David was like many of us. He faced all kinds of disasters, troubles, enemies and battles. What he faced is more than some of us can imagine. I don’t know what it would be like to come up against a lion, bear, or a giant. Those were extreme times when he needed God’s help. He came to know and trust that God was His refuge.
Listen to his words as he describes his trust in God.
Read this out loud with me.
Psalm 16:1-2 NIV Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge. I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”
David constantly looked to God for help.
He said: “Keep me safe, for in you I take refuge.”
Do you get the feeling that if God did not help him, David would be destroyed? Have you ever experienced a time when you realized that God Almighty was the only One who could help you and keep you safe? I have been there and know what this feels like.
Look closely at those words, “Apart from you I have no good thing.”
He did not say: “I have some other good things!” He said: “Lord, You are the only good thing in my life.”
The Lord our God is the faithful God.
When you wake in the morning, He is there. When you go through the valley, He is there. When the enemy comes in with all of his strength, God is there.
What does it mean: “Lord you are the only good thing in my life?”
David was saying that God was his only source of relief and help. David had hundreds and thousands of people who were willing to lay down their lives for him. He had all kinds of sources, resources, and wealth.
He said, “Lord, You are the only good thing in my life.”
David was saying, “God, You are faithful.” You can count on God every time. He will always be a refuge you can run to and find help. Every good thing you need is in the Lord your God.
You may not be able to relate to everything King David faced, but there was a widow woman in the Old Testament that some of you may make a connection with.
She lived when wickedness was abounding in Israel. During that season, a great famine came across the land in direct judgment against King Ahab and Jezebel. During the famine, Elijah, the man of God had been sustained down by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. God had commanded ravens to bring him bread and meat twice daily until the brook dried up. When the drought became so intense, God sent Elijah to this widow woman’s house in Zarephath. When he arrived, the woman was down to a handful of flour and a small amount of oil in a jar. Her supply was so low that she was about to prepare the last meal for her and her son.
You need to know that you may face some things that are difficult and hard to bear.
Isaiah 43:1-3 NKJV Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God…
This widow in Zarepahath was so diminished she was getting ready to prepare their last biscuit to eat and die.
Have you ever been through so much that you did not think you could take any more? While she was gathering a couple of sticks to cook her biscuit, Elijah showed up. She did not know that God said she had been prepared for a miracle. She was just ready to give up and die.
1 Kings 17:13-14 NKJV And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
When you are diminished and have very little left, God can perform miracles.
From a natural point of view, this widow did not have enough to feed another mouth. What she was asked to do challenged her faith.
“Make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.”
You don’t have to own a market for God to sustain you. God is faithful. Little is much when God is in it. That widow experienced an amazing miracle that sustained her, her son and Elijah the man of God. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah, (1 Kings 17:16).
When the drought was over and God sent rain, the woman’s son became ill.
Have you ever made it through the last great test and trial and had great relief, and then the next great thing happened? The Bible says, “His sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him.” When there is no breath, there is no life.
1 Kings 17:18 NKJV So she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”
Have you ever been through so much that you thought, “I must have done something wrong to bring all of this on my head?” Don’t give up on God when you pass through the waters, and through the rivers, and when you walk through the fire.
1 Kings 17:19-22 NKJV And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by killing her son?” And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.” Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.
Later when Elisha was the man of God, another widow whose husband had been a prophet faced a severe crisis.
She had two sons, but when her husband died she fell into serious debt. All efforts to resolve her financial crisis had failed and the creditor was coming to take her two sons to be his slaves.
2 Kings 4:2 NKJV So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
Have you been diminished? Have you gone through so many things that you seem to have nothing left? This prophet of God had just died and left his wife with a debt. She had nothing left in the house but a jar of oil.
2 Kings 4:3 NKJV Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors—empty vessels; do not gather just a few.
If you are planning on a miracle, plan big.
Get as many empty vessels as you can gather. This must look foolish to some people. Actions of faith often look strange to unbelievers.
2 Kings 4:4 NKJV And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.”
Her sons started bringing vessels and she started pouring. She filled up one then another and continued pouring and filling until every vessel was full.
2 Kings 4:7 NKJV Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
Acts 3:1-2 NKJV Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
The man was begging for some money, but neither Peter nor John had any silver or gold for him.
Have you ever wanted to help someone but you had nothing to give?
Acts 3:4-6 NLT Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”
God is greater than all of your need.
David had been considering God’s faithfulness in all of his troubles, trials, and battles.
People failed him and he went through desolate times when he did not know where his next meal was coming from. He was tested by enemies on the outside and even within his own house. In all of those situations, David resolved that God is faithful.
Psalm 16:7–9 NIV I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure.
Psalm 16:11 NIVYou have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
David had an unshaken trust in God’s faithfulness.
- He said: “The Lord counsels me.”
- The Lord says: “Be still troubled soul.”
- David said: “Even at night my heart instructs me to trust the Lord!”
When it is not easy to find your own way, “Trust the Lord!”
This doesn’t just work for people in the Bible. God is faithful and He keeps us safe. He establishes our going and keeps our feet from stumbling.
Jesus never fails.
He has been the reward of my life and the strength of my day. He keeps me from being shaken when everything else is shaking.
God is Faithful.
This is the answer for everything we face.
- Every bit of bad news must be filtered through this.
- Every attack of the enemy is defeated with this.
- Every disaster in your life comes to this resolution.
- Everything that is going wrong in the world must face God’s powerful and eternal control.
God knows how to fix it for you.
In His presence is fullness of joy. At His right hand are pleasures forevermore. There is no joy like His joy or help like His help. God’s help is an everlasting help and His joy does not pass away.
Whatever it is that you may face, keep this in mind — God is faithful!
Jeremiah was remembering the bitterness and hardships that surrounded him.
He felt like he was walled in and could not escape. He cried out for help but felt like one who had been attacked by a bear and a lion. He was wounded to the depth of his soul.
In the depth of his distress, he said:
Lamentations 3:21–23 NIVYet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Whatever you are up against, God is faithful.
You may feel diminished and depleted and have very little left. You may be surrounded by so many things that you cannot see a way out. You may have been in such distress that you are wounded deep in your soul.
You need to hear this again: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
