Dr. Ed Young - Looking up From the Bottom
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David was a man after God’s own heart. He wrote 72 of these Psalms; he was a harpist, a singer, a composer, a leader, a genius in any way you look at it. From a shepherd boy to taking care of Goliath, how he handled Saul when he was seeking to kill him for years, his whole manner in which he got to the kingdom. Sometimes sit down and read 2 Chronicles, chapters one through nineteen. First of all, you’ll be astounded at the culture, the polygamy, the immorality that went on. But in and through this, you have David trying to be a little remnant hopefully for God.
However, in the process, when he should have been out fighting the war, he looked over the balcony, and the window shade was up. Right then, the scandal with Bathsheba occurred, then the cover-up leading to her husband Uriah being virtually murdered as he commanded him to go to the front of the line in the attack that he would command. Then came the long, long time in which he buried all this in his heart until Nathan came and said-he didn’t say, «Thou art the man, David. You’re the one who…» He said, with tears in his eyes, he looked at his king and courageously said, «David, you’re the one who’s in trouble with God.» That led to wonderful repentance, public and private; we’ll deal with that Psalm later on. David penned it.
But then, after all of this, we have to look and see what kind of father was David. With all the gifts, what kind of father was David? Now, mind you, he was forgiven of his sin, but when we are forgiven of our sin, it doesn’t mean that we have sown and we have reaped and we’re forgiven of that evil seed that we did sow, but that doesn’t mean there are not consequences. I could get into a fight, which I started, and I was wrong in the fight, and in the fight, I lost an eye. I’d go to God, I’d ask those I fought to forgive me, I would clean up everything, but I still would live the rest of my life with one eye because of what I did. This is David. Nathan said, «David, you’re forgiven by God, but the sword will never leave your family.» Nathan said, «You’re going to have problems with your kids from this day forward.»
And this is what we see here, exactly what was going on. Quickly I’ll tell you this story; some of us know it. It’s all built around Absalom. Absalom was perhaps the one who would logically have followed David as king. His mother was royalty; David was royalty. Absalom had beautiful hair, a great physique, charisma, a leader of people. We won’t go there, but his hair got him in trouble. You know, three or four people have read that part of the Bible. But Absalom got in trouble because he was the son of a father-David-who was passive.
What happened, long story made short, Amnon, son of David, raped his sister Tamar. Absalom thought his dad, the king, would do something about it. David was angry, but he didn’t do anything. Time went on until Absalom himself killed his brother. Oh, not directly; he got somebody else to do it. Now you ask the question: where did Amnon, the one who raped his sister, get all the lust? It’s in the family, isn’t it? From his dad. Where in the world did Absalom get the idea he could kill his brother? Not directly, but through somebody else, through David. He took care of it, not directly but commanded it.
You see how this passes through. And then, when Absalom went into exile, he wanted to come home. David finally let him come home, but for two years, David would not even look at his son, his wayward son who was trying to come back. When finally he looked into his face, he sort of pushed it aside, and Absalom began to start a revolution against his dad. A lot of bitterness happens in conflict, but there can be no deeper bitterness than when your son or daughter revolts and vows to overthrow the dad and therefore the kingdom.
You know what Absalom did? He did what a lot of people do. David made a lot of decisions; he decided for one team, and Absalom would show up and say, «You know, if I had been king, I would have decided for you. I wouldn’t have gone the way David did.» And he did this all over the kingdom. When Absalom went back, he rode a chariot, had soldiers walking with him; he acted like a king, he performed like a king, and David did nothing. He did nothing with rape; he did nothing with murder regarding his kids; he did nothing while the egomaniac Absalom began to explain himself until finally, Absalom had gone all around to all the tribes of Israel, and now he had his army, his group, and they were ready-most of the young people-to throw away David, who still had, I’m sure in the eyes of the modern youth of that day, as it is today, «What’s this God and synagogue all about, anyway? A way to ruin a nation.»
«If I were king, if I were king, if I were king,» and now the revolution took place. David was stunned; he was in his house made out of cedar, luxurious and larger than even the temple, which incidentally was to be built by Solomon. Isn’t that interesting? Solomon built it, but the House of David was bigger than the church they built. What about that? The synagogue they built.
Now the clarion call — 25 miles from Jerusalem-here’s Absalom with armies gathered from all over Israel. It was a coup d'état, a sudden violent overthrow of the king, the president, or the prime minister. It’s not a typical revolution; it can breed into a revolution, but get the king out, and hey, you’ve got — so Absalom and all of his armies went after David, and David, stunned, took his group and fled-fled from his house, down from Jerusalem, down to the Kidron Valley, up over the Mount of Beatitudes, and he was running for his life.
The Bible said he was barefooted. I’ve walked that very path. I tell you, it’s not a good place to go barefooted. He covered his face; he was crying, broken, in unbelief. He was stunned. This king, who was so active in his family, responded to a crisis with nothing. And here he is finally, looking around, as some of his people were bringing along the Ark of the Covenant -some kind of the little presence of God, in their eyes. And that’s what they did when Israel went into battle; they brought the ark; they took God out with them right out in front.
David, with great wisdom, in the middle of all his family’s stupidity and complacency, said, «Take the ark back up, David. Put it there in the synagogue where it belongs; it doesn’t go with me. God may not be with them; I don’t know. Put the ark back up there.» And now, here are thousands marshaled to kill the king, to destroy all of his followers, and everybody’s turned against David. You read it; there Shimei was there, a family who cursed him, saying, «You man of blood! You don’t have any chance!» But Mephibosheth, who was the son of Saul that David had reinstated at his table, he and his family all turned against him. Family, friends, soldiers, enemies, people he honored-they all now turned on David, and David was running with a little bit of his family and his faithful men. They went down and down and down for their lives and now they were beaten down.
Perhaps 48 hours later, David finally went through a restless sleep. Then Joab- I think he was there. Oh, Joab’s loyal, commander-in-chief, general of the army. What a guy! Joab wakes up and looks over there at David, who’d gone to sleep under the stars. Maybe he hadn’t done that since he was a shepherd or was running from Saul or had gone to sleep under the stars, barefooted, crying broken. He sees David picking up and writing something-writing something, and David has a smile. Now they’re surrounded by thousands of people doing everything they can to kill him and end his life, and David is writing something.
Let me show you what he has written: «Look on the screen, look on the screen. I’m going to read the first verse, and the dark areas, if you’d read in a responsive way, I’ll read first: 'Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against me, but Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter up of my head. I laid me down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. Arise, O Lord, and save me, my God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone; Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.'»
Let me outline that for you. First, verses one and two are a cry of hopelessness; remember the situation. Verses three and four are a cry of faith. Verses five and six are a cry of confidence. Verses seven and eight are a battle cry. Let’s look at it, execute it, and see how relevant that is for you and for me. If we are under any kind of wave in your family, in your business, in your health, in your relationship with your children, in your relationship with the world, and all the wokeism we live under, let’s see if this gives us any answers.
" Lord, how are they increased that trouble me?» Is that true where David was when he penned these words? Many they are, which say of my soul, «There is no help for him in God.» CA-by the way, CA-remember it says something about music; it says probably there is a crescendo when this is sung there in the Tabernacle. Also, it means, what do you think of that? Isn’t that good?
Here we are; the bottom’s falling out. He feels hopeless, helpless, and they say, «David, you’re such an immoral rascal- adulterer, murderer, a crook, a sorry leader!» Let me tell you something: even God is not interested in helping you; you have had it.
Verse one and verse two. Verse three: «But Thou, O Lord.» Wherever we are as a nation, wherever we are individually, wherever we are as a family-that’s the whole thing-"But Thou, O Lord.» You see the word Lord there-Yahweh, Jehovah. It means a covenant. It means that in all of these mistakes, the mountains and the valleys that David had experienced, he still had a relationship with God.
«But Thou, O Lord, I’m bottomed out! There’s no hope. Even they say God can’t help me. Oh, but I know better-"But Thou, O Lord.» A relationship with God in Jesus Christ, folks! You know how you can tell when somebody’s really a Christian? It’s when the bottom falls out of their life because of mistakes, because of sin, because of poor choices. If they just run and make excuses and stay in the far country and go on and on and on and on, and they sort of tip God but don’t get broken and come back in shame and repentance, if they do that, they know they still have a relationship with «But Thou, O Lord.» That’s how you can tell!
I just read-I don’t know if it’s accurate or not; I can’t imagine it-that 88% of the Senate and House of the United States are Christians. If that were microscopically true, wow, what a beautiful position we’d be in America, would we not? But you see, somehow it’s easy to have the name, go through the motions, and not have «Thou, O Lord,» who runs my life. «Thou, You’re in charge; I make my decisions on the basis of biblical truth.» And David, even with the wave coming, thousands all around him, he’s virtually everything.
He says, «Thou, O Lord.» He turns back home to God, then the rest of it: «Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me.» The word shield there in the Hebrew means a shield that went all the way around him. «I’ve not only got your front,» the Lord says, «David, I know; I’ve also got your back.» Man, he needed that because he’d been tricked, and people had turned on him.
«Your shield for me, my glory.» You know what my glory is? That’s David saying his righteousness. Well, he didn’t have a lot of righteousness. Oh yes, he did-he’d repented, he’d gotten it right; he said, «My righteousness, my glory, and the lifter up of my head.» You can look in a lot of directions when you’re down, but if you lift up your head, that’s toward God.
And he said, «I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill.» CA- what do you think about that? The ark was taken back on Zion; now he looked up to God and he looked beyond the ark all the way to heaven and he said God heard me. First two verses-hopeless. Three and four-words of faith. «But Thou, Lord.» Do you have a «But Thou» for whatever’s going on in your life?
«But Thou, O Lord» is that operative with you, is it? And when we’re just bottomed out, there’s no light, and we seem confused, listen, you keep all your eyes on that which is wrong, that which is broken. All you have to do is look up to God, and you see He’s still running this world, and He wants to run your life and my life 24/7. «But Thou, O Lord.»
Then look at verses five and six. Here we have confidence; it’s a cry of confidence: «I laid me down and slept; I awakened; the Lord sustained me.» Can you imagine there are five or six or seven or 10,000 people two hills away waiting to come and kill you and eliminate everything you have in your life and you went down and took a nap? You slept all night long; that’s called trust, isn’t it?
Boy, I’ve had to rely on that many times. When I forget, I have to go back to it: «I laid me down and slept; I awakened, for the Lord sustained me.» Because of «Thou, O Lord,» he said, «I will not be afraid of 10,000 people who have set themselves against me round about.» The shield covered him, round about, all around him, to those who would take his life.
«But Thou, O Lord, art a shield for me.» And he lay down and slept, and the Lord sustained him. And then we read a battle cry: «Arise, O Lord.» Do you see the battle that’s here? The shield? We’re going to see the brokenness here. «Arise, O Lord, save me. O my God, for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbone, and Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.»
In other words, he knew that the victory belonged to God, not from him. He had bottomed out; he’d been the nothing man with his family and now he is going to be something with this family of God. And he said, «Salvation belongeth unto the Lord,» and then he turned away from himself. He said, «Thy blessings upon Thy people,» not just those who are pro-David but also those who are pro-Absalom.
What a song for you and for me for our nation, for this time! We are in a battle, ladies and gentlemen, for the heart, soul, and minds of our nation and our families. The number one problem in America today is passive fathers. Oh, fathers! Look at it throughout history; almost every major crisis we face would begin to be healed and solved if we would have dads-fathers-who would be godly men and would not be passive when challenges and crises come to the family.
You know the story: David’s army- the people rallied around him. They defeated Absalom’s revolution; his coup. Absalom was fleeing and he caught his long hair on the branches. I guess he had one of those super cuts like we see now; I don’t know. He caught his hair, and he was tangled there. David had told everybody, «Don’t kill my boy. Save Absalom! I want him; don’t kill him!»
But when Joab saw him there, he went over and killed Absalom. When the news went back to David, David was back in Jerusalem. Everything had been reestablished. They told David, and he went into mourning. The classic words he said were, «Oh, my son, my son, Absalom! Oh, my son Absalom! Would to God I had died for thee in your place! Oh, my son Absalom!» And he was broken and empty and defeated.
The secret sins of a father and mother or a father, tragically, are so many times shameful sins in their sons and daughters. Nothing can take the place in a child’s life but a dad, but a dad! Dads, make sure in your life right now you have a «But Thou, O Lord.»