Steven Furtick - God, What Should I Do?
This is an excerpt from: Ugly Trust
To seek the Lord doesn't mean you will know exactly what he's going to do every step along the way. David said, "The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand". Is it possible that David, in this moment, isn't even really sure where God's hand is working, but all he knows is, "I've got to get out of here"? When he says, "I sought the Lord," he's referring back to this incident where he had to go to the Philistines, the enemies he wanted to kill, and live with them for a season while he waited for God to do what he had promised to do. Is it possible that you are in a season right now where you're seeking the Lord, but he hasn't exactly shown you what's going to happen in a sequence of events that you can logically understand?
So, the word of the Lord for you is…What is the next best thing for you to do? The next best thing. For David, what he really wanted was to be the leader of Israel, but sometimes you can't do exactly what you want to do. Sometimes the will God has for you is still in the process of unfolding. Sometimes the person you're supposed to marry hasn't even moved to Charlotte yet. Sometimes the job you're supposed to have isn't even open yet. So, you get rejected three times for jobs you think you'd be a perfect fit for, but the truth is, if you got that job, it would become a snare to you for the door that God is going to open. I'm talking about trusting him. I'm talking about "I sought the Lord, and there was a space. I didn't know if he heard".
So what did David do? The next best thing. "I would love to be fighting Saul's battles right now. I would love to be killing Philistines, like I did with Goliath". "I would love to be taking my kids to school every day, but I only get to see them every other weekend right now. So, when I get them every other weekend, I'm going to make that count, because that's the next best thing". "I would love to have somebody to take long walks on the beach with, but I don't have somebody, and I don't have a beach, so I'm going to get on this treadmill and get a podcast and take myself on a walk, because that's the next best thing".
"I would love to have a healed body right now so I could be in church with Pastor Steven, but right now I can't leave the house because I'm confined to this bed, but I'm going to lift my hands, because even though I can't get out of this bed, I'm going to do the next best thing". "I would love to be farther along in my finances by now, but I didn't save in that season because nobody taught me, but I trust in God, and I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread, so I'm going to do the next best thing. I'm going to give him what I've got and trust him with what I'm not. I will bless the Lord at all times…good times, bad times"! Ask Paul and Silas. "I'd love to be out of this prison, but they haven't released me yet, so let's do the next best thing. You praise him on the first verse. I'll praise him on the second verse. You sing the chorus. I'll sing the bridge. I'm going to do what he gave me to do with what I've got to do it".
Yes, sir! The next best thing for you. That's all you have to do. You don't have to figure out the next 50 things. That's God's job. He said, "You're fired from trying to be God". I just want you to think about it. What's the next best thing you can do? Go complain about it or praise him like he already knows? What's the next best thing? "I sought the Lord. Oh, it wasn't pretty. My fears were terrible". The word fears that he uses is only used three other times in the Bible Bible. It is a state so intense it's only used three times in the Bible Bible. It means horror. He said, "I was in a horrible place, a lonely place, an isolated place".
I was talking to a brother yesterday. He said, "I'm creative, but I can't find anybody to collaborate with". I wanted to tell him, "Well, the next best thing is going to be you have to open up some kind of app on your phone and just start collaborating with your phone". Y'all don't want me to teach this. We want "magic wand" God. We want "I sought the Lord, and he heard". But sometimes… Should I do it? I can save it. I plan to be here next week. I can save it. Do you want it now or do you want it next week? Do you want it right now while I'm freshly anointed with this Holy Spirit to break a chain off of you, going, "I can't go here. I can't go there. I don't have a degree. I can't start the business. I can't get out of the contract. I shouldn't have signed the lease".
Why don't you just turn the apartment you're in into a habitation of a holy God while you wait on another one to come? The next best thing for you to do is connected to the next thing God is going to do that you don't even know about yet. God killed Saul. David didn't have to. Oh, it's better than that. You don't even know how good God is. Saul fell on his own sword. So, you do the next right thing. You have integrity. You have character. You just move on. You forgive. You be bigger than that. Don't go back and forth with Saul. What a word. It's hard for me to preach it to you while the Holy Spirit is still giving it to me. I'm just trying to decide, "Lord, what should be said out loud and what should I ponder"? He said, "They don't know the power of what they're singing when they say, 'I sought the Lord.' They think that's what they're doing only in church right now".
This "seeking the Lord" thing is sometimes going to look like you spitting and scratching. Nobody really knows what it's like to be on those tours except Holly. Nobody knows what it's really like to look up at an arena full of people and go, "Jesus, this is wonderful, and I'm terrified," except the woman who was back there with me two hours before when I was saying, "It feels like razor blades in my vocal cords, and I don't want these people to feel cheated tonight. I don't want it to feel stale tonight. I don't feel like I have the energy". Sometimes before you preach you feel like you get the flu, but it's not in your body; it's in your mind. For her to be with me… She'll say, "Come over here".
Sometimes she'll just put her hand on my shoulder, and sometimes she'll press strength into my mind. I know we're supposed to be better than that. We're supposed to float on the stage on a cloud of shekinah glory, but sometimes I'm scribbling and scratching and spitting just like you, but I'm seeking him. David thought to himself, "Saul is going to kill me," but he kept seeking God even while he was thinking crazy stuff to himself. That's what I want you to do, church. I want you to say, "I sought the Lord, and I sought him again. I sought him even as I thought he didn't hear me, even as the Devil told me, 'You're never going to be free from this. Your dad did it, his dad did it, and you will die an alcoholic too.'"
Even while you are thinking that to yourself, you do the next best thing. That's all you have to do. I promise you I'm giving you a testimony. I saw it in my family. I saw it when my dad was dying of ALS. I wanted God to heal him. God didn't heal him. I wanted to take care of him. That didn't work out. For two years, I couldn't take care of him. My mom was taking care of him. He became abusive toward her, so we had to put him in a nursing home, and he was way too young to be in that nursing home. I was crushed the day I walked in and he was calling bingo in a nursing home when I knew I wanted him down the street with my mom. But they couldn't be together. It wasn't safe for her.
So, why were we doing a Thanksgiving dinner in a nursing home with my dad while he was dying with an uncertain time limit left? Why were we eating a microwave meal off of paper plates in a nursing home with a man who was in his 60s? That wasn't what I wanted. It was the next best thing. That's what it means to seek him. It's such a good quote. He said that faith doesn't show you the whole staircase, just enough to take the next step, the next best thing. Yeah, just like that. Just like that.
Watch this. It's going to be ugly sometimes. Every prayer is not going to be pretty. Every prayer isn't going to happen in church. Every faith experience isn't going to happen in a controlled environment, but the Bible Bible says to humble yourself under his hand, because Saul's hand is nothing compared to his hand. First Peter 5:6 says, "In due time, he will lift you up". One next best thing at a time. That's how he's going to bring you out. Ugly trust. Spitty beard trust. Crust in your eyes but went anyway, tears on your pillow, sleepless nights, but I'm not giving up on God. Ugly trust. Do you know what that means to me…ugly? It means trusting God until God lifts you.