A Heart for God, Part 8

Dr. Michael Youssef familiarizing you with what's ahead on Leading the Way Audio. First Samuel 27, here you see David surrendering to the spirit of discouragement. And surrendering to the spirit of discouragement took him into places that he would never have gone. Discouragement led him to roads that he would never have trodden. The spirit of discouragement escorted him to functions that he would never have attended.

And so the question is, how did this happen? Discouragement is familiar to every one of us, and the spirit of discouragement roots deeper into our lives through unwise relationships and decisions, allowing emotional situations to get the best of us and more. Well, we thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way. He is currently guiding you through the life of David, who even when he was right there at the top of his game, experienced a season of discouragement and it took him into dark places. Up next, Dr. Youssef gets real about how discouragement can deflate and bring defeat upon anyone, himself included. But he also offers practical wisdom straight from the pages of David's life to give you courage for what you're facing in 2024. Now before he begins this quick reminder to subscribe to Leading the Way's podcast, download the Leading the Way app for your mobile devices. Both are great ways to stay connected and to grow deeper as you hear Dr. Youssef passionately proclaim uncompromising truth.

Learn more at ltw.org. Right now though, listen with me to this episode of Leading the Way. After a great victory, you remember from the last message, after a great victory of David doggedly refusing to kill Saul when he could have, when all of his motley crew telling him to do it, when he refused to do that and he only cut a small piece of the garment. That was a great victory over temptation and he said, I will not touch the God's anointing.

After that, David entered into a period of moping and sulking and feeling sorry for himself. And beloved, when that discouragement sets in, it can become a disaster if you stay in it. So let me repeat this because it's very important. It is important to know that we all at some point, because of circumstances totally out of our control, we can feel discouraged.

But please do not stay there. Staying in discouragement led David to ziklag. That's a good word you need to remember it. It's Z-I-K-L-A-G. Ziklag.

Say it with me. Ziklag. Because all of us, every one of us, including your pastor, at some point we found ourselves in our ziklag. And my ziklag and your ziklag are very different.

Your ziklag is inevitable and it is inevitable destination if you stay with discouragement. Listen to what David said during that time. Psalm 10 one, he was writing during that period of time. Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? Or Psalm 13 verse one. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me? And you see that spirit of discouragement setting in. Or in that messianic psalm which was repeated by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Psalm 22 verse one. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? Whenever a person, anyone, begin to think this way or begin to think that God had forsaken them, when the Word of God is so clear that I will never leave you, I'll never forsake you, the moment you begin to think that way, you are entering into a danger zone.

Can I get a witness? For one thing, it is just not true. It is not true. It's a lie from the devil. At that point, you're either going to put on the garment of discouragement or encourage yourself in the Lord and in the faithfulness of the Lord and in the promises of the Lord. Either you comfort yourself in the Lord who loves you enough to die for you or allow discouragement to lead you into despair. Either you will say with Job, I know that my Redeemer lives, or you give up like Elijah and said, take my life, ready to die. There can be no doubt that David was facing discouragement.

We all agree on that? I mean, he was facing discouragement. He was disheartened. And as I said, discouragement comes to the best of us, all of us, in one way or another. But it is what you do when discouragement comes your way will determine your victory or your defeat. David's discouragement came as a result of what appears to be, now notice what I'm saying, what appears to be. Come on, I want you to say it with me so you can remember it. Don't ever judge things by appearance.

It's very important. What appears to be, why do I say this? Because God's delay in answer of his prayer appeared to David as it does appear to you and it appeared to me in the past. It appears that God has forsaken you or God is not listening to you.

It appears. So he sat down and said, Saul continues to hunt for me and there is no, at least seems to be no end to David running away from Saul. David is under this enormous pressure of providing for this 600, used to be 400, now 600, they're increasing, provide for them. The pressure of finding a place for them to hide, all of that, he was carrying all of this on his shoulders and he's a choice we all have to make when we're under pressure. Either we cast all our burdens on the Lord or carry them ourselves and let them take us to Ziklag. You either hand your sorrows to a loving Heavenly Father or let your sorrows take you to places you don't want to go. David convinced himself that it is hopeless. It is useless to continue waiting upon the Lord. Verse 1, mark it because verses 1 and 3 are really key verses here. Verse 1, David said in his heart, now be very careful what you say in your heart.

Be very careful. We all self-talk. Did you know that? When I self-talk, I involve the Lord in the conversation. I don't talk to myself. I get him involved in it because the devil loves to use that self-talk, invade your mind and get you to do things you don't normally do. Here's what he said, he said, I shall now perish one day at the hand of Saul. Oh David, have you forgotten Samuel anointing you with oil? There's nothing better for me to do than escape to the land of the Philistines.

Oh my goodness, listen, listen, listen. Someone here may be discouraged at this very moment in your life and you're saying to yourself, there is no use holding on, there is no use persisting, there is no use waiting for the Lord, there is no use persevering, there is no use totally trusting in the promises of God, they're not coming. That my beloved friend will take you to your ziklag where you don't want to be. Here's the lesson, the God who holds the stars in place holds your future in his hands. The God who spins the orbits around with meticulous precision is holding and spinning the circumstances in your life. The very God who weighs the dust and scales is in control of your tomorrow.

The God who commands the ravens of all birds, these venomous ones, the ravens to feed Elijah, he will command the events in your life. David came to erroneous conclusion. I'm not going to tell you how many times I came to erroneous conclusions.

Only God in heaven knows how many times I do do. He came to the erroneous conclusion and just as many of us do and I want you to think with me for a moment. The time of David to be sitting on the throne of Israel was so close.

Of course we know now because it's high side. He did not know this but it was very very close. But David failed almost at the last hour of his trial. David failed at the very last hour of his waiting.

David failed the very last hour of his testing. But there's more. I for one I always want to know when I blown it I want to go back I want to find out what are the things that led me here. What led me to discouragement? What led me to this erroneous conclusion?

One thing you notice very clearly. In the last message you saw how David inquired of the Lord. Lord shall I go? He said yes. Lord are they going to do this?

He said yes they will. But this time he did not seek the counsel of the Lord. This time he did not seek the mind of God. Instead he drew his own conclusions using human logic and secular wisdom and prevailing circumstances.

And that's dangerous. And so David who slayed the Philistine giant now gone into the land of the Philistines the enemies of God. He's now gone there. David he was the servant of the living God now he's a servant of Achish.

Watch and see what a spirit of discouragement can do if you allow it to persist. And first of course Achish welcomes him. Hey you know you heard the term keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Achish started this by having David who has slain his giant to come in and stay in there. Well he welcomed him. Misery loves company.

Secondly probably some of you are saying well what's wrong with that? The guy needs a little peace in life. I mean after all he's running from place to place to place to place. Well he needs a little peace. Well that's false peace. It's false peace. That's not the real peace of God. That's not the peace that comes from God. Now there are some people who think that they can have some peace if they hang out with Uncle Jack Daniels.

You know him? They think he's going to numb their pain. The problem is they wake up in the morning with that same pain and a headache as a bonus. Some think that taking illicit drugs will numb their pain and remove them from reality only to find that the reality is all still there.

Now they've developed addiction. There are some people who think that if they run away from their jobs, from their families, from their situation, they'll get some peace only to multiply their troubles. Think with me again. Who gets dishonored in this process that David is going through? Who gets dishonored? In David's case, the Lord is dishonored and the promises of God are dishonored.

You say well how come? Well you see God promised David that David, his enemies, would be cast off like a stone of a sling. That's God's promise. And that promise was confirmed to David again and again and again.

It was not only confirmed by the Lord, it was confirmed by the prophet Samuel, then it was confirmed by Prince Jonathan, the son of Saul, and then of all people it was confirmed as we saw in the last message by King Saul himself. So in his spirit of discouragement, David actually was saying, Lord, because you have not fulfilled your promise to me now, I give up. Lord, you over promise and under perform. Lord, I know you kept me safe so far, but I'm not really sure you're going to keep me safe in the future. Lord, you've protected me from many enemies and from many swords of the past, but this time I think it's getting harder for you, Lord. Lord, you have given me a mind to think with and my mind tells me to take matters into my own hands because I haven't seen your hand working lately. Now beloved, let me testify to you, it is easy to get out of the place of testing.

It is easy. But when you get out of the place of testing, be very careful because you are getting out of the place of blessing. I'm not talking about salvation now.

I'm not saying you're going to lose your salvation. I'm talking about the blessing, the place of blessing. And so David went to the place of the Lord's enemies, King Achish, who gave him the town of Ziklag. Ziklag is a symbol of compromise. Ziklag is a place of idolatry. Ziklag is a place of disobedience.

Ziklag is the place of temporary fake peace. Look at verse three, significant verse, because it shows you the beginning of David's compromise. Because David's discouragement really had deeper roots than just this. In the book of Deuteronomy, the command of God is not to multiply wives. David has three, all at the same time. Three wives, two with him and one back home, the daughter of Saul, Michael.

Her name of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel and now Michael was back home. Taking refuge among the enemies of God, using the logic of the flesh, compromising God's law, all of these are the consequences of letting discouragement sets in. Listen to me. From a human point of view, Ziklag looks like a place of success, isn't it? Right?

At that moment? I mean, Ziklag looks like David plans, man are they working out. Isn't that great? Ziklags look like the world is now smiling at their old David.

Ziklag looks like things have turned so well. Homes and camels and cars and bank accounts and he wondered why he didn't think about that sooner. Devising your plan and not God's plan may lead to temporary success. Living in disobedience will not always show the consequences right away. Disregarding of God's clear word may be accompanied by worldly rewards. The Bible said sin is pleasurable for a moment but one false step is not enough.

You have to take a second one and then another one, then another one. One deception is not enough. There has to be followed by another deception and another deception. One lie is not enough. It must be followed by another lie and another lie to cover up that lie. And you see this happening with dear old David right here in the scripture.

You see it very clear. Look at verse 8. David began to make his living by killing and stealing. David wanted to be accepted by the enemies of God but deep down he knew that what he was doing is inconsistent with the word of God. David sought the favor of the enemies of God because deep down he thought that he lost the favor of God.

Be very careful. Beloved, out of deep guilt David goes out, kills and steals and comes back and lies about it. Be very careful of wanting to be accepted by the culture, by society, by the world. James said that friendship of the world is not only betrayal of your vows to Jesus, it's enmity with God. Of course fallen people don't want to believe the Bible. Fallen people don't want to be convicted of sin. Sinful people want a pastor to approve of their sinful lifestyle. Of course, unregenerated hearts want a pastor to bless any deviant behavior.

Why? Because by the virtue of being created in God's own image, they are carrying a load of guilt. Their conscious is burning within them. Trust me when I tell you because I have talked to so many of these folks, my heart tears in two for them because their conscious is burning and of course it's burning within. They desperately want to be accepted with their baggages but acceptance will never be enough. Praise of their lifestyle will never be enough.

Taking pride in their lifestyle is never going to alleviate the guilty conscious. Listen to me, only the blood of Jesus Christ can forgive a repentant sinner and set the captives free. As the song said, nothing but the blood of Jesus can heal a seething conscious.

Listen, we were in worse shape than they are. I was in worse shape than they are and nothing could set me free from guilt and shame but the blood of Jesus. And so they'll burn with anger and hatred as long as they exchange the smile of God for the grin of Satan. As long as they exchange the protection of God for the flimsy wall of acceptance by some pastors. As long as they exchange a trust in God's provision and exchange it for ziklag, there will always be turmoil.

In the next message I'm going to show you how this city, the prosperous city, became prosperous even more under David. It was burned to the ground, burned to the ground. Beloved, every protection, listen to me, every protection other than God's protection, every hope other than hope in God, every comfort other than the comfort of the paraclete, the Holy Spirit of God, every security other than the one that comes from El Shaddai, it's going to burn to the ground.

It will prove useless. It's a true story about a gifted writer, well known, who faced the spirit of discouragement and wondered even if life is worth living. Yet once he recognized the hand of God lifting him out of that despair, he did not resist. In fact, he sought to glorify God out of that very sad chapter in his life and his experience.

His name is William Cowper, great British writer. Despite of his talent, despite of his success, one day out of grief and disappointment, he sunk into the deep and the depth of discouragement. So he finally on a foggy London night called a horse and courage, that's what the cabbies were before the days of cars, and he asked the cabbie to take him to the London Bridge.

He has every intention of jumping from the London Bridge into the River Thames. After two hours of the cabbie, the driver found himself lost in the London fog. Cowper got so frustrated, he got so irritated, he just said to the driver, stop, I'm going to make it on foot. So he got out of the cabbie only to find himself standing at the doorstep of his house.

For two hours, the cabbie, the driver of the horse and courage lost his bearing and he kept going around and around and around and around in the fog. At that moment, William Cowper recognized the restraining hand of God. I'm so grateful for the restraining hand of God. At that moment, he recognized the providential turn of events. Convinced by the Holy Spirit, he began to snap out of his discouragement. Seeing that the hand of God saved him, he went inside the house and as he sat, tears just kept on flowing like a flood out of his eyes and on his face. Then he knelt as he penned these words that have blessed untold numbers of people through the years. God moves in mysterious ways.

His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Ye fearful saints fresh courage take the clouds ye much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. You can turn your discouragement into an opportunity not just to be blessed yourself but to bless others. You can take your discouragement and turn it with the power of God into an opportunity to serve and to bless many people. Will you do that? Remembering that nothing is impossible with God.

Say that with me. Thank you for listening to this episode of Leading the Way Audio. If you're in a season of discouragement, maybe a conversation with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor would help lift you up.

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