When you don't wait

We’re going to look at life in its rugged details. Life doesn’t go as planned. We often feel overwhelmed and we don’t always respond correctly. What are the dangers and helps in the midst of this messy world?

The Challenge of Discouragement

The narrative you tell yourself - when you stop waiting on God because you are overwhelmed

Spurgeon - 1854 - the first year of his ministry in London. Cholera struck. He threw himself into caring for his people and was almost daily standing at a grave. Soon, however, wear in body and sick at heart he began to think he was about to succumb. In a shoemaker’s window wasn’t a trade announcement but in good bold handwriting were the words:

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

He reported “Faith made the verse her own…I went on with my visitation of the dying in a calm and peaceful spirit.”

Be careful what you speak to your heart.

Write down your narrative

The hero unheroed - Are you mad at David? Do you feel betrayed? Why do you think the narrator is forcing you to look at this? God is the hero of the story. There is no other hero.

The Danger of Taking Things into Your Hands

:) The international song of the decade

David faces the distinct possibility of being a traitor. Something he’s been trying to avoid. It’s like doing something that feels like “losing God's plan for your life”.

We know something David doesn’t… David can’t successfully turn double turncoat and fight for Israel. Israel is about to lose and Saul be killed. Notice God’s mercy here.

We often feel ashamed of certain choices we felt forced into or made foolishly and the consequences of those choices. We wonder what God can do.

We are the church. The danger of stopping identifying with the church is that we detach ourselves as morally superior from those who need grace… as if we don’t need it too.

The Amazing Grace of God

The bottom does fall out sometimes - the very thing he was trying to protect he loses

J.B.Phillips - In the course of a letter of encouragement, the woman described some of her own sufferings. Any unhappy childhood. She had several severe illnesses. 7 years ago she had had polio which had left her with elbow sticks for walking but some sort of systemic gangrene set in which hampered that. Then her husband saw the effects of the polio, he could take no more and left her with 3 small children and no income. God provided but later her daughter’s fiance was killed by a car. Then: 2 years later her daughter was in a car accident and suffered a concussion but told no one about it. But it caused suicidal thoughts so that she tried to take her life. She tried two more times before being committed to an instution where she was unable to communicate love and care for her daughter. Yet, she wrote, in all these times she never knew God to fail. (The daughter eventually was healed once they realized she had had a concussion.)

He strengthened himself in God -

The promises of God

The prayer to God

God's grace

He strengthened himself in God - the opposite of what Saul does

He wins everything back and even has extra to give to the places he’s depended on for years.

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

When you receive grace, what do you do with it?

This is where we will always end up in this life... You can try to explain things, control things, escape things, and conquer things but the only hope and constant we have is the grace of God. He is our Rock and there is no other. He is surprising, quietly merciful, and lavishly gracious.

It's best to not stop waiting on God but, when you do and it goes wrong, strengthen yourself in God's grace. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. God opposes the proud (Saul) but gives grace to the humble (David).

What narrative do you tell yourself? May it be the narrative “I need God’s grace and He is faithful to His promises today.”