David's Cry In The Wilderness

well good morning good um yeah I probably have said this before um this all goes a lot better if you talk to me okay otherwise I don't know whether you're getting it or not so I just keep preaching and we might be here all afternoon so you can talk back to me all right there we go uh that yes sir makes me feel really old how you guys doing this morning great good you know every time uh I don't know they say this in Indiana but in North Carolina I'll ask somebody how you doing and they'll say oh I'm living the dream uh and about half of the time I think they mean that sort of tongue-in-cheek they aren't really living the dream they're not really uh experiencing all they had ever hoped for but it's just a a way to respond to that but I wonder this morning sitting in the room if I could ask you this are you are you living the dream is is this really everything you thought it would be are you where you thought you would be has life turned out like you expected and the honest question the honest answer to that question for most of us is no not really this is not really what I thought it would be somehow I thought life would be a little easier uh something somehow I thought things would go a little smoother I expected some things to come a little more quickly the reality of it is life has a way of bringing to us a certain level of disappointment and hardship and and difficulty I can tell you uh that I am 64.

with two teenage boys they are 14 and 15. and Parenting teenagers is more like a nightmare than it is a dream it's not at all what I expected I I don't I don't know that I really thought it was going to be what it is but there's so many other things that are are not quite what I expected them to be and and life has a way of bringing difficulty and hardship to us that often we weren't looking for or expecting and the question is as the people of God how do we navigate that how do we walk through hardship and pain and difficulty some of it very personal some some very much related to us and then just the larger context of the world we live in like I I never in my life expected that one day we'd get to a place where on a regular basis I'd turn on the television and there'd be another mass shooting somewhere I wasn't prepared for that I didn't know that was coming there's so many other things but the question is as the people of God how do we walk through life experiencing hardship and pain and difficulty and still have a measure of what we're saying about this morning confidence in the goodness of God hope for the future joy in our relationship to Jesus how do we do that well I'm going to tell you that I think primarily that comes to us because as Christians we're supposed to live our lives more in response to the character of God than in reaction to our circumstances as the people of God called loved cherished belonging to him We're supposed to live our lives more in response to the character of God unless in reaction to our circumstances but how do you do that well that's what we want to do this morning we want to look at Psalm 63 a song penned by King David a song that tells us gives us clues about how to do that you know what I love to hear the people of God read the word of God so I'm going to ask you to stand with me we're going to put it on the screen right here and we're going to read it together we're going to read this song together now listen to me if you're going to read the word of God I want you to read it with gusto I want you to read it with expression I don't want you to read it like it's boring it's not boring It's a grand and glorious thing that we have so you ready okay I'm gonna critique you as we go if you don't do it right I'm gonna stop you all right let's read it together all right oh God you are my God earnestly I Seek You my soul thirsts for you my body Longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and Glory because your love is better than life my lips will glorify you I will praise you as long as I live and in your name I will lift up my hands my soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods with singing Lips my mouth will praise you on my bed I remember you I think of you through the watches of the night because you are my help I sing in the shadow of your wings my soul clings to you your right hand upholds me they who seek my life will be destroyed they will go down to the depths of the Earth all right you can be seated on the surface right as you read that Psalm it doesn't sound that bad I mean it's filled with joy and gladness and praise and a commitment to sing about the goodness of God honestly until you get to the last couple of verses it doesn't seem like David's situation is all that bad but the description of the psalm tells us that David is in a tough spot just below Psalm 63 in your Bible it very likely will say this a Psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judah the background of this Psalm sounds like the script from a soap opera do you all even know what soap operas are think raunchy talk show here's how it goes David has a son named amnon Who falls in love or should we say probably lust with his stepsister Tamar his obsession only grows until he devises a plan to shall we say take advantage of her he fakes being sick asks his dad King David to let her come make him some chicken soup when she comes over he said he sends all the servants out and he makes his move she protests and he rapes her then decides that he hates her and sends her away when his brother when her brother Absalom finds out what's happened he starts planning his revenge for two years Absalom plans what he's going to do and eventually he kills amnon then Absalom flees and King David Grieves because in essence he's lost two sons but he never holds Absalom accountable and a few years later Absalom returns but David just sort of sweeps the past transgression under the rug again no accountability and meanwhile Absalom who's very good looking and Winsome sets out to build a following eventually he mounts a coup and ousts his dad so David flees and heads for the desert with Absalom in Pursuit plotting to kill him in fact the end of the psalm tells us that David is being threatened and lied about all right I told you it was messed up right by the way how does that make you feel about your family drama clearly David is not in a place of abundance David is not experiencing the Fulfillment of all of his dreams this is not what David had in mind when he responded to the call of God to be the king of the children of Israel but rather David is feeling the poverty of his circumstance but here's what struck me as I worked my way through this psalm I noticed how very little David had to say about his circumstance the prevailing focus of the psalm is the character and the sufficiency of God himself and that right there my friends tells us what we need to know what do you do when life is dark and hard you respond when you are in the wilderness when you're disappointed and bewildered here it is you worship your way to satisfaction you worship your way to satisfaction that's what David did he didn't highlight his heartache he didn't recount his trouble and bemoan his disappointment he set his heart and his mind on God he worshiped his way into the abundance of God he feasted on God when he was famished by life we're going to walk back through this Psalm and I want to highlight for you five things that David knew about God that enabled him to Worship in the wilderness and I think these are five things that you and I can know and cling to and find ourselves worshiping in the wilderness of Life all right let's look at it together the first is this David knew that God was his greatest treasure David knew that God was his greatest treasure look at verses one and two he said oh oh God you're my God earnestly I Seek You my soul thirsts for you my body Longs for you in a dry and parched land where there's no water I've seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory listen David had enjoyed great success and prosperity he had been in the place of highest Authority and great responsibility he had experienced immense blessing and pleasure but he did not set his heart on those things David's longing was for God he said earnestly I Seek You my soul thirsts for you my body Longs for you in another season of hardship and difficulty David would say in Psalm 27 4 one thing I ask of the Lord this is what I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his Temple David had an unquenchable thirst he had an insatiable appetite for God he had tasted and seen that the Lord was good and he wanted more of God David had spent time with God communing with him learning to know and Delight in him and that experience of God fanned into flame a desire for more of God more than David loved the idea of pleasant circumstances he loved and longed for God y'all I say that and that convicts my own heart I want Pleasant I want easy I want comfortable I want prosperous and yet here is David in the season of hardship saying I'd rather have God I'm longing for God I'm looking for God I'm chasing after God listen for some of you this morning the problem is that you just don't know God that way because you don't prioritize time spent with him John Piper says this I love it you can't savor what you don't see you can't cherish and desire and love and enjoy and treasure what you're not aware of he goes on to say we can't daily be satisfied in the depths of our soul in Christ if we don't see and Savor him and Piper says that can only happen by a steady meditation on the word of God in the Bible listen to me this morning do you want to stir up your longing for God then you've got to get to know him by spending time with him in the word but I need to be honest with you today because some of you aren't hungry for God you don't run to him for satisfaction because you're still trying to satisfy yourself with other things you don't have an appetite for God because you're feasting on so many other things I've got uh these two teenage boys and uh you know the favorite thing to do for a teenage boy do you know what that is eat uh I I pick my boys up in the afternoon and take them home my wife's a school teacher she has to stay a little bit longer so I I pick them up and take them home and I finished my work day from the house but the first place my children go my boys go when they get home is straight to the pantry I mean they drop everything and walk to the pantry and my oldest one um he's six one 190 pounds and uh he's got a pretty hefty appetite and he will always eat this younger brother is 5 10 he's about 130 pounds and I regularly have to tell him son not so many snacks I don't know if y'all say this in Indiana in North Carolina we say don't don't eat all those snacks cause you're gonna ruin your dinner do y'all say that ruin your dinner I don't know where that came from I don't know how you ruin your dinner but I heard it growing up you're gonna ruin your dinner you're gonna ruin your dinner what am I trying to tell my son I'm trying to tell him if if you eat Cheetos and Cheez-Its and crackers and chips and junk you're not going to really be hungry for the things that will sustain and strengthen and really give life and nourishment to your body I want you to look at me this morning some of you are so full with the junk of the world that you have no space no capacity no hunger for God you're not really full of the things that bring life and nourishment to you you're just full but for some of you what you're chasing after is straight up sin and sin will kill your appetite for God but for some of you the thing your heart is set on is not in itself a bad thing but it but it is something that has taken the place of your hunger and thirst after God because you've begun to believe that this thing will complete you will give you life will bring you Joy and that thing has become an idol to you Jeremiah 2 13 says this my people have committed two sins they have forsaken me the spring of Living Water and have dug their own cisterns broken cisterns that cannot hold water listen to me anything other than God will not satisfy you nothing else lasts none of it endures I I did not get married until I was 47.

and I spent a lot of time thinking about the joy and fulfillment that would come from being married and I love my wife and marriage is a great thing but I need to tell you if you don't know this already marriage will not sustain and satisfy you my wife's love for me is not enough because her love for me is imperfect and it is temporary only the love of God for us is eternal only the love of God for us is essential and you and I in seasons of lack need to remember that what we're really longing for what we really need what our souls thirst and hunger for is God himself because more than we need what God can do we need who God is so the first thing we need to know that David knew is that God is our greatest treasure the second thing he knew was this David knew that God was full of steadfast love God was abounding in steadfast love look at verses three and four because your love is better than life he said my lips will glorify you I will praise you as long as I live and in your name I will lift up my hands all right that phrase your love is better than life what what does that mean what does David mean when he says that I think what David is saying is this to be loved by God is better than the best things life has to offer God's love is better than the best things life has to offer in seasons of great in a season of great loss listen David had lost the palace he had lost the Finer Things of life that he enjoyed as king he had lost his security he had lost one son to death and another but to betrayal David had lost his position of authority and power and influence and in that season of betrayal and loss in the middle of all of that he didn't plead for those things to be restored that David said he declared that to be loved by God was better than all the things he had lost the very best that you can dream of in life doesn't even compare to the sweetness of the love of God for you but our problem is this we think a lot about the best this life has to offer and we imagine how satisfying we think that would be but we spend little time contemplating the greatness of God's love for us can I ask you this morning what are you dreaming about are you imagining what what are you believing today would bring you satisfaction and joy and fulfillment and pleasure do you know the great love that God has lavished on you should be called a son or a daughter of God if we're going to walk through life Faithfully through seasons of struggle and pain particularly listen particularly when we're deprived of the best things of life then we're going to have to be convinced that being loved by God makes up for the lack let me ask you this do you struggle this morning to believe that God loves you do you struggle with that my am I the only person in the room who has asked that question who's looked at myself and that's does he really love me can he really love me why why do we ask that question is is it because of our current circumstance is because of something in the past listen to me your circumstances are not the measure of God's love for you I thought about this just recently as I was walking through this and preparing this sermon and this was profound for me if that were the case if God's love for us was measured by our circumstance then Jesus could have concluded at several different points in his life that God did not love him I'll say that again if the measure of God's love for us was our circumstance then Jesus himself could have concluded at several different points in his life that God did not love him Jesus confidence and God's love for him was not wrecked because he was poor it was not devastated because he didn't have a place the scripture says to lay his head he didn't lose his confidence in God's love because he was single or he missed out on having kids it wasn't destroyed because he was lied about and falsely accused or because he was rejected by others and Abandoned and betrayed by his friends he was not devastated in his confidence in the Father's love for him because he was crucified until the very end he was confident in the Father's love for him his last words Jesus last words from the crossword father father into your hands I commit my spirit he had confidence in God's love for him and you know what you and I can have the same confidence Romans 5 8.

but God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us no I love that verse you shouldn't memorize that verse if you haven't already you know what I love about it it's not past tense look at it but God say that word say that word that third word but God demonstrates you know what it doesn't say it doesn't say God demonstrated it's not past tense God's current today 9 45 on Sunday morning demonstration of his love for you is this while you were still a sinner Christ died for you that's powerful that's powerful you and I need to arm ourselves with the truth of the word of God that tells us he loves us in order to combat the lies of the enemy otherwise all you have when you come up to that confrontation is your own thoughts and feelings and opinions and I can just tell you from personal experience those those don't work very well in trying to do battle with the Enemy listen we've got to learn to know and believe and celebrate God's great great love for us so that in seasons of want and difficulty and hardship and disappointment and pain we don't believe the lie that he's not a god of love so David knew that God was his greatest treasure he knew that God was abounding in steadfast love the third thing he knew was this that God was good and he did good to his children look at verses 5 and 6.

David says my soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods with singing Lips my mouth will praise you on my bed I remember you I think of you through the watches of the night now let me remind you that when David pinned those words his situation had not changed there was no improvement in his circumstance but he was expecting his good God to do good to him nothing about his circumstance had improved yet he's anticipating satisfaction he said I'll be satisfied with the riches of the foods what's he say he's saying by faith I'm going to imagine myself being fully satisfied with Jesus he's anticipating satisfaction he's dreaming about the feast when he lies awake at night he is recalling and recounting the goodness and the glory of God he's not contemplating his trouble he's feeding Faith and Hope not nursing anxiety and fear okay that's a good word right there y'all because I often do this I nurse anxiety and fear I Stir It Up I mull it over when I what I should be doing is feeding Faith and Hope by reminding myself that God is a good god who does good to his children negative rumination will kill your faith negative rumination you know what negative illumination is negative rumination is imagining a future that is void of the presence and activity of God let me ask you this when you think about what's down the road do you think of it factoring in the work of God presence of God the power of God the goodness of God or do you imagine for yourself a future that completely dismisses the very real possibility that a good god might just act in your behalf y'all I got two teenage boys do you know how easy it is to go down that road to imagine what will happen to them what could happen to them my 15 year old said to me a couple months ago he said I think all your parenting is motivated by fear I was like okay what do you mean by that that's what he said he said I think you and Mom just have this worst case scenario in mind and you're just trying to keep that from happening and I was like well I'm very far from the truth be all this is what I said this is what I said back to him it's not fear son your mother and I know what the consequences of of some of the things that you want to do and wisdom would say you stay afar as far away from those as possible but listen y'all I got to be honest with you I can very easily fall into the Trap of thinking what will happen in the lives of my sons if God doesn't break in on them and sometimes I have a hard time Imagining the work of God in their lives but I need to be reminded that he's a good God who does good listen to me in Christ your future is secure God's made way too many promises to us for us to believe the lies of the enemy he's weighed and made way too many promises to us one of my our favorites at the Summit is Ephesians 3 20.

you all know this verse now to him who's able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all you could ask or imagine all right y'all you got to stop and think about you gotta you gotta learn to read scripture and think about what it says okay it says that God is able to do more than I can ask or imagine it doesn't it doesn't just mean that God has an ability to do more than I can imagine it also tells me that God has the ability to dream more than I can dream you see God can do more not just because he has power but because he's infinitely more creative than you are I don't know if you understand this or not but God has a better dream for your life than you do whatever you think the best thing that could happen to you is God can Trump that not just by putting an exponent out to the side and spending your dream out he can dream better for you sometimes by dreaming an entirely different dream for you He's Able he's a good God Genesis 50 20 Joseph would look at his brothers and he would say what you intended for evil God meant for good listen he's a good God and he takes even the most horrible and wretched circumstances of life and he works good I don't understand how that happens but I know it's true so David knew that God was his greatest treasure he knew that he was abounding in steadfast love he knew he was a good God who did good to his children and the fourth thing David knew was this he knew that God was always faithful he knew that God was always faithful look at verses 7 and 8.

because you're my help I sing in the shadow of your wings my soul clings to you your right hand upholds me I want you to look at this look at look at the verse right there because you're my help I sing in the shadow of your wings my soul clings to you your right hand upholds me all right look at it look at it the middle phrase the middle phrases I sing in the shadow of your wings my soul clings to you those are David's response but look at this they're bookended by the faithfulness of God what's on either side because you are my help your right hand upholds me David's response to God is motivated by his recollection of God's faithfulness to him he's singing about the help of God in the past he's clinging to the hand that had been holding on to him you're an essential part of your own discipleship has got to be recalling and remembering and repeating the faithfulness of God to you do you know that the scriptures regularly tell us that the reason the children of Israel departed from God were unfaithful to God pursued Idols the reason they did that over and over again the scripture says they forgot they forgot what God had done for them I'm just not for just a second to think about this all right you got a million people you come up to the edge of a body of water pursuing you is a vast Egyptian army with chariots and horses and Spears and javelins and whatever else they had and they're coming after you now the whole time there's been a cloud in front of you leading you and you get to this body of water and that cloud comes up over the top of you and positions itself in between you and the army so they can't get to you and then the sea in front of you splits wide open and you don't just walk through on mushy ground you walk through on dry ground and you get to the other side all a million of you get to the other side and the cloud that's been blocking the Egyptian Army lifts and they start into the sea and they get in the middle of the sea and all the water comes over and cracks how do you forget that how do you forget that I'm going to tell you the same way you forgot what God did for you last week or last year or five years ago and ten years ago listen to me forgetting is not passive see we think oh I just I just I forgot I forgot forgetting is the result of not actively remembering you see the way you repeat the way you remember the mighty works of God in the past is that you repeat them you say them to yourselves you tell them to each other you call it back up you remind one another of all the times and ways small and large Great and Mighty insignificant in the eyes of some you repeat what God has done for you y'all that's a an essential part of our worship we've got to come together and call out and sing about the faithfulness and goodness of God because seated somewhere close to you is somebody who doesn't believe that or is struggling with that and they need to hear you remind them that God is faithful that's why when you come in here y'all to sing really loud really loud you don't sing that loud you should sing loud not because people need to hear your singing voice but because they need to hear the truth get over yourself what you sound like doesn't matter the truth that you sing the encouragement that you bring the faith that you stir up in your own heart is what's essential and that's why you and I have to be engaged in worship I don't know if y'all uh seeing this listen we need to repeat this stuff because others need to hear it David may have been lacking and wanting and hurting but he didn't despair because he remembered the faithfulness of God I don't know if y'all seeing this uh I mentioned it uh it's a song we sing at home I'm going to sing in the middle of the storm louder and louder you're going to hear my Praises Roar Up From the Ashes hope will arrive arise death is defeated the king is alive y'all we need to sing that kind of stuff and say that kind of stuff to each other I don't care if people look at you like you're weird you'd be weird if you want to I'm gonna trust in the faithfulness of God y'all we got to repeat that for each other finally David knew that God was absolutely sovereign he knew that God was absolutely Sovereign look at verses 9 and 9 through 11.

here's what David said they who seek my life will be destroyed they will go down to the depths of the earth they will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals but the king will rejoice in God all who swear by God will praise him while the mouths of liars will be silenced David was confident that God's purpose and plans would not fail listen to what he's saying he said God will not be defeated those who are trying to destroy me will themselves be destroyed the praise of God will not cease but the Liars will be silenced honestly y'all I don't know if David was thinking short-term or long term I don't know if he thought this would be fulfilled in his lifetime or not you do understand that for the child of God the promises of God are both now and Future they are both for now and both for the future listen they're they're not all for right now but we won't see the whole fulfillment of those in our own lifetime I learned these verses years ago in a season of difficulty and hardship Psalm 33 10-11 the Lord fools the plans of the Nations he thwarts the purposes of the peoples but the plans of the Lord stand firm forever the purposes of his heart through all generations y'all I needed that because if God can thwart the plans of peoples and Nations he can certainly thwart the plans and purposes of this person and that person in this entity and that NC in this situation in that situation David trusted The Sovereign purposes of God and you and I have to learn to do the same while all the promises of God are yes and amen First Chronicles or second chronicles 1 20.

they're not all right now I'm gonna say that again they're all yes and amen God's going to fulfill everything he's promised not a single one of his promises will fail but they're not all right now you might have to wait you might have to wait for a year or five years or ten years you might have to wait until you're standing before him face to face in all of Glory but here's what I can tell you his faithfulness endures and his plans and his purposes and his promises won't ever fail David trusted those Sovereign promises listen Paul's going to say to First in First Corinthians if for this life we have hope in Christ if only for this life we have hope in Christ we are of all people to be most pitied listen if the best you can hope for is that God's going to give you your best life now then you should be greatly pitied because God has made promises for us for all of eternity just like David there is one who's seeking our destruction David had an enemy so do we the Bible says that he prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour but we can be confident because he will not succeed because Jesus has already won the victory and one day Satan himself will receive his final judgment and condemnation listen like David we can be confident that it's the Praises of God that will endure not the lies of the enemy here's what I know some of you this morning are experiencing real hardship significant loss deep pain unimaginable disappointment and heartache but here's what I want you to know the way out the way through is to lift up your eyes and look to the one who's your greatest treasure look to the one who's abounding in steadfast love who is eternally faithful who is always good and does good who is absolutely Sovereign over every circumstance of life and begin to set your heart on him and look to him and long for him because he's more than enough he's more than enough the best that you and I can imagine here doesn't even compare to what God has prepared for us and we got to learn to lift up our eyes and look at Jesus and worship in the wilderness I think that's what enabled Paul and Silas to sing in the prison I think that's why Paul would say to us so I say again Rejoice rejoice in all circumstances always Rejoice why because God is our greatest treasure because being loved by him is better than the best things of life because he's faithful and he's good and he's Sovereign and he can be trusted listen to me Church you're not going to believe that you're not going to believe that by staring at yourself and your circumstance you're going to believe that by looking at Jesus so this morning lift up your eyes lift up your eyes and learn to worship your way to satisfaction to Feast on your savior in the middle of the famines of life and believe that God is good and he's worthy of our trust can we pray together got to thank you today I thank you for your word God I'm so thankful that we have your word that it shows us what men and women that have gone before us who've experienced pain and heartache and disappointment and struggle and sickness and God they've experienced so much and yet they were able in those Seasons to to trust and believe and walk by faith because they had a vision of you and God I pray that you would open our eyes today to see what they saw to know you the way they know knew you so there will be faithful sons and daughters so that we won't be derailed by the difficulties of life but we would know and believe in the good good faithful love of our God who would send his only son to save us God we worship you today we give you thanks in Jesus name amen