"Never Quit"

“Never Quit”

February 17, 2013

1 Samuel 30:1-6

“On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag. The Amalekites had attacked the people of the Negev Desert. They had also attacked Ziklag and burned it. They had captured the women and everyone else who was in Ziklag. They had taken as prisoner young people and old people alike. But they didn’t kill any of them. Instead, they carried them off as they went on their way.

David and his men came to Ziklag. They saw that it had been destroyed by fire. They found out that their wives and sons and daughters had been captured. So David and his men began to sob out loud. They sobbed until they couldn’t sob anymore. David’s two wives had been captured. Their names were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel. Abigail was Nabal’s widow.

David was greatly troubled. His men were even talking about killing him by throwing stones at him. All of them were very bitter because their sons and daughters had been taken away. But David was made strong by the LORD his God.”

David is one of the most colorful people in the Bible. We remember him as the young boy who killed Goliath. We remember him as the shepherd boy who became king. We remember him as a poet and a warrior and a king. But things weren’t always rosy for David. When King Saul became jealous of him and tried to kill him, he had to go on the run in the wilderness. There were many fearful nights and days without food or water. Once he acted like he was insane because he was so afraid for his life. How humiliating that must have been. How embarrassing for the King to think he resorted to acting like a fool because he was so afraid.

In our Scripture here we see even his own men turning on him. They are considering killing him. They and David wept bitterly or “sobbed until they couldn’t sob anymore”. The enemy had captured the very ones they were fighting for – their families. They experienced a time of hopelessness and that made them fearful and bitter.

We know the rest of the story. David and his men went on to recapture their families and defeat the enemy. But I want you to know that skies will not always be blue. Life will not always be sweet. There will be times of bitterness and difficulty. This morning I want to talk about those times a little bit. One of my favorite poems starts.

“When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh...”

The fact of the matter is that things WILL sometimes go wrong. The fact of the matter is that the road will seem rough and all uphill at times. The fact of the matter is that sometimes the funds will be low and the debts sky high. What do you do then? This morning I want to share with you five things to do when things go wrong.

This last week President Obama gave his first state of the union speech in his second term. He made things sound pretty good. One pundit said,

President Obama put a rosy spin on several accomplishments of his administration in his 2013 State of the Union address.

• The president claimed that "both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion." But that's only an estimate of deficit reduction through fiscal year 2022, and it would be lower if the White House used a different starting point. (The deficit has actually risen!)

• Obama touted the growth of 500,000 manufacturing jobs over the past three years, but there has been a net loss of 600,000 manufacturing jobs since he took office. The recent growth also has stalled since July 2012.

• He claimed that "we have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas." Actual mileage is improving, but Obama's "doubled" claim refers to a desired miles-per-gallon average for model year 2025.

• Obama said the Affordable Care Act "is helping to slow the growth of health care costs." It may be helping, but the slower growth for health care spending began in 2009, before the law was enacted, and is due at least partly to the down economy.

I think the America people need hope and optimism – but they also need the truth. And the truth of the matter is that the formula and policies of the government will, and ARE, leading us to hard times. Gas prices have more than doubled. Groceries and common household products have risen drastically. Everything is higher than it was 5 years ago. Why is that? Because the spending policies of the government doesn’t work. It never will. Do you think any of the Politian’s would use the tactics personally they are using for our country? You can’t continue to spend money you don’t have. In a personal budget you either have to quit spending or increase your finances. In a government you either have to quit spending or raise taxes. Guess which one they will do?