Troubles Fly Away!
Psalm 55:6-8TPT
Rick Warren quote: God’s purpose is greater than your problem.
Every trial is a teacher. Every storm is a school. Every experience is an education. Every difficulty is for your development.
Gods greater!
Psalm 55, describes a time of some kind of rebellion or power struggle against David, and a key leader in the struggle was a trusted associate who betrayed David. The city is dangerous because of the rebellion, and David cries out to God. Most commentators fit this psalm to Absalom’s rebellion (2 Samuel 15-18) and the trusted associate as Ahithophel.
Psalm 55:6-8TPT I say to myself, “If only I could fly away from all of this! If only I could run away to the place of rest and peace. 7I would run far away where no one could find me, escaping to a wilderness retreat.” Pause in his presence
8 I will hurry off to hide in the higher place,
into my shelter, safe from this raging storm and tempest.
Have you ever wanted to fly away? Verse 6, “If only I could run away to the place of rest and peace.”
Derek Kidner-2008 was a British Old Testament scholar, best known for writing commentaries. “It is some comfort to us to know that there are spiritual giants who have had this urge, whether they have succumbed to it like Elijah (1 Kings 19:3ff.) or withstood it like Jeremiah (Jeremiah 9:2; 10:19).”
Again, Psalm 55:7AMP “I would wander far away, I would lodge in the [peace of the] wilderness. Selah.
You might not believe it, but it’s in the wilderness whereby you grow. PH
A lesson from nature reveals what happens when we walk away from our struggle.
Crabs are creatures that live in a rough, dangerous environment among jagged rocks. Daily, they are dashed about by waves and attacked on every side by creatures from deeper waters. They battle continually to protect themselves, and overtime they develop a strong shell and powerful for survival.
Amazingly, some in the Crabb family, known as hermit crabs, give up the struggle. Searching for a safe haven, they take up residence in the cast off shell of other ocean creatures. They retreat from the battle and escape into secondhand houses that are ready-made.
Yet hermit crabs’, “safe houses” prove to be costly and ruinous.
Through their lack of struggle, critical parts of their bodies, deteriorate.
Overtime hermit crabs lose all power of motion; their limbs simply fall off. Leaving them out of danger but useless to do anything except exist.
Meanwhile, crabs that continue the struggle flourish. Their five pairs of legs become meaty and strong from resisting the powerful tides. They learn to hide from predators by scurrying under rock formations.
Sometimes I’m like a struggling crab, but I’ll make it, because God is my shelter.
Psalm 55:7MSG Get me out of here on dove wings; I want some peace and quiet. I want a walk in the country, I want a cabin in the woods.
As believers, we get tossed and pounded by wave after wave of difficulties.
However as we fight on, holding firm to our faith, we grow stronger!
Jesus states in, John 16:33AMP I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace. In the world you have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous [be confident, be undaunted, be filled with joy]; I have overcome the world.” [My conquest is accomplished, My victory abiding.]
Trouble is a part of life. The question is not if you will have difficulties. -The question is how will you respond to them?
Here’s some Holy Spirit information: Your response reveals your emotional and spiritual maturity!
Few people have faced the difficulties the apostle Paul experienced. Here's what he said about his troubles.
2 Corinthians 11:21-28MSG 21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)
23-27 I’ve worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death’s door time after time. I’ve been flogged five times with the Jews’ thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I’ve been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I’ve had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I’ve been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I’ve known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. 28 And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches.
Paul states, “In spite of all these conflicts, persecutions and sufferings, I’m not giving up, I’m pressing in!”
When hardship is on every side there’s 3 major questions to ask.
Determine the reason. (What caused this trouble)?
Determine the result. (Ask, “What does God want me to learn from this difficulty)?
Determined my response. (Ask, how should I respond to my trouble)?
Refuse fearful tactics by the devil. Remember fear involves torment. Perfect love-God’s love expels all fear and torment!” P.H
Ephesians 6:11AMP Put on the full armor of God [for His precepts are like the splendid armor of a heavily-armed soldier], so that you may be able to [successfully] stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
Let’s take spiritual inventory, Breast plate of righteousness, the loins of truth, the Sword of the spirit, Shield of faith, the shoes of peace, the helmet of salvation. Ready? Go!
Another scripture that talks about fear is, Psalm 34:4,"I sought the lord, (on the authority of His Word) and he answered me and deliver me from all my fears.
Did you know that fear is a spirit? We must cast the spirit of fear out, in Jesus name. P.H
I love this quote, Fear tolerated is faith contaminated.
Hebrews 10:38KJV “Now the just shall live by faith: But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
Fear actually hurts your spirit. It also raises blood pressure, chronic fear/ anxiety causes heart disease, obesity, and is major cause of depression.
For many years, I missed this truth. I believed all the other prepositions:
Christ for me.
Christ with me.
Christ ahead of me.
I knew I was working beside Christ, under Christ, with Christ.
But I never imagined that Christ was in me! Jesus Christ in you. -John 1:14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us...
Hear me, No other religion or philosophy makes such a claim. No other movement implies the living presence of its founder in His followers.
Jesus brings Influence? Jesus Instructs? Jesus Entices?
But just to occupy? Never!
Just in case you’ve forgotten, 1 John 4:15NLT “All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.”
Who lives in you?....
Colossians 1:27MSG the mystery in a nutshell is just this; Christ is in you.
Paul said, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, Galatians 2:20.
When grace happens, Jesus Christ enters. Once again, Colossians, 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of glory. -Christ, Grace, Anointing, Messiah living in you is the hope of glory! P.H
If you’re facing troubles, in trouble, feel troubled, remember, Romans 8:29MSG He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of His Son.
The half brother to Jesus wrote in, James 1:2-4NIV Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
When the apostle James decided to follow Jesus, he followed with great devotion. An early history of the church says that James was such a man of prayer that his knees had large and thick calluses, making them look like the knees of a camel.
It also says that James was martyred in Jerusalem by being pushed from a high point of the temple. Yet the fall did not kill him, and on the ground he was beaten to death, even as he prayed for his attackers.
James writes about the trails of affliction and persecution. -James writes, through many tests or trails, “Count it all joy!”
Matthew Henry put it this way. “Trials in the way of duty will brighten our graces now, and our crown at last.”
The writer of this letter is the same James who received a special resurrection appearance of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:7NIV After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
Theologians agree, this was probably the cause of James’ conversion, because up to that time the brothers of Jesus seemed unsupportive of His message and mission.
John 7:5NKJV For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
James states it well, when your faith is tested...
Faith that cannot withstand testing, cannot be trusted. An older pastor put it this way: “If your faith fizzles before the finish, it was faulty from the first” (Author Unknown).
Hebrew 11:1-3NKJV Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Hebrews 11, is considered the faith check-up chapter. Fact: Every man and woman listed in Hebrews 11, Stood firmly in faith, even though seemingly everything that can be shaken will be shaken! -Faith wins every time.
Test pilots have a litmus test for evaluating problems. When something goes wrong, they ask, "Is this thing still flying?" If the answer is yes, then there’s no immediate danger, no need to overreact. When Apollo 12 took off, the spacecraft was hit by lightning. The entire console began to glow with orange and red trouble lights. There was a temptation to "Do Something!" But the pilots asked themselves, "Is this thing still flying in the right direction?" The answer was yes-it was headed for the moon. They let the lights glow as they addressed the individual problems, and watched orange and red lights blink out, one by one. That’s something to think about in any pressure situation.
Key note: If your thing is to fly, think first, and then act.
1 Peter 1:5-7TPT Through our faith, the mighty power of God constantly guards us until our full salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6May the thought of this cause you to jump for joy, even though lately you’ve had to put up with the grief of many trials. 7But these only reveal the sterling core of your faith, which is far more valuable than gold that perishes, for even gold is refined by fire. Your authentic faith will result in even more praise, glory, and honor when Jesus the Anointed One is revealed.
Again, Vs.7, many trails, and testings, reveal the sterling core of your faith.
Once more, 1 Peter 1:7AMP So that the genuineness of your faith, which is much more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested and purified by fire, may be found to result in [your] praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
According to verse 7, Your faith will bring you praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed fully to you.
The life of Jesus consisted of listening to his Father, desiring his Father’s will over His own. Jesus and His Father were (are), one. (Study John 17).
Job was a man who wanted troubles to fly away! Job 1:1,8NKJV There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
First, God gives satan permission to test Job.
Satan destroys Jobs property and his children.
Job 1:20-22NKJV Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,?And naked shall I return there.?The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;?Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
Second, Satan attacks Jobs health!
Job 2:6NKJV And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”
Job 2:7-10AMP So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome boils and agonizingly painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And Job took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself, and he sat [down] among the ashes (rubbish heaps). 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.
I’m sure Job, along with the entire, Hebrews 11, family would tell us, it was very hard, emotionally, and it’s filled with uncertainty.
But Jesus. Jesus changes the odds, Jesus never leaves, nor forsakes.
Regardless of how bad things got for Job, He came to realize all his hope, faith and trust needed to rest in Jesus! P.H
Job 42:12-17MSG 12-15 God blessed Job’s later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.
16-17 Job lived on another 140 years, living to see his children and grandchildren—four generations of them! Then he died—an old man, a full life.
You say, you want to be safe in the middle of the battle. This evening discover our true refuge, the cleft in the rock. By trusting in Jesus, only then, are we truly safe in the midst of our battle.
One last statement: “Faith wins every time.”
Benediction. Troubles, fly away, not a chance.
God knows how to trouble, trouble. P.H
