Every Crutch Removed Series

Introduction:

A. I like the story told of the jet that was making a transatlantic flight, when suddenly the pilot’s voice came on the intercom: “Those of you on the left side of the plane have probably noticed that one of our engines has failed. Please do not be alarmed. We can still fly on three engines, but we will probably arrive about 15 minutes late.”

1. A few minutes later, the pilot’s calm voice came on again: “Those of you on the right side of the plane are probably aware that a second engine has failed. Please do not be alarmed. We can make it on two engines, though we will probably be at least 30 minutes late now.”

2. A few minutes later the pilot spoke to the passengers again: “It has just come to my attention that a third engine has failed. Please do not be alarmed. We can make it to the airport on only one engine. However, we will arrive approximately 45 minutes late.”

3. One passenger turned to another and said, “Boy, I hope that fourth engine doesn’t fail, or we could be up here all night!”

B. A story like that makes a good joke, but if it were really to happen to us, there would be no one laughing.

1. When you are flying, your security literally depends upon the functioning of those engines.

2. Just as a flyer’s sense of security is wrapped up in the proper functioning of those engines, so, too, in life, our sense of security is often dependent upon various factors in our lives such as our jobs, our bank accounts, our families, our friends, our health, and our position in society. We can become very secure in these things.

3. So a person with a good job, a nice house, a loving family, the respect of other people, good health, well, what else could he or she need? Right? Maybe he or she doesn’t even need God.

4. And therein lies the problem. God wants us to find our security ultimately in Him.

5. All of these other things are temporary and somewhat unreliable, but God is eternal and completely reliable.

C. It’s kind of like our use of crutches or training wheels.

1. Crutches come in very handy when you have had an injury, and training wheels are a great help when learning to ride a bike.

2. But once your injury has healed, it would seem strange to keep using the crutches, right?

3. And once we have learned to ride the bike, the training wheels should be removed, right?

4. But what if we are too afraid to let go of the crutches or the training wheels?

D. There is an immature and unspiritual part in most or all of us that causes us to neglect to develop our security and trust in God when there are so many other things that offer what we think is secure.

1. Many times we don’t even recognize that we are trusting in these things rather than God or we may not realize that these things are not only our crutch, they have become an idol – the god we are serving.

2. In many cases, God allows us to lose some of the things we find our security in, in order to test us, and/or develop our trust in Him.

E. And this leads us to today’s segment from the story of David.

1. We are actually going to touch on parts of the story from four chapters of 1 Samuel – chapters 18 through 21.

2. Although we could learn many other lessons from these stories, I want us to focus on just one.

3. Last week we saw that Saul had now become jealous of David, and it was a turning point in their relationship.

4. Saul’s jealousy of David consumed him – within him was an ongoing civil war – he was miserable, suspicious, and angry.

5. The Bible says, “The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand and he hurled it, saying to himself, ‘I’ll pin David to the wall.’ But David eluded him twice.” (1 Sam. 18:10-11)

6. Stop and try to picture this volatile scene in your mind.

7. Here’s David, doing what he can to lighten the king’s dark spirits, when all of a sudden whoosh, a sharp-pointed spear flies right past his head.

8. Suddenly reality strikes, “Man, this guy is nuts! He just tried to kill me!”

9. That’s enough to scare anyone, yet the next verse doesn’t say David was scared of Saul, rather it says, “Saul was afraid of David.” (1 Sam. 18:12)