Victory in the Day of Trouble: The Calm in the Storm

Well, good evening. Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Last week we noted that the victory of the day of trouble, or victory in the day of trouble, is won in the battle before the battle. And tonight, through the lens of Psalm 27, we want to continue this series on victory in the day of trouble.

We will see that victory in the day of trouble is won in the calm during the storm. Victory in the day of trouble happens, is won in the calm in the storm. Let me read Psalm 27 in its entirety. Verse 1, The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident.

One thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in his temple. For in the day of trouble, he will conceal me in his tabernacle.

In the secret place of his tent, he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, and be gracious to me and answer me. When you said, Seek my face, my heart said to you, Your face, O Lord, I shall seek. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger.

You have been my help. Do not abandon me, nor forsake me, O God, my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path, because of my foes. Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and such as breathe out violence.

I would have despaired unless I had believed. That I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord. This is a Psalm of David, a man after God's own heart.

You've heard that expression before about David. What does that mean? David being a man after God's own heart. What does David show us about God's heart? Well, he shows us the confidence in God. He shows us what confidence in God looks like in stark contrast to that of Saul.

You remember Saul? We get a look at Saul's life and his lack of confidence of God in 1 Samuel 13. You can turn there if you would like. I'm going to read a significant portion of it, but you just listen as well. But in stark contrast to Saul and his lack of confidence is David.

1 Samuel 13, 5. Now the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen and people like the sand which is on the seashore. In abundance, and they came up to Mi'kmash, east of Beth-Avan. So, an assembled army, there's Israel, an assembled army, a large army of Philistines had encamped against them.

Verse 6, Samuel 13. When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait, distress, a hard place, then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in cliffs, in cellars, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead.

But as for Saul, he was still in Gilgal, and all the people followed him, trembling. So there's this assembled army, and then there is a fearful Israel. I mean, they're taking flight. This day of trouble is putting them to flight. Verse 8, 1 Samuel 13, now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel.

But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering, which he wasn't supposed to do. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came and said, Saul went out to meet him and to greet him.

But Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul said, Because I saw the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mi'kmash, therefore I said, Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the Lord.

So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering. So you have an assembled army, you have a trembling Israel, and then you have Saul's impatience. The Lord didn't show up when Saul wanted him to. So Saul took matters into his own hands. And then in verse 13, Samuel said to Saul, You have acted foolishly.

You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

So you have this assembled army, you have a frightened Israel, you have an impatient leader which leads him to disobedience. And Saul's lack of faith, lack of confidence, cost him his kingship. That's the tragedy of Saul. And many of us are like Saul. We see the storm gathering around us, we see the day of trouble coming, we begin to tremble, hide, take flight, or we'll resort to anything we can think of that can mitigate the conflict, except wait upon the Lord, which is what Saul wouldn't do.

And so, one of the reasons that God raised up David was to show his people what confidence in the Lord looks like. It's in that context of Saul's disobedience or Saul's lack of confidence that God says, I'm going to raise up a king who has confidence in me so that the whole nation will know what it looks like to have faith in Yahweh.

Well, with this backdrop of Saul's lack of faith in mind, I want you to see how David's faith in God prepared him for victory in his day of trouble. I want to see this so that you and I will also prepare. For victory in the day of trouble that comes to us.

For it will surely come. The day of trouble comes in all shapes, forms, and sizes, and degrees, and times. But there is a way to have victory in it. This morning or this evening, it deals with the calm in the storm. So I'm going to look at the calm in the storm, victory in the day of trouble.

But first, before you, it's kind of the whole thing, the whole package is calm in the storm. But before we can really get our mind around the whole thing, we have to start somewhere, and that's with the calm before the storm. You've heard that expression, the calm before the storm.

Well, that's what we have in the first six verses of this psalm. You see David's confidence expressed. This is the calm before the storm, verses 1 through 6. It was David's faith that gave him confidence. His faith in Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. Well, let's look at how David's confidence is expressed in these verses.

First of all, look at verse 1. A psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? See, right out. The bat, David's confidence in God is based on his relationship with the Lord.

His confidence in the day of trouble is based in his confidence in his relationship with the Lord. Look at the Lord is my light, Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. He is my ability to see what's going on in the day of trouble. He is my daylight. Contrast that to the darkness of the day of trouble.

Sometimes we can get into this day of trouble and darkness. We don't know which way to turn. Don't know what's going on. Don't even know what's coming on us, let alone the way out. Here's David. The Lord is my light. He is my ability to see things as they really are.

Not only is the Lord my light, but he's also my salvation. He is my victory. The Lord is my deliverance, my deliverer. He is my deliverance in the day of trouble. He is my victory in the day of trouble. Notice another description of who the Lord is. The Lord is the defense of my life.

Look at these strong. He is my light. He is my salvation. He is the defense of my life. He is the place where my soul dwells in safety. He is my refuge. He is my fortress. These are the descriptions. This is, what is God? Who is your God?

Well, if your God is the God of the Bible, and then the Lord, you can say confidently with David, the Lord is my light. He is my victory. He is my deliverer, and he is the defense. He is the place where my soul goes to find security, stability, protection.

He is the defense of my life. I don't have to defend it. He will. And those who have such a relationship with God have nothing to fear or nothing to dread. Notice David's two questions in verse 1: Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I dread? Listen, the Lord is my light, and he is my salvation.

Who should I be fearing? Who should be causing me to tremble? The Lord is my light. He is my salvation. He is greater than all. Whom shall I dread? Whom shall I be shivering from? Who shall I be dreading? Who should weigh me down? I don't care who it is, where it is, or what it is.

It or he or she is not greater than Yahweh or they. Not greater. Than Yahweh. So David's confidence is in his relationship with the Lord. He is my salvation, my light, defense of my life. Second thing we can see here about how David's confidence is expressed is that David's confidence is reinforced by a good memory.

Look at verse 2. When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, my adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. He had a good memory. When evildoers came to devour my flesh, when the ones causing trouble, the ones causing evil and havoc in my life, when they came against me to devour my flesh, this is very savage language.

They came to eat my flesh, to devour, to chew it to pieces, basically to end my earthly existence. When evildoers came, it's like, I remember other times. See, a good memory, when the day of trouble comes upon you, one of the best things you can do is resort to a good memory because you can look back and see how God has provided in the past, how God is delivered in the past.

And that's exactly what David does. This has happened to me before. When they came to devour my flesh, my adversaries. Adversaries, those who oppose me, those who tighten the noose around me, or make my way difficult, or cause trouble for me, my adversaries and my enemies, those who hate me, not only those who oppose me, but those who hate me, those who are my personal enemies, they stumbled.

That is, they tottered, they couldn't quite get their act together. They didn't come together. My destruction, the devouring of my flesh, didn't come together. They cetered and tottered. It didn't come together for them, and so they stumbled and they fell. No recovery. And so when trouble comes upon you, it's good to remember what God has done in the past.

Then in verse 3, David's confidence is illustrated. And here we see this calm before the storm. Look at what he says in verse 3: Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Though war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident. Look at what he says here: even though a host encamp around me, a large, a gathering army, even though I look out my tent and I just see army after army just gathering around me.

Me. This threat of war will not move me. What he's saying. My heart will not fear. What he's talking about in the first part of verse 3 is the threat of war. The threat of war didn't cause anxiety in David's heart. Why not? Well, because of what he said in verse 1: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Who shall I fear? He is the defense of my life. The threat of war didn't move David's heart. And for many, remember Saul? Army of Israel? There they are. The Philistines are taking their place in the encampment, and it causes the whole nation to shiver. It causes Saul to take matters into his own hands, be disobedient.

That's just the threat of war. The threat hadn't even broken out yet. That was the threat of war. And for many, like Saul, the threat is enough to make us very anxious, isn't it? We look out, we see the day of trouble, we see the encampment against us, we see what's coming against us, and we can get anxious over just the threat of war, the threat of difficult times.

And that has laid many people low. The fear of trouble can drive many insane. But not David. Why? Because he could say, The Lord is my light, my salvation, and the defense of my life. But look at what he says in the second part of verse 3: Though war arise against me, in spite of this, I shall be confident.

Though war break out, though the threat become a reality, and now I'm not dealing with just the threat of war, I'm dealing with the reality of war. In spite of this, I shall be confident. I shall be full of trust. I shall be fearing no thing or no one.

Why not? Because David could say this about God: He is my light, He is my salvation, and He is the defense of my life. That settled his soul. I think, friends, sometimes we don't hold on to this. We really don't understand who our God is. But this is who He is.

It's very important that you come to really believe who He is. But even the reality of war. So you can see He's confident. Calm before the storm. Look, I'm calm in the storm. I'm calm before it even starts. I'm calm even when it breaks out against me. I'm confident in the Lord.

There's a stability of faith. Then he goes on to give reasons for his confidence. Verses 4 through 6. Look at verse 4. One thing I have asked from the Lord that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in his temple.

The reason for David's confidence is he knew that God would answer his prayer. What was David's prayer? What was his one thing? One thing I have asked from the Lord, that which I will seek after, that which I will cause myself to earnestly be looking to him for.

One thing that I have asked, I have formerly asked of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, that I may be dwelling, even in the day of trouble, that I may be dwelling in the house of the Lord all of the days of my life, that I may remain seated.

That's really what the verb is saying. I'm in the house of the Lord. Trouble has come around me. And my prayer is. That I would remain seated, continue in a posture and presence, in the presence of the Lord, all the days of my life, in the days of trouble and in the non-days of trouble.

That's where I want to be. What's his prayer, though? Why does he want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life? To behold the beauty of the Lord. This is the one thing I want, God. I want to behold your beauty. I want to behold your pleasantness.

I want to behold your goodness, your delightfulness. I want to experience your favor. I want to see your splendor. I want to know your kindness. That's what I want. Lord, this is the one thing I've asked. To behold the beauty of the Lord. And to meditate in his palace, to contemplate the beauty of the Lord, to behold the beauty and to contemplate.

It's an interesting thing that he's saying here. He talks about the dwelling place. He'll talk about the tent of the Lord. He'll talk about the palace of the Lord. He'll talk about the. Secret place in the tent of the Lord and all of this. But it's like, now David knows he is not of Levitical origin.

He knows he can't go into the Holy of Holies. King Uzziah learned the hard way that he had no business offering sacrifices or even the incense before the Lord. What is he talking about? And yet here he is, this is what I want to do. I don't think he's literally expecting that there's war breaking out.

Now I'm heading over here to the temple. It's not built yet, by the way. I'm heading over to the tabernacle. Wherever that might be, he's not taking flight. It's interesting that even in the Old Testament, there was spiritual, the way of spirit, the soul's spirit rest in the presence of the Lord was made known.

Even though the Levites could only go in and perform certain functions, David could say, I want to dwell in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, to behold the beauty. And he's there in the battlefield. God is with him. Look at what he says in verse 5.

For in the day of trouble, he will conceal me in his tabernacle, in his hut, in his booth. In the hiding place, in the secret place of his tent, he will hide me and he will lift me up on a rock. So, David's confidence is: God is going to answer my prayer.

He's going to show me his beauty. That's the one thing I've asked, to see his beauty. And he's going to take me into war to be able to see the beauty. He's going to have to take me into the day of trouble and through the day of the trouble to understand the pleasantness, to understand the salvation, to understand his light, and to understand his goodness.

God will protect him in the day of trouble. He knows that. He knows what the day of trouble is for. Glory to God. Victory. Celebration. He will conceal me. He will hide me in his tabernacle. He will take me like a treasure. And he will keep me concealed from all that encamped army against me.

Do you believe God loves you like that? To protect you like that? Well, he does. We enjoy his privilege, his protection. While we have our days on this earth, and yes, we're going to see days of trouble. But he will hide his people, he will conceal them in his tabernacle, he will put them in the secret place of his tent.

Here again, it's kind of like, David, what's going on in your mind is somehow he's got some spiritual hiding place, in the very secret place, in the reality, where the soul goes for rest, which is emblematic in the tabernacle that was standing. But access. He knew that access spiritually.

And he knew what God would do, put him in the secret place. And he says, This: He will lift me up on a rock, he will cause my rising to a secure place and to an advantageous place. And then David knows in verse 6 the reason for his confidence.

Not only will God answer his prayer in verse 4, God will protect him in the day of trouble, verse 5, but David will experience and celebrate God's victory. He understands what the day of trouble is going to bring about. Look at what he says in verse 6. And now, really, it means, and this being the truth.

So, things being this way, who God is, my light, my salvation, the defense of my life, that he will protect me in the day of trouble, he will conceal me, he will keep me, he will lift me up, and now, this being true, and now my head will be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tents sacrifices with shouts of joy.

I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. He understands that because of who God is and his relationship with him, he understands what God is going to do. God is going to use this day of trouble as a means to show David His goodness. And when this storm has passed, David is saying, I will experience the victory over this day, and I will celebrate.

This day of trouble will turn into a cause of celebration. He will lift my head above my enemies around me. I will offer. I will cause praise to rise up in the earth. That's what he says. I will sing praises to the Lord. So David's prayer is to behold the beauty of the Lord.

And so he knows that God is going to deliver him in order to show him his beauty. It doesn't do any good if, yeah, I've asked the Lord to show me his goodness, and then I get overwhelmed by those who hate me, those who want to devour my flesh.

He said, Not only am I going to see God's goodness and wisdom and strength in the process of this day of trouble, I will celebrate it when it's all over. So that's the calm before the storm. David could look around and say, like, the threat of war, the threat of the day of the trouble, even if that breaks out in a hot war against me, he's calm.

That's the calm before the storm. Well, next, I want to talk to you about the calm during the storm, because that's where the victory is. But before we get to the calm during the storm, we have to talk about the storm during the storm. The storm during the storm.

And David feels the storm waging deep within him. Verses 7 through 12. It's clear that the storm challenges. Challenges David. It challenges his confidence in Yahweh. These storms, these days of trouble, become trials of faith. But it's his confidence in God that drives him to God when the war breaks out.

That's why he could be confident, calm before the storm. Yeah, even if it does break out, I'm going to the Lord. I'm going to see his beauty one way or the other. I'm going to go to the Lord. Look at what he says in verse 7. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice.

He's going to cry out. Now the battle has begun. The war has become hot and tense. But the storm doesn't cause him to abandon God, but rather abandon himself to God. Very different from Saul and us. Sometimes the storm causes us to abandon God and seek our own remedy.

But the storm caused David to abandon himself to God. And so in the following verses, next few verses, we get a sense of the mind games and the emotions that David has experienced in this day of trouble that has come against him, as this war rages against him.

But it's important to note that these are not strange occurrences, but very common to all of those whose faith. Gets tested. There's some push and shove that happens in the day of trouble where storms of life test our faith. First of all, you see in David a longing, a longing for the tangible expressions of God's favor.

What he says in verse 7: Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, I am crying out with my voice, you show favor to me. That's the imperative plea here. You show me favor. Be gracious to me and answer me. Hear me, please. Let me see the expressions of your favor in the midst of this day of trouble.

A longing for the tangible expressions of God's favor. Been there in that day of trouble, and sometimes just the littlest thing can be that touch point that God shows you that he is with you. Because sometimes a day of trouble comes and we're tempted to think that God is not pleased with us.

So he says, Be gracious, be gracious, show favor. I need to sense that favor upon me. Second, to verse 8. When you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I shall seek. So it's like David's doing a little conscious check here. He wants a justification to present his troubles before the Lord.

And what does he say? Remember, God, this day of trouble, in the face of the day of trouble, you wanted me to seek your face. When you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, Your face, O Lord, I will seek. I want to see your face.

I want to know you all my days. I want to behold your beauty all my days, including this day of trouble. I like how David's basically saying here is, look, I'm coming to you, Lord, because you told me to come to you. Jesus said, come to me. Did he not?

He wants us coming to him in the day of trouble. He wants us crying out to him in the day of trouble. I think sometimes we feel like we wait till those big struggles in life hit us and then something that really knocks us out and then we'll call upon the Lord.

But I think God wants us to call upon him. Upon him in everything. The little struggles. Sometimes we think the little struggles aren't big enough to warrant his. And then sometimes we think and we start conditioning ourselves. We need to take care of this ourselves. We don't really need to cry out.

But here's David. It's an encampment against him. He's crying out to God. Then in verses 9 and 10, look at this. You see a challenge and this struggle. You really see the combat going on. This is the storm going on within the storm. It's a battle for faith.

It's a struggle of faith. It's a challenge to the faith. Look at what he says in verse 9. Do not hide your face from me. Do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Do not abandon me, nor forsake me, O God of my salvation, for my father and my mother have forsaken me.

Look at that. Anxiety in the storm. You can see it there. You can see those faith-testing matters. Do not hide. He's feeling that God is distant from him. The day of trouble. He needs to know that God is near, but he feels God is distant. Do not turn.

Your servant away in anger. He feels that God may be angry with him. That's why this day of trouble, or maybe this thing is going on longer than he imagined, or whatever. Perhaps I have done something to make God mad at me, and so he's saying, if so, do not turn me away in anger.

Do not abandon me or forsake me. You see all this struggles he's going through? Feelings that God has distanced, thoughts that God is angry, fear of God being abandoned or God abandoning him, left to face the storm without God. Even the family ties of mother and father were no match for this storm.

Even they had abandoned him. It's basically saying to the Lord, if you turn away, there is no one else for me to turn to. And despair will set in. But in the midst of the storm, in these two verses, you also see faith in this storm. Look at, you can see the opposites of anxiety.

Look at what he, you have been my help in the middle of verse 9. Ah, I remember. Remember what you've done for me in the past. I'm not forgetting what you have done. And boy, I'll tell you, that's what we do sometimes, a day of trouble, we all of a sudden just forget.

Forget God, what he's done in the past. He's provided we get so blinded by the storm and the fog and the darkness. That's why David could say, The Lord is my light and my salvation. You have been my help. But look at also, O God of my salvation, another expression of faith.

O God of my salvation, you are still my light and my salvation. So he still remembers. He remembers what God has done in the past, and he remembers his relationship with God. He knows the day of trouble will pass because of who God is. God is the God of my salvation.

He is the one who will deliver me from this day of trouble. This day of trouble has to bow to the God I serve because this day is not greater than the God I serve. My soul knows this very well, he says. O God of my salvation. Notice what he also says.

The Lord will take me up. The Lord will take me up. Faith knows that God's not going to abandon his people. So he knows that the Lord is going to not abandon him. Notice again, it goes on. Verse 11. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path.

Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me in such breathe out violence. Notice how he's looking again, remembering his relationship. God is my light. Verse 11. That is the manifestation of his favor, by the way, instruction. Clarity on who you are and your relationship with him.

Do we not need that from the Bible? Clarity on our relationship. God is our light. The word is our light. He is our salvation. But what do we need? Teach me your way and lead me on a level path because of my foes. The Lord is my light.

He shows me. He is my daylight and he is my salvation. So lead me, teach me. But he's also the defense. Remember in verse 1, he is the defense of my life. Verse 12, look at what he says: Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries.

You are the defense, you are my light, you are my salvation. That's the storm during the storm. There's that storm that faith is being tested, and yet you see his confidence winning the war because of his relationship with God. Light, salvation, defense. Now we can come to the calm during the storm.

The calm during the storm. Battle's raging, day of trouble has come. Look at what he says in verse 13: I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I would have fainted, the King James Version, despaired.

Versions go in a lot of different directions, but the point is, I would have been really down, except this one thing. I had believed. My soul had put its confidence, put its trust in one thing. I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord. Had it not been that this became the inner confidence of my soul, I would have fallen into despair.

But I knew something about God. I knew that I would see, I knew that he would grant my request to behold his beauty, to behold his goodness and his kindness. He's not going to abandon. That is not beautiful or kind. But he will save, he will deliver. I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, on earth, in this lifetime.

That's why he could look around and say, yeah, I see all these armies all around here. The threat of them doesn't move me. And even if war breaks out, I'm going to be calm. Because I know the Lord is my light. I know he is my salvation. I know he is the defense of my life.

And he is going to show me his goodness. My purpose in life is to behold the beauty of the Lord. That was the purpose for his salvation. That is the purpose of his teaching and his instruction, so that I might know him closer. Sometimes it's going to take those days of trouble to get our minds away.

To see the beauty of God and the wisdom of God in ways we couldn't otherwise. But this is why God made us. Do you believe that? Do you believe that God made you to see His goodness? If you don't, you need to come to Christ and you need to understand, go back to the basics of who Christ is and what He's calling you, what His expression to you is.

Do you think He created you to be destroyed in the day of trouble? That's not faith, and it's not who God is. There are a lot of things about the day of trouble that we may not understand. God doesn't always deliver His people out of trouble, do they?

But this you can be sure of: God does deliver His people from the evil of trouble. Evil doesn't have to overtake you in the day of trouble. He may not deliver you out of trouble, but He will deliver you from the despair of trouble. And sometimes He delivers by trouble.

Sometimes he uses trouble to cure the soul of a much deeper problem. Sometimes he uses lesser troubles to deliver us from greater troubles. But you can be sure that God is the God over troubles and he is able to bring about his good purposes through them. So there's a lot of things we may not be able to understand about the day of trouble, specifically the ones coming against us.

I don't know if Job ever understood, but we can be sure that once it passes, and even while it is passing, we can be sure that we will see the goodness of God in it, even if it be a wicked war encampment against us. That was David's confidence.

It was David's faith that gave him the victory. It was his faith that gave him victory over the threat and the reality. Of trouble. So we've looked at the calm before the storm. We've looked at the storm during the storm. We've looked at the calm during the storm.

Now, one last verse that gives us an instruction: what to do in your day of trouble. What are you to do? Look back at verse 14. We come back to another command. This is David's instruction in light of everything he said: wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage.

Yes, wait for the Lord. This is the command, the imperative. Be waiting. Cause your soul to wait for him. Don't do what Saul did and reach out and try to take care of the matters in your own strength, in your own thinking, in your own way. Try to manipulate God or manipulate or whatever.

Manipulate yourself. Wait for the Lord. What do you do while you wait? Be strong and let your heart take courage. Be strengthening your heart. Be remembering God is my God, my light, my salvation, and the deliverer of my life. This is exactly what Saul didn't do. And because of that, he lost his kingship.

And that's why God sought out another king, one who would do what was in God's heart. Then, of course, keep reading in David's life, you see he was not a perfect person either, was he? He fell grossly. And all that points to even a greater king and our need, one who will completely do everything within God's heart, and one who would know exactly how to bring about such obedience in his people.

So, victory in the day of trouble. Wait on the Lord. The victory is maintaining that calm in the storm, and it's our faith that allows us to do that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this example of a noble heart that trusted in you. Or though, as we leave here, we know that we're all at some degree or level facing some kind of trouble, some large, some smaller.

And yet, Father, to us, they're all troubles. So, help us to be a people who quickly. And call out to you and know who you are, be secure in our relationship with you. The day of trouble will come. But, Father, we need not to be fearful, the threat, the day of trouble, or even if the day of trouble should break forth against us.

Father, we have every bit of confidence to go forward and we echo David's prayer as we leave here this, go about our business this week and affairs. Father, one thing that we desire is that we would behold your beauty and dwell with you throughout this week, see your goodness all around us.

In Jesus' name, amen.