The Cave of Compassion 1 Samuel 24

last week we talked about first Samuel 25 fewer here we went over a message titled don't marry an idiot and that was a story about Nabal which literally means fool and his wife Abigail and King David or what would be I guess King David he wasn't quite King yet but in that story it's really a representative of our Christian lives you have Nabal this fool who really represents the old sinful self Romans 6 says that has been rendered inactive it's still there but it's it's rendered inactive because of the blood of Christ where Abigail who's a representative or she represents us the church how she was yoked to this enable to this fool to this old self and then here comes King David who gives mercy to the house of Nabal and also God ends up taking out navel at kills navel so this old flesh is rendered inactive navel dies abigail was yoked to this man and is now will become married to David so she transitions and is yoked to him so it's really a cool picture of how we were once dead in our sins and how now we are saved and sanctified and glorified eventually by Jesus Christ really coolest story but I wanted to go back a chapter this week to a first Samuel 24 it's amazing Old Testament story I hope you get a lot about out of it today as much I believe to offer you and the title we landed on today it was the cave of compassion and when I showed my wife this title she thought it sounded like it came out of like a Christian romance novel as well as a sermon so I guess it I guess a kid v but I assure you I have not started a new hobby since last week I'm not a Christian romance author okay not gonna do that I don't know what a Christian romance novel would look like because you imagine like you're reading it it'd be like you know John and Melissa fell in love so they decided to date I mean court each other so they courted one another for six months and in that sixth month they held hands okay I don't know if that would be all that steamy so it may not be good you just don't see a whole lot of need out there for a Christian Rome novels but who knows we might be on to something so we're in 1st Samuel 24 so if you want to open up your Bibles to there or you can reference the screen or now you can reference that cool app go to your App Store type in my church app if you get on there there are sermon notes you can follow right along with us a prequel tool that we can use today but as we start can I can I ask you a question as we get going okay thank you sir for your permission I'm gonna ask you anyway so no has there ever been someone in your life that you wanted to just punch in the face yeah any amens hallelujahs okay maybe you've been maybe you men don't get don't get carried overboard okay just a question but maybe you've become so fed up with someone that the only thing that seemed like the right thing to do was to break their nose right you been there okay you might as well admit it all right because if you don't admit that you've been a murderer at heart then now you're a liar too okay so you might as well come clean but uh you know I I just want to say that I have never been there before okay me and Jesus we're up on this pedestal all by ourselves okay we're perfect we're sinless of course not right me too we've all wanted to or have smack someone upside of the face but doesn't it isn't it the worst though when you come across somebody and they've mistreated you and you know that your anger is justified right the hardest thing to do in that moment is to not break a person's nose when you feel justified when you know that you know that you've been wronged and when you know that they know that they deserve a broken nose there was a an inmate that I I worked with I was a corrections officer many of you know for seven years in Hall County and this particular inmate had been given me a hard time all day and he became to a place where he was becoming unsafe for me to manage and to be around other inmates he was starting to entice or an insight the the block and so I locked him down for 23 hours you lock him down for 23 hours legally you got to give him that for recreation so out of the safety of the facility we locked him down he did not like that at all and every time I would do around he would gesture to me not the thumbs up he would he would say things he would make fun of me he'd I don't know I heard all sorts of things about myself that I hadn't really realized before but you know this was occurring and every part of you right wants to like retaliate and like walk up and knock on the door and be like hey I'm going home I'll see you later you know like just something that's this in you right all sorts of evil thoughts you want to like lay hands on him but you can write well I was a Christian too and even in this in my anger I wanted to model to him Jesus I wanted to show him that you know I'm not like the world these other officers I Lee was there to serve the Lord and so I prayed and began to pray as the Bible says pray for your enemies don't repay insult for insult love those who persecute you so I just began to pray to God that day just to give me something to just make this it go away between us and anyway lunchtime came I I open up his food pass and I put the tray through and he kind of takes it from me and gives me another gesture not a thumbs up sign and he eats his meal and I come back about a half hour later and I open it up and he throws it out you know it gets all over me and like gee thanks dude so at that point I go back to the the meal tray and there's an extra cookie on it and so I get a napkin and I saw this doesn't my opportunity I put the cookie on the tray I open the food pass and I just put it there and he looks at it and he looks at me and uh you could just see his mind explode right he's like what are you doing is that for me like of course it's for you it's not for the other guy in that cell over there you know it's like how is he gonna get it but anyway so but I saw in that moment just like a wow thank you you know and I saw the hatred I saw the anger and that moment melt away and it was the stupidest thing a dumb little cookie but it was that little cookie that was a gesture that just communicated to him I believe Christ's love it just showed him that I'm dealing with you in a better way I'm giving you a little grace we deserve the grace but after that moment I never had an issue with that guy again ever he was always for me he would actually other inmates would start giving me a hard time he would kind of come to the forefront say hey officer a man is cool you leave him alone so it was it was awesome to see that God has better ways for us to deal with people then it just punched them in the face amen proverbs 15:1 says this a gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger think about the last argument that you were in be careful though as you start thinking about that the argument that you were in that you're not contorting your face and making facial expressions because that person they argue with me right be right next to you so just be careful how you proceed in this moment but what would happen if we would apply this proverb to that last argument do you think that most of our arguments could be stopped dead in their tracks if we just be obedient to this one scripture I wonder - has anyone ever argued with the six-year-old yep yep you cannot win with this version of human being can you our six-year-old daughter RJ or Riley Jo or as I call her Lurlene don't ask okay anyway when when a she argues she likes to argue kind of daily with her mom and I about the same thing every morning she has the same ritual okay wakes up brushes her hair argues with mom and dad it's pretty engrained into her ways the source of my daughter's anger her frustration and in the tears lots of tears right it is are you ready for it blue jeans it's blue jeans my daughter has a hatred for blue jeans like they are Satan himself I'm telling you okay I'm curious does anyone else ever had that issue with blue jeans a couple of Oh with Rachel you have I know I don't know what it is with Andrew or with Jaime not a blue chain that'd be weird if you're addressing Andrew as a child I'd be kind of you live for blue jeans Amen I don't understand this but we have found a compromise with my daughter we found that if we put her blue jeans in the dryer first at Riley's request obviously that she'll then go put on the blue jeans almost protest free apparently when the blue jeans come out of the of the dresser at 72 degrees that's not good enough so they got they got to be a crispy 120 for her to to put on a gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger we're gonna we're gonna see this principle played out in our story today our story about King David or excuse me just David and King saw at this time so we go to us a First Samuel 24 and up to this point we have David running from Saul see David was in the court of the King he was one of his uh his men fought many wars saw is the acting King here and Saul is becoming very very jealous of David he hates David actually you know there's this saying that's out there even at this time that that saw has killed his thousands David has killed his ten thousands you know that shouldn't be something that people are saying not about the king and so you see this transgress into saw becoming very very angry and against David even to the point that when David is playing the harp for the King the king Chuck's a spear - at David trying and attempting to kill him David gets it about him that I probably better get out of here right and so he runs out of the kingdom and he's still very much on Southside but he takes a contingent two men about 600 of them that were traveling with him and he's running around and saw is after him with 3,000 men so that is the context today of our story assault is chasing after David trying to kill him so we start in first Samuel 24 verse 1 he says after saw returned from pursuing the Philistine so saul had been chasing david he was just formerly closing in right on him he was on the other side of a mountain from king david and then he was summoned to go fight the Philistine somewhere else in the part of israel that was being raided when he returned though he was told David is in the desert in Getty now in Getty is a lush Oasis found on the west bank of the Dead Sea you can go ahead and show me that a map here for me it's right there you see the Dead Sea you got Jerusalem right over here and just on that West Bank there is in Getty what's interesting about in Getty is that there are many you know dead springs around here you could say a salt water springs in Getty is one of two freshwater springs that are found surrounding the Dead Sea there so you could see what a great place this would be for a fugitive like King David to go and to hide out because he had access to fresh drinking water so as the Bible continues I says so Saul took 3,000 able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the crags are the wild goats you get the feeling that saw really wants to find David when he's coming after you with numbers of men in the triple thousands he saw came to the sheep pens along the way a cave was there and Saul went in to relieve himself David and his men were far back in the cave so here comes Saul right looking for David he's he's searching this rocky area for him and then duty calls right it's it's always good for me to be reminded that the people in the Bible were human they were still subject to the same limitations that we are today this phrase in the Bible relieve himself in the NIV is more literally translated Saul went into the cave to cover his feet okay this is an interesting phrase and there have been a couple meanings to this that have been proposed there's evidence of this phrase that it means to just rest or to take a nap the temperature we would know around in Getty the the Judean Desert there would be upwards of a hundred and twenty degrees on some days and so you know Saul he would grow very tired and very weary from being on his murderous tirade to find King sir to find David and so he would have sought maybe some refuge in this cave or it's cool it's nice it's damp would be a place to hide out for a little while and take a nap but probably and more likely what this term covered his feet means as a saw went into the cave to use the restroom for a few minutes apparently going into the cave to do one's business that apparently that's proper toilet etiquette okay back in the day Oh ladies you you have a a proper bathroom etiquette today are you aware of this you do you have protocol that you got to follow when you go to the restroom the protocol for women is that you can't go alone right you gotta you gotta go with somebody else I don't know why that's a rule but you got you got to follow it um you got a you got to go to the restroom with another gal another lady you got a form an alliance right you got to have a battle buddy to go in there with you my theory is that there's something lurking in our in our women's bathroom so I do whatever is lurking in there I've discovered I've discovered it's weakness though okay and what its weaknesses every woman that I'm aware of has a little purse or purse size bottles of foo-foo spray I'm pretty sure that whatever's in there they team up and they combine their foo-foo sprays that it kills it instantly I don't know what it is okay but they're all there I'm gonna change the subject now okay um guys though we got it we got a protocol to for the bathroom okay you might not be aware of it fellas what we do okay but guys you know that it's an unspoken rule okay to never under any circumstances ever without question for any reason whatsoever to use the urinal that's right next to a urinal that is already occupied by another man amen you know the law of the buffer urinal you can show me my FK you know the buffer you got to have the one right in the middle I don't know it's a rule but it's just a rule you don't violate the sacred rule okay um let me test your knowledge fellas if you're using the one on the right which one do you you if the one on the right is being used which one do you use the one all the way to the left right you don't go in the middle you always go the the maximize distance period so check out in our story how David completely violates all the bathroom laws and protocols in history okay so saw here he goes to the cave to the Bible says relieve himself and verse 4 continues and says this it says the men said this is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you I will give your enemies into your hands for you to deal with as you wish then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe David and his men right there already hanging out in this cave they're already they're there kind of in the back of it and they apparently see this cave when they're coming up on it and they see wow that looks like a great place to hide that looks like a great place to hang out and rest Saul sees this cave from a distance and he thinks bathroom that looks like a good place to use the bathroom so David and the boys right there hanging out in the back of this cave and suddenly they see this shadowy figure dark in the caves entrance they realized that this figure isn't just any one but it's King saw in the flesh do you think I wonder if David and his men were slightly horrified and as Saul came in and he turned their nice little resting place into his own personal latrine I think he might have been regardless though David David and his men they see this happening and they believe that the Lord is handing saw into David's hand into David's hands for an easy kill see David's men urge David to violate all of history's bathroom protocols and deal with King Saul as he wished while he was doing his business his friends most likely were thinking you know David kill him take the throne of Israel now opportunity stands right before you so David listening at least in part to the urging of his friends he sneaks up to saw he cuts off the corner of the robe of his robe while he's doing his thing and then immediately after doing this the Bible says in verse five that David was conscious stricken for having cut off a corner of the robe see David's conscious wasn't stricken because he he had just realized they had violated sacred bathroom protocol okay maybe it should have but it wasn't but what David realizes here is that he was starting to take revenge into his own hands instead of leaving it in the hands of God where it belonged according to David's men they said this they said this is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish see there's no scripture recorded that backs up this claim of the men but it appears that this word was actually from the Lord to David and that David recognized it as a word from the Lord because David here's what the men say and it then propels him into action he believes their words in other words Saul here remember Saul's a jerk okay he probably deserved to have someone cut the robe of his while he was using the restroom he probably even deserved to die while he was using the restroom for the ways that he had mistreated David and maybe perhaps David is starting to buy into this mentality he feels justified to seek revenge and his friends are coaxing him on and telling him that you know God himself David has delivered saw into your hands this kill is yours see but the truth is revenge it's not David's to take the Bible tells us this about revenge it says in Romans 12 do not take revenge my dear friends but leave room for God's wrath for it is written it is mine to avenge I will repay says the Lord see when we take revenge we end up doing it wrong right we don't take revenge justly and perfectly like the Lord can what we do is we short-circuit God's better plan of paying back evil and in turn justice isn't served to the full extent that it could have otherwise been but david here he takes some bad advice from his buddies anybody ever been there took some bad advice from buddies derek of course obviously right you should really get to know Derek he's a he's a great guy right but then so at the bad advice of his his buddies David walks up to saw and he cuts off a piece of the hem of his his robe David then says this immediately after after doing so he regrets his decision then he says this he says the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master the Lord's anointed or lay my hand on him for he is the anointed of the Lord see what David's men recognized as an open door from the Lord David recognized as a test from the Lord and be careful about what's a test and what's an open door because these two things can appear an awfully lot alike in our own lives okay here's all right he he comes wandering into not just any cave in the entire Judean Desert but he comes wandering into this one at this precise moment when David and his men are there getting cool what are the odds of that right that doesn't seem like chance to me David's guys automatically assume that hey this is a sign from the Lord see Saul seems to have been delivered right into David's hands and that's exactly what God's Word to him said that I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish see David had this word but there's nothing in that word to indicate that the Lord's will is for David to kill Saul it appears that the Lord has given David the choice I wonder what you would have done if you were David and had the choice to kill Saul or to let him live you've been running right from this madman your your Roman this hot desert you're living in caves and holes like your Saddam Hussein or something at the end of his life and and all all of that could end right now okay with one slice of a neck your running days are over tomorrow morning you could be waking up as the new ruler of Israel you get a sweet house you get to do cool King stuff for the rest of your life you know honestly I don't know what I'd done I probably would have cut the guy's head off okay I know me I don't like hot I don't like eating bugs I get claustrophobic in caves okay sorry Lord I'm gonna kill your anointed my flesh is weak I don't know but David right hit a man after God's own heart had discernment that his friends didn't have David knew the difference between right and wrong he knew the difference between God's will and the will of the flesh and the will of the enemy we to church we've got to know God we have to be people after God's own heart we have to be students of the Word of God we have to know our Bibles inside and out so we too can know the difference between right and wrong only then and by doing those things will we then be able to distinguish the difference between an open door that God opens or an open door that's Satan opens we got to recognize the difference between an exam or an entryway do you know a really easy way to be able to tell the difference between an exam or what's a test and what's a what's the open door and entryway it's simple and I like to do two things when I when I test these things first I like to remember a 1st Corinthians 10:31 it says so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do it all for the glory of God even little minut things like eating and drinking even those consider God before you do them and then I ask myself is what I'm about to do is this gonna glorify God no matter what it is is the decision I'm about to make as good for me as it would be for the Lord or or my walk with the Lord if your answer is yes this choice this decision this thing this opportunity if this will glorify the Lord and enhance my walk with Him do it ah I have a brother that many of you you know you tell him he looks like me and you all the time I'm the I'm the I'm the original he's the carbon copy just so you know okay um but he was miraculously saved a month month and a half ago now and right here in our church so it was awesome is awesome day and it's been really cool seeing the Lord do stuff in his life he's getting a hunger for God's Word he wants to follow him he wants to please him I see him praying I see I see conviction on his life it's cool I see God working and about the first couple weeks after treinta put his faith in Christ he took my girls to a storm hockey game in Kearney and Trent used to live in Kearney and when he's there by happenstance two of his ex band members come up to him he sees him there and Trent used to be a drummer of this band and this band of course would go around bar to bar and do the thing and you know they would drink and you know the stereotypical band thing so they they approach him and they say dude you're back in town yeah I'm back in town hey you should come play with us my brother didn't give him an answer that I'll think about it he came home and he asked me not that I have all the answers but he said they want me to come play with them I love playing the drums you know should I do it and I just asked him will this playing for them will it get you closer to the Lord or or will it bring you farther away from the Lord and you know you'll leave the decision with him and and let the Lord direct him and thankfully Trent decided against that and decided that if he's ever gonna play drums again it's gonna be on our trap set right here so I was really proud of him in that moment to understand the difference between a test and and a an open door so David here instead of killing saw like like he could have he chooses to instead cut the corner of David's robe off now here's why this is such a big deal um can I have this okay I didn't I only had pictures of this earlier but Sharon but she just like happened to have one of these in her purse today I don't know anyone else walking around with one of these only Sharon okay I didn't it was a thank you Lord God provides so here's this garment and I don't know if you can see it very good here and there's some pictures up there I'm gonna try not to drop this like the American flag you don't want to touch the ground right so it's touching the ground I don't know okay anyway so you have this guy here and along the hem here this is more of a shawl but what we're talking about here is the is the seat seat okay and there are these little strings or strands here and and on them are knots in many of the Orthodox Jews today they still wear garments like this as you can see and King Saul would have worn similar sort of garments with these a seat seats on them at this time and if you go back to the Book of Numbers why they do this why they have this practice you go back to the Book of Numbers the Lord tells Moses to tell the people of Israel to wear fringes on the borders of their garments throughout the generations and to put on the borders of their garments to put on ribbon of blue so that they could look upon these things and remember the commandments of the Lord and not just remember them but remember to do them so they got this blue inside you can see inside of these strings and they got them as kind of a main color on the garment and you know when the Jews think of blue and and what the Bible speaks of blue blues the color of heaven when you see the color blue it reminds them that they're not a people of this world there are people reserved for heaven they're citizens first of heaven and that is a thing that we are as well we are people that are destined for heaven oh these knots as you see these knots and the patterns of these garments they told things about the person who was wearing these you could often tell a man's School of Theology if you will the person that he trained under what family line he came from you get a distinguish all these things about him just by looking at the sequence and the order and the design of how these knots were were put on the fringe here Saul the King would have had very distinctive markings on his robe signifying him as the king of Israel Saul would also have had 613 individual knots throughout his his uh the little lines down here the little what do you call these strings why 613 knots is because each knot represented one of the 613 commandments from the Lord that are found in the law one for each law see when David in the story when he cuts the seat seat of Saul what he is saying is you've been cut off from your heritage you've been cut off from your kingdom today you've been cut off from your people you've been cut off from taurah the law david instantly started to feel bad than in his conscience about doing this because he realized that this judgment wasn't his to take into his own hands see David knew that this kingdom was eventually his he knew he would be the king of Israel he'd been previously anointed as king by Samuel as a young boy but David also knew that God would hand him the kingdom on his terms and in his own time David is feeling his conscience pricked here because he knew God's justice and judgment were better than any that he could ever administer himself yet he cast judgment on Saul by declaring the kingdom had been ripped away from him and I wonder if any of us are guilty of doing a similar thing in our in our own lives so we often want to speed up God's promises for our own lives right we sometimes we need to be just patient if we're gonna follow God's will and be the people that he wants us to be sometimes we believe that maybe a promotion at a job a bid for a job or a reward for one of our accomplishments we believe that those are ours to have we believe like we deserve those things over other people that currently have them or are currently being considered for the promotion or or the bid or or the award if we have to do something immoral to get what we desire if we have to cheats or somehow harm someone else to get the thing that we want before it is ours your heart should convict you what we see in our story with David here is that we must wait on the timing of the Lord in these moments be patient and let the Lord work things out if you do that not only could you end up getting that promotion that award that job that bid but you will be there by God's appointments and with the blessing of God as well one more thing I want you to see here church in this part of the story is that God is actually using King saw to help David become the man that he wants him to be see God doesn't just save us from hell and say welp you prayed the prayer you're saved I'll see you when you get here he doesn't do that make no mistake right praying for forgiveness and receiving salvation that is not the finish line that is the starting line amen God wants us to live our lives on purpose and for a purpose he wants to use us to reach more people with the good news that Jesus Christ saves sinners like Derek and like myself amen God's job is to help you and I to distance ourselves from our sins and bring us closer to being and acting more like Jesus so to do that God will test us god puts obstacles in our lives to check our character and to expose to us our own character he allows people in our lives like Saul people who want to harm us people who want to belittle us people who chase us around with spears and send their army of thousands coming after us maybe that particular thing has never happened to us but maybe your battles at home maybe you're subject to an array of abuses or lies or or slander in your relationships at home or or elsewhere first let me let me just say that if that's occurring to you if there's abuse happening you know seek help get help get safety this church we're here we're here to advocate for you but also know that if even if bad things are occurring in your life God is still using that evil for your good if you're a Christian amen don't miss hear me on that point okay it's not God's will for those things to occur in your life okay if you remember God made a sinless perfect world that was his will to live in complete harmony and complete unity with us but if you are a highly favored child of the one true king then you know that all things are working together for your good as Romans 8:28 says you know that God can take the things that people mean for evil against you and turn them around and make them work for your good and for his glory God uses even all that garbage that we have to endure to make us a sanctified and holy people people who reflect his sons likeness see if David in this store if he would have just simply killed saw here I believe that David would have suffered because God wanted to do a lot more stuff and Dave his life through saw God was teaching David things through the anger and murderous desires of saw so what this means for you is that when horrible things occur in your life and when people hurt you don't retaliate trust in God trust that he's gonna use even this and also trust that he will be the one who is responsible for avenging you remember that God can avenge you better than you would ever avenge yourself God I believe though he leaves that choice with us he says don't take revenge that revenge is his but it's up to you to trust that word and to leave it right there to leave it with him the truth is God's vengeance is much better than the vengeance that we could ever impose anyway amen now watch what happens as we read the rest of the story here and we close with with one last point here first Samuel 24 verse 6 he said this to his men this is David saying this to his men said the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master the Lord's anointed or lay my hand on him for he is the anointed of the Lord with these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul and Saul left a cave and he went his way then David went out of the cave and called the saw my lord the King when Saul looked behind him David bow down and prostrate it himself with his face to the ground he said to Saul why do you listen when when men say that David is bent on harming you this day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave some urged me to kill you but I spared you I said I will not lay my hand on the Lord because he is the Lord's anointed see my father look at this piece of robe in my hand I cut off the corner of your robe but I didn't kill you see that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion I have not wronged you but you are hunting me down to take my life may the Lord judge between me and you and may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me but my hand will not touch you as the old saying goes from evildoers come evil deeds so my hands will not touch you against whom has the king of Israel come out who are you pursuing a dead dog a flea may the Lord be our judge and decide between us may he consider my cause and uphold it make Eve indicate me by delivering me from your hand the king saw had it in his mind that since he wanted to kill David that David must want to kill him too people are often going to assume church that that because they hate you and mistreat you and oppose your views and they oppose your beliefs and all that you stand for that you are gonna automatically hate them and seek to mistreat them as well but see the difference with you lifehouse from the rest of the world where that may be true the difference with you is that your Christians little Christ you aren't like the world you don't seek to get even or seek to get revenge if you're wronged be wronged don't try to justify yourself let God instead come to your aid and fight for you you know I say that and that gets a lot of opposition sometimes so I'm just supposed to be wrong and just be adornment I'm not asking you to be a doormat do we not believe that God is advocating for us see we say it like if I don't do anything nothing's gonna happen but what about God leave it with him do we really trust the words that come out of the Bible but I would feel so it's just I can't let her get away with that what about the rumors what about I gotta say something no let God you may feel good for walking up to somebody in a second and saying you know what I don't like those rumors that you're saying and you're gonna stop it you know that may feel good for just a moment but what if you don't what if you let God deal with it what if you let God work it out which one do you think will be better the Bible says do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult on the contrary repay evil with the blessing because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing you know what by your act of kindness to someone who is is treating you horribly it might actually open up a door to share with him the gospel there was a lady in a church that I was a part of who who was against me okay and I'm perfect I didn't do anything okay probably um there's probably Fault on both sides but she did not like me she didn't like my leadership style wasn't for me and that's fine but I felt justified with everything I had done I had the leadership on my side I could have rallied a coup and we could have done all sorts of stuff kicked her out of the church whatever but I wanted to go a different way because we're not to repay evil for evil so I prayed to God looking God give me some opportunities with this lady she's walking around church one time she's she's trying to find a help for a house project that she needed some men to do and I was the first one that came up and said hey can I come help and you saw the hatred melt away in her face and she's like I really why you do you want to come and steal my stuff no I want to help you I want to bless you and I want to steal your stuff but know there's a different way you want those people you know it's not always going to work some people are just not gonna treat you well even after you do this but you know what at least you witness to them Jesus isn't that better than seeking your own form of revenge anyway part of trusting God is trusting this part of his word when dealing with other people this part that says don't repay evil with evil this part that says don't insult those who insulted you and I'm talking about people in this room who insult other people in this room do we really believe that God will come to our defense do we really believe that he will make all things right then we have to choose to bless those who treat us horribly we have to intentionally drop any anger or bitterness that we have and choose instead to find ways to bless those who hurt or harm or oppose us it's a hard thing but that is the will of God as we just read worship team you can come on up and start playing last little bit of the story and I want you to see how saws heart changes even though it proves to be a temporary heart change it's a heart change nonetheless for Samuel 24 16 says when David finished saying this saw asked is that your voice David my son and he wept aloud you are more righteous than I he said you have treated me well but I have treated you badly you have just now told me about the good you did to me the Lord delivered me into your hands but you did not kill me when a man finds his enemies does he let him get away unharmed the answer obviously not may the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family so David gave his oath to Saul then Saul returned home but David and his man went up to the stronghold proverbs 15:1 lived out before us right here in this scripture a gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger see what would have happened if if David came out of the cave also known as as Saul's bathroom and gloated hear about not killing saw and then then held up the piece of cloth over him as a way to shame saw what would happen if David chose to mock Saul and belittle him instead of bowing before him and treating him with respect and kindness see I have no doubt that saws heart would have hardened that moment against David he'd command as 3,000 men to go fight David in his six hundred men many would die much unnecessary sacrifice would take place David though being gods eventually eventually king I believe would have secured that victory Saul would die and David would end up again with the kingdom before his appointed time and much of God's original plan plan a would have been thwarted now listen God could use Plan B or C or D or F but plan a is God's best for you it's best for for King David sin always has a cost in our lives see God hates sin because God loves people and sin destroys his people he knows how sin destroys us how it messes us up how how it messes up his very best blessings for us listen church he can still use us if we've sinned he can still bless us he can still restore us but God's will is that we walk in obedience so that we can put into action plan a in our lives so I'll tell you the truth many of you know my testimony but I departed from plan a many years ago in my life for years I walked in spiritual darkness and it wasn't until I was 25 years old after a stretch of immoral decisions that I find the mercy and the forgiveness of God there's some there's some blessings in my life that God had for me that I missed because I walked away from plan a God's best I'm forgiving I'm saved I'm redeemed but I'll always know that God had a little more for me in certain areas of my life with that I can tell you though that that God has taken even the things that I broke even the things that were done against me that people meant for for evil and and he has made those things even those things work together for my good and for his glory I don't know I don't know if I'm on Plan B or X or BB I don't have any idea but what I do know is that right now I'm walking with the Lord and any plan with him today right now is better than any plan without him amen when David treated saw with respect and with kindness and he bowed before this man who was on a murderous rampage against him no one in here I don't think can say that maybe you can but probably not when this happened Saul's heart changed toward David he saw the kindness that David dealt him when he knew that he deserved wrath takes a lot of faith in humility to rest and to trust God when you're under attack when you're misunderstood when rumors are spreading about you and people are saying untrue things about you when that happens everything in you wants to rise up and do something about it but you are most like Christ when you remain silent under attack Jesus was constantly attacked getting never retaliated even on his way to the cross he remains silent before his accusers because he had entrusted himself to the care of the Father Church we gotta entrust ourselves to the care of the father we are not our own justify errs I'm not saying that we don't defend the weak we don't defend the down-and-out sometimes God uses us as defenders of others I'm talking about revenge I'm talking about vengeance those are not ours leave them with the Lord do we really trust this book that's part of our I trust in Jesus following his word and doing this go and stand with me and we'll pray father I thank you for today god I thank you for these these Christians who are different than this world who rely on you to be their defender god I pray right now that there are so many people in here dealing with their own situations there's rumors going about around some who knows at work wherever God there there's there's issues and lives there's unjustice is being done to people here all we want to do got to scream and take matters into our own hands and and fight our own battles but God I'm asking you to give them the faith to trust in you instead to right now confess Lord in our own hearts mine too that we've sought to be our own justifier for too long that even now we had plans premeditated plans to carry out our own actions that would have been destructive that would have parted from plan a of yours I pray God humbly we just confess those thanks to you right now that person the situation and we speak the blood of Christ over it Lord we ask you Father to raise up and be our defenders you rose up David and you avenged him as you avenged Abigail against Nabal you avenged David from Nabal as you avenged the Israelites from Goliath on and on the Scriptures go be our Avenger Lord I want to pray this scripture over our congregation first Peter 4:19 so if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God keep on doing what is right and trust your lives to the God who created you for he will never fail you amen

Channel: Lifehouse Church

Views: 365

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: ilifehouse, hastings, nebraska, church, lifehouse, worship, sermon, devotion

Id: cInsh-opPgk

Length: 48min 17sec (2897 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 12 2018