Dr. Michael Youssef takes you to a pivotal moment in the life of King David on this episode of Leading the Way Audio. David receives a golden opportunity to fulfill his dreams, to fulfill his aspirations. Yet he refused to grab it. Why?
because it was not God's timing. It wasn't God's way. David finds himself with a rare chance. To grab the throne of Israel and to sit on the throne and get into the royal palace. But he wouldn't touch it at this point in his life.
Why? Because David knew that our times are in his hands. Saul, the current king of Israel, was on a personal and obsessive mission to kill David. David, who was chosen by God to be crowned the next king.
Well, in what appeared to many as a God-given opportunity to immediately grasp the throne. David stood down, knowing in his heart that it wasn't God's way or God's timing. Welcome to Leading the Way with pastor and author of more than fifty books. Dr. Michael Youssef.
Today an insightful examination of I Samuel chapter twenty four, looking at one ingredient in what made David a champion on his journey to become the greatest king in Israel. Listen with me as Dr. Michael Youssef begins today's Leading the Way. You don't have to be a prophet today to recognize. that we live in hazardous days.
We are seeing right before our eyes how cherished biblical values seem to be crumbling. We are seeing with our own eyes. how the world seemed to be adrift in an ocean of doubt and uncertainty. We are watching how our societies seem to be in a state of ethical shock. We are seeing right in front of our own eyes how familiar social orders.
And now disintegrating. We are seeing how moral chaos seem to be threatening our future. As a culture, we are watching how sexual anarchy seemed to be prevailing. We are watching how Mass insanity. seem to be threatening our very sanity.
And yet I want to tell you that in the midst of all of this, God is in control. That Jesus is still on the throne. In the midst of all of this, I am here to announce that God is taking His elect through his own training program. In the midst of all this, God is teaching his believers The hard lesson of love and loyalty in the midst of hatred. In the midst of all of this, God is calling his own.
to stand up and to stand out. That in the midst of all of this, God is teaching his bride, the church, the art of ruling, the art of reigning. Through the agape love. And I want to tell you that agape love. cannot be learnt.
Unless there is brokenness and humility before God. Today's message. is a similar scenario. To our day. If you look at it carefully, Examine the text.
You're going to find there were days. Unlike our days where David was at this point of his life, He was surrounded by his enemies. He was hunted down. By those who Who hated him? That he was maligned by those who are enemies of God's purpose.
He was ridiculed. by the very nation that he saved. He was betrayed by the very people. whom he tried to help. Yeah.
I want you to watch this text very carefully with me. of how at this point of his life David totally trusted in God. He did more than this. as we're going to see in this passage of first Samuel twenty-four. He was doing more than just trusting in God.
David receives a golden opportunity. to fulfill his dreams, to fulfill his aspirations. Yet he refused to grab it. Why? Because it was not God's timing.
You see in this text David gets an opportunity of a lifetime. Hand it to him on a silver platter. Here it is, David. But he refused to take it. Why?
Because it wasn't God's timing. It wasn't God's way. David finds himself with a rare chance. To grab the throne of Israel and to sit on the throne and get into the royal palace. but he wouldn't touch it.
At this point in his life. Why? Because David knew that our times are in his hands. My last message I concluded with 1 Samuel 23, 14. Saul pursued David every single day.
But the LORD delivered David not to his hand. And today, David gets the opportunity to kill Saul. Saul has been wanting to kill David for so many months, for so many years.
Now David gets that opportunity to kill Saul, but he refuses to do it. Why? Because God's champion exercises loyalty and love, not revenge. I know it is difficult to receive injury from others without feeling resentment. I know that it is hard to be unfairly treated, to be unjustly treated.
without becoming cynical. and without becoming bitter. I know, but God's champions, those who are Jesus Christ, who belong to Him, have supernatural power to grow out of these difficulties, to win over these hardships. They have supernatural power to live above and beyond the circumstances. David knew that he was destined for the throne.
He knew that. At the age of 16, he was anointed by Samuel, the prophet. He knew that God called him. Even Saul, as you see in this particular passage, acknowledged that. He knew that he's destined for the throne.
But he also knew that he was destined for the throne in God's time. and in God's way. Not his own way. You and I are destined for the throng. No one can take that away from us.
But in God's time and in God's way. I want you to turn with me, if you haven't already, to the passage 1 Samuel 24. Beginning at verse 1. Here's how things stand right at this point. Military intelligence of the king.
has reported to him that the radar equipment have tracked David down. with pinpoint accuracy. They know exactly where he is. He's in Engeti.
So what does King Saul do? He goes out and issue a call. 3,000 of his top specialists. These were boys who are trained in tracking down people who are hiding in the rocks. It's a very rocky area, and it's easy for people to hide.
But these men know exactly where to find people hiding.
So he comes to the cave. David is inside the cave. They're hiding in there.
Now, at En Gedi, those of you who have been to Israel know That in the summertime it can get to 120 degrees in the shade. You can literally fry an egg. It is so hot. O King Saul Sits down and he eats a big lunch. And he gets bloated.
and he decides to take a siesta. It's afternoon time and he was to sleep. He sex out. In the coolness of the cave, And some of the motley crew David's six hundred men They look over there and they see So The king snoring. I mean he was soaring logs.
You can hear him on the other side of the valley. He's asleep. They said, David, here's our opportunity. Here's our chance. All you need to do is you go down there and you kill him.
And visions of occupying the White House began to dance in their heads. I mean visions of seats of power. began to become reality.
Now we can rule. Our man is going to be the king.
So, David gets all his advisors and his pollsters and his campaign managers, and they sit down for a session. And they said, you can't take him, David, go and take him. The royal palace is yours for the taking. In fact, what they were doing here, they're quoting the Psalm, David's Psalm, back to him. In effect, saying, You can end the suffering, David.
You can end the hardship, David. You can end the loneliness. You can help us get back to our families. David, tonight you could be sitting on the throne of Israel. What more can you want?
That's what you've been working for all your life. All it takes is a dagger. Take the dagger, and go over there To sleepy soul and Pineta's heart. It's that simple, isn't it? It's very simple.
It's not complicated, David. It just says all you need to do is just do it. Please hear me right. This motley crew I think were the first proponents of situational ethics. They were the first proponents of the end justifies the means.
They were the first proponents of accomplishing results regardless of the way you accomplish them. They were very bottom-line people. If you have to accomplish some good and you sin in the process, don't worry about it. It's okay. Our society is like this today, is it not?
Am I telling the truth? We have come so far. And we become like this group of people. If a baby is conceived at an inconvenient time, Yeah. If children become inconvenient, neglect them.
If God's moral absolutes get in our way, deny his existence altogether. If marriage becomes a burden, kill the marriage. If biblical morality becomes too convicting for our sinful lifestyle, Rewrite the Bible.
So they said, go for it, David, kill the rascal.
So David takes the dagger. And he tippy toes And you imagine just how their hearts were pounding. You know? and they were ready to shout the shout of victory. And he tippy toes and he goes down there And they said, boy, he's gonna do it.
He's gonna do it. Do you think he's gonna do it? No, no, no. He probably's not gonna do it. Do you think he's gonna?
Well, he's gonna kill him. Yes. Who's gonna shot first? And then David gets down there. And at least in their eyes, think that he chickened out.
Instead of pinning the dagger in Saul's heart, Must have been a shop. Dag He just cuts a piece of his garment. While he's asleep. What is David doing? Instead, of driving that dagger into Saul's heart.
He hears the voice of God. In the spirit of caving in to the pressure of his friends. He chose to do what is right. Instead of giving in to the peer pressure and experience instant gratification, He decided to hear God Trust God. And obey God.
No wonder He was a champion for God. It is of uttermost importance. That we interpret our circumstances biblically and correctly. It is of uttermost importance not to go impulsively and do our own thing and then say, God, we thought we were just helping you out. It is of uttermost importance not to act impetuously and then say, God wants me to be happy.
And then run for the first door out of your current circumstances. David could have taken vengeance, but he chose loyalty. David could have chosen revenge, but he chose restraint. David could have taken the low road of killing, but instead he chose the high road of life. And when Christians get impatient with God, when Christians get impatient with the plan of God for their life, when Christians get impatient with God's discipline in their life, when Christians become impatient with God's spiritual discipline in their walk, They give in.
And they give in too soon. to their own spiritual detriment. Let me give you a piece of advice. If you ever find yourself in a situation When you're not sure, when you're not certain, or you have doubt that Satan and the enemy and the flesh is conspiring against you, stop. Ask yourself these questions.
Is my action revengeful in nature? Is my heart covetous? and ambitious. Am I impatient and cannot wait for God's timing? If the answer is yes, Then don't do it.
Wait upon the Lord. In verse five, first Samuel 24, Said that David's heart smote him because he cut off Saul's garment. I had to really ponder on this one. I mean, he didn't do anything wrong. They don't want to prove that he is a loving guy, and he just took a little piece of the garment to say, Hey, Saul, I could have killed you, but I didn't.
I mean, he's just looking for proof. But the Bible said, verse 5: his heart smote him. And I'll tell you why. Because he had a sensitive spirit. Because he had a tender conscience.
Which I want to tell you is always a true mark of spirituality. Not how many conferences you've attended, how many retreats, and how many seminars you've gone to, how many books you've read, or how many sermons you preach, or how many this and how many that, no. Sensitive conscience. Tender spirit. And that is a contrast between David and those folks in Ephesians of whom Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:2, and he said, Their conscience.
have been seared. as with hot iron. It has become numb with sin. It has become callous with rebellion. It has become insensitive with disobedience.
And I want to tell you: when people get in those situations when their conscience has become numb and have been seared as if with iron, all the sermons in the world want help, all the books in the world want help, all the conferences in the world want help, all the retreats in the world want help, what they need to do is repent. For them to become sensitive. to the word of God once more. Not only David exercise self-control. He did even something harder.
He got that motley crew to exercise self-control. Alexander the Great conquered the world. But in a fit of anger, he killed his best friends. And I want to tell you that the person who controls his anger or her anger is greater than Alexander the Great. For the best authority.
is self-government. Through the power of God's Holy Spirit. Hear me right. Whatever crisis You may face It will pass away. But what will remain is your reaction to the crisis.
The person who provoked you to anger eventually will go away. But what will remain? is your reaction to that individual. The situation that caused you stress. will not last.
But your reaction To that situation will last. for your lifetime. The old covenant said, love your Neighbor and hate your enemy. David could have made an incredible case that Saul is his enemy. He's been trying to kill him.
I mean, you couldn't get a worse enemy than that. He could have made a case and they said, Well, I'm obeying the Old Testament, I'm obeying the covenant for his day. But David, the reason he was distinguished is because he was a man after God's own heart. The reason he was distinguished is because he understood what Jesus a thousand years later was going to say in Matthew 5:44, Love your enemies and bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them who spitefully use you. I often reflect upon the hand of God, not only in my own life, but I look in the text.
And I said, what if? What if I disobeyed? What if I decided to go with my way? What if I And it's very interesting. In the context of this, if you really think hard and say, what if?
David listened to the advice of his friends. and went ahead and killed Saul. He would have been a king that night. But the least of which We would have m lost. and a large volume of Psalms, That have blessed millions of believers for 3,000 years, they would have not been written.
because many of them were written at that period of his life. David's song would have been silenced. Sure, it is painful for David to wait for God's timing, but it would have been much more painful if he didn't. Sure, it is difficult to wait for the slow unfolding purpose of God. But it would have been much harder.
if he took things into his own hands. David had the choice between loyalty and revenge, and he chose loyalty. David had a choice between love and hatred. He chose love. Why?
Because David knew that hatred enslaves But love liberates. David knew that hatred incarcerates. But love sets us free. David knew that anger puts you behind bars. But love and forgiveness.
Let you soar. Hi. David chose to shower soul. with compliments. And with acts of mercy, and with acts of kindness.
When he could have killed him, he wouldn't do it. He's the one who was victorious. Love triumphed. over hatred and over revenge. As I bring this message to a close, I want to ask you a question.
Ask yourself. In the privacy of your own heart and your thoughts. Do you have a smoldering Anger. deep down in your heart. It's so deep that uh sometimes even you're not in touch with it yourself.
Do you have a a deep seated Sense of anguish. I want to tell you what to do with us today. I want you, as we pray, visualize it. that you pull it out like a weed and lift it up to the Lord. Will you do that with me as we go to pray?
Give it to God today. For he not only can and will empower you to love, but like a hand goes in the glove, he's going to love through you. He's going to love through you, he's going to love through me. God has done that. I testify to that.
If you say to the Lord, Did I teach me, Lord? First of all, to dig up the weed of anger. the weed of frustration, the weed of anguish. Hand it over to you. Visualize it, take it out, hand it to the Lord.
And say, Lord, now I want you to teach me how to love. No, Love through me. I really believe the Lord would answer that prayer. Say, Lord, just like a hand goes in the glove, I want you to love through me. And he will do it.
He will do it. His word said he will do it? I testify. How he does it. again and again.
Don't live your life. In anger and bitterness. Don't live your life frustrated. Don't live your life wasted. Don't waste your sorrows.
Give them to the Lord now. Will you do that? Faced with opportunities of hatred and revenge, David chose love. What about you? Can and will you find strength in your journey, knowing that David found victory through love?
You're listening to Leading the Way Audio with doctor Michael Yousaph.
Well, one prayer of the Leading the Way team is that you will be blessed by these messages, looking into the life of David, seeing the king of Israel struggle as he sought God's will. that's sure to offer you encouragement in your life to day.
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