(1) Americans cannot help but wonder about what the world considers to be the greatest health care, yet it cannot even cure the common cold.
Often it seems to us the world’s greatest health care is no more than the world’s greatest racket.
We are told that in America we have the best health care in the world. KNOWING THAT, DON'T YOU FEEL SORRY FOR THOSE OTHER COUNTRIES?
Illus: One man went to the doctor because he had a bad cold that made him cough a lot. The doctor said, "I see you are coughing easier today." The man answered, "I should be, I was awake all night practicing."
You would think that we at least could find a cure for the common cold!
(2) When all around us our family members and friends are being struck down with these viruses, we cannot help but wonder if it will hit us.
It is the same with SPIRITUAL TRIALS. We are surrounded by people that are struck down with all kinds of trials, and we cannot help but wonder when it will strike us. Then one day the bottom falls out for us also.
Beloved, none of us are exempt from the severe trials of life. Even King David, with all the power and influence of being a king, could not escape some of the severe trials of life.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN THESE TRIALS STRIKE US?
Often Christians will labor under the FALSE ASSUMPTION:
• If we are in the will of God everything will work out beautifully
• If we are out of the will of God then life is constant chaos
It is a false assumption when we assume only the ungodly people are the ones who suffer SEVERE TRIALS! The fact is, you can be a child of God and walk in His perfect will, and still have all kinds of TRIALS.
• Job was righteous in the eyes of God. If he were living today he would highly resent television preachers saying that if one is in the will of God he will always be HEALTHY and WEALTHY
• The Apostle Paul was a righteous man. He lived in God's will, yet he suffered trials in almost every city he entered
• Joseph was a righteous man and he suffered like most of us have never suffered
We could go on and on about righteous men and women who suffered as they served the Lord, but today, let's look at the life of King David.
He suffered because He was in God's will. Let me show you THREE things about his suffering
I. THE SEVERITY
There are two things that suffering will cause us to do.
(1) SUFFERING WILL DRIVE US TO PRAYER
Sad to say, often this is where we go last. Generally we will turn to friends and doctors before we will turn to God, but sometimes we find ourselves facing such SEVERE SUFFERINGS that God is the only One we can turn to for help!
Illus: Many are like the woman in the Scriptures that the Bible says had been to many physicians, but steadily got worse. After she had tried all she knew to try, and had probably spent all she had, she turned to the Lord.
She heard He was coming very near to where she lived. Jesus came, and sure enough, the whole town flocked out to SEE HIM and to HEAR HIM. As the crowd gathered around Him, she had something else in mind. She wanted to SEE HIM, HEAR HIM, and she also wanted to TOUCH HIM, because she believed if she could touch him she would be healed. She fought the crowd and worked her way close to Him. Evidently she could not get right next to Him, but she reached out and was able to touch the hem of His garment. When she did that, Jesus immediately stopped in His tracks and asked, "Who touched me?" The disciples were somewhat astonished that He would ask such a question because there were literally hundreds of people jostling Him. He knew that, but He wanted to know who had touched Him "in faith." He had felt healing virtue flow from His body!
SUFFERING WILL DRIVE US TO PRAYER, and …
(2) SUFFERING WILL DRIVE US CLOSER TO GOD
Illus: A man began coming to church, and everyone was surprised when he walked in. For the next six weeks he attended worship services at that church every time the church doors were open. He went by the pastor's office one day and the pastor had a chance to spend a few minutes in private with him. He told the man how glad he was that he had been attending church. The man had an expression of sadness on his face, as if something was bothering him when the pastor said that. Since he had been attending without his wife, the pastor presumed perhaps there might be a domestic problem, but there wasn't. The man told the pastor that six weeks ago he had gone to his doctor, and the doctor told him he had some serious health problems that might prove to be terminal. Then the pastor knew why he had gotten back into church.
Severe problems will drive us TO PRAYER and into the ARMS OF GOD.
God cannot shower His blessings on some people. Why? Because when things go well, they do not praise the Lord and live for Him because they think they do not need Him.
God has to allow SEVERE TRIALS to come their way, then they immediately call upon Him. God would prefer that we call on Him simply because we love Him, but listen, if the only way He can get us to call upon Him is to send SEVERE TRIALS, He will send them!
When we reach the place where we will turn to God in all situations, then we are on the right track.
That woman realized that only ONE PERSON could help her! Suffering drives us to the place where we recognize that only ONE PERSON can help us.
King David was facing SEVERE TRIALS and in Psalm 55 He comes to the Lord for that help.
We can see the SEVERITY OF HIS AFFLICTIONS THROUGHOUT THIS CHAPTER!
• Look at verse 3, "...and in wrath they hate me."
• Look at verse 4, "...and the terrors of death are fallen upon me."
• Look at verse 5, "Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me."
• Look at verse 6, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."
Anyone who has ever had to endure severe suffering has felt that he would love to fly away from the afflictions and never come back.
And most of us have felt like he felt in verse 15, about those who were causing his sufferings. Look at verse 15, we read, "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them."
Some of the most godly men and women who ever walked this earth have had some SEVERE TRIALS.
As we look at King David and his trials, notice ...
II. THE SOURCE
There were times when David suffered, NOT FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS' SAKE, but as a result of his own UNRIGHTEOUS ACTS. That is, the source of his suffering was his own wrongdoing!
However, the suffering expressed in our text was not the result of his sin. We find THE SOURCE of these sufferings in 2 Samuel 15-18. They came from:
A. HIS FAMILY
The devil knows the best way to crush our hearts is to attack what is nearest our hearts - OUR FAMILIES!
Illus: When boxers fight they do not aim for the knee caps. They aim for the head because they know that is the most vulnerable spot, and where they can do the most damage. Never have I ever heard anyone on a sideline yell, "Hit him on the knee cap! Hit him on the knee cap!"
Every boxer knows a blow to the knee cap would not be a deadly blow. Every boxer guards his head because he knows that his opponent knows his most vulnerable place is his face. The opponent works the body until he drops his guard, then he goes for the knockout by striking a blow to the face.
The devil knows the best way to crush our hearts is to attack our families, and that is exactly what he did when he attacked David.
2 Samuel 15:1-6 tells of his son, Absalom, who prepared chariots and hired fifty men to run in front of him. Early every morning Absalom would go down main street and park his chariot outside of the city's gate, and if anyone was on the way to the king with a problem, Absalom would call him over to himself and say, (Paraphrase) "Brother, what seems to be your problem?” The person would air his complaint and Absalom would say, "I agree with you 100%; it is too bad that the king is busy and has no one to assist him so he could help you. If I were in that position I would help." We read in verse 6, "And on this manner did Absalom to all Israel that came to the king for judgment: so Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel."
Very few of us could come close to imagining how this crushed David's heart, when he found out that his own son was out to destroy him. HIS FAMILY was only one source of his SEVERE TESTING. Then there were...
B. HIS FRIENDS
In 2 Samuel 15:12, we read, "And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counsellor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he offered sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom."
Who was this Ahithophel? He was one of David's trusted counselors. David depended on him for sound advice. He was supposed to have been one of David's most trusted friends. When David heard about this problem, we can understand why he said, "...Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest."
To find that his best friend, the one he thought he could rely on, had sold him out and become one of his worst enemies, was a crushing blow! Many Christians have had this crushing experience. Almost every pastor can tell you of at least one time when they were crushed by those they once trusted the most.
Even the apostle Paul had this crushing experience. From a jail cell, with a broken heart he cries out, "Demos hath forsaken me..."
David was not only crushed BY HIS FAMILY and HIS FRIENDS; he was also crushed by...
C. HIS FOES
No one can hurt us like our FAMILY and our FRIENDS, but make no mistake about it, our enemies can also make us wish we had wings so we could fly away.
David had such an enemy. His name was Shimei. Shimei did three things to God's man.
• In 2 Samuel 16:5, we read, "Shimei...came forth, and cursed still as he came."
• In 2 Samuel 16:6, we read, "And he cast stones at David..."
• In 2 Samuel 16:8, we read that he accused David of killing King Saul, and nothing was farther from the truth.
As David's heart was crushed, the devil was telling him, "You call yourself a king. Your people do not even respect you as a king!" When we are down, the devil fights dirty. He does not let you get back up on your feet. Once you are down, he will beat you with everything he can beat you with.
But listen, the devil can hit us with the best he has to offer, and as children of God we can get up, by the grace of God, and we can beat him to a pulp! Why? Because, "GREATER IS HE THAT IS IN US THAN HE THAT IS IN THE WORLD."
THE SOURCE of David's severe testing came from his FAMILY, FRIENDS, and his FOES, but now look at …
II. THE SUCCESS
There are three reasons for David's success. First we see...
A. HIS ENCOURAGEMENT
He said, Psalm 55:16, "As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me."
Notice, David is encouraging himself. He was saying that he knew what he would do, he would talk to God about all the problems and God would help him.
DO YOU KNOW WHY DAVID ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD? Because, sometimes the only one who can encourage a person is himself!
Illus: Some pastors have counseled with people until they have said everything they know to say at least ten times, and it has not done a bit of good.
Why? Because some people don’t want help, THEY WANT ATTENTION!
Illus: Some people will get attention any way they can get it.
• Why do you think some teens wear the hair cuts they wear - they are dying for attention.
• Why do you think some of these girls have eight earrings in each ear, and one in their nose? They are starving for attention.
• Why do you think some people buy houses and cars that they cannot afford? They want attention!
• Why do you think babies will lay on the floor and kick their heels? They want attention!
But David, in the midst of his severe trials, was not wanting to have a pity party, he wanted help and he encouraged himself in the Lord.
David had as good a reason as anyone to pitch a pity party, but instead, he encouraged himself in the Lord, saying, "As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me."
David could have fretted over those who were giving him a hard time. He probably would have loved to have gotten a baseball bat and AFFLICTED THEM WITH SOME REAL BODILY HARM, but he knew that GOD COULD AFFLICT THEM BETTER THAN HE COULD!
One of the reasons he was successful was because he took the personal responsibility of ENCOURAGING HIMSELF. We have looked at HIS ENCOURAGEMENT, but also look at-
B. HIS ENDURANCE
David knew something that every rodeo rider knows. If you want to win the prize when you are on a bucking bronco, you have to hold on and not let go!
Illus: Many rodeo riders get on bucking broncos, and when the ride gets rough they decide to bail out. Those who are victorious, regardless of how hard it is - HOLD ON!
We need the Lord every day of our lives, but listen, in the rough times we need to GET A HOLD ON THE LORD LIKE WE HAVE NEVER HAD BEFORE!
David was successful because of HIS ENCOURAGEMENT and HIS ENDURANCE. Also, look at...
C. HIS ENTRUSTMENT
Psalm 55:22, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."
Too many think they can handle their problems, but I can assure everyone that God can do a much better job of taking care of our enemies than we can!
David was successful as a Christian in spite of all of the SEVERE TESTINGS HE HAD. Why?
• Because he ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD
• He knew how to ENDURE
• He knew how to TRUST THE LORD with His problems
He said, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall SUSTAIN thee..."
Conclusion:
I. THE SEVERITY
II. THE SOURCE
III. THE SUCCESS
