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Title “Will Suffering Develop or Destroy Me?”
Read Psalm 57
Pray
Big Idea - Suffering will either develop you or destroy you.
Hook - Have you been ini a season in life that was so painful or so desperate that you wondered if you were going to make it?
-These are usually places of intense pain or stress.
We believe that this Psalm is written during a time when David’s life in serious danger.
This happens during a time when David is fleeing King Saul.
If he is caught by Saul’s men, He will die.
There is a bounty on His head.
But here is what David knows.
And he knows this from reading Genesis and Exodus.
Big Idea - Suffering will either develop you or destroy you.
There is something you need to know about life.
Suffering is normal.
-The question you should ask yourself is not, If you will suffer, but when you will suffer.
-Becoming a Christ follower doesn’t make you immune to suffering.
-There are many Christ Followers who wrongly think.
“If I follow Jesus and check off all the right boxes, I will not go through hard times.”
Many wrongly think, “becoming a Christ Follower will make life easier.”
-It does make life for joyous, more full of peace, and gives life much deeper meaning, but it does not make it easier.
It fact the Christ Follower is promised suffering.
So we know that in addition to the normal struggles of life that we will also have persecution.
The point is that suffering is a normal part of life.
Suffering will either develop you or destroy you.
Transition - Lookin your Bibles at the Graphic report of suffering in verse 4
vs. 4, Report of Suffering
Read vs 4
Note this is not physical pain.
It is emotional & psychological pain.
David is by himself, alone, running for His life and desperate.
He has no where to go and no one to go with Him.
He hides in a set of caves in the wilderness.
No radio, not internet, no books … just David all alone.
He is persecuted and in pain.
-He is being hunted.
He fears for His life.
-There is no friend in the wilderness caves to help Him.
He is all alone.
Maybe you have been in a place of pain before.
-Someone turned their back on you.
-Someone spoke out against you.
-For some of us our pain is a physical ailment that will never leave.
-Maybe your pain is an emotional struggle.
Illustration of Self - There was a season in my life where I was in deep emotional pain and depression.
I had dark dangerous thoughts.
I was broken, and in the moment didn’t realize how bad it was.
To add to the pain I had an individual in the church I was serving who was never happy and did all he could to make my life miserable.
Sometimes even making up things about me that weren’t true.
-In the darkness and the persecution - there were days I wasn’t sure I was going to make it
-I know some of you can relate to being emotionally distraught.
I have spoken with many people in this church family who have been in similar places.
Quietly, privately you have suffered internally, sometimes physically … you have been in dark places.
Here is what I discovered about suffering,
Suffering will either develop you or destroy you.
Illustration - When you talk to any Marine about boot camp they can tell you the time during bootcamp that they were broken.
-The time that they didn’t have any more left in them.
-When all the pressure took them to a place of them learning to think differently about themself, their ability, and what they could do.
-Their training took over.
-The time their transformation began to bear fruit.
-They were becoming a warrior.
-The pain did not destroy them, it developed them.
Here is what we see in our Psalm today.
Suffering will either develop you or destroy you.
Transition - This spiritual development begins when you learn to find your ...
vs. 1-3, Refuge in God
David says this,
Psalm 57:1-3
We find refuge in God when we go to Him completely dependent on God for help, support, and protection.
When I think about refuge I think about a castle or fortress that has been prepared for battle.
A place easy to defend.
A place of safety.
Picture on Slide
-In Star Wars it was on Endor or Naboo
-In Lord of the Rings it would be Helms Deep.
-In Marvel it would have been Asgard.
David finds eternally the most loving and protected place in all the Universe
vs. 1, “...in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge”
Notice that the protection and help is intimate.
God doesn’t give a super force field bubble to protect sent from 1000 miles away.
God personally protects you with His wing as He holds you close to His side.
It is something that is loving and kind, that a father would do with His children.
David found a physical place of safety in the wilderness caves, but His place of soul safety was under God’s mighty wings.
The first step in being built up spiritually during suffering is just what David did - take refuge in God.
-Suffering is tricky:
a.
The more you suffer the more you take refuge in God.
-You want out, but God knows what you need.
b.
Many of you feel like you are about to break from the difficulty when you are in the middle of transformation.
-Sometimes we will only fully take refuge in God when our will is broken..
-and so God has to do a difficult work to teach us to find refuge in Him.
Read Psalm 51:8
The great news is that - Romans 8:28 tells us, 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.
Because David knew the heart of God, He knows that God always works out of a place of goodness for His people.
He could trust that in pain that God allowed was develop him spiritually.
Transition - He determined in his mind that the suffering would not Destroy Him, but that suffering would be a cause of praise - because God was up to something.
God was developing Him.
God was working for David’s good.
And so David cries out in verse 5.
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