Are You Battle Weary

Copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends Chapter 27 1st Samuel chapter 27 reading the first six verses Then David said to himself now. I will perish one day by the hand of Saul There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore and all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand so David arose And he crossed over across the border He and his 600 men who were with him to a kiss the son of males king of gaff and David lived with a kiss at gaff he and his men each with his household even David with his two wives and It was told Saul verse 4 and I was told Saul that David had fled to gaff so he no longer searched for him Then David said to a kiss if now I have found favor in your sight Let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country that I may live there For why should your servant live in the royal city with you? So a kiss gave him Zigglag that day therefore Zigglag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day now Sunday night Pastor David in his message talked about David at Zigglag and I was worried for a bit Well, he was going to preach my message or not And he didn't But God gave David a great victory at Zigglag, but it was preceded by a Tremendous defeat as well, and I'm going to talk about that tonight. And my message is entitled It's in the form of a question.

Are you battle weary? Are you battle weary? I didn't know they were gonna they were gonna play the brother offatory onward Christian soldiers a very appropriate For for my message tonight, are you battle weary? Let's pow and ask the Lord to bless his word tonight Hallelujah Lord we come to you tonight and we we lift your people up to you We lift Lord, especially those who may have come into their service and they are fatigued they are Weary by the battle of having been good soldiers and Lord we come tonight against that physical weariness We come against mental weariness. We come against spiritual weariness we come against any type of weariness of the body and the spirit tonight in the name of Jesus and Lord, we pray that you would just lift our hearts in this service and courage us Lord Even as David received incurred encouraged himself in the Lord may it also Take place tonight in our hearts, but Lord teach us how the enemy will come at a moment of weariness and attack us And Lord, maybe give heed. Maybe give warning May the word warn us tonight and may it woo us as well.

We pray in Jesus name Amen Amen Now this message tonight is for you if If for one thing your ears are ringing from the roar of a lion I Refer to that to the devil Who is that angry? roaring devouring Christian chaser Do your ears burn from his constant harassments? or perhaps your battle weary from from hearing The fiery darts of the enemy or I believe the New American Standard calls it flaming darts of the enemy That hit up against the shield of your faith Now it's a wonderful thing to go into battle knowing that we can take unto ourselves the full armor of God as The scripture says that you may be able to resist in the evil day and In addition to wearing all of the armor to take up the shield of faith With which you will be able to extinguish all the fiery missiles of the evil one However with that comes often a physical and Spiritual weariness from standing firm in the battle or as Paul says even having done everything to continue to stand firm a weariness can come from that You may be battle weary simply because of the ordinary everyday task of just being a good soldier Paul says in 2nd, Timothy he said you therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and Suffer hardship with me as a good soldier a good onward Christian soldier if you please The normal weariness of making a living or the physical weariness of life in an urban jungle It is one of the ways that we suffer hardship There are any number of things that can cause you mental physical and spiritual weariness Ecclesiastes 12 12 says much study is weariness to the flesh. I Shared with my youngest daughter. I said, uh, I was speaking tonight.

Are you battle weary and she laughed She said oh boy. Am I ever battle weary? She said yeah, I'm only back to school two days, and I'm sick of it already And maybe that's you if you're in school There is a weariness from doing the work of God Paul addressed this and he said but as for you brethren 2nd Thessalonians 3 13 but as for you brethren do not grow weary weary in well-doing in Galatians He also says the same thing. I remember receiving a call one day from a Pastor friend and it just so happened we caught each other on the same at the same time that we were both battle weary and I spent a little time crying on his shoulders and you know and telling him how we're at was and he began to share His weariness and there were two weary preachers on the phone and partway through it However, he we both stopped and we both started to laugh and he said to me we both love it, don't we? We love it.

Yeah, don't we and I said we sure do. I Remember a time in my ministry in earlier days. I would say about three times a year.

I would resign I'd resigned from the ministry. I was battle weary Well, thank the Lord. I haven't done it here yet And I don't plan to but there is a weariness that comes from doing well Perhaps you're battle weary from other other types of things.

Maybe you have a marriage tonight. That's battle weary But that's another message But one thing is for sure. We all know what it's like to be battle weary Now you may be tonight.

I don't know maybe maybe this message catches you at a high point And maybe you're a time of great victory. And so I rejoice with you. Maybe you cannot identify With the idea With battle weariness right now, but just wait your time will come Enjoy your joy Enjoy the feelings of victory because you may feel like job.

He said I loathe my very life therefore I will give free reign to my complaint and Speak out of the bitterness of my soul. Have you ever given rain? None you're gonna ask you that but Some of you know what it's like to give Rain, I mean full rain to your complaint The job also said weary some nights are appointed to me But if you're battle weary I want to tell you tonight you're in good company Some of the greatest warriors in the Bible knew what it was like to fight battle fatigue Physically and spiritually and by the way when I started to prepare this message, I said to the Lord I said I can't I can't really preach this because I don't feel this myself. I don't feel battle weary this was earlier in the week and then Saturday came and I I just finished my my man and I began to struggle and I just began to feel a weariness I fought it all day Sunday.

I fought it all day Monday and about three o'clock this afternoon in the closet of prayer Hallelujah, it lifted praise the Lord and if you come in here tonight, I pray the Holy Spirit will lift you out of your battle weariness But if you do have it, I want you to know that you're in good company. Remember Elijah He fled into the wilderness discouraged totally Exhausted by the threats against his life by Jezebel if you want to turn to first Kings chapter 17 I just want to compare and run through a few verses a few an overview of Elijah for just a few moments first Kings 17 verse 2 it says and the word of the Lord came to him saying Go away from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith which is east of Jordan and it shall be that you shall drink of the brook and I will commend the Ravens to provide You there. He was weary and God met him in his weariness So he went and he did according to the word of the Lord for he went and lived by the brook Cherith Which is east of Jordan and the Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he would drink from the brook and it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there was no rain and the Word the word of the Lord came to him arise and go to Zarephath And of course he did that and he did it with great strength.

He did it with great power he went out and as a result he challenged the wicked rule of Ahab and he was an instrument to provide judgment and in fact in chapter 18 verse 17 And it came about when Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said to him. Is this you? you troubler of Israel You talked about being a good soldier. You talked about marching in strength.

That was Elijah But then you go to verse 19, but you see even Even an anointed God fearing prophet of God can get battle-weary Look at chapter 19 verses 3 and 4 and he was afraid and Rose and ran for his life and began and ran and came to Bersheba which belongs to Judah and he left her servant there and he himself He himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under the juniper tree He requested for himself that he might die and the and he said it's enough It's enough. I've had it It's enough now Oh Lord take my life for I am NOT better than my father's in other words Can I be like my father's they've already finished the race. They're already in the grave the battles over for them Why can't I be in their position? but look at the contrast between King 17 First King 17 in chapter 19 in chapter 17.

It says so he went out according to the Word of the Lord But in chapter 19, it says but he himself He himself got discouraged. He got down. He was battle-weary and he won off into the wilderness Now there is a danger to battle weariness Because you end up sitting under a juniper tree or you end up living at a place Called the ziglag and that brings me to the story of David Listen to David's cry and complaint Here is a picture of the danger of losing faith in the heat of the battle Look again at chapter 27 back to the first Kings 27, then David said to himself Remember what Elijah did it says he himself and Here is David the same thing Elijah talked to himself and he got out of the will of God and we always get ourselves in trouble if we talk to ourselves instead of the Lord talk to us and David said to himself now, I will perish today by the hand of Saul There was nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines Saul will then despair for searching for me anymore in the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand Now listen David here is speaking out after a long battle of weariness in his conflict with Saul Go with me as we look at a few verses that traces that tell us what David was facing Begin at chapter 18 go back to 1st Samuel 18 1st Samuel chapter 18 will begin at verse 5 it says so David went out wherever Saul sent him and prospered and Saul Set him over the men of war and it was pleasing in the sight of all the people also in the sight of Saul's servant and it happened as they were coming when David returned from killing the Philistines that the women came out of the city singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines and the woman sang as they played Saul has slain his thousands and David is tens of thousands and verse 9 and Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on and now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul and He raved in the midst of the house while David was playing the harp with his hand as usual and a spear was in Saul's hand and Saul hurled the spear for he thought I will pin David to the wall, but David escaped from his presence twice Look at verse 29 Then Saul was even more afraid of David.

Thus Saul was David's enemy continually Look at verse 20 or a chapter 20 verse 1 Then David fled from Naoth and Ramah and came and said to Jonathan. What have I done? what is my iniquity and what is my sin before your father that he is seeking my life and then again Then again, of course in chapter 27 where David again tries to escape now what's surprising about the 27th chapter is this is it came after a great moral victory that David had had against Saul in Chapter 26 it's recorded. In fact, I preached a message a few weeks ago on that very event I call it the spear in the jug and it was at that time that David was miraculously led into the inner circle of Saul's camp and God put the entire army to sleep one night and David and his captain were able to go right in the middle right in the midst of the camp While Saul was asleep He had a chance to kill Saul with his very spear But instead he took his spear and he took his jug and he left the camp and he went back over into his own camp Which was on another mountain ridge, which was voice distance or shouting distance from Saul and when he went back over to the other side He hollered back and Saul woke up and he realized that his spear was missing He realized that David had been there He realized that David could have killed him and he didn't and at that moment He realized that David was a righteous man.

And this is what he told David He said then Saul said to David blessed are you my son David you will accomplish much and surely prevail Now by the sound of Saul's words it seemed as though Saul was going to put away his flaming missile It seemed as though David was not going to hear the lion roaring anymore But it was not to be Saul the scripture says in In chapter 26 verse 25, you look to chapter 27 and go one verse up Then Saul said to David blessed are you my son David and you will both accomplish much and surely prevail So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place Now the place that Saul returned to was the same old place of anger and revenge David was still a wanted man He was still aware of the roar of a lion and the fiery darts of the enemy In fact, it may have been during this very time that David wrote these words from Psalms 35 16 and 17 He said like godless jesters at a feast They gnashed at me with their feet Lord, how long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages my only life from the lions You see Saul did not change after David's moral and spiritual triumph over him Instead of David thrusting the spear in Saul's side He put it back in Saul's hand to see if voluntarily he would lay it down but he did not and So to Saul did not change But let me tell you something David did Saul didn't change but unfortunately if it did Something happened to David after his battle with Saul It said that David went his way Saul went his way and David went his way and when David went his way, it wasn't a good way because discouragement and despondency and despair Dog his steps for 16 months 16 months in which he had removed himself from the protecting hand of Jehovah and he was suffering from battle fatigue And he almost lost everything Almost lost everything because of his lapse of faith and He ended up in a place that many of us end up When we become weary and well-doing and we allow discouragement to lead us astray David ended up in zigzag and zigzag means Surrounded by grief and we'll see in just a moment how he was surrounded by grief But you see let David be a warning to you tonight to the dangers of battle weariness David sought comfort He sought relief He sought refuge with an old friend of his former days of the flesh a former period of rebellion Look again at verse 2 Chapter 27 it says and so David arose and he crossed over He crossed over and his 600 men with him to a quiche You see what David did was this he said I've got to do something God is not looking out for my interest I've got to take matters into my own hand And so David crosses over the border into the Philistine territory But it was more than a geographical crossing. It was more than just a territorial crossing this was a Crossing the line between faith and feeling and Between belief and unbelief and between confidence in God and confidence in the flesh David had gone to a quiche once previous for the same reason to escape the heat of the battle and The previous time when he went to geth and to king a sheik a quiche. He went to the city wall And he faked as if he was a madman and he wrote graffiti on the wall because he thought If he acted like a madman That maybe the king would check him in to gas Bellevue Psychiatric Center and he would escape the hand of Saul and a quiche, of course just said, you know away with this madman and now the second time The second time now he crosses that line between faithfulness and unfaithfulness the line that you and I are so tempted to cross over when we are weary from the battle and Listen to me carefully to that.

I fear I Fear that some of you tonight have crossed over the line and you have entered into Philistine territory And you see this is a line that the devil will feed you and you'll get you to think like David when he said Oh, I'm gonna perish by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me than to escape and For some of you that may be an escape back to alcohol It may be escape back to drugs It may be an escape back to an old relationship that you had once broken off It may be an escape back to an old lust it may be an escape back into Homosexuality it may be an escape into something else David said what's the use? I'll never get victory over this hall. I'll never get victory over the flesh and That the saw that torments me And tonight I fear I fear for some of you The Holy Spirit has put a warning in my heart for some of you I believe that he gave me this message at this time for some of you in particular and everybody in general and I pray for some of you, even though I don't know who you are yet I feel specifically that some of you tonight are in a dangerous spot.

You're at the border You're at the Philistine border And you're in a very very dangerous place and a few of you may have already crossed over that line between the spirit and the flesh and Like David you're seeking refuge in the in the worldly Phyllis among the worldly Philistines Or others of you you're so near the line you're walking so near the line You can smell the flesh on the other side and you're sniffing at it And if you don't run to God tonight If you don't run to God listen It won't be long until you do cross the line and you'll be in the Times Square of gas Like David was if the Holy Spirit doesn't pull you away from that tonight Jeremiah 15 6 says you have forgotten me declares the Lord you keep going back He said I'm weary of repenting A few of you may be in a worse condition And let me tell you what a worse condition is. It's to think that you can cross the line between Serving Jesus and serving the devil that you can go back and forth over that line Without a thought You can go back and forth like some of you commute between New Jersey and New York But God will have none of it. I want you to know Obadiah 14 says and do not stand at the fork of the road.

In other words, don't stand at the border David made a bad decision because of battle weariness He arose and he crossed over And he thought nothing could be better for him. But in reality, nothing could have been worse There is a way that seemeth right unto man But the end thereof are the ways of defeat and death and destruction David escaped from one danger only to rush into one that was much greater You see unbelief always leads across the border into dangers far greater than the threats of the roaring lion and the flaming missiles whizzing by the helmet of your salvation I Want to tell you my friend I don't care how heavy your battle is I Don't care how heavy your battle is some of you ought to know by now Better to spend a day In the courts of the Lord than a thousand with the enemy Now when you cross the border, let me tell you something as soon as you cross the border There is a king a cat a keys that is waiting for you He's waiting to welcome you And it's very interesting, you know what the name a case means The literal translation of the name a case means only a man Only a man to David he represented our and our rest and relaxation Now there's nothing wrong with that. We all need it at times.

I need a little right now pretty soon myself The problem was that David sought our and our on the wrong side of the border You see in gas David's outworked circumstances were completely changed Instead of fleeing a king who wanted to kill him. He found a king who was willing to befriend him instead of uncertainty instead of anxiety Instead of hardships and a life as a fugitive in the wilderness David enjoys relaxation comfort safety security and respect in a royal city But he never never Considered the price that he was about to pay for his unbelief and disobedience because worse problems were about to overtake him and Listen the danger of putting yourself in the hands of a naked is that he is only a man And some of you tonight I ask you are you looking for an achish? only a man Are you have you turn to a man for help and comfort? Is there an is there an achish that you are putting your faith in instead of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? Hear it loud and hear it clear Achish is only a man I'm not talking to you ladies either But it may apply it applies to all of us. He's only a man achish may be a nice man to you even a God-fearing man But he can be a substitute for faith and trust in the Lord Achish may represent worldly fleshly counsel that you're you sought or you're seeking Or you place yourself under that care and all kinds of achish Kings and methods have come into the church today And if you're turning to a man If you're trusting in a man for guidance in your life, then listen to Jeremiah's question He says but now what are you doing on the road to Egypt to drink the waters of the now? Or Isaiah 55 and 2 says why do you spend money for that which is not bread and your wages for that? Which does not satisfy? Do you know something I think some of you could testify it tonight It's very very expensive to go to Egypt and to go to achish and to go for a man for help And I've seen people pay through the nose to try to find help there Jeremiah 2 and 19 says or what are you doing on the road to Assyria? to drink the waters of The Euphrates your own wickedness will correct you Your own wickedness will correct you and this is exactly what we're going to see that happened to David.

I Don't know about you, but I'd rather have the Lord correct me than my own wickedness. Correct me Jeremiah says your own wickedness will correct you and your apostasy will Reprove you know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God and That the dread or fear of me is not in you declares the Lord of hosts now the next step after placing His hands in achish is that he went to achish and he said now look There's no reason for me and all my men to take up room here in your royal city Why don't you give us our own little country place? Why don't you give us our own city? And so he ended up and he received and was given a city called Zigglag Again, look at chapter 27 verses 12 5 and 6 then David said to achish if now I have found favor in your sight Let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country that I may live there For why should your servant live in the royal city with you? So achish gave him Zigglag that day Now you see the the enemy. This is the next step.

The enemy always has a city in the country for you He always has a Zigglag to offer you when the heat of the battle seems overwhelming listen, my friend sometimes an open door is a trap door an answer to prayer is no answer if you get a if you've got a heart of unbelief or a Coveting heart and you're looking for relief instead of strength for the battle. Oh How the enemy will find you an easy way out if you're weakening in the battle against sin in the flesh Zigglag may be a place. It may be a person.

It may be a purpose. It may be a church It may be a pastor. I don't know what but but always when you compromise The enemy will show you a beautiful city of Zigglag David found Zigglag to be just the place.

He thought he wanted and needed free from all fear with respect to Saul Verse 4 he says now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath so he no longer searched for him You see it's very easy my friend To get out of a place of testing a place of weariness a place of battle But then also you take yourself out of the place of blessing It would have been much happier for David to have remained on the battlefield exposed to the flaming missiles and the roaring lion where at the same time he enjoyed the protection of the God of Israel and You know, the next thing that happened is that David then has to sustain himself Look at verses 8 Verse 8 and David and his men went up and raided and he had to go and raid verse 9 and David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive and he took away the sheep and the cattle and the donkeys and the camels and The clothing and then he returned again to Achish and then Achish said, hey David, where you been? Where have you made a raid today? And then David had to lie David had to lie and tell him that he had he had raided one place when he had been offered another place You see when you trust in the flesh then you have to start operating in the flesh and Yet then you start trying to convince others that everything is alright in your life when it's not and you begin even Deceiving yourself and deceiving other people and telling people lies and say oh, it's beautiful. Everything's wonderful in my life and You've just been off and you've just raided someplace and you've just told a lie David tried to make it look like he was doing one thing when he was doing something else The deception was motivated by his need to appear trustworthy to the man that he placed his hands in Listen, it's one thing to live in zigzag It's worse if you're lying to others and you're telling them that the blessings that you're experiencing are from God And it's a sign that God is with you when the truth is that you're living off of stolen blessings God's not in it at all I've seen Christians enter into the come into the church This church places. I've been I've seen them breeze in and Tell a wonderful story about how God is leading them The truth is that there are David that's running away from a battle someplace else And I recall young man wanted me to supply funds.

He told me this the beautiful story of what God was doing And and he wanted me to give him funds to help him to get along his way and listen We have many people that come along that way and God shows us and we pray about it and we'd contribute to that But in this case the Lord Something rose up within me and the Holy Spirit showed me That if I gave him the money I was paying his fare Like Jonah, I was like buying a ticket for Jonah to board a ship and go to Tarshish Because this in this case this fellow was lying he was running and he was looking for a ziglag to hide out in because he was Compromising and he could not stand the heat of the battle But then God did God did a mighty thing For the battle weary warrior David at ziglag and I want to tell you tonight if your battle weary He can do a mighty thing for you Isaiah 54 says the Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary and I pray that the Holy Spirit would give me the tongue of a disciple tonight to give me the tongue of a Pastor to give me a tongue of the Holy Spirit to come in season against your Weariness and the Holy Spirit to speak to it tonight and lift you out of it. Hallelujah God did it for David and you know how he had to do it. He had to do it.

First of all by afflicting him The Lord afflicted David in order to restore him While he and his army were away And I won't go into the story, but he tried to go to battle against Saul With King Achish in his army. In fact, he and all his men left ziglag and they started out and Achish wanted him to go to the battle, but his other Army leaders said no He said we can't trust him. We can't trust him, you know, and that's that's the problem my friend when when you're Living a compromising life God can't trust you and either can the people in the world trust you either if you're trying to live a double life and so David tried to go into battle With King Achish against Saul, but his other men wouldn't let him said no No We can't trust him because when it comes down in the middle of the battle, we don't know which side he'll be on And so King Achish had to apologize to David and said David I'm sorry you can't go with this and so David and his men then pick up and they have to go back home to ziglag and Here's what happened when they got back there.

Look at chapter 30 Well, look at the next verse The last verse in the previous chapter So David arose early he and his men to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines And that's because he could not go to battle that they would not let him to go In verse 1 then then it happened when David and his men came to ziglag on the third day that the Alam Amalekites made a raid on the Negev and on ziglag and an overthrown ziglag and burned it with fire and They took captive the women and all who were in it both small and great without killing anyone and carried them off and went their way and When David and his men came to the city behold It was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in Them to weep and actually, you know what? It means here that they literally laid Prostrate on the ground they had wept so much because of the despair of seeing Ziglag raided and and that which was precious to them was gone and Then when the weeping was over look at verse 6 When the weeping was over the warriors David's army got angry real angry and They turned on David. They said look at the mess that you've got us in We've lost our wives. We've lost our children.

We've lost our our family. We've lost our homes and our possessions In other words, why did you bring us to ziglag in the first place? And in verse 6? Moreover David was greatly distressed because the speak people spoke of stoning him Do you know what the term gaff means? Gaff was another name of the area that David was in in that area gaff means wine press And all David must have felt the wine press of God's judgment upon him at that moment There was probably no lower point in David's life except when he had sinned against Bathsheba His very own people his loyal army are ready to stone him and Some of you listen some of you know what that feels like you know how it feels to get out of God's will to disobey the Lord and Having taken others with you like David did Some of you wives may know what it's like to have lived with a husband who's been out of God's will He's gone to a ziglag and you have been with him and you've had to suffer as well. The children have had to suffer I've seen congregations suffer because of a pastor aboard who built a ziglag church And I've counseled many a distressed warrior like David's army Who people who sat in my office and it was like they had stones in their hand They were ready to thrust them at a David that they had been following to ziglag But you see the Lord had mercy upon David the Lord and his mercy did this afflicted David There was divine merciful purpose in allowing the enemy to come in The Amalekites came to raid ziglag and they captured David in it and his men's possessions He allowed that their most precious thing to be taken from them Remember I recorded Jeremiah 2 19 it says your own wickedness will correct you and your apostasy's will Reprove you and that's exactly what was happening In the mercy and grace of God is clearly seen here God used calamity.

He used judgment and he was lost to get David's attention it revealed to David the foolishness of his own self-chosen exile in ziglag and It led him it led him to fear God and turn to God It enabled David as Jeremiah said no therefore and to see it is the evil thing to forsake the Lord your God and Not to have feared me Do not have the fear of me and you Now you see when the fear when? When we have sought refuge in ziglag Instead of the Living God it often takes a very heavy blow To lift us out of our complacent In our battle weariness Just when David thought he was safe From the battle against Saul just when it seemed everything was working providentially in his favor Just then from an unexpected source came a tragic blow Confirming the truth that it is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in your own fears and your own wayward heart Look how David sorrow and God's judgment benefited David Pastor David priest on it a little Sunday night look again at verse 6 in chapter 30 I've preached on this I've ministered on this many a time and moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him For all the people were embittered each one because of his sons and his daughters but David encouraged himself in the Lord You see how much more precious that verse is when you understand where David was at when you understand where he? How he had forsaken the Lord, but the Lord in his mercy got his attention got his attention and David we restored or later on the Lord restored his whole family. They got everything back Everything came back to them, but David didn't encourage himself ever after ever. He got everything back He encouraged himself before that hallelujah And now he seeks counsel the Lord Again note the contrast between first Samuel again 27 1 it said then David said to himself Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul But now now after God's judgment Now it says David encouraged himself in the Lord.

He should have done it before he should have done it before and he would have never crossed that border and David sees his heir and he humbles himself before the Lord and he recognizes the hand of God a hand of God's judgment and How precious the word ought to be to our hearts tonight. Oh how we need to learn from David How we need to see that King a cases and zigzags are judgments that can be avoided if we will inquire of the Lord first David writes this following his zigzag experience in Psalms 56 1 to 3 He said be gracious. Oh God For man has trampled upon me fighting all day long For they are many who fight proudly against me Now that's a description of a man who was in the heat of a battle And then he goes on he said but when I am afraid When I am afraid of a battle, he said I will put my trust in thee In God, I will put my trust I will not be afraid what can mere man do to me He wrote that after ziglag you see You see God can do a lot more to you or for you than man can David was worse off in a state of flight than he was remaining firm in the fight He learned the lesson the hard way.

He learned it after bitter weeping, but he learned it He learned it so he could say when I am afraid when the battle seems to overwhelm me Of side one you may now turn the tape over to side two in the rock in a difficult place We used to sing a chorus. Oh, there's honey in the rock my brother. There's honey in the rock for me Then I don't know the rest of it Trusting in his blood to cover their Lost in a man.

I will put my trust in thee. Hallelujah Would you go with me to a? Scripture that I think I've used in the last three messages and I can't get away from it I've quoted the last three messages. I believe It's Habakkuk the third chapter.

Would you go there? Would you go there? I took you there before and there's no going back This time I want you to underline it Habakkuk, I'll give you a little time to find that You go to Matthew and turn left go to Malachi and keep turning left and keep turning left until you find it Because I want you to underline this if you have a pencil Habakkuk chapter 3 Now some of you have found by attending this church That There are portions of the Bible that the pages are probably stuck together because they'd never been opened before And you're getting used out of Places in this Bible. You probably never got use out of before a book like Habakkuk. Did you find it? I Hear a few more pages still turning so I'll take just a few moments Yeah, verse 16 it says I heard and My inward parts trembled at the sound my lips quivered Now that's talking about a man under pressure It's a man talking of the feeling the fiery missiles of the enemy He said decay enters my bones and in my place I tremble Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people that to arise who will devour us He said though the fig tree should not blossom and though no fruit is on the vine and Though the yield of the olive shall fail and the fields produce no food Though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in their stalls And then there's a next word that blesses me hallelujah makes me want to shout I'm gonna preach on that little word sometime.

I find it all over the Bible. It's called yet It means even though It means in spite of It means nevertheless or regardless or in spite of the battle can do even though I don't see the Blossom yet that I want to see Even though I don't have all the fruit that I have that I want Even though my field of endeavor is not producing much Even though the flocks I expected or counted on have been cut off from me And even though there is not the financial resources I'd like to have yet. I will exalt in the Lord.

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation Salvation The Lord God is my strength Now that sounds like David to me That sounds like a man who has discovered that is better to put your trust in God than in princess. Hallelujah Then Isaiah 30 chapter chapter 30 verses 28. You don't have to turn listen to it.

Do you not know? Have you not heard the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary His understanding is inscrutable He 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 Now I read that today and I thought my goodness if young people grow weary and tired where's that leave me It says if the youth if youths grow weary and tired and vigorous young men stumble badly What does that mean for a fellow like me who's in? Who's in the neighborhood of 40? But it's an old neighborhood If the young men grow weary Oh, but then it says yet Hall thank God. Here's another one of those. Yes, yet those who wait on the Lord will gain strength They will mount up with the wings as eagles.

They will run and not get weary. They will walk and not They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary.

Hallelujah Our Hebrews 12 3 consider him Jesus Who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you? May not grow weary and lose heart Hallelujah Hallelujah Now let me close with this I believe that some of you tonight you're in one of three places First of all right now you're smack at the border as David You've gotten weary of the battle. You're smack dab at the border May be ready to make a wrong move a wrong decision The battles wearing you down. I remember I met a young man one day going out of the church from teen challenge, and he was He was new in the Lord and he was had a big smile on his face and He said all the Lord's blessing me, but he said man.

He said I'm really had a battle this week And he says how long does it last? He says how long's the battle last and I I smiled at him and I said forever Forever and so maybe your battle weary tonight and you find yourself at the border Isaiah 57 10 says you were tired out by the length of your road You were tired out by the length of your road in other words you say I've got a long way to go before I'm what God wants me to be and that may be the cause of your battle fatigue and So some of you may be right there tonight at the border But secondly some of you may be attached to an achy someone that you're putting your trust in Who's only a man There's only a man and all I would come against that tonight and ask you to let it go and lay it down and turn your turn away from it and Thirdly you may be heading or already have taken up residence in a ziglag tonight and I pray that you would avoid You would have to avoid going through what David went through but listen if God has to do it that way if he has to bring affliction if he has to bring sorrow or whatever you'll Do it to get your attention told that you'll put your trust in him And you'll stay in the heat of the battle. Hallelujah Because it's there it's there that you will mount up with wings as Eagles. Hallelujah.

I Understand the way the Eagle can fly higher than any other any other of those birds and Some of you know what it's like to be high But I want to tell you you've never had a high until you've had a high that Jesus can give you and I don't say that disrespectfully I Don't mean that to to demean what the Holy Spirit is able to do, but I'm talking about the Bible says They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Hallelujah Hallelujah, I want you to stand and I want Steve I want you to come we're going to sing that now they that wait upon The Lord shall renew their strength and we're going to give an altar call in a moment But I want you just to lift your hearts and lift your hand to the Lord. I want everyone tonight I want every one of you if you're battle weary I want that we're just to be lifted in the name of the Lord tonight.

Hallelujah. I felt I felt Some of that weariness here tonight, I tell you I did I had a hard time Hard time preaching this message hard time getting through it I just felt the weirdness here tonight, but let's come against it in the name of the Lord. Hallelujah.

He wants to lift it They shall Accepted Now listen if you're in sin if you're living in sin That will be one reason that you don't feel a part of the body