Cross Road
Baptist Church
© 2017
Sermon Text
The Power to Hold On
11. Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies.
12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
13. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalm 27:11-14
Life Lessons on Holding On
There are many lessons you will learn in life if you pay attention. There are three that I think are essential if you are to have any degree of success and sanity in this world. The first lesson to learn is that you will have enemies no matter how good you try to live. This lesson also incorporates the truth that everyone will not like you nor will everyone be your friend. While there is no need to become paranoid, there is a need to be cautious because sometimes it is extremely difficult to tell who your friends are and who your enemies are. Jesus, the Righteous Son of God, indeed God in the Flesh, had enemies. Our Lord said, “You will know a tree by its fruit.” Thus it behooves us to be careful as we journey through this life. Sometimes it is good to only have a few friends versus having people around who are really your enemies.
The Psalmist recognized that he had enemies. Thus he prayed, Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies. If you don’t know who your enemies are, you had better ask God to teach you and to lead you in the right path. This brings us to the second powerful lesson that is even more crucial than knowing you have enemies. You must come to the place where you trust in God and His power. You can do nothing without God.
Please note that the Psalmist does not engage in strategic planning to defeat the enemy. Nor does the Psalmist spend a great deal of time recognizing and complaining of how vicious the enemies are. David recognized that even if there were no enemies to complain about, he would still need God to be good, gracious, and kind. Why spend time giving credit to the enemy when you can spend time giving praise to God? No doubt at this point in David’s life, he felt overwhelmed by the constant death threats and violent acts directed at him. His enemies were dogging his every step, but God was with him. Thus he says in verse 13, I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
It is good to know that when life is overwhelming God’s goodness will give us power to hold on. So rather than becoming impatient and reactive over the presence of the enemy we, like David, can be calm knowing that God is near. When we look on the human side of the issue, we could faint; but when we see things from God’s perspective we see the goodness of the Lord. It all depends on whether we will allow patience to have its perfect work. If we do and when we do, patience will make us complete and lacking nothing.
Learning God’s Patience
Some of the things you and I have had to face would have been impossible to survive had it not been for God. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Those life experiences brought us to our knees but rather than giving up, we looked up. That is the point where we learn to hold on and hold out until the change comes. It takes a patience that you and I don’t have. God has to give patience, and He does so through the learning process. Patience is a learned virtue and can only be demonstrated in adversity. If you don’t have enemies, you will problem learn little about patience; but then we have established that we all have enemies. Whether they are the known or unknown, we still have them. How do we learn patience, and more importantly, how do we hold on to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
The first learning objective is to see. “O say can you see,” were the first lines in Francis Scott Key’s Star Spangled Banner. Rather than focusing on the bombs bursting in air, he saw a flag waving in the morning breeze. It all depends on what you see rather than what grabs your attention. What did David see? Before we answer that question, we must ask, how did he see? His vision was based on God’s provision. Note that David proclaims how he saw things through God.
We must also Proclaim God as our Light. Verse 1, The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear. When you force yourself to look higher than your problems, you will begin to see God by God’s Light. Why do you think God is your Light? It is certainly not to focus on the bad things in life. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Yes, I notice I have a problem but I look to see God. The Apollo 13 Spacecraft Commander James Lovell quoted those now famous lines, “Houston, we have a problem.” The mission had a lot of issues, but Lovell was talking to his command center for direction. O, if only the Saints of God would look to their Heavenly Command Center. Our God is the only one that can see us through the chaos of this messed up life. David knew where his help came from. He held on because he was holding on to God. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Not only must we see God, we must also seek His goodness. Simply seeing God is insufficient to solving our problem. We must also pursue God as our Deliverance. Verses 4-5, the Psalmist describes this pursuit. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; 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 enquire in His Temple. Why desire and seek after to dwell in the House of the Lord? He answers in the next verse For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion. The enemy can’t go in there. Do you see it? God’s goodness in the land of the living is to escape the enemy by entering God’s presence. Otherwise the stuff of life would have you so messed up. Even when we see bad things happen and even when bad things happen in our life, we are not focusing on those times as permanent. We know that something better is about to take place. Why would God turn the Light on our life; certainly not to see misery? Why would God show us His Deliverance if we could not run there in the time of trouble? We can and that is the very thing we need. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
When we know that we have a place to go and also someone to go to that can handle life, that keeps us from fainting. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The reason for not fainting was greater than the reason to faint. When you see God, you have seen everything. When you see God, the enemy threats are small. When you see God, life is not a problem. Seeing God keeps us from fainting, failing, faltering, or falling away. This makes us realize that God is everything. He is our All in All. David said that God was the best thing that could ever happen in his life. Whenever the darkness of life invaded, God was his Light. If the enemy assaulted him, God was his Deliverance.
David also found that God had not only prepared a refuge, but that God was his Refuge. What we must do is prepare for God as our Refuge. Verses 11-12, Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies … Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. The threats of the enemy may sound strong but God causes their threats to be nothing more than idle noise. They talk but have no power to fight against God. Even with that, we need God’s plain path. We desperately need God to teach us. That teaching and leading is our Refuge. We simply walk away from what could have been our destruction.
Can I Get a Witness
What a lesson for such a hurried society as ours! God commands us to hold on in order to hold out. Holding on seems to be a helpless act, but it is a powerful testimony of trust. David held on and did not faint while facing the threats of King Saul. Had he fainted, he would have slain Saul out of revenge. Because God was in his life, he said “I cannot raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” When you have God, you don’t need to faint. Just hold on in order to hold out.
Joshua held on and did not allow the fear of leadership to keep him from doing his best for God. Joshua was not blind. He saw the challenges that Moses faced with such a stiff-necked bunch of rebellious Israelites. But God spoke peace to Him and said, “be strong and very courageous.” Joshua did not grow weak and say, “I can’t do this.” Instead he was courageous. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. He saw God’s goodness on the battle field. He saw God’s goodness when they crossed the Jordan’s. At one point, Joshua prayed that the Sun would stand still and the moon would stay in place until they finished the battle. God heard Joshua’s prayer. That is what I call holding on.
You may say, holding on is easy when the problem has not arrived. What do you do when the problem is upon you? Paul and Silas would still say, don’t faint. God is still in control. They did not faint while they were in jail. They sang and prayed until God shook the jail house. This brings us to the third lesson: God’s Goodness will show up. As a matter of fact, Goodness does not show up alone; it brings along Mercy. There in that Philippian jail, Paul and Silas held on because they had something to hold on to. God did not bring them all that way to abandon them in the midnight hour. Look to the Lord. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Your great God has great plans for you. You must see Him as everything to you and recognize that His mercy endures forever. We depend on His goodness and that keeps us from fainting. Surely, Goodness and Mercy will follow you, all the days of your life… and you will dwell in God’s House forever. Amen.