March 5, 2023 - The 'How' of God's Ways
Notes
Transcript
If 20 years ago, someone would have told me that I would marry Rachel Liana...
I would have said - REALLY?
Not sure HOW THAT’s gonna happen.
If 20 years ago, someone would have told me that I would have 3 kids...
I would have assumed ADOPTION would NOT have been apart of that story. (now we ended up not adopting, but adoption was part of the story)
If 20 years ago, someone would have told me that I would preach every week as a pastor...
I would have told you that you got the wrong guy.
I would have said...
Not sure HOW THAT’s gonna happen!
As we look at our text today - I THINK - that we may be a bit surprised as to how this story of David is gonna play out.
What we’ve been seeing - over and over again - is this DRAMA unfold between Saul and David...
SAUL - the reigning king - who lost the kingship due to disobedience to God...
AND
DAVID - the one whom the kingdom was GIVEN TO...
Well - as we now know - Saul is dead...
And David - WHO WAS ALREADY anointed king - by God....was waiting for his opportunity.
Let’s see what happens...
1 After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.”
2 So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
3 And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron.
4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,”
5 David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the Lord, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him.
6 Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing.
7 Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.
10 Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
11 And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.
NOW - in reading this - had you not known the story - i THINK that our initial reaction would be - HUH?
Saul was originally anointed king of Israel...
Not TOO long after that - he loses the kingship...
David gains PROMINENCE with the people....
He defeats Goliath
He wins many battles...
David then get anointed king - and WAITS.
Saul gets jealous…tries to KILL David...
Never can...
But then Saul DIES in battle.
And so - OF COURSE - David then becomes KING of Israel…right?
Kinda!?
Saul was King over Israel… DIES...
And DAVID - comes in and becomes king of ONE of the territories. (over one of the tribes)
JUDAH
4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,”
What happened to the rest of Israel?
8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim,
9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.
10 Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
It’s interesting to say the least!
DAVID - I THINK - could have been a little PERTURBED at God - IF David had been focused on a POSITION…or a TITLE.
David COULD have been focused on “territories”…and gotten frustrated with how this was playing out...
He could have felt - DISSED by God (in a sense)...
Passed over for the descendants of Saul...
But David didn’t do that.
He wasn’t focused on titles…OR territory.
He was focused on obeying God.
LIVING in the MOMENT - obeying God.
And so - Similar to Jonathan...
[JONATHAN] - Who was willing to step into the PERHAPS of God...
David was willing to TRUST the ‘HOW’ of God’s Ways...
He was willing to EMBRACE the “HOW” of God’s ways...
We’ve been seeing this concept all along as we made our way thru 1 Samuel....
God will GIVE DIRECTION....but NOT give too much detail...
God RARELY provides for His people - the HOW.
Back in 1st Samuel - we go back to Samuel’s command to Saul…regarding the sacrifice.
8 Then go down before me to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”
Now this is all that God had said to Saul - through Samuel.
He told him to go to Gilgal and WAIT...
Saul had NO IDEA of - the HOW
HOW this was gonna play out.
Well - let’s go to the HOW…and see how it played out.
5 And the Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble (for the people were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns,
7 and some Hebrews crossed the fords of the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.
God HAD NOT told Saul - that things were gonna get - - SCARY!
That he was going to BE IN A SITUATION - where - WAITING - wasn’t going to FEEL GOOD!
Where waiting wasn’t going to - in a sense - MAKE sense!
But that’s how God chose to test him.
And that’s how God HAS ALWAYS worked!
Examples?
Think of Abraham:
God told him to what?
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
God says - LEAVE - and HEAD OUT…and I’ll tell you the DETAILS - later! (You ever leave your house - and your spouse ask - Hey where you goin?? And you’re like - I don’t know…)
God often doesn’t give us the “HOW” up front...
What about Moses?
What did God INITIALLY say to Moses - when calling him?
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God simply says - COME and I will send you to Pharaoh!
No details!
Well - Moses WANTED - details...
so he inquires and God THEN gives him some more details!
YET - even so - How does God explain to Moses - [HOW] He will FREE HIS people?
18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’
19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.
20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
HOW does God explain the 10 PLAGUES…?? The HUGE drama of the 10 plagues??
“all the wonders that I will do”
And so Moses HEARS this - and maybe thinks - Sounds like it will be - GREAT....let’s do it!
God OFTEN doesn’t GIVE US - the [HOW] - up front!
Moses FREES the people…and they head into the wilderness...
BUT - before they get there...
God commands the people ONE MORE TIME....
1 Then the Lord said to Moses,
2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.
3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
What does God do here?
He tells the people to CAMP OUT by the Red Sea...
AND THAT Pharaoh will come after them....
BUT that God will get glory OVER them...
NO DETAILS!
No details about...
an ENTIRE army coming at them to KILL them!
the Israelites FEELING LIKE they’ll be stuck with NOWHERE to go!
JUST - do this. -and Trust Me! - God says.
God OFTEN doesn’t give us - THE HOW - up front!
Let’s FAST FORWARD - and let’s look at the apostles...
9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
Follow Me.... that’s it.
18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Ok - BUT HOW will Jesus make them fishers of men?????
Wow - GET READY!! - - Right??
No DETAILS here about HOW they will become fishers of men!!
AND ALL that Jesus would put them through....
NO DETAILS about...
them having to LEARN about the Spiritual side of life
them having to experience the MIRACLES of Jesus
them having to hear and understand the MESSAGE of salvation
them having to GRASP the reality that their SAVIOR who had FINALLY COME - - was about to die
them having to be sent out into the world to face persecution
them feeling like they need to HIDE from the Romans because they would be NEXT!
No - details!
Just FOLLOW. ME.
When we read of these things in the Bible - what we often come across is the...
worry...
anxiety...
sheer panic at times - of those - walking through the “HOW” of God’s ways.
If you think about the call of (Simon) Peter -
My thought is - INITIALLY - it was exciting for him!
He begins to FOLLOW this man - Jesus
He THINKS this guy might be the Messiah...
and over time - he SEES THINGS that absolutely POINT to the reality that this IS the Messiah!
How EXCITING that must have been for Peter…initially!
BUT THEN...
things begin to - sink in.
This JESUS guy - He didn’t come - MAINLY - to make friends!
This guy is TURNING the world upside down!
AND IN DOING SO - things are getting more serious now.
WOW - life itself is actually ON THE LINE with this guy Jesus…!
And so - YEAH - at FIRST - this was EXCITING....
BUT THEN...
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance.
55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.”
57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.”
60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
62 And he went out and wept bitterly.
Oh how the tables had turned!
How did we go from - the EXCITEMENT of - “I will make you fishers of men!”
to...
“I do NOT KNOW Him!”??
Here’s how...
The “HOW” of God’s ways!
See - here’s a REALITY that I think is true for us...
SLIDE:
When we feel crushed by the weight of the “HOW” of God’s ways, remember that He is working for us in the moment.
Who’s been there?
I have...
Growing up - relationships that I WANTED to happen… and yet they never happened or didn’t go anywhere.
Baseball - thinking that BASEBALL was going to be HOW God would use me… and everything was POINTING in that direction until the 11th hour… and it WASN’T pointing in that direction anymore.
I mentioned it earlier - Our journey to having kids. The ROLLER COASTER of that process… Not able to have kids… starting the adoption process … then getting pregnant.
Pastoring - WHAT? God you want me to STAND UP and SPEAK in front of people????
In EACH and EVERY ONE of these scenarios...
I didn’t know HOW at the time....
I probably would have DOUBTED IT AS WELL...
But God WAS WORKING - FOR me...
NOW - was I proclaiming that truth - as I walked through those things?
Probably not - those things were very HEAVY!
And so - It’s like I had FORGOTTEN this reality...
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
This says that FOR THOSE who are CALLED -
ALL things work together for good.
Hmm - well “ALL” is an - ALL Encompassing word...
It’s ALL-inclusive.
It INCLUDES - ALL things...
AND THEREFORE - FOR ME…included...
relationships that never took off
the devastation of a SHATTERED dream with baseball
the heartache and joy and surprise of having kids
the wrestling of whether I should preach
ALL of these SPECIFIC things - and more - for my good.
God - WORKING these things - to come to pass - for my good.
And in looking back - WHAT DO I THINK God was doing at the time?
I don’t know - maybe he was creating a pastor…a preacher
And THAT was - HOW - He was going to do it.
IN THE MOMENT - it was very hard to see that!
I felt the WEIGHT - of the HOW of God’s ways...
But it makes me contemplate...
God made Joseph - RULER over Egypt...
but HOW?
13 years serving Potiphar - or in prison.
See - the HOW of God’s ways - OFTEN leads to the WHY of man...
Why God??
Why are You doing this?
Why THIS WAY?
We’ve ALL been there - and so the next time - we find ourselves walking in the HOW of God’s way....
We need to remember!...
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
And don’t GLOSS over when Paul said this...
He said this = COMING RIGHT OUT from having just elevated GOD in the redemption of men...
Those whom God foreknew, He predestined...
Those whom He predestined, He called.
Those whom He called, He justified...
Those whom He justified, He glorified!
WHAT THEN shall we say to these things....if God is FOR US, WHO can be against us?
Jump to verse 35
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the MOMENT -
AS YOU WALK through the HOW of God’s way...
KNOW - that God IS WORKING FOR you!!
As He was for David
As God STRENGTHENED David to persevere the persecution that came by way of Saul...
God was preparing David for kingship.
And so as we hear this call to - KNOW that God is working FOR US...
in the midst of the HOW of God’s way....
There’s something we can DO - TO HELP US - remember!
There’s something WE CAN DO - to help us REMEMBER that God is working for us....IN THE MOMENT!
…in the HEAVY moments!!
And it’s this...
SLIDE:
When we feel the weight of the “HOW” of God’s way, we can find strength in the past faithfulness of God.
When we’re walking through the HOW of God’s way....
And we feel the WEIGHT of all of it...
We must REMEMBER how God has worked for us in the past…!
We should REMEMBER God’s PAST Faithfulness!!
And we need to look no FURTHER than David to see this!
Remember when David was about to go FIGHT Goliath?
What did David say…? What did DAVID DO? and believe?
37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”
Do you see what David did here?
He REMEMBERED the past Faithfulness of God!!
His MIND went back to when GOD delivered him from the bear...
delivered him from the lion!
And in REMEMBERING that - He drew STRENGTH from God’s PAST faithfulness toward him!
1 O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
Do you HEAR it?
God’s PAST faithfulness can STRENGTHEN me today!
And so MAYBE you’re feeling the WEIGHT of the HOW of God’s way in your life - RIGHT NOW!
Are you walking through something HEAVY?
Not SURE where to go....
what to do?
Are you - CONFUSED?
…asking - WHY God?
Why would you do this?
Why THIS WAY?
Why THIS path?
I would say - Don’t REST THERE!
Remember God’s PAST faithfulness in your life!
REMEMBER how He sustained you!
DO what the Psalmist did!..
1 I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord; in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying; my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
4 You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider the days of old, the years long ago.
6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7 “Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable?
8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
I will remember Your wonders of old!
Lord - I will remember how you took our time of trouble...
how you took our anguish over children - and turned it for our good
how you took a shattered dream - and collected up all the pieces for Your glory.
how you took my FEAR - and redirected it toward MY SILENCE!
I will remember your wonders of old - and I will be strengthened by them!
Have you BEEN THERE?
Do you NOW WALK through fields of plenty.... fields once BARREN?
If so - REMEMBER that?
Be strengthened by God’s past faithfulness!
Do you NOW stand in FLOWING streams of life… streams once STILL and IDLE?
If so - REMEMBER that?
And be STRENGTHENED by God’s past faithfulness!
SUMMARY
Under the Weight of the “HOW” of God’s Ways
Remember that He is Working For Us in the Moment
Remember the Past Faithfulness of God
God’s PAST faithfulness:
Think back to when Peter climbed out of that boat - and ONTO the water...
With each step = FAITH kept him up ON THAT water...
But then the WAVES got TOO HIGH for him...
It got TOO scary for him...
AND IN THE MOMENT that he sank into that water...
What happened?
He had forgotten EACH PRIOR step - where Christ sustained him on that water!
Peter let the WORLD overcome his faith
NO - may we stay faithful.... and NOT forget God’s past faithfulness in our lives!!
I preach sermons every week - which means I WRITE sermons every week.
Well - if you’ve been around long enough - you know I like to write songs as well.
I’d like to close out today - with a song.
Lauren is gonna help me with it.
It speaks to this very thing we talked about today....
That God is at work in me - and I don’t want to forget that - no matter what comes.
It’s called - Your Glory My Joy