The Path of God’s Promises
2 Samuel 2:1-11
July 17-18, 2021
All right. We come now to that place where David finally after waiting for, we presume maybe 12 years, is going to be anointed the king of Israel. Starting with the anointing as king over the house of Judah and then seven years later or so finally over all of Israel. If you remember now he's been waiting, he's been anointed and given this promise many years before this, when he was just a teenager. We presume maybe 16, 17 years old. If you remember Samuel, the prophet, came to his father's house, Jesse, to anoint the future king. Samuel comes into the house and he sees Eliab, the oldest, he was quite tall and he thought to himself, surely this is the Lord's anointed. Then that word famous really, famous word of the Lord that came to him.
"Don't look at his appearance. Don't look at the height of his stature. Man looks at the outward appearance, the Lord looks at the heart." One of the great insights of the significance of the heart and the soul that God wants to establish in a person's life. He wasn't the one and then seven other. In other words, seven sons pass before Samuel and the Lord has not chosen any of these. He says, "Is this all of them?" Jesse says, "Well, there is one more, the least, but he's out watching the sheep." He says, "Well, then send and call for him for we will not sit down until he comes." Then David arrives and instantly Samuel recognized here is the anointed of the Lord, poured the oil on him, which a picture of the holy spirit and it says, "From that moment forward, the spirit came upon him mightily." This is important to remember.
It's the same holy spirit that anointed David that is in your life and mine. When you ask the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart as Lord and Savior, God takes up residence in your heart and in your life, by the anointing and the filling of the very presence of the living God in your life, the holy spirit. That promise was given to David when he was in his late teens and then all manner of trouble comes in his life for the next 12 some years waiting for that promise, but David never wavered in the belief that God was sure to fulfill what He had promised David. He believed that God would in fact give him the kingship as he had promised. David believed unwaveringly in spite of all of the troubles, you want to talk about troubles, epic troubles, but David believed, David knew how the story would end. This is important because we live in times of epic troubles and yet we know how this story ends. When you look at all of the troubles in this world, I'll tell you what, it is an encouragement to know how this story ends.
The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come at the end of the age. He'll set foot on the Mount of olives. He'll enter Jerusalem to rule and reign the nations. He will set this world right because this world is a broken, messed up world, and we know how the story ends and it's a glorious, glorious description. We know our own story. God has made promises to us. His crown of righteousness awaiting us in glory. All that He has promised us. There's a faith that believes I know how this story is in spite of the fact that there's a lot of epic troubles on the path. We believe God's promise. We know how this story ends. I was thinking of an illustration, at the end of the Super Bowl, the winning team, it's always fun to watch the jubilation as they're jumping and shouting and literally tears of joy and exhilaration. "We won. We won. We won." Then you look closely and you realize, look at them. They're all these shouting and dancing, but they're bruised. They're battered, grass in their helmets.
I. Persevere – Don’t Grow Weary
They've been through a battle. They've been through an epic battle, but they are filled with jubilation now. To me, it's a tremendous picture because we know how this story ends. We know it's going to end in jubilation. We know there's going to be dancing and shouting. We know that the glory of God has been promised, but there's a battle along the way. There's really the lessons from David's life. There are many lessons from the story of David that we can take and apply to our own life for while you are walking that path of God's promise, awaiting for the fulfillment of what God has promised, how do you walk the path of God's promise? This is where we have tremendous lesson from David's life. Let's read it. We're in 2nd Samuel 2:1. David has just heard that Saul has died. Saul and his son, Jonathan, and two other sons died in a battle with the Philistines and so David, it says chapter two, it came about afterward that David then inquired of the Lord, having heard that Saul had died in battle.
He inquired of the Lord, shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah? Remember this point when this is spoken he was in the land of the Philistines. He was squarely in the camp of the Philistines and that's a story unto itself. Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah and the Lord said to him, "Yes, go up." Then David inquired further, "Where? Where should I go?" He said, "To Hebron." Now there's a lot of history. There's a lot of significance. Time does not give us opportunity to describe it, but this is a famous city of Abraham and there's a lot of history there. "Go to Hebron." By the way, one of the last trips I went to Israel, I wanted to go to Hebron because there's so much history there. Abraham buried his wife there and there's so many things. I made the request, can we go to Hebron?
They said, "No, it is a Palestinian place and it is not safe. You are not bringing buses of people from America to Hebron." I said, "Oh, man." Hebron, wow. The significance. Go to Hebron. David went up there with his two wives. The Jezreelitess Abigail, the widow of Nabal, the Carmelite, and David also brought up his men who were with him. Each with his household and they lived in the cities of Hebron. Then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David King over the house of Judah, chapter five he will be anointed over all of Israel. They told David and they said it was the men of Jabesh Gilead who buried Saul. Now this touched David deeply. If you remember this story, the men of Jabesh Gilead, this is a city on the other side of the Jordan.
When they heard that Saul was killed in battle with his son, Jonathan, and that the Philistines had hung the bodies of Saul and Johnathan on the wall of Beth Shan, something arose in them and they marched all night, broke through the Philistine lines, went into Beth Shan, took the bodies of Saul, gave it a proper burial and gave him honor. When David heard this, he's deeply touched. It says David then sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead. He said, "May you be blessed of the Lord because you have shown this kindness to Saul your Lord and have buried him. Now may the Lord show loving kindness and truth to you." God will repay you for what you have done, this honor that you have brought. I also will show this goodness to you because you have done this thing. Now therefore, let your hands be strong, be valiant for Saul your Lord is dead. Also the house of Judah I have you know has anointed me king over them, but then it mentioned some intrigue.
It says that Abner, the son of Ner commander of Saul's army, by the way, who knew full well that David had been the anointed to be the next king of Israel. I'm intrigued. He took Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, the fourth son, and brought him over to Mahanaim and he made him king over Gilead, Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin, all over Israel. Now Ishbosheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he became king over Israel. He was king for two years only. The house of Judah, however, followed David. At that time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years, and six months. Before we get to chapter five and there David is anointed over all the house of Israel.
There's a line in the story that we want to read. Remember, of course at the Wednesday service that's where we go verse by verse and do all the chapters around these. Then we dive into something deeper on the weekend. I want us to look at these verses and take hold and apply many things starting with this great lesson from David's life to pursue and don't grow weary. It tells us in verse one, "Then it came about afterward." There's a lot of history in that one phrase right there. Then it came about after what? It came about after David grew weary from running from Saul. Remember that Saul saw that David, in fact, was going to be the next king. He could see it. David was rising in Israel, and he became fearful, insecure, jealous.
He spent the vast majority of his time as king of Israel in the pursuit of David. David says to himself, "I will perish one day at the hand of Saul, and there's nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. There, Saul will despair searching for me, and I will escape from his hand." David pursued relentlessly. Trouble on his heels, he says, "I am one step away from death." In his weariness decides to go squarely into the camp of the Philistines. Now, there are many who can relate to the relentlessness of life's struggles. We live in a broken, messed up, trouble-filled world.
By the way, Jesus said that there would be troubles. This is important to recognize because many times I think when troubles arise-- God has made such wonderful promises, and then troubles arise in people's lives and then many people respond by saying, "God, I thought you had wonderful promises for me. Why all these troubles?" Then in some people, it causes their faith to be in doubt. It's like Jesus said, "In this world, you will have many troubles, but take courage, I have overcome the world." Many can relate to the relentlessness. There's an old thing, I don't remember where I saw it, but I remember when I first saw it or heard it, I thought, "Now there's the truth."
The saying is this, "It's not the mountains ahead that wear you down, it's the pebble in your shoe." That's the trouble, a constant sea of every step, that pebble that just irritates constantly. Galatians 6:9, "Let us not grow weary in doing good." Don't grow weary. In due time, we will reap if we do not grow weary." David, in his being pursued relentlessly, squarely went over to the camp of the Philistines, but things got bad. In fact, things got so bad there in the camp of the Philistines. At one point when David and his men were out and about, the invaders came and burned the village to the ground.
The village that he had there in the land of Philistines, burned it to the ground, women and children taken captive. Then to make matters even worse, David's men spoke of stoning David, blaming him for all of this tragedy that's come on their life. It's a life lesson for those who have grown weary. To rebuild your soul is the key. You need to strengthen the inner man in the times of those troubles. 2 Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore do not lose heart." That's a tremendous and important word to hear because in times of relentlessness, of trouble, many can get discouraged and lose heart.
A. Strengthen yourself in the Lord
During the pandemic, it was on and on and on as many people-- the hardship of economic difficulties in people's lives. Many lost their jobs, many inconveniences, of course, many troubles that came. It says, "Do not lose heart for though the outer man is decaying--" In other words, this whole body of ours is a broken old body. The older you get, you know that's true. The inner man, that's a whole different thing. The inner man is being renewed day by day. You can be old and your body is getting old and worn out, but your soul can be alive, renewed, refreshed in the Lord.
Then he says this interesting thing, "Momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal way to glory." Momentary light affliction? You know Paul's story. How can he call that, all that Paul endured shipwrecks, beatings, stoning, shipwrecked in the sea twice? This is momentary light affliction? That's an interesting definition. Paul says, "Well, that's because I see it in view of eternity." That's a whole different view. See, when you put it in the view of eternity, yes, it's a momentary light affliction, and it is producing for us an eternal way to glory, far beyond comparison.
For the things which you're seeing, these are just temporal. These things are temporal. These things will all burn. We're going to walk out of this old place, and we're going to walk into the presence of the living God. For the things which you're not seeing, those are eternal. That's where I got my hope. Those are the promises I'm looking forward to. That's where I've fixed my heart because this is the lesson from David. When he got to the deepest, darkest hour of his life is one of the grand lessons of David. He strengthened himself in the Lord, it says.
It's the right word. Strengthening yourself in the Lord is something we all need to take hold of because this is what separated David from everyone else there. All of them, they were all weeping over the loss of their-- their wives and their children are all taken captive and their city burned to the ground. They're all weeping. David was weeping, but this is what separated David from everyone else. David did something that no one else did. He strengthened himself in the Lord. He knew that the strength of the inner man was the key to getting now for what God would do next.
There's several places in the Bible that speak to it. This is like a biblical principle. "When you get to that darkest, deepest hour, there you turn, and the Lord will meet you in that place, will strengthen the inner man within you." I think one of the most beautiful pictures of this comes from one of Paul's missionary journeys he was with Silas at Philippi. It tells us at one point they were arrested, falsely accused, beaten, thrown into prison. This all comes to us out of Acts 16:22-25. It describes it this way, "The crowd rose up together against them. The chief magistrates tore the robes off of them, proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods."
Beaten with rods as thick as a man's finger. Can you just imagine for a moment being beaten with rods? That has got to-- You want to talk about suffering. Then it says, "When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into the prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely, and he having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, fastened their feet in the stocks." Then this, "About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to this." They're in the inner prison in stocks.
That is the most dangerous. The most despicable prisoners are there in the center. The prisoners are hearing them praying and singing praises to God because there's something happening. They're in their darkest hour. I just imagine the scene, Paul, in that midnight hour says to Silas, "Silas, how are you doing? I'm hurt. I'm hurt bad." "Me too. I'm hurt." "Remember that hymn? Let's sing it." [sings] "Great is thy faithfulness, oh, God, my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changes not. Thy compassions, they fail not. As thou hast been, forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see." "Let us pray, Silas. Let's pray." "Yes, let's pray."
They're the prisoners. What men? What men? The Spirit is touching, the Spirit is filling, in their darkest hour, strengthening them. It's one of the lessons of life. It's one of the lessons of Scripture. Even if you brought yourself to a dark hour by your own undoing, it's a life lesson. I remember when I was in my young 20s. I'll be open. I'll be vulnerable here. In my young 20s, very young 20s, there was a time I was quite worldly, and it bothered my soul. It troubled me. I didn't like the sickness of my soul. I had walked with the Lord when I was in my teens. In my teens, I used to lead worship at church. I knew. I had tasted of the good things, and now, in my early 20s, I'm sick. I wanted it to be right. It just troubled me.
In fact, one night, I remember this very, very well, one night, in middle of the night, I couldn't sleep. My soul was so troubled. I went and got my Bible. I brought it back to the bedroom, and I put the Bible on the floor. I just laid in bed reading the Psalms and something happened there. There are certain hinge points of life. There are certain turning points that will alter the course, and that was a hinge point. That was a turning point. God began something there of return, me returning, of strengthening the inner man. It is a principle of the Lord.
Even if the darkest hour is brought about by our own undoing, you turn to the Lord and it's a hinge point of turning in your life. Isaiah 40:29-31, "It is He who gives strength to the weary. And to him who lacks might, He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who will wait on the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not faint." It's a tremendous promise and encouragement to the soul.
B. Speak life to your own soul
Now, back to David's story. Here's another life lesson out of David's story and it's this, speak life to your own soul. This is important, speak life to your own soul. In other words, the words that you speak to your own self are either the way of defeat or the key to victory. Now everyone speaks to themselves. I know. "He's talking to himself." That's normal. Everyone talks to themselves. I will be the first to admit it. In fact, I read an article once. I read this article on the internet so you know it's true, that those who speak to themselves it's a sign of greater intelligence.
There you go. Okay, there you go. Would you notice something, those words that you speak can also deceit you. Notice 1 Samuel 27:1, David said to himself, "I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines." These are the thoughts of someone who's become wearied and worried and anxious and discouraged. Strengthening yourself in the Lord must include confronting your own thoughts of defeat and discouragement and despair.
You must confront your own thoughts when those thoughts are words that will defeat you. They didn't come from God. Those words didn't come from God. 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Those things didn't come from God. Here's another great example out of Psalm 42:5, "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior, and my God."
Here's my question, who is he speaking to there? Who is he talking to? He's talking to his own soul. "Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed? Why such despair? Hope in God, man." He's speaking to himself. He's speaking to his own-- Now that's the word that comes from God. "Hope in God, man. I will yet praise Him," which is to say victory is still coming. Victory is still mine. Promises of God are sure. If your soul has grown weary, you need your faith to increase. This means you need words that come from Him, you need words that come from His heart.
You need words that come from His word, you need His word in your heart because Romans 10:17, "Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." That's what you need because those words of despair and defeat and discouragement they ruminate in the heart, and they will bring about a self-fulfilling prophecy you might say. When we have the words of the Lord and the promises of His word, now you got something to stand on.
Jesus said something very similar when He spoke to those who had believed in Him. This is John 8:32, "If you continue in my word," and that word, continues, not as deep I think as it ought to be, "If you abide in my word, if you dwell in my word, if you stay in a place of nearness, if you continue in my word, then you're truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." The truth. You need God's word. The truth of God's heart, that's what will make you free.
C. Live by looking to God
Now if we did a show of hands, I think there would be a lot of people who would say that they're disciples of Christ. How many people believe that they're disciples of Christ? I think many people say, "Oh, I am. I'm a disciple of Christ." He said that, "If you're truly my disciples, then abide in my word. Let my word abide in you, and then you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. That's what will set you free."
Then here's another life lesson from the life of David. Notice this, it's a tremendous important lesson, live by looking to God. Would you notice what was missing when David said to himself, "I will perish one day by the hand of Saul,"? Would you notice what's missing there? He did not inquire of the Lord. He didn't ask the Lord, "Hey, is this a good thing for me to do, to go over and set up camp in the Philistines?" He had inquired of the Lord before, and of course, the result of this decision was to bring him to the darkest hour he had yet faced.
What's interesting is that when he got to that darkest hour, the first thing he did when he strengthened himself in the Lord, the very next thing he did was to inquire of the Lord. Now being established in the Lord, strengthening himself again in the Lord, the first thing he did, to inquire, to ask, "What should I do? What should I go? How should I move?"
Notice 1 Samuel 30:6-8, this is where the story unfolds. "David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for the people were embittered. But David," this is what separates David, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord. Then," there's a lot that's packed into that verse. He first, he strengthened himself in the Lord, "Then, David said to the priest, 'Please bring me the ephod,'" now this is the manner by which they would inquire.
The priest would have this ephod. Abiathar brought the ephod to David, and David inquired," the first thing he did, "Shall I pursue this band?" These invaders, they burned the village and took them captive, "Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them? The Lord said, 'Pursue, and you shall surely overtake them and you shall surely rescue all.'" The word of the Lord. You see there is something about knowing the direction, there is something about knowing the path that just encourages.
When you're in a time of turbulence and turmoil and you don't know what to do like, "What do I do, Lord? This is the tragedy of epic proportions, what do I do?" Then you pray and you ask God to direct your steps. The scripture says, "If anyone lacks the wisdom, let him ask of God." If you lack wisdom, ask of God. He will give to you generously. He will not rebuke you for asking. Ask. There is something about having that word of the Lord and then having a path set before you, having I know what God wants me to do. There is just something so encouraging to the soul.
Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." I tell you there's a lot of ways to make your path crooked. There's a lot of ways to destroy the path. I want my path straight. I want the steps that I take to be ordained of God. You lead me, God, you make my path straight, I need your leading in my life. Then inquire, ask, ask and it will be given, seek and you'll find, knock and the door will be open. God says I want you to ask, I want you to seek. I want you to knock. I want you to enquire.
II. Have Honor and Admire Honor
There's something right. Your heart is settled. You come to a place of just being open to the Lord. It really is important because the troubled soul needs to be in the place of saying to the Lord, "Speak, your servant listens." Now, back to David's story, the tremendous life lesson from David's story, have honor and admire honor. You see this in David's life, he knows the promises are sure, he knows that what God has done to anoint him as king. He knows how this story is going to end. God's apparently in no hurry to get them there because it's going to be 12 years plus but how he walked on that path.
Even in all of the trouble and the turbulence and the difficulty, David walked with honor on that path of God's promise. He's so relentlessly pursuing. Saul is embittered against David, but David, he will not raise a hand against him. Honor, this is important. David respected God. He respected what God had done in anointing Saul. It's like a very important life lesson to respect God is to respect what God does, even if you don't understand it. To respect what God does, even if you don't understand it. One of the great-- you want to talk about suffering, one of the greatest stories of suffering has to be that Job, but there's this one scene that unfolds that brings to us an insight.
Job chapter two 2:9-10, Job's wife, remember after all of the tragedies, after all of the suffering, after all that Job had gone through, Job's wife finally comes to him after all, I mean, it is epic what Job endured. Job's wife comes to him after this and says, "After all this do you still hold on to your integrity?" After all that's been against you, after all that you've suffered. After all that's been happening, you're like, really? Okay, that's the modern way of saying it. Really. You still hold on to your integrity after this? Curse God and die, man. A lot of people would, by the way, a lot of people would.
I know many people who have been through troubles of epic proportions and then they blame God. You say you love me but now look at these troubles in my life. You say you love me then why, why did you allow this in my life? What they're doing is they're blaming God, it's a way of cursing God you might say. Really, you got to still hold on to your integrity after all this? Curse God and die, man. Job said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks, shall we indeed accept good from God and not adversity?" In other words, Job respects God, even though he doesn't understand. Now remember, of course, he later says, I want to ask God some questions.
I got some questions, and then later on to the book, God says you got some questions because, at the end of the book, Job has an opportunity, "You got some questions, go ahead, but I got some questions of you." It's too much to go into, but it's a tremendous thing, shall we accept good from God and not adversity? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. He respects God, even though he doesn't understand. When our daughter was killed, it was a tragedy of epic proportions but there was a truth that came to my mind. Psalm 139 says that, "The days that were ordained for me were written in His book before there was yet even one of them.
A. Keep your heart from bitterness
The days that were ordained for me were written in his book before there was yet even one of them," and then it hit me. God wrote a number next to her name. God wrote the number 10,724. That is the exact number of days that she lived, and then it just hit me. I respect God so I respect that number. I have to respect that number. He didn't write 10,725, he wrote 10,724. I have to respect that number. When you respect God, you honor him. Even if you don't understand because it will do this, it will keep your heart from bitterness. It's one of the life lessons of David, keep your heart from bitterness.
Relentlessly, year after year, David has been pursued. I'm one step away from death, one day he's going to take my life but there's no bitterness, would you notice this? There's no bitterness in David's heart. Though Saul was clearly embittered against him. There's no bitterness in his heart. He will not lift a hand, he will not take a hand against him. He has kept his heart from bitterness. He's kept his heart free. He's kept his heart clear of bitterness. You keep bitterness out of your life, your soul is free. Let God, that was David's perspective, "God, you anointed him, you put him there, you're going to have to be the one taking him out."
Your heart is free when you let God settle the matter. This is important because there's so much trouble in people's lives when they take the troubles upon themselves and they become embittered in their soul. There's a faith that says God, I entrust that trouble to you, I entrust that troublesome person to you. Keep your heart for a minute and say Hebrews chapter 12:14-15, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." I would suggest to you that bitterness is a hindrance to sanctification. That growing of the righteousness and holiness of God in one's life.
Bitterness kind of hinders it. Pursue peace and pursue the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord and see to it. See to it, make sure of it, that no one comes short of the grace of God. That no root of bitterness springing up, because it's trouble, because it will. A root of bitterness springing up, if you hold on to a hurt, an offense, a difficult person, it will cause trouble. Ephesians 4:31, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away," put it off, put it away, take it off, along with malice, because David respects God, he honors God. David admires honor when he sees it. He knows honor. David is a man of honor and he knows honor when he sees it.
B. Be still and wait on the Lord
David is told, the men of Jabesh Gilead, they're the ones who came in the no doubt told him the story, they marched all night. They broke through the Philistine ranks. They took the body off the wall of Bashan and they gave him an honorable and proper burial. David sent messengers, may you be blessed of the Lord. David's not celebrating that Saul has died. He's grieving the death of the Lord's anointed. Then these men of honor, may you be blessed of the Lord because you have done this thing. David knows honor and he admires it. He's drawn to people that have faith and honor and character. That's a great life for you, but you'd be the same, you and me both, be drawn to people with honor in their lives.
How do you walk in the path? You know that God's made great promises but there's troubles along the way. well, how do you walk? Well walk with honor and admire honor when you see it. Encourage people with honor. You see someone who's got honor in their life, encourage them. That is honor, men. Then lastly, we'll close with this. It's a great lesson, "Be still and wait on the Lord." God was in no hurry to make David king. He would fulfill His promises. David believed it. He was sure of it. In spite of all of the troubles. Seven and a half years, he's anointed here in this chapter as king over the house of Judah, but he's going to wait another seven and a half years before he's anointed king over all of Israel. There will be intrigue along the way.
People are oftentimes, they're in such a hurry that they run ahead of God instead of waiting. God will do it. God will do what He says. God fulfills His promises. Psalm 46:7 and 10, "The Lord of hosts is with us." That's a statement of faith. "The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Therefore-" Verse 10, "-cease the striving." It's the same place where we read, "Be still and know that I am God." Cease striving means stop it. Stop, stop. Stop the striving. Rest in the assurance of who He is and that His promises are sure. To cease striving, to be still, and to know that he is God does not mean that you do nothing. It means that you trust God and you wait for His timing.
While you wait, you cultivate faithfulness, you do good, you strengthen yourself in the Lord, you build the honor into your life, into your character, you strengthen the inner man while you wait. Psalm 37, "Trust in the Lord. Do good. Dwell in the land. Cultivate faithfulness." That's a deep word. Cultivate faithfulness. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in Him. He'll do it. He'll do it. Let us pray. Lord, thank you so much for showing us such tremendous application and life lessons because God we can still relate. We know the promises of God are sure, but the troubles, oh, the troubles, God help us to see that we can wait and be strengthened.
To walk in this path that You would set forth in our lives, help us to walk as You would have us to walk on this path to God's promises. With honor, with integrity, with character, with faith strengthened in the inner man, trusting God to order your way. Church today, would you say that to the Lord? I trust You. You set my paths straight. You ordain my way. I trust Your word. I trust Your promises, but oh, God, is there a lot of trouble around me. I need You in my life. I need You to order the way. Tell me you would say that to the Lord. Would you just say that by raising your hand to Him?
It's a statement of faith to say, "You order my steps. You honor Your name. God," I'm asking that You do this. Father, thank You for everyone who says yes. Spirit of the Lord, mood of God, thank You for your amazing truth that shows us the way. We honor You now and in Jesus name, everyone said. Can we give the Lord praise and glory and honor? Amen. Amen. Amen.