"FULL COMMITMENT"
I. DAVID'S CONDITION.
A. He had been betrayed by his own son Absalom.
1. Through clever guise, Absalom had gradually stolen the hearts of the people.
2. He placed himself at the gate of the city and would greet those who were coming to receive justice.
3. He would say to them, "Where are you from? You know you have a good case it's too bad that my father has not appointed someone who could hear your case. It is a shame that I am not a judge for I would certainly see that justice was done in your behalf." When the person would then bow to him he would grab their hand and kiss it. He was a slick politician.
4. He now felt that the time was ripe to lead a revolution against his father.
5. He went to Hebron, and there called on the people to join him and form an army to overthrow the throne of his father.
B. Absalom and his army are now marching on Jerusalem, and David rather than have blood shed in the city, decided to flee from the city to the wilderness.
1. As they are leaving the city, Zadok the priest and his sons were carrying the Ark of the Covenant. When David saw them, he ordered them to return to the city with the Ark. It is here that David uttered these words of complete commitment to the will of the Lord.
2SA 15:25 And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and show me [both] it, and his habitation:
2SA 15:26 But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, [here am] I, let him do to me as seems good unto him.
2. David was not instructing God as what he wanted God to do, but was totally committed as to what God might want to do.
a. If God desires He can bring me back to the city and I will see the Ark again and the Tabernacle.
b. If He has no delight in me, let Him do to me whatever he wants.
II. THE PERSON WHO HAS TRUE PEACE AND CONTENTMENT IS THE PERSON WHO HAS TOTALLY YIELDED THEIR LIVES TO THE WILL OF GOD.
A. As long as I am trying to order my life, and am insisting that God follow my directions, I will be subject to strife, worry, fear and discontentment.
B. There are those false teachers who tell you that you can write your own ticket with God.
1. That you can have anything that you desire if you will just say it in faith. You can create your own reality.
2. They talk about positive confessions, and that if you will just say it in faith, you can have anything you say.
3. They would put you on the throne, and make God your servant, sort of a private genie who is subject to your wishes.
4. This creates a lot of problems, for God is not subservient to us.
5. God does not have to obey our commands or wishes.
6. He is Lord and He is sovereign. He can do as He pleases and as He wants.
7. Have you ever thought how foolish it is for me to try to tell God how He should run the world, and yet how many times have we instructed Him on how to run our world?
8. In my prayers, I express my desires to the Lord, but then He is free to do as He pleases.
C. Think about David for a moment, here he is getting along in years, and now being driven from his home by a rebellious son.
1. At this point the future is very uncertain.
a. People have turned against him.
b. In fact some of his closest friends and counselors have turned on him. He wrote of this in
Psalm 55.
PSA 55:12 For [it was] not an enemy [that] reproached me; I could have taken that: neither [was it] one that hated me [that] magnified [himself] against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
PSA 55:13 But [it was] you, a man my equal, my guide, and my good friend.
PSA 55:14 We had wonderful conversations as we walked unto the house of God together.
2. Not only does it seem that David is losing everything, but his life is in danger.
3. We do not see David challenging God.
a. He is not saying, "Why did God allow this to happen to me?"
b. We do hear him demanding that God deliver him from the hand of Absalom.
c. We do not see him wringing his hands and saying alas, poor me.
d. He doesn't appear to be alarmed or fearful.
e. How can he possibly have such peace in the midst of such great calamity?
4. The secret is full commitment to the will of God.
a. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, he will bring me back, and if He is angry with me, here I am, let Him do with me as He pleases.
b. Nothing can happen to me, but what God has allowed.
c. If He has allowed it, He has a good purpose for allowing it.
d. So I will just commit my ways to the Lord, let Him do what He deems best.
III. OFTEN IN LIFE, WE FACE DISTRESSING SITUATIONS. ANXIOUS MOMENTS THAT BRING TERROR AND FEAR.
A. Kay and I had a frivolous suit filed against us a few years ago. There were no just grounds for the suit, the person was angry with us and just wanted to harass us.
1. It worked, I was harassed.
2. I would wake up at night and think about the suit.
3. We of course had to get an attorney and we had to answer the interrogatives.
4. Knowing the fickleness of the court system we knew that you can never be certain of the outcome, justice is not always served.
5. After about 5 months of fretting over the suit, one day I just turned it over to the Lord.
a. Lord I am your servant, all that I have is Yours.
b. My life is in your hands.
c. You just do what You want to do, I commit the whole issue to You.
d. I will not worry about this anymore, I leave it with You.
e. We are told to cast all of our cares upon Him for He cares for us.
f. I really found complete peace in the situation.
g. Ultimately the suit was dropped, but I did not continue to fret over it anymore. I really won the case in my own heart when I committed it fully to the Lord.
h.
Psalm 37 tells us not to fret over evil doers.
B. Several years ago our youngest was just a little baby of around 2.She was the joy and delight of our life.
1. One evening she became very sick and was running an extremely high fever.
2. I sat up all night holding her in my arms and sort of wrestling with the Lord as I was praying for her healing.
3. In the morning I said, "Lord, you know I love this little doll more than life itself, I thank you giving her to us, but if You desire to take her to be with you, her life is Yours, though You loaned her to us, we would not try to keep her from You."
4. I felt a great peace when once I could relinquish her to the will of God. The worst thing that could happen now is that the Lord would take her to be with Him, and though that would devastate me, it would not be bad for her.
5. Shortly thereafter she went into convulsions and Kay and I called the Doctor and rushed her over to the Doctors office.
6. On the way, she brightened up, the fever had broken, and she was her bright cheery self again, totally healed.
7. When we got to the Doctors office, he examined her and said, there is nothing, wrong with her, he asked Kay how long it had been since she had had a tetanus shot, and when she couldn't remember he said, well as long as you are here, you might as well get one.
C. I think that it takes far greater faith to commit the issue to the Lord, than to demand a healing.
1. In commitment there is contentment.
2. In commitment there is peace.
3. In commitment there is rest.
D. How do I come to that place of commitment?
1. Recognize that you are helpless to do anything about it anyhow.
a. Except the Lord watch the city, the watchman wakes in vain.
b. Unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain who build it.
c. The least beneficial thing that you can do is to worry about it.
d. Which of you through worry can add 18 inches to his height?
2. Just turn it over to the will of the Lord.
a. All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
b. As we read in the Psalm this morning, Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass. Bring what to pass? His perfect will.
3. I need to realize His perfect love and know He wants only the very best for me. In fact He already gave His best for me.
a. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
b. If God spared not His own Son but gave Him us for us all. How much more shall He not freely give us all things.
c. Resting in His perfect love will cast out all fear.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
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Use SBL Abbrev.
