Psalm 34, When God Delivers You From Your Own Mistakes
1. Invite Others To Praise God With You (v1-3)
2. Tell Your Story Of God’s Deliverance (v4-6)
3. Stir Up Confidence In God’s Deliverance (v7-10)
4. Teach Others What You Have Learned (v11-14)
5. Celebrate God’s Faithfulness To Deliver (v15-22)
Question for those of you under the age of 20.
Have you ever done something dumb?
Now the parents can answer that and I'm just kidding.
We all do dumb things.
We all do things that afterwards we regret it.
But in the moment it may have seemed like a good idea.
It may have seemed like the right decision, or perhaps we just weren't thinking that all that much at all and and we were so stressed and there was so much pressured anxiety.
That we just kind of reacted without really thinking through.
The the decision that we were making and it seems that David was experiencing something like that and afterwards he wrote Psalm Chapter 34.
Now at the beginning of the Psalm, it gives us the context.
It gives us a little bit of information about it and not all of the Psalms have this, but I always.
Appreciate when they do because it gives a little bit of the context and helps us to really picture David and what was going on in his life.
So at the beginning here it tells us this is a Psalm of David.
When he pretended madness before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed.
David pretended madness.
What that means is that David acted like a crazy person, like legitimately.
He completely flipped out and pretended to be absolutely out of his mind.
It wasn't.
The best decision to get to Gath where he was when this took place.
He was desperate and running from Saul.
In fact, the event that David is writing about here in Psalm chapter 34 happened on his first day running from Saul.
Like he just runs out the door, he hits up the preset knob and then he runs over to Gath and.
And he finds himself in this desperate situation.
And the only way he could think of to get out of it.
It is to slobber all over himself and just pretend to be absolutely out of his mind to try to escape the capture from the philistines there in the city of Gath.
It's not his best decision.
It's not David in his best behavior, or you know the best example of him.
As a man, after God's own heart, it's an example of a mistake that.
He made and yet Chapter 34 here of the Book of Psalms. Helps us to understand then how he reacted afterwards, how he recovered from that mistake.
And so I've titled the message this evening here in Psalm 34, when God delivers you from your own mistakes when God delivers.
You from your own.
Mistakes again, I I mentioned this.
This is his first day running from King Saul.
King Saul suspects that David is the one that God is going to put on the throne.
After him, Saul wants Jonathan, his son, to be king instead.
And so he desires to put David to death, and he attempts to kill David several times.
This last time David says that's it, I can't stick around here and and, you know, be souls. Pincushion for Spears. I I need to get out of here and he he flees from Saul's presence.
And he finds himself.
In gath
Achish, the King of Gath.
Has servants that bring David to him.
Thinking hey, this is going to be great.
Here is this guy that.
Was the Great Warrior of Israel, and now he's in our custody.
The king of a cache Achish said, well, the servants of a cache actually said.
This is the guy they think about saw his Salinas thousands and David is 10 thousands.
This is a mighty warrior that we've captured and so they've they've kind of taken him into custody.
And now they're presenting him before the king.
But as they're saying that.
If you want to get the context it's in first Samuel Chapter 21.
The whole story that leads up to Psalm chapter 34.
It says that David Turk took these words to heart.
They're talking about what a mighty warrior he is.
And he realizes he's made a mistake.
He realizes he's a valuable.
Target for them to hold onto.
He's the mighty warrior of Israel, and so he realizes he's in trouble.
It tells us that he is very much afraid of achish, the king of Gath.
He is very much afraid.
He was so preoccupied with his fear from King Saul.
And and fleeing for his life, he he didn't take into consideration what might happen if he went into the enemy territory.
He made a mistake.
He didn't really think it through.
He ends up in the situation where now he's in custody and he could be put to death here.
He could be put to hard servitude.
He could be, though they could do anything they want with him really, and he begins to realize the mistake that he's made and he's so afraid he's terrified.
And so it tells us in first Samuel Chapter 21, verse 13 he changed his behavior before them.
Pretended madness in their hands.
Scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
He pretended, notice, it says he changed his behavior.
He kind of like.
Pretended like a switch was flipped in his head.
And he went crazy.
He's scratching at the doors.
This is the guy who defeated Goliath.
Just a few years earlier.
This is the guy who, since he defeated Goliath, has had many victories in many battles and has grown to really be a great warrior for the Nation of Israel.
He's a man.
He's not the little boy that feeds Goliath anymore.
And this man is so freaked out.
So terrified.
That it drives him.
To this.
Behavior that any one of us.
If we were to.
Try to do this.
In that kind of situation, right?
We would just be so embarrassed.
Like what would it take?
For you to pee your own pants right now.
Like what like?
Seriously like for you to like?
That would be embarrassing, right?
This is the kind of thing that David like.
He just went crazy.
Pretended to be crazy as a tactic, as a technique to.
Trying to get them to say, well he's just a crazy man.
And it worked.
The king said he's just a crazy guy.
Maybe he was that warrior one time, but he's not valuable.
Now he's just some mad person, some crazy person who wets himself and spits all over himself and.
That's no value.
Just get rid of, get him out of here.
We don't need that kind of person around here.
There's no value there.
And so David departs from there.
He leaves Gath, and then he goes to The Cave of Adullam.
You can read through the account for Samuel 2122.
There in The Cave his family is gathered to him. The 400 men are gathered to him and it really begins the the the next season of of David's life and really the development and what God has for him.
He leaves The Cave of Abdul and and goes to Moab, leaves his parents there.
He's kind of safe in the stronghold and Gad the Prophet says, you know David, you need to go back to Judah.
That's where God wants you to be.
It's it's scary there.
I know you'll be vulnerable and at risk of King Saul but but that's where God wants you, and so he goes back.
To Judah after that.
Now I walk you through the geography a little bit there just to kind of consider perhaps as he flees out of gas to The Cave of Adullam.
Perhaps it's there that he writes this song.
We know some of the other Psalms are attributed to that time where he's in The Cave of Adullam, and so perhaps it's right there, just that.
Again, same day next day, you know, shortly afterwards he's like just reflecting on what just happened and what took place and.
That prompts him to write Psalm chapter 34.
Or perhaps it was in Moab.
He's feeling a little bit more secure now. He's in the stronghold. He's got his family with him. He's got 400 men with him, and perhaps he's like, wow, Lord, this was what a change. What a transformation.
From where I was and that place I was in and that the steak I made.
I did such a dumb thing.
Let me write a song about it and just reflect on what you have done.
And how good you are.
There's a couple of songs that relate to this whole account. Psalm Chapter 34 is where we're at. You can also check out if you want to Psalm Chapter 56 and Psalm 142, and all of those would be related to this same experience and give us a little bit of different insights into what was happening in.
The heart of David.
But as we look at this song now as we walk our way through it and kind of think about David in The Cave afterwards.
And kind of.
Recovering kind of catching his breath.
And just like whoo, I can't believe that actually worked.
I can't believe that that happened.
I can't believe I got away.
God has delivered him from this mistake that he made.
So what does he do well?
Some chapter 30.
Gives us some insights to follow along with the example of David.
Here we're going to look at five things that David did and five things that we can do after we make mistakes, and God delivers us.
And so the first one is invite others to praise God with you.
Invite others to praise God with you verses one through three again says.
I will bless the Lord at all times.
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the Lord.
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me.
And let us exalt his name.
Have you ever been in one of those situations where you think?
If I get out of this Lord and there's maybe a covenant, maybe there's a promise.
Maybe there's a vow.
Or maybe it's just a thought if I get out of this Lord.
If you give me through this.
In essence, says I will bless the Lord at all times.
At least my.
Voice held out.
For the singing part of it right?
I will bless the Lord at all times, but I'm always going to be blessing you and your praise will always be in my mouth because.
Your deliverance.
In that situation that I was in the way that you worked and how you brought me out of that.
Lord, I owe you my life.
And so I will bless you at all times.
I will praise you continually.
My soul shall make its boast in the Lord.
Similar to.
What the apostle Paul wrote.
If I must boast, I will boast in the Lord.
I'll boast in the cross.
I'll boast in my infirmities that God may be glorified and magnified.
David here is kind of re centering himself on.
They were just reminding David of.
The songs that they sing about David.
And David says they made us sing songs about me.
But Lord, I'm not going to sing songs.
About me.
I'm going to sing songs about you.
I'm going to glorify you and your attributes.
Your goodness and your strength and your.
He says in verse 2 the humble shall hear of it and be glad.
And I just.
Think about that for a moment, the humble.
Shall hear of it.
And be glad.
The fact that the humble shall hear about it.
Means that David is going to speak about it.
Now, if you are in a dangerous situation.
And you were fearful, and so you pretended to be crazy.
Would you go on the news the next day and tell that story?
Yeah, it was so crazy.
This guy held me at gunpoint and so I wet my pants to try to get away.
That's not typically the kind of story we want to tell, right?
You know, I came off by now.
I tackled him, or you know, some strength of mine.
Some courageous thing that I did.
You know, that's that's what I want to talk about.
That's what I.
Want people to hear about?
But what do I want people to hear about my mistakes and the embarrassing and shameful things that I even did in the midst of that as a as a result of that?
David here is already committing.
This isn't going to be kept a secret.
Even though it doesn't look good for me, it doesn't make me look good.
It makes God look good.
And so the humble are going to hear about it.
And they're going to be glad they're going to rejoice.
In what God has done and David here is committing to bless the Lord, to praise the Lord, to boast.
In the Lord.
Using his own mistake, using his own failure as a backdrop to show look, I'm not great, God is great.
And so he is going to proclaim what took place, even though it doesn't make him look good.
And then he is going to invite everyone to join with him.
Verse three, he says, magnify the Lord with me.
Let me tell you about what God did.
Let me tell you about this embarrassing thing that I did and how I behaved so ashamedly.
But then God still worked in my life.
Will you magnify the Lord with me?
Will you join with me too?
I like the idea of this word magnify.
Like picture, just taking a magnifying glass, right?
Makes things bigger.
It also burns bugs, but makes things bigger, right?
The idea of magnifying the Lord.
It's like making God bigger.
Now obviously we can't make God bigger, but but we can magnify him.
We can put a bigger picture of him in front of our face, in the way that we speak in the way that we worship in the way that we praise him and worship him.
Let us exalt that stuff to lift up his name together.
Lift the Lord's name higher.
Almost at a razor, if there I apologize about that.
Exalt lift up his name, magnify the Lord.
Look at all the actions that David is talking about here.
Bless and praise and boast and magnify and exalt.
These are all deliberate actions that David is engaging in and inviting others to join him in.
Because God has worked in his life in spite of his own weakness and failure and foolishness.
And so I would ask you to consider this evening as we look.
At the example of David.
Would you?
Would you consider to follow his example?
Is there perhaps some mistakes that you've made?
That you can look and see how God has worked in spite of yourself.
And that your backdrop of failure and the the backdrop of your mistake.
Can serve to glorify God.
That others would be able to see how God works in.
A life that is.
Not perfect, and it's broken and foolish and.
Falls short.
And through the backdrop of your weakness.
God strength.
Is made known.
Would you be able to invite others?
To praise God with you, would you consider?
Telling your story and inviting others to praise.
God with you now don't.
Don't get too nervous.
I'm not going to like put you on the spot tonight and give you a.
Microphone and say tell us your story of your worst mistake, right?
At my workplace.
You know, sometimes you have to haze the new employees, and so that's one of the questions that sometimes asked.
You know when it's like.
The first company meeting.
New employees there.
Someone points him out.
What's the most embarrassing thing you've ever done?
It's like.
Who wants to be there in their shoes at that time, right?
Like I'm glad I missed out on that and I don't have to participate in that, but.
I'm not going to put you on the spot.
And make you do that, but.
I would ask you to consider as you look at David's example.
He was willing to let.
His weakness, his mistake.
Be an instrument.
For helping others to magnify God to glorify God, to make God bigger in their view.
As he would tell his story.
About his failure and yet how God worked well that continues on in verses 4 through 6.
Here's point, #2.
Tell your story of God's deliverance.
For his four says, I sought the Lord, and he heard me.
And delivered me from all my fears.
They looked to him and were radiant.
And their faces were not ashamed.
This poor man cried out.
And the Lord heard him.
And saved him out of all his troubles.
Tells the story.
Of what God did.
He says I sought the Lord.
There in the presence.
Of the king of the Philistines.
On the outside, he's.
Pretending to be crazy on the inside.
He's like Lord, please Get Me Out of this.
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
I haven't seen that video.
I'm so sorry.
What have I done?
He's just calling out.
To the Lord, it's not that and don't get the picture that OK Lord, I'm stuck in this situation.
What am I?
Going to do and God says pretend like.
You're crazy, David.
He's not saying that the Lord gave him that idea really.
He's saying, look, I was so desperate.
I just did the the.
The only thing I could think of.
But on the inside.
What can't be seen is.
I'm seeking the Lord.
And and the amazing thing, David.
Says is that he heard me.
And delivered me from all my fears.
Remember I said in first Samuel 21 he was very afraid.
When he heard these guys talking about how David was this mighty warrior that had songs?
Written about him.
He was very afraid.
And so he sought the Lord.
And God delivered him from all of those fears.
He sought the Lord, and God heard him.
It's such an incredible thing to understand, to think about that God heard him again.
David probably was not speaking out audibly as he sought the Lord.
It was probably just happening in his heart internally because he was in such a dangerous and vulnerable place.
On the outside, he's pretending to be crazy on the inside.
He's seeking the Lord.
And the Lord heard him.
Notice it says in verse six, this poor man cried out.
What poor man do you suppose David?
Is talking about there himself.
I'm the poor man, David says.
I cried out.
And the Lord heard me.
And saved me out of all my troubles.
Tells the story of God's deliverance.
Again, he doesn't.
Tell it in such a way that he is the hero.
Check out how smart I was.
I was standing there in front of the king.
I thought how am I going to get out of this?
I know I'll pee my pants and I'll get out of and then I gotta wait and check it out.
Guys, I'm really smart right like hey, if you're ever.
In trouble, and you need a.
Situation like just do something really embarrassing and it'll get you out of it.
Like David's not celebrating himself.
His ideas, his tactics or techniques.
He calls himself a poor man.
This poor guy, so foolish, so weak, so embarrassed.
Didn't deserve to have God's deliverance.
But I called out to the Lord.
I cried out.
And the Lord heard me.
And David is just marveling.
He says it twice here.
I sought the Lord and he heard me.
This poor man cried out and the Lord heard him.
There is this.
Ah, that David is expressing here that I just I can't believe in the midst of my incredible foolishness.
God would still hear me.
God would still respond and react and rescue and deliver.
He saved me.
Out of all my troubles.
This poor man cried out.
And the Lord heard him tell your story.
Again, would you be willing?
And would you consider?
When God delivers you from your own mistakes.
And maybe that's something.
In the past.
Or maybe that's something in the present.
It's a lot easier to tell the stories of mistakes from the past, right?
But here's David writing this probably soon after.
He gathers together the group of 400 soldiers and says guys I want to teach you a song.
I know I'm supposed to be your captain.
This mighty warrior songs are sung about me.
But boy was I ever foolish and boy did I ever act shamefully.
But I called out to God and he answered me.
He tells the story.
Of God's deliverance.
We're moving on to the Third Point, verses 7 through 10.
Stir up confidence in God deliverance.
When God delivers you from your own mistakes.
Tell the story.
Invite others to praise God with you and help them help the others around you.
Use that account of what God did.
To help others.
Grasp hold of God in faith.
Verse seven says the Angel of the Lord Encamps are all around those who fear him and delivers them.
Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.
Bless it is the man who trusts in him.
Oh fear the Lord, you his Saints.
There is no want to those who fear you.
The Young Lions lack.
And suffer hunger.
But those who seek the Lord shall not lack.
Any good thing?
David here moves on from.
The story of what happened and how God delivered him to kind of shift into encouragement mode.
He's encouraging himself.
I would suggest as well as those.
He's addressing.
And he says guys, you got to remember the Angel of the Lord Encamps all around those who fear him.
Do you fear the Lord?
Then the Angel of the Lord surrounds you.
Nothing can come into your life.
Except what passes through the presence of the Lord.
Nothing can come into your life except for what?
The Lord allows permits.
And we wrestle with that a bit, and I don't want to get too far in the weeds with that.
We kind of really wrestle with that more in the book of Job, right?
Chapters one and two we see.
The Lord giving permission for some very hard and difficult things in Job's life.
But what this teaches us is that we can trust.
If God is allowed it because he camps all around those who fear him.
Well then we can trust that God has a plan and that God is going to work.
That he's going to bring forth good or in David's words, he will deliver.
The Angel of the Lord Encamps are all around those who fear him and.
Delivers them, there's the guaranteed deliverance.
Now, that doesn't.
Always take the same shape and form of David's deliverance and that he escaped from.
The King's presence.
Sometimes deliverance is seen differently.
We can't take the name it and claim it approach.
We can't have the expectation that there will only be pleasant things in our lives, right?
God Saints.
The best of the best.
They experienced great difficulty.
Sometimes to the point of entering into eternity.
And sometimes God delivers by death.
And and taking us into his presence for eternity.
Sometimes deliverance is at a different time than we would want, and so.
This isn't to say we call out to the Lord and always immediately in every situation we're delivered instantly.
But the promise that he delivers doesn't change, so the deliverance happens in the Lord's time, which is good for us.
In the best time.
Where where we need the deliverance the most.
Which of course we feel like is right now, but we don't have the whole picture.
God has the whole picture.
So we can trust the Angel of Lord is kept all around.
He's not far off, he's not distant, he's right.
There around you.
He's got you in his embrace.
And he delivers you.
As you fear him.
As you call out to him.
He is working out the deliverance that you need.
David says, O taste and see that the Lord is good.
Try it guys fear the Lord.
Trust in God.
Call out to him and seek him.
And you will find that God is.
Now the word taste, hear, taste and see that the Lord is good, doesn't just mean they like take a little nibble.
It's not that kind of taste.
To eat a meal.
To really dive in.
Feeding on the Lord to experience all that he has for us.
Pastor Warren Wiersbe says.
It means knowing him better and enjoying him more.
Maybe picturing it like getting into a pool of water.
Taste and see it's not dipping your toes in.
It's diving in.
Dive in and see.
But the Lord is good.
Come sit at the table and feast and find that the Lord is good.
Blessid is the man who trusts in him.
Blessid is the one who will trust God, who will sit at his table.
And partik.
Of him
Receive from him and hear from him. Verse 90. Fear the Lord knew his Saints.
There is no want.
To those who fear him.
Fear the Lord.
Reverence the Lord respect the Lord.
Honor the Lord.
And and he says, there's no want.
In contrast to verse 10, the Young Lions lack and suffer hunger.
But those who seek.
The Lord shall not lack any good thing.
The king of the jungle.
What what is it that the king of the jungle that lions lack and want?
Well, you know what it is, it's courage.
That's what they want.
That's what they need.
Not just being silly.
Lions, who are powerful who can feast and catch their own prey.
Sometimes find ourselves in the situation where they suffer hunger.
But those.
Who fear the Lord?
Those who seek the Lord.
Shall not lack any good thing.
Anything that is good for you.
As you seek the Lord as you walk with him, God will provide it.
And if you don't have it, it's 'cause it's not good for you.
Even though you could imagine, and you can probably have you know, full dissertation of, here's the 75 ways that I see this as good for me.
God, in his wisdom, knows what's best.
You can trust.
Him seek the Lord and you will not lack anything.
That's good for you.
God will always be working out the best for you.
And you can trust him and rest in that.
You have an advantage that lions.
Don't have.
As you seek.
The Lord you will never lack any good thing.
Pastor Thomas Constable says David called on the people to experience the Lord's goodness personally.
By relying on him in their times of distress.
He assured them.
That if they did, he would not disappoint them.
Using his own mistake and failure as a backdrop.
David is sharing his testimony.
He's sharing how he failed, how he messed up.
And yet God met him as he called out to him, and he's using that as a illustration to look to the people around him and say, guys, trust in the Lord seek him.
He's going to answer you too.
If you seek the Lord the way that I sought the Lord, if you call out.
To him in your.
Time of trouble.
Your deliverance might look different, but your deliverance will come nonetheless, as you trust.
In the Lord.
The good that happens for you might look different than the good that God played out for me.
But God is going to work out what is best for you as you trust in him as you rest in him, and so.
Occasion of mistake and failure and embarrassment.
Can be a great opportunity.
To demonstrate to others how God works and to stir up confidence and to encourage others.
To trust in the Lord.
To know that the Lord is encamping around them, would you be willing?
To tell your story.
So that you can encourage others so that you can build up the confidence and others and help others to trust.
But Lord, would you be willing to sacrifice your?
Pride your reputation.
Be able to help others know God.
And grasp hold of him.
Believe him.
In the situations that they face moving on to verses 11 through 14, we get the 4th point to consider this evening when God delivers you from your own mistakes.
What you should do is you should teach others what.
You have learned.
Teach others what you have learned.
Verse 11 says, come you children?
Listen to me.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Who is the man who desires life?
And loves many days that he may see good.
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Depart from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.
Notice again the invitation that David is continuing to give come.
Listen to me.
I want to tell you guys.
Some important things that I learned.
I would teach you to fear the Lord.
This situation in his life.
A powerful tool.
To train up others.
In the ways of the Lord.
We would much rather.
Have great victories to tell.
Listen guys, I just prayed for it.
And I had a lot of faith.
And God gave me.
The Cadillac that I always desired.
God gave me the.
911 Porsche that.
I've been drawing since I was seven years old.
'cause I really believed it and I just.
Had a lot of faith.
And I really trusted God.
And I told God, God, you better give me that Porsche.
Or if you give me that Porsche, you know?
Then I will do this and.
I would get.
Up every day at three in the morning and pray until nine in the evening.
And so God rewarded me.
With that thing with that.
Answer to those for it.
You know, like we, we want to tell the stories of.
Some victory, some strength.
David says come, children listen.
I don't always do what's best.
And sometimes I make some really bad mistakes.
But let me tell you what I learned in that I learned to fear the Lord.
And how God?
Delivers in the midst of even my worst failures and mistakes.
I'm going to teach you to fear the Lord.
Do you desire life?
Do you love the idea of many days?
You want to live a long.
Time fear the Lord.
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Be careful what you see.
Watch your mouth.
Now, without diving into too much detail here.
We know that James tells us.
If you can keep your tongue from evil.
You're a perfect person.
Keeping your tongue from evil sounds easy.
But it's a great challenge.
Jesus taught us that what comes out the tongue.
Or out the mouth comes from the heart.
Keeping your tongue from evil involves training your heart not to dwell on evil, not to think evil.
To then
Have those evil thoughts and meditations.
Be transported out.
Keep your lips from speaking deceit.
And so it's not just about what comes out, it's about what's happening.
He says depart from evil and do good.
Stop practicing sin.
Stop doing wrong repent, turn and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.
David says here's a few things.
That I've learned.
About my tongue.
About my behavior about what I should be seeking.
And pursuing.
And so he uses this as an occasion to teach.
What he has learned.
Again, the backdrop of failure and mystique.
Can provide a very valuable.
To instruct to strengthen to help others.
Around us.
Consider what Jesus told Peter in Luke chapter 22.
When he warned him about his betrayal.
He said Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for you that your feet should not fail.
And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.
Peter denied Jesus three times.
But Jesus prayed that his faith should not fail.
Now Jesus prayer was answered.
Sometimes we get a little bit mixed up. Peter's faith did not fail.
He denied the Lord.
But his faith did not fail.
How do we know?
What does that mean?
Well, because Jesus says.
When you return to me.
If Peter's faith had failed, he would not return to the Lord. The test of Peter's faith was not whether or not he denied the Lord, it was whether or not he returned to the Lord is the point I'm trying to make.
Jesus said, I've prayed for you.
You're not gonna feel.
You're not going to bomb out.
Completely in your relationship with God.
You're going to deny me you're going to be sifted like wheat and boy is it going to hurt and you're going to have regrets.
And oh, it's going to be so painful at the time, but but your feet, that's not going to fail.
You're you're gonna come back and when you do.
Then strengthen the brethren.
When you've learned those hard lessons.
From the mistakes that you've made from the weakness that you might not even know is there, Peter goes on to say I'll die with you right now, you know, I'll die for you right now.
Like I, I don't have this kind of.
Need for concern like what you're saying.
He wasn't aware.
Of his weakness.
And the Lord says, when your weakness is exposed.
When it's brought to light and you've had to wrestle.
With that, it's been a painful.
Painful journey.
When you come back, strengthen your brethren.
It would be easy for us to come back.
From a situation like that and.
Well, I never have any right to teach anybody, because look how I failed.
And we've got it backwards.
Again, the Lord is not so interested in our strengths.
Our weaknesses.
So much more valuable.
Because then it shows his strength.
Isn't that what the Lord told Paul in Second Corinthians when Paul is trying to get rid of that Thorn?
In the flesh.
Many people wrestle with what was the thorn in.
The flesh right?
Was it that physical infirmity that issue with his eyes?
It's so vague.
We don't know.
We can't say for sure.
That leaves it open to.
Really considered that maybe it was.
Something we don't normally think about.
Maybe there was some struggle internally, maybe there was some depression, some emotions, some temptation.
Maybe it was physical.
Or maybe it was a multitude of other things we don't know.
Paul, like us.
Wrestled with weakness.
And God said, I'm not taking that away from you.
I know you wish that struggle was gone.
I know you wish.
Those emotions are gone.
I know you wish you didn't have to have those battles.
You're going to keep fighting them, Paul.
So that my strength.
Can be shown as perfect in you.
My strength can be magnified in you so that you can boast of me and not you.
Peter, when you come back, strengthen your brethren.
Now Peter is not going to walk back and say, alright guys, let me tell you how I defeated that.
Little girl who asked me if I knew Jesus.
I'm so strong, right?
No, he's.
He's going to come back and say.
I really blew it.
And I don't even deserve.
To be called a disciple.
Especially not an apostle.
But the grace of God, so good in my life.
And God has restored me and called me to feed the sheep, and we can trust God to restore us and recover us.
What a powerful lesson.
For Peter to teach.
Not just to learn, not just this experience, but to then teach others what he learned, what a powerful lesson for David to teach his 400 guys in The Cave.
Guys, let me tell you it's not about our strength.
It's not about our wits and what we can think of.
Oh man, we.
Need to trust God and know that.
As we seek the Lord and seek.
To live out his.
Purposes and plans he he works.
It's his ways, not our ways.
Well, let's finish it up. Verses 15 through 22 gives us point #5 and that is celebrate God's faithfulness.
To deliver verse 15.
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.
And his ears are open to their cry.
The face of the Lord is against those who do.
Evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry out and the Lord hears.
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
David here, kind of.
Packs it all together again.
I would call it a summary, but he goes on for a few more verses, so not so much of a summary as a reiteration of.
The Lord is with us.
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous.
And and notice again, David fascination with he is just so in awe.
His ears are open to their cry.
God hears.
When I called to him, God hears when I cry out to him.
Again, in verse 17, the righteous cry out and the Lord hears like it's.
Astounding to David.
That God would listen that God would care enough.
To listen to any of us.
But he does.
And David here is just highlighting when the righteous cry out the Lord hears.
You can count on God.
To always be faithful to here.
As you call out to him, you know sometimes we call out to the Lord and it doesn't feel like anything happened.
We don't sense any change.
We don't know if anything is different.
But when the righteous cry out, the Lord hears.
Walk by faith and not by sight and no.
When you cry out, God hears.
And he delivers.
Out of all their troubles.
God delivers now again.
The deliverance does not always take the same form and shape that David experienced in this occasion.
We would always want our deliverance to be instant.
The very next moment we cry out and then it's all over with right but.
God delivers in a variety of ways.
According to what he knows is best for us.
The the means that the timing really.
Is not so important.
What's really important?
Is God faithfulness?
We have this guarantee.
We will be.
Delivered out of all of our troubles.
As we cry out to the Lord, he hears and his promises to deliver.
Verse 18.
The Lord is near to those who have.
A broken heart.
And saves such.
Let's have a contrite spirit.
That broken heartedness
The humility the.
The weakness the frailty?
God says I'm with you.
Remember that Lord encamps around.
The righteous he encamps around, by the way, not the righteous because they're so good, right?
But the righteous who have a righteousness from God by faith.
Because you've believed in God because you cry out to him.
And trust him.
He's so near.
In those times where he feels so far away.
He's right there.
You're still in his embrace.
He's near to those who have a broken heart.
1st 19 many are the afflictions of the Righteous.
Boy, if only job friends had this verse.
David came much later.
They didn't believe many afflictions.
Would happen for the righteous.
But it's the truth.
Jesus taught us that you're going to experience lots of tribulation in this world.
But be of good cheer.
Now you told me I'm going to go through a lot of hard times and then be of good cheer.
I'm not going to be of good cheer.
But when Jesus says that I can.
He says I've overcome the world.
My deliverance.
Is real.
And no matter what you face, no matter what tribulation, no matter what affliction.
Here he says in verse 19.
The Lord delivers him out of them all.
Verse 20.
He guards all his bones, not one of them is broken.
This is an interesting verse because it's quoted by John.
In reference to Jesus on the cross.
Remember, they were breaking the guys legs, but they got to Jesus.
They found he was already dead, so they pierced his side instead of.
Breaking his.
Legs fulfilling this not one of his bones was broken.
Jesus, his deliverance was through the cross.
God preserved him.
To resurrection right?
In a similar way we can trust God guarding everything he knows, everything.
He's got it all taken care of.
Verse 21 evil shall slay the wicked.
And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned.
Many times when we're going through affliction.
It's at the hands of.
Others who who are not godly.
And we may want to take matters into.
Our own hands.
But David says, don't worry about.
It God got it.
Built there, they'll have the repercussions and consequences for there.
God's going to deal with them.
Verse 22 the Lord redeems the soul of his servants.
And none of those who trust in him.
Shall be condemned.
He's going to condemn those who attack the people of God and come against.
The people of God.
But the people of.
Faith, the people who trust in God.
Shall not be condemned. Like Paul said, Romans 81. There is therefore now no condemnation.
For those who are in Christ Jesus, you're guaranteed to stand before God with no condemnation, just full acceptance, full blessing, full pleasure for all of eternity.
When you trust in the Lord.
And so.
Here's some 34 gives us a great example.
From the life of David in one of the dark.
Parts of his life, the dark scenes.
Terrible, foolish mistake.
But he cried out to the Lord and God.
Delivered him.
And he sets the the pattern for us.
When God delivers you.
When you go through that, you experience something you call out to the Lord and you experience his deliverance.
Don't just keep it quiet, don't just write it in your journal and keep it to yourself.
Invite others to praise God with you.
Tell your story of God's deliverance.
Stir up the confidence in others around you to encourage them and help them to trust God.
Teach them what you've learned.
In the midst of that situation, and how God brought you through.
And celebrate God's faithfulness to deliver.
Maybe you write a song about it and help others.
To know how good God is in the midst of our great failures, let's pray.
Lord, we thank you.
The week in you are made strong.
What if you required strength of us?
We would all.
Fail and there would be no hope.
For any of us.
But Lord, you have designed things in such a way.
Where we come to you and brokenness.
And failure having made mistakes.
So it's open to all.
We could all come to you.
And cry out for forgiveness.
We can come to you and ask.
For deliverance.
We can look to you and trust.
That you.
Will show yourself strong on our behalf as we.
Look to you.
So God help us to do that.
But then not just for our own selves.
May we comfort others?
With the comfort that we have received from you.
Help us to strengthen others.
With the strength that we have received from you.
Help us to teach others.
The things that you have taught us.
Help us to not be self righteous.
We're so proud that we're unwilling to.
Be vulnerable and share.
Our mistakes and failures.
Help us instead Lord too.
Be willing to exalt you.
And glorify you.
By being real and genuine.
Telling the story of your deliverance.
In some of the darkest points in our life.
Help us God.
To be your instruments.
And may your work in US.
Do a mighty work.
In those around us by your Holy Spirit, we pray this in Jesus name.