Depending on God For Deliverance
The Original Game of Thrones

Below is an automated transcript of this message

All right, good morning church! We’re continuing our series entitled, “The Original Game of Thrones.” We’re going through the book of 1 Samuel; we began this journey last Spring. We finished the first fifteen chapters of 1 Samuel last Spring. This year, we started with chapter 16; we’ve gotten ourselves up to chapter 26 now.

We’ve entitled today’s message, “Depending on God for Deliverance.” We will see that David continues to be in trouble this week. He’s in trouble because his enemy, King Saul, continues to pursue him, trying to kill him. We have another chapter of David on the run and facing trouble.

How do you respond when trouble comes your way? Most of us, when trouble comes our way, run the other way. We try to run away from our troubles. We ask God, Why me, Lord? Why is this happening to me? Like Casey said, in her testimony earlier, that she got in her car and headed south on I-95, we, too, try to drive away from our troubles. Regardless of where we go, trouble always finds us. Some of us get angry and embittered when trouble comes our way and we wallow in our pain. Others become immobilized with fear and we stick our heads in the sand, hoping that trouble would just go away, but trouble always seems to be able to find us.

Some of you may be in trouble today. You may be in trouble relationally; you are having trouble within your marriage. Some are in trouble today financially; you’re in debt up to your neck and you don’t know how you’ve got more month than you do money. Some are in trouble physically; you’ve received bad news from the doctor or you’ve got a health problem that the doctors can’t figure out. You’re facing trouble. Some are in trouble emotionally; many people are in trouble emotionally after 2020. We all have that common experience of trouble; many have a lingering experience of depression, discouragement, loneliness that has come out of that year. It’s like we all have sort of a worldwide PTSD from Covid.

Why is there so much trouble in the world if God is good and God is the God of love? Why is there so much trouble? Why is there so much trouble in God’s good world? Why is there so much suffering and sadness?

The bible offers answers for such questions. I believe that Christianity gives the clearest, most realistic answers for these kinds of questions. Let me offer four thoughts from the Bible about why we suffer, why we have trouble here. (1) We suffer because we live in a fallen world where sin reigns in the hearts of men. Suffering and trouble entered the world because sin entered the world. (2) We suffer because of our own foolishness. We reap what we sow. Let’s be honest, some of us are in trouble because we chose that way. We’re just reaping what we sow. We are in debt up to our necks because we did it. We got ourselves in trouble. (3) Some of us are suffering because of God’s discipline. This one bothers us sometimes. God often uses suffering and trouble to make us more like Jesus. He uses it like a tool in our lives. And if we’ll admit it, most of us grow closer to God in the valley than we do on the mountaintop, because we learn to trust and depend on God better when He’s all that we have. (4) We sometimes suffer persecution because of our faith. The truth is, that just being a believer means you will encounter more trouble. People might persecute you because you’re following your faith.These are just a few reasons why trouble might come your way.

Those last two reasons of suffering, because of the Lord’s discipline and because of persecution for the faith, seem to describe what David’s going through right now. David is in trouble and God’s using that trouble to prepare him to be king. He’s going to be God’s man, but he’s also in trouble because of jealousy. King Saul is jealous of David’s calling so he’s being persecuted.

In the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 26, David again spares Saul’s life and instead depends on God for his deliverance from all trouble. Friends, I believe today that we can turn to that same God; we can call on Him to deliver us from all kinds of trouble.

As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three ways that God will deliver us. We can depend on God to deliver us from all trouble. Note: Words in parentheses are Pastor Gary’s comments. 1 Samuel 26 (ESV) 1 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?” (And, by the way, the Ziphites are from the tribe of Judah, just like David is. They are distant cousins of David. Just like Jesus was betrayed by his own brothers, David is being betrayed once again.) 2 So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. But David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, 4 David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. 5 Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the army was encamped around him. 6 Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab’s brother Abishai the son of Zeruiah, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” (Now this is a radical idea of David’s, right? He is going way down in there to those 3000 people in the center of the camp where Saul lays sleeping and he gets a volunteer named Abishai.) And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” 7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him. 8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” (Besides, I am good with a spear. People listen, I’m gonna nail him to the ground, He won’t even wake up, he won’t even feel a thing. One stroke and he’ll be gone. This is an easy shortcut. David, you’re supposed to be king. Let me handle this. But, what does David say?) 9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” 10 And David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. 11 The LORD forbid that I should put out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.” 12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them. (So, there’s a supernatural sleep on the whole camp. Now, if you do a work study on deep sleep, which we did this past week, the first time this happens in the Bible is in the book of Genesis. God puts Adam into a deep sleep. In other words, Adamgets a “holy anesthesia” and God forms a woman named Eve out of his rib. The second time we see it in the Bible is with Abram, when God puts a deep sleep over him and he has a vision of God passing between the animals and He makes a covenant with him. Now, we have this third occurrence. God is with David and he puts the whole camp In a supernatural sleep.) 13 Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. 14 And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?” 15 And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? (This is what you call “biblical trash talk” right here. He’s basically saying, Are you a girl? He is picking on Abner big time.) Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. 16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.” (So, here’s Abner. He’s trying to shake off the sleep and he looks and sure enough, the spear and the water are gone. At this point, in verse 17, Saul recognizes David’s voice.)17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” 18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? 19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who hasstirred stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ (In other words, he’s saying, You’re trying to drive me from Israel, which is the land of my inheritance, my heritage. You’re trying to drive me into a land where they serve other gods.) 20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.” 21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.” (Now, footnote verse 21 might be one of the best examples of how to repent in the Bible. However, Saul is possibly “bipolar” because we know he’ll do this and then the next day he tries to kill David again. So, David doesn’t trust him.) 22 And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it.23 The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the LORD gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.” (This is where we get the title of the message. May the Lord deliver me out of all tribulation or trouble or affliction. That’s where our title comes from.) 25 Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

This is God’s word, Amen. We’re looking for three ways that we can depend on God to deliver us from trouble. Here’s the first:

Depending on God to deliver us from trouble… 1. We can face it.

We can face up to it. We don’t have to run from it. We can go right down into the camp and face it. That’s what David does. He depended on God for his deliverance. He was so tired of Saul chasing him. I’m going to go down there and I’m going to provide evidence that I’m not his enemy. Who will go with me? He asks for volunteers. He’s got two guys with him that were spies. One of them was a Hittite.

The Hittites were the people that inhabited Canaan before the Israelites took possession of the land. They’re still present David had several of them in his army. Later, we’ll find that he has a guy named Uriah the Hittite, who is profoundly important in David’s life.

David has people from other nations in his army, but Ahimelech doesn’t throw up his hand when David comes up with a brilliant idea: Let’s go down into a camp of 3000 people. He doesn’t volunteer; we’re not going down there. Abishai is David’s nephew; they’re probably the same age because David is the youngest of his brothers. He had a sister named Zeruiah, who was his older sister. She had Joab, but she also has this son, Abishai, brother of Joab. David and Abishai are probably of a similar age.

Here’s how it worked in those days: If you had X number of kids, by the time your youngest was born, your oldest was already having kids the same age as the youngest one. This often happened. My grandmother, my mother’s mother, got married when she was 14, which was not uncommon in those days. She had her first child at age 15, who was my aunt Jeri. My aunt Jeri had a baby named Barbara. She was her first born; my Aunt Jeri got married when she was 15 and she had Barbara when she was 16. My grandmother is still having babies; she has my aunt Sharon. Sharon and Barbara are about two or three years apart. They would be playing and they would get into a fight. My aunt Sharon would say to my cousin Barbara, You need to calm down. She would tell her, I am not calming down. We’re the same age. Then, aunt Sharon would say, But, I’m your aunt. They would have arguments about this because they were about the same age.

Maybe there is a similar situation that’s going on here. Abishai is probably about the same age as David or he might even be older than David.But, he’s David’s nephew. I told you a lot about that, didn’t I? I look this stuff up, so I have to share it with somebody.

Abishai says to David, I will go down there with you. When we open this chapter, we have all of these place names. Here they are, at Hachilah, on a mountain near Jeshimon. If we hear place names, what do we have to do? We have to look at the map, right? We can’t not look at the map. So, here we are; here’s where the Ziphites lived. We’ve had this in a previous chapter. They’re going to do it again. They’ve heard that David’s over here in this area of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon. They go all the way north. They send people up here; I’ve got an arrow showing the location. David’s back in the land and the Ziphites tell Saul where he is located.

Here comes Saul, with his 3000 men, all the way down here. He’s back down here in this wilderness area, the wilderness of Ziph, which is like a desert. It’s not a place you want to live, but David is there and so, here comes Saul. David is thinking, Man, Saul is back. Who wants to go? Can I get a volunteer to go with me? So, they go down into the camp.

It reminds me of the book of Judges, where Gideon does something similar. Gideon is feeling afraid; it’s the night before the battle. God says to go down into the camp. He goes down into the camp and he overhears two men talking about a dream they had had that Gideon would defeat them. Gideon is encouraged. He goes back up and says, Yeah, I’m glad I went down there.

David is doing something similar to what Gideon had done in the book of Judges. He goes down there, into this place, and he takes the spear and the jar of Saul. The spear, I think, represents Saul’s protection; Saul is trying to protect himself. The jar represents Saul’s provision. He’s not dependent on God for his protection and provision. He keeps them right there next to his bed. God has put him into a deep sleep and here comes David. He’s going to face up to his trouble; he’s going to go right down and face it.

We can do that when, like David, we consider God our defender, our protector and our provider. It says in Psalm 59:16 (NKJV) “But I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning. For You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.” David wrote that Psalm; I’d like to hear it someday when I get to Heaven. I’m hoping that there’s a section over there for guitar players and other string players and David’s leading it. David is teaching us how some of those tunes go. I’d like to hear this song that he wrote during the time he was running from King Saul.

You see, we can face any trouble and we know God is with us. We can face up to it. Joshua 1:9 (NLT) “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” You can do all things when He is with you. You can face your trouble. You don’t have to jump on I-95 and go south. You can face up to it.

In 1993, I had some trouble. I filed my taxes on April 15, 1993 and I put an “IOU” in there. What a crazy thing to do. The problem was, I had no money. I had gone fourteen months with no income. I had planted this little church called Wilson Community Church. I had cashed out my 401K from my previous employment and I didn’t read the fine print. I didn’t realize that when I filed my taxes, I would owe back taxes on the fact that it was an IRA. I would own penalties because of early withdrawal, 10% and on and on. Anyway, I owed way more money than I could imagine at the time. I wanted to be honest; I was planting a church. I didn’t want to be on the front page of the Wilson paper, you know, as a tax dodger. So I put an “IOU” in there. That was my bright idea.

Well a month goes by, two months goes by, and every day I’m a nervous wreck because I feel like this cloud is looming over me. A few months later, I get a letter in the mail that says that the IRS is going to garnish my wages. Now that was kind of funny, in a way, because I had no wages. I thought, No, this is not right. They are going to put me under the jail. That’s what’s going to happen. We had three little kids who were all young at the time. I told Robin, Honey, pray for me. Keep the kids downstairs. I’m going to go upstairs to my study. I’m going to call the 800 number. I’m going to call the IRS. Pray for me that God would show me favor. I will face it. I’m not going to run. I’m going to face up to it. So, I go upstairs, with my hands trembling and I dial the 800 number. I have to listen to background music for, it seemed like, fifteen minutes. Finally, a voice comes on the phone. I start to talk to this woman, explaining to her why I put the IOU. She thinks I’m being a smart aleck for doing that, so she’s being really rough on me. I’m thinking, Boy, this is not going the way I was hoping it would go. I just start pouring my heart out, telling her that I quit my job and I am going to seminary. I’ve planted a church and I didn’t know what else to do. I’m not a crook; I don’t want to be in this situation. I’ve got three little kids. This lady went from being really difficult to her voice completely changing. All of a sudden, she went from this really proper accent to, Honey, listen, I didn’t know you was a preacher. Let’s talk about this. Long story short, she figured it out for me. She asked me how much I could afford. We agreed on a number . It took me five years to pay that money back at 18% interest, but praise God, I could sleep at night because I faced it and God showed me favor. God put a woman on the other end of the line at the IRS who was good to me and helped me to figure it out.

Listen, I don’t know what you’re facing today, but stop running! Stop trying to medicate your pain; it’s just another way of running. Stop trying to cover for it. Face up to it. God is with you. Here’s the second way we can trust God, we can depend on God to deliver us from our trouble:

Depending on God to deliver us from trouble… 2. We can endure it.

We can persevere through it. We can endure it. We can go through it. It says that David left the camp and stood far off, upon another hilltop, and started calling out to Abner and Saul. In other words, he not only faced up to it, but he called him out about it . David is “trash talking” to Abner; Abner is supposed to be Saul’s bodyguard, which was David’s old job before Saul thought he was against him. Guess who guarded Saul’s life tonight? Me! I went down there. I could have killed him, but I didn’t. You deserve to die because you didn’t do your job. And so he’s talking about what he’s been through here. You’ve been chasing me. Listen, I’m just a little old flea. I’m just like a little partridge in the wilderness. I’m nobody, but you’re chasing me and you’re trying to chase me from my homeland, my heritage. You’re trying to push me into the arms of false gods. You’re trying to ruin me. This is what David has been enduring and he calls it out. He even asks, in verse 18, And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? 19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me,” If that’s the case, let me make an offering to the Lord, let me make it right to the Lord. But if it’s because you listen to other men, they’re lying about me. Let God’s curse be upon them. Let God handle that too.

David has questions. David doesn’t understand why he’s in trouble, but he’s been enduring it and he names what it has felt like.

We have trouble and we shouldn’t deny that it’s hurting. David is not denying it. Go ahead and name it. Call it out. David does this. Ask this question, in verse 18, “What have I done?” He goes through it and, in verse 20, He makes a prayer out of verse 20, :Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD.” That’s a kind of prayer language. It’s like saying, “may not” or “let not.” It’s like David is admitting, You are God and I’m not. I’m not gonna tell you what to do. But look down here, Lord, look at what they’re putting me through and let not my blood fall to the earth in a foreign land away from your presence. Lord, You look at what I’m going through and You deal with it.

It reminds me of that time, over in the book of Acts, where Peter and John had raised the cripple to life at the gate called “Beautiful” as they were going up into the temple. They got into trouble for doing good and the Pharisees put them in prison for the night. The next morning, they told them to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. Peter said to them, You know, you have to decide if we’re going to obey God or men. The Pharisees released them for fear of the crowd that had gathered.

Peter and John, prayed in this prayer meeting, Acts 4:29-31(ESV) 29 “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, 30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” God loves it when you say, You consider their threats; You consider what they’re doing to us. I’m going to endure. I’m going to do what you called me to do, no matter how much trouble there is. You handle it, Lord. This is how David prays. He prays, You keep me alive through this. You help me through this.

May I say to someone here today, I don’t know who’s listening that needs to hear this right now. You’re going through a lot of trouble right now, but don’t waste the pain. We always have a choice of becoming bitter or better when we face trouble. We become bitter if we run from it; we blame God for it. We become better when we say, God, use this in my life to make me more like Jesus.

Hebrews 12:7 (NLT) “As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father?” Sometimes, trouble comes as a way of God shaping us, so we become more dependent on Him rather than dependent on ourselves.

The book of James tells us how to face trouble. James 1:2-4 (HCSB) 2 “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

How do we grow in perseverance and endurance? How do we get so that we have no “quit” in us? We have to go through trouble. That’s that’s how we grow in endurance. James tells us that when you face trials, when you face trouble, to put it in the joy column rather than in the sad column. God’s in control and I know He’s making me more like Jesus. He’s making me more mature. And then, there’s this side benefit that happens when we endure trouble and depend on God; instead of complaining about it and losing our joy, we can be aware that He often gives us excess comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (NLT) 3 “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

Here’s what happens if you’re struggling with something, you’re in trouble and you receive God’s comfort. He gives you not just enough comfort for you, but so that it runs over from your cup into the cup of someone else who’s in trouble in the same place that you have been. And so, God gives us this benefit.

Last week, we went to the Choices Women’s Center banquet. The main speaker was a friend of mine, whose name is Daniel Richie. Daniel Richie was a youth pastor here in Wilson, but now he’s a traveling evangelist. Here’s the thing about Daniel; he was born without arms. He was born without arms and he wasn’t breathing when he was born. So, the doctor pulled the father over to the side when the baby was born and he said, Listen, he’s never going to lead a normal life. He will never be able to go to school like the other kids . He’ll never be able to drive a car or take care of himself. He’ll never be married. He’ll always be dependent on you. Are you sure you want me to revive him? The father said, That’s my son, revive him. Today, Daniel, as I said, is a traveling evangelist. He’s, also, a famous author. He’s written the book, “My Affliction for his Glory.” He’s been interviewed on national news stations. He’s a happily married family man with two children. Look at his beautiful wife and family man. He was told that his life had no value and he was going to be too much trouble, but God said, Watch this. Daniel Richie has endured a lot of affliction, but he is an amazing young man. He proves that you can depend on God and go through trouble. His message is so powerful; he talks about how much life matters and what God can do with a life.

David is in the wilderness right now and is growing in his boldness and dependence on the Lord. He’s learning that he can endure the wilderness because God is the one that he depends on for it. Here’s the third way (we’ve talked about the first two) how we can face trouble by depending on God.

Depending on God to deliver us from trouble… 3. We can overcome it.

I’m glad that we can overcome it in Jesus’ name. David declared, in verse 23, that the Lord would reward him. I like that. He goes on to say, in verse 24, another one of those “let” kind of prayers; one of those “may” kind of prayers. In verse 24, he’s talking to Saul and he says, “Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight,” because he preserved Saul’s life, “so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord. He’s calling on the Lord to see his life and to count it as precious to the Lord . It reminds me of the children’s song that we grew up singing in Sunday school, “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.” David calls on the Lord and says,

Psalm 34 is another one of those Psalms that David wrote during this time period when he was running from Saul. It says, Psalm 34:6 (NLT) “In my desperation I prayed, and the Lord listened; he saved me from all my troubles.” David has learned something about God. Sometimes, you’re in the middle of trouble and you can’t see the end zone yet. You can’t see your way out of it yet. David has learned he can give it to the Lord. He can call his troubles out to the Lord and the Lord will rescue him and so he says, “Lord, count me precious,” here.

Saul responds in verse 21 with some of the most amazing repentance words, even though we doubt him because if he were alive today, he’d be diagnosed as bipolar.This guy is a mess. He’s going to turn around and go back home, but David’s going to stay in the wilderness because he doesn’t trust him. They’ve been around this before.

This is the last time in the bible that Saul and David will meet each other and talk to each other. Saul’s last words to David, as he speaks to David, were, You’re going to be an overcomer. He speaks blessings. You know, that’s what God will do if you’ll trust God for your deliverance. He will even cause your enemies to bless you. Saul says this to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” David, you’re going to do great exploits and succeed in them all. You’re going to have an amazing life. So, David went his way back to the caves, living in the wilderness and Saul returned to his place up at Gibeah to his palace.

David has to go right back to the wilderness. He’s still not king. He’s still not out of the wilderness, but something’s changing, isn’t it? David’s learning that God is the one that helps him overcome.

I learned this firsthand, in my own life, about trouble. Trouble came my family’s way. In 1966, my father died of cancer, at age 39. I’m the oldest of four kids. I was eight years old. My father was my hero and the Lord took him home. I had a lot of questions for God. Why is this happening to me ? What’s going on here? I remember asking the preacher questions. He came over to talk to me; I was asking questions that the other adults were concerned about. So they sent the preacher over to talk to me. I asked him, Where’s my daddy now? He said, He’s with the Lord. The bible says “Absent from the body present with the Lord.” Your dad was a Christian and he’s with the Lord. I said, Well, here’s my next question: Can he see me? I always wanted my dad to know if I was doing good. The preacher quotes from Hebrews 12, where it says that we’re surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses watching us run the race of life. He said to me, Perhaps he’s in that cloud of witnesses and maybe he sees you from time to time as you follow the Lord.

Well that helped me, but it didn’t help me with my “father wound.” I would go from my grandfather to my uncles, to the coach from my little league baseball team and to my high school teacher. Any man that would show me the time of day and show me how to value manhood. I was like a puppy dog with a “father wound.” Somewhere, in my high school years. it came to me that I could talk to God as my Father. I began to talk to him as my Dad, as my Abba, as my Father. God, what do You want me to do? Where should I go to college? What should I major in once I get there? Who should I marry? With every important question of life, I started talking to Him like my Father and He healed my “father wound.” Not only that, He gave me “extra father power;” He said, I want you to plant a church. I want you to be a mentor to people. I want you to be a father and a grandfather. My greatest joy in life is to be that which I was most wounded.

If you give Him your trouble, He not only heals that in you, but He gives you an extra cup of comfort so that you become an overcomer. The greek word for overcome is nikaó. It’s where we get the word, “Nike.” Somebody slapped that symbol on some tennis shoes. It means “overcomer, victor or champion.”

Here’s what Jesus says in John 16:33 (NIV) “… In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Which one do you want first? The bad news or the good news? Jesus gives us the bad news, “In this world you will have trouble.” That’s the bad news. “But take heart (be encouraged).” You’re going to be okay if you look to Me. Know this ; “I have overcome the world.” If you have Me, you have all that you need to deliver you from every kind of trouble and from all kinds of trouble. You name it, I have overcome it. It is important that Jesus handles this for us.

I heard feedback from our sermon last week from some of the small groups. They had great conversations this past week about God’s will. Last week, I was talking about circumstances; circumstances are not the best way to determine God’s will. We see Abishai here in our story today, just like in our story last week, saying, He’s in your hand, David, right there he is. All you have to do is “whack” him. In fact, I’ll do it for you. Watch this. David says, No, no. I’m not going to let favorable circumstances determine whether or not it’s God’s will. I heard someone in one of the small groups say, Well, I’ve always heard that if God closes the door, you’re not supposed to do it and if He opens the door, you are supposed to do it. Their system of following God was the “open door, closed door” method. Last week ruined their theology, because I said, Watch out, because sometimes circumstances are wrong and the door is wide open, but you shouldn’t go through it just because there’s the open door.

David said to Abishai, I won’t do it. Do you know why? It’s because God has a top 10 and one of them is that you shall not kill. If God’s word is contrary to the circumstance, which one do you go with? Do you go with the open door, the opportunity, which looks favorable? You go with God’s word. Now, what if God’s word doesn’t speak specifically to it? Then, you count on this God’s spirit within you and you talk to the Lord. You get wise counsel from other wise Christians. You seek the Lord and you look for a confirming word from His word. Be careful about just looking at circumstances. Thank you, small groups, for wrestling with these questions this week. Somebody said that I need to do a whole series on how to determine God’s will. Let me pray about it and see what He says.

God has given us the overcomer in Jesus. David was tempted three times to do things with a shortcut in three chapters. He was offered a shortcut. Adam and Eve were offered something similar. Satan has a bag of tricks; John talks about it in the first epistle. He talks about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We all have to deal with these temptations. This is what happened to Adam and Eve. They looked at the fruit and they saw that it was good to eat; lust of the flesh. It was pleasing to the eye; lust of the eyes. It would make them like God and they would have wisdom; the pride of life. Jesus, also, experiences three tests, just like David and Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve flunked it. David gets by by the skin of his teeth, because God rescues him over and over again, and he doesn’t flunk it. He would have if that woman, Abigail, hadn’t shown up. She showed up and told him not to take a shortcut.

Jesus is the real overcomer. He was tempted to take a shortcut. Satan said, Hey look, if You’re really the son of God, turn these stones into bread. Jesus said him, “But the word says, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Then, Satan does a scripture battle with Jesus. He says to Jesus, Okay, I’ve got one for you. He takes Jesus up to the temple and says, Doesn’t it say that if you jump off the temple the angels will bear you up? Jesus says, Yes, but the scripture also says, thou shall not test the Lord thy God. So, Satan lost the scripture battle, the bible drill. Satan, then, asks Jesus, If you’ll bow down to me I’ll give you all the nations of the world. You can be the king and you don’t have to go to the cross. Jesus says, No, the bible says, the word says, you shall worship the Lord thy God only. And so, Satan left him in and the angels ministered to jesus.

You see, Jesus took the biggest trouble of all, the source of all of our troubles. What’s the source of all of our troubles? Sin equals suffering. Sin came into the world and suffering followed. Who’s going to take out the cause of all of our suffering? Only Jesus can do it.

He says this in John 12:27 (ESV) “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” Jesus faced our troubles because they weren’t His. He endured the cross, despising the shame and He overcame sin, death and the grave. He lives today and he invites us to be overcomers with Him. We can do it; we can face our troubles. We can endure our troubles. We can overcome our troubles because of Jesus.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you. Thank You for Your word. Thank You for this story about Saul and David, but more than that, thank you for Jesus. Lord, we lift up His name right now. Hallelujah, praise the Lord. We thank you for Jesus. Lord help us now. For that person who is in the room and has never given his life to Jesus. You can do it right now. Just admit it. Just face your trouble. Just say, I’m a sinner. Just confess; I’m a sinner. I’ve been trying to live my life by my own strength and my own wisdom. It’s not working. I need help. I need a Savior. You can pray that right now. I need You, Jesus. I believe You died on the cross for my sin, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. Make me the person you want me to be. I want to be a child of God. I want to follow You. I want you to be my Savior and my Lord. If you’re praying that prayer right now, believing, Jesus will save you. That’s why He came. Others are here and you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you’re facing trouble right now and you’ve been trying to run from it. You’ve forgotten to depend on the Lord for it. It’s just so overwhelming; you keep taking it back. Would you give it to Him right now and say, Lord, deliver me from this. I’m gonna face it. Give me the strength to endure it for now, but more than that, Lord, help me to be an overcomer. I want to overcome it. Lord, we lift it all up to You now. In Jesus’ name. Amen.