Chronicles: Positioned for Promise (4)

When your life is in the Hands of God

John 10:28–30 NLT

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Our security, our destiny, and our promotion are not in human hands — they are in God’s hands. David’s life was a living example of what happens when a man allows his life to stay surrendered under God’s mighty hand.

Illustration: In the hands of a child, a slingshot is a toy. In the hands of David, it became a weapon of deliverance. In the hands of Jesus, five loaves and two fish fed thousands. In the hands of the Potter, clay becomes something beautiful. It’s not what is in your hand that matters — it’s whose hand your life is in.

1. God’s hand on David’s Life

God tells David in 1 Chron 17:7-8

1 Chronicles 17:7–8 NLT

“Now go and say to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I took you from tending sheep in the pasture and selected you to be the leader of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before your eyes. Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!

God’s hand was upon David -

God’s hand was upon David from the field to the throne. Every victory, every promotion, every battle won was the result of the hand of the Lord guiding him.

Stay humble- God exalts

1 Peter 5:6–7 NLT

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.

When you stay humble under God’s hand, He exalts you in His time (1 Peter 5:6–7).

“The Humble years are the proving years.” If God’s hand was upon you in obscurity, it will still be upon you in visibility.

The Humility of David was the was the means of exaltation -

Never lose your humbleness- 1 Chron 17:17

1 Chronicles 17:17 NLT

And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God!

If God’s hand is upon you durring the Humble years, His hand will be on you as you grow

Don’t lose sight of God- He is the Source

2. The Lord My Source

Provision: Ps 23:1

Psalm 23:1 ESV

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Philippians 4:19 ESV

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Wisdom

Proverbs 2:6–7 NLT

For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.

For strength

Isaiah 40:28–31 NLT

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

Exodus 15:2 ESV

The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

For Life

Psalm 36:9 NLT

For you are the fountain of life, the light by which we see.

Never leave the Source that causes you to produce. When we forget that the Lord is our Source, we begin to dry up spiritually.

“Those who stay rooted in God’s hand never wither in dry seasons.”- Psalm 1

3. Acknowledge God as Your Source- Give Praise where Praise is due-

There is an acknowledgment in the Life of Believers that says, “If it had not been for the Lord

Psalm 124 NLT

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David. What if the Lord had not been on our side? Let all Israel repeat: What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us? They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger. The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us. Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives. Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart! We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap. The trap is broken, and we are free! Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Every believer must be able to say, “If it had not been for the Lord…”

Where would I be if God was not on my Side

Where would I be if the Lord wasn’t my helper.

There are battles in our life that we came through because Psalm 124:6

Psalm 124:6 NLT

Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart!

During the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871, evangelist D.L. Moody lost his home, his church, and everything he owned. When asked how he could still preach the next Sunday, he said, “I’ve been preaching for years that the Lord is my everything — now I get to prove it.” That’s the voice of a man who knows where his help comes from.

When we give God credit for every victory, we remain positioned for the next one.

4. Keep your eyes focused on God

“In the spring, when kings go out to battle… but David remained in Jerusalem.” (1 Chron. 20:1)

David’s fall with Bathsheba began not with lust, but with idleness. He stopped doing what he was anointed to do. The enemy always looks for an idle heart.

Key Principle: If the devil can’t destroy you through pressure, he’ll try through passivity.

1 Chronicles 21:1 — “Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census.”

The moment David took his eyes off God as his Source, pride took the throne of his heart.

Temptation always begins with a shifted focus.

John 10:10 — The thief’s purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy. 1 Corinthians 10:13 — God provides a way of escape.

Illustration: Peter walked on water until he looked at the storm (Matthew 14:30). The same principle applies — what you focus on determines whether you walk or sink.

This is where we go awry- It one thing to bless the Lord in the Good-times, in the Times where you receive a touch or a Word

When the presence of God is full

when the songs of worship are a live

when the Lord is touching you and you feel the tangible presence of God on the Sunday morning

But what are when the everyday life is happening?

What happens on the Monday mornings?

See Sunday services end and it is what happens next that matters

Has the Lord changed?

Understanding the process of Falling

1. The Devil attacks when you are Idle

1 Chronicles 20:1 ESV

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. And Joab struck down Rabbah and overthrew it.

This is the Same time in which David would fall into sin with Bathsheba- Ezra leaves this part of the Story out

1 Chronicles 21:1 NLT

Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.

When we become Idle we open the Door to the Devil

Strengthen your weakness

Know the areas of your life that can be a harassed and used for your downfall

if its anger

bitterness

anxiety

fear

hunger for power

Lust

Greed

the Enemy will come in with temptation

And temptation is the first tool of satan’s demonic plan of

John 10:10 NLT

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

2. The temptation is to take your eyes off of God

Keep God on the throne of your Heart

God told David- “I will make your name famous”

You don’t have to make your own name famous

1 Chronicles 21:2–3 NLT

So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.” But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

3. Don’t harden your heart so you can receive

A Potter can only mold soft clay

1 Chronicles 21:4 NLT

But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem

Hebrews 3:8–15 ESV

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ” Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

When David insisted on numbering the people, he hardened his heart against God’s warning (1 Chron. 21:4). Pride resists correction; humility receives it.

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Illustration: A potter can only mold soft clay. Once it hardens, it can only be broken. Stay moldable in the hands of God — even when He’s correcting you.

4. You are Responsible for the Word of God in Your Life

God has given it us it

Joshua 1:8 NLT

Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

If God says it in the Word I am responsible for my life

You cannot expect God’s results without God’s obedience. Faith that doesn’t apply the Word produces frustration instead of fruit.

“What you do determines what you produce. God’s promises are sure — but they respond to obedience.”

Quote: Smith Wigglesworth said,

“I am not moved by what I see; I am moved only by what I believe. And I believe the Word of God.”

What you do matters to the outcomes you get in life

What Does David Do when He wanders from the Source?

His cry:

Psalm 51

He doesn’t try to sugar coat, or try to justify

He cries out for the source

Psalm 51:8 NLT

Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me— now let me rejoice.

God was His source

God was His victory

Psalm 51:12 NLT

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

David’s Response

1 Chronicles 21:13 NLT

“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

Failing into God’s grace- God’s action was just to destroy Jerusalem- But His mercy is great

The place that was ment to be the destruction of David and Jerusalem because of sin, became the place of Worship and Mercy

1 Chron 21:18-22:1

What was once a place of sin became a place of sacrifice. That’s the story of the cross — what was meant for death became our place of life.

Closing Thought

When your life is in the hands of God, you are safe, shaped, and sustained.

“The safest place in all the world is still the center of God’s will.” — Corrie Ten Boom

David’s story reminds us:

Stay humble — God’s hand will lift you.

Stay focused — His Word will guide you.

Stay soft — His mercy will restore you.