Putting Everything In God’s Hands
The Original Game of Thrones

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Good morning, church! We’re continuing our series, through the book of 1 Samuel, and we’ve entitled this series, “The Original Game of Thrones.” We’ve called it this, because it’s about the exchange from people serving God as king in Israel to them wanting a king like the other nations. Now, there’s a new king that’s been anointed, named David. The older king, Saul, l is chasing him and trying to kill him. That’s where we’re at in the story right now. We’ve been playing a “game of thrones” with God ever since we were born, ever since humanity came into existence, where we want to be on the throne. We want to be in charge rather than having God in charge of our lives. That’s really the theme of the book, if we think about it. God wants to be in control; He wants to be in control of our lives.

As we look at chapter 23 and 24, we’ll see that David was tempted to take matters into his own hands. He was tempted to take hold of the throne in his own power. Fortunately, for David, he decided to put everything in God’s hands.

I wonder if you’ve ever been tempted to take matters into your own hands. Do you ever feel like you want to be in charge? You’d like to be “king for the day” or “queen for the day?” Sometimes, we feel like it’s our only recourse. It’s like we have to be in charge of this because we’ve talked to the boss and he’s not doing anything about it or we’ve talked to our spouse and he/she is not doing anything about it. I’m gonna have to take this. I’m going to take matters into my own hands. We convince ourselves that we need to do this. Usually, it has something to do with a lack of patience, where things aren’t going the way we want them to do. We try to take control and we’re tempted , especially as Americans. It is often in the area of finances. I just really feel like I need to take this into my own hands. I’m gonna handle this myself. I’ve got this. I don’t need God to help me with this. The area of romance is another area. I don’t really want God to be picking out who I’m going to spend the rest of my life with; I feel like I’ve got this. I can handle this. There are many other areas where we feel like we would like to take matters into our own hands. This temptation usually results in bad results. It usually makes things worse when we try to take things in our own hands. What we’re really saying, when we use this metaphor of taking things in our own hands, is, I want to be in control. I’ve got this, I want to handle this myself.

Well , that’s where we’re at in the story today. David is tempted to take matters into his own hands, but he decides instead, to put everything in the hands of God. In 1 Samuel, he’s running from Saul. He flees to the wilderness and lives in caves, but he learns something important in the wilderness.

We often learn our best lessons when we’re going through a wilderness experience. David is going through the wilderness and he finally learns to put everything in God’s hands. And I think, we too, can learn that lesson. We often are “hardheaded” and the only time we learn is when we’re going through hard times, but we can learn to put things in the hands of God.

So, as we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three ways we can learn to put everything in the hands of God. We’re going to be starting at verse 15 of chapter 23. We had gotten up to verse 14 a couple of weeks ago and then we skipped over to chapter 25 on Mother’s Day because we wanted to talk about Abigail. Now, we’re going to go back and catch up at verse 15 of chapter 23. We’re going to break the reading today into three “bites.” We will read a portion and then we’ll talk about it.

Let’s take the first section, starting at 1 Samuel 23:15-29 (ESV) 15 “David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. 16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” 18 And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home. 19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah,saying saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? 20 Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” 21 And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. 22 Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. 23 See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.” 24 And they arose and went to Ziph ahead ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. 25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.” This is God’s word. Amen.

How to put everything in God’s hands: 1. Put your cares into God’s hands.

Put your cares, your worries, your anxieties and your fears into God’s hands. If you look at verse 16, you can see the key, I think, to this part of the passage. Jonathan is Saul’s son, this is the crown prince, Jonathan. He’s the firstborn son of Saul. He would be the king after his father. 16 “And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.” In other words, he encouraged him. He toldDavid to keep his business in God’s hand. He strengthened his hand. Hang on to God because you will surely be king and when you become king, I’ll be right there beside you. This is an amazing person; this is the king’s son. This is the crown prince named Jonathan. He’s an amazing person because he is humbling himself and saying, I know that you’re going to be king. I’m not going to be king. When you come into your kingdom, I want to be beside you.

This is an amazing part of the story. This man, Jonathan, he’s like a prototype, a foreshadowing of John the Baptist, who said of his relationship with Jesus, “I must decrease and He must increase.” The Old Testament prepares us for the New Testament. We see here, a preparation for how to look for the Anointed One, the Messiah when he comes. There will be one who comes in front of Him like Jonathan. His name is John the Baptist. Jesus will come; the Messiah, the Anointed One. We have this foreshadowing here.

I want you to take note that the word, “hand,” is in there three times. We see it, as I said in verse 16, “he strengthened his hand in God.” In verse 17, it says, “do not fear for the hand of Saul…” Don’t be afraid to put everything in God’s hands. Don’t worry about the hand of Saul because God is in control. The word, “hand,” is repeated again in verse 20, where the Ziphites go to Saul and say that they’re ready to surrender David into his hands.

You’re thinking, Why do you keep talking about the word, “hand?” We have titled this message, “Putting everything into God’s hands.” I was going through this chapter and all of chapter 24. I noted that the word, “hand,” is in there fourteen times. When I’m reading, I’m looking for what God is trying to say. What is the timeless principle that we can carry across from that historical story into the present and apply to our lives today.

I was thinking about this word, “hand,” and how it’s used. We see in the scriptures, Saul’s hand. David’s hand and God’s hand. All of these people are talking about hands, but what they’re talking about is control. What they’re talking about is who sits on the throne. Jonathan is encouraging David, saying, Look, you don’t have to worry, you don’t have to be afraid of Saul’s hand. You can be strengthened in God’s hand. That’s what he’s saying now. There’s a lot of names of places here. Let’s look at a map. We don’t need much of an excuse to look at a map. Gibeah is probably right there; it’s a little bit north. Saul lives at Gibeah. David hid from Saul in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph. A desolate wilderness, near the Dead Sea. He’s living in the woods. His own cousins, the Ziphites, go all the way up to King Saul and tell him where David is hiding. He’s living among us. If you come, we’ll deliver him into your hand.area. Down here would be the wilderness of Maon. Here’s the wilderness of Ziph. Over here is En Gedi right next to the Dead Sea. We have a photo here of what this area looks like; this is the difficult terrain that David is living in. And so we can see this area. This is the wilderness of Maon that we’re looking at right here. Now, as we’re reading the story, they’re circling around these mountains. You can picture the landscape after seeing that photo.

David is just barely staying out of the reach of Saul, but he goes, it says, to the rock at Maon. In verse 28, it says, 28 “ So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape .” So ironically, or coincidentally, as David is trusting God, the Philistines attack somewhere else and Saul. When he almost reaches David, Saul has to leave. See, that’s a God thing, That’s what God did. David names that place, “the Rock of Escape,” because that is the place where he almost was killed by Saul, but Saul had to go back. David calls it the Rock of Escape.

Listen friends, you can run to the Rock of Escape; His name is Jesus. These places are real. The reason we look at maps and photographs of the land is because the Bible is talking about real people and real places. You can visit those places today.

If Jonathan is a picture of John the Baptist and David is kind of a foreshadowing of Jesus. Who are those cousins of David? They are Judas Iscariot; they are betrayers . They are ready to turn David in to get him killed. As we’re looking at the scripture here, this is a preparation for the gospel.

We can put all of our cares into God’s hands. David wrote this psalm when the Ziphites betrayed him: Psalm 54 (ESV) A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?” O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might… For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life… For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.” A Maskil is a Hebrew song. David wrote this psalm at this very time. God was his helper; the Lord was the upholder of his life. Here’s what David is saying, He’s my Rock. He’s the One who rescued me. It wasn’t the terrain. It wasn’t that he had to go fight the Philistines. It’s that God took this into His own hands and He rescued me.

Here’s what Peter says about putting your cares into the hands of God. 1 Peter 5:7 (NLT) “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” Where do you put your cares? Where do you put your worries? Do you know what worry is? Worry is just talking to yourself. That’s what worry is. Hey, self what we’re gonna do about this? I don’t know, I’m really concerned about it. But what if we did this?…. You just talk and you stay up and you lose weight and you worry, worry, worry .

Here’s one thing that worry does. First of all, it is a physiological problem. It breaks down your body due to stress. It can cause you to have all kinds of problems. Another thing is, worry accomplishes nothing. You’re just talking to yourself and getting nothing done. Not only that, Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not worry.” So, worry is not only a bad habit, but it’s sin. It’s the opposite of faith. It means you’re doubting God if you’re worrying about it. What you’ve done is you’ve taken matters into your own hands. It’s you trying to work it out, taking matters into your own hands and doing this “self talk.” But, when you give it to God, that is called prayer. That is “God talk;” that is talking to God.

Think about this for a second. It takes the same amount of energy to talk to yourself as it does to talk to God. It’s just a matter of who you’re talking to. Instead of talking to yourself, talk to God. Turn your cares and worries into prayers. Turn your worries into prayers. Philippians 4: 6-7, 6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Here’s the short version of Philippians 4:6-7: Don’t worry. Pray. Stop worrying.Turn your cares into prayers is what the Lord says.

We’ve all been going through a year of wilderness together. The whole world has gone through a year of wilderness together, called covid. I was reading an article this past week from Medical News Today, May 7th, 2021; the title of the article is, “COVID-19 Anxiety Syndrome.” Psychologists have given it a name; Covid 19 Anxiety Syndrome. Let me read the article: “As COVID protocols are beginning to soften, many people who were unable to leave their house are now going out and enjoying life as best they can while still being mindful of safety. Yet, for some, going back out and mixing with other people is a concept filled with fear and anxiety. Despite vaccines and a decrease in disease prevalence, some people experience what doctors are calling COVID-19 anxiety syndrome. This syndrome manifests as the inability to leave the house because of COVID-19 fears, frequent checking for symptoms despite not being in a high-risk scenario, and avoiding social situations or people. People with this syndrome tend to experience increased post-traumatic stress, general stress, anxiety, health anxiety, and suicidal ideation.”

Now, I didn’t need to read an article to know this, because I’m a pastor. I’m talking to people all of the time and there are people, regardless of your opinions of science or medicine, that are literally scared to death during this season. What do we do with this? I’m not saying that we shouldn’t respond wisely, as doctors give us insight and help. I am saying this about the fear itself, the anxiety itself that the bible says to turn your cares into prayers. You can trust God.

David was, literally, being pursued by King Saul who wanted to kill him. It wasn’t just in his mind. It was real. Yet, he learned in the wilderness, I will put my trust. I will put my cares in the Lord. So can we. That’s the first way that we can give everything to God. We can give Him our cares.

Let’s keep reading. We are now at chapter 24. Let’s read seven verses and then we’ll talk about it. 1 Samuel 24:1-7 (ESV) 1 “When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself.

(Pastor Gary – commentary) Now, look, I told you that the Bible was about real people, you can’t get much more “real” than that. That detail is right there in the Bible. Men, we are asking you to go outside and use the “porta-potties” during this season of construction. Right now, we are remodeling the women’s bathroom. The women get to use the men’s bathroom. The men have to take a walk. You have to go outside where the “porta-potties” are located. That’s what Saul is doing; Saul left the camp and he’s doing this, believe it or not, in obedience to the Torah, to the Law of God, which in Deuteronomy 23:12, instructs the people of Israel that if you need to do your business, do it outside the camp and then bury it. It’s in the law. It took Europeans all the way to the 17th or 18th century to realize that if you don’t have good hygiene, it causes disease. But it’s right there, thousands of years ago in the Bible and Saul is obeying this law. He goes to a cave. Poor Saul; he’s really vulnerable. You can’t be more vulnerable than this.

“Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.”

(Pastor Gary – commentary) I’m thinking that the business Saul had to do involved taking off his robe, because how would David slip up on him and cut his robe? I’m thinking he must have laid it off to the side. .

5 “ And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.”

(Pastor Gary – commentary) There’s kind of a Hebrew play on words here, for the word, “persuaded,” because he cut off the corner of his robe, and then he cut his men “to the quick” with his persuasion. It’s kind of a similar word. There’s a play on words here, where his persuasion was so sharp that it cut.

Here’s the second way that we can turn everything over to God:

How to put everything in God’s hands: 2. Put your circumstances in God’s hands.

David is in what appears to be a favourable circumstance. He’s hiding out in the cave. Then, Saul shows up in a very vulnerable condition. David’s men look at this situation and they say to him that surely God has put Saul into your hand. Saul’s under your control, David, so now is the time to kill him. What they’re doing is they’re interpreting circumstances as God’s will.

We have to be careful about this. We have to be careful about saying circumstances are equal to God telling us to do something, but David is tempted because he’s tired. He’s tired of living in caves. After Saul pursues him, Saul gets to go back and sleep in his own bed, in his own palace, but David’s been living in caves. In fact, it says he went from Horesh to that area of En Gedi in the strongholds.

The word, En Gedi, literally means “fount of the kid.” A wadi, in the Judean wilderness in sight of the Dead Sea. It is speaking of the kid of a goat. En Gedi the home of the goats. In fact, as we were reading here, it says, that his men were in front of the wild goat’s rocks.

I have been to En Gedi. I’ve taken some of you with me to Israel to visit En Gedi, which means, I have to show you some photos, but first of all, let’s look at a map, to remind us that En Gedi is right up against the Dead Sea. As we are looking here, we can see the source of the water bursting out of a rock, out of a cliff, which creates this whole oasis. This fountain is called “The Fountain of David;” this is where David was able to live during this period. This area is full of wildlife. Here is a picture of rock badgers. In this next picture, you will see why they called it “the home of the wild goats.” Here, we have the rock hyrax and the Nubian ibex, which live there. They are very sure footed, living in the caves and jumping up and down over the cliffs. If you go there today, you’ll see them.

Speaking of caves, these limestone cliffs are filled with caves. We had with us on this trip, a man that goes to our church, his name is Tim. I said to Tim, That could have been where Saul went. That could have been it right there. So, Tim goes running up there. I thought he was going to cause a rockslide. I didn’t think he would actually go. Here, Tim is looking around to see if he could find evidence of Saul being there. You can go there today; these are real places and these things really happened.

Here’s a psalm that David wrote about waiting on the Lord. Even when circumstances seemed unfavorable, He waited on the Lord. Psalm 25:1-3 (ESV) “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame ; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.” David’s men tried to convince him it was God’s will to be treacherous, but that actually causes shame. Waiting on the Lord keeps you from shame.

You can see how David is learning in the wilderness. He was tempted. He went over there and cut off Saul’s robe. He touched the royal robe. And then, it says in verse 5, that his heart struck him. I don’t think he had a heart attack. He was conscience stricken. Remember, the Bible says that David was “a man after God’s own heart.” The spirit of God said, You shouldn’t have done that. You touched the Lord’s anointed. So he knows he did wrong.

You see sometimes circumstances look favorable, but if you’re following God and you’re trusting God, he’ll tell you what you’re not supposed to do. If you go against that and do it anyway, watch out; shame is coming your way. You’re going to make things worse. David pulls back and he stops because the Holy Spirit struck his conscience. This is what happens to us. We think circumstances are equal to God’s purpose or will for our life.

Pastor J. D. Greer is a pastor at a church in Raleigh near us. He writes this in his commentary on 1 Samuel. He says, “Neither our desires nor our circumstances are good guides to the will of God.” Our desires and circumstances are not really that helpful for following God’s will. In fact they often are tempting us to do the wrong thing. He goes on to say, “It is tragically easy to confuse both our desires and our circumstances with the will of God. This kind of confused justification arises all the time in two key areas—romance and finances.” I mentioned these areas these earlier- romance and finances. People come to me, telling me that a potential affair seems so reasonable and perfectly timed to them. My husband hasn’t been showing me the interest that I deserve and there’s this new guy at work that just showed up and we’re just really hitting it off, pastor. This must be God’s will because circumstances have aligned. Or, a single person will defend their new dating partner. He/she is someone they know is not where they should be spiritually. They’ll say something like this, But he makes me (or she makes me) so happy. Ironically, we just happened to be at the same place and at the same time; we have so much in common. Surely it must be God’s will. There, again, they are trusting circumstances to be equal to God’s will.

It reminds me of that song, by Luther Ingram, some years ago, “If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.” We just think circumstances, how we feel and our desires matter more than God’s will.

Let’s consider how people make decisions about their finances. If a flat screen tv just so happens to go on sale the same day that you get a new credit card application in the mail, you think, This must be God’s will to get that 75 inch tv! God must be behind this. Or a couple goes to apply for a mortgage and they get a mortgage loan that far exceeds their income. And then soon as they move into the house, they feel the anxiety of not even being able to pay for their groceries. We’re often tempted. We think, Well, why would God allow the banks to loan me so much money? We think that God’s will works according to circumstances.

God often does use circumstances, but never by themselves. Learn to go to God’s word, to trust God’s Spirit and to pray. Often, if you’ll just wait 24 hours, you’ll come to your senses. Go to bed on it and talk to your spouse about it. Talk to those that are Godly people around you. Give it a little time and stop being so impatient. You’ll often avoid the circumstance temptation.

I used to run drug stores for a large drugstore chain. We had this section right next to the cash register called “the impulse buying section.” That’s the section where we triple our profit because we mark everything up. We knew you would be stuck in line waiting for the time when you could check out. Meanwhile you go, Oh my goodness! I can’t believe she likes him. I gotta buy that magazine. Wait a minute, I’ve been on a diet, but that candy bar looks good. Just one candy bar won’t hurt. The whole time you’re in the impulse section,we’re making all the profit, because the store understands something about you and about your human nature. You’ll give in to circumstances. You’ll give in to impulse and desire. We must learn to trust God with everything , and to give Him our circumstances. Well, let’s keep reading. We need to finish chapter 24; we are at verse eight. 1 Samuel 24:8-22 (ESV) 8 “Afterward David also arose and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!”

(Pastor Gary – commentary) Now, this kind of surprises me that David reveals himself. Saul has 3000 men and David only has 600 men, but David has the heights. He’s up on those cliffs that you’ve seen where you saw those mountain goats. Saul is down in the valley. The other thing is, Saul, according to the Torah Law, has left the camp to relieve himself. So there is quite a distance where they could kill Saul before he can get back to his men. So maybe that’s part of it. When you read the Bible, do you try to visualize how it looks and how it feels? Do start you get inside the story? Do you put yourself in the story and really get the feel of it?

“And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage. 9 And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’? 10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you today into my hand (Pastor Gary – commentary- There’s that word hand again) in the cave and some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord,

(Pastor Gary – commentary )The word, “hand,” is in the reading today 14 times and most times it is in this final reading.

for he is the Lord’s anointed.’ 11 See, my father, see the corner of your robe in my hand. For by the fact that I I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. 12 May the Lord judge between me and you, may the Lord avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you. 14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! 15 May the Lord therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my my cause and deliver me from your hand.” 16 As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil. 18 And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, let will he let him go away safe? So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. 20 And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 21 Swear to me therefore by the Lord that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name outof my my father’s house.” 22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Saul recognizes the true king and asks a favor of him not to wipe out his own house. David swears this to Saul. Then, Saul went home, back to Gibeah where he could sleep in his own bed, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. They stayed in the caves.

How to put everything in God’s hands: 3. Put your desires into God’s hands.

Put your desires, your reward, your idea of success, your dreams, whatever it is in your future that you’re pursuing, put your desires into God’s hands. David has been called to be king, but he stands up and says, I’m not going to take it into my own hands, even though it looks like it was in my hands. I refused to do it that way. May the Lord do it for me. I’m going to trust the Lord for my desires. I’m gonna put it in His hands .

In verse 13, he quotes what he calls “the proverb of the ancients.” Verse 13 says,”Out of the wicked comes wickedness.” We don’t know this verbatim; it is not anywhere in the bible prior to this. Some have suggested, in the commentaries, that maybe it went all the way back to Adam. Who knows? But it’s a true principle that Jesus refers to in the book of Matthew. Matthew 12:34-35 (ESV) “…For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.” David is saying this to Saul, You can tell by the fact I didn’t kill you, that I’ve only wanted good for you. I’m not a treasonous, rebellious man. And so he calls him “my father “ and Saul refers to him as, “my son, David.”

It looks like there’s hope of reconciliation , but David knows better. He’s tried to reconcile with Saul before. David stays in the cave and Saul goes home. You see, David had learned something about his desires. He has learned to put all of his desires, all of his future success and all of his hopes and dreams in God’s Hands.

Look at what David wrote in Psalm 37. Psalm 37:4 (ESV) “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” It works like this: You want things and you have desires for things, but if you will delight in the Lord, He will bring your desires into alignment with His desires. Some of your desires are worldly and they need to be put away. Those desires that come from God, He will give you. You don’t have to take matters into your own hands. You can leave them in his hands. He will do it.

Now, I know some of you are here this morning thinking, Yeah, but you don’t know my situation. If I don’t take this into my own hands, if I don’t do this, nothing’s going to happen. That’s the temptation. Some of you have something good on your heart right now; maybe even a calling from God. What If God is trying to take you through a wilderness right now and teach you to be patient and not try to do it in your own power and strength? Continue to say, May the Lord do this. Trust him for it. David says, “delight yourself in the Lord and he’ll give you the desires of your heart.” David was going through the wilderness when he learned this.

There was a prophet, named Isaiah, that went through a long wilderness, preaching to Israel. Israel never listened to him. He writes this in Isaiah 49:4 (NLT) “But my work seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”

Do you ever feel like that? You’ve been working, working, working and you have nothing to show for it. I have often felt like that. When we first planted the church,for about the first five years, I would quit every Monday. I would get up every Monday and ask, Why am I doing this? How do I get back into the drugstore business? I was good at that. Why am I here? Every Monday, I would quit, but by sundown, I’d sign back up again. Do you know why? It was because the Lord wouldn’t let go of me. I’d say, Come on, let me quit now, and He would say right back, I’m not gonna let you quit. I called you to do this. The problem I had was that I had my eyes on the wrong thing. I had my eyes on the results. I was looking at the results and I was feeling like a failure . I was looking at the reward. I wanted it now. It wasn’t happening now. And so it made me want to quit. Somebody needs to hear this. What I wanted wasn’t happening fast enough, so I wanted to quit. But what I needed to focus on was the calling rather than the results. When I learned to do that, the results came after a period of time. I had to go through the wilderness first and you will too, because it’s in the wilderness that we learn our best life lessons. We learn to give everything to God. In the wilderness, we find out that the stuff we are keeping, we don’t even know why we’re still hanging on to. Sometimes, He has to get them out of our hands.

My daughter in law sitting here to my right, she’s got a little boy named Ryder. He’s my grandson. This little fella can get both hands full of more stuff. He just loves to fill his little fists. We still have the toys that were from the previous generation upstairs at our house. There’s these little things called “Micro Machines” and “Legos” upstairs in the playroom. We have to watch him because he can get a little “klepto” with his hands. Every week, before he leaves my house, Caroline has to go to him and get micro machines out of his fists because he just can’t help himself.

We’re all born that way. We want to take matters into our own hands, but God, sometimes, has to, like a good parent, take us through the wilderness. You need to give Him that because if you hang on to it, you’re going to ruin it. If you’ll give it to Him, He will make it wonderful. He will make it the perfect timing for you to have it and it will be a blessing to you rather than a curse.

Martin Luther said this , “I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” Put your desires for success, for reward and for purpose into God’s hands.

David learned some hard lessons in the wilderness and we can learn these lessons, too. We can learn to trust God with our cares, with our circumstances and with our desires.

Let’s pray. Lord, we thank You for Your word today. We lift up the name of Jesus right now, knowing that this whole story points to Him. I’m praying, right now, for that person that’s here today. Maybe you’re visiting for the first time. Maybe you’re watching online and you’ve never trusted your life to Christ You’ve been wearing the “crown” yourself. You’ve been in control. Life is in your hands, but you’re sick of it. It’s not working and you recognize you need help. You need a Savior. Would you give your life to Jesus right now? You can do it right where you’re sitting, whether at home or here with us in person right now. How do you do it? You do it through prayer. Turn your cares into prayers. Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I’ve been living my life according to my own control. I give control to You. I believe You died on the cross for me. You died for my sins and You were raised again and that You live today. Come and live in me and make me a child of God, make me the person You want me to be. I want You as my Lord and Savior. I surrender my life and everything I have and everything I am and everything I long to be to You. If you’re praying that prayer now, believing, He will save you. You can put it in God’s hands. Someone is here today. You’ve done that; you’ve given your life to Jesus, but for some reason, along the way, you took some things back. What do you take back? God’s trying to pry your hands open right now. He is trying to pry your heart open right now. You know what it is. You know what you took back. Right now, Lord, I give you my finances. I give you my romance. I give you my marriage, I give you my parenting. I give you my job. I give you my relationship with my coworkers, with my neighbors and with my boss. You fill in the blank what have you taken back that you would give back to God now and trust it into His hands. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.