I sat there as the wind began to pick up and whistle around the corner of the house. The full moon kept diving behind the clouds, stealing the last of bit hope for an easy trip. The more I thought about it the more uneasy I became; to the point of distracting me from the very reason I found myself in this quandary. Do I go now and miss out or wait, in which case things could get worse? It was Friday night and the highlight of the week was before me. So there I sat, unable to move because the pull of the moment was greater than my fear of the consequences.
“Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers at night, may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms and the autumn moon is bright…”
It was 1954 and the one major crisis in the life of this 10 year old was the fact that we didn’t own a TV. Hard to imagine in 2012 when young kids are watching TV on their iPods, iPads and Smartphones. But, that was the state of affairs late on that stormy Friday night. I was at my best friend’s house because his folks had a TV and every Friday night the one and only channel showed a horror film. Well, by today’s standards they aren’t but they were back then — Frankenstein (Boris Karloff), Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and Wolfman (Lon Chaney). They were enough to strike fear in the heart of any kid. How were we supposed to know they weren’t laying in wait for us… somewhere out there?
So there I sat contemplating the five block walk home that went — you guessed it — right through the old country cemetery. The longer I sat glued to the scary images on that magic box the harder the wind blew and the later it got. Putting it all in perspective, I was too scared to move and too glued to the TV not to. The longer I waited the worse it got!
Are you sitting here at the dawn of 2012 afraid to move and too afraid not to? Is the TV, the radio, the Internet or the newspaper in front of you filling you with fear? Are the conditions outside getting worse by the minute and you don’t want to be out there in them? Do you feel like the whole world is falling apart at your expense? Well, you’re travelling down a path that’s been walked on before.
The same thing happened to someone else only it wasn’t in the autumn.
Let your mind go back to 1023 BC and picture King David. It’s somewhere between Passover and the Feast of Pentecost. David has fled Jerusalem with barely the sandals on his feet, in the face of the coup being led by his son, Absalom. In fact Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that: as David was ascending the Mount of Olives barefooted, all his company were in tears; including his 600 warriors. What a state of affairs for the King, and all this coming just 4 years after he had reconciled with Absalom for the act of having his brother Amnon killed for raping his sister Tamar (2Sam 13). David was facing a dilemma and just like me he also had 2 choices.
When we face adversity we can either turn “from” God or turn “to” God. We can use our situation to justify “unbelief” or we can use our suffering to encourage our “belief.” What did David do? Let’s look at his diary and see what we can learn.
Ps 3:1-2 LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. 2. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
Harry Truman was quoted as saying, “If you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, get out of the kitchen.” You can rest assured in these troubled times if you take a bold stand for Christ your enemies are going to increase. That’s where David was as those around him shouted: There is no help for him in God. As the evil of this world explodes against us it attacks our faith with the same old lie it has been using since the beginning. There is no help from God the atheists and unbelievers shout, you got yourself into this and you’re stuck. But listen to what Jesus had to say about the subject:
John 8:44(b) He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Lies, lies… always lies.
So there was David, having made his case to the Lord, being pressed on all sides by the impending attack from Absalom.
Ps 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
I love the first words: “But thou O Lord.” No matter how bad things look we can always stand on that phrase. Forty-four times that expression appears in the bible in verses like these:
David was in the wilderness being hunted by Saul every day: but God delivered him not into Saul’s hand (1Sam 23:14).
Joseph had every reason to believe it was all over: and the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him (Acts 7:9).
So in his danger David cried out and stood on what he knew; God is his shield. Perhaps David was thinking about the times past when God was his shield or maybe back to the original promise God made to Abraham:
Gen 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Today we can hearken to the words of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians:
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Like David we need to turn from the lies of the enemy and ward off “all” the fiery darts the world is throwing at us to try and quench our faith. Spiritual battles have to be fought in the spirit, and when the world comes crashing in saying that everything you believe in is false, worthless and foolish, you need to fight that battle where it truly exists; and that’s not in the flesh.
At the same time in his humility David acknowledged God as his “Glory.” Glory is a very interesting word; kabod. It literally means “heavy.” Soldiers went into battle very light but they came out “heavy” with the spoils of victory. Here David praises God that the spoils in this battle are God’s glory. He spoke with faith that his God would prevail on his behalf in the end as did Peter in later times:
1Ptr 5:10-11 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. 11. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And with all the glory going to God, David could say with certainty that God “is the lifter up of mine head.” This Hebraism David uses expresses total confidence in God. It reflects God’s power to raise up the humble and abase the mighty. Here is someone else that understood what that meant. Listen to the words of Hannah:
1Sam 2:7-8 The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he hath set the world upon them.
David’s confidence was not in any of his deeds in the flesh but in his prayer and the gracious promises of God. As he began to worship God his faith began to grow. We can see that as he cried out loud and by faith acknowledged that God heard him.
Ps 3:4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah
Haven’t we all been there? If you are like me, the present moral, social and economic decay in America has brought me to my knees. And when I have a hard time praying I like to be like David and pray out loud. As I have noted before, if you’re praying out loud your mind can’t get in the way with wandering thoughts. Try it — it works!
So, while David prayed out loud toward “his holy hill” (Jerusalem where the Ark represented God’s presence) we pray to that same presence in heaven; the New Jerusalem. As we lift our eyes toward heaven and cry out we have access into that same temple; right into the holy of holies – Jesus. The veil (His flesh that hid the Shekinah Glory) has been rent and we have access into that very holiest of places.
John 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
There is such a temptation for us to put our confidence and faith in “man” because man is temporal, visible and touchable. But putting our confidence in man does nothing for our spirit and certainly won’t put us to rest. However, if we turn to God He promises He will always be there, not to change our circumstances but to change us. And isn’t that what we need? Not to bring God in line with us but to bring us in line with Him. Our problem is that we often get so wrapped up in the circumstances that we only see what’s going on with our eyes and not our spirit. The end results are often a disaster. One of my favorite quotes comes from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity:
Never, never pin your whole faith on any human being; not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world. There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it.
But, like David, we can build our house on the “rock” and rest on our faith in God.
Ps 3:5-6 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. 6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about.
David was able to sleep because he knew that his God was awake. Are you having fitful nights without sleep, worrying about your finances, your job, your children, your health or your marriage? Look at what David’s son Solomon wrote:
Ps 127:2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
After a peaceful night’s sleep David arose in the morning: I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. His commitment to God allowed him to give his problem to God and rest in faith. If we go back to verses 1 and 2 we remember that David was being moved by many enemies and yet his prayer and faith in God completely changed his attitude and he went to sleep.
What a difference a day can make!
Ps 3:7Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
David could summon God to go to war because he knew that it was Yahweh who fought Israel’s battles. And in this battle David wanted God to inflict mortal wounds on his enemies. He speaks of breaking their cheek bones as in humiliating them and breaking their teeth as you would a wild animal; taking away their strength. And we have that same option available to us.
Remember that we can turn to Jesus in our battle with Satan as He is the seed of the woman who mortally wounds the serpent (Gen 3:15). He has the enemy firmly under his feet and we, the bride of Christ, are between His head and His feet. So where does that put Satan in relation to us? We can’t forget that the war is over, the outcome is certain — it’s been won. Only the battles remain to be fought. And that is what the “rest of God” is all about; but that discussion is for another time.
And those battles are not with our leaders, the stock market, Wall Street, the banks or the corruption that has infested the country. If we are to lay our head down at night and rest in peace it will only be as the result of the battle won in the spirit against spiritual adversaries.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
And our protection and deliverance comes from only one place, and that is where we are to faithfully turn our hearts so that we like David, can arise and say:
Ps 3:8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
David shows us who we are to fight, who fights our battles for us and how we are to join the battle. We can conquer all our fear when we meet it head on with faith in prayer. The promises of God concerning our faith are rich:
- We are blessed (Ps 40:4; 84:12; Pro 16;20; Jer 17:7)
- We will be delivered (Ps 22:4)
- We will not be moved (Isa 28:16; 1Pet 2:6)
- We will be kept in perfect peace (Isa 26:3)
- We will not remain in darkness (John 12:46)
- We will have our prayers heard (1Chr 5:20)
There are many more promises but if we can just get our hearts around these few we will sleep like David. Just as God delivered David so He will deliver us from our crisis if we let Him. Even on dark, windy and rainy nights.
It seemed like forever for that movie to end but then it was time. Now you have to understand that the last thing a 10 year old is going to do in front of his best friend and his best friend’s dad is admit he is scared. And with that I casually said something stupid to cover my growing anxiety about that walk past the cemetery and smiled as I stepped out into the darkness. Yes the timing was perfect; the moon went completely behind a huge cloud and it was dark as the inside of the coal room in our basement.
I don’t think I ever ran that fast again in my life. I didn’t even want to waste time running around the cemetery — I went straight through it. It is truly a wonder that I didn’t wind up wearing RIP Beloved Father imprinted on my forehead from some cold tombstone. I don’t actually even remember the cemetery as I plowed headlong like some Clydesdale with blinders on. What seemed like hours later I flew in through the backdoor and headed straight for my bedroom right past my father snoring in his easy chair; too bad, because at that moment I sure could have used a little fatherly encouragement. But at 10 you walk that line between bravado and fear very gingerly and at that moment my bravado was still sitting in my friend’s easy chair.
Then, as I lay in my bed with the covers tightly pulled up to my chin, I began to breathe easy as I thought about where I was. I was not sprawled in some cold cemetery wondering if the wolf bane was in bloom with you know who lurking behind every tombstone. I was safe and secure in my father’s house and tomorrow the sun would come up again. As I began to drift off I was aware of my father checking in on me and tucking the blanket in at the foot of the bed … sweet peace.
And isn’t that where we all need to go when the stormy darkness of uncertainty begins welling up around us? Our Father’s house is open around the clock and we won’t ever find Him asleep in the easy chair; He is always there to tuck us in. The veil has been rent and Jesus is ever waiting for us to enter “boldly” into His presence where we will find His covering grace. And therein lies the antidote to the chaos that swirls around us and the fears that beset us.