TD Jakes - The Dividends of Trust
Go to Psalms 34:1-10. When you haven’t shouted «Amen,» there’s a very familiar passage of Scripture. I will challenge your understanding of the text, but we’re going to delve deeper into it today. I’ve been talking to the Lord about this text, and more importantly, God has been talking to me about it. «I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth about them that fear Him and delivereth them.»
Listen closely to this: «Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. O fear the Lord, ye His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him. The young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.» That means if you didn’t get it, it wasn’t good. I am believing God for some things right now; I told Him I only want it if it’s good. It looks good, but that’s what got Eve in trouble. It’s pleasant to my eyes, but that’s what got her in trouble. It looks like it’s good for food, but that’s what got her in trouble. I only want it if it’s good.
I want to go back to that eighth verse again; this is my focal point: «Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.» Can you say «Amen»? My subject this morning is «The Dividends of Trust.» Trust is extremely important, and yet we say very little about it. We talk a lot about praise; we are commanded to praise, and that’s something that we can do. Praise is about doing; trust is about being.
There is a dividend that God will give you on trust, on trust, on trust. How many people trust God? The dividends of trust—there are some dividends you’re going to reap if you trust Him, particularly if you’re in a tough time. God says, «Trust Him.» If you’re in a painful time, trust Him. If you’re in a scary time, trust Him. If you are in a time of uncertainty, trust Him. You know why? «He that hath begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.» God is consistent.
So, you can trust Him. If I sat in this chair and it gave way, I wouldn’t trust it, but because every time I’ve ever sat on it, it has held me up, I didn’t check the legs before I sat down; I trusted. It’s not a conscious effort; it’s a result of consistency. «Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Oh, when I wake up in the morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided.» Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Let’s pray. While we’re standing, would you pray with us, too? Let’s all pray together:
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us this morning. Endow us with the grace of delivering to Your people what You have deposited in me. Release the kind of unction that causes people to be rejuvenated, not just emotionally but spiritually. Help us to understand, beyond our present comprehension, what You are able to do. In the name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.
You may be seated in the presence of God. Get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready! I want you to keep that text out and look at it. I’m going to start with the text, Psalms 34:1-10. I’m going to read it again, and then I’m going to go down the road. It occurs to me that Psalms 34:1-10 is powerful but strange. It’s a collection of ideas that don’t necessarily coordinate with each other; it almost seems contradictory. They are fragments of truth—elements of orthodoxy. Individually, each has truth in its own merit, but when they are brought together and read together, they almost seem contradictory, and yet they have been woven together into one passage.
For example, «I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.» It makes good sense. «My soul shall make her boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad.» Makes good sense. «O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.» Makes good sense. «I sought the Lord, and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.» Wait, you were scared? I thought you were praising Him.
Now, the same guy who says, «I will bless the Lord at all times,» says that he went through a period where he sought the Lord; He heard him and delivered him—he was afraid. Next verse: «They looked unto Him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed.» Next verse: «Oh, this poor man cried.» Wait, you were praising, «I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth» does not go with this man. «This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all of his troubles.»
This guy’s in trouble, but he was praising God before, and the praise was always in his mouth. «The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivereth them.» This man had to be delivered, but a moment ago, he was talking about his praise should continually be in my mouth. He sounded so happy a moment ago; he didn’t sound like he was a poor man crying. He didn’t sound like he was full of fear; he didn’t sound like he had trouble.
«Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusted in Him. Fear the Lord, ye His saints, for there is no want to them that fear Him.» I get that the young lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. That’s interesting, and yet it seems contradictory. They are fragmented truths—a piece of polyester, a piece of wool, a piece of silk, and a piece of cotton—and all of them are laid out there in the same text.
Several years ago, I had the privilege of hosting one of Africa’s first elected female presidents, if not the first, Her Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. It was amazing; we attempted to entertain her in our home in a manner that reflected her prominence and honored her position. But the truth of the matter is, we had never had a president in our house before, so we were really trying to make everything nice to entertain this historical figure who will go down in history as the first elected female president in Africa.
There were some who became president by default and inherited the position because the previous president died for short interim periods of time, but Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the first elected president of a country in Africa, and it hit the news worldwide. While we were having dinner, she presented me with a very meaningful gift; she gave us a quilt. When she gave us the quilt, she explained something to me. She explained that in Liberia, the quilt is a symbol of liberty. Not just the flag, but the quilt itself reminds every Liberian of their liberty.
You see, Liberia is lauded by the distinction of being Africa’s first republic. It was founded by freed slaves who were assisted in returning to the motherland, and they went back to the motherland and received their freedom. You don’t hear a lot about that, but not all the slaves that left Africa went to Brazil, or the Caribbean, or America. There were a group of slaves that were blessed to return back, thanks to an organization out of the UK, hence the name Liberia—liberty is called Liberia because they were liberated slaves.
Their gift is symbolized by a quilt, and I’m going to tell you why. You have to understand that the verses in the text remind me of Liberia in part because one moment he’s talking about his praise continually being in my mouth; the next moment he’s talking about his fears. If you look around again, the same man that wrote the first part about «His praise shall continually be in my mouth» turns around and says, «This poor man cried.»
In isolation, the statements don’t even go together; it sounds like a quilt. Most of us live our lives in fragmentation. We have fragments of joy, fragments of peace, fragments of holiness, and fragments of carnality. Nobody wants to wave their hand, but it’s true. We have fragments of great courage, and even the most courageous person wrestles with fragments of fear.
We have fragments of happiness followed by fragments of great grief. Depending on which piece you pick up in our lives, you will say, «Oh, he’s so joyous,» but you just picked up a fragment. If you catch me at another moment, you’ll say, «Oh, he’s depressed.» Isn’t it amazing how you can go from one extreme to the other without warning in the same person? Forget the same passage, or the same verse, in the same person.
That’s why it takes years to know a person. You dated them in the sunshine, but you married them in the rain. You are on a date long enough to see how people are when they’re happy, and see how they are when they’re sad, and see how they are when they’re depressed, and see how they are when they’re angry. I don’t want to date anybody I have seen angry because some of the nicest people can turn into a gorilla when they get angry and shock you, and you would never believe that they would turn on you like that.
You married a tarantula! Life is fragmented; it’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that and a little bit of the other. That doesn’t even go together. Some of us get stressed out because the pieces don’t match; they don’t go together. You can’t even explain yourself because when people ask how you are, you would sound schizophrenic if you answered.
Somebody called me the other day and said, «How do you feel about it?» I said, «I’m happy and nervous and glad and sad and scared and excited and adventurous and intimidated and vulnerable and victorious,» and all of it at the same time—all of that stuff conglomerated into one place.
William Shakespeare said it this way: «Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying absolutely nothing.» He just gave up on it. He says it’s crazy; somebody said it’s crazy. He said it’s just crazy. It doesn’t make any sense. It feels like it was told by an idiot. That is the feeling of this text. The feeling of this text is so discombobulated, discoordinated, not synergized.
If you submitted this text to an English class, they would mark it all up because the thoughts are frayed. There are so many people sitting in this room right now whose thoughts are frayed. A little bit of polyester, a little bit of wool, a little bit of silk, and a little bit of cotton, and you’re complicated. When you present yourself, the pieces don’t go together.
How many people are honest enough to admit to themselves that the pieces of you don’t go together? I put on my coat this morning, and the white stuck out real good on this side, but it doesn’t show on this side at all. There’s nothing wrong with the clothes; there’s something wrong with my arms—one arm is longer than the other. I put on my shoes; I put on my left shoe first because my left shoe is just a wee bit bigger than my right foot.
So if it’s good on the left, it’s going to be good on the right because they don’t match—they don’t go together. Just like my body looks like it doesn’t match, sometimes my personality doesn’t match. How can David love God so much that he’s dancing on the mountaintops, writing poetry to God and singing songs, and then turn around? This poetic person, who is such a left-brained creative individual, can turn around and get so mad that he cut off a hundred foreskins and threw them down at Saul’s feet.
Extremes! Was he bipolar? I don’t know; I’m not a psychiatrist; I can’t diagnose his behavior, but it doesn’t match up. How could David be so committed in one area and then be on the rooftop looking over at Bathsheba, talking about, «Lord, have mercy»? How could he care for lambs and fight lions for lambs and do all these wonderful things, then be so vicious and cunning at another?
Is beyond me. But such is life. Such is life. And Shakespeare just concluded it doesn’t make any sense. «I give up on it. I can’t explain it. Life is a tale told by an idiot.» If I presented this text to an English scholar, they would give me an E because there is no synchronization of thought. How can «His praise continually be in your mouth,» and yet you admit, «This poor man cried»?
How can I praise and cry? Praising and crying doesn’t even go together; it doesn’t make any sense, and yet it’s in the same text. And worse still, it’s in the same man. But Shakespeare was wrong when he said that life is a tale told by an idiot, he was completely wrong. In spite of the fragmentation of human experience, life is not a blanket; it’s a quilt. It’s a quilt, it’s not a blanket. You can’t get it all to match up, and anytime you see something where it matches perfectly, it’s always synthetic. People who match perfectly are always synthetic. Anytime everything lines up just the way it’s supposed to be, and there is no mar, and there is no fluctuation, and there is no deviation, that’s when you should be concerned.
This psalm is not born from a moment of great faith, nor is it a moment whereby David’s destiny is unfolding; quite the contrary. Instead, hidden between the admonishment to bless the Lord and to praise Him is emotional chaos. When I talk to my spiritual father about how things are going, and maybe several people have died in the church, and somebody’s in the hospital, and one of his kids is sick, he says, «Life is doing what life does.» Jerking you around from praise to prayer, from victory to discouragement, from crying like a poor man to blessing the Lord—all of that is a part of life.
How you manage the inconsistencies determines how stable you are as a person. If you’re waiting for life to lie out like a blanket, you’ll never get anything done. You have to be able to thrive in chaos; you have to deal with confusion. You have to understand that you’re always going to be a quilt, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be stitched together. It’s impossible to ignore the fact that David remains consistent in his behavior of praising while his emotions react to peril. So he’s crying and praising. If his praise is continually in his mouth, he’s crying and praising. That means if God delivered him, he’s praising and bound. If He delivered him from all of his troubles, that means he praised Him in trouble.
David is talking to us about certain things we need to understand about God in order to move forward in life, and they are very important things to realize. Certainly, there’s a deep admonition of praise, but that’s becoming a discipline. When you become a disciplined praiser, you praise Him no matter what, which is what they were singing about today. But the clarion call is not just to praise Him; it’s also to trust Him. Trusting Him while praising Him are two different things. I’ve seen people praise Him all over the church and then get in the car, worried sick. I’ve seen people praise the Lord and honk their horns because the traffic is moving too slowly in the parking lot, or yell at our parking lot attendants or curse them out.
I’ve seen them speaking in tongues at the altar and then curse out the parking lot attendant. Some of them are here this morning, and it is possible to have unrelenting praise and still struggle to trust the God we praise. See, I’m not just talking about praising Him; I’m talking about trusting Him—trusting Him. You don’t know how much you trust Him when things are going well. Trust is not proven in good times; trust is proven in bad times. Trust is not proven when you get a promotion; trust is proven when you get laid off. Trust is not proven when you’re engaged; trust is proven when you’re about to divorce. Can I talk to some real people today? Trust is not proven when you get what you want; trust is proven when you lose what you had.
Can you trust Him in sorrow? Can you trust Him in grief? Can you trust Him with a lump in your breast? Can you trust Him with a tumor? Can you trust Him with a hernia? Can you trust Him as you go under anesthesia? You can’t go under anesthesia talking in tongues; you have to be ready to trust Him in your head. I trust God, don’t get me wrong now. Praise is wonderful and important, and I hope we do it again because praise summons God into our circumstances. The Bible says at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and God came where the praises were. Anytime you praise God, it summons God.
Psalms 22:3 says that God inhabits the praises of His people—He inhabits, inhabits. God moves into praise. We are not, don’t misunderstand us—onlookers and spectators—we are not praising God because we are emotional. This has nothing to do with whether you’re an extrovert or introvert, whether you’re a quiet person or a loud person. The Bible said, «Let everything that has breath praise ye the Lord,» because when you praise Him, you call Him. Somebody praise Him for a minute right now! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! You’re summoning Him; you’re sending the Bat-Signal into the air; He’s coming to rescue you! When you praise Him, you summon God; you provoke God to action. You provoke God to move when you praise Him. You can be in your living room; you can be on your couch, you can have some run-down shoes on, stepping on the backs of your heels.
But if you praise Him, you can be in prison, and if you praise Him, He’ll come into a jail cell. You can be in a hospital, and if you praise Him, He’ll come into the hospital. You can be awake, but if you praise Him, He’ll come into the wait. You can be at a funeral, and if you praise Him, He’ll come and awaken you because praise summons God. Not only that—praise is a weapon. It’s a strategic attack on the enemy. When you praise God, praise as a weapon—you can use it for warfare. Israel used it when they sent Judah first. Judah means praise—and when they started praising God, things began to happen. Praise is a weapon; when you’re under attack, there’s no time to be quiet. There’s no time to fold your arms; it’s no time to cross your legs. When you’re under attack, praise is a weapon because the enemy wants to take the praise out of your mouth.
So you enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, and be thankful unto Him and bless His name because praise is a weapon. Are there any warriors in here? Are there any soldiers in here? Is there a military brigade in here? I’m a soldier in the army of the Lord; I got my warm clothes on in the army of the Lord. If I die, let me die in the army of the Lord; I’m sanctified holy in the army of the Lord. I’m a soldier and a baptized soldier! Y’all don’t know about that! Number three: praise is a deterrent to isolation. It’s how you remind yourself that you’re not alone. It reminds you that you are not alone, for the angels of the Lord encamp about those that fear Him.
That fear is reverence. When you reverence God, angels wrap around you. So even if you’ve been telling people you live by yourself, if you praise God, you don’t live by yourself because whenever you praise God, He takes His luggage and moves into the house with you. When your head hears your mouth praising God, you know somebody else is in the house. Oh no, I heard voices in there; somebody’s in there! Yeah, you’re right! When you start praising God, you’re not riding in the car by yourself. You’re going to work with angels! Has anybody in here ever ridden to work with angels? Praise reminds the soul that you are not isolated in a world filled with isolation. We are so isolated, yet we have more ways to contact each other than we ever had before. I’m on Instagram, I’m on Facebook, I’m on LinkedIn. I haven’t gotten on TikTok yet because I’m tired of people talking.
So I didn’t tick so they couldn’t talk; but there are so many ways to get in touch. You can text, you can tweet, you can call, you can yell at each other. There are so many ways to communicate, and we have this huge community of what we call friends and followers, and yet beneath all of this conglomerate of human beings, we are lonelier and more isolated than we have ever been in all of our lives. How can you have 5,000 followers and still be lonely? How can you go into a crowded North Park Mall and still be lonely? We fight isolation because there are all kinds of people connected to us, but they don’t have intimacy. We have lost the art of intimacy! But when God comes in, He’s already seen everything; there is nothing hidden from Him with whom we have to do.
The Bible says all things are naked before Him; all things are exposed. I don’t care if you cut off all the lights, pull all the blinds, pull all the windows shut, jump up under the blanket—He can see up under the covers. There is nothing hidden from Him with whom we have to do. Praise is not—it may summon God in your circumstances, it may be a weapon in the time of battle, it may deter isolation. But what praise is not is a panacea. It is not a panacea. A panacea is something that is a universal cure; it’s a cure-all, it’s a remedy for all ills.
The word «panacea» that we use today actually comes from Greek mythology. Panacea was a Greek goddess who allegedly had the ability to heal anything; she was the daughter of Asclepius. In Greek mythology, a panacea had the ability to heal anything. Praise is not a panacea yet it’s all we sing about, it’s all we talk about, it’s all we mention, it’s all we allude to, but praise is not a panacea. Praise does not necessarily create trust. You can praise God and still be worried. You can praise God and still be scared. You can praise God and still be sick. You can praise God and still be nervous. You can praise God and still have hand tremors. You can praise God and still have a pinched nerve. You can praise God and still have your check bounce. You can praise God and still be evicted. You can praise God—y’all aren’t going to talk to me!
Come on! I want some real people in here! Praise is not a panacea; it is not a cure-all. It doesn’t fix everything, it doesn’t straighten everything out. The real truth of the matter is there’s a great deal of difference between praise and trust. Praise is an action; trust is a noun. Trust is a state of being. Do you understand what I’m saying?
When I spoke earlier and I began to talk about President Sirleaf and her coming, you must understand that she was not the first one to bring a quilt. In the early 1800s, she had a predecessor who brought a quilt to Queen Victoria. It took her 50 years to accomplish this. She was a former slave—a literal former slave, not second or third generation—but a former slave who put together a quilt for Queen Victoria. Her name is Martha Ricks, and she brought the first quilt from Liberia to the Queen. Here she is, a former slave in the room with the Queen of England. She walks into the room with the Queen of England with a quilt—a quilt that was made out of satin and embroidered with coffee trees, berries, and a border of passion flowers.
A quilt that she had stitched with her own two hands to bring to the Queen—a quilt made out of different materials and different fabrics, all different colors woven together. She made something beautiful out of rags. When I read Psalms 34, I begin to realize that Psalm 34 is teaching us that life is a quilt and that we are quilts. Yet God can make something beautiful out of rags. One person sees disjointed, disconnected rags in the text, and the other person sees a quilt. God is a quilt maker. No wonder Jacob made for Joseph a coat of many colors. He took colors that had nothing to do with each other and stitched them together until they became a coat. A coat of distinction; its distinction was its variation.
I never will forget when I was a young boy; my mother gave me, one year for Christmas, a savings book to Kanawha Valley Bank. Every time I would cut a lawn or do yard work, I would put five dollars in it until I had enough money for Christmas time so that I wouldn’t have to give her money back for Christmas because you know you’re buying your own Christmas presents when your kids give you something most of the time when they’re little. I decided I was going to break that trend, and I brought her this—it’s made of leather; it was a suede coat. I never will forget; I don’t know why I remembered it, but there was a tag on the coat that said, «Do not be disturbed by the variations of colors or discolored spots; it is proof of its authenticity.»
Authentic people are complicated; authentic people have variations, authentic people have differences. Authentic people are poor men crying, yet they have continual praise in their mouths, and they are in trouble and delivered out of trouble. Authentic people have ups and downs and peaks and valleys, winter and spring, summer and fall. Authentic people talk faith and then go home and lay down in fear. Authentic people believe God, yet they help my unbelief. Authentic people are a quagmire of disjointed, disconnected things; authentic people are schizophrenic. Authentic people are bipolar; authentic people are the kinds of people you’ll find it depends on when you catch me.
What you get from authentic people is complex. One day you get war, another day you get silliness, another day you get leaves, and another day you get plainness. Authentic people are complicated, and yet we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are created in the image of God. Our God is love; our God is love. But our God is also a God of wrath. Our God gives life, and our God takes life away. Our God is authentic; you cannot confine Him. That’s why He told Moses, «I Am that I Am.» Don’t try to explain Me; don’t try to make a blanket out of Me; I am a quilt. I Am that I Am. Before it’s over, before your life is over, you’re going to sell bread, and the moment you think I’m bread, you’re going to find out I’m water. The moment you think I’m water, you’re going to find out I’m a cloud, and the moment you think I’m a crowd, I’m going to turn into fire.
Our God— we were created in the likeness of God. We are quilted; we were fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of a God who is a quilt. One moment you see God saving babies; He saved Hagar’s baby in the desert, and you would know that God loves babies. Until you read Exodus, where God killed all the babies in Egypt. Oh, y’all are quiet. God killed all the babies in Egypt and told Pharaoh, «I’m going to kill all your sons until you let My son go.» That doesn’t sound very nice; that doesn’t sound very loving. That sounds like God is mad. Sometimes God gets mad; the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people. Yet God is love; He is the Prince of Peace, and yet the Prince of Peace said, «I came not to bring peace, but a sword.»
God is complicated. He killed some people for doing other things, the same thing that somebody else did, and He let them get by with it because our God is complicated. Oh, stay with me now. The thing about quilts—I grew up with my grandmother’s head quilts; both of my grandmothers had quilts. My last memory of my mother’s mother is her sitting in a rocking chair with a quilt over her legs, made out of remnants, rags, and fabrics she’d taken from different places. On one side, it was colorful, beautiful, and ornate, undoubtedly made with cotton, and then it had the backing. The backing was always solid. Somebody knows what I’m talking about. You don’t see a quilt that is quilted on both sides; something has to be solid. Something has to be stable; something has to be consistent.
Something has to be immovable; something has to be unchangeable. And while it is unchangeable, everything else can have variations in it. You take what is variable and sew it into that which is solid, and then you have a quilt. This text is a quilt, and so when I read the quilt and saw how many different fabrics were in the text, I wanted to check the back. So my next question was: what was going on with David when he wrote this text? So let’s flip the quilt over. Can I go deeper? Let’s flip the quilt over and see why David’s front end sounds so scattered. We’ve got to get to the back end to see what provoked the text to be written in the first place. The reality of the matter is David does not write this while he’s dancing on the mountaintop; David does not write this while he’s killing Goliath; David does not write this as he’s playing the harp in the palace; David does not write this as he is crowned King of Israel.
No, David writes this at a time when Saul is still alive and trying to kill him, and he is on the run from Saul. He is rather running from his own people. There is no rejection like the rejection of your own people. Nothing hurts as badly as the rejection from your own people because you think your own people have your back. But God had to show him that your own people are not your backing. Oh, America, hear me today: your own people are not your backing. At a time when we’re breaking down into tribes, and you’re either for us or against us, and we’re fighting over black and white, brown, Democrats, Republicans, masks, and no masks, your own people are not your backing. Because people change, fluctuate, go back, and go forward.
If you put all your hopes in the group you attach to, you will always be disappointed. They will always let you down; they will always sell you out; they will always leave you hanging because you cannot count on people to have your back. I know they love to tell you, «I’ve got your back,» but the devil is a liar; they do not have your back. The only one who has your back is God. God has got your back; somebody shout, «God has got my back!» My front can have many textures; it can have many colors; it can have different feels. You can have silk and corduroy, you can have corduroy and wool, you can have wool and polyester, and you can still make the quilt. But when it comes to the back, it has to be one fabric: consistent and stable, holding it all together.
There is one thing that has been holding you together; there is one thing that has kept you from losing your mind; there is one thing that has kept you from having a nervous breakdown; there is one thing that has kept you from committing suicide; there is one thing that has kept you from becoming an alcoholic; there is one thing that has kept you from driving the car off the cliff. That is: when my mother and father forsake me, the Bible says the Lord will take me up. When my own mother and father forsake me, the Lord will take me up. So stop crying about what your daddy did and what your mama did. Because even if they didn’t have your back, God sent me to tell you, «I’ve got your back.» Elbow somebody and tell them, «He’s got my back!»
If you jump on me, you have to jump on Him, because God has got my back. If you fight me, you have to fight God, because God has got my back. If you hate me, you hate God, because God has got my back. If you’ve got your foot on me, you’ve got your foot on God, because God has got my back. He’s got my back when I’m right; He’s got my back when I’m wrong; He’s got my back when I’m weak; He’s got my back when I’m strong; He’s got my back when I’m scared; He’s got my back when I’m faithful; He’s got my back when I’m consistent; He’s got my back when I’m unstable. That’s why I’m here to praise Him, because He is the one that has my back. Now let everything that has breath praise Him! Yes, I came to tell every one of you who was in the valley when they were praising God, and He had to hold your hand up; you said you were in the valley. I came to tell you, «God’s got your back!»
God’s got this! You’re going through trouble, but God’s got this! You’re in a low place right now, but God’s got this! You’re backed up against the wall, but God’s got this! You’ve got a tumor, but God’s got this! They said it was cancer, but God’s got this! Your heart is overwhelmed, but God’s got this! Your heart hasn’t got the right beat, but God’s got this! Your blood pressure is up, but God’s got this! You’re about to be on dialysis, but God’s got this! Your mama’s in the hospital, but God’s got this! Your daddy’s got cancer, but God’s got this! I need 30 seconds of crazy praise for the back of the quilt! Yes! Yes! Yes! I want you to say it three times: «God’s got this!»
Again! Again! I wanted your ears to hear your mouth say, «God’s got this!» Your blood pressure just dropped; your nerves just calmed down; your peace just began to invade your soul! You’re not in this by yourself; God’s got this! Shout hallelujah! David writes this text; David writes this. See, it’s your fault I can’t finish fast because you make me shout and holler and stuff. Hallelujah! Oh my God, I think I needed to hear it myself: God’s got this! Is there anybody else in here that needed to hear God’s got this? That the battle is not yours; it belongs to God! Hallelujah! Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. If war should rise against me, in this, I will be confident.
One thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, because if I can get to God, I know God’s got this! If I call you, you might not answer; if I text you, you might not respond. But every time I call God, every time I calm down, every time I call Him, every time I call Him, every time I call Him—every time! Every time I call Him! Elbow three people and tell them, «God’s got this! God’s got this! God’s got this! God’s got my back! God’s got my backing!»
I might be unstable, but God’s got my backing; I might act crazy, but God’s got my back; I may talk like an idiot, but God’s got my back; I may talk out of my head, but God’s got my back; I may contradict myself, but God’s got my back! My front might be many colors, but my back is stable! My back, my back, my back, my back, my back, my back, my back! Can I go deeper? Sit down and let me go deeper here! Somebody needed to hear that this morning; somebody needed this word from the Lord! I know I got a word from the Lord; I could feel it when I was getting it! I could feel it in my hands; I could feel it in my head; I could feel it in my feet! God said you’re going to give an answer to what somebody’s been praying about!
Tell my people, «I got this!» I want you to feel this! David is running from a man he protected. David is running from a man he admired. David is running from a man that he used to play for. David is running from a man whose demons he was familiar with. Whose musical ability had cast the demons out of him; the only way Saul could get to sleep was for David to play for him in one season. Then the season changed, and the same man who hired him is now trying to kill him. I wish I had a witness in this place! Have you ever had people turn on you? Have you ever had people switch on you? Have you ever had people try to destroy you? The very people that you admired and had an emotional investment in are now trying to destroy you. It makes you nervous; it makes you scared; it makes you fearful to open up to people because you can’t tell what they’re going to do next.
David is now running from Saul, which means he’s running from Saul’s army, which means he’s running from an army he used to lead. He’s running from his own people—the people who ate like him, dressed like him, danced like him, and moved like him. He’s running from his own culture, his own background, and his own ethnicity, who are trying to kill him. What is so bad is that David ends up hiding among the Philistines. The Philistines had always been an enemy. If you’re not careful, the rejection of your people will drive you into the camp of your enemy. Come on with me! Come on! I’m just showing you the back side of the text. And there he is in the situation with the Philistines, and he thinks, «Maybe if I go into the Philistines, they won’t hurt me.» Maybe they won’t remember that I killed Goliath. But as soon as he moved in with the Philistines, the first thing the priest did was say, «Aren’t you…?»
See, that’s the trouble with backsliding! If you have ever really been saved, you can go back in the strip club if you want to, but you will dance like a deacon in the strip club! Because once God puts His hand on your life, they’re going to know you’re not really one of them. You can play strip poker if you want to, but take off all your clothes, and you’re still going to be a child of the King! Once God puts His hands on you, it will never come off; it’s indelible; it’s immutable; it’s unchangeable! It will never pass away! Ask Peter! You can warm yourself by the fire, but they’ll point you out and say, «You’ve been with Jesus!» If you’ve ever really been with Jesus, you can never get that out of your skin! It will come out of your pores!
When your friends cuss, «Oh, Jesus!"—everybody in the car will be cussing, but you’re saying, «Oh, Jesus!» Is there anybody in here who’s been with Jesus? David had a reputation for military prowess; he had led the armies of Israel, and now he’s running from them, and the priest says to him, «You ain’t no Philistine!» Every person in this room who’s run away, every runaway girl, every prodigal son, they’re looking at you saying, «You ain’t no Philistine!» He says to him, «Do you want the sword? Because we’ve got the sword that killed Goliath!» But David cannot win this battle with the sword. David is afraid that when they find him, they’re going to imprison him, or worse, they’re going to kill him. And if ever there was a time that he needed a sword, it was now! But God had a plan!
I don’t know who this is for—God said you cannot fight today’s battle with yesterday’s weapon. What used to work will not work in this situation. God said, «You’re going to have to come back to me because I’ve got the plan for the problem you’re facing right now.» And the plan was David pretended to be insane. He started beating his head against the gate—just banging his head against the gate.
They were bringing him to Achish, the king, and when the king saw him, David was beating his head against the gate. Then he started scribbling all over the wall, just anything—writing up, down, and sideways on the wall. Then he began dropping spittle into his beard until his beard was covered with spit. His head was banging against the wall, and his hand was scribbling. The Philistines wanted nothing to do with him. Achish, the king, said, «Can’t you see he’s crazy? Why did you let him in here? Don’t you think I have enough crazy people already in Philistia that you would bring him in here among us? I don’t need another crazy man. Put him out!» He was like the Libyans; he escaped because God had his hand on him. «You’re not going to escape because of your sword; you’re going to escape because God has your hand on you.»
I want to go deeper with this. He managed to escape; he got away. You are going to get out of this. Wait a minute—without your sword! 1 Samuel 21:8-10 says he got the victory without fighting. Stop fighting; the strategy of the Lord is smarter than that. See, when God has a plan, it’s always a crazy plan. Am I talking to you? The Lord told me to tell you He’s going to give you a crazy plan. God’s plans sound mad—stuff like build a boat in your backyard (Noah), or, «Elisha, leave your inheritance and all of this property and all of your relatives to go take a menial job washing the hands of a prophet—that’s crazy!» Or Elijah, «Go to a bankrupt widow, and there I’m going to sustain you—that’s crazy!»
Or Elijah throwing a stick in the water to retrieve an ax head—that’s crazy! Or, «I’m going to send a backslidden prophet to run a revival in Nineveh—that’s crazy!» Or Moses, «Stretch forth a stick, and the Red Sea is going to get out of your way—that’s crazy!» Or go down across an innocent man so guilty men can be saved—that’s crazy! Or I’m going to call a Christian terrorist to write most of the New Testament epistles—that’s crazy! Or humble yourself so I can exalt you—that’s crazy! Or whoever loses his life shall find it—that’s crazy! Or give me two fish and five loaves of bread, and I’ll feed 5,000 people—that’s crazy! Or go to the tomb where you buried your brother and roll the stone away—that’s crazy! God has a crazy plan; it’s not going to make sense to you, all you rational people. You’re going to have to put your rationality behind you and go with something that sounds totally crazy because God is going to bring you out of your situation.
God is going to bring you out of your trouble. God is going to bring you out of your dilemma—if your ego doesn’t stop you from being willing to do something crazy. Nudge your neighbor and tell them, «I’m about to do something crazy! I’m about to do something I’ve never done before! I’m about to act mad! I’m about to bang my head against the wall! I’m about to spit in my own beard! I’m about to write up and down the side of the wall!» Whatever God has for you, it’s a crazy blessing! They didn’t hear me. I’ll tell you again: whatever God has for you is a crazy blessing! They kind of heard me. I’m going to try y’all one more time: whatever God has for you is a crazy blessing! You’ve got to be crazy! You’ve got to be crazy if you’re going to do this. You’ve got to be crazy! I’m looking for some crazy people. Paul said, «I’m a fool for Christ!» Is there anybody that’s ready to act a fool?
We’re in a season of trouble. Finances are crazy, gas prices are going up, and the recession is on our heels. But God said, «If you’re willing to act a fool, I swear I’m going to bless you. I’m going to pull you out of this rut. I’m going to pull you out of this hole. I’m going to pull you out of this dilemma!» But you’ve got to be willing to act a fool! Paul said, «I’m a fool for Christ!» I want to preach to a room full of people that’ll step out of a boat and walk out on water—don’t have a bridge, don’t see any rocks, but I’m going to walk on it anyway! God is getting ready to take you away that would blow your mind! I need a crazy praise up in this place! I need a praise online! I need a praise in your living room! I need a praise on YouTube! I need a praise on Facebook! This is a time that God is going to elevate crazy people—not people who play it safe, not people who play it cool, not people who play it easy, not people who color in the lines. You’ve got to get outside of the lines! I’m tired of coloring in the lines. I’m going to get out of the lines and do my own thing! It may be scribbling, but it’s going to work for you! It may look bad, but it’s going to work for you!
I need 30 seconds of crazy praise in this place—praising, praising, praising, praising, praising, praising! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him until hell gets nervous! Praise Him till the devil knows you know something that he doesn’t know! Praise Him till they turn you loose! Praise until your handcuffs come off! Praise until your shackles fall! Praise until your feet move! Praise until you get your mind right! I rebuke the spirit of worry! I rebuke the spirit of fatigue! I rebuke the spirit of discomfort because what God is getting ready to do for you is absolutely crazy! What God is getting ready to do for you is absolutely crazy! That’s right, walk around like a crazy woman. Hannah acted like she lost her mind—she came into the temple and staggered like she was drunk, but she got her baby! And if you’re willing to go crazy, God will do a new thing in your life.
I’m going to give you a minute to find your crazy self—your believing self, your trusting self, your dependent self. You ain’t got any choice but to go crazy on this devil! Look at your neighbor and tell them, «I’m about to go crazy on this devil! I’m about to go crazy on this sickness! I’m about to go crazy on this fear! I’m about to go ballistic! I’m about to go off! I’m about to flip out! I’m about to do something you’ve never seen me do before!»
Where are my crazy people? Yes! Yes! Yes! It may look crazy, but I’m going to do it! I may have to walk around the wall seven times, but I’m going to do it! I may have to shout at the wall, but I’m going to do it! I may have to speak to the bones, but I’m going to do it! I may have to scratch up a man, but I’m going to do it! I feel a miracle in this house for somebody today! Who’s going to get their miracle? Who’s going to get their breakthrough? Who’s going to get that touch from the Lord? Who’s going to get a supernatural release from God? The Lord is looking for somebody that will open up their mouth and shout out to God! Open your mouth if you go crazy! If you go crazy! If you go crazy! If you go crazy! If you go crazy—go crazy!
On Sunday, God will bless you on Monday! Go crazy on Sunday! Somebody’s looking for a blessing on Monday! This is your chance to let loose! Go crazy! I’m praising for the Lord! I’m crazy for my healing! I’m praising it for my miracle! Just craving for my breakthrough! Lift your voice like a trumpet! Yes! Yes! Here comes the spirit of release! The spirit of release! The spirit of release! Whatever had you bound, whatever had you chained, I feel the spirit of release! Make some noise! All day!
Let your neighbor know you’re not crazy enough! You ain’t crazy, and your shackles will fall! You ain’t crazy 'cause the walls will shake! You ain’t crazy enough! Can the walls come tumbling down? Go crazy on that devil! Be crazy this Sunday! If I don’t get crazy, they’re going to kill me! If I don’t get crazy, I’m going to jail! If I don’t get crazy, I’ll never be anything! If I don’t get crazy, I won’t get a breakthrough! All of you that have been bound—bound by drugs, bound by lust, bound by trouble, bound by alcohol—you’ve got to be as crazy as the devil is that tied you up! You’ve been through too much to be cute! Let the cute folks cross their legs; go crazy! Dance on their pocketbooks, shout on their shoes, or tell them, «Give me some room!»
You’re sitting by a crazy man! David found himself to be crazy! He started acting a fool until they turned him loose! God said, «I command every devil that had you bound to turn you loose in the name of Jesus!» Praise Him like you’re a free woman! Praise Him like you’re a free man! Praise Him like He just called you out of the grave, and you came out leaping! Praise Him like you’re Lazarus! Praise Him! So I’m tonight! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! God’s about to bless you! God’s about to bless you! God’s about to pay you double for your trouble! God’s about to lift you up! God’s about to lift you up higher than you’ve ever been before! I can’t hear you! Yes, I’m crazy like a fox! I’m crazy! You haven’t heard it; I’m crazy! I just need a thousand crazy folks to jump out in the aisle and take over this church!
A thousand crazy lunatics, lost your minds, ain’t got nothing to lose—might as well bang my head before I go back! Get your increase! Get your increase! There’s a dividend that God only gives to people who trust Him! Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but I will remember the name of the Lord! I trust You! I trust You! I trust! I trust You! We will! We will! I don’t care what my neighbor’s saying; I’m going to trust You! I’m going to trust You! I’m going to trust You! If I’ve got to stand by myself!
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man that trusts in Him! I’m going to do a senseless thing—who trusts the Lord, who trusts the Lord, who trusts the Lord! Lord, I trust You! I don’t understand You, but I trust You! I don’t know how You’re going to do it, but I trust You! I trust You enough to drop my sword! I trust You enough to follow Your plan! I trust You enough to do things that don’t make any sense! What are you going to do with that lunch? What is this lunch against so many people? Why are you going to roll that stone away? By now he stinks! What is shouting at a solid wall going to do? Why do you want me to build a boat in the backyard?
Stop asking so many questions and just get that crazy trust! Though He slay me, yet shall I trust Him! I’m going to trust You! I’m going to trust You! The boat is kind of rocky, but I’m going to trust You! The winds are boisterous, but I’m going to trust You! My heart is broken, but I’m going to trust You! This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and delivered him. He delivered him out of all of his troubles—not some of his troubles, but all of his troubles! He delivered him out of all of his troubles!
Lift your hands and open your mouth to God and begin to praise Him! All of my troubles! All of my troubles! King Achish said, «Let him go! Let him go—he’s crazy! Let him go! He’s lost his mind! Let him go! He’s a fool for You! Let him go! He’s beside himself! Let that woman go! Turn that man loose! Turn that burden loose! Turn that crisis loose! Open your mouth! Let God hear your voice! He knows your voice! He knows your voice! He knows your voice!