From Despair To Delight

Illus: For example, John Wayne on his horse rides into a town that is filled with all kinds of major problems, and in a couple of hours he will clean that town up and make it a safe and decent place to live.

The reason it is upsetting to watch such movies is because we find ourselves with major problems, and some of them can not be solved in a lifetime.

In Psalm 13, David gives us a picture of his life in a John Wayne type of approach.

That is, in these six small verses, in a very short time, we see David go from DESPAIR to DELIGHT.

Let me show you several things about Psalm 13, first let us look at…

I. HIS DESPAIR

One of the reasons most Christians enjoy studying the psalms is because they can relate to them. The Psalms relate to many things in their life that they face themselves.

For example, David had lived a godly life, however, his enemies went to King Saul and lied about him, and convinced Saul that David was conspiring to kill him.

There is no other way to say this…this was a big fat lie!!!

A lie of this sort can lead to all kinds of bad things.

Only God knows the harm that lies have done in the life of people.

Illus: These enemies of David remind me of a bus filled with politicians that was driving through the countryside one day, on the campaign trail. The bus driver, caught up in the beautiful scenery, loses control and crashes into the ditch.

A farmer living nearby hears the horrible crash and rushes out to discover the wreckage. Finding the politicians, he buries them.

The next day, the police come to the farm to question the man. "So you buried all the politicians?" asked the police officer. "Were they all dead?"

The farmer answered, "Some said they weren't, but you know how politicians lie."

But not only do politicians lie so do common people.

Illus: A woman goes to the doctor for her yearly physical. The nurse starts with certain basic items.

• "How much do you weigh?" she asks.

• "115" she says.

• The nurse puts her on the scale. It turns out her weight is 140.

• The nurse asks, "Your height?"

• "5 foot 8," she says.

• The nurse checks and sees that she only measures 5' 5".

• She then takes her blood pressure and tells the woman it is very high.

• "Of course it's high!" she screams, "When I came in here I was tall and slender! Now I'm short and fat!"

We category lies, such as:

• Little lies

• Big Lies

• White lies

• Black lies

• Whopper Lies

David enemies told a WHOPPER LIE when they told King Saul that David was out to kill him.

Illus: It is astounding the lies that people will tell about a man of God. That is, if they were going to tell lies about someone, they should lie about a dope peddler, liquor proprietor, child molester or someone committing adultery.

No, those who do these things very seldom have anything bad to say about these people. They will find a person like David, that was a man after God’s own heart, and they will lie against him and do everything they can to destroy him.

It is true that we categorize lies but a lot of folks do not know this, but there are only two kinds of liars.

(1) THERE IS THE ORIGINAL LIAR

That is, some folks are so ungodly they will make up something about someone they dislike and spread it all over the place as if it is the truth. And it is a LIE that they concocted in their evil heart.

(2) THERE IS THE SECOND HAND LIAR

The lie they tell did not originate with them. But without knowing if something is true or not, they will take the lie they have heard and spread it all over the country as if it was true.

Illus: Second hand liars are like second hand smoke that cigarette smokers produce.

We are told by the experts that second hand smoke is as bad, if not more deadly as the first hand smoke.

Those who go around destroying people with their lies make us wonder IF THEY ARE SAVED.

WE DO NOT HAVE TO WONDER…LET’S SEE WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS ABOUT THEM.

Based on the Word of God, I do not think so.

• Look at James 1:26, “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.”

Notice, God’s Word says their religion is in vain. The word “Vain” here is the Greek word “Mataios” (Pronounced as mat'-ah-yos) it means empty.