People of Valor, Part 4 - Encouragment for the Hero

Intro

being brave, demonstrating faith, is not easy

and heroes need encouragement too

in fact they need more encouragement because they are the ones out there taking risk

we have people of valor in this room, and this is encouragement for you

Background

when we speak of valiant, brave, hero . . . David cannot be left out

in this verse, this valiant man of God/hero prays, and concludes his prayer with this encouragement to himself, and now an encouragement for us today

Psalm 55:22 NASB95

22 Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.

Cast your burden upon the Lord

we say cast your burden/cares, and say it often . . . yet life has a way of coming at you that can cause you to forget this simplest of lessons

you will deal with something for a whole hour, day, week, month

trying to handle it, solve it, figure it out

trying to apply all your wisdom and resources

but this word says . . . take it to the Lord, let him deal with it, figure it out

. . . . . in other words pray about it

so right now, and I mean no insult to your Christian maturity . . . but . . . “Have you prayed about it?”

and I am not just asking if you pray, but have you prayed about your burden, because sometimes we we’ll say:

bless my health, give me favor, protect me today, bless my finances, open doors for me, help me to do your will . . . good prayers, but sometimes we need to go deeper to get to the burden

we need that transparency before the Lord

Lord, bless my health, because I am scared of dying, and leaving my family behind

Lord, give me favor because it seems that everything in life is going against me, and I’m starting to lose hope

Lord protect me, because this society is so violent, that I am starting to constantly walk around in fear

Lord bless my finances, because I am so tired of being broke, barely making it

Lord bless me to do your will because if so and so says one more cross word to me, I might choke them

Lord I am hurt, confused, worried, depressed, no joy, no peace

now, you’re talking burdens, and the scripture says to cast your burden upon the Lord

in this prayer, David had been betrayed by a close friend, and it really hurt him

he said could bear it if it had been an enemy, but his hurt was from a friend

he is feeling so bad that he wishes he could just quit life

oh that I had wings like a dove, then I could just fly away

leave all these problems, and responsibilities behind

speaking of responsibilities, burdens are not just problems but also responsibilities

David had so many responsibilities as the king, running the government, and protecting and entire nation

and when he said he wish he could fly away, he said I wish I could fly away to the wilderness . . . most likely referring to the time before he became king

leaving the burden of responsibility behind

some of us wish we could fly away to an earlier time without the burden of everything that we are responsible for now

Reponsibility is something else, you know what it’s like

I need to do these things, but how can I do these things

these things have a deadline, but I don’t have the time

these things are important, but I don’t have the strength

Lord, this burden is getting heavy!

but good news is that the words says, take it to the Lord!

pass the responsibility to the Lord!

I will do my very best, but ultimately, I will leave the results up to God

I don’t have the strength, and if it’s going to get done, Lord, you will have to give me the strength

I am not smart enough to put it all together, and if it’s going to get done, Lord, you will have to give me some wisdom from on high

where I fall short, if it’s going to get done, you will have to step in

and if it doesn’t get done, apparently you’re not worried about it Lord, so I won’t worry about it

let me encourage you cast those burdens: problems, troubles, and responsibilities to the Lord

cause when you do that, the verse says

he will sustain you

Hero, if you give it to God, God will sustain you

again, you know this, have been taught this . . . but let me encourage you with the simple statement that God will take care of you

help you, strengthen you, keep you, hold you up

make a way out of no way

he will make the crooked places straight

he will move the mountain

supply your need

he will walk with you through the valley

prepare a table for you, in front of your enemies

he will fix it for you

he will give you the victory

bring you through the fire and the flood

God’s got you!

you are to be a hero, but you have a hero, and that’s God

how do we know this?

He will never allow the righteous to be shaken

by righteous we mean God’s people = Christians, not perfect people

he will not allow his people to lose

he won’t allow it

that option is not on the table

that card is not in the deck

somethings might bring you low, but he won’t let anything bring you down

somethings may rock your boat, but your boat won’t sink

somethings may hurt, but you will recover

weapons will form against you, but they will not prosper

doesn’t matter how bad it looks, God will sustain you

it looked real bad for Jesus, but God sustained . . . even with death on the cross

“father into thy hands, I commend my spirit . . . I turn it over to you

Psalm 55:22 NASB95

22 Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.