Michael Youssef - Encouraging Words in Discouraging Times - Part 1
Perhaps I have not seen this level of discouragement among God's people, and I know there's a lot to be discouraged about. Continuous discouragement can sap your energy. Continuous discouragement causes loss of hope. Continuous discouragement, if persisted, can be very destructive. In fact, continuous discouragement even can lead to all sorts of illnesses. And that is why I'm starting this short series from the Psalms entitled, "Encouraging Words in Discouraging Times". No one suffered from discouragement like David. Started as a shepherd boy out in the hills of Bethlehem and the fields, he felt lonely at times, all alone, shepherding his father's flock. But precisely those lonely times in the hills helped him develop some of the most profound God-honoring prayers in a form of psalms.
Now, I'm sure at times probably David wondered, even after he became king, what natural skills or talents that would equip him to lead the nation. I'm sure at times he wondered what administrative or leadership skills that really can he demonstrate sitting on those hills in Bethlehem, near Bethlehem, watching his father's flock. But when you read his story in the scripture, it is very clear that even his father and his brothers did not see him as a leadership material.
In fact, when Prophet Samuel came to the house of Jesse and he was anointed king, he said, "God told me there's gonna be a king," they put all of the boys up there and they left him out all together. And Samuel said, "Well, is there anybody else? Because the Lord hasn't told me that any of these people are going to be king". He said, "Well, you know, the runt, but he's out there, shepherding the flock". That's always the job of the lowest in the family: shepherd the flock. And Samuel said, "We're not going to even sit down until he comes".
But, you see, I want the young boys and young girls to listen to me here. While his family did not make much of him, God saw in that boy the making of a king. God sees in you, young men, young women, what you cannot see, what others cannot see. The one thing that God saw nobody could see is his prayfulness. He was skilled in playing musical instruments and composing songs and prayer, psalms of praise. And God sent the Prophet Samuel to anoint him king at a very young age. Little did David know that he would become one of the most significant figures in all of biblical history. But here's the irony. Listen carefully.
Here's the irony. David did not cease from experiencing discouragement. As a young man, all alone in the hills, he experienced discouragement. Later on, he becomes king, he experienced discouragement. Started with running for his life from Saul who was hunting him and wanted to kill him. Then the sooner he became king, things in his family began to go south, things really, he began to experience disaster after disaster within his own family from murder to rape to the rest of it, so much so that, though a powerful king, he had to flee his palace from his own son, Absalom.
Listen to me, please. At this time in David's life, running away from the palace because there was a coup d'etat taking place. At this moment, when he feels that his family is torn, his kingdom is torn, his emotions were torn, his life was torn. And in the middle of this devastation and running away from his own palace, from his own home, he sits down and he writes Psalm 28. So, let's look at the Psalm, Psalm 28, under three headings. First of all, you see David places his confident request before the Lord, verses 1 and 2. Secondly, David calmly presents a well-reasoned argument before the Lord, verses 3 to 5. Thirdly, David receives a cause for rejoicing from the Lord, verses 6 to 9.
The first thing you see here is David places his confident request before the Lord. Where does his confidence come from? From all of the things he did for God? From many times he said, "I kept your commandments," and he would rejoice over the commandments of God and laws of God, they're perfect, and so on and so forth? No. David's confidence, not based on his rightness or even the rightness of his cause. Listen to me. I know that sometimes you know you're right and you're absolutely certain you're right. You are absolutely certain about the rightness of your cause for which you're praying, but that is not the source of your confidence. It ought not be. His confidence is in who? In God.
Question: Why is God called the Rock? Because the rock is a symbol of changelessness. Even when our world is falling apart, the rock is a symbol of immovability. The rock is a symbol of permanence. The rock is a symbol of invincibility. The rock is a symbol of immutability. Please don't miss this, don't miss this. David's world is falling apart, but not the Rock. David's world was slipping from under him, but not the... David's kingdom was slipping from under him. But God still is what? David's kingdom being snatched away from him by Absalom. But God is what?
Let me ask you this. You feel your world is falling apart. You feel that your world is shaken. You feel that your world is slipping from under you. You feel that your world is sliding into oblivion. You feel that the foundation is shaking so much you don't know how far and how long can you hold on, and you feel that your marriage is on the rocks, or you feel that your health is failing you, then do what David did. Do what David did. Call upon the Rock. Call upon the Rock, for he is the only one who is unchangeable. He is the only one whose love is changeless. He is the only one whose stability is unquestionable.
David's confident request stemmed from knowing who God is, who God is. Not like so many in our culture today, sadly. I don't have to tell you that in this entitlement culture, millions of people feel that the government owes them something, that their parents owe them something, that the church owes them something. And in the midst of this evil invasion that has taken place in our culture, there's some Christians feel that God owes them big time. When it comes to God, he owes us nothing, and we owe him everything.
Please listen, people with that type of entitlement mentality, they accomplish nothing. In fact, they destroy everything they touch. And David said, "Hear my cry, O Lord," for what? I've been good to you? I've been faithful to you, because you owe me? No. "Hear my cry for your mercy". Listen, David's reasoning is this. If God is hearing him but not having mercy on him, he felt that he was a dead man walking. I think it's easy to deduct that David penned those words where he was experiencing what so many of us sometimes experience, the silence of God. He was experiencing the silence of God.
David says he raises his hand toward the holy place that is symbolic of the presence of God. Raising of the hand is an expression of imploring God. When Moses raised his hand up on the mountain, God gave victory to Joshua. When Jacob wrestled with God, raised his hand before God, he got the victory. When Jesus was sweating blood in Gethsemane, the Resurrection took place three days later. I know this is not only my testimony, I know that. David placed his confident request before the Lord.
Secondly, he presents calmly his well-reasoned case to the Lord. Look at verses 3, 4, and 5. Here David is talking about the wicked people, and he says this, he says, they kind of smile to your face, but then they stab you in the back. It's a Youssef translation, but that's really what he meant. And he asked God to judge them, repay them for their evil deeds. Those words might sound harsh in our soft, non-judgmental, tolerant culture. I am absolutely convinced that Satan has unleashed a successful propaganda campaign that has corrupted the thinking of a whole generation, a whole generation.
Oh, they don't want to blame the criminals for their life of crime. They don't want to condemn the terrorist for taking lives. They say to us, "Oh, these terrorists and these criminals, they don't need to be judged, they need to be understood". In contrast, David said, "Lord, repay them for what their hands have done". Our culture probably would say, "He shouldn't be so judgmental toward those people who hunting him down. People are trying to destroy him, he shouldn't be judgmental. He should be more understanding. He should be more tolerant".
Beloved, the Bible from cover to cover tells us that we must call wrong, wrong, evil, evil, sin, sin, wickedness, wickedness. Listen, whether that sin is in our lives or lives of others, I condemn the sin in my life faster than I condemn any other person. But the beauty of David's claim, this calm reasoning with the Lord, is this. It's not based on self-righteousness, not even the rightness of his cause, but it was based on the character of God. In fact, David already approached God, and you see that in the beginning, with confession. He says, "Protect me from falling in these sins". He confesses his sinfulness.
So he doesn't begin the prayer with asking God to judge the wicked. No, no, he begins by asking God to keep him from being dragged into these wicked schemes. David was always aware of his own propensity, propensity to sin. Now, if you're not aware of that, you need to do some work with God today. I, as your pastor, I'm aware of my propensity to sin. When David was praying for justice against the wicked, he was not just praying as a private citizen. He was praying as the ruler of his people. He was praying and assuming his rightful place as the ruler, as the leader of the nation. And as the ruler, he is responsible for executing justice, not mercy. Justice, not mercy.
Sadly, today in our culture, as we drift away from our biblical moorings, as we drift away from our godly moorings, under the guise of "compassion" and "tolerance," we let the criminals roam in the streets, and care nothing for the true victims. We want to protect the civil rights of the wicked more than those who suffered from their wickedness. We care more about the rights of a child abuser than the abused children. That causes me to weep. It should cause us all to weep.
Beloved, evil is evil, and wrong is wrong, and we need to pray that God will raise up godly leaders who would administer justice. Confidently requesting, calmly reasoning, cause for rejoicing. Look at verses 6 all the way to 9. I think we're all very good at requesting. Hello? Come on. We are all very good at requesting. We may even be good at reasoning, but very few of us, very few of us, are thankful when the prayers are answered. We don't stop long enough to thank him. Soon our exuberant emotion fades, and as time passes, "Well, yeah, but what did he do for me lately"? But not David, not David. Actually, he began praising and thanking God before he could see evidence to his answered prayers.
Look at verses 6 and 7, Psalm 28: "Praise be to the Lord, for He has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and He helped me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise Him". Don't miss David's fully trusting in God, no matter what. Fully trusting in God before the prayers were answered. Beloved, listen to me please. The life that we're living right now, the life you're living today, wherever you are in your circumstances today, we live it because of what God did for us yesterday. And we will be in a different place tomorrow because of what God is doing for us today.
You know why I'm saying this? I'm saying this because God is not trapped in time dimensions as we are. And when he looks down, he sees the past, the present, and the future all in front of him, all of them, accomplished. And that is why, like David, we need to fully trust him, even in the times of what appears to us to be his silence. Look at verse 7: "My heart trusts," that's in the past. "I am helped," that's the present. "I will praise Him," it's in the future. Based on his own experience with God, David, based on his knowledge of the character of God, not only in his own life, but in the lives of Abraham and Moses and Jacob and Isaac, as he knew the Word of God.
Based on all of that, David's supplication turns into seeing God acting by faith. Take it from this broken preacher. After all these years that I've been walking with the Lord, I can tell you with absolute conviction and certainty that the life of gratitude, the life of thankfulness, is the secret to everything. And I'm talking about a lifestyle of it, not just occasionally say, "Thank you, God". No, no, no, I'm talking about a lifestyle of it. It's the secret to joy. It's the secret to life of faith. It's the secret to God's blessings. I know this is a sweeping statement. I know that. But please, let me appeal to you to try it. Try it. Please try it. Practice it. Live it. You will never be the same.