Now let’s look at David. He was just a little shepherd boy tending the sheep of his father, happy to be doing the sheep thing. He’s out there in the field and he’s doing the sheep thing and he’s good at the sheep thing. But how many of you know that’s not his thing. This sheep thing was just a time of preparation for the real leadership thing. So he’s doing the sheep thing then this Prophet Samuel comes along and says to him "God hath anointed thee to be king" and he dumps a horn of oil on his head. Now this king thing that's his thing. He was destined for greatness. But the country already has a king, King Saul. For a while David and Saul are friends, but then David starts to gain notoriety and he becomes more popular among the people than Saul. Now Saul, well, he likes doing the king thing and he don’t want to give it up, so he decides to chase David down and kill him. So he chases David and well because of his integrity David doesn’t want to kill Gods anointed and he doesn’t want to die so he runs and he goes to hide in a cave.

    1Sa 22:1 ¶ David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

So we see he’s got 400 grumpy people with him and his in laws (ugggggg scarey)and they’re not happy.  

    This doesn’t look at all like what God had promised, he’s supposed to be the beloved king and now  here he is hiding in this cave He doesn’t even have a pillow to lay his head on  and everybody is mad at him. You would think he might just give up or go off into a corner somewhere and cry and give up on being king. After all he’s a ruddy little boy, why he’s certainly not what most would consider to be KINGLY material. His father had not even considered him in the line up to see whom God would choose. BUT GOD DID So what did he do, He wrote a song of praise unto God. How could he do this? He is in a cave hiding from Saul and fleeing for his very life (let’s not forget all the grumpy people) yet now we see he sits down and he writes a Psalm.

    Let’s look at  psalm 57:1 ¶ <<To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.> Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.  2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. 3 He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.  4 My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. Selah. 7 ¶ My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. 8 Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. 9 I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. 10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 11 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.(KJV)

     NOW turn to
    Psalm 142  1 ¶ <<Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave.> I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. 2 I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. 3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. 4 ¶ I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.  5 I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. 6 Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. (KJV) 

    Point is* he praised God in the midst of his trouble. God desires that we worship him at all times   I will bless the Lord at all times, yes even in the midst of our trouble,  even when we don’t feel like it, even when it seems the whole world is against us. But look, when you praise God in the midst of your troubles it benefits you and it really makes the devil mad because he’s not gaining the advantage over you. He wants you to feel like all your help is cut off. God is not going to show up and help you and you are out of luck Chuck. So forget God go ahead and kill your self or something because life is obviously hopeless and things will never change for you. Because after all you are so worthless etc. But these are all the lies of the enemy. Satan’s desire is that you look at yourself and see the position you’re in and that your focus be taken off of the goodness and mercy of God, off of his  faithfulness and his greatness. The last thing he wants is for you to praise God in the middle of your trouble and thereby give God the glory. Satan’s desire is to make you think that it all depends on you and you aren’t able so you’re without help. BUT IT’S A LIE
   He doesn’t want you to know what the word of God says about this situation and he surely doesn’t want you to praise God, because see when you praise God you have to think about God and his love and his mercy and all his other wonderful attributes..  What do you praise him for? Well we praise him for his greatness, for who he is. We look at him and  then see we see how great he is and our troubles begin to seem small compared to his greatness  they are small . How many of you know God is greater than your problem, he is bigger than your dilemma. He is able to change things to bring us up out of the pit, and set us in Potiphar’s house. So not only does it change our focus, and get our minds off of the troubles that surround us, but it sets our minds on God. The Bible tells us in Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

   God will keep in perfect peace he whose mind is stayed on the Lord. When will God do this? When we put our trust in HIM, when we stop going by what we see, stop leaning to our own understanding

In the bible we see we have weapons.

   2Corinthians 10: 4 -5  4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds ;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  it teaches us  that the weapons  of our warfare are not carnal, not in our flesh our strength our ability  but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, (wrong thinking patterns, things that keep us in bondage to things like depression and fear and rejection, loneliness and hopelessness.)

   We see we are to be CASTING DOWN IMAGINATIONS and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ  So we see the thoughts we have some times need to be cast down. Some of the thoughts we have simply are not true. At times, they are contrary to the truth and in direct opposition to God and to Gods word which is truth. We know that it is the truth that sets us free.

 John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (KJV)

    So we must cast down those imaginations (thoughts) that are not according to Gods word, not according to the truth .The bible tells us that we shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free, so we see we must walk according to what Gods says and not by leaning on our own understanding. We must walk according to faith and not by what we see for our eyes can sometimes deceive us. What may appear to be an everlasting pit of despair, may really just be a temporary pit on the way to Potiphar’s house.

Now about pits:

    There are many pits that people can fall into along life’s journey .There are pits of despair , pits of discouragement , pits of hopelessness and pits of self pity  are some of the worst ones. Not every pit is a good pit to stay in. It is a pit stop not a pit stay. Pits are things we sometimes fall into but things we need to climb out of not stay in. When we are in the pit, we learn what to do when we fall in the pit. We learn to climb out and the only way to learn to climb out is to need to climb out and to start trying to climb. So we must first find out that we are in a pit, and then we must learn to climb out.

In the pit with us there are often times many others that will seek to hold us in the pit. 

Fact is in the pit there are many:

     Some will seek to hold you there. If you’re in a pit of despair and hopelessness, you will find that despair and hopelessness are there in the pit with you, because they live there and have in fact dragged you into the pit because misery loves company. The devil is a miserable thing and he wants to share his misery with you. You might even find some of your family and friends there in the pit. So you must cut off despair and hopelessness with the sword of truth. What has God promised for your life? Did he say he came that you may remain in the pit? Or did he say that he came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. He came that we might have life. God’s desire is that we enter in to his rest and have joy. That we trust in him and know he is able to deliver us from the pits. 

Lets look a little further at another example Paul and Silas 

    Acts 16:9 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. 10 And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. 11 Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; 12 And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.  13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.  14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. 15 And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us. 16 ¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:  17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,  20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, 21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 25 ¶ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here. 29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. 34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.35 ¶ And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. 36 And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. 

So don’t let the devil steal your song.

 Paul who was later imprisoned in Rome penned these words.

    Php 4: 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. 10 ¶ But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.  11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 

MORE 

Ro 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

 Ro 15:13 ¶ Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. 

 Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,(KJV)

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