A Sermon by Pastor Tom Lacey . . .

Hitting the Bottom but Going to the Top

1Samuel 19:1-10, Preached by Tom Lacey at Congregational Church of Boca Raton, August 19, 2007

A motorist had a flat tire in front of an insane asylum. He took the wheel off, but when he stood up he tipped over the hubcap containing the bolts, spilling them all down a sewer drain. A patient, looking through the fence, suggested that the man take one bolt from the remaining three wheels to hold the fourth wheel in place until he could get to a service station. The motorist thanked him profusely and said, "I don't know why you're in there!"  The patient said, "I'm in here for being crazy, not for being stupid." Hey, everyone has at least one thing going for them.

Our text today is about keeping a hold of God even when everything else is giving way. It is so easy to succumb to feelings of helplessness and desperation when we find ourselves in a furnace of affliction. This however is the most important time to keep your head on straight. As they say, “nobody’s promised you a rose garden,” at least not all the time.

Norman Vincent Peale was walking down the street when he saw his friend George. It was evident from George's downtrodden look that he was deeply concerned about something. Dr. Peale asked him, "How are you, George?" While that was meant to be a routine inquiry, George took him seriously and for ten minutes enlightened him on how bad he felt. Finally Dr. Peale said to him, "George, I'm sorry to see you in such a depressed state. How did you get this way?" "It's my problems," George said. "Problems—nothing but problems. I'm fed up with problems. If you could get rid of all my problems, I would contribute $5,000 to your favorite charity." That got Peale's attention. He said, "Yesterday I went to a place where thousands of people reside. As far as I could determine, not one of them has any problems. Would you like to go there?" "When can we leave?" answered George. "If that's the case, George, I'll be happy to take you tomorrow to Woodlawn Cemetery because the only people I know who don't have any problems are dead."

If there is anything scripture knows, it’s troubles. “Man is born unto trouble,” it says. This is true, but scripture also know that God is true, as it continually reminds us, “the Lord will … be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.” Psalm 9:9  So don’t give into troubles. God has a lot of escape routes already planned out. Desperate times don’t call for desperate measures; they call for divine measures. Solving problems is great, but staying in God’s presence while you walk through problems is even more important. This how we go from desperate to divine. Although I do think I have one solution that seems very important. You know that indestructible black box in airplanes, which we are always able to find amid the wreckage. Why don’t they make the entire airplane out of that indestructible black box?

What we want to see this morning is that times of trial are times for forging character.

When you meet up with the tough situation, this is not the time to short cut one’s values. This is when we forge character, not forget character. A friend of mine and I talked the other day. He told me about how his immediate supervisor/boss had gotten out of line with him recently. As the story goes, my friend didn’t tell his boss’ boss that he was supposed to speak for five minutes at a lunch they were hosting, but he did tell this immediate boss. When the big boss showed up at the lunch and then learned he was supposed to speak, he wasn’t too happy about it. My friend ended up telling the big boss that he did tell his supervisor. Well that didn’t go over well with that boss, who came in and yelled and verbally accosted him, to the point that he asked if his boss wanted his resignation. He didn’t. There’s no doubt that my friend didn’t do his best, but it’s what we do with someone who is vulnerable and perhaps even deserving of a word or two that reveals our character. When a situation comes up and someone has blown it, someone has really disappointed you and maybe you’ve got the upper hand now, and you can exact some pain for your pain—don’t. Don’t get mad. Don’t even get even. Forge your character instead. Scripture calls it the “excellence of dignity.” This excellence is the ability to stay stable and stick to standards, even, especially, when the pressure is on, when others perhaps are urging more expedient solutions. To have character is to keep your heart and mind when the battle is being waged for them.

David was a man full of hope. Even when everyone else thought it was time to get desperate, David abounded with positive expectation. His was a God who was going to bring order out of chaos, joy out of pain, character out of conflict. Saul, the angry, paranoid Saul, wasn’t going to have the last word. God was, and David knew God was going to do some wonderful things with him.

After David killed Goliath, he was a hero. His life changed completely. He was given men to lead into battle, and David won. He was given one of Saul’s daughter’s hand in marriage. He was such a good musician that he would play and sing to help soothe King Saul’s frayed nerves. But then Saul got jealous of David, this wunderkind, and Saul became paranoid and murderous. One day, while David was playing, Saul was holding on to a spear. The next thing David knows that spear is twanging into the wall right next to him. Saul had just missed. David was able to get out of there and from then on was on the run, for years and years, with Saul and his army chasing him out of caves and down mountains and into enemy territory. David went from hero to zero in very little time. He was a dead man walking, all Saul had to do was catch him.

This was the lowest point in David’s life. He was public enemy number one. He lived in caves, running for his life, with only those who believed in him at his side. He was an outlaw—and he was a praying man, a poet, a man whose heart still sought help from his God, especially in these dark, deadly days and nights. Look at Psalm 142, and you will read David’s prayer for when he is trapped in a cave, a prison, hiding for his life. He turns to God for refuge and deliverance. “With my voice I cry to the Lord…I tell my trouble before him. When my spirit is faint, you know my way. In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me…no refuge remains for me; no one cares for me. I cry to you, O Lord; I say, ‘you are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’ Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name.” I love that line: “I tell my trouble before him.” You can sense the act of David taking off the cloak of all his worries and fears, folding it up, and placing it on a table, where across from him sits the Lord. “Here they are.” We do need to undress ourselves from our troubles and give them over. They are too heavy to wear all the time.

When the bottom falls out, where do you turn? Your spouse is talking separation or divorce? Your daughter is doing drugs. You lose your job, and it’s your fault. Or financially, you’re at the end. When your spouse is having an affair, where do you turn? When you find yourself in jail because you broke the law? When you can’t find the willpower to stop drinking? Where do you go for a refuge? Turn to the living God. Find in the Lord a place to rest. There is strength for those who retire to God. When you are failing in strength and wounded in spirit, raise you heart and voice to God. Seek refuge, that protective place, where you God will encourage your spirit. Tell your troubles before the Lord. You know, depression is a mighty enemy, a foe that saps our strength at its deepest root, in our spirit. We get depressed because we are embarrassed, ashamed, afraid. When we our sad in our spirit, we need to go to the healer, someone who can be a confidant and a strong friend. Christ always cares, always heals, always lends his strength to those who enter his stronghold, and who rest under his wings. So repair to Jesus. Return to the fount of all blessings. Drink from the well from which no one thirsts again.

There were times when he was running that David was just yards from death. David was so close to Saul on at least one occasion, or the other way around, that they actually shared the same cave, with David and some of his closest companions in the deeper part of the cave and Saul having entered just the front part to relieve himself. Scripture says that David stealthily crept up, raised his sword, and cut off a corner of the king’s cloak. He refused to kill the king even though he had the opportunity. As Saul walked away from the cave, David revealed to him, from a safe distance, that he had had the chance to kill him but didn’t do so, saying, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed….” 1Sam.24.6

Great people are not opportunists; they may be pragmatists, but they do not lower standards of dignity and forgo principles of excellence.

You can’t cheapen yourself some of the time and hold onto greatness of spirit. It is the one with a great spirit who elevates the cheap moment to its better and truest height. Don’t seek revenge. Retaliation is for the godless, and is a thin spirit’s way of thinking. You don’t have to like the person who wrongly attacked or hurt you, but revenge is not for us; it is not one of our tools. Pray instead. Seek a healed and whole heart. Feed yourself righteousness, joy and peace in the spirit. Don’t eat the bitter pills of hatred, vengefulness, and spite. Your freedom in Christ is a powerful witness and a wonderful power. Forgive your spouse. Forgive your parents. Forgive your friends. Forgive your siblings, your boss, your neighbor. Forgive, through God’s grace and your repentance, yourself.

A man went to the doctor and said “Doctor, I have this problem, I keep passing wind. It is not too bad because you can't smell anything and it doesn't make any noise. In fact, you wouldn't realize it, but in the last five minutes that I have been sitting here in your room I have probably passed wind some 20 times or more. As I say you can't smell anything and it makes no noise but I thought I should get it checked out.” The doctor took a quick look at him gave him a prescription and told him to come back in a week. The next week the man arrived and the doctor asked him about his problem. “I don't know what the tablets were,” said the man, “but I'm still passing wind, and now it smells absolutely foul!” The doctor looked at him and said, “Well I'm glad we fixed your sense of smell, now let’s see what we can do about your hearing!”

You and I know that we can’t fix all of the problems that life gives to us, certainly not with a pill. Jesus never gave people the answers they wanted him to. He never said, “I will come and give you the answers you want until the end of the age.” He said, “I will come and I will be with you until the end of the age.” So get with God when the going gets tough and stay with the Lord when you’ve gotten to the top. Let your heart be for the Lord, and the Lord will bless you and keep you.

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