Sermon Title: “Trust Me” (Click Here to Watch Full Sermon)
Scripture Reading: Samuel 30:1-8
Pastor Dennis Martin
We are still in the season of development. Our yearly decree is building for better. In order to do this, there has to be a season of discovery. There has to be a time to look deeply within yourself. Then there has to be a season of development. After you develop, there has to be a season of deployment. Pastor Dennis wants to talk about trust. Trust in the Lord needs to be developed. It requires momentum – a good track record. We need to trust Him more.
God is calling us to a place of just trusting Him. As Pastor Dennis was growing up, he heard people say “they are trusting in God”. A lot of believers don’t know what it truly means to trust God. God wants us to trust Him in this season. We have the capacity, but it must be developed. When we go through situations, we won’t allow fear or doubt to overwhelm us. It is very important that we understand what hope is. The stronger the hope, the stronger the desire we have for the thing. Hope is built and established on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. We have hope in every situation because we know we can trust God. Because God has been faithful in the past, we know He will be faithful in the present. To trust God is to allow Him to do what He wants to do. Even if it looks like He will fail. Even more so, that should force us to have an ability to trust Him. As believers, we should recognize that when we put our trust in God we are granting Him the ability to succeed on our behalf. We won’t allow ourselves to be a stumbling block. We can trust God because everything He is doing has already been done. The success just may not be realized according to our preference. What does it mean when we trust God?
We will be successful but it may not work out according to our preference. It may not be comfortable or something we like. But the Bible says all things work together for good for those who love God and them that are the called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). There are some things that may not go according to our preference. The success we are looking for will come but by the authority of God our Father. On His terms, His way, and in His time. We are allowing God to do what He wants to do in a situation. Even though it may look like He will fail, we know God can never fail because He is God. When we put our trust in Him we are giving God the opportunity to do what He said He would do.
Look at King David, a shepherd boy who became king of Israel. He is the most spoken of human in the old testament. He is the second most named person in the entire Bible. Second to Jesus Christ. That is how important the narrative of David is. He was from the tribe of Judah and he was the grandson of Ruth and Boaz. He was the youngest of 7 brothers. David walks into this situation in our text where all his family is gone and one could ask themselves, how did he get here? How did he get into this situation? From chapter 26, we see that David makes no attempt to speak or to enquire with God. Three chapters of a man with a heart after God, there is no mention of David trying to communicate with God. David historically trusted God to know that he didn’t have to be a king by ignoring godly principles. People who trust God will always trust in the high-road. And yet, in chapter 26, there is a gap in the end of the chapter where David is not speaking to God. In chapter 27, David is now fearful because he understands Saul is after him, so he does the most horrific thing, the greatest mistake every believer can do, the greatest mistake in chapter 27. He leaned on his own understanding. He didn’t trust Him anymore. 1 Samuel 27:1: Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.
That was the greatest mistake David could ever have made. In his heart, David never looked to the Lord, he looked at his situation and assessed it through his own heart. He went about it by his own heart. How many situations have you gone about in your own heart and realized that if you only asked God and didn’t approach this with your own understanding there could have been a different result? The fear allowed David to act on his own; it spiraled him downward from trusting God. He had the experience from the lion and the bear because of the experience it gave him the courage to trust God against the Goliath who was going to throw a spear at him. We can’t allow fear of consequences of any situation to cause us to not trust God. Why does Samuel 30:1 look like this? We wonder why our lives look like this? Proverbs 3:5-7. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones. This is a popular text but Pastor Dennis doesn’t think we understand what it means. Trust is something we need to develop. There are some things we get to by faith. Faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of God. Therefore, as it says, understanding is interchangeable so when our faith comes alive it is when we understand. But there is a thing in the Christian walk called trust, when we don’t have a clear understanding we still have to move with God. Be all in. Remove doubt remove fear. Be all in. Trust the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not on your own understanding. We are not our only resource, we can’t be the only thing we rely on to come to a conclusion. We have access to the mind of God through the Holy Spirit. Trust God with all situations. We must know that God is not only our provider and healer, but He is also our Father. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Bring it to God and be in agreement with Him. Bring things to Him and put self in alignment with Him and He shall direct your path.
God is already paving a way. We may not understand what is going on but we must know the hand of God is on our life. We need to know that if it doesn’t feel like God is touching us, He is touching things that concern us. We need to make sure we love the Lord with all our heart. We need to be at a place where we can instinctively move freely. He is providing water in dry places. God is directing our path. “I don’t know what God is saying but I trust Him and if He can’t reach me, He can touch the path I’m on.” Be not wise in your own eyes. You’ve been you for too long. God is saying to trust Him. Don’t overestimate yourself. We don’t have all the answers, but as long as we know that God has us, that God is holding on to our hands, the position of the believer will be secure. Our position is secure because it isn’t contingent on us holding God’s hands. We can’t overestimate ourselves. No, we have have to understand that we have a God. When our heart is overwhelmed, we must understand that there is wisdom, there is a God higher than us. And He also tells us to depart from evil. He means to keep us from people who would do evil and to keep us from doing evil. Watch your company and watch your practices. They can affect what you do in your life. Sometimes you have to trust God – trust your way through it. Don’t allow people who are not on the same page as you to be in your ear. Watch your practice. You want God to move on your behalf. Make sure your lifestyle reflects the lifestyle of a child of God.
Verse 29, we read this text from Samuel 30, David did ask for the ephod. Why did he ask for it now? He is saying, “I’ve been doing me long enough.” He didn’t just want to react, he wanted to give a godly response. He is asking God, what is the right approach? Sometimes we have the right to approach but we should still ask God what is the right approach? David has already partnered with the Philistines, those who were once his enemies, they now look at him wondering why he is here? David is now in a situation where he is amongst people, who don’t even trust him. When you act on your own it will put you in situations where you are surrounded by people who do not have your best interest in mind. Patience needs to be developed, trust needs to be developed. We need to develop our trust in God. They invaded Zig Lag. David was fully invested into something that wasn’t even in God’s plan. David made the decision to go this way on his own and when you are in leadership or a mother and a father, you can’t take on that responsibility with a mindset that you are on your own. Pastor Dennis knows that he must trust God and wait upon Him before he moves for his family’s sake. David brings all of his men into this battle and leaves his home unguarded. It is a careless decision on any leader to have all your men on offence and no one is on defence. The result of David leaning on his own understanding is that he allowed everything he held dear to be lost. We also would allow everything we hold dear to be lost.
Leaning on your own understanding does not guarantee covering. God allowed David to recover all yet David did lose some stuff. Although God can forgive us and we can make up for what’s lost, leaning on our own understanding will allow us to step out of the cover of God. Everyone went out to battle and no one stayed home. How balanced does your life look now? We need to just trust Him in everything we acknowledge Him and bring it to Him. David went all out to fight a battle he didn’t need to be invested in. It’s okay in life to know that people can reject you. Now you’re going back home, family things, everything familiar – it’s gone. Acting on your own understanding will cause you to lose everything you hold dear. We have to be individuals that trust God. All we hear is David grabbing the ephod and we celebrate that but how did David get there? By leaning on his own understanding. He had a pedigree of trust, He didn’t think God would answer or fix it. And all of a sudden his life begins to spiral down. No shame at all working for the enemy. The greatest of all enemies were the Philistines. Sampson grinded for them now David is working for them. When we try to please ourselves and function off ourselves we find ourselves in crazy situations. The Amalekites are a form of the devil – a form of Satan. The Amalekites took advantage of the defenseless city; they burned it to the ground when David wasn’t there. They were opportunistic. The devil’s greatest accomplishments are when he acts on a decision after we act in our flesh. He can’t fight the word of God over our life. But he can mess up our decisions and he can work them out for our detriment. God hastens to perform His word. We have to trust Him. When we look at David’s life in chapter 27, He went into the city and killed everyone. Trust God for He is gracious. David wiped out everyone. It would be fitting that while David was at battle, David ‘s family would be killed. Isn’t it amazing that even though we act off of ourselves, God is still gracious and allows us to be recipients of His mercy? This message is not a message to trust God for what He is about to do. It is an admonition to trust God to undo the things we’ve done. That’s why David is grabbing for the ephod.
Many times we get into accidents. But this is David’s problem that he caused. We will always be recipients of God’s grace but God’s covering will always require alignment. We need to remain under the umbrella of God. We need to trust Him when He says, do, stop, go and as long as we are obedient to the will of God, we must stay under the umbrella of God. Align yourselves, doing what is pleasing in your own sight will take you out of the umbrella of God. While you are focused on the business or marriage, the devil is going to come in and try to rush over your children. You can have the grace of God in your life, but not the covering. We can trust God knowing He will never sleep on us. When you do your own thing it is costly. When Jonah went to Tarshish he had to pay his own fare. It is costly when we do ourselves. And yet, He will never discipline us as we deserve. It is a product of who God is. He is gracious. He is also just. David had to experience what He had to experience. But God was gracious.
As David and the men came to the city, they were imaginably excited in anticipation to return home but instead they saw the smoke and the burnt down city. David was distressed – his decision to act on his own stripped him of everything familiar and essential to his life. Proverbs 3:7 is saying don’t overestimate yourself, don’t be wise in your own eyes, inquire of the Lord, especially when you know you are governing and you are standing in a position of responsibility. You don’t want to lose anything you hold dear. The people were distressed and David was by himself. He couldn’t go to Israel as Saul would kill him. He couldn’t go to the Philistines – they rejected him. And there was no one home. Acting solely on your natural understanding will make you a lonely soul. He acted on his own. He should have inquired of the Lord since chapter 27 – he didn’t need to wait all the way until chapter 30. David was weeping not because he lost everything. He was distressed because he knew what happened to everyone was his fault. Some of the mistakes we made when we acted on our own distress us. God wants to keep us out of the place of being anxious. Philippians 4:6-7. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. David didn’t have to be fearful, he just needed to trust that God could work it out. We can trust God for every mistake we make that He will fix it. God will forgive us and make everything right. We can trust God with the self-inflicted issues, even though we can go back to Israel and everything familiar has been removed, God has always been present. We can trust God because He is a present help in trouble. He is not on His way but always there.
How can we develop trust in God?
- Encourage ourselves in the Word. This is how we trust God. We don’t rely on the world to help us. We have a relationship with God. When the disciples entered a storm in Matthew chapter 14, it was not because of any sin. Jesus told them to go out on the ship. We can enter storms by being obedient to instruction. The Bible says that as they went into the storm, they saw Jesus walking on the water. Sometimes God will allow us to go into a storm because it is amid the storm that we gain truths that are necessary for our future. If there were no storm, we wouldn’t know that Jesus could walk on water nor that we could. We have to trust in God. The winds began to blow and when Jesus came to grab him because he was starting to drown, that was the only person Peter saw. The only person that Peter acknowledged was Jesus Christ. But storms are necessary – we have to understand that the world can’t help us. The One who called you can. God is calling us to trust Him. Not just for what He is about to do but also to undo the things that we have done.
- Let your hope be in God. Have confidence in Him. Hope to the world is having a desire for a thing. But our hope as believers should be built on nothing less but Jesus Christ and His righteousness. He was faithful yesterday He will be faithful today. We don’t have to function in fear. God saved David from the lion and the bear. God would save David from Saul.
- Identify life’s needs and focus on what really matters. Focus on what is really important – don’t focus on what is so thin. Don’t be so broad. As bright and vast as the light is, as a laser that is focused it can cut through anything. God may not save everything. When Paul was on the shipwreck in Acts chapter 27, he asked God if he was going to die; him and everything on the ship. And God answered that the ship would be lost but they would survive. We have to understand that some things that are important to us may not be important to God. We might think that the ship might be important given the situation. But trusting God is allowing Him to do what He wants to do and trusting and believing Him. We have to understand what is important to God and we need to trust Him more. We need to be a people that trust God. David strengthened himself in the Lord. Why would God want to strengthen someone acting off of himself? David was working with the enemy and killed innocent people. God was being gracious that his family wasn’t killed but only taken captive. David was broken, a lot of people lost their stuff too. He was distressed and broken and God felt that was the best moment to help him. We don’t trust God because we are rigid in our way. Broken. Have you ever reached a moment in your life where you become tired of doing you? We must allow God to oversee areas we’ve failed at. Imagine David saying “bring me the ephod,” they took his stuff and one would think it’s important for him to pursue the enemy but he is still asking God if they should pursue. That’s the level of trust we need to exhibit so that God can navigate ourselves to where we need to be.
David didn’t wait for anyone else to strengthen him. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They will run and not grow weary. (Isaiah 40:31) When we trust in the Lord and wait upon Him, it gives us a degree of capacity to endure.
How do you strengthen yourself?
- Know the source of your strength – bring yourself into the place to trust God in every situation. The source of your strength is in Christ. Your strength is in Him. You can only go so far on your own. We have more strength and more dunamis power when we trust in Him. He said I am the vine, you are the branches (John 15:5). When we remain in Him, we are able to produce. When we do our own thing, it removes the covering of God over our lives. David realized it, that’s how we strengthen ourselves in the Lord. It is a blessed assurance when our practice never disrupts our position. We can never lose our position, that’s what we call the perfect work of the cross. That’s what God applies grace in our life for. Our position is secure. When we understand our position and where we stand it enables us to encourage and strengthen ourselves in the Lord. When we trust God again we know that we are no longer alone, though we can’t go back to Israel and the Philistines have forsaken us.
- Know your position. We are able to be strong in the Lord because our position is in Him. The only thing we need to do to strengthen ourselves in the Lord is to know where we are positioned. Our practice in Him will never disrupt our position in Him. We need to trust in God to bear things. Acts 16:28: for in Him we live and move and have our being. God is not only our Saviour but our environment – the eagle trusts the wind, we need to trust God that as long as we do our part and do as He says and have faith in Him and know how He stands that the position we have in Him will carry us to where we need to go. God’s strength can restore us from the self-inflicted things. God’s strength can restore the hurt, God’s strength can fix any brokenness. We can trust Him to fix the broken pieces. It is not the will of God to leave us fragmented. He provides strength for repentance. We don’t have to run away from God. We can always run to Him. God will give us strength to restore our souls, to restore us emotionally to win back what we have lost. Everything we think we lost forms self- inflicted deeds. God is saying it is recovering.
Although David lost everything, he could have run to get it. Moses was on the run when he acted upon himself. David realized he couldn’t be acting on his own anymore for doing his own thing was costly. It makes you step out of God’s umbrella. David should have remembered the promise. Remember the promises over your life. Paul knew the word of God over his life that as long as he was alive, he knew he wouldn’t die by Caesar’s hand. David should know that the word of God over his life shouldn’t cause him to function in fear as this would spiral his life and others. He should have relied on God. David should have started living according to that destiny. Sometimes you have to remember the calling of God over your life. When he thought of his father he came to himself. When you just acknowledge Him in your ways, it will help you to come to yourself. As believers, we should always have faith in the word of God over our lives. David asked God “should I pursue?” He had the right to approach but he trusted God to know the right approach. He had a right to be upset and to go after his family but God was calling Him as He is calling us to trust Him with our self-inflicted sins. Develop your trust in Him. When we are trusting God, we are saying we will allow Him to do what He wants to do even though it looks bleak, rough and it looks like failure. We should recognize that when we put our trust in God we are granting Him the opportunity to work it out to be successful on our behalf. We are aware that success may not be realized according to our preferences and we are prepared to endure the process that may not be comfortable. Ultimately, God knows best. Rather, every success you accomplish will be done on His terms and at His time. God wants you to trust in Him because He is a good God.
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