♪♪♪ Dr. Charles Stanley: All of
us have gone through situations and circumstances in our life
that we didn't like. And oftentimes we became maybe
despondent, maybe even depressed, or feeling the
distress of the situation. And this is a world we live in,
and we can't change all the circumstances, and we--it's no
fun majoring on, that so what we have to do is decide: how am I
going to respond when I go through these difficult times? Now, I think most of us would
agree that if we have a close friend that we can share things
with, someone that would be honest with us, someone that
would be confidential, someone who would be an encourager. That, if we had that, that sort
of takes away a little of the pain. But then there are those
situations that you can't tell anybody about. There are distressful things
that happen to you personally or in your life that you would be
too embarrassed to tell somebody else. There are heartaches, there are
burdens, there are things that go on in the family. There are things that go on in a
person's finances and their relationships, in their plans,
you can't tell anybody else about. So how do you respond to these
distressing situations and you feel like I just can't tell
anybody? You can oftentimes see that in
somebody's face, if you're close to them or you watch them or you
work with them close by, you can tell when they're sort of down,
something's different. And if you say, "Well, can I
help you in some way?" they would say, "No, I'm fine." Well, you know they're not fine,
but at this point in their life, they don't feel free to share
that with anybody. What do you do in times like
that? Well, we've been talking about
how great an encourager God is. And also we've talked about how
we have the privilege of encouraging one another. All of us have been encouraged
by many people, probably, down through the years. But what about those times when
you don't feel like you can tell anybody, and it's just you and
the situation, the circumstances. It's just you, and maybe you
feel like, "Well, God's up yonder somewhere," but it's just
you. How do you deal with that? Well, that's what this message
is all about: "Encouraging Ourselves." And that is indeed a biblical
principle, that God intends for us to encourage ourselves. And we want to talk about how we
do that. And I want to use David, who was
a perfect example of encouraging himself, and think about this:
by writing the Psalms and his very life, he's encouraged you
and me for many, many years. And when I think about how many
years ago those Psalms were written, over two thousand years
ago, we're still being encouraged. How could we ever repay God for
how He used some people in those days, some of them not the best
in the world, some of them fantastic characters; and yet,
we've been encouraged. So, what I want to do is I want
to give you a little background, so this will all fit together. And I want you to turn to First
Samuel chapter thirty. And here's what's happening. David has been running from King
Saul for years. And King Saul, at first he just
thought David was it. And he killed Goliath, and that
was a fantastic thing. And next thing you know, his
whole attitude's changed because all these ladies came out
singing about to David that Saul killed his thousands and David
his ten thousands, and all of a sudden, jealousy hits King Saul. And he set out from that moment
to destroy him. And once when--twice really,
when David was playing the harp for him to sort of settle his
nerves, Saul's nerves, he threw a javelin at him twice to kill
him, he said, to pin him to the wall. And you know how long they are,
how heavy they are, how sharp they are. And if someone thrust one at
you, it would go through you easily. When he talked about marriage,
he said he wanted to give him a certain daughter of his because
she'd bring him down. How's that for a gift of a
father-in-law? And so everywhere you turn, he
did his best to kill him. And then he chased him, year
after year, trying to find him. Had--he'd have three thousand
soldiers trying to find David and his band. And twice Saul was so close to
David, David cut off a piece of his garment. He showed him that he could have
killed him, but that he would not kill the servant of God. You'd think maybe that that
would stop it? No, it didn't. And David made this statement
about Saul. One day he'll come to the end
and probably be killed in battle. And that is exactly what
happened, both Saul and his son Jonathan, who was David's best
friend, were both killed in battle. In fact, they were killed in the
battle right after what we're talking about took place. So, since he was chased by him,
finally David had six hundred fellow soldiers, and so they
joined up with the Philistines, which was the army that was in
opposition to Israel. And you think, "Well, David
would never have done that." But he was chased everywhere,
they were trying to kill him. So, he had six hundred men and
he went over to the Philistine side. So, now the Philistines and
Israel are getting ready to battle. And so, David has his six
hundred and the Philistines get all lined up. And then, the king of the
Philistines said, "You know, he--David's been a fantastic
warrior for me." The Philistine soldiers said,
"Wait a minute. Isn't this the David that killed
Goliath? Isn't this the David that the
women came out singing about him? Isn't this the David who is a
great warrior? We don't want him in this
battle, because if he's in this battle, in the middle of the
battle, he may turn against us." And so finally, Achish, "Called
David and said to him, 'As the Lord lives, you've been upright
in your going out and your coming in with me in the army
are pleasing in my sight, for I have not found evil in, from
you, from this day, or the days come." In other words, "Nevertheless,
you're not pleasing in the sight of the lords." That is, you've been everything
I've expected you to be, but my commanders don't want you and
your six hundred men in this battle because they don't trust
you. So finally, Achish said, "Okay." And he told David, he said,
"Sunrise tomorrow, when the sun--when the light gets up, you
all are to leave." So here he is pretty
disappointed that he can't get in the middle of this battle. And so, if you'll start with me
in the thirtieth chapter, and here's what happens. So, they've left, and it's about
a sixty mile trip back to Ziklag, and they're--traveled
about twenty miles a day, "Then it happened when David and his
men came to Ziklag," where they had been camping, "on the third
day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on
Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire,"
just burnt everything to the ground, "And they took captive
the women and all who were in it, both small and great,
without killing anyone, and carried them all off their own
way. When David and his men came to
the city, behold, it was burned with fire, their wives and their
sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who
were with him lifted their voices and," look at this, "and
they wept until there was no more strength in them to weep. Now David's two wives had been
taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the
widow of Nabal the Carmelite. Moreover," now this is the
verse, watch this, "Moreover David was greatly distressed
because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people
were embittered, each one because of his sons and his
daughters. But David strengthened," or
encouraged, "himself," same word, encouraged himself, "in
the Lord his God." Now, think about this. He's lost everything. That's enough. They said they wept and wept and
wept. These not--these are men,
weeping, weeping, weeping till they just couldn't weep anymore. They were totally exhausted,
totally disappointed, distressed, totally depressed. And so, David was one of them. And then the more they thought
about it, their hurt became anger and bitterness. And they thought, "Well, we'll
just deal with this." And they thought they would
maybe just stone David to death. And they were talking about it,
so he heard it. So, think about this: what would
he do? He couldn't run. He couldn't outrun six hundred
men. Secondly, he'd already lost all
of his family and everything. There is not anything good going
on for David at this particular point. There was no one to turn to. He didn't have half his army
saying, "Well, we're for David," and half not. No, they were all bitter because
of what had happened. He had nobody to turn to. What do you do when you hit one
of those times, and whatever's going on in your life, you can't
tell anybody about? Or you don't have a friend
that's confidential enough to share it with, so it's just you. What do you do with those heavy,
heavy, weighty heartaches, depressions that come into your
life and there's nobody to turn to? Well, listen to see what David
did here, and I want to show you how he did it. Listen to what he says,
"Moreover," in verse six, "David was greatly distressed because
the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were
embittered," listen, they turned bitter, "Each one because of his
sons," they'd lost their families, "and his daughters. But David strengthened himself
in the Lord." Now, strengthen himself means he
encouraged himself. How do you encourage yourself? We know we talk to our friends
and they encourage us, how--but how do you encourage yourself? What do you do?
How do you go about that? So, I want you to listen
carefully, and I want you to think about this. There are times when you have
situations you can't tell anybody about, what do you do? Do you get depressed, stay
depressed, get so distressed you don't know what to do next? And you do something that's
foolish, probably. Or do you do what he did? So, here's what he did. And that is he paused and got
quiet before God. That's all he could do. In other words, he couldn't run. He could have given up and quit. He paused. Now, the reason he paused was
this: because oftentimes when we get in a situation that's very
difficult and hard to handle, people want to make a snap
decision. And they're motivated by, "Get
me out of this right now, I don't deserve this, I don't want
this," whatever it might be. And oftentimes, they can't get
out of it. He didn't do that. He paused and thought. He didn't run. He didn't make a decision. He paused and thought about
where he was and what the situation was. What do you do when you get in
that kind of a situation? Do you stop and think, "Lord,
what shall I do?" Or do you just make a decision? And oftentimes, the decision we
make is motivated by, on the basis of what we think, "I can
handle this," and sometimes you can't. And, "My way'll be as good as
anybody else." No, a godly person is going to
stop and think, pause and think, "What shall I do? How shall I handle this?" And I want you to turn to the
forty-sixth Psalm. And you remember David wrote so
many Psalms. And I want you to look at this
forty-sixth Psalm and listen to what it says. Verse one, "God is our refuge
and strength." They were exhausted, to the end
of their rope. "God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble." That word present's very
important, "A very present help in trouble. Therefore," because He is, "we
will not fear, though the earth should change, the mountains
slip into the heart of the sea; Though it's waters roar and
foam, and though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. That is, everything is clouded,
nothing's clear. What shall we do? And he writes this Psalm, and
come down to the tenth verse, if you will, and here's what he
says, "Cease striving and know that I am God." Wouldn't you agree that
oftentimes we strive with God? Lord, what about this? What about that and this? In other words, that God will
show you something, that, "I don't believe that's it, God." We strive with Him. That is, we argue with Him. We have difficulty in just
accepting what He wants to say to us. And the wonderful thing about
pausing and being quiet, it gives you an opportunity to let
the furor in your heart, the anger in your heart or the greed
or the bitterness or resentment or hostility or whatever it
might be, it gives it opportunity to just settle a
moment. What shall I do, Lord? Not move too fast, not move in
some foolish direction. For example, where would he go? He didn't know where his family
was. He didn't know where the enemy
was. And besides that, he had six
hundred soldiers who wanted to stone him to death. What alternative did he have? The wisest thing he could do to
encourage himself was, first of all, get quiet before God. And many people don't know how
to do that. They just think, "I've got to
act." No, you don't have to act. Listen, if you're in a position
that is difficult, you don't know what to do next, whatever
the situation may be, you just stop and think, "Lord, You said
stop, don't strive with You, just wait upon You." And many people, when you talk
about waiting upon God, they have no earthly idea what you
mean. It means that you don't do
anything for a moment. Somebody says, "Well, I have to
do this." No, you don't. And oftentimes, when people want
to push us to make a decision, we shouldn't make it because the
time's not right. It says my time's better than
God's time, and my mind's better than His. No. First thing he did, he just
stopped. And when I think about this
verse right here, the power of it, I think about Martin Luther
who wrote the ninety-five theses and put them on a church door
that started the Great Reformation, and listen to what
he wrote. You know this song, but listen
to these words: "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark
never failing, our Helper, He amid the flood, of mortal ills
prevailing. For still our ancient foe,"
speaking of Satan, "doth seek to work us woe. His power and craft are great
and armed with cruel hate, on earth is not His equal,"
speaking of the devil. Listen, "Did we in our own
strength confide," no, "or striving would be losing. Were not the right Man on our
side, the Man of God's own choosing. Do you ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord Sabaoth is His name, from
age to age the same, He must win the battle." And I think you and I need to
stop and think, "If I'm facing one of these things, what do I
do?" First of all, I stop and ask
myself the question: Lord, what would You have me to do at this
point? And you don't act first. We're to ask for guidance. God, what would You have me to
do? And the Scripture gives us
illustration after illustration, verse after verse, about asking
God. "Ask and it shall be given you,
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto
you." For the Lord wants us to ask
Him. He wants us to stop and seek His
wisdom and His guidance. Listen, think about this. You can't get in any kind of
predicament that God doesn't have the right answer for. In fact, He knew all about that
you were going to get into it. He knew all about how to get you
out of it. He knew exactly what it was
going to take to encourage your heart in the situation so you
wouldn't give up and you wouldn't make a decision that
you would regret later on. And many people make decisions
when they come to those tough times that they regret for the
rest of their life. And so, by encouraging himself,
he got real quiet. And then he made the wise
decision: "Now, Lord, what would You have me to do?" And see, think about this. God doesn't have to come up with
a plan because He's omniscient. Look, He's already seen all the
messes you're going to get into in the very beginning. He already has the right plan to
bring you through them. Difficulties, hardships that
other people bring on you, difficulties and hardships we
bring upon ourselves, things that we can't control, He
already has the answer. He doesn't have to say, "All
right, now let's figure this out. God the Father, God the Son, God
the Holy Spirit, let's get together." No, He already knows, because
you see, He has a will for your life. When you're out of His will,
something's going to happen. In His will, something's going
to happen. Any time we're willing to
acknowledge our inadequacy and ask Him to give us guidance and
direction for our life, He will. And that's exactly what He did. So, in stopping and asking the
Lord what to do, here's what he did. The Scripture says he went to
Abiathar, who was the priest, and seeking a--make a decision. Now, the priest had this vest
that came down to about right here, was sleeveless, came down
to about right here. And it was sort of in a square,
and there were twelve stones in that, and each one represented
one of the tribes of Israel. And we don't know anything else
about the ephod except a few references to it; and nobody has
any answer of that except David knew and felt responsible for
getting to the priest. And he asked God what he should
do. And if you'll turn to verse
seven of the thirtieth chapter, "Then David said to Abiathar the
priest, the son of Ahimelech, 'Please bring me the ephod.' So Abiathar brought the
ephod to David. David inquired of the Lord," so
he's talking to God now, "saying, 'Shall I pursue the
band--this band? Shall I overtake them?' And He said to him, 'Pursue, for
you will surely overtake them, and you will surely
rescue all.'" So, he sought the Lord, and
God made it clear to him what he should do. Now, think about this: the
wisest thing he could possibly do is to say, "Lord, I'm in an
impossible situation. I don't know--there's no place
to turn. What would You have me to do?" Now, they're already getting
ready to stone him to death. And for God to say to him, "You
pursue them," what did that mean? God had to speak to six hundred
soldiers to agree with a man they were just about ready to
stone to death. He couldn't arrange that. That was the awesome miracle
of God. Now, listen carefully, when you
get in a tough situation, just ask Him what to do. Does He have an answer?
Yes. You say, "Well, pursue them,
well I, mmm, that doesn't sound right." You don't argue with God. You just do what He says. Somebody says, "Well, I don't
know whether I--well, you know, I don't know about asking God." Let me ask you something: who's
smarter than, wiser than He is?" Well, you say, "Well, I don't
know that God would answer my prayer." So, watch this carefully, if
you're living in sin, right, if you're living in sin, you're
expecting God to give you some out and make everything
just right. No. You living--if you're living in
sin, you're living in disobedience to God. You're not listening to Him
about your life. But if your life is clean, or if
you say, "Well, Lord, I--" get on your knees and ask God to
clean you up and get things right. And so, when you do, and when
you come to Him genuinely--now watch this also, I've seen
people do this: "Oh dear God, I'm telling You, if You'll just
please help me outta this, I promise You I won't ever do that
again." You know what? God knows better than that. We're talking about genuine
confession, genuine repentance, a genuine cleansing of your
heart and asking, "Lord, what shall I do?" And so, it seemed to be the most
unlikely thing to do. Now, watch this, pursue them? They're getting ready to stone
me to death. Secondly, we don't know where
they are. Which way do we go? And so, everything was sort of
questionable. But he asked God and God spoke
to him. Now, watch this carefully. Somebody says, "Why do you keep
saying that?" Because it's very important. When you're asking God about
something and you don't quite get it clear and you're saying,
"Lord, could that possibly be true? Here's what you do. You open the Word of God. You ask Him to show you where to
read. You may read something you've
never read before in your life. It's been there the whole time,
but you just haven't read it. You'd be amazed at the times God
will speak to you clearly through His Word, very, very
clearly. God is committed to showing you
and me what to do and where to go no matter what. And sometime, we don't have
anybody else to ask. And notice what he said, that
David strengthened himself. That is, he encouraged himself. He encouraged himself to do
what? To seek the Lord. He encouraged himself to be
obedient to God, whatever God told him. He encouraged himself. There are time when you and I
have to encourage ourselves. We don't have anybody else. As we said, there are some
things you don't want to share with anybody else, some things
you can't tell anybody else. And so, you're discouraged,
you're depressed, you're down, you're out. You say, "Well, how can I
encourage myself?" Well, you stop and pause and
think, "Okay, here's where I am. What does the Word of God tell
me? Now, am I going to listen to God
or am I not?" And you see, many times God will
tell us what to do, and we won't do it. You say, "Well, that couldn't be
right." That's not right. Well, He told them, "Well, you
head out in this direction," that's what he did. Listen, God will never tell you
chapter one if chapter two's not going to be there. He's going to show us what to do
and when to do it. I may not understand it. I may not understand it at all,
that's not the issue. The issue is I'm to do whatever
he says do. I'm to obey him. So, when there are times you
can't ask anybody else. And maybe you've never been in
that kind of a situation that you had no one to ask. But when you don't have anyone,
and you have to encourage yourself, it's you and God and
you and His Word. And this is why His Word is so
very important for the simple reason that in His Word, we
gonna find out what we need to know. And I look back over the years
and think about times when I have been in a situation, that I
didn't feel like I had anybody to give me some real wise advice
or counsel. And I know what I learned to do
very early, just go get in a prayer room somewhere and talk
to God and be quiet and, "Lord, you show me the next step." And I've been in some situations
that were pretty tough, and I'm here to tell you, God's never
said to me, "I don't have anything to say." That's not who He is. When you and I stop and
recognize that He's--He has an answer, He has an answer to
anything and everything you and I face. And you think about this. God is pleased and honored when
you and I choose to go to Him and say, "Lord, I don't know
what to do. I don't know which way to turn. I'm going to trust you." God always answers our petition. Now, sometimes he'll tell us to
do something that doesn't seem right. In other words, it doesn't look
right. But if He tells you what to do,
you have to do it. Or you disobey Him. In his situation, he had little
or no choice at all. Now, one of the--he says he
encouraged himself. So, stopping and pausing and
listening and getting a message from God. But one other thing that's very
important, that is, to encourage myself, which I'm sure he did. He recalled, listen, he recalled
past times in his life when God came through for some situation
or some heartache. He recalled God's help in
previous times. And I want you to think about
something, watch this carefully. As soon as you get through
writing, I want you to look this way and listen. It's that important. You are making history in your
life. Look back over your life, how
God has worked. Times when you thought you had
to give up and quit and just walk away. Or when you just want to give up
and quit anyway. You're making history in your
life, that is, God has come through in the past. He's helped you in this
situation, that situation, this situation. You say, but never anything like
that, well, it's just adding to history. There is not anything God can't
do to help you through whatever you may be going through. And sometimes, sometimes, we
just forget how good He's been in the past and what He's done. And so, when I see what happened
here, think back, think back how I've rescued you. And he had to think back how
He'd rescued him from Saul, and the difficulties and heartaches,
and Goliath and all the other things he went through. And this is a powerful, powerful
means of getting us through discouragement, and that is,
what has God done in the past in my life? And I remember, had a big battle
when I first came to First Baptist. And when the second battle came,
I--the first battle was, I sat over under the balcony and
nobody knew I was there. Second battle, I sat up on the
front, right beside the pulpit and looked everybody in the eye. You know why? Because I remembered and
recalled God's victory before and I believed He'd give me
victory again. So, if you don't make note of
what God is doing in your life, it's like you're erasing your
history. You're forgetting it. This is why I think we should
teach our children early in life to just make little notes about
what God is doing in their life, things that they like and things
they don't like or whatever is going on. Because they're building their
history. And the truth is, all of us are
building one whether we acknowledge it or not. And it's--and here's what
happens. Watch this carefully, this is a
principle: when people forget their history, they repeat the
same mistakes over and over and over again. And so, you're building a
history. It's a part of your life. It's something that you have
walked through already in your life. And because David knew how God
had worked before in his life, here he was as a teenager coming
up against Goliath, and God gave him that victory. Can you imagine the kind of
faith that built into him? And so, all of his warfare, he
was victorious over and over and over again. And he'd built this history into
his life, and now he's six hundred men against all these
Amalekites. And there were lots more
of them. He says when they spread out
around their camp at night, they just covered everything. And they were outnumbered many
times to one. But God told them what to do. Sneak up on them at night time
and just hit them from every side, and that'll cause
confusion and you'll defeat them. God never leads us into a trap. Remember that. He doesn't lead us into traps. He leads us into situations and
circumstances that are very dangerous maybe, or it looks
like there's no way to win. And yet, when God tells you to
do something, you do it. Now, you say, "Well suppose I
don't believe it the first time." Well, you better ask Him again. And listen, He, listen, the work
of the Holy Spirit is to confirm within your heart and spirit,
"This is of God." That's part of His work, to
confirm in your heart that God has said do this. And so, this is exactly what he
did. He began to recall how God had
worked in his life before. And if you'll think for just a
moment, give you a sec, give you about ten seconds to think about
this. Think about when you have been
in a tough spot, really discouraged. What could you have thought
about that happened before? If you'd-a thought about that,
"Well, God got me out of that." God helped me through that. And somebody says, "But I'm not
sure He's going to help me this time." Well, let me tell--God doesn't
change. Now, you know, we sing all about
Almighty God and we believe that He's--does not change, that He's
the same yesterday today and forever. And He loves us.
His love doesn't change. And so, whatever situation we're
in, He is going to be there to give us direction and guidance
and encourage our hearts. And when I look how God worked
in David's life, he said he encouraged himself. How'd he encourage himself? Same way you and I ought to. We're to pause when something
happens. Don't make a fast decision. We're to ask for God's guidance. We're to get in His Word. We're to recall what He's done
for us in the past. God, you brought me through
that, you'll bring me through this. You took me through this
situation, you'll take me through this. You were faithful then, You'll
be faithful today. I'm going to trust you. Then of course, we are
to obey Him. He said, "Here's what I want you
to do, pursue them." Suppose he'd-a said, "Well, you
know, I don't know how many there are." And, "We're only six hundred. I don't know where--" in other
words, when He said pursue, that's exactly what He meant. Now, watch this, if I'm going to
encourage myself, I've got to be willing to do what He says, even
though I may be fearful about the very thought of it. So, what encouraged David in an
impossible situation? Lost all his family, they
grieved till they couldn't grieve anymore. Getting ready to get stoned to
death, and all of a sudden, God says, "Challenge your men to
follow you and I will show you what to do." And that is exactly what he did. Now, it's interesting what he
did in this situation because even after they decided, for
example, all right, we're going to follow him. And where are we going? Look how God works. So, they head out in a direction
not knowing where to go, and they found this one Egyptian
soldier that the Amalekites had cast him aside because he got
sick and he couldn't fight in battle, so they just told him to
get out there and die. Hadn't had any water or food in
three days. So, when David found him, looked
like one of the enemy. He asked him where he'd been,
what happened. So, he told him that the
commander had said you can't fight, so you just stay here
and die. Then David said to him, "Will
you bring me down to this band?" He said, "You swear to me by God
that you will not kill me and I'll tell you." So he did. And as a result, what happened? His six hundred men, they head
in that direction, but watch this, God wants to be in control
and get all the glory. When they got to a certain
river, two hundred of them said, "I'm too tired, I can't go any
longer." So, that's one-third of his army
has checked out. We just can't fight anymore. They were dead tired and worn
out and morally destroyed because of their families and so
forth. And so, they said, "We can't go
anymore." So, what did David do? Watch this, you listen
carefully. Because God said, "Pursue them,"
he believed exactly what God said, knowing that God knew that
two hundred, one-third of his army, won't even be able to
fight. The Amalekites, there were
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and--in fact, the
Scripture says when they found them, they were scattered out
everywhere, camping. There were so many of them, they
were just everywhere. He only has four hundred men. So what happens?
They attack and kill them. Got all their wives back, all
their children back, because they didn't kill anybody, they
just took them. Got their wives back, got their
children back, and got all of their loot back, all their
belongings. They got everything back. Look how God operated. David got quiet. He listened to God. He did exactly what God told him
to do. And if you'll notice, from that
point on, he was encouraged about everything. Because he listened and he
obeyed God. And it's, you see, here's one
Egyptian out there in the desert dying, but God had him out there
to give David exactly where he needed to go. And so, they found them asleep. And when they found them asleep,
they killed the whole crowd. Now, he went from absolute total
discouragement, facing the loss of his family, and death, facing
all of that, and now God has led him to be victorious over his
enemy. When I read this, I think,
"Lord." And here's what it says, "David
slaughtered them from the twilight until the evening,"
they fought all day long. Now, they said while ago they
just couldn't do anything, "David slaughtered them from the
twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of
them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on
camels and fled." So, the guys who didn't stay to
fight, they took off, "So David recovered all that the
Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. But nothing of theirs was
missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or
anything that they had taken for themselves, David brought it all
back. So David had captured all the
sheep, cattle which the people drove ahead of the livestock,
and they said, 'This is David's spoil.'" Look what David did. When he came to the two hundred
men back here who said, "We don't think we--we just can't
handle it. We can't fight." And so, the men who fought said,
"They don't get anything. They didn't fight." David said, "Yes, they do. We're going to give them as much
as we gave the fighters because somebody had to stay by the
stuff back here. And so I value them." And he knew that those two
hundred back here had done their best. They were worn out.
They couldn't do anything else. If you've got soldiers who can't
fight, they're not a help, they're a hindrance. So, when he got back, he gave
them everything that they lost. And so, David experienced an
awesome deliverance by Almighty God. Now, when you think about
situations that you face in life, honestly, what do you do? When you get real disturbed
about something or depressed about something and you're just
stressed out, I wouldn't dare have you raise your hand, but if
I were--should to say, "How many of you, your first response is
call the doctor? First response, go to the
medicine cabinet. First response, I've got to take
something. First response, I've got to talk
to somebody." You know what? God is the Great Physician. And He's the One who heals our
hurt hearts. I don't think any doctor has got
anything in a bottle that can do what God Almighty can do. I'm not opposed to medicine, I'm
just simply saying, "Many times we resort to man rather than
Almighty God." Listen to Him, be quiet. Don't jump. Just wait. And whatever He says do, do it. And listen, when somebody says,
"If I were you, here's what I would do," let this be your
first thought, "You are not me, and you do not know what you
would do." I want to know what God wants me
to do, not what somebody else wants me to do. Now, that doesn't mean you
should never ask for advice or counsel. But we're talking about when
you've got things that you don't want to share with anybody else. We've talked about it, we've
talked about helping each other and encouraging each other. What about when it's just you
and you have nowhere to go but to God? Can you trust Him? Yes, you can. And if He says you go this way
or that way, that's what you must do. And to listen to people rather
than to God only gets you in trouble. And when I look at this passage
and see how God worked in his life, He encouraged David. And listen, He encouraged him to
do what? Not just to sit, He encouraged
him to go fight a war, outnumbered many times to one. But they won.
Why? Because God was on their side. And oftentimes He will tell you
something to do that just think, "Mm-mm-mm-mm, there's no way I
could do that." Let me ask you a question: what
is it that you can't do when God tells you to do it? When God is on your side, when
He's working in your behalf. In--you know, I've lived long
enough to see things and watch things in my own life that I
think, "Lord, that appears to be foolish. I'm not saying it is, God, but
I'll do whatever You say." I've never obeyed God in a
difficult situation that He did not bring it to pass. Listen, there are no favorites. God doesn't play favorites. God has intimates, not
favorites. Intimates are people who have a
relationship. When you have a relationship
with God, He's going to speak to you clearly. And instead of staying
discouraged and giving up and probably getting stoned to
death, what did he do? He paused to think. He sought the Lord, asked God to
show him what to do. And when you think back, how He
worked everything out perfectly. Who is this lone Egyptian out
here? He was God's compass, that's who
he was. He looked like some poor soldier
that was just about gone. But God had him out there for
David. He led them to the enemy, to
destroy the enemy, got every single thing back. Don't you know they came back
rejoicing and praising God? I got my wife, I got my
children, I got everything that I had, I got it all back. How did that happen? David didn't react. He just got quiet. He listened. He sought the Lord's mind
about it. He heard it. He obeyed God. And God did exactly what He
promised. That simple illustration is the
key to your life. You're writing the history. You've already written many
years of it. Some of you have written more
than others and some of you haven't written much. But you know what? Watch this, you can't change
history. So, what you want to do, listen,
you want your grandchildren to read your history. You want your children, you want
your friends. And, in other words, you want
the people you've related to over the years, you want their
remembrance of you to be something that is good. Well, he stayed in trouble half
the time. Well, he stayed in debt all the
time. Well, you know, on and on and on
we go. But you're writing your history. Nobody can write it for you. But if you will obey Him, obey
Him, obey Him, obey Him; trust Him, trust Him, trust Him. Do what He says, not because you
understand it or because it's profitable, because of this,
because that. No, just trust Him and do what
He says. You cannot fail. God is not a failure. He doesn't create failures. We bring it on ourselves. So, when I think about how God
worked in his life and how he obeyed the Lord, it's just
awesome, and we could talk about it a long time; but naturally,
what ultimately encouraged him is he came home with his family. Can't you imagine six hundred
men coming back, heading back toward their home with their
wife and children. Those kids were never more
precious than they were at that moment. Wife was never more lovable
than she was that day. She may have been in rags, but
she was free and she was with her--they were with their
husbands. It was an awesome, encouraging,
glorious time even if they had lost all their stuff, it'd have
still been the same thing. Why? Watch this, one man encouraged
himself before God, and watch what happened. One man, he was all by himself,
going to stone him to death, lost everything, nothing
positive about it. One man got quiet, listened to
God, sought the Lord, heard from God, did exactly what God
told him to do. That is a principle that is
absolutely unchangeable. Now, we're talking about
encouraging ourselves. Watch this, what I've shared
with you is the most important part, but there are other ways
to encourage yourself. Not when you have some major
issue, but there are ways to encourage yourself if you get a
little down about something or even if you're going through a
tough time. There are other ways to
encourage yourself. For example, achievement and
accomplishment in something you like, that you love to do, is a
wonderful way to encourage yourself. You say, "Well, that's not very
spiritual." Yes, it is, because we're to be
joyous Christians. And when things get tough on us,
and we're doing what the--watch this, when you do what the Lord
tells you to do, that doesn't mean there's not going to be any
pain, no heartache and doesn't mean--but you--He's going to
bring you through it. And you have the privilege and
the right and the blessing of being able to do what you
love to do. For example, one of the most
encouraging things in my life is to sit down with the Word of God
and prepare a message. It's challenging, very
challenging. Sometimes it gets stressful. In fact, the only thing that
raises my blood pressure is preparing a message, not
delivering it, preparing it. I think it's so intense. That's okay, but I'm saying I
love doing that. And I love photography. So if--got a little heaviness in
my heart about something, I'm going to do something that I
want to do that brings me pleasure. And you have the same privilege. If you're a person who says, "I
don't have anything that brings me pleasure," you need to start
from scratch, because surely there's something that brings
you pleasure that's holy, and it's not godly or ungodly, it's
just something you like to do. Because God intends, listen, God
intends for us to be joyous. He intends for us to be happy. It doesn't mean you're going to
be happy all the time. He intends for us to have peace
in our heart. And so, when are we the best
witness? When we're talking about what
God is doing in our life and how great He is and what He's doing
in your life. That's when you're the--that's
when your testimony's the most effective. So, think about this now. Because many of you sitting here
are probably in one of those situations. You stop, pause. God, what do You want me to do? You're asking Him. You get in His Word.
Say, "Lord." If you need some confirmation,
ask Him to confirm it. When He makes it clear to you,
you obey Him. And what happens? You will be encouraged. It is the will and the purpose
and plan of God, that His children live a purposeful life
and a life that has joy. It doesn't mean that we won't
hurt nor have pain, but it's a life that, beneath that, has
awesome joy, because we're His children. Well, if you're one of those
persons who's never been saved and you think, "Well, now how
does all that fit me?" Well, let's put it this way. If you've never trusted Jesus as
your Savior, this is not an opinion. This is not an attitude. This is the divine gospel,
biblical truth. It is the truth of Almighty God,
that you will reap what you sow, more than you sow, later than
you sow. And you can't change that. No, you can't change it. You say, "Well, that's not going
to happen to me." It happens. You can't change a principle. That's true morning, noon, and
night. It was true in that garden of
Eden. It's true today, without Christ
in your life, you're going to make a miserable mess of it. You don't have enough money as a
substitute, enough prestige, enough fame or anything else. The wages of sin is death. It's not just physical death,
it's spiritual death. We reap what we sow, more than
we sow, later than we sow. What you need is to ask the Lord
Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins, not based on how good
you are or what you can do for Him, 'cause you can't do
anything for Him. Based on the fact that He died
at Calvary, shed His blood as payment for your sin, you need
Him as your Savior. You need Him as your Helper. You think you have it all
together, but you don't. You think you could buy your way
into anything and everything. No, you can't. There will come a time when your
money won't count, your fame won't count. There'll come a time when your
influence and testament, none of that's going to count. You're going to stand face to
face with God. You may be lying in a hospital
bed somewhere, on your way to dying, then what are you going
to depend on? And if you'll think about that,
your history will have condemned you, that's the way you lived. I pray to God that, right now,
whoever you are and wherever you are, you'll ask the Lord Jesus
Christ to forgive you of your sins, cleanse your life, turn
your life over to Him and tell Him the only thing that really
matters is Christ in your life. I pray to God that you'll ask
Him to save you, which He will do. Father, how grateful we are,
what an awesome God You are. When we think about all the ways
that You've given us joy and happiness and peace in our
heart. And sometimes right in the
middle of pain, You give us this overwhelming, indescribable,
unexplainable joy. And I pray for somebody here
this morning who's living in sin, disobeying you, lost,
totally separated from You, to help them to realize they're
writing history, devastating, sinful history that's going to
end up in a devastated, miserable life. And show them that they can
change today by asking the Lord Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son,
to forgive them of their sins based on what you did at the
cross. And that before they leave this
building, their life will be transformed by Your awesome
grace. I pray for everyone here,
Father, who is going through some situation or circumstance,
that today, they will take these simple ideas, points, truths,
principles, begin to apply them to their heart and step out of
whatever their facing in life. In Jesus's name, amen. announcer: If you've been
blessed by today's program, please visit us at intouch.org.
