Lesson 11: Waiting On The Lord In Times Of Suffering. Hope Sabbath School

[Music] [Applause] welcome to hope sabbath school an in-depth interactive study of the word of god i'm looking forward to today's study waiting on the lord in times of suffering i don't know what challenges you're facing but we've learned some practical lessons in this series on suffering and trials and if you've missed anything in the series go to our website hopetv.org hope ss you can watch the entire series including today's program you can also download the outline that we'll be using in our study waiting on the lord in times of suffering we're glad you joined us today and welcome to the team good to be together how many of you need to learn to wait on the lord you say i need that all the time not just in times of suffering well i am excited today because one of our team members john is going to lead our study john always look forward to hearing you teach i'm also excited because we've got some remote team members with us today nicholas joining us from california nicholas good to see you again glad you're with us pastor pouya there in hawaii good to see you again puya and glenny from california gleny good to see you again i'm so thankful that we have the technology that allows some of our team members to join remotely and i'm also thankful that you write to us at sshope hopetv.org can i ask you to do that today just make a note write a note let the team know how god is blessing my life through a study of his word that's what maria did from saint lucia she writes and says just checking in i've started watching from the island of saint lucia in the caribbean and i must say that hope sabbasco is very enlightening i'm beginning to understand the bible a little better amen amen well that's a journey isn't it i'm still learning to understand the bible a little better and that's what happens when you study the word of god together maria thank you so much for writing to us from st lucia here is a note from madagascar a large island off the south east coast of the continent of africa and toast right i had to practice that i think i still might not have it right but thank you for writing to us from madagascar and this viewer says i am a sabbath school teacher and i am blessed by the hope sabbath school outlines amen that's what they're there for you can download them share them what i do when i teach a group i give an outline to everyone in the group so they have a road map in fact that's what we have today in our study each team member team member has the outline to follow along so toastin drazana writes and says god bless you amen we're glad we have hope sabbath school members in madagascar thank you for writing to us god bless you here is a handwritten note let's see from a couple in kansas in the state in the united states and the couple writes and they say we're so blessed each sabbath as we watch hope sabba school [Music] we love your enthusiasm and we love the scripture songs my wife sings along each sabbath by the way it sounds better when you sing because we're all singing together we're so impressed with the team members their knowledge of the bible and their sincerity we say thank you jesus right miracle of god please accept our donation to continue to spread the message of jesus and his soon return amen amen and a donation of two thousand dollars to bless the ministry of hope sabbath school thank you couple in kansas you know who you are we don't read names but we do want to let you know that we're a donor-supported ministry and your contribution enables us to be sharing this message in over 200 countries around the world so thank you if you've been thinking about partnering with us go to hopetv.org hope ss that's our website there's a yellow button that says donate and thank you for what you do one last note from richard and kathleen in the state of michigan in the united states of america last one jason aren't you from michigan would you like to give a wave to richard and well you can all give away to richard and kathleen they write and say we so appreciate hope sabbath school every week the programs are inspiring to say the least we love the different perspectives of each person as they teach well john now's an opportunity as you lead and really that's really important isn't it we don't want people to think only one person could teach we're all working together the scripture songs are a blessing too those who sing them are blessed by god in a special way it's like we're listening to the angels saying imagine what heaven's music will be like amen amen well richard and kathleen thank you for writing to us from the state of michigan we're glad you're part of our hope sabbath school team too right now we're going to sing our theme song for the series taken from isaiah 41 10. and don't forget that song and 11 other beautiful scripture songs are available as our free gift to you during this series at our website hopetv.org hope ss little button in the middle look for it says free gift click on it and download those 12 songs including this theme song let's sing it together now [Music] fear not for i am with you be not dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you yes i will help you i will uphold you with my righteous right hand [Music] clear not for i am with you be not dismayed fear not for i am with you be not dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you [Music] with my righteous right hand [Music] so i will uphold you with my righteous right hand i'm looking forward to this study waiting on the lord in times of suffering and trial so john thanks for praying for us as we begin our study sir let's pray together father in heaven what a great joy it is to gather together to study your word and we thank you for the encouragement and the strength that we gain from your word amen bless us as an international family as we study now in jesus name amen amen amen well we're so glad we can we've been studying uh and drawing principles from bible characters and times of suffering and trial it's one thing to go through suffering and uncertainty when you know when it ends but it's quite another thing when you don't know the timing let's look at a couple of verses to see what the bible says about god's timing jonathan would you start us off in reading our first one which is in galatians chapter 4 and verse 4. sure i'm reading from the english standard version galatians 4 4 but when the fullness of time had come god sent forth his son born of woman born under the law and the other one is in romans chapter 5 verse 6 nisha would you read that one for us yes and i am reading from the new king james version for when we were still without strength in due time christ died for the ungodly what do these verses tell us about the time or or inspired us about uh time jonathan yeah i mean it just lays out this picture that god's ways what does it say um no haste but no delay or the god god works out his plans in his timing in a way that that that is um for our ultimate redemption but maybe not as fast yes nisha yeah and it doesn't leave that to our imagination and that's why the word time is used in both both both verses is that god has his time and we are to understand that it's his time it's not ours but i think the bible is being explicit in that there is a time and an order in which he is taking care of things yeah we're talking about timing in this lesson here and victor what else do you draw from this yeah just something really simple that god is always on time i mean we may be late but god is always on time we're talking about timing or waiting on god's time you know it seems that every generation from the time that the promise of a savior was given every generation has weighed and hoped that that fulfillment would come at their time but it didn't it wasn't until thousands of years later pouya i'd like to ask why did our loving creator creator wait for thousands of years before you know after the entrance of sin and death before sending his son or the incarnation of the savior uh john that's a great question of why would jesus come at that specific time right i mean look at the historical setting of that time period we know that uh jesus was born uh during the roman empire so the nations were united under one government and that period was known as the uh pax romana right it's like a comparative peace in the region and the common language of greek was spread all throughout the world and that was considered as a language for the literature and the scripture the the hebrew bible had been translated into greek and so there was an easier access to the word of god through the common language but overall i think people were also losing their faith in religions of the world and people were ready to receive a true religion of the hearts the human heart that could fulfill the longings of the heart and so i would say god was directing the history of the world and chose this specific time because all of these different factors seem to line up to make it a prime time for jesus to come okay excellent we're looking at often how god's timing is not our timing that's right and it is difficult to understand the purposes behind god's timing but to know that his timing is perfect jonathan what sense what lesson do you have yeah i i think a lot of it has to do with um this bigger picture that's going on in the great controversy where you have um this uh these accusations from the devil about can god be trusted can why are your people serving you um and and um why should um somebody why isn't it just about power so i think there's a lot that had to be flushed out in history unfortunately and that i mean that's that's part of why history has continued as long as it has because they're things are not as simple as god strong um he says he's good so we can believe him okay we can all go home that's and and that's there's way more that has to be played out there's an element of faith isn't there that has to take place when we don't see the fulfillment of time jason what insight do you have and building off what jonathan said god has given us freedom and because he's given freedom he has to give people the opportunity to let some of these actions play out and yeah as jonathan said some of those actions are unfortunately very problematic they're harsh they're sad but god and his love and mercy has given us the opportunity to make our choices and so he doesn't might not always step in right there he gives people time in this case thousands of years to make some choices we're going to look at an example with the prophet daniel glenny would you read for us daniel chapter 8 and verse 27 and as we're turning there in the same chapter daniel records an exchange between two heavenly beings and one is asking the other how long will it take or until when will a division be fulfilled it seems like that resonates with the questionings of the human heart how long and let's see uh what the prophet daniel what his reaction was when he thought he would have to wait an extensive amount of time so i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says and i daniel fainted and was sick for days after i arose and went about the king's business i was astonished by the vision but no one understood [Music] what was daniel's response when he believed that he had to wait now in for an even more extensive amount of time for the fulfillment nisha it's sad it was a physical reaction um he got sick and faint from from knowing this and you understand that the setting for this is that daniel is at the end of of the babylonian captivity and he he believed he was reading the prophecies that the 70 years would have been fulfilled then god gets gives him this vision where he sees something for an additional do you know 2 300 days and now it's uh it throws him off and he believes that what would be the imminent release of his people something he sees in vision the troubles that they would be subjected to and he has this physical response and i think john we can see that even in our lives growing up someone hears gets really bad news oh yeah some people faint other people vomit it's not that they you know have some kind of bacteria or something it's just the shock of that news and i guess i find a little encouragement because you know daniel i think is the only one i know of in scripture where no fault is written concerning him in spite of all of his suffering and trials but when he hears god's timing even though we are confessing it's perfect god's timing is perfect it makes him want to to i don't know whether to vomit but he feels sick and and faint uh because we we tend to see things and want them in very small compartments and god's looking as jonathan said at a at a cosmic battle and a cosmic picture yeah i thank you for that we're not alone are we when it comes to struggling with uh god's timing i mean daniel struggled with that we're not alone with that can you think of other bible characters nicholas who comes to mind of someone who struggled with an apparent delay in the fulfillment of god's promises well one person i think of is definitely job job had a huge delay in which he was you know struggling for you know almost 30 chapters of this book with understanding what god was trying to accomplish or what god had done in his life and eventually his faith was rewarded in in time and that was an example to the onlooking universe as well of faith and waiting for god's timing and that trust in god was able to prove satan wrong in that specific instance [Music] it's definitely something that resonates with us is what they've experienced glenny who else comes to mind i can't uh i can think of moses and the israelites waiting for the promise of the promised land and it took 40 years plus to get that yeah and we could be jason who who else do you think of i think about a group of people the disciples they had a struggling time with dealing with jesus actual kingdom you know him building the kingdom and they were looking for it right then and there you know but it was going to take time for him to establish his kingdom because it was not of this world so the scripture is filled with people who have had to wait on the lord for his timing and gladys we're not alone are we in our struggles when we are wondering god's timing on fulfillment of something who else comes to mind i'm thinking of abraham god told him that he was going to to make a great nation out of him and he was an old man sarai was an old woman and he was like okay when so he had to wait for a long long time till the promise on not that one that they tried to have outside of god's plan but the promised son they had to wait a long time to have him we're going to look at a couple of characters in scripture and learn from their experiences of waiting on god's fulfillment jason would you lead us to the first one here in first samuel chapter 16 and we'll read the first 13 verses if there was someone who learned to wait on the lord even in difficult times it was david david and here in 1st samuel 16 we're going to be introduced to him notice what we're going to be looking at is about how old was he when he is anointed by samuel i have the new king james version here first samuel chapter 16 verses 1-13 says now the lord said to samuel how long will you mourn for saul seeing i have rejected him from reigning over israel fill your horn with oil and go i am sending you to jesse the bethlehemite for i have provided myself a king among his sons and samuel said how can i go if saul hears it he will kill me but the lord said take a heifer with you and say i've come to sacrifice to the lord then invite jesse to the sacrifice and i will show you what you shall do you shall anoint for me the one i name to you so samuel did what the lord said and went to bethlehem and the elders of the town trembled at him coming and said do you come peaceably and he said peaceably i've come to sacrifice to the lord sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice then he consecrated jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice so it was when they came that he looked at eliab and said surely the lord's anointed is before him but the lord said to samuel do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature because i have refused him for the lord does not see as man sees for a man looks at the outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart so jesse called abinadab and made him pass before samuel and he said neither has the lord chosen this one then jesse made shama pass by and he said neither has the lord chosen this one thus jesse made seven of his sons pass before samuel and samuel said to jesse the lord has not chosen these and samuel said to jesse are all the young men here then he said there remains yet the youngest and there he is keeping the sheep and samuel said to jesse send and bring him for we will not sit down till he comes here so he sent and brought him in now he was rudy with bright eyes and good looking and the lord said arise anoint him for this is the one then samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the spirit of the lord came upon david from that day forward so samuel arose and went to ramah now there's a lot here you understand why samuel was would have been afraid for his life right what was the last exchange that he had with king saul it was just before this that he had actually brought judgment that his reign was over that god had finished his kingdom and so samuel would be afraid of his life that he would go anoint the next king while saul is still alive oh wow how are we introduced to david or how is he introduced here in this passage yes he says that he is the youngest and he's out with the sheep so when he when jesse introduced his children he did not consider him important enough to invite him nicholas about how old do you think samuel is here in this passage david oh i'm david yes david how old do you think i think i think david is probably pretty young which may be one of the reasons that he wasn't even called in because jesse was like he's not old enough to rule a kingdom he's not he's not old enough to be anointed so i think he was probably young maybe maybe in his late teens and we're going to see how god's timing works this is our first introduction to david puya what insights do you have i was going gonna suggest probably around 15 right mid teenage years and uh as we'll be seeing he waited a long time for that promise or prophecy of him being chosen by god to be the king becoming fulfilled in his life so certainly old enough to care for his father's flocks but certainly not old enough to even be considered the next king right david is going to be uh and have an encounter with king saul and what would be the reason for this encounter with king saul first samuel chapter 16 verses 14 through 23. gladys would you read those for us let's look at the first time they meet sure i'm reading from the new international version now the spirit of the lord had departed from saul and an evil spirit from the lord tormented him soul's attendant said to him see an evil spirit from god is tormenting you let our lord command his servants here in search for someone who can play the liar he will play with the evil spirit from the lord comes on you and you will feel better so soul said to his attendants find someone who plays well and bring him to me one of the servants answered i have seen a son of jesse of bethlehem who knows how to play the liar he is a brave man and a warrior he speaks well and is a fine looking man and the lord is with him then soul sent messengers to jesse and said send me your son david who is with the sheep so jesse took a donkey loaded with bread a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son david to seoul david came to seoul and entered his service so liked him very much and david became one of his armor-bearers then saul sent word to jesse saying allow david to remain in my service for i am pleased with him whenever the spirit from god came on saul david will take up his liar and play then relief will come to saul he will feel better and the spirit the evil spirit will leave him victor what was saul's attitude toward david here well you see at first that uh he was kind of using him to help in his kind of mental health and this evil spirit that was plaguing him and so he says why don't you stay with me and be a part of my kingdom and family so that when the spirit from god comes david could play his harp and um drive that spirit away which says something about godly music as well all right pastor derek so i really struggle with this passage john because i don't think god ever sends evil spirits or distressing spirits but i'm reminded in a previous study about job how satan showed up in the court claiming that he had dominion over this territory because of the sin of our first parents remember so i don't think god is wanting to distress him but there's obviously a spiritual battle going on but i would agree with what victor said because everything we know about david from the book of psalms is that he worshipped god in his music and so again that illustrates that this spirit is not from god but is actually part of satan's kingdom or maybe even satan himself but the power of god's word in these scripture songs is is driving back the force of darkness so i really see the battle and what we'll see in this story is is will will saul choose to totally surrender his life or will he become controlled by these evil forces thank you so much for pointing that out because there's a lot of things that we are realizing today that perhaps did not have vernacular for in the scripture times that today we identify as mental health issues or anxieties that plague people and saul certainly would have been facing some of these things certainly as a result of his decisions to go against god's will and what that was doing to him saul's attitude is going to change toward david but before we get there gladys yeah i was gonna say that i think that um also the fact that he had been rejected by god and that he was in a sense far away from god in his will that i think that also play a lot with this you know evil spirit taking over him because he was just not abiding in the presence of god or following his directives anymore very good jonathan yeah i mean i think sometimes people say that that god took ownership of things that he allowed to happen in old in the old testament he often said that things come from the lord the things he allowed to happen but um i was thinking that for david this must have been kind of like um an interesting he gets anointed and the next thing he's getting called by the king and so like he must have been things like wow things are this is gonna go quickly or you know work out well when something of course it's in a situation where the guy's you know demon possessed but um it's just interesting the timing and and to the question of of of what he must have thought the timing would work out um how the timing worked out and so at this point saul likes david he's soothing his troubled mind isn't he exactly but there's going to be a series of events that will change his attitude victor yeah and little did david know that after he left his sheep to go minister in the courts that god would be preparing him for when he would become king yes he was anointed but he didn't become king till years later and so even when we're waiting practically in our trials in our seasons we have to understand that god is preparing us for something great we just don't know it yet we don't see it so we have to trust it let's see one of those great things that david did under the spirit of of god glenny would you read for us chapter 17 we're still in first samuel uh and we've got a good portion we're going to read here let's uh we'll split it verses 32 to 40 if you could read here for us glenny let's see one of these things that we see david's attitude or saul's attitude beginning to change toward david so this is first samuel chapter 17 verse 32 to 40 and i'm reading from the new king james version and it says then david said to saul let no man's heart fail because of him your servant will go and fight with the philistine and saul said to david you're not able to go against this philistine to fight with him for you are a youth and he a man of war from his youth but david said to saul your servant used to keep his father sheep and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock i went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamp from its mouth and when it arose against me i caught it by its beard and struck it and killed it your servant has killed both lion and bear and this uncircumcised philistine will be like one of them seeing he has defied the armies of the living god moreover david said the lord who delivered me from the path of the lion and from the palm of the bed he will deliver me from the hand of the philistine and saul said to david go and the lord be with you so saul clothed david with his armor and he put a bronze helmet on his head he also clothed him with a coat of nail david fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk for he had not tested them and david said to saul i cannot walk with these for i have not tested them so david took them off then he took his staff in his hand and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the book and put them in a shepherd's back in a pouch which he had and his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the philistine you know that the the people of israel the armies are afraid because there's one giant soldier of the philistines who had been taunting and defined the armies of israel and nobody was willing to go out and face him and here comes this shepherd boy who is now going to gain and earn even greater trust with king saul but let's keep reading nisha would you continue reading for us verses 41 to 51. funny first of all to think how uh david's wearing saul's armor and he's uh unable to uh to get much traction what happens next all right and i'm reading from the new king james version so the philistine came and began drawing near to david and the man who bored the shield went before him and when the philistine looked about and saw david he disdained him for he was only a youth ready and good looking so the philistines said to david am i a dog that you come to me with sticks and the philistine curse david by his gods and the philistines said to david come to me and i will give you give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field then david said to the philistine you come to me with a sword with a spear and with a javelin but i come to you in the name of the lord of hosts the god of the armies of israel whom you have defied this day the lord will deliver you into my hand and i will strike you and take your head from you and this day i will give the carcasses of the camp of the philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth that all the earth may know that there is a god in israel then all this assembly shall know that the lord does not save with sword and spear for the battle is the lord's and he will give you into our hands so it was when the philistine arose and came and drew near to meet david that david hurried and ran toward the army to meet the philistine then david put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and he slung it and struck the philistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth so david prevailed over the philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the philistine and killed him there but there was no sword in the hand of david therefore david ran and took the philistine took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it and when the philistines saw that their champion was dead they fled you know if only we could face our giants in life those trials like david coming in the name of the lord amen if we could just encounter and confront those things knowing that we are coming in the name of the lord and that's how david did that's what he came with yes so at this point still from here on out uh actually david then is taken into battle with king saul what do you think this does uh elevates david's stature or even influence with king saul still at this point after what he just witnessed victor yeah well you see the process of time in our study that first he says um bring him to my court so he can play the harp then he wants to stand up and fight this philistine and he says you're too young but if you want to go because i'm scared take my armor he doesn't do it and then he ultimately just you know kills goliath and then after in if you read verse 55 he says who is this david and his armor bear says well it's the the son of jesse it seems like saul is coming in and out of some type of amnesia or forgetting or he's feeling i love i love david i have a an affinity for him and then i don't know you know is he trying to start you know to take my spot or is he gonna have more fame than me and his attitude now starts to change so he wants to keep an eye on david so he says come back and and stay in my house and so he's keeping his eye on david but not for a good reason then he offers his oldest daughter for him right mary yeah he wants to keep him close pastor derek so i i'm thinking at first probably king saul is just relieved that the the giants dead because he was the one who should have fought the the giant he was the tallest man in israel and he was the king so i think relief but but as you mentioned later when the people start saying saul's killed thousands by the way that tells us he was a formidable foe saul's killed thousands but david tens of thousands then this jealousy begins to grow in his heart and uh and and things get much worse for david yeah even though he's been anointed as king and god's timing is not quite what he'd expected you've alluded to that let's look at those pouya would you read for us those verses in chapter 18 verses 6 through 9. the tide is going to turn now let's see what brings that about and i'll be reading from the new king james version now it had happened as they were coming home when david was returning from the slaughter of the philistine that the women had come out of all the cities of israel singing and dancing to meet king saul with tambourines with joy and with musical instruments so the women sang as they danced and said soul has slain his thousands and david his ten thousands then saul was very angry and the saying displeased him and he said they have ascribed to david ten thousands and to me they have ascribed only thousands now what more can he have but the kingdom so saul i david from that day forward what led to saul's attitude to change toward david yes nisha jealousy there is there are people singing greater praises to his servant than to the king um and and the blood starts boiling yeah very good jason it's almost like a recognition saul realizes what is happening that the kingdom's being transferred but he doesn't want to accept it he's not willing to accept god's will and so he's trying to hold on yeah yes he is and notice how it even deepens jason would you read first verses 14 and 15 in that same chapter notice what it says here all right now reading from the new king james version and the bible says and david behaved wisely in all his ways and the lord was with him therefore when saul saw that he behaved very wisely he was afraid of him so he is angry and now it says that saul fears david amazing how the things that would lead to one admiring someone becomes the source of the same thing to turn on that someone victor yeah and again in this waiting waiting through times of suffering david is learning how to deal with the politics of the court and the kingdom some one day they can be your friend the next day they'll be your enemy and god is showing if you deal wisely in my word and have that connection with me in the time of trials i'll be with you and not even your enemies can hurt you you see so he's learning how to be a king during this time god is preparing him you've gone through times in your life where you think where everything was working well you were in good favor with supervisors or with others something happens circumstances change and now david who was in the good graces of the king is running for his life because king saul is off on a campaign to find him to murder david we're going to see how now david is learning to wait on the lord pouya would you read for us well you just read for us there on 18 6-9 let's look here in chapter 26 if we can jump there chapter 26 of first samuel verses 1 through 11. and jonathan if you would read for us those verses all right i'll be reading from the english standard version verses one through eleven then the ziphites came to saul at gibia saying is not david hiding himself in the hill of hekailah which is on the east of gesheman so saul arose and went down to the wilderness of zif with three thousand chosen men of israel to seek david in the wilderness of zif and saul encamped on the hill of hakaila which is beside the road on the east of the jeshiman but david remained in the wilderness when he saw the saul came after him into the wilderness dame david sent out spies and learned that saul had indeed come then david rose and came to the place where saul had encamped and david saw the place where saul lay with abner the son of nir the commander of his army was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him then david said to abim uh himalay the hittite and to job's brother abhisheh the son of zeruaya will who will go down with me into the camp of saul and abishai said i will go down with you so david and nabashi went to the army by night and they there lay saul sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground at his head and abner and the army lay around him then abbashai said to david god has given your enemy into your hand this day now please let me pin him to the earth with one strike of the spear and i will not smite him twice strike him twice but david said to abishai do not destroy him for who can put out his hand against the lord's anointed and be guiltless and david said as the lord lives the lord will strike him down or his day will come to die or he will go down to into battle and perish the lord for the lord forbid that i should put out my hand against the lord's anointed but take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water and let us go pastor derek david had an opportunity there and it's going to be if if puya is right that he was about 15 second samuel says he's 30 when he's anointed king so he waits as long as he's been alive before the the the promise is fulfilled i know we want to talk about elijah too but but now when i go to psalm 27 where it says i would have lost heart unless i believed i see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living wait on the lord be of good courage and he will strengthen your heart wait i say on the lord i think david knew what he was talking about he he the lord had to strengthen his heart from from being a teenager to age 30 he was being hunted down and finally the promise came and what it tells me john is that like jonathan said god's purpose is no no haster no delay that god is is not failing in fulfilling his promise but sometimes from our perspective it seems like a long time and i i think it's hard for us sometimes to to fully grasp god's timing oh man nicholas i mean he's running for his life for a better part of his young life right why did david choose to trust in god's timing here your thoughts well i think one of the reasons that he had chosen to trust in god's timing is actually because of his experiences in running i think that he had seen that god would have an end to that and that god had sustained him thus far and would continue to do so and he doesn't just wait on god's timing but he also waits on god's method as he says to abishai that you know saul may fall in battle or something but i'm not going to kill him i'm not going to you know deliver myself i'm going to wait for god's deliverance and so i think another reason that he was willing to wait is because he knew that it wasn't something that he was going to do on his own behalf he wasn't going to save himself god was going to save him amen wow he was not going to save himself [Music] what i find so surprising from the life of david is that yes he waited about 15 years or so to become the king of judah and at that point the other tribes the the kingdom of israel was not yet under him and he waited seven more years so in total he waited over 22 years for the promise of god to come through and i mean he could have fight you know the other kingdoms and take take the position by force but he chose to wait and i find that to be so inspiring now jason let's see how king saul responded to his life being spared let's read these verses first samuel 26 21-25 the new king james version says in first samuel chapter 26 verse 21 through 25 then saul said i have sinned return my son david for i will harm you no more because my life was precious in your eyes this day indeed i have played the fool and erred exceedingly and david answered and said here is the king's spear let one of the young men come over and get it may the lord repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness for the lord delivered you into my hand today but i would not stretch out my hand against the lord's anointed and indeed as your life was valued much this day in my eyes so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the lord and let him deliver me out of all tribulation then saul said to david may you be blessed my son david you shall both do great things and also still prevail so david went on his way and saul returned to his place so how did saul respond blesses him at the end he was humbled right he blesses him indeed now of course we're told that in um second samuel 5 and verse 4 that indeed david was 30 years old when he finally became king but you there's some things that he records in the this in the book of psalms 27 13 and 14. gladys would you read those verses for us there's some record in the psalms that tell us how david's personal experience added strength and it adds strength to us today i'm reading from the new international version version psalms 27 verses 13 and 14. i remain confident on this i will see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living wait for the lord be strong and take heart and wait for the lord what a promise there from david we're going to look at elijah here and the next one is first kings chapter 18 36 through 40. glenn if you would read those for us you know after times of spiritual victories is often when spiritual tragedies may come after times of triumph there may be times where we're susceptible to tragedies or falls and notice what happens first of all elijah witnesses a great victory and that's recorded in first kings 18 36 to 40. so i'll be reading from the new king james version and it says and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that elijah the prophet came near and said lord god of abraham i seek in israel let it be known this day that you are god in israel and i am your servant and that i have done all these things at your word hear me o lord hear me that this people may know that you are the lord god and that you have turned their hearts back to you again then the fire of the lord fell and consumed the burn sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench now when all the people saw it they fell on their faces and they said the lord he is god the lord he is god and elijah said to them seize the prophets of baal do not let one of them escape so they seized them and elijah brought them down to the brook kishon and executed them there [Music] what was the great victory that the prophet elijah witnessed there it may not be what we think but what do you see nisha as soon as you said it may not be i'm doubting myself um well i i mean the the prophets of baal and the pro and and god's prophet had a showdown and and uh one both claiming that they had the real god and uh it was ultimately the god of heaven who who rained down and demonstrated his power um at which point um the gods of uh sorry the prophets of baal couldn't make anything happen um and in that um people realized who the true god was at which point uh the prophets of baal were destroyed i think that's a good point that the really the battle was not elijah beat the prophets it was that god was shown to be the the lord the one true god and uh what what you alluded to earlier though is you know in terms of god's timing elijah might have thought well that settles it and the next news he get is that there's a death warrant yes from a wicked queen named jezebel that before the sun goes down she's going to see him dead so it's like god did we get that mixed up i thought we just settled this great victory on mount carmel that's right it brings confusion to to elijah that's right because he had just finished witnessing this and the people there where it says that they called on the name of the lord and that's indeed where the victory was but then things changed and they changed quite rapidly uh jason would you read for us um in also first kings 19 verses one through four and notice what leads elijah to flee the new king james says first kings 19 1-4 and ahab told jezebel all that elijah had done and also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword then jezebel sent a messenger to elijah saying so let the gods do to me and more also if i do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time and when he saw that he arose and ran for his life and went to beersheba which belongs to judah and left his servant there but he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree and he prayed that he might die and said it is enough now lord take my life for i am no better than my fathers elijah had just witnessed the great victory of god i mean what a miracle that took place but here he lets fear take over him doesn't he he's afraid for his own life and he flees and he's on his own he's isolated but even there god does not leave his troubled prophet alone he's going to come to him and jonathan would you read for us these verses in chapter 19 verses 5 through 16. all right i'm reading from the english standard version and he lay down and slept under a broom tree and behold an angel touched him and said to him arise and eat and he looked and behold there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water and he ate and drank and lay down again and the angel of the lord came again a second time and touched him and said arise and eat for the journey is too great for you and he arose and ate and drank and went in strength of that food forty days and forty nights to of the mountain of god what sort of encouragement can we draw from god's response here with his depressed prophet i think it's very clear that god cares for his workers his prophets and today i think this is a good encouragement for pastors that even when we're burnt out because of all the pressures and all the work that is ahead of us god continues to pursue us allowing us to rest and recover and you know john here's an example of someone not waiting on the lord right but the beautiful picture of the immeasurable unfailing love of god is god does not discard elijah no he sends an angel to feed him sleeps more feed him again and eventually he says now you go and do these things crown this person as king and do these things god's saying i still have a work for you to do but but let me tell you when you don't wait on the lord you can act hastily you can be suicidal even like he was so to me i find it very encouraging because i think we've all had times when we've literally run ahead of the lord and the lord doesn't abandon us he sends angels to help us and then he says now let me tell you if you'd waited on me what i would have asked you to do and i'm still with you amen amen aren't there biblical promises that are given to those who wait upon the lord amen right those who wait upon the lord shall renew their strength right they shall be mounted with wings as eagles so on and so that's isaiah 40 and 31 and the just moments that we have remaining is can you talk about a time in your life where you have had to wait on god's timing for the fulfillment of some promise healing or deliverance quickly someone who may have had to deal with a waiting on god's timing please gladys well i'm still waiting yeah you know four years ago he delivered me from a brain tumor and now the threat is coming back so i'm waiting for the fulfillment fulfillment of his promise yeah we can draw encouragement can we yeah victor give him one quick yeah quickly just like she's saying we some people watching may be still waiting and this lesson is an encouragement for all of us to continue to trust in god and to be of good courage because while we're waiting right now um he has a plan for our lives amen amen amen what an encouragement this draws and leads us to amen amen thank you john what a great study i i need to learn to wait on the lord more consistently i'm raising my hand right now and saying i need to wait on the lord anybody raising your hand to um some but i'm just so thankful that if i do take a wrong turn and run ahead the lord sends an angel and says derek come back right uh he's not going to abandon us um wait on the lord be of good courage and he will strengthen your heart friend maybe someone's watching today maybe you're watching with tears in your eyes and saying derek you have no idea you have no idea what i'm going through but i'm here to tell you god knows and he is with you wait on him and he will strengthen your heart let's pray father in heaven we thank you that you promised i will never leave you or forsake you i will be with you always even to the end of the age teach us to wait upon you to rest in you to trust you our strong deliverer and soon coming king in jesus name amen amen well thanks for joining us for hope sabbath school today what a series you say derek i need those songs of hope go to our website download them i need to hide god's word in my heart because i want to learn to wait on the lord and be of good courage and don't keep the good news to yourself go out and be a blessing to those around you [Applause] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Hope Sabbath School - Official

Views: 43,825

Keywords: sabbath school, hope sabbath school, sabbath school lessons, bible, derek morris sermons, derek morris, christianity, hopesabbathschool, seventh-day adventist, sabbath school lesson, jesus christ, bible study, hope channel, hopechannel, suffering, suffering and trials, jesus, bible teaching, bible prophecy

Id: 5asc9Db_Esw

Length: 58min 45sec (3525 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 04 2022