“Empty” series week 1

“Filled with Encouragement”

Today, we begin our sermon series that I have entitled “Empty.”

I believe we all have experienced times or even seasons when we have felt a sense of emptiness. But rather than focus on the side of emptiness, I want to discuss over the Sunday’s leading up to Easter, how we can receive fullness in the place of emptiness.

To get started, I want to take us to an Old Testament story found in 1 Samuel. The setting is David running for his life from King Saul’s attempts to take his life.

If anyone had a reason to feel empty, it must have been David.

He didn’t do anything wrong, yet Saul was attempting to kill him.

David ran for his life, only to find himself at one point in a cave.

A group of 400 men gathered to David in the cave who Scripture describes as “everyone who was in distress, in debt, and who was bitter in soul.”

David, although surrounded by 400 depressed men, continued to make the right choices.

Eventually, things got so bad that David actually lived with his enemies in order to stay safe from the threats of Saul.

We pick up our story as David and his men are returning from battle only to find that their houses have been burned down, and their families taken captive.

Text: 1 Samuel 30:1-6

1 Samuel 30:1–6 (ESV)

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Can you imagine the emptiness they must have felt as they rode up to piles of rubble? They had lost everything that had meaning to them.

One cause of emptiness is loss and grief.

When we experience tremendous loss and disappointment, we naturally enter a time of grief. We must mourn the loss and work our way through grief in order to reach a place of health once again.

As David and his men process their loss, they become so overwhelmed with their grief that the men begin to pick up stones for the purpose of taking David’s life.

David was the leader, and as such, he was the one who they looked to for both guidance and relief.

Our text states that: “David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.”

They became so empty, all strength left them to the point of not even having the ability to weep anymore.

This extreme place of emptiness cannot be sustained for any length of time. We have been made to grieve and then move on to a place of restored health. But if/when we become stalled in our grief and are unable to move forward, we then experience a prolonged stated of emptiness which can lead us to drastic measures.

But there is one key statement in our text that we must take time to consider: “David encouraged himself in the Lord.”

I believe this ability to encourage ourselves in the Lord is the key in living a sustainable life filled with the goodness of God.

The importance of this ability cannot be over expressed. Until we learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord like David did on this overwhelming day, we will continue to find ourselves remaining in a place of unsustainable emptiness.

The text doesn’t tell us the specifics of how David encouraged himself. We can only draw conclusions based on other portions of Scripture which describe who David was and his relationship with God.

David was a worshipper.

David was a warrior.

David was a man after God’s own heart.

David carried the anointing of the Lord on his life.

David was a worshipper . . .

David loved the presence of God. We see in the Psalms many references of David seeking the “face of God.” To seek the face of God would indicate that David desired to maintain an intimate relationship with God.

Worship for David not only revealed his reverence for God, but also his relationship.

We also see in Scripture that David worshipped God with all his heart. He danced before the Lord even when ridiculed by his own wife. Yet, David purposed within himself to go all in when worshipping God without worrying what others thought or said.

It is possible that one way David learned to encourage himself in the Lord was through acts of worship.

What can we learn from David to encourage ourselves in the Lord when it comes to worship?

No matter the situation and how bad the circumstances, choose to worship. Worship is always a choice. It is a choice I can make whether I feel like worshipping.

When we worship, we lift our hearts to God and draw near to His presence. As we draw near to God, He promises to draw near to us.

Worship invites the presence and power of God into our lives and situations. The fastest way to join my heart with the Father’s is through worship.

The harder the situation, the greater the need to worship. It is easy to worship when things are going well. Choosing to worship in the midst of pain and emptiness requires an ability to rise above our circumstances. The Holy Spirit will help us rise above in order to draw closer to Jesus.

Worship drives back the enemy of our souls. The devil cannot stand our worship. He is repelled by the heart of worship which chooses to focus on God’s goodness in the midst of great devastation and loss.

Even though we are not told specifically that David encouraged himself through worship, it is reasonable to believe that worship had a part to play.

David was a warrior . . .

We clearly see the many battles that David and his men fought. David was a man of war. He lived from battle to battle. War is exhausting, and as David approached the next battlefield, he had to draw from a strength that beyonds his own.

We first become introduced to David as a young shepherd boy who cared for his Father’s sheep. While his brothers were off to war, David was on the backside of the hillside with a flock of sheep.

The day came for David to take supplies to his brothers at which time he heard the threats of Goliath bellow across the battlefield in the form of a challenge. Everyone remained in place captivated by fear, except David.

It is one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture. David the young shepherd boy picks up stones and carries a slingshot into battle against all odds as he faces a giant with battle experience.

1 Samuel 17:45 ESV

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and 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.

“I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.” This statement reveals David’s understanding that for each battle we face, we carry the name of the Lord with us.

The name of the Lord represents His power and authority. David wasn’t just slinging stones, he was running toward the giant with the name of the Lord in full embrace.

Once again, although our text doesn’t say specifically, but it is possible that David encouraged himself by remembering the power of the Lord which is readily available through His name.

The warrior spirit in David was founded upon the authority of the Father which he carried everywhere he went. The same holds true for us today. We have the name of the Lord available to us for the battles we face.

David was a man after God’s own heart . . .

What does it mean for David to have been a man after God’s heart?

Acts 13:22 ESV

And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

The key phrase is found in the final statement of the verse: “who will do all my will.” David was a man after God’s heart because he continually aligned his will with the will of the Father.

God trusted David with His will.

What a tremendous statement to make. It requires me to ask myself; can God trust me with His will?

One key characteristic of David’s was that he consistently pursued understanding and accomplishing the will of God. His heart was centered on the singular aspect of bringing pleasure and honor to God.

In the midst of difficulties and hardships, David sought the will of God.

When he was falsely accused and chased by Saul to take his life; David sought the will of God.

When David was living in the back of cave with a bunch of depressed men; he sought the will of God.

When David failed and committed murder; he sought the will of God in repentance.

In order to learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord, we must also continually seek the will of God in each and every situation. As we do, we will learn that God joins Himself to obedience, and like David, we can become a friend of God.

David carried the anointing of the Lord . . .

One thing we must keep in mind for the context of our story is that David had already been anointed king as he was on the run from Saul. Although he did not sit on the throne, God had already chosen him as His ruler.

The anointing of the Lord in the context of the Old Testament consisted of pouring oil on the head of the person for the sake of identifying them as God’s chosen one.

The oil would proceed to run down the face and onto the clothes of the individual. This is a symbol of the Holy Spirit’s anointing which is available for us today.

To carry the Holy Spirit’s anointing is to live in the footsteps of Jesus. What I mean by this is that Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the Father’s purpose on the earth. (Isaiah 61)

Everything Jesus did, He did as a result of the anointing of the Holy Spirit on His life. And Jesus stated that we would do the same works He did and even greater.

The anointing also represents the presence of God. David carried God’s presence with him. As such, each decision, each movement forward, each trial and difficulty was approached through the anointing of God on his life.

To learn this important lesson from the example of David’s life would help us to understand that we must carry God’s anointing on our lives.

Carrying God’s anointing will require a price from us:

Holiness- we are to come separate from the world. It has been said that we are in the world, but we are not of this world. God looks for a people who will carry His presence of holiness in an unholy land.

Obedience- in order to carry God’s anointing, we must remain faithful in obeying His commands. God says that “obedience is greater than sacrifice.” The issue of obedience must be settled long before we are faced with the trial. Our pre-determined obedience will be tested by the trial, but we cannot wait until the trial arrives to decide if we will be obedient.

Love of Christ- we are to become Christ-like. We are also to have the mind of Christ. This is to indicate that in order to live with God’s anointing on our lives, we must walk as Jesus walked. We must engage in loving others as Jesus loves us.

Everyone is loved equally by God, but not everyone carries the anointing of God.

How to find encouragement in the Lord in times of emptiness:

Choose worship over worry.

Access the power and authority of God through the name of Jesus.

Allow the situation to develop a heart in you that after God’s heart.

Invite and carry the anointing of God on your life.

There are times that face when we simply do not have the ability to “pull ourselves up by the bootstraps.”

David and his men faced such a time with the loss of their homes and families. Yet, David found a way to encourage himself in the Lord.

There will also be times when it is just you and God. No one else is around to help lift you out of an empty place, but this is the time and the place where we can and must learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord.

Prayer . . .