— Brother Phil Enlow: I’ll tell you, a lot of us, a lot of folks, come to God and they’ve been through hell, but they don’t understand that God was the one who used all of that to get them ready…for their place in the Kingdom of God.
But anyway, David is…the further he went, years and years went by…the further he went, the farther it seemed like he was getting from the call of God, the promise of God, and what was happening. We see the Psalms where he says, “How long, O Lord?” (NLT). How many times did we see him pour out his natural feelings…and Lord, I don’t understand…everybody’s against me, everything’s against me, they’re lying about me and how long is this gonna happen?
We see testimonies of God’s faithfulness all mingled in. But, oh, do you see his humanity in these Psalms? That’s why people can relate to them. This is not just somebody’s little Sunday School lesson. This is a whole lot deeper. This is real life. This is a man that God was preparing for a special place.
But look what it took for him to come to that place. And the day came when he had no place that was safe for him in Israel. He’d run out of hiding places. The only place he could do was to go over to the enemies, live among the Philistines, and essentially swear loyalty to them and their causes, and then, they went to war against Israel and wouldn’t even let him fight. And there he is, I’ve been faithful…go home.
And all of his men are discouraged and have a 2-day hike or whatever it was, it was a long way back. And when they get there, there’s nothing there! Because all of their stuff has been raided. A bunch of people have come through, an army has come through and raided all of their people, their houses, their animals, wives, their children, they’re all gone!
And you see the reaction of the men talking about stoning David. We’ve been following the wrong guy here. But what did David do? Even in that extremity, David encouraged himself in the Lord.
Wouldn’t it be good if we could learn to do that, in our darkest moments, when the Devil is beating us up, and telling us it’s all…nothing is worth it? You’ve been serving God in vain. Look how He’s treating you. Look at the circumstances in your life. And God is looking for people who say, I’m gonna serve my God anyway. I am trusting Him even now in this circumstance.
And we see God turn that around and it was a very short period of time when Saul was dead and David began to reign. You know, we have the saying, ‘it’s darkest before the dawn.’ Well, that was a pretty good example of it being the darkest moment in David’s life, up to that point. And so, God blesses David. He was prepared to serve God in a rough time.
I’ll tell you, a lot of the Israelites were not very faithful. There was a lot of stuff going on, right in his own family we see things going on. And we see David himself getting to a point where he becomes careless. And he starts resting on his laurels. Is there any place where the Lord tells us to do that? No! What happens when we do that? Who are we trusting? We’re trusting ourselves. Okay, I’ve become spiritually mature. Now I can…
( exhaling ).
I’ve got…I’ve arrived. Yeah, you’ve arrived in a place where the Devil’s kind of got you where he wants you, and you’re fixing to have some trouble here. We need the Lord, moment by moment, every single day. We either live by His life or we live by ours. And if we live by ours, it ain’t gonna be good. We need Him.
But anyway, even in that, we see a man’s heart reaching out to God and God reaching back, don’t we? Thank God! It was after this that the Lord enabled him to make all the plans for the temple, turn them over to Solomon, and God brought them to the zenith of Israel’s power.
Even in David’s failure, God was able to turn that around and record that honestly so that he could encourage every single one of us when we come to those times. How many times has that Psalm 51 blessed you? And met you in a time of need?
( congregational amens ).
Yeah. Thank God for the honesty we see in the Scriptures about real people and their lives.
But you know, I was thinking about this, and you remember, some of you who were here Wednesday night, remember that I read Deuteronomy chapter 8, and I’m gonna go ahead and quickly look at that. It’s something we’ve seen many times over the years. I don’t think this is necessarily gonna take a lot more time.
But, this is the occasion when they have wandered for 40 years. They did it because there was a generation of people, regardless of what God did, they saw mighty, powerful miracles that carried them through and brought them to the border of the land, and in the face of all of that, they came to a place where they rejected God’s promise, felt like they had no hope of conquering the land, and were talking about going back to Egypt.
And finally, the Lord said, I’ve had enough of this generation. I have reached out to them over and over and over and over again, and they made a choice to say, I’m not gonna trust God. And so now we’ve come, 40 years later, every member of that generation that was 20 years and up, is now gone.
Now Moses is speaking to the people, renewing the covenant, reminding them who they are, reminding them of God’s promises, and he says, beginning in verse 2, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.” (NIV).
You know, we hear a word like ‘discipline’ we think of punishment, don’t we? And it can be, in a sense, that you know, children need consequences if they really do something that’s wrong. What would happen if you simply allowed a child to do whatever came into their head with no restraint? Not only that, every time they wanted something you rushed to their side and gave it to them. What would you have when they got to a certain point of life? Would they be prepared?
No! That would be horrible, wouldn’t it? We recognize that in the world, at least to some degree. I’ll tell you, it’s getting away from even that. But I’ll tell you, if you just let people follow their own nature, without any restraint, any training, it’s not gonna be good. And people are not going to be ready to face life.
The biggest…the underlying reason…sorry, the underlying meaning of the word ‘discipline’ is more like child training. And God knows how to train, how to prepare His children for their place in the kingdom. As I say, every one of God’s children is different, everyone is unique.
But here is God, looking down on us, and we’re a lot like children. We want what we want. We are tuned to this world and this life and it’s needs. And a whole lot of folks out there with this prosperity gospel, they picture a God who simply wants to cater to our needs, to our wants, put it that way. I’m glad God cares about natural things in life, too. He’s not unmindful of those things.
But God has another purpose than simply giving us earthly success, making us somebody in the eyes of others. He wants to bring us to a place where we’re like His Son. And His Son did not walk in harmony with this world and its ways and its ideas. He was in tune with God, He was in tune with a divine purpose.
And that is what God is seeking to reproduce in every one of us. So, if you’re one that went through hell in the early part of your…in some part of your past, don’t you think we need to see God’s hand in that? Because that’s exactly what Moses is saying, what the Lord is saying. Remember all that the Lord has brought to pass in your life. Why did He do it? He did it to humble you.
But how did He humble us? You know, we need to see God’s sovereign hand in a deeper way. “He humbled you, causing you to hunger.” You know, it’s easy to see, to sort of imagine, well, the Devil’s doing stuff and God’s just sort of standing back. But I’ll tell you, God arranges things far more than we imagine. Even when the Devil is doing something, and allowed to do it, is not the hand of God on that? Can the Devil do anything the Lord doesn’t allow him to do?
I’ve said this many times, it must be frustrating to be the Devil. He can’t win when it comes to God’s people! Jesus won the victory. It’s not based upon how smart I am and how good I am, or my performance. It’s not based on any of these things, it’s based upon what Jesus did, 100 percent!
( congregational amens ).
And if we will just…if we allow the faith that He will plant in our hearts to take root, and we just continue to put our hope and our trust in Him, even in those dark times, God’s gonna use those dark times to shape us to be something we could never have been any other way.
So, here’s the Lord saying, you want to know why you got hungry? You want to know why, Israelites, you went out three days from wherever it was and then you got to a place and there was no water? And what was your reaction? Complain against Moses. Why did you bring us out here so we didn’t have any water? We were better in Egypt. Who were they complaining against?
We need to ask God to help us. If you and I are going through anything right now, and our spirit is one of complaint, if somebody has mistreated us or done us wrong in some fashion, and our focus is on that and how wrong that is, who are we complaining about really? Aren’t we complaining about the Lord? Is He not on the throne? Does He not have the right to use things that are adverse to us, to make us, to shape us into what He wants us to be?
Yeah, isn’t that what He’s saying here? I’m the One who took you to that place. And I wanted you to understand something. I’m going to take you specifically to a place where natural resources will not work! You will not have what you need! But I’m gonna take you there so that I’ll show you that that’s not what you’re dependent on. You’re dependent upon me, and I’m faithful!
( congregational response ).
There’s one time, at least, in the occasion, in the early occasion of their journey, where God brought them to a place where there was no water and God miraculously provided water. And finally, they kind of got that, I guess. And they went on for a journey a little bit, and they came to a place where there were 12 wells, I think, and a bunch of palm trees, and they camped there for a while. So, it wasn’t all adversity, was it? Sometimes, it’s blessing.
( congregational response ).
God is over everything! But when it comes to His children, He uses everything to shape us. If you’ve been through a dark place in your life, or someplace in your past, don’t you waste your time being bitter at people, or being angry at God, or any of those things. You humble yourself under His hand and say, God, make me what You want me to be.
( congregational amens ).
Help me to see past all of the circumstances and to see your loving, merciful hand. If He has revealed Himself to you, it’s because you’re His. And He loves you and He cares about you. But there are things that He cannot accomplish any other way.
And that’s kind of what He’s saying here, isn’t it? Because I didn’t just cause you to hunger, I fed you, too. I gave you something that you couldn’t possibly have.
Now the problem with that generation was, they never did get it. Well, that’s what the book of Hebrews mentions, doesn’t it? Where the writer there was concerned about people who would profess to become followers of Jesus, but it never was really in here.
And that’s kind of how it was with that generation. They were glad to go through the Red Sea, and recognize this is a wonderful miracle. Praise God, isn’t He amazing? And then they watched the Egyptians all drown behind them.
My God, how could people see that and not trust God? And it’s because there was an evil heart of unbelief down…lurking down there. They were glad for something that sort of helped them along and gave them something they thought they needed. Folks, we’re not here to use God for our purposes. He is here to call us into a kingdom and change us so that we fit.
( congregational amens ).
And I’ll tell you, He can…in this Kingdom, He gives the abilities, He shapes you to be who you are. You know, I thought about this…see if I can pull my thoughts together and express it. We, somehow, react to the idea of God being in everybody and directing them and being submitted to Him, and allowing Him to live in and through us, there’s a part of us that doesn’t quite understand that, and a lot of it is…well I would say ‘it’ is because we react because of a human nature context. We think about how things are here when somebody acquires power over other people, what do they tend to do?
( congregational response ).
They abuse them. They use them selfishly, and people lose their liberty. And we value liberty, especially, theoretically at least, in this country. And those of you who are Star Trek fans, remember the Borg. I mean, the whole principle of the Borg, is that he had this one powerful queen, I guess they called her. And somehow, she had come up with the technology to control this vast army of drones who were conscripted into her kingdom, and she was going to take from them and use them for her purposes. And she couched it all in such noble terms.
But I’ll tell you, when it comes to God, God does not destroy your uniqueness nor does He do anything for self! It’s hard for us to recognize that because of the way we see things and how they work in the world. But this is a God whose whole being is devoted to the welfare, and the blessing of the objects of His love. But what can He do with us if we’re selfish, and won’t give up that way, and won’t allow Him in? Folks, we need Him! I need Him!
( congregational amens ).
If you run into one of those discouraging times lately, where things aren’t going your way. You’re weak, you’re tired, you’re discouraged, you failed in some fashion. Folks, we need the Lord. We just need to come to Him and recognize that He is the ultimate author of love and mercy and grace. That He has every need.
What was the other thing He wanted to teach them? “Man shall not live by bread alone…” (KJV). That represents human effort of any sort—human resources. But I have got resources that don’t depend on anything of this world, anything that comes from you. I can step in when there is no other answer. I am your answer. And I want you to understand that in a practical way. Because just understanding it in theory is wonderful, but it doesn’t work unless we live that way.
Folks, if you haven’t been through stuff, you will. But I know you have. I know we all have. But I know God is faithful. You know, it’s interesting, that at one point I thought about, I thought about calling this “Don’t Quit.” But I don’t think I will. I think I’ll call it “I Led You This Way.” Because everybody needs…every one of us that knows the Lord, we need to be able to look back and hear the Lord saying, I led you this way. I want to hear His voice more than I have. Anybody here?
( congregational response ).
Yeah. I mean, I confess to my need as great as anybody here. But do you see the Lord’s heart in what’s being expressed? Here I am, Lord…the Lord’s saying, I’ve led you this way, I brought you because I’m trying to make you so you’re different from the nations. I want you to be a people who looks to me, who doesn’t depend upon human resources but knows that I am a God who is not dependent on any of that. I just want you to trust Me.
I have good intentions for all of you. I want you to have a place of blessing. I’m training you. I’m teaching you by what you’re experiencing. And how many times did that one generation, as we say, just failed to hear the Lord’s voice and recognize what God was doing for them?
It’s a simple thing. Can you hear the voice of the Lord saying to you this morning, I have brought you this way? As you look back on your life and you see things that you’d love to have seen be different. They were difficult, they were heart rending, some of them. Has God truly brought you this way? Is He in charge enough to do that?
Yeah, He is. If He can raise up Pharoah, knowing the kind of man he was, and use him to show His glory, I’ll tell you, He can use whatever circumstances. We have no place, any more than Jesus did, blaming, and looking around, and complaining, and being discouraged, and yielding to fear, yielding to all of those things. But rather say, Lord, Your will be done. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (NIV). Help me to be the kind of a person You want me to be, and to surrender to you and believe You.
And exactly what Brother Joel was saying…talked about His Word. You know, I thought about…I’ll just drop this very quickly. I’ve wondered about that. What did that mean, to learn that…to learn about His Word, that, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (KJV).
I don’t get the connection there, in terms of their history. But what happened every time they had a desperate need for food, for water, whatever it was, God spoke, didn’t he? He sent quails, enough to cover the whole camp and feed everybody. I don’t know whether He created them or assembled them, or what happened. But I’ll tell you, we have a supernatural God who speaks and stuff happens!
Well, the covenant that we have, God speaks. Wouldn’t it be good if what He speaks to our heart comes out of our mouth and becomes our confession?
( congregational response ).
That’s what we live by. That’s what gives us the ability to do what we’re talking about. It’s not human strength. It’s not just ‘happy talk.’ We need supernatural power that only comes from what God says and comes from His heart! And when our hearts are aligned with that, and we’re agreeing with it, to the point where we’re not just mouthing words, but where they’re coming from our hearts. Oh, there are changes happening. And there’s a God who can live in a people like that in a dark time. We need Him!
( congregational response ).
We need Him! And He’s faithful! Whatever He allows, it will shape us to be the people that will, “…know their God…be strong, and do exploits.”
( congregational amens ).
I want to be part of those people, don’t you? So, praise God! I hope everyone here can hear God’s voice saying, I brought you this way. And just trust Him and look to Him, because He’s faithful. Praise God!
