Do Good Guys Ever Win?
Encouragement from the Word • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Do you ever go through a week and need some encouragement?
I come across people all the time that say, “ its been a rough week, i don’t know how much I can take.”
They ask for prayer, they are hurting and discouraged.
What’s happening?
Life .... Life happens and it hurts especially when we see the unrighteous doing well.
People talk to me all the time and they ask, why do evil does have success?
They struggle, they do what is right and they suffer defeat after defeat and wonder why?
Life happens...
And honestly we do not have an answer to those sorts of questions, i am reminded that the rain falls on the just and the un-just alike....
These questions have been around since the days of Adam and Eve....
If there is any one person who knows these thoughts it was David...
People get sick,
David had experienced it many times in life and so in response to life, disappointment - David put His faith and trust in God.
Things happen and sadly its takes life happening some times to slow us down ...
The word of God is a great place to find encouragement!
Car breaks down
People go through difficult times
.
Now in the course of these and other struggles … people need hope! They need encouragement, hope in the midst of a difficult world. So what can we do…
Our hope is in the Word… And in the One who its about...
The word of God is a great place to find encouragement!
So this morning I want to take you to the Old Testament book of Psalms
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
In this passage there are 3 commands pointed out for us to hang on too. Commands that give us hope in difficult times.
Now looking at the Psalm, we know it is a Psalm of David, during a time when it looked as if the righteous were falling to the hands of the wicked.
Now looking at the Psalm, we know it is a Psalm of David, during a time when it looked as if the righteous were falling to the hands of the wicked.
Difficult days were happening, but David trusted the Lord and knew the Lord would sustain them.
David had been there. Although he had been anointed king as a teenager, he spent the better part of his twenties running from the ungodly King Saul. On several occasions, David did the right thing by sparing Saul’s life, only to watch Saul return to his comfortable palace, while David went back to a cave.
During that time, David and his men did right by a man named Nabal, protecting his shepherds and flocks from bandits. But when David asked a small favor of Nabal in return, Nabal said, in effect, “Drop dead!” David had many occasions to reflect on the problem of personal injustice.
David wrote to share his insights on this problem. The psalm reflects the wisdom he had gleaned from years of walking with God.
Now looking at these three verses we find three commands. Lets look at these thoughts.
Now looking at these three verses we find three commands. Lets look at these thoughts.
The
The first is Trust in the Lord...
1. Trust in the Lord
1. Trust in the Lord
Now we are speaking about finding encouragement in the Word of God. The word of God teaches us emphatically to trust in the Lord.
Consider the word - “trust” It means to have a strong confidence in or reliance upon someone.
And the “someone” Scripture tells us to put our trust in, our faith in, He is the Lord God almighty. He is the maker of heaven and the earth and all that is in it.
And this means you and I as well....
Trust Him..... that is the testimony of the Holy Scriptures.
Let me share two passages with you.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. Selah
and
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
What a wonderful testimony…
Now here is a question… in a world of dread, in a world where it seams like things seem so upside down.... the call from the Word of God tells us to trust in Him.
Can you trust Him, Do you trust Him even when it seems like you cant catch a break?
The answer from Scripture is Yes....
But listen in the midst of trusting God the call is for us to trust Him and “do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.”
So what does all this mean? Trust Him and refuse to act another way, but as His child, demonstrating love, compassion and mercy… always being faithful.
Even in difficult days, David did not change his actions. He respected Saul even though Saul wanted him dead. David was not only a child of God, he was God’s anointed one.
God would work it all out in the right time, all he was supposed to do, was to trust God.
So in the land we live, unfair at times, full of calamity at times… can you continue and demonstrate faithfulness.
Trust Him...
and this brings me to my second thought....
2. Delight yourself in the Lord
2. Delight yourself in the Lord
2. Delight yourself in the Lord
2. Delight yourself in the Lord
Delight is the first word of verse 4..... and the call from David is for people to delight and find their joy in the Lord.
Lets face it, David did not have good circumstances.... He was being persecuted, pursued and hunted.... he was a wanted man.
Saul and others were living in luxury, they were fed, they were comfortable.... David and his men, were in hiding, barely fed, there situation was in distress.
No one would think David was God’s anointed just by looking, everything that was happening seemed as if he was under judgment not success.
His solution wasn’t looking at what he didn’t have, he looked at what he did have .... He was delighting himself in the Lord.
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
There is a promise tied to this verse, delight yourself in Him, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
This promise is reflected in a New Testament passage,
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So what is being said here?
When God is your desire, when He is your focus, your passion and your everything… he rewards His children.
But stop right there.... the rewards of God, don’t think you are winning the lottery, they your dreams will come true.
Here is what i think.... HIS dreams for you, they are coming true.
When you are thinking about the heart of a person, What does it mean?
The heart of a person, it is the locus, the center of a persons thoughts, desires and yes, actions.
Where is your heart today? Why do I ask that? The desires of your heart, that really determines us you will or can delight yourself in the Lord.
He is either your all, your everything or nothing at all.
So where is your heart at today?
Where is your heart today?
And this brings me to one last thought today....
3. Commit your way to the Lord
3. Commit your way to the Lord
One last thought.. hang in there with me.
Commit your way to the Lord.... it pushes us right back to verse 3… Commit means to trust.
Commit means to trust and to dedicate fully to the task or cause at hand.
The focus of our commitment is our “ways.” The word “way” means our conduct.
Now think about this.... our conduct or ways refers to thoughts, actions, words. all that we are… is that given to Him.
David found himself as God’s anointed, the chosen King o Israel because the Lord had rejected Saul for his sin.
In , we find David, he sneaks into Saul presence as they slept. David could have killed Saul, but David was convicted and he could not harm Saul, but cut off the corner of his robe.
He could have killed Saul, it would’ve solved all his problems quickly… BUT...
What didn’t he?
His ways were commited to God’s ways not his ways… There is what makes the difference.
Do you
Question.... be really honest with yourself here. Are you chasing after your ways or His ways?
Consider Proverbs 3:5
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
If we hope to trust in the Lord we cannot trust our own reasoning my friends. And honestly that is not easy.
We are used to reasoning, to finding the solution to the problem and making it work.
And there is nothing wrong with having the ability to reason, to think .... but it must be balanced with His ways, His plans and His desires for our lives.
At times, trust means we have to stop relay on God entirely. He will do what you cannot do....
6 I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.
reminds some trust in what is worthless, idols and the like. The child of God will trust in the Lord and Him alone.
says
He will act, He will do and He will deliver.
David knew God would deliver him, would put away his enemies and raise Him to the throne at the right time. While it looked like he was getting the short end of the stick, God was working victory for David.
I also believe that God is working victory in your lives as well as you live for him. Now, at times the outcome of the situation may not be what we want, or what we think.
But I believe God is doing, working for our very best all the time.
My job is simple...
Trust,
Delight
and Commit.
Honestly it isn’t always that simple.... it is difficult at times. But we can learn to walk with God… in a way that is pleasing to Him.
David sat on the throne in God’s timing.... Good guys do win… and it all remains in His hands.
So where are you today?
What do you need help with?
Pray