When Destiny Seems Delayed

David now enters into a period of time where he is a fugitive from the very king he is supposed to succeed on the throne. For years David is on the run. For years David is dodging and hiding. He's doing all the right things but seemingly getting off the throne.

All the wrong results. It's easy to lose perspective when we read about someone in the Bible. The story of David is a great example. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. One minute David is in trouble with Goliath. The next he's hiding from King Saul in fear for his life. But all we have to do is turn a page or two and the crisis has been averted. The giant has been slayed.

David has taken his seat on the throne. But what if you actually had to live through it? What if God kept you on the same page of life for years with no end in sight? What if reaching your destiny wasn't as simple as turning a page?

Today's message comes your way next. Stay with us here or visit David.com. The giant Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 and after that Saul took notice of him. Saul the king said who is that boy? Found out that he was the son of a man named Jesse and he caused David to enter into his service as an armor bearer and as his personal musician who played skillfully for him on the heart. And in the years that he served King Saul the Bible says he also became a great warrior and he would lead God's people out to battle and come back with great success stories. So much so that when you get to 1 Samuel 18 you see the women coming out of the towns as they're returning from battle singing Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands. And Saul was a very insecure man because he knew he had already been rejected by God because of his disobedience and so he hated to see this young man star rising and God blessing him and the Bible says ever since that occurred ever since the women began to sing the praises of David. Saul kept a jealous or envious eye on David. So in the last message in this series we talked about dealing with haters. Dealing with haters.

How do you deal with folk who don't like what God is doing in your life and who seek to oppose God's plan and purpose for your life. Now as a result of Saul becoming envious of David we are going to now discover that Saul's jealousy leads him to begin to seek the demise of this young man. Imagine now David is in his own service. He has given David one of his daughters as his wife so he is not only a loyal servant of the king but he is now a son in law of the king and yet the king is trying to kill him. Consequently the Bible tells us that he becomes David's enemy. 1 Samuel 18 verses 28 and 29 tell us when Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michael loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him and he remained his enemy for the rest of his days. Consequently I want us to look at the fact that David now enters into a period of time where he is a fugitive from the very king he is supposed to succeed on the throne. For years David is on the run. For years David is dodging and hiding, moving from place to place, trying to find refuge, trying to escape the wrath of a king who is hating him for no good reason. David enters into a period of season in his life where he is doing all the right things but seemingly getting all the wrong results.

My question is can anybody relate? I want to talk to folk who know what it feels like to be doing the right things but seemingly getting the wrong results. I want to talk to some folk who know what it feels like to have served God and to be doing his will and doing all you know to live according to the plan of God for your life. And God has spoken some wonderful things giving you some exceeding great precious promises in the word and you're just trying to live the abundant life that Jesus promised you but yet you see hell breaking out all around in your life. I want to talk to folk who say what in the world is going on here? Why am I in the twilight zone? Why am I living a life that seems right now to make no sense? That's where David was.

He enters into a period, I'm not talking about days, weeks, oh he had a few bad weeks. No, no, I'm talking about a period of years where this man is running from an enemy who oughtn't be an enemy. And David is trying to make sense of how it is that God has promised me a throne but right now I am experiencing nothing but trouble and trial in my life. I want to talk to some folk who can relate. This isn't for all of you who are leaping from mountain top to mountain top. This message isn't for folk who don't know anything about challenge. This message isn't for folk who say all you got to do is live right and everything is just going to come together. It's all just wonderful. As soon as you live right, God just smiles on you and he just makes everything just fine.

Thanks for sharing, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to some folk who say I'm believing God for the mountain top but right now I'm finding myself walking through a valley of the shadow of death. And I love all my mountain top friends. I love it when God takes me there too but I happen to know that he won't let you leap from one to the other all the time. So don't be surprised if you happen to find yourself in a valley every now and then because I'm here to tell you that sometimes the path of God for your life is going to lead you through some difficult places. And that's where David is. He is smack in the middle of the will of God. David has done nothing wrong. David has not missed God's plan for his life. He's not walking in blatant disobedience to the word. David is doing all he was doing is loving God, serving the king, taking care of his business and just because the blessing of the Lord was on his life, Saul is after him seeking to kill him.

This message is for folk who are saying Lord, what in the world is going on? I know you promised me some things but I'm wanting to know when the promise is going to be fulfilled. Listen, let me help you learn from this section of David's life a very significant principle which is that there is often a difference between the promise being spoken and the promise being fulfilled.

There is a time element. There is a time gap between the spoken promise and the fulfilled promise. You're going to learn that sometimes God will tell you what he's going to do in your life but you don't know when he's going to do it. And the other thing is you don't know what you're going to have to go through before he does it. See Joseph got a dream when he was 17 and the dream looked good because his family was bowing down to him in the dreams.

But what he didn't know was when the dream would be fulfilled, it was going to take place 22 years later and he sure didn't know what he was going to go through between the dreams and the fulfillment. Do you know why God doesn't tell us everything up front? Because if he were to tell you, now when I'm through with you, I'm going to have you in a wonderful place. You're going to be blessed coming and going. Your enemies are going to all be at your foot and everything's going to be wonderful. You say, oh praise God. And then God will say, now let me show you what you're going to go through.

That would take the praise right out your mouth. Some of us will start asking for a plan B. Well now Lord, if I'm going to have to go through that, do you have another plan that we might sign off on? So God doesn't tell you everything.

That's why you got to learn to walk by faith and not by sight. What do you do when destiny seems delayed? What do you do when you know God's taking you somewhere but you don't have the timeline yet? What do you do when you're living in that gap? What do you do when you're living in that tension between promise and fulfillment?

I'm glad you asked. I got three points I want to share with you. Three lessons I want to draw from this long period of David's life. Now basically this period lasts the rest of the book of 1 Samuel. From the end of chapter 18 where we're told Saul is his enemy for the rest of his life, it then moves into chapter 19 and 20 and 21, 2, 3, 4, 5 right up to 1 Samuel 31 and during that whole period of time David is a fugitive. I want to tell you there are some lessons we can draw from his life during that period for our own lives while we're waiting on God to bring his promises to pass in our lives.

Just three simple lessons I want to share and I'll let you go. Number one, David maintained his consciousness of God's presence. He maintained his consciousness of God's presence.

While David was going through this trying period of time, he understood that he lived his life in the presence of God. Coming up next, the rest of today's message, When Destiny Seems Delayed, with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you've never stopped by our website, pastorpaul.net, I invite you to do so today. You'll find all of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand, plus a host of great resources in our online store, including books and DVD messages from Pastor Paul. You can also learn about the ministry and about all the great things friends like you are doing through your prayers and financial support. It starts at pastorpaul.net, and that's also the place to find links to all of Pastor Paul's social media, including YouTube, where you can watch some of his best video clips.

Again, it starts at pastorpaul.net. Well, wherever you go, there you are, and God is right there too. No one knew this better than David, whose story continues now in the rest of today's message. Once again, here's Pastor Paul. David understood that everywhere he went, everything he did, he did it in the presence of God. And all of his behavior was based on his awareness that no matter where I am, whether I'm hiding in a cave, whether I'm hiding in some town, wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, God is with me and God is watching me. I want to encourage somebody who is living in the tension between promise and fulfillment, who's wondering why I'm going through a little twilight zone period in my life.

I want to tell you that you must, during that period of time, maintain your consciousness of God's presence. You must understand that God is watching you. Some of us are self-conscious. We live our lives self-consciously.

Others live our lives people-consciously. But I'm here to tell you, you got to learn to live your life God-consciously. Because when it's all said and done, your destiny is not in the hands of your own efforts, and your destiny is not in the hands of other people. But your destiny is in the hands of Almighty God. And therefore, you got to live your life in his presence.

You've got to live your life knowing that your reward is coming from on high, and therefore, I must live a life that brings glory to God even when I'm going through tough times. David tells us, he teaches us, and he shows us by his example that you've got to live a God-conscious life. That's exactly why David treated Saul right even when Saul was treating him wrong. Now, when you read what goes on in all those chapters remaining in 1 Samuel, you will see that Saul hunted David like you hunt down an animal on a hunting trip. I mean, when he would hear David was in a certain town, he and his army would head right over there. And David would escape and go somewhere else, and Saul would wait to hear where he is, and then they'd head over there.

And I mean, he is just being literally hunted down. But the Bible says on two occasions during that period of time, the Lord delivered Saul into David's hands. God put Saul in a position where they were sleeping, and he and his army around them all laying around. The armor bearers weren't on duty where one is always woke.

Sometimes all of them sleep. And the Bible says that on two different occasions, David was right there, could have killed Saul. On the first occasion, he cut off part of his robe.

You remember that? Cut off part of his robe. On the second occasion, he took his sword and his water, and he was right there.

And both times after he got a distance away and he called to Saul and his army, he said, The Lord delivered me into your hands, but God would not let me put a hand to you and do his anointed any harm. Now you know you got to be living in God consciousness in order when your enemy who is hunting you down is right there. You know what you do if you're living only according to self-consciousness. The first law of nature is self-preservation. And that means when somebody is trying to kill you and you have an opportunity, you take them out. That's self-consciousness.

And you know that's people consciousness. Because if you listen to the folk, they say, Kill him! What's the matter with you?

He right there? Kill him! And you walk away. See, that's what's wrong with you. That's why they're going to get you one day because you don't have any better sense.

Don't you have people in your life like that? Talking all emphatic, don't know any Bible at all. But they know what they think and they know what they want to tell you. You can't live your life based on what you think and feel.

You can't live your life based on what others tell you. David said, I had him right there but I'm living in the presence of God and all I know is God has not given me a word to take out his anointed. On one occasion David said, If God's ready for him, the Lord will let Saul go into battle and he'll kill him in battle. But it is not my job to take out this man.

And let me tell you something. The only way you reach conclusions like that is you have to live your life conscious of God's presence. David understood that very clearly. That's why he writes in the Word of God and he tells us some of us have heard this passage but this is the wisdom out of which passages like this come. Psalm 139, some of you know it or know parts of it but Psalm 139 beginning at verse 7 tells you, Where can I go from your spirit?

See David learned this on the run. Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? Verse 10, If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you.

The night will shine like the day for darkness is as light to you. See David understands that you can't run and hide from God. I'm running from Saul, he said, but I can't run from God. Wherever I am, the Lord is there and so I've got to live my life conscious of his presence.

That's why I've got to treat people right. That's why I've got to make godly decisions because God's with me. I want to tell somebody that you've got to make this time in your life, a time where you prove and improve your walk with God and where you come to realize that I live my life to please God. Saul said in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 9, so we make it our aim to please God.

That's what you've got to shoot for. He gives us the picture of someone shooting for something, having a goal, having a target and he says, so we make it our aim. My life is a bow and arrow aimed at the target of pleasing God. That's why I'm on the planet so that I can please God. And Romans 14, 12 tells us the reason why you ought to please God. It says, so then each of us must give an account of himself to God. Do you know one day you're going to run into God in judgment? Every one of us and on that occasion God won't be asking you what you thought and he won't ask you what the people told you to do.

The only question will be how did you respond to my directives for your life? We must answer to God. We must give an account of ourselves to God.

Look at Romans 14, 12 for yourself if you don't believe me. It doesn't say, so then each of us must give an account to our cousin. So what you're doing listening to your cousin?

Each of us must give an account to our friend. What you're doing listening to your friend? Giving you ungodly advice. The Bible says blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.

You've got to defy and deny people talking those things which are not consistent with the word of God. Honey, here's what you need to do according to who? The enemy of your soul will use your own flesh, your own thinking. Just sit on your shoulder and whisper in your ear, you know what you need to do, don't you? You've got to learn to pay attention to where your directives are coming from. Some of you all just hear a thought and say, that sounds interesting.

No, no, you've got to learn to ask yourself, who's talking? You can't just eat anything that's set before you. You've got to find out who the chef is.

Who cooked this up? See, if you listen to me, I can tell you some things. No, you have to learn to live your life in the presence of God. God is the one who holds your destiny in his hand and he is the one who is going to finish what he started in your life. And I'm here to ask somebody, for God's sake, I want you to give your life over into the hands of the Lord and say, God, for you I'll live and for you I'm going to die. Because when it's all said and done, it is about you, Lord. One of the reasons King David became a great leader of men is because he knew who was leading him. He understood that it was God who would deliver him from Goliath and it was God who would spare him from King Saul and that ultimately he would be working for God as the King of Israel.

If you want to be a good leader of people, start by being a good follower of God. In Psalm 107, King David writes, Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. If you need prayer today, the Destin for Victory ministry team would like to join you in prayer. From the homepage at pastorpaul.net, use the contact feature to let us know how we can pray for you. And while you're there, be sure to ask for Pastor Paul's monthly letter of encouragement, which comes at no cost or obligation. And we have a great resource to share with you today, Pastor Paul's booklet, Finding Strength in Tough Times. Based on his messages when destiny seems delayed and finding strength, this booklet from Pastor Paul will help you learn to deal with the time period between God's promise and its fulfillment.

As you follow along, you'll discover three lessons from David's years as a fugitive that will help you handle your season of waiting in a way that prepares you for the promise God has ready for you. That's Finding Strength in Tough Times, our gift to you by request for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. Call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. And you can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538.

Again, the address is Destin for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. God's promises are almost never served up quickly. He cooks them slow, he takes his time, and he adds just the right amount of seasoning. Here's Pastor Paul. Technology is a blessing, but it can also be a curse, because God doesn't operate by the law of technology. God's not up to a quick work in your life. The best things God will bring are not coming suddenly, they are not coming quickly, but they will come to pass. Join us next time when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message when destiny seems delayed. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.