The scripture reading comes from 1 Samuel chapter 23 and 24.
Please follow along on the screen in your bulletin or in your own Bible.
In chapter 23 verse 14 we read.
And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness,
in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph.
And Saul sought after him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
David saw that Saul had come to seek out his life.
David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.
And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh
and strengthened his hand in the Lord.
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.
And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord.
David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
Then the Siphites went to Saul at Acubert, saying,
Is not David hiding among us in the stronghold of Horesh,
in the hills of Hakkila, which is south of Jeshimon?
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.
And Saul said, May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me.
Go, make yet more sure.
Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there.
For it's told to me that he is very kind.
See, therefore, 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 thousands of Judea.
And they arose and went as if I had a Saul.
Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma'on,
in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon.
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 Ma'on.
And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Ma'on.
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,
a messenger came to Saul, saying,
Hurry, come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.
So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines.
Therefore, that place was called the Rock of Escape.
And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
When Saul returned from following the Philistines,
he was told, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.
Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men out of all Israel
and went to seek David and his men in front of the wild goat's rock.
And he came to the sheepfold by the way, where there was a cave.
And Saul went in to relieve himself.
Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost part of the cave.
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.
And afterward, David's heart struck him
because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe.
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.
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 its way.
Afterward, David arose and went out of the cave
and called after Saul,
My Lord, the king.
And when Saul looked behind him,
David bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.
And David said to Saul,
Why do you listen to the words of men who say,
Behold, David seeks your harm?
Behold, this day your eyes have seen
how the Lord gave you today into my hand 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.
For he is the Lord's anointed.
See, my father,
see the corner of your robe in my hand.
For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe
and did not kill you,
you may know and see
there is no wrong or treason in my hands.
I have not sinned against you,
though you hunt my life to take it.
May the Lord judge between me and you.
May the Lord avenge me against you,
but my hand shall not be against you.
As the Proverbs of the ancients say,
out of the wicked come wickedness,
but my hand shall not be against you.
After whom has the King of Israel come out?
After whom do you pursue?
After a dead dog?
After a flea?
May the Lord therefore be judge
and give sentence between me and you
and see to it and plead my cause
and deliver me from your hand.
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.
He said to David,
You are more righteous than I,
for you have repaid me good,
whereas I have repaid you evil.
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.
For if a man finds his enemy,
will he let him go away safe?
So may the Lord reward you with good,
for what you have done to me this day.
And now behold,
I know that you shall surely be King,
and that the Kingdom of Israel
shall be established in your hands.
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
out of my father's house.
And David saw this to Saul.
Then Saul went home,
but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thank you so much, Bernard and Angeline,
for reading.
I know it's a long passage,
but it's just really great to be able to hear God's word.
And this is an amazing story this morning.
So really welcome to all of you,
wherever you are.
Let's just start with praying
and asking God to really open our hearts this morning.
Father, you have been faithful to us.
You are continually faithful to us.
Father, I pray that this morning
we would be reminded again
of how faithful you are to us.
Forgive us where we lose sight of that.
Open our ears that we would not be like Saul
who is deaf to you,
but we would be like David
whose heart is open for you to speak.
Lord, I pray that our hearts would be
touched by you this morning.
Holy Spirit, would you come in power?
Would you speak to us right where we are?
Would you bring your word to bear on our hearts?
And would you lift our eyes up
to see how great and how glorious
and how big you are?
Lord, we pray even in the midst of this pandemic,
Father, you are still on the throne.
Help us to see you on the throne
and to trust you,
that you are good and you are faithful.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Great.
So we're going to carry on
looking in our series in 1 Samuel today.
And let me just start with this.
My son, Etienne, has a problem.
He's only two, but he's entitled.
You see, my one-year-old daughter, Elodie,
can be playing with a toy
and as soon as he sees her,
instantly he just cannot stand her playing with it.
If he's sitting down, he jumps up,
he starts screaming,
and he has to grab and snatch the toy away from her.
And they usually have a little bit
of a wrestling match for a while.
And even if he's eating,
we as parents will tell him,
hey, Etienne, just wait a minute.
You'll get a toy soon, but just wait.
But he can't wait.
Because, you know, when you're two,
you have to have everything instantly
in your timing right now.
And he will be seriously miserable
if he doesn't get things his way,
his timing, and what he wants.
And part of our parenting
and part of learning how to grow up
is teaching him and helping him
to learn how to wait without grasping.
And without that kind of sense of,
I need this, I deserve it,
entitlement right now.
But to know that actually he can trust
the Heavenly Father
who is an even better parent than we are.
And that's what actually this passage is all about.
And so I've got three things
that we're going to look at in this passage,
which is waiting, trusting, and then seeing.
Okay, so we're going to start with waiting.
Because we're looking today
at the story of David.
And if you've been tracking with us
over the series so far,
you will know that the people of Israel
have wanted a king to help fight their battles.
That's what was good in their eyes.
And they wanted someone
who was like the nations, who looked good.
And so God had given them Saul,
but actually God had then rejected Saul
and chosen David as king
because Saul, his heart was all about his own honor.
He was all about his own outward appearance.
But David's heart was a heart after God's own heart
and wanted to trust him and walk with him.
And so the whole of the story
is how God has been shaping and working in David's heart,
even in the mundane day-to-day of shepherding
where it looked like nothing was happening.
He was working in his heart,
preparing him for kingship
by teaching him how to trust him,
by teaching him how to see the bigness
and goodness of God,
which would stand him instead
for the rest of his life.
And up to this point,
everything had been going well for David.
Do you remember last week?
He's just killed Goliath.
He gets promoted to the king's court.
He's winning tons of battles.
Everybody loves him.
And then Saul hears the women saying,
Saul killed thousands,
but David,
his ten thousands.
And it says Saul was so angry,
his jealousy gets hold of him
and he seeks his life.
He seeks to kill him
because his jealousy just blinds him
to what God's purpose is
and what God has said.
And David becomes a rival
to exterminate and get rid of.
And so David has to go on the run.
And he goes on the run as a fugitive.
And though he is completely innocent,
he is driven out
and he wanders in the Judean desert.
We might have a picture of the Judean desert here,
going from place to place,
just running in hiding.
And scholars believe
that it was for at least seven years
that he's in the wilderness.
And then a total of 10 to 13 years
between the time when God had promised
that he would be king
and the fulfillment of that promise.
10 to 13 years.
All because of one man's insecurity
and hardness of heart and soul.
And in the waiting,
God's promises look further away
than ever before.
Because in chapter 23,
there's a part we didn't read,
which is just before this,
1 to 14.
David goes to the town of Kelah
and he actually saves this town
from the Philistines.
But then in repayment,
the people of Kelah
are getting ready
to betray him to Saul.
And so he has to run away.
And then we see in verse 19 to 29,
in this part of the passage,
David is in the territory
of the Ziphites,
who are descendants of Caleb,
who was one of the spies.
He went into the land
with Joshua into the promised land.
And they betray David
just out of personal ambition.
They see him there and they say,
hey, Saul,
isn't David hiding among us?
Now you come down
and our part shall be
to surrender him
into the king's hand
so they can get some favor
from the king afterwards.
I mean,
this is great, isn't it?
For someone who is meant to be king.
And you know,
what happens next is
it's actually like a Bond movie,
kind of car chase,
without cars.
But David is around
one side of the hill.
Saul is running
the other side of the hill.
And you can see
the drone shot of the camera
coming down
and Saul is closing in on David.
He's about to surround him.
He's cornered.
It's kind of nail-biting,
heart-pumping stuff.
And just as he's about to get him,
Saul's phone rings
and he gets a message.
He needs to fight a major fire
in another part of his kingdom.
The Philistines are attacking
and he has to back off.
And David,
with all that stress,
breathes a sigh of relief
and he actually calls this place
the rock of escape
because God has delivered him.
But it was super tight.
And you could,
you couldn't blame David
if at this moment,
with all that's going on,
he might have had some doubts.
He might have been going,
God, I thought you said
I'd be king,
but this wasn't what I bargained for.
I didn't expect this to happen.
This is way too stressful.
What's happening?
Where are you, God, in this?
But you know,
one thing this passage
is teaching us
is never despise waiting
because you know,
in the waiting,
God is often doing
his deepest work in our lives.
You know,
waiting is a workshop,
not a waste.
It's a faith factory,
not failure.
You know,
in my life,
half of my life
has been spent waiting for things,
for health,
for jobs,
for education,
for relationship,
for kids,
you name it.
And waiting,
I can tell you,
is super hard.
We know that.
It's super hard
because you're not in control
and things are uncertain.
And sometimes,
you know,
you can wait
and it can feel easier
when you really sense
God's presence is with you,
sustaining you.
But we even know
from the Psalms
that at times,
David didn't even feel
God's presence.
He says in Psalm 22,
my God,
why have you forsaken me?
God even seems absent
when he's trusting him.
Where does he go to
in the midst of this?
Where is God?
But the amazing thing
is that in the wait,
God is sculpting David's heart
to be a man of prayer,
a man whose faith
isn't in his feelings,
as we talked about
with the Lent thing,
but it's in the character
of his God.
Here's Psalm 54,
which is actually written
precisely at this time
when he's betrayed
by the Ziphites.
He says this,
he says,
oh God,
save me by your name
and vindicate me
by your might.
Do you see where
he's looking for his salvation?
He says,
strangers have risen against me.
Ruthless men seek my life.
And here's what he says,
behold,
God is my helper.
The Lord is the upholder
or the sustainer
of my life.
Do you see what's happening?
Right in the midst
of the wait,
he's learning to love God
and trust God for God,
to have confidence in him,
regardless of the feelings,
regardless of the circumstances.
He's getting character
formed in him.
Rock solid faith.
And for us,
many of us right now,
you know,
we're in times of waiting.
I mean,
there's the pandemic
that's going on.
There's a lot of uncertainty.
I'm not sure
what you're waiting for,
whether it's travel,
whether it's seeing family,
maybe it's other things.
Maybe it's the clarity
for a decision you've got to make.
Maybe there are desires
that God has birthed in your heart
and you just,
like dreams to be used
for his kingdom,
but it just seems like
it's not happening
and you don't know when
things are going to happen.
Don't despise the wait
because waiting teaches you
to let God be God.
And it teaches you
how to run to him
as your helper
and find him
as the sustainer
and upholder of your life.
And do you know
what we need in the wait?
We need a Jonathan
in the wait
because sandwiched
in the middle
of these two situations
with Keller
and the Ziphites
is verse 15 to 19
where it says,
And Jonathan,
Saul's son,
rose and went to David
and strengthened
his hand in God
saying,
Don't fear,
you shall be king.
This is amazing.
You see,
Jonathan,
I wish we had time
to do a study on this guy.
He is,
he's an amazing guy.
He's actually,
he's the Prince Charles of Israel.
He's next in line
to the throne.
He's the heir.
But instead of grasping
onto the power
that he thinks
he's entitled to,
thinking he deserves
the throne,
do you know what he does?
He lays down
being number one
and he says,
Hey, I'm okay
with being number two
because God,
I know what God
is doing here
and I can trust him
and he risks
his entire life
to come and encourage
and support David
right at the time
when he needs it.
You know,
right in our waiting,
we need promises.
We need reminders
of God's promises to us.
We need Jonathan.
We need a Jonathan
in our lives
and we need to be
Jonathan's to other people.
So look around
and see
your calling
actually this week
is who can I be
a Jonathan to this week?
Who can I be a Jonathan?
Who can I remind
of the gospel promises
that we can learn
to wait
because we have
a big and a good God
that we can trust in
who's at work right now?
Who are you a Jonathan to?
Because, right,
and here's the end
of the waiting.
Right, sorry,
here's the end
of the first part of waiting.
You see,
this is the last time
Jonathan actually ever
sees David
and spoiler alert,
Jonathan dies.
But he completes
his mission before God.
He's more successful
in God's eyes
than Saul,
his grasping,
entitled father,
Saul,
ever was.
That's the wait.
But secondly,
trusting.
And this is,
this is beautiful.
I love the way
this is written.
This is chapter 24.
It's beautiful
but it's actually tragic
at the same time.
Because Saul,
he's not given up.
He's coming after him.
And so it says,
verse one says,
when Saul returned
from following the Philistines,
he was told,
hey,
behold,
David is in the wilderness
of En Gedi.
Don't you love
those kind of guys?
Like,
who told him?
David,
you know,
David's had enough
betrayal already.
But it says,
then Saul took
3,000 chosen men
out of all Israel
and went to seek David.
Do you know what?
David's got 400 men.
That's about 10 to 1.
This isn't fair.
Okay?
This is totally outnumbered.
But what's lovely is this.
This is the point
where actually the Bible
gets a little humorous.
It's actually about,
it's a little bit of toilet humor here.
And it's in the Bible.
So it's worth doing.
But it says here,
verse three,
and he came to the sheepfolds,
by the way,
where there was a cave.
And Saul went in to relieve himself.
Now,
David and his men
were sitting in the innermost
parts of the cave.
I mean,
just imagine,
it's a cave.
Okay?
It's dark.
It's smelly.
David and his men
are hiding there,
crouching down for their lives
to escape from Saul,
killing them.
And into their very cave,
out of all the caves
that there were,
and there were a lot,
wanders Saul.
He strips off his armor,
takes off his clothes,
totally naked,
totally vulnerable,
takes down his pants,
starts doing a number two,
right in front of them.
Now,
talk about low-hanging fruit.
Okay?
For a soldier,
this is about as low as it gets.
And the men of David,
they 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,
and here's the key,
as it shall seem good to you.
Literally,
that's what is good in your eyes.
You see,
it looks amazing.
God has promised you victory,
David.
He didn't tell you the timing,
but look,
it's right here
on a plate for you.
But the key thing
that David knows
is Saul is still
God's anointed king.
He's God's chosen man
for this role.
And to attack him
was to attack
God's chosen man
for all his faults,
for all he had done wrong.
God was the judge,
and to take
the judge's position
right now
was to attack God,
and David knows that.
I mean,
how do you know
if a circumstance
that God brings
is of God
or is a test for you?
Well,
it comes down
to actually
how attuned
your heart is
to the heart of God,
and how regularly
you've been allowing
his word
to be shaping
your heart
and your soul
and your life.
Because you remember,
just as in the Garden of Eden,
just as with Abraham
and Sarah
who were barren
with no child,
just as with Saul
is later on,
we always have moments
where you're tempted
to take a shortcut,
to do what is good
in your own eyes.
And what happens
when you come
into those moments
of temptation
where it just looks
so good
is
your inner lawyer
will give you
a thousand justifications
for why you should
do this thing,
even though you know
God's word
says no.
Here's four things
I think David's inner lawyer
would have said to him.
One,
I need this.
You know,
God doesn't want us
to suffer any longer,
right?
Here he is.
We should just kill him.
Years of hiding,
years of stress
and fear in one second
could all be over.
And it's also
for his men too.
It's not just for him.
You know,
they can't teach
much more of this.
We need this.
I need this.
Secondly,
he deserves it
because Saul
is evil
and unjust.
You know,
he's got every right
to feel bitter
about this.
He's innocent.
This is justice
to get back at him.
He deserves
to be taken down.
I need this.
He deserves it.
Thirdly,
I'm entitled
to it.
Now,
this is probably
one of the strongest
because David
has been promised
and anointed
as the future king.
It is
his
by right.
So,
he should just
take it for himself,
right?
He shouldn't have to
put up with any more
of this,
should he?
He's entitled
to it.
He needs it.
He deserves it.
I'm entitled
to it.
Fourth,
I won't get
another chance.
This is the ultimate
FOMO
because this is more
real than any of our
FOMOs that we face
in our life
because the opportunity
cost is huge.
the stakes
are not just your career.
The stakes are life
and death
for all of them.
That's pressure.
That's peer pressure
too from his men.
And you know,
the job or the relationship
that suddenly appears
and looks so good
but you know it's not
healthy spiritually
for you or for your family.
There's a temptation
for us
to shortcut God's promises
and his provision.
Do it in our timing,
in our way,
and especially,
some of you know this,
if you've been waiting
faithfully for a long time,
you can end up
losing hope.
And yet,
here's the thing.
Saul,
under pressure
from his men
in chapter 15,
he caved in
to them.
And David nearly does too.
He listens to them.
He creeps up to Saul.
He sees his robe
on the ground.
He cuts it.
Just as,
remember,
Saul tore Samuel's robe
to show that the kingdom
was torn from him.
So David cuts it
to show Saul,
it's not your kingdom anymore.
And just as he's going in
for the final kill,
it says this,
David's heart struck him.
Listen to that.
David's heart struck him.
This is incredible.
Given the pressure,
given the history,
given the waiting,
the spirit of God
pricks his conscience
with all of that,
all the justifications,
justifications,
it's a godly alarm system
saying you should not
be doing this.
And because in the waiting
he's constantly tuned
his heart to God
in his word,
in prayer,
in confession,
and repentance,
he listens.
And he obeys
in the heat of the moment.
And he trusts God's entire,
his entire life,
God for his entire life,
his entire future,
and that of his men.
And he says,
I'm not going to hold on
to any bitterness.
I'm not going to hold on
to entitlement.
I'm not going to try
and get my own way.
I'm going to leave judgment
in the hands of God.
And he says this,
he says,
the Lord forbid
that I should do a thing,
do this thing,
to my Lord,
the Lord's anointed.
Do you see who's
at the forefront
of his mind?
It's Yahweh his Lord.
And he turns around
to his men.
And I can imagine,
this is what they're saying,
they're going,
what are you doing?
You idiots.
Like,
you're never going to get
another chance.
Are you nuts?
And it was super heated,
and we know that
because it says in Hebrew,
it says David persuaded them.
In Hebrew,
it actually says
David tore into them,
meaning he went,
don't you dare touch them.
Because
they were not happy
about this.
But he's got a conviction
that trusting God
is going to work out
in the long run.
And Saul,
their persecutor,
gets up
and walks freely
out of the cave
to carry on hunting them
for another few years.
Wow.
You see,
faith doesn't always feel good
in the short term.
But faith is more solid
than your feelings.
Because God is more sovereign
than your feelings.
And God is our helper.
I want to turn to
bring up Bernard
to share a little bit
of some of his story
of how he's seen God
just at work in his life
in a very practical scenario
in the waiting.
So,
if we can just
hand it over
to Bernard.
Bernard
Thanks, Chris.
Boy,
it's kind of hard
to follow
on the back
of David's story.
But Chris asked me
to share
something that...
Bernard,
I think you're on mute.
Oh,
I'm speaking,
but maybe...
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me now?
Okay.
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
It's kind of hard
to follow
on the back
of David
and Saul's story.
But Chris asked me
to share
something that
kind of happened
in my career
that required
quite a bit of waiting.
And so,
basically,
I've been
working for my company,
a IT and telecom company,
for 30 years.
I know
for a lot
of our young people
in Mortimer,
that would be
beyond
a lifetime sentence.
How can you work
for one company
for 30 years?
Three years
seems like a long time.
But,
basically,
what happened
was...
So,
I run
Asia Pacific
for this company
and I've been
doing it
since 2008.
So,
that's probably
about 13 years.
But,
actually,
it was the journey
of how I
got this role
that Chris
wanted me to share.
So,
back in 2003,
which is
quite a while ago,
nearly 20 years ago,
I was...
My boss then,
who was the head
of this region,
left
and four of us
was invited
to interview
for this job.
And then,
kind of long story short,
it came down
to two of us,
between myself
and a colleague
of mine
who's a little bit
older than me,
probably 10,
15 years older than me.
And,
in my final interview
with my then boss,
he asked
the standard question
of,
you know,
why would you think
best that you had...
Why do you think
you're the best candidate
for this role?
And,
boy,
when Chris
talked about
David
and his heart
struck him,
I had
kind of a similar
feeling at that point.
I felt like
that God
was speaking to me
and striking my heart
and basically said
to me
that,
you know what,
it's not your time,
you should recommend
your colleague.
So,
at that point
in the final interview
between the two of us,
I recommended
to my boss
that he should
choose my colleague
to be,
to take this role.
Thinking maybe one day,
you know,
it will be my turn.
But I really felt,
you know,
he had more experience,
he had another 10,
15 years more experience
than me
and so forth.
So,
I ended up working
for my colleague
for three years
subsequent to that.
And,
in that,
there was
a lot of
different
circumstances
where I was able
to support him.
He actually
fell into a bit
of a depression
in the middle of that
and I was able
to kind of support
him through that.
At the end of that
three years,
he left
the company
and at that
point,
I thought,
oh,
you know,
maybe it's my turn.
And then the company
decided to fly
somebody in from the US
and passed
over anybody
in the region
to take that role.
So,
then I worked
for this new boss
for another year
and then they moved
him on to another job
and I thought,
wow,
finally,
okay,
it's my turn
to do this role.
And then they decide
to do another
restructure
and merge
the region
with another region
and then they put
another boss
ahead of me.
So,
I was passed
over twice.
So,
this is now
kind of five years,
four years on
and now
I work for
my new,
second new boss
for another two years.
So,
now kind of six years
on from the time
that I felt God
saying,
you know what,
you should recommend
your colleague
and,
you know,
something happened,
an incident happened
and it actually
created a really
difficult situation
for my then boss
who had to take
responsibility
for that incident
although he wasn't
involved
and he left.
So,
now it moved
from,
it's now
the end of 2008
and at which
point
the company
then said,
okay,
we've kind of run
out of candidates
now.
All those people
we've put on top
of Bird
we've kind of run
out.
Maybe it's time
we asked Bird
to kind of
take the role.
So,
you know,
that was kind
of a long story
short.
It was about
six years
between the time
of my interview
and I was
appointed
for the role
and I know
it seems,
six years
seems a long time
probably especially
for those that are
young in their career
it seems probably
a lifetime
but,
you know,
what I didn't know
and it didn't to me
and it reminded me
of a verse
in Genesis
29
when
Jacob
was
waiting for Rachel
and Laban
kind of
did a
bait and switch
with Leah
and
but
in 20
in verse
20
it said
but they
seemed to him
but a few days
because he loved her
and
so actually
those six years
really didn't feel
like that long
to me.
I really felt like
and by the way
the time of waiting
is not a time
well I'm going to sit
on my hands
and feel sorry
for myself.
It was really
just a time
of
leaning
and trusting
in God
and really
he taught me
a lot
and one thing
at the end
of that
when I was
appointed to that role
and I've been in it
for 13 years now
was that
prior to me
the average tenure
of somebody
who survived
in this role
was two years
so
it wasn't
a
longevity role
and now
I've been in it
for 13
I don't know
if God wants me
to be in it
for any further
but I certainly
feel like
that
it was a time
of waiting
that God's timing
was surely
a lot better
than
my own timing.
So Chris
sorry
it was longer
than it
needed to be.
No that's great
thank you
Bernard
and I think
one of the things
that
just even
I'm sure Bernard
may not say this
but I think
just
you see how
just even
walking in
just the
ordinary faithfulness
of just trusting
God over
time
over time
and I know
even Bernard
you said to me
that one of the things
God had worked
in your heart
was actually
a desire
that you wanted
to see
the other people
succeed
as well
and I think
that comes out
of actually
a security
and a trust
that actually
you know
that actually
God has got you
and so thank you
so much for sharing
that I think
that's just
really encouraging
for us.
So I want us
to just finish
with one more point
we've looked at waiting
we've looked at trusting
in a God
who is faithful
and the last thing
is I want to do
is talk about seeing
because it's not
that actually
God always works
everything out
in our own way
and actually
this call
to wade
and to trust
is not a call
as Bernard said
to just accept
every bad stuff
that comes your way
and just live with it
it's a call
to a big vision
of God
which gives you
courage in uncertainty
so you don't grasp
so you don't live
and seek your own
entitlement
but actually
David gets up
out of the cave
and he goes
to confront Saul
he's not passive
in this at all
but his heart
is in the right place
before he goes
to confront
and actually
by the way
if you have
relational tension
never go and
confront someone
until you've actually
done heart surgery
on yourself first
because you'll only
make things worse
but David
at this point
he's seeking
to win
Saul's heart
to open his eyes
to see reality
and he shouts
to Saul
he goes
hey my lord
the king
and he bows down
and then he shows him
the cut robe
and he goes
see my father
see the corner
of your robe
in my hand
in fact the word
see is repeated
at least four times
in two verses
he says
do you see
do you see reality
do you see
every lie
that you have been
believing
is false
here is the evidence
in front of you
I could have
had revenge
I could have
held on to business
but I haven't
because I'm not
I'm not trusting
and getting my own way
in this
I'm leaving judgment
in God's hand
because I know
his hands are bigger
than mine
and he says
may the lord
judge between me
and you
but my hand
shall not be
against you
I'm not going to
take revenge
I'm not going to
attack
I'm not going to
withdraw
I'm not going to
do anything
except I'm bringing
the goodness
of God
to you
and Saul's eyes
which have been
blinded by this
ever deepening
spiral of grasping
and jealousy
trying to hold on
to his ambitions
and control
for one split second
are opened
and he sees
the reality
and he says this
you are more
righteous than I
for you have
repaid me
good
and the word good
is actually
repeated multiple times
good
whereas I have
repaid you
evil
you see
David's trust
in God
as the judge
when he could have
grown bitter
but he doesn't
he leaves
all of that
in God's hands
it leads him
to bring blessing
and good
to even the wicked
and unjust
people like Saul
whereas Saul's
trust in himself
leads him
to doing evil
to innocent people
and you know
we are the same
because in the
uncertainty of our
waiting
in the pain
of hurt
and betrayal
we can be tempted
to listen to lies
we can be tempted
to cling on to bitterness
we can be tempted
to look at the short term
to zoom in
on the macro lens
of just the moment
and try and get
everything for now
and miss the wide angle lens
of God's character
and his promises
because you see
before each one of us
today
you will have tests
on whether you're going
to trust God
in your waiting
or do what's good
in your own eyes
and God puts in front
of your face
this morning
as he wants to
every day
not a cut robe
but he wants to put
pierced hands
and feet
of Christ
before you
in front of your face
and says
see
you have in many ways
treated me
like Saul
in your entitlement
in your impatience
in your pride
in so many different ways
and yet
Jesus was
persecuted
a fugitive
betrayed
rejected
treated
far worse
than Jesus
than David
ever was
on our account
but I am so patient
with you
I am patient
wanting people
to repent
and come back
to me
do you know
Jesus could have
wiped out
every one of his enemies
like that
instead
he chose not
to take it into
his
grasp it
into his own hands
like Philippians 2 says
but he chooses
to take the nature
of a servant
he pays
the ultimate
cost
ultimate opportunity
cost
of death
on a cross
you see
David's life
was actually
protected by God
but Jesus
life was not
and I can imagine
in heaven
the angels
would go
are you crazy
God
do you not
know what
Chris is like
do you not
know what
you're entitled
to
do you not
know all the
things that
he has done
to you
and he would
say yeah
but my love
and my grace
come to
undeserving
entitled
and impatient
people
and I want
to give you
what you
don't deserve
the grace
of my
love
and a
relationship
with me
and he
is the one
who is crowned
the ultimate
king
the resurrected
king of glory
and if you
want to have
a big view
of God
right now
you've got
to place
his story
and overlay
it onto
your story
because sooner
or later
this week
you're going
to have
cave moments
in your life
maybe
and if you
haven't been
getting in
God's word
regularly
if you
haven't been
rehearsing
his love
and his
faithful to
you
thanking him
and allowing
his promises
to work in
your life
you'll believe
what everyone
else says
around you
and it will
be a lie
and you'll
be blind
to the reality
of the big
picture of
what God
is doing
and you'll
do what is
good in your
own eyes
and it will
cause harm
to others
but if you
tune your
heart
to the
ever faithful
suffering
love of
Jesus
towards you
then his
story will
reshape
your story
because what
you see is
he brings
life out
of death
when you
trust him
with your
life
there may
be moments
where things
will feel
like you're
dying
but he
always brings
resurrection
out of the
cave
you see
right now
I want to
ask you
where are
the moments
where you're
waiting
where are
the moments
where you
are in
pain
or frustrated
you see
God is
wanting to
work a
resurrection
story in
your life
but you've
got to get
off your
throne
like
Jonathan
you've
got to
trust him
with the
timing
like
David
and if
you take
the promises
of God
my God
is my
helper
the Lord
is the
upholder
and sustainer
of my life
and you've
got to wield
those every
day to help
you fix
your eyes
on Christ
and every
day we're
doing that
helping each
other with
that you
will look
back I
can guarantee
in years
to come
and say
Jesus
you are
more righteous
than I
I have
repaid you
with plenty
of sin
I've been
impatient
a whole lot
of other
things but
in Christ
you have
repaid me
with such
abundant
good
because
Jesus
you are
so good
to me
and the
question
is today
as he
puts that
in front
of you
will you
trust him
with the
weight
will you
trust him
with your
hurt
will you
trust him
and run
to him
and let
him
be the
God
of your
life
I want
to pray
for a
second
and then
we're
going to
move
into
breakout
rooms
but I
want you
to take
a second
to think
about
this
story
I want
you to
think
where
in this
story
resonates
with your
story
where
are the
areas
where
God
is
calling
you
to
trust
in
him
today
to
have
a
bigger
vision
of
him
and
his
goodness
and
his
love
what
resonates
in
your
life
where
is he
calling
you
to
trust
him
so
father
I
just
want
to
thank
you
that
you
are
the
ultimate
faithful
God
thank
you
that
even
though
we
look
so
much
in
the
macro
the
little
tiny
moments
of
life
you
see
the
big
picture
and
thank
you
that
your
faithfulness
has
been
proved
to
us
ultimately
on
the
cross
but
actually
again
and
again
every
single
day
you
prove
it
to
us
Lord
forgive
us
for
where
we
fail
to
see
that
you
are
faithful
I
pray
Lord
even
as
we
go
into
our
breakout
rooms
and
chat
together
I
pray
that
you
would
speak
to
us
you
would
encourage
us
that
you
would
help
remind
us
that
you
have
got
today
that
you
are
our
helper
and
help
us
to
look
up
and
see
you
and
trust
you
in