Michael Youssef - Sufficient in All Circumstances
The year was 1900. The city was Galveston, Texas. And that year, that storm that devastated Galveston nearly destroyed the whole city. Soon afterward, the city fathers sought the help of a very prominent and brilliant design engineer. They asked him to design a seawall that could withstand any future storms. This well-known, brilliant design engineer was told by the city fathers safety and not cost should be his paramount concern. By the year 1904, the wall of Galveston was built. It was a massive barricade of 5 miles long and 17 feet above the tide. This was the crowning achievement of this particular engineer. He proudly declared that the fiercest of any gale or storm would not affect this wall.
Fast forward a few years later, while he and his team were involved in a large, massive project in Alaska, he received a telegram from Texas, and the telegram said, "The wall that you had built has been destroyed by a gale force wind and a storm". He turned to his associates, and he said to them, "This is impossible. This is impossible. I have built that wall to withstand any possible severe storm. It must be a mistake. It has to be a mistake". And he was right. Somebody, in a panic, erroneously sent him the cable telling him that the wall was destroyed. In fact, today that seawall still stands strong as the Rock of Gibraltar.
And when I became familiar with this story, I kind of wondered, at least in my own heart, how many of us who claim to know Jesus and love Jesus, how many of us, when we face the storms in life, we panic and begin to think the worst? I wonder how many of us, the moment we see the storm on the horizon, we surrender to fear and to hopelessness? And yet, God is like this master builder but far greater, is saying to every one of us, "It is impossible for you to drown because I am your rock and shelter".
Well, as I conclude this amazing series of messages on the life of this amazing man, David, we gonna end it on a positive and glorious note. We gonna end it on a very high note. Today we end with a challenge for each one of you. Whether you're sitting here in this sanctuary or watching online around the world right now, I'm going to issue a challenge today. If you do not have a sacred song today, you need to develop one for your life. David had a sacred song that he always went back to. When you go home, meditate on 2 Samuel 22, for this is a messianic prophecy. This is a prophetic chapter regarding the coming of the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a forward-looking chapter to the coming of Jesus Christ. This is a glimpse into the life of the coming Messiah. This is a projection of the future in the present, a thousand years before Jesus was born. If you do not have a sacred song, you can certainly have one, and you can use this one. It will fill you with the sounds of praise when you're down. It will fill you with the sounds of thanksgiving when things look bleak in life. It will fill you with the presence of God in times of trouble. It will fill you with the music of joy when you're sad. It will fill you with the excitement of faith when you feel weak.
Every time I think of a storm, I think of a study that I've read many, many years ago, a study that was conducted about how birds react in the rainstorm. They found that the duck is always indifferent to the rain. It's oblivious to its effect. The chicken, on the other hand, is the most miserable creature when it is raining, it really is, most miserable creature. Ah, but the robin, the robin, on the other hand, sings in the rain. In fact, a robin saves its sweetest note into the most raging part of the storm.
And so you ask yourself the question: Am I a duck, a chicken, or a robin? David faced some very violent storms in life, some of them of his own making, but many of them were not, from being hunted like a wild animal by King Saul to being thrown out of the palace by his rebellious son Absalom, from hiding in fear and in panic in the land of the enemies, the Philistines, to being put down and humiliated by his wife, Michal. But the one thing that you have to agree with me on David, the one thing you cannot deny David, is that he's never lost his sacred song. You may be feeling pressed on every side. You may be feeling that the walls are closing in. You may be feeling that you are in a long dark tunnel right now. You may be feeling that you are in a prolonged spiritual drought. You may be feeling and experiencing a sense of despair.
I want to remind you that David did this, felt this way, way early when he was in his 20s. I just want to remind you in case you've forgotten, so you're not alone. You're not alone when you feel that way. Listen to what he said. Listen to what he said earlier in the piece. He said, "It is inevitable for me, it is inevitable to die by the hand of Saul". Do you remember that? "It is inevitable. I'm gonna die, and I'm gonna die by the hand of Saul". He was in his 20s at the time. He didn't die. God kept protecting him until he became king and became the most successful king Israel ever had. Reality is that the rock and the shelter was keeping David in the hollow of his hands.
The reality is that the shield and the buckler wrapped around him that nothing would harm him. We saw how in the times when David did not inquire of the Lord, he made a mess of things. When he did not inquire of the Lord, when he did not go to the Lord for answers, he made a mess of things. Oh, but in the midst of all this, the one thing about this man, David, the one thing about this man of whom God said, "His heart is after mine," the one thing is that deep down in his life, he has one longing, and that is to please the Lord. And the God who sees in the depth of your heart, and sees in the depth of your mind, and sees in the secrets of your life is the one who will honor you for that desire. And because of that desire in David's life, God's hand upheld him again and again and again and again.
You see it clearly here in the sacred song, 2 Samuel 22. The one thing you notice about the sacred song and in that sacred song, David never, never, never in all of his life tried to give the credit to himself, not one time, not for anything that's been accomplished. Never, never took credit for it. Well, who loves to get the credit? He didn't. You never hear him saying, "Well, God helps those who help themselves". He doesn't take credit for the strategies that he implemented. He doesn't take credit for his brilliant mind. He didn't take credit for his perseverance. He didn't take credit for his strength. No, no, no, no, no, he gave all the credit where?
Verse 2: "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer". Don't miss what I'm gonna tell you. In verses 2 and 3, the personal pronoun is repeated nine times. How many are this? Nine times. My, those of you who know Jesus as your personal Savior will testify to the fact that God is a personal God, and God does not look at us and see a big masses of people. He sees us individually. He knows us individually. He knows us by name. He knows us by person. He knows our temperament. He knows our personalities. He deals with us differently from dealing with each other. We all need to understand, whether we know it or not, it doesn't matter.
You've got to understand that only God is a shelter from the slanderous tongues of others, that God is your only rock from the storm of criticism and rejection, that only God is the hiding place from the various attacks by those who hate us. Only God is the shelter from the heat of malice. Only God is your fortress from the fiery darts of the enemies. Only God is your strength and your empowerer in the times of temptation. God is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer.
When young David showed up, you remember, early, early, early on, he shows up to bring some food to his older brothers who rebuked him and criticized him, put him down, and he was bringing 'em food. You remember he saw Goliath mocking the people of God, and the people of God were shivering in their sandals, including King Saul. You remember David stood on the rock of ages and defeated Goliath. Let me tell you something, Goliath has no power over you unless you give him that power, unless you open the door for him to come in. David, with all of his failures, David, with all of his faults, David, with all of his frailties, David, with all of his weaknesses, David, with all of his impulses is the same David who delivered his people, God's people, by God's mighty hand.
It's the same David who believed that his God is the only one true God, the same David who believed and acted on that belief that his God is in control of all circumstances. This is the same David who believed and acted on that belief that his God can open a highway in the midst of the Red Sea, and that is why David had a sacred song. Do you have a sacred song? If you don't, you develop one today. "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer". I've heard people through the years say, "Oh, when my ships come to port, I will do thus and thus".
But they never send any ships out. They have been waiting for the harvest, but they've never sowed seeds. And they said, "Oh, when the harvest comes, I will give". That doesn't take faith. Faith is you throw the seed, and you sow it generously, trusting the God of the harvest. God is honored when faith is exercised at the front end, not at the back end, and God honors that faith.
"As our rock," here's what David is saying, "As our rock, he will uphold and support those who build their hopes on him and on his Word. He will steady you in the time of the earthquakes. He will keep you together when the storms threaten to blows you away. He will make you immovable when the wind is blowing so severely. He will stick to you when others leave you. He will keep you firm in the face of thunder and lightning, just as your rock, but our fortress," he says. "He will give you shelter from your assailants. He will blunt the attack of the enemy's spear. He will bear the brunt of the enemy's pounding on you. He will hide you from the enemy's hands. He will hold you together when everybody else is falling apart".
The rock, the fortress, what else God left? You're a deliverer. As our deliverer, God saves us from ourselves. How many times did God save David from himself? How many times God saved me from myself? There are too many times to number, but I do remember them. I cannot count that high. He is your deliverer. He redeems us from the raging power of sin. He rescues us from the roaring lion. He saves us from the second death. So the question is this: Do you have a sacred song? Do you have a sacred song? If you don't, you will do well. Use this one. Verse 3: "My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge, my Savior from the violent men he saves me".
If you cannot get this whole idea of the rock and the fortress and the deliverer, David hopes that you will understand the part about the shield, the horn of salvation, and the high tower. David, with all of his blemishes, saw his God as the God who's sufficient to meet your every need, sufficient to meet you in all circumstances of life, sufficient to meet every emergency that may come your way, that he is sufficient to meet all of the unexpected in life. He is sufficient to meet all of your desperations in life. He is sufficient no matter how grim the prospect may be, no matter how numerous or powerful the enemy may be.
Now, I'm getting ready to shout because we have in the New Testament what David did not have. He longed for it. He prophesied about it. He talked about it coming, but he'd never seen it with his own eyes. He saw it, like Abraham, with the eyes of faith. You know that Jesus said, "Abraham longed to see My day"? David longed to see the day that we're having, that we take for granted, that we think the mark of spirituality is to come to church ten minutes late and leave ten minutes early, David, who prophesied about the coming of Jesus, whom we take for granted. We have Jesus, the Son of David, the one and only revelation of God. My Jesus is the defender of the weak. My Jesus is the power over fear. My Jesus is the master of the storms. My Jesus is the provider of all your needs. That is why he's your shield. He's your shield.
As my shield, he wards off the enemy's attack; as my shield, who stands interposed between me and the enemy of my soul. Oh, but as the horn, that word means "strength," really what's what it means, he's the strength of my salvation. The horn is always a symbol of power, strength. He is the strength of my salvation, meaning that he is the grantor of my salvation. And some people, when they tell me a believer, a real believer, wandered away, I said, "Don't worry about it, God is gonna be dragging him by the back of the neck". He will. He did it with me. And that is why in verse 4, David said, "I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemy".
I hope to be saved from my enemy? I wish to be saved from my enemy? No, I may be saved from my en... no, I am saved from my enemy. That is, I am saved in the past, the present, and the future. Listen to me, I'm getting close to the end. Because what I'm going to say to you, I may be stepping on a lot of toes, but praise God anyway. Listen carefully. This is the problem of American Christianity, it really is, and unless and until we get over it, we're not gonna see victory, we're not gonna see a revival. There are so many believers who are forever living in fear, and they always say, "Satan is attacking me. Satan is attacking me. I'm being attacked! I'm afraid Satan is gonna attack me". Listen to me. We need to attack him! We need to get into his territories. We need to get those who are enslaved by him to be set free, to come to know the Savior, the only Savior.