble most
heavily when they are bringing us the richest freight of the
gold of His grace. Love letters from heaven are
often sent in black tinged envelopes. The cloud that is black with
horror is big with mercy. We may not ask for trouble, but
if we were wise, we should look upon it as the shadow of an unusually
great blessing. Thou didst cause men to ride
over our heads, but you brought us out into a wealthy place. Psalm 66. Dread the calm, it's
often treacherous, and beneath its wing the pestilence is lurking. Fear not the storm, it brings
healing in its wings, and when Jesus is with you in the vessel,
the tempest only hastens the ship to its desired haven. Blessed
be the Lord whose way is in the whirlwind, and who makes the
clouds to be the dust of his feet. May some such thoughts
as these help you to encourage yourself in Jehovah. as David
did. Dear people, it's an ancient
story, but it's a real story that had real grief and real
pain and real distress, but it marks out the real path that
you're to walk in the fellowship of David's greater son, even
the Lord Jesus. He went through the path of suffering
to glory, but he brought you in his train and brought me God's
purpose for all of his own is marked out by the pattern of
his Son suffering and glory to follow and frankly I've been
a bit disappointed with some who thought they even had to
think is it worth the fracturing of a few friendships to remain
loyal to Christ? what in the world would you do
if you were thrown in a hot box and beaten and starved for days
The history of my life has been the fracturing and the betrayal
of friends. I hadn't been converted three
months when the father who prayed me into the kingdom turned against
me. And at age 17, kneeling by my
bed saying, Oh God, can I bear to have my own father against
me? And my dear mother came in and
knelt to me and said, Son, don't turn back. Thankfully it wasn't
long before my father's heart was turned to me again. But it was no choice. Christ
died for me, not my father. Christ rose for me, not my father. Christ will judge me, not my
father. And all the buddies I played football
with turned against me and mocked me. And broke their friendship
with me except one. Because I would listen to their
dirty jokes, and I witnessed to them. Do you think I twice
thought, is it worth it, when I could go for the first time
in my life and open my Bible and hold communion with the Son
of God? What's Mike Potenza? And who's Rinaldi? And who's
Donnie Goins? Who are they? When the Lord of
the Universe holds communion with me, a sinner saved by grace. I will give you the rest of the
litany, but it's not preacher's rhetoric, dear folk. The history
of my life has been the history of broken friendships and betrayal
in the path of obedience to Christ. But none of them died for me,
and none of them will answer for me in the last day. May I
use the current term, get real fellow brother or sister, get
real. You claim to be saved by the
blood of incarnate deity. Are you even tempted to weigh
a few human relationships? God have mercy on us. God have
mercy on us. If we do not strengthen ourselves
in the Lord our God. Is the pain real? Yes, David's
pain was real. He with his men wept real tears. Is my pain real? With the allegations
that float around about my character and that of my wife, it is real. Deeper than I've ever known in
my 64 years. But not real enough to turn away
from my God. or turn away from my post of
duty, or turn away from the confidence, all now mysterious, shall be
bright at last. It shall be. It shall be. Strengthen yourself in Jehovah
your God. If you have time this afternoon,
study 1 Samuel 23. We're going to look at what Jonathan
did to David. He strengthened David's hand
in the Lord. We're going to look at the horizontal
expression of this spiritual discipline tonight. God willing,
may the Lord help us to do what David did. No one can do it for
you. You can't say, Lord, do it. No, David did it. David strengthened
himself. You've got to do. What you say
to do means I've got to get out of the paralysis of pity and
self-absorption. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. You may find Mrs. Luther coming
into your room today. Did you hear what she did one
occasion, Katie, Luther did? Luther was in the pits. He'd
forgotten his own hymn, Almighty Fortress is Our God. Though this
world with devils filled should threaten to end it, he forgot
that. And poor Katie couldn't get him out of the doldrums.
So you know what she did? She put on her black mourning
dress. And she put on her black hat,
like she was going to a funeral. She put on her saddest face.
And she came into Martin Luther's room. And he said, Katie, Katie,
who's died? She said, haven't you heard the
tragic news? No, no, who's died? Haven't you
heard? And Martin Luther said, no, dear, who is it? She said,
God has died. Luther reared back, and Luther,
like, said, God died? Never! He is the living God!
And she said, yes, Martin, he is the living God, and if he
is, you ought to stop acting the way you are. If the preacher shows up at your
home in his black suit today, you'll understand the parable.
God lives, dear people. Strengthen yourself in the Lord,
your God. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that
you are the living God. You are not the great I was and
the great I shall be, but the great I am. We thank you that
all that you've ever been in your livingness you are in this
hour, and all that you are is ours in Christ. that you have
come to us in the way of covenant mercy and covenant pardon, covenant
engagements to be our God. You have sealed those engagements
in the blood of your Son. Oh, forgive us for our groveling
unbelief. Forgive us for our unbelieving
dejection. Oh, Father, Amidst the pain and
the grief of these days, may we be a company of Davids, who
by your grace strengthen ourselves in you, our God, and then go
forth to seek you as we've never sought you before. And from seeking
you, go forth to do your revealed will in the power of the Spirit
and in the expectation of faith. Seal your word to our hearts.
O God, make those who know you not jealous to have such a God
as their God, and draw them to yourself, we pray.

Duty and Privilege in Times of Great Distress 1

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's presence in distress?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to strengthen themselves in God?

What does Psalm 23 teach about God's comfort?

Why does God involve history and biography in the Bible?

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About Albert N. Martin

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Duty and Privilege in Times of Great Distress 1

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about God's presence in distress?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why is it important for Christians to strengthen themselves in God?

What does Psalm 23 teach about God's comfort?

Why does God involve history and biography in the Bible?

Sermon Transcript

About Albert N. Martin

Comments

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