In verse 10, he testifies, my
life is spent with grief, my years with sighing, sorrows,
suffering, trouble, anguish of soul. Grief has been my life. Much of the grief in David's
life was due to God's appointments for his life. That's important
to understand. It was God's appointing. He did
nothing more than anybody else to deserve it. But it was God's
eternal purpose to mold him, to make him, to mature him, to
be all that God had ordained him to be. That grief and sorrow
and suffering was unavoidable. But some of the grief in David's
life came because of his own sin and transgressions. And it's important to hold that
distinction between the two causes of grief in this life. It's easy for people to get in
one ditch or the other. Some have gone so far as to charge
all their grief to God and take personal responsibility for nothing.
They say, well, God could have prevented it. He could have stopped
me. I heard a drunk man one time
said, well, you know, if God didn't want me to be drunk, I
wouldn't be drunk. Well, that's not so. That's not so. But to
put all the responsibility on God and to take none, God could
have prevented it. He could have stopped me from
doing that foolish thing I did. He could have spared me this
grief, but he didn't stop me. So it's his fault. That's very
sick thinking, wrong thinking. Others do not attribute any grief
to God's purpose and predestined design for our lives and charge
themselves with all the grief in their life. And that's been
preached to many that if you're not wealthy, it's your fault.
If you're not healthy, it's your fault. But know some things are
appointed to us, sent by God, and that is unavoidable. Other
grief is avoidable by greater measure of diligence and obedience
to the Lord. So it's important to hold that
distinction. I want you to notice here in
verse 10, David does not blame God. He continues in verse 10,
My strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are
consumed. It's not what God has done that's
killing me, it's what I've done. Mine iniquity. This is a great
confession. He's not blaming the Lord or
anybody else. Now, most of us like to say,
well, if such and such hadn't happened. If this hadn't happened or that.
If he hadn't done this or if she hadn't done that, I wouldn't
be in this shape. Well, David's not doing that.
He says it's my iniquity that's been my downfall. I've been a
reproach. I've been forgotten. Verse 12,
as a dead man out of mind. I'm like a broken vessel. Verse 13, I've been slandered
of many. And many have taken counsel together
to kill me. And verse 14, but I trusted in
thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. The reason they hadn't been able
to kill me, and this is our text, verse 15, my times are in Thy
hand. Those six words. When days are dark, when clouds
are hanging low, when things are not going good, on the job,
in the home, at the school, with the health, with the finances,
with the friends, with the boyfriend, with the girlfriend. When things
are not going good, clouds are heavy, tomorrow seems uncertain,
there is nothing so comforting to a believer as the blessed
truth of God's control and God's sovereignty over everything. In spite of what I can see, in
spite of what I can feel, in spite of what I can understand,
to be able to believe God and say, my times are in thy hand,
that's a great thing. a great thing. John Calvin wrote
about this statement, David uses the plural times with an S on
the end. David uses the plural times to
mark the great variety of trials and circumstances through which
we must pass. As David thinks back of all the
things in his life that could have taken him out
of this world. He is able yet to say, it is the Lord that's
brought me this far. And if I live to see another
day, it'll be his doing and nobody else's. My times are in thy hand. Now, I want to say to you, young
folks, your life will not be exactly like anyone else's. At East High, at Hendersonville
High, at North, at West, at Blue Ridge High, where I graduated
from, over a thousand students, Luke, there's nobody there like
you. Your life will not be what? anybody else's is. Not at all. Now, that doesn't
mean that any of you have a right, and I'm talking to all of us
now, that doesn't mean that any of us have a right to throw godly
principles out the window and say, well, I'm not like anybody
else, and do as you please. That don't mean that at all.
But it does mean that you do not have to live your life to
please people. You live to honor God. A young man named Joseph in the
book of Genesis, most of you know the story. His circumstances
went haywire. His life did not develop the
way he planned. But he was a teenager like you.
He was 17 years old, Genesis 37.1, 17 years old to be exact, and his
own brothers sold him, sold him. He was carried away to a foreign
land, to Egypt. He was made a slave. He was mistreated. He was abused. He was falsely
accused. He was thrown in prison. His
life just kept going down, down, down. And all the time he was trying
to honor God, in spite of circumstances. And all this happened over a
space of 13 years, 13 long years. He was 30 years old, the Bible
says, when God finally exalted him to be the governor of Egypt. Now we have no difficulty dwelling
on the 13 years of misery in Joseph's life, but we don't consider
after those 13 years. He lived another 80 years as
a ruler, as a leader. He died at age 110. So from age 30 to 110, 80 years,
he was a great ruler, loved and honored by God and men. It took the 13 years of misery
to prepare him for the 80 years of greatness. It took it. 13 years was a long time to suffer. Some of you young folks think
13 minutes is a long time to suffer. 13 years is a long time
to suffer. But it wasn't because God had
forgotten him. It wasn't because God didn't
love him. It wasn't because God had lost control. It was because
God was in control. and was preparing him for greatness. And so I promise you this morning,
young folks, you stay with God through hard times, through difficult
times, through tempting times, through trying times, and he'll
see to it that the honor and the glory will outweigh the suffering
somewhere down the road. Now David has said to the Lord,
my times are in thy hand. He has said, Lord, you're in
the driver's seat. That would be a good little statement
for you young folks to get ahold of. Write down somewhere. You're always writing on stuff,
but most of all, write it in your mind and in your heart.
and say it to yourself every day out loud, Lord, you're in
the driver's seat. That's important. That's important. Now, these words David speaks,
my times are in thy hand. They're coming from the lips
of a man who as a lad, just a boy, had come face to face with a
lion. And as a lad had come, had a
bear to charge out at him. And the Lord enabled him to slay
both the lion and the bear. As just a teenage boy, he had
single-handedly faced the Philistine giant, Goliath, and God delivered
him again. Later, David was pursued by Saul
the king. who threw his javelin at him
in the palace. And David fled into the wilderness
for his life. And Saul took men, trained men,
soldiers, and hunted for David, like you'd hunt a wild animal,
and sought to kill him. David remembers, and he tells
us about it in the Psalms, some that he had befriended and protected
them and their families, only to be betrayed by them. And they
furnished David's enemies information on where they might find him
and kill him. But the Lord always turned the
tables. And David survived every battle. And after he becomes king, David
actually challenged God and God's law in his personal life. in
committing adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of his friend
and faithful servant, Uriah. In the Old Testament, there was
no sacrifice for these crimes. Under the law, the penalty was
death, and yet David lived. David lived. Can I say to us
that we've all done a lot of things worthy of death, but we've
lived. We've lived. So with David, wild
beasts never killed him. Men never killed him. Even Saul
the king never killed him. And even God never killed him.
So as he reminisces, meditates, he concludes and testifies to
the Lord, there's only one reason I'm still here. My times. are in thy hand. Nobody else
can take me out of this world in their time, only God in His
time. That's blessed. You need to go
read Psalm 148. We'll not do it now, but God
makes all His angels and all His hosts to praise Him. Psalm 148. The sun, the moon,
the stars, the waters praise Him. the fire, the hail, the
snow, the fog, the stormy wind, all fulfill his word. Mountains,
hills, trees, beasts, and all cattle, creeping things, flying
fowls, kings of the earth, all people, princes and judges, young
men and maidens, old men and children, all glorify God. God will have His glory and praise
in all things and in all creatures. And a lot of them don't know
they're doing it. I believe the animal kingdom does. I just believe it's fallen humanity
that don't know God's going to get glory whether you go to heaven
or hell. God's going to get glory whether
you live like heaven or hell. You're not going to outdo God.
You're not going to defeat Him. And whether we like it or not,
whether it looks like it or not, God is still running this thing.
He sure is. He brings every creature to act
in a way that brings Him glory. We find many instances of this
in the scriptures, in the animal kingdom, even wild beasts. acting
contrary to their nature in all their fierceness to carry out
God's purpose. You remember the Babylonian Empire
near the palace of King Nebuchadnezzar was kept a den of lions. And it was convenient and it was very effectual as
a means of capital punishment. It was very effectual. Nobody survived it until Daniel
chapter 6. They threw Daniel in and the
Bible says that God shut the lion's mouths. He stayed all night and was unharmed. Now, that literally happened.
Now, probably no one listened to my voice this morning, possibly,
but probably not, has ever come face to face with a lion in the
wild. Well, God could shut its mouth
if He did. But the principle is here. God has done just as great a
thing, just as miraculous a thing for you as shutting a lion's
mouth. Think about Jonah. Whoever heard tell of a great
fish, the Bible says a prepared fish, swallowing a man in the
middle of the ocean and swimming to God's destination for that
man and vomiting him up on the beach right where he's supposed
to be. What about that? God does this. God also works in the wild beast
in a negative sense. In 2 Kings 2, some of you may
have never read this. You young folks need to read
it. You parents even need to read
it to the little ones. The Bible says there were some
children that were mocking and making fun of the prophet of
God, Elisha. And the Lord calls, not the devil,
but the Lord calls two she-bears to come out of the woods and
maul 42 children. You say, what kind of God is
that? He's the God of this Bible that honors His servants, honors
His Word, honors His people. He's God. You don't have to fear
anybody but him. He'll take care of the rest.
Coming to the New Testament, one other thing about the animal
kingdom, I had this jotted down. I was awake about all night.
I didn't get any sleep, but I feel really good. I feel really good. Now coming to the New Testament,
the tax collectors came to Peter and said, hey, don't your master
pay taxes? This is Matthew 17. Well, when
Peter got back to the Lord, he never even got to tell the Lord
about it. The Lord already knew. He already knew it. Christ knew it. He said, Peter,
go down to the sea, cast a hook, and the first fish you catch,
look in its mouth, and you'll find money. He didn't say you go fish until
you catch one. that's got money in his mouth.
You just keep on catching them. Keep checking. No, no. He said the first one you catch
will have money in his mouth. Don't ask me how the money got
in the sea. Don't ask me how that particular fish picked it
up and managed to be the first one Peter caught. But it all
happened. And Jesus said to him, then take
the money out of the fish's mouth and go pay our taxes. You talk
about sovereignty. I'm talking about God is God. And then I'm supposed to bite
my tongue and keep quiet in the face of a religious generation
that's got God about to file bankruptcy and don't have enough
power to save a flea because people won't cooperate? I don't
think so. I don't think so. He can melt
the hardest heart and has many times over. I'm too one-sided,
I've been told. I'm supposed to give men a little
more credit and give God a little less. Well, I want to say to
us, because of the sin nature that's in us, you and I are not
capable of conceiving our God to be as big as He is. And because of a sin nature in
us, we're not capable of conceiving ourselves to be the insignificant
speck of dust we are without Him. So I don't really have to
worry about overstating it. But in God's hand is all His
provision, and He dispenses it as He wills to whom He wills. You see, he's never been a spectator
like we are and hopes such and such will happen. No, he causes
things to happen. Nothing is accidental with God.
There is no such thing as luck. If you're a gambler today, you
depend on luck. If you buy those lottery tickets,
Instead of putting it in the offering plate, you're playing
luck. Can I tell you a little secret?
Luck don't exist. God exists. Proverbs 16, 33, the lot is cast. Now, lots in the Old Testament
was something similar to throwing dice, a game of chance. The lot is cast, the dice are
thrown. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. You mean God controls
the gambler's game? Absolutely. How much more? Does He control
every little detail in our lives from the time of our conception
until we take our last breath? Paul preached this over in Acts
17, 26, that God hath determined the times before appointed and
the bounds of their habitation. God is in control of all things
at all times and in all places. If God has put you in possession
of wealth, or if He's put you in poverty, don't argue with
God. Deuteronomy 8.18, it is God that
giveth thee power to get wealth. You say, oh, I worked for everything
I got. Hey, plenty of people worked harder than you and ain't
got nothing. It is God that giveth thee power
to get wealth. Job 121, he said, The Lord giveth,
and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And the same is true with our
health. If we're given to enjoy good health, we ought to thank
God for it. Or, if it be our lot to waste
away with some disease, First Samuel 2 and 6, the Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. We're talking about who God is.
Now that won't fly on the religious channel. They tell you you're
supposed to send in a little moolah and be healed. Uh-uh. I'm reading to you out of God's
book. The Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the
grave And bring it up. If God wants to heal you, He'll
do it without you sending your paycheck to some false prophet.
I promise you. Amos chapter 3 and verse 6. There's
no good or evil in the city, but the Lord is the doer of it. Jesus said a sparrow cannot fall
but by God's appointment. The very hairs of our head are
numbered. God knows. And these things are so, not
only in life, but also in death. My times are in thy hand. Suicide is increased drastically
in recent years, especially among young folks. And I want to say
to you young folks, each one of you have known someone or
knows someone now or will know someone who gets so depressed
and feels that life is not worth living and will take their own life. Well, what about suicide? What
does the Bible say? I'll tell you what, if God permits,
the devil will drive every one of us to it. You say I'm bigger than that.
You're not. I'm better than that. You're not. I'm stronger than
that. You're not. I'm more spiritual
than that. You're not. If God permit, the
devil would drive every last one of us to it. I've been asked many times, do
you believe a child of God can commit suicide? I believe thousands
of them have. I believe Samson did. He knew that it was going to
kill him. God gave him the strength to
do it. But it was Samson's time, and it was God's way. If it hadn't been, that Colosseum
would have collapsed and killed everybody there except Samson,
and he would have walked away without a scratch if it had not
been God's time. But it was. Now, that don't mean
that it's right for you to even consider it. Let alone entertain
the thought. It fuels satanic influence in
your mind to dwell on these things. Like nobody cares about me. Nobody
loves me. My life is useless. I may as
well be dead. That is wrong. That is rebellion
against God who put you here and has kept you here all your
life to this present moment. You're listening to the wrong
signal. That's why I stress constantly, you need to be in God's Word. He will teach you His principle,
His grace, His mercy, His love. He makes no mistakes. You're
not here for no reason. Maybe it is a difficult time
in your life. But just because it's not God's
time for a change in your life, don't think He's forgotten you.
Don't think He don't care. Don't think He has no purpose
for you. Don't think He has no place for
you. He does. He does. What has not been made clear
in this day and time and needs to be made clear is this. You never have been on your own
to decide anything. Now, a lot of people don't believe
that. The free will crowd don't believe that. But I want to tell
you right now, this Bible teaches that you're either living and
walking in the pursuit of, and persuasion of, and leadership
of the Holy Spirit of God, or else you're in the snare of Satan.
You're not on your own. Never have been. You don't think
by yourself. The little epistle of James said
there's two kinds of wisdom. One's from heaven, the other
one's from hell, and you're walking in one of the two all the time. And if you do not walk in the
light God has given and cry out to Him for grace and guidance,
the wisdom of hell will do you in. But I'm so glad again, the devil
can only do what God lets him do. God has the first word and
God has the last word. I rejoice in that. Listen to
these scriptures. See, the Bible will tell the
story. Job 7.1, is there not an appointed time to man upon
earth? Yes. Job 14.5, seeing his days
are determined, the number of his months are with thee. Thou
hast appointed his bounds. that He cannot pass. You can't
live one breath longer than God wants you to live. Psalm 66,
9, He holdeth our soul in life. Psalm 104, 29, Thou takest away
their breath, they die and return to their dust. He takes away
the breath. So being young and healthy is
no security against death. Job 21, verses 23 and 25, listen
to it. Verse 23, one dieth in his full
strength, being holy at ease and quiet. That is, he wasn't
even sick. He's strong and healthy, but
he dies. Verse 25 says, another dieth
in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
He's sick and can't even eat. He dies too. They shall lie down
alike in the dust. The man that was sick and the
man that wasn't. Both kinds die. They both died. And in that scripture there,
the healthy one died first, by the way. These things were in God's hand.
You need to have it settled in your mind and heart about it,
lest you be found to complain against God. Death comes in God's
time. The prophet Amos described it,
and I don't want you to miss this one. This is Amos 5.19. He said, now when God's time
comes, here's how it is. He said, as if a man flee from
a lion and a bear meet him. Now that
would be some fix, wouldn't it? Or he went into the house and
leaned up against the wall and a poisonous serpent bit him.
What Amos is saying, you can run but you can't hide. If it's your time, you're going. You remember the story in Luke
12. There was a man God had blessed with more goods and more wealth
than he could possibly use. And he said, oh boy, I've got
it made. I've got much goods laid up for
many years. I'm just going to lay back, take
my ease, eat, drink, and be married. Be married? God said you've forgotten
one thing. And he called him a fool. Thou
fool. Tonight's your night. This night
shall thy soul be required of thee. Then whose shall those
things be that you think are yours? Paul said, Acts 17, 28,
it's in God that we live and move and have our being. Remember in the Gospels when
the Lord Jesus walked this earth, men wanted to capture Him. And
they couldn't. He'd walk right through the midst
of them. He passing through the midst of them, the scripture
says. They wanted to kill him, but they couldn't do it in their
time. Every time John seven, John eight, every time the Bible
says his hour was not yet come. It was an hour appointed before
he created the world. But then in John 17, 1, Christ
himself said, Father, the hour has come. There was a pointed hour for
Christ to die. And it's not just so with him.
It's so with you. It's so with me. And this is
what David is saying. My times are in thy hand. The Apostle Paul said it like
this in 2 Corinthians 11. He was talking about his life
and his experience. And you talk about a record.
He said, I was in labors more abundant than all, in stripes
above measure, I was beaten and beaten and beaten, in prisons
more frequent than any, in deaths often, Of the Jews, five times
I received the legal 39 stripes, 40 save one. Three times was
I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned and left for
dead. The only reason they stopped
throwing rocks is they thought he was dead. Three times I suffered shipwreck. And one of those times, a night
and a day in the deep, 24 hours before I was rescued. In journeyings often, in perils
of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen,
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils
in the wilderness, perils among false brethren, in weariness
and pain, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness. Paul is saying,
my life hadn't been a picnic. But Paul had learned like David,
they can't kill me till God says so. My times are in thy hand. Let me hurry. Zechariah 2.5,
the Lord says, I will be a wall of fire round about. Matthew
18, 14, Not one of my little ones shall perish. Isaiah 54,
17, No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper any
further than God permits it to prosper. Psalm 91, 5-7, Thou
shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the error that
flyeth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor
for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. You don't have to
be afraid of nothing. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee. If you fear God, you don't have
to fear anybody else. If you don't fear God, you better
fear everybody else. And on and on we could go with
the Scriptures. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. So let me say to you today, it's
not a question that you've earned another day. It's not a question
that you earned another year. None of us have. Don't take it
for granted that God's going to put up with you another week.
Don't take it for granted he's going to put up with you another
day. There is an appointed time, and
we ought to live in the consciousness of it as David did, as Paul did,
as others did. And we ought to converse often
with the Lord about it, that my times are in thy hand. He can be trusted. He's to be
praised. He holds us in the palm of His
hands. So let me challenge you, young folks, I urge you In the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, say no to the wisdom of hell,
and you know what it is. And say yes to the Word of God,
and live every day in the light of it. Live every day like it's
your last day, and it could be. People say, boy, if I knew this
was my last day on earth, I'd really try to do right. Hey,
you know it's not. It is so blessed to get to the
age in life that you have to slow down a little bit. And most
of us are there. And you start to realize, you start to think. I've never
slowed down enough to think. Can you believe that? But God
slows you down. and you come to realize God never
has done me wrong. You young folks need to get it
now and say it every day of your
life, God never has done me wrong. Look in the mirror and say it,
God never has done me wrong. I can be, I will be what He wants
me to be. I'm going to believe His Word.
I'm going to trust His promises. I'm going to rest in His love
for me. I'm going to accomplish some things in my life for His
glory. I'll not be discouraged. I'll
not be defeated by what anybody thinks about me, says about me,
or does to me. I belong to Him. I'll trust Him.
until his appointed time for me to die. I'll say with the
psalmist David, my times are in thy hand. My times of pleasure,
my times of pain. My times of success, my times
of defeat. My time to live and my time to
die. All my times are in thy hand. May the Lord bless you.