SPEAKER_00: I titled today's message Living in the Gap.
SPEAKER_00: We're in the book of Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Gear shift, you ready?
SPEAKER_00: The Book of Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Living in the Gap.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know if you have uh purchased a car before?
SPEAKER_00: That the first time you saw that car and you really noticed it, you now told your spouse, everywhere you go, you see that car.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know there's still the same number of cars on the road that were there before, but now you're just aware of what it was that you were looking for?
SPEAKER_00: You have discovered what it is that you're looking for.
SPEAKER_00: This week, because I preached last week on a Christian billboard that I'm not going to repeat what it said, I'm going to tell you that all week I couldn't help myself.
SPEAKER_00: I was looking at Christian billboards.
SPEAKER_00: Everywhere I go, I'm like, that church sign, I wonder what it says.
SPEAKER_00: That church sign, I wonder what it says.
SPEAKER_00: I found a church sign this week and it said this.
SPEAKER_00: It was white with black letters and some red underlining, and it said, Real Christians do what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Real Christians do what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know what you think about that statement.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I mean it is true, right?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, first John talks about this.
SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna do the things that Jesus has told you to do, there's an aspect to your faith of following Jesus that requires you to be obedient to what it is that he's asked you to do.
SPEAKER_00: But I remember the thought that I had in that moment, and my thought was this I want to buy the next billboard and say, real Christians aren't perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Because I felt like the first billboard was a pendulum swing, a reaction or a correction.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they were accusing Christians of not doing what Jesus said.
SPEAKER_00: I wanted the next billboard because how many know I believe that's true, but I also know my reality.
SPEAKER_00: And my reality is I don't always do what I want to do.
SPEAKER_00: I don't always live up to the ideas and the beliefs and the expectations that even I've set for myself.
SPEAKER_00: And so today, what I want to talk to you about is how do you live between the two billboards?
SPEAKER_00: How do you live in the gap?
SPEAKER_00: How do you live in that place?
SPEAKER_00: I I think about it a little bit in terms of this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's like a puzzle.
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know people still do puzzles today?
SPEAKER_00: I went to Walmart.
SPEAKER_00: Some of y'all like, yeah, of course, I do them all the time.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't, I I that was like a pastime for me.
SPEAKER_00: I remember going to my grandmother's farm and in the summers, and and you would go all summer long.
SPEAKER_00: And how many of you know that box sat out on the table all summer?
SPEAKER_00: I was like the longest, worst puzzle maker ever.
SPEAKER_00: And you get all the way, every time we go to visit, that puzzle would still be there.
SPEAKER_00: What would happen?
SPEAKER_00: That pop that picture of the box was sitting right there.
SPEAKER_00: And what did the picture do?
SPEAKER_00: The picture gave you vision that one day you would get there.
SPEAKER_00: The picture would give you the vision that one day you're gonna make something of this mess.
SPEAKER_00: The picture was there to remind you that it's not just about doing the borders.
SPEAKER_00: Bless God, we're good at the borders.
SPEAKER_00: But in the middle of the green and in the middle of the blue that you keep going.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's a picture on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're anything like me, you get to the end and realize this puzzle's been handed down a few times.
SPEAKER_00: Because you get to the end and there's one piece missing.
SPEAKER_00: And there goes your salvation right out the door.
SPEAKER_00: I I mean, I have toddlers, I remember witnessing on a family vacation a toddler eating a puzzle piece five minutes before it was the last one to go in the puzzle.
SPEAKER_00: Like, what are you supposed to do with that?
SPEAKER_00: You know?
SPEAKER_00: People have so generously lent puzzles before only to find out there's like a hole on the side of the box because it's moved ten times and pieces fell out.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like that's more my life than the billboard that says real Christians do what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I feel like in my life the challenge is where I want to be versus where I'm really at.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge is what I know I should be doing versus what I'm actually doing.
SPEAKER_00: We call this living in the gap.
SPEAKER_00: I think Paul said this in a very great way in Romans chapter 7, probably the clearest way the New Testament articulates this gap.
SPEAKER_00: When Paul says, For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing that I hate.
SPEAKER_00: You ever walk around and tell people, I just do the things I hate to do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, usually we say, I love to I do the things I love to do.
SPEAKER_00: And what he's saying here is there are things that I want to do in my life, but instead of doing them, I do the opposite, and I hate that.
SPEAKER_00: For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
SPEAKER_00: For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we call sin.
SPEAKER_00: This idea that we want it to look different.
SPEAKER_00: Now, Paul goes on in Romans chapter 8, and he says, the only way you can have the ability to do the things that you thought you wanted to do, but couldn't do, and tried to do, and wish you could have done, and should have done, and is by the power of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But what I love about Paul is he's honest here.
SPEAKER_00: How many know sometimes it's hard to go to church, and sometimes it's hard to go to church because you're looking at the person next to you raising their hands and you're thinking, man, their life is good.
SPEAKER_00: They're worshiping.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so easy to look at them and think they got it figured out, they got it together, their picture on their puzzle box is coming together nice.
SPEAKER_00: Having no idea that the reason they're holding their hands is because they're missing pieces.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of them.
SPEAKER_00: It's this idea that we can come to church and we can think, man, I'm really going through it, but these Christians, they just look like they got their stuff figured out.
SPEAKER_00: Not realizing what goes on behind their doors is just as tough as what's going on behind your doors.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm telling you today is there's a gap between the picture and the puzzle being built.
SPEAKER_00: There's a gap between the billboards.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about the Psalms, we're in a series on the Psalms this summer.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about the Psalms is the Psalms are all about helping you navigate that gap.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about how do you be real with God, how do you connect with God in the midst of life.
SPEAKER_00: Lest you walk out of here and think that I'm telling you your life is going to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: I just want you to know Jesus already messed that one up for you.
SPEAKER_00: When he said, In this world you're gonna have trouble, but take heart, I've already overcome the world.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge I often have as a preacher is when I preach a testimony.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know I got about two minutes to preach a testimony, and I preach a testimony in two minutes, but how many of you know there's always a story behind the story?
SPEAKER_00: Like we should and we can and we do celebrate what God has done, but how many of you know behind every testimony were some sleepless nights?
SPEAKER_00: Behind every testimony were a few arguments along the way.
SPEAKER_00: Behind every testimony was anxiety or discouragement or depression.
SPEAKER_00: Behind the testimony of good news was a story first of some bad news.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about the Psalms is the Psalms is real, they tell it like it is.
SPEAKER_00: And last week we talked about having the blessed life because Psalm chapter 1 starts with that.
SPEAKER_00: But my concern all week long has been this that you walk away and think you're always going to be happy.
SPEAKER_00: That you walk away and think, well, if it ain't good, then I must be doing something wrong.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's what I want you to know David.
SPEAKER_00: David, the writer of many of the Psalms, had his good, his bad, and his ugly.
SPEAKER_00: He had his praise God moments and he had his where are you God moments.
SPEAKER_00: He had his challenges and he had his moments full of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And he wasn't afraid to be honest about it.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about the Psalms is the Psalms invite God into the story.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to paint it to you a little bit like this because today we're talking about the gap, and the gap is this.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to the doctor's office?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone in here competitive?
SPEAKER_00: Everything in life has to be a competition.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna vacuum the house.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna finish mine first.
SPEAKER_00: Like we're gonna we're gonna do this game, and and and you lose your crazy factor comes out in front of all these people, and your wife's like, chill out, you know?
SPEAKER_00: Some people just born competitive.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing if you went to the doctor today, you wouldn't ask the doctor, um, hey, doctor, I have a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: Um you have how many patients today?
SPEAKER_00: 15, 20?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I just want to know, is my body the best body?
SPEAKER_00: Am I the healthiest?
SPEAKER_00: Is my body perfect?
SPEAKER_00: Like, listen, if it it's not a competition, it's not a team sport, right?
SPEAKER_00: If you walked out of the doctor's office and he didn't tell you that your body is perfect, how many of you gonna be okay with that?
SPEAKER_00: We know how to navigate that.
SPEAKER_00: I don't leave the doctor's office and think, oh man, I was really hoping he would tell me that that six packs really is in there and I just can't see it.
SPEAKER_00: Like, like I don't that's not how I leave.
SPEAKER_00: But when I leave the doctor's office and he tells me there are signs of good health in you, how many of you know that's a praise report?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that's a good thing?
SPEAKER_00: What I'm painting the picture of is we're not looking for perfection, we're looking for health.
SPEAKER_00: We're not looking for perfection, we're looking for health.
SPEAKER_00: Today I want to give you in the middle of the gap, how do you know that you're healthy?
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of the gap, when you're in your pit, when you're in the challenge, when you're in the struggle, how do you know that what's on the inside is strong and healthy?
SPEAKER_00: And I think David's Psalm in Psalm chapter 3 begins to paint this picture.
SPEAKER_00: And lest you assume David just has a good life because he's the king, how many of y'all like to be the king?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Me, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, talk about a life.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know just because he's a king doesn't mean everything is perfect for him.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he had his own challenges and he talks about them in the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be in Psalm chapter 3.
SPEAKER_00: If you're ready, say I'm ready.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 3 is a psalm of lament.
SPEAKER_00: A psalm is a song that would be sung.
SPEAKER_00: It's a prayer.
SPEAKER_00: This is David's prayer to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to increase your prayer life this summer, then join us by reading two Psalms a day as we do this series.
SPEAKER_00: By the end of the summer, you'll have read all the book of Psalms, and I promise you this: your prayer life will be stronger.
SPEAKER_00: You want to know how to pray?
SPEAKER_00: You look right here.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms lays it out for you.
SPEAKER_00: Start praying the Psalms.
SPEAKER_00: Read it with us.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm chapter 3, it's a Psalm of Lament, which means this it's David expressing his struggles.
SPEAKER_00: David is expressing his suffering and his disappointment.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love about that is he's just telling you like it really is.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm chapter 3, verse 1, O Lord, how many are my foes?
SPEAKER_00: Many are rising against me, and many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever had anybody talk bad about you?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever woke up to more problems than you had the day before?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever felt like the tide was rising up against you?
SPEAKER_00: Ever felt like your soul was getting in worse shape than it was better?
SPEAKER_00: Then he says this word Selah.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, but you, O Lord David, says, you are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.
SPEAKER_00: I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill.
SPEAKER_00: Selah.
SPEAKER_00: Verse five.
SPEAKER_00: I lay down and slept.
SPEAKER_00: I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.
SPEAKER_00: How many are glad you woke up this morning?
SPEAKER_00: I'll not be afraid of the many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 Arise, O Lord, and save me, O my God, for you strike all my enemies on the cheek.
SPEAKER_00: You break the teeth of the wicked.
SPEAKER_00: Salvation belongs to the Lord, and your blessing be on your people.
SPEAKER_00: Selah.
SPEAKER_00: What a great scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm chapter 3, a Psalm of Lament.
SPEAKER_00: He's talking about the pit that he's in.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna unpack his pit in just a moment, but I want to address this word Selah.
SPEAKER_00: The word Selah can't really be translated into English.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, most of these are songs, and so it was some kind of instrumental pause indicated in the midst of the psalm.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it was their way of saying, you better stop right here.
SPEAKER_00: It's as if they knew what American culture in 2026 would be like.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we don't even need a Bible, we just got it on audio book, we're gonna listen.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Hey, I just want you to stop for just a minute and pause because the weight of what he just said is worth reflecting on.
SPEAKER_00: Out of 71 times it's used in the book of Psalms, three of those times are in Psalm 3.
SPEAKER_00: What am I saying?
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, can you not sense the weight of despair that David is going through?
SPEAKER_00: He gives his complaint unto the Lord and says, Selah, sense the weight.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I have some good friends, they encourage me to start running.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what they're trying to say.
SPEAKER_00: But they said I should go get one of those weighted vests that you wear that you put weight on.
SPEAKER_00: Now, listen, I just want you all to know I already live in Houston.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need a weighted vest to make me sweat.
SPEAKER_00: The idea of adding weight to an already hard situation?
SPEAKER_00: No, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: But this is what David is expressing.
SPEAKER_00: When you get to the first Selah, you can sense the weight that is already on him.
SPEAKER_00: He's going through a trying situation, and yet, on top of that trying situation, how many of you know that in the midst of your trouble, trouble likes to find you some more?
SPEAKER_00: As if his circumstance isn't bad enough, people now start talking about him.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I know none of y'all have ever been on Facebook, ever, and had people talking about you.
SPEAKER_00: I know none of y'all have ever had friends who betrayed you who were in your corner and in your court, and now they're against you.
SPEAKER_00: The people you thought were gonna run the race are now the ones throwing the weighted vest on, saying, have a good time.
SPEAKER_00: And this is this is his first pause and his first restful moment.
SPEAKER_00: Can you not sense the weight in him?
SPEAKER_00: I want to paint the picture to you this morning in this way by giving you signs of a healthy believer.
SPEAKER_00: Every psalm of lament has a pattern that it follows.
SPEAKER_00: Often in poetry there's different structures and different patterns.
SPEAKER_00: And today I want to give you the pattern of a lament.
SPEAKER_00: Any Bible verse that you read out of Psalm, any chapter of Psalm that you read that is a lament, you're gonna see this similar pattern happen over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to show you how each of those steps of the pattern are also signs of a healthy believer.
SPEAKER_00: Because again, remember, we're not looking to be perfect, we're looking to make progress.
SPEAKER_00: We're not looking to have it all figured out, we're looking to know Jesus better.
SPEAKER_00: How many know sometimes in the midst of your pit you learn more about Jesus than you've ever known before?
SPEAKER_00: And you come out better and stronger than you were when you went into the pit.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the signs of a healthy believer.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is this a lament always has an address.
SPEAKER_00: I went to the post office this time.
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't do mail very often, and I have to admit, I got kind of flustered in the post office.
SPEAKER_00: Never done certified mail before and had no idea I was putting stuff all over in the wrong place.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know I'm thankful to the post office master who helped me put the address in the right place on that certified piece of mail?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because if it wasn't addressed to the right place, it would never get where it was designed to go.
SPEAKER_00: This psalm is addressed to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you may think, well, of course it is.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's because you're in church, but here's here's what I want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: Your song of lament, your weight, your pain, your pit has to be addressed to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because who you address it to makes all the difference in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Who you're telling this to makes all the difference in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, if you had a bad experience at a restaurant down the road, I mean you can tell me, but there's nothing I can do about it.
SPEAKER_00: If your boss is being mean, I can pray for you, but I don't know your boss.
SPEAKER_00: I can't handle that situation.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know who you address your complaint to really matters?
SPEAKER_00: We overlook this.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it's the first word and it's real quick, and we're on a move and in a hurry, and I got a Bible reading plan, and the Lord says, Why don't you just stop right there?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's all you ever need.
SPEAKER_00: If you get this part right, the rest of the words follow suit.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me when I was uh a pre-teenager, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: I went to my sister's choir concert at her school, and I'll never forget I was reading through the bulletin or what are they called, the choir program and had the list of all the names.
SPEAKER_00: When I came across the name of a girl who happened to be named after a month of the year and a fast food restaurant combined together.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not telling you her name.
SPEAKER_00: Because I still have fear and trauma built up inside of me from what I am about to tell you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm reading through the list of names, and I said out loud to my parents sitting next to me, who in the world would name their kid?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna tell you.
SPEAKER_00: How many of y'all know her grandparents were sitting right in front of us?
SPEAKER_00: And that grandpa stood up, young man, that is my granddaughter.
SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget that moment.
SPEAKER_00: How many know I was under my chair?
SPEAKER_00: If I had just said that that day, listen, I don't even say her name today.
SPEAKER_00: Even my wife will tease me sometimes, and we'll be at a restaurant, and she'll just start saying the name out loud.
SPEAKER_00: And I still like cowering under, stop, you know?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know between me and the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: I don't talk bad about people with their names.
SPEAKER_00: From that moment right there, it changed everything for me.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know if if her grandparents hadn't been there that day, it would have been a different story?
SPEAKER_00: If I told my parents that, it wouldn't have amounted to anything.
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't have ever even remembered that event even happened.
SPEAKER_00: But how many of you know because of who it was addressed to, it changed everything about the situation?
SPEAKER_00: I I want to encourage us as believers, a sign of a healthy believer is they talk to God.
SPEAKER_00: How do you know that you're even if you're in the middle of the pit?
SPEAKER_00: Because see, listen, sometimes the weight that you're facing is so heavy that you feel like you can't see the sun in the midst of all the clouds.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes what you're going through is so dark, you're wondering if there's ever going to be light again.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking for the hope.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what I want you to know you can still be healthy in the middle of the pit.
SPEAKER_00: You can be going through the hardest season of your life and still be healthy spiritually on the inside.
SPEAKER_00: And that health starts when you make a commitment.
SPEAKER_00: I talk to God.
SPEAKER_00: One time in the life of uh the church that I was at before, somebody came up to me and they said, Pastor, I just want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: Any problem you ever go through, you tell me.
SPEAKER_00: If you're struggling, anything you go through, I want to know everything about your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, I'm not telling you nothing.
SPEAKER_00: You ever had those people?
SPEAKER_00: They're like, tell me all the hard stuff, you know?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, why?
SPEAKER_00: Because here's what I knew.
SPEAKER_00: That guy was not gonna help me.
SPEAKER_00: He'd probably make it worse for me.
SPEAKER_00: But there are people in my life that I go to, and the reason I go to them is why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I know they have wisdom, I know they have experience, I know they love God, I know they pray for me.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, don't tell your problems to people who do not pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Why are all these people always against me?
SPEAKER_00: Why is this always such a mess?
SPEAKER_00: Because you're divulging the depths of your soul to people who don't care for your soul.
SPEAKER_00: And David, in the midst of his toughest battle, knew that the one place and the one person he could address his complaint with all safety and security and provision from heaven was who?
SPEAKER_00: To the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So he starts his psalm, oh Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So here's my question for you today.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm not at you, I'm with you, I'm in it.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Are you telling your friends more complaints than you're telling the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And if that scale gets out of, here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord surrounds you with great people who are gonna be there for you.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not saying do life alone.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, are you relying on people who can't do anything for you more than you're relying on the God who can do everything for you?
SPEAKER_00: David knew how to start a lament.
SPEAKER_00: David knew how to be in a pit.
SPEAKER_00: This wasn't his first pit, and this wouldn't be his last pit.
SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of every pit he went through, he knew the Lord is my helper.
SPEAKER_00: He knew the Lord could be addressed.
SPEAKER_00: So uh a psalm of lament has an address, a sign of a healthy believer is they talk to God.
SPEAKER_00: Number two is this every psalm of lament has a complaint.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody good at complaining?
SPEAKER_00: Come on, you're like, sign me up, Pastor.
SPEAKER_00: I got this one.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, this, we're good.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody raised their hand.
SPEAKER_00: I'll raise my hand.
SPEAKER_00: You know how much easier it is to talk the problem.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of all of this, here's what I want you to know.
SPEAKER_00: What I love about it is a sign of a healthy believer is they're real with God.
SPEAKER_00: You can be real with God.
SPEAKER_00: I know you come to church and you think everybody else got it all together, but listen, if you're not real with God, you're doing yourself disfavor.
SPEAKER_00: It's not it's not helpful to you, it's a disservice to you.
SPEAKER_00: Being real before God, uh here's why this is important.
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think created you?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you think knows you better than anyone on the planet, even better than your spouse, even better than the person that you love, even better than the person you hang out with every single day of your life?
SPEAKER_00: It's the God of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: He knows when you're real and when you're not.
SPEAKER_00: And when you come to him in spirit and in truth with who you really are, then he can do his best work in your life.
SPEAKER_00: A sign of a healthy believer is one who can be real with God.
SPEAKER_00: This is the context of what we're reading.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 3 is actually David's complaint to the Lord because of a situation that was going bad in his life.
SPEAKER_00: He was the king.
SPEAKER_00: And how many know uh it doesn't matter if you're the king, it doesn't matter if you're the pastor, it doesn't matter if you've been in church your whole life, it doesn't matter if you've read your Bible 50 times.
SPEAKER_00: Families have problems, don't they?
SPEAKER_00: And David is the king, his family had a problem.
SPEAKER_00: They had a Traumatic event happened in their family.
SPEAKER_00: King David responded to it.
SPEAKER_00: His son Absalom didn't like what David did or didn't do in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: Absalom and David butt heads, they part ways, and then they reconcile.
SPEAKER_00: But when they reconcile, it didn't really work that good.
SPEAKER_00: You ever tried to make something right?
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, it was supposed to go better than this.
SPEAKER_00: And Absalom is now positioning himself between the people that David led, and David himself, and Absalom would stand at the gates of the temple or of the power, the city every day, and he it's the Bible says that he would win over the hearts of the people.
SPEAKER_00: What was he doing?
SPEAKER_00: He was stealing the hearts of the people away from his dad.
SPEAKER_00: This is somebody within his own house.
SPEAKER_00: You think your family's messed up?
SPEAKER_00: It's okay.
SPEAKER_00: His was too.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of all of this, Absalom is standing out in front and says, Oh, my dad's not helping you solve your problems?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I can sure help with that.
SPEAKER_00: Absalom's standing out front, he's saying, Hey, nobody around here is doing anything about this, but I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: And he's drawing the hearts of people to himself.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to remember something.
SPEAKER_00: God made David king.
SPEAKER_00: God anointed David king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: This was not man's decision.
SPEAKER_00: And Absalom put himself in a position that God never put him in.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm going to tell you something, you don't want to be in that pit.
SPEAKER_00: And Absalom is drawing the hearts of people, he has a rebellion, and now David is walking out of the castle with all his servants, head down, walks out.
SPEAKER_00: And Absalom is taking his place.
SPEAKER_00: David is riding this in the depth of his pit where someone within his own house has betrayed him.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know that's painful?
SPEAKER_00: How many of you know what he's going through is real?
SPEAKER_00: And so he gives this complaint to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Lord, many are my foes.
SPEAKER_00: People are rising up against me.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe the worst of them all is many people are saying, God will not deliver me.
SPEAKER_00: Like, beat a man while he's down.
SPEAKER_00: He's walking outside of town, and now everybody's talking about him.
SPEAKER_00: You remember King David, the guy that God anointed?
SPEAKER_00: Turns out he might be like Saul because look, he's on his way outside of town.
SPEAKER_00: And they're starting to talk about him.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, what they're saying is, God's not with David anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes some of the most painful things that can happen to you in the midst of your pit or in the midst of the gap is that the people around you don't believe you anymore.
SPEAKER_00: They don't believe in you.
SPEAKER_00: They're not cheering you on.
SPEAKER_00: They're not rooting for you.
SPEAKER_00: And in the midst of all this, David shares his complaint with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just here today and I just want to give you a simple encouragement.
SPEAKER_00: It's healthy to talk about what you're going through with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Number three, a psalm of lament expresses trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: A sign of a healthy believer is not one whose life is perfect, it's one who trusts God no matter what they face.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what David did in verses three through six.
SPEAKER_00: He starts declaring what God does.
SPEAKER_00: He says, God, you are a shield.
SPEAKER_00: He said, God, you lift my head.
SPEAKER_00: God, you answer me, and God, you sustain me.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: God, you are a shield.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he need a shield?
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because it was a very grave concern in that moment that somebody's going to take his life.
SPEAKER_00: How many know he needed the protection of the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: It says that the Lord lifts his head.
SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
SPEAKER_00: Because any king leaving his castle while somebody else is taking over, can I tell you where their head is?
SPEAKER_00: It's not lifted high, it's dejected and downcast.
SPEAKER_00: And what David is saying in this moment as he's walking outside of town, is he saying, God, my head is low, but you are the one who lifts my head up.
SPEAKER_00: What David is saying is, I laid my head on my pillow at night.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody have crazy thoughts on your pillow at night?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the thoughts that happen in the night make things worse.
SPEAKER_00: And David is saying, I laid my head down and I wasn't sure I was even going to wake up again.
SPEAKER_00: And David says, But I trust you, God.
SPEAKER_00: I laid my head down and I woke up again.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, he's saying, God, you're the sustainer of my life.
SPEAKER_00: How do you know you're healthy in the middle of your pit?
SPEAKER_00: How do you know you're healthy in the middle of the gap?
SPEAKER_00: It has nothing to do with what's going on around you and everything to do with the spirit that's inside of you that says, I trust God no matter what I see.
SPEAKER_00: I trust God no matter what I face.
SPEAKER_00: And listen, here's why this is important.
SPEAKER_00: Because when David began to declare his trust in God, it did something to him.
SPEAKER_00: This is important.
SPEAKER_00: You have to declare your trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, I know it might be uncomfortable out loud.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because when you declare your trust in the Lord out loud, it does something on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: What did it say?
SPEAKER_00: He said, You're the lifter of my head.
SPEAKER_00: You're my sustainer.
SPEAKER_00: I woke up today because of you.
SPEAKER_00: He's declaring his trust in the Lord, and here's what then he says about himself.
SPEAKER_00: And I am not afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Why is he not afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Lord's his protector and the Lord's His sustainer?
SPEAKER_00: Why is he not afraid?
SPEAKER_00: Because he declared his trust in the Lord and who God is paints a better picture of who you are.
SPEAKER_00: See, somebody with their head dejected and downcast and sulking in the pit has no perspective.
SPEAKER_00: But in the middle of the pit, you can gain perspective when you remind yourself of who God really is.
SPEAKER_00: A psalm of lament may be real, but I want to tell you something.
SPEAKER_00: When a psalm of lament may be real, but here's the reality of that is that it always ends with trusting in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Look at how this scripture lays itself out.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how long David complained for?
SPEAKER_00: Two verses.
SPEAKER_00: Many are my foes.
SPEAKER_00: What do you say?
SPEAKER_00: Many are my foes, many rise against me, and people are talking bad about me.
SPEAKER_00: And then for the next four verses, you know what he does?
SPEAKER_00: He expresses his trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: What am I saying?
SPEAKER_00: He talked more about his trust than he did about his problem.
SPEAKER_00: This is really big.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have two choices when you're in the middle of the gap.
SPEAKER_00: You can talk more about your problem, or you can talk more about how big your God is in the middle of your problem.
SPEAKER_00: One's going to help you and one's going to hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: The challenge for us as believers to stay healthy is this.
SPEAKER_00: Am I continually expressing my trust in God?
SPEAKER_00: Courtney and I have to practice this.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because when things don't go perfect, we have to remind ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we need reminding, which means we may get a bad report or we may get some bad news, but we'll tack on this phrase.
SPEAKER_00: And some people think that's just positive thinking.
SPEAKER_00: It's not positive thinking, it's declaring who God is.
SPEAKER_00: You know what it is?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is positive thinking, actually.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not bad positive thinking.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it's doing.
SPEAKER_00: We got this bill, but we trust that God's our helper.
SPEAKER_00: We're not sure how to tackle this problem with our kids, but we believe God can help us.
SPEAKER_00: We don't know how to navigate this conflict or this tension, but we believe that God is in it with us.
SPEAKER_00: What are we doing?
SPEAKER_00: We're expressing our trust in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: When you express your trust in the Lord, it does something on the inside of you.
SPEAKER_00: Every Psalm of Lament has a sign of deliverance.
SPEAKER_00: A sign of deliverance.
SPEAKER_00: David literally says, Arise, O Lord, and deliver me, my God.
SPEAKER_00: A sign of a healthy believer is one who asks God for help.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, well, duh, Pastor, is that really all you have to say?
SPEAKER_00: Is that you went away to your prayer closet this week and that's all you got?
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
SPEAKER_00: Have you asked God for help in the middle of your pit?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Clayton, why would you say something like that?
SPEAKER_00: Because I didn't say, have you complained to God in the middle of your pit.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't say, have you talked to your friends?
SPEAKER_00: I said, have you asked God?
SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you it for me.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord has blessed me with the Holy Spirit in bodily form in the name of Courtney Small, my wife, at my house.
SPEAKER_00: Because she can laser in.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so grateful she doesn't preach at me at home.
SPEAKER_00: She's not teaching at me.
SPEAKER_00: She likes to ask me questions.
SPEAKER_00: But how many know sometimes the questions hurt hardest?
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I will find myself in a situation where I'm lacking trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: And I will do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'll pick up the phone and I'll call everybody I know.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, what do you think I should do?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, have you heard about this?
SPEAKER_00: Can you believe this happened?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think I should do?
SPEAKER_00: And I'll ask the opinions of everyone else, and she'll say, in just such a sweet-spirited way, have you asked God yet?
SPEAKER_00: My first response, yes, of course I have.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm defensive.
SPEAKER_00: You know why I'm defensive?
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm defending myself.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I know this.
SPEAKER_00: I am so guilty of going to this place and that place.
SPEAKER_00: Of looking here and looking there.
SPEAKER_00: And never stopping to ask God directly.
SPEAKER_00: David had told God what the problem was.
SPEAKER_00: God already knew what the problem was.
SPEAKER_00: David had expressed his trust.
SPEAKER_00: But in the midst of all that, you know what David did not fail to do?
SPEAKER_00: He did not fail to ask God for direct help.
SPEAKER_00: God, I need your divine intervention.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to deliver me.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to save me.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to pull me out of that.
SPEAKER_00: You know why this is important?
SPEAKER_00: Because a father loves it when their child asks them.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Scripture says, uh, you, if you, if you then are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.
SPEAKER_00: How much more does your father in heaven not know how to give good gifts to those he loves?
SPEAKER_00: There's something about asking your father that positions you and postures you to receive from him.
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to encourage you, maybe in your prayer life, maybe you've gotten good at the first three parts, but you haven't stopped to do the last part because you just assume God already knows.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you?
SPEAKER_00: As a staff, we did this three weeks ago.
SPEAKER_00: We sat down, I said, there are two big areas in the life of the church, two challenges we're facing, and we need to pray about it.
SPEAKER_00: We prayed about it for 20 minutes.
SPEAKER_00: I said, these two areas we need to pray about.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you the first area in seven days was resolved?
SPEAKER_00: Seven days.
SPEAKER_00: And the Lord reminded me, Clayton, you stopped asking me directly.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so important.
SPEAKER_00: Not because God is trying to make some magic formula.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't get it right, it's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: Because it postures you in a position to declare, God, I can't, but you can.
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm here, but you're there.
SPEAKER_00: Will you take me with you?
SPEAKER_00: David says, God, will you deliver me and save me?
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, God did.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom was restored to David.
SPEAKER_00: Have you asked the Lord lately specifically for what you need?
SPEAKER_00: Specifically for what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: Because there's so much power in that.
SPEAKER_00: A psalm of lament expresses faith or assurance.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he does.
SPEAKER_00: You've never prayed any prayers like this, right?
SPEAKER_00: David says, strike my enemies in the teeth.
SPEAKER_00: Take them out.
SPEAKER_00: What I love is that's very real.
SPEAKER_00: But there's something about the way David prays it, is he is full of faith.
SPEAKER_00: The translation does not do it justice in the English language, where really what he's saying is he's he's saying, This has already happened.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not waiting on, I already know God.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because his faith tank is high.
SPEAKER_00: His faith tank believes that if he asks God, that God is a God who delivers.
SPEAKER_00: So the question today is this Do you actually believe that God can do something about the gap that you're standing in right now?
SPEAKER_00: That is the heart of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Prayer is not a formula, prayer is not something you just do on Sunday mornings, prayer is not a religious tradition, prayer is a humble posture before the Lord where you talk with him, you're real before him, you express your trust in him, you ask him for deliverance, and then you get up from that place full of faith, and you say, My God can do it.
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: In your house this week, what if the faith tank got full?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we've been going through this for a while, but we really believe God is helping us and he's delivering us.
SPEAKER_00: And what I love the most about David's Psalms, most of them, is this last part.
SPEAKER_00: Every psalm of lament ends with a praise.
SPEAKER_00: It ends with a praise.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know about you, but when I start complaining something, my complaints usually get worse and bigger and louder and stronger.
SPEAKER_00: But for David, there was something about his heart and his posture and his spirit.
SPEAKER_00: When you follow this model, when you have a healthy spirit on the inside, here's what happens: your play complaint turns into praise.
SPEAKER_00: Your complaint gets to a place where he says, Oh Lord, your blessing.
SPEAKER_00: He has a praise in his mouth, even when his complaint hasn't been fully resolved in the natural.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he believes miracles are normal and it's happening right in his midst.
SPEAKER_00: I want to challenge you with this.
SPEAKER_00: Are you praising the Lord in the middle of your gap?
SPEAKER_00: Because what if it's that praise in the middle of the gap that is what gives you the strength to make it through?
SPEAKER_00: What if it's that praise in the middle of the night that gives your spirit the confidence to get up tomorrow and do everything that God has asked you to do?
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna close out.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd stand real quick, I wanna ask you to do this.