From His Heart

Speaker 1

Are you enduring a crisis in your life? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve on From His Heart.

Speaker 2

Hey, maybe you're in a crisis today and maybe you're in a terrible time. Maybe in your marriage, maybe in your family, maybe in your finances. I mean, it's not just a little problem. Everybody's got problems. I'm talking about a crisis. I'm talking about a major thing.

The house is on fire, so to speak, in your life, what are you gonna do? How are you gonna pray? Do you know how to pray?

In every scar with real truth, real love, real hope. From his heart.

Speaker 1

If you're in the middle of a crisis, maybe your life seems like it's on fire and you don't know what to do. Well, today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, he'll open God's word and share some timely and reassuring truth in an eye-opening and final message for the series "Life is Hard, but God is Good."

Today we'll hear part one of the lesson entitled "How to Pray in a Crisis" and begin to learn the three components to include in your prayers when you're facing overwhelming circumstances. Here's a truth: you have, are, or will go through a crisis in your life, maybe many of them. So don't miss any of these lessons that will air today and tomorrow.

If you can't be with us for the entire lesson these two days, you can listen again once it's aired at fromhisheart.org and click the Listen tab. You can also download a free MP3 of this broadcast and the sermon outlines from Pastor Jeff. Again, that's fromhisheart.org, click the Listen link.

Let's get started. Now open your Bible to Psalm 143. And here's Pastor Jeff with insight into how to pray in a crisis.

Speaker 2

Now, David is not the sole author of all 150 Psalms, but he authored many of the Psalms. He's known as the sweet psalmist of Israel. David, a man after God's own heart. And I think what many people love about David, I know what I love about David, is that he is so honest about what he's going through in life. The Psalms are just raw life; it's just emotions and feelings, and this is what's going on. But yet, I'm going to trust you, God.

David was a man who was greatly blessed. When you think of David, he starts out as a little shepherd boy. He's the eighth son of his father Jesse. His father, Jesse, doesn't really think highly of him, which is kind of incredible to consider. We know he doesn't think highly of him because when Samuel the prophet said to Jesse, "God has chosen one of your sons to be the next king," Jesse doesn't even invite David to the feast. He said, "Well, there's no way he's choosing David. He's just the youngest." But David was the guy. David was the one. David is this person who loves the Lord, a person of tremendous faith, and God blessed him so much.

When David is finally enthroned as king over all Israel, he's 37 years old. You know, he's probably around 12 years old when Samuel anointed him to be the next king. Finally, at 37, it comes to pass. He goes in before the Lord and says, "Lord, who am I, and what is my father's house that you have brought me this far?" He's just blown away because David knows he's just a nothing nobody. And that's all of us; we're just nothing nobodies before the Lord. But God does great things in our lives because God is good.

So, David has all these blessings, but he also had lots of trouble in his life. You know, you read about David, and he starts off getting anointed. Then, in the very next chapter, 1st Samuel 17, what does he do? He goes and defeats Goliath. After that, he's leading Saul's army. But then Saul gets jealous of David because David has the women sing the song: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." Saul didn't like that, and he's jealous of David. Then he tries to kill David. David spends years of his life on the run from Saul, and it's tough, but God delivers him through all of that.

As we talked about last week, David, as a middle-aged guy—around 50 or 55, we say that's middle age—has this terrible sin with Bathsheba. He has a one-night stand with her, she gets pregnant, and he ends up in a COVID-up situation, orchestrating the death of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, in battle. He covers it up. Nathan, the prophet, goes to him and says, "David, because you have done this, thus says the Lord, bad consequences are coming unto you, pal." In 2nd Samuel chapter 12, God says, "Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household."

In 2nd Samuel chapter 13, what do we read? We read about David's oldest son Amnon raping David's daughter, his half-sister, Tamar. Then we read about Tamar going to her full-blooded brother Absalom and letting him know that their half-brother Amnon raped her. Absalom says, "I'll get even with Amnon," devises a plan, and ends up killing Amnon. David has disaster in his family. David is a great king, a great man of God, but not a very good dad.

Well, Absalom gets bitter at David—so bitter, in fact, that he says, "You know what? I'm going to start stealing the hearts of the people of Israel, and I'm going to declare myself king." To declare yourself king means you're coming after the king. And that's what happens. He marches to Jerusalem, and the conspiracy is strong with Absalom. David has to run; he has to flee. David is in a crisis, perhaps the biggest crisis he's ever been in his whole life because his own son wants to kill him.

It's in the backdrop of that situation that I believe is the impetus for Psalm 143. David prays in a crisis. Hey, maybe you're in a crisis today. Now, it's probably not a son or a daughter that wants to kill you, but you're in a crisis nonetheless. You know, when David fled from Saul, it wasn't his fault. He didn't do anything. As a matter of fact, there's one incident where he comes face to face with Saul and says to him, "The Lord judge between you and me; I didn't do anything to you. You're coming after me, but there's no reason why."

But now, with the situation with Absalom, David can't say that because he knows that it was his sin that unleashed all kinds of disaster in his family. It's a terrible time for him. And maybe you're in a terrible time—maybe in your marriage, maybe in your family, maybe in your finances. I mean, it's not just a little problem; everybody's got problems. I'm talking about a crisis—I'm talking about a major thing. The house is on fire, so to speak, in your life. What are you going to do? How are you going to pray? Do you know how to pray in a crisis?

Let's look at Psalm 143. David says this: "Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications. Answer me in your faithfulness, in your righteousness. Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous. For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground. He has made me dwell in dark places like those who have long been dead. Therefore, my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart is appalled within me."

I want to share with you today three important parts that need to be included in your prayer when you're in a crisis. Part number one is to call on the Lord as a humble servant. David says in verse 2, "Do not enter into judgment with your servant." He says in verse 12, "And destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am your servant." We talked about Psalm 51, the Psalm of the sinner; we could say this is the Psalm of the servant. David doesn't come before the Lord and say, "Well, Lord, you know, Absalom's coming after me, and I'm your anointed. I mean, I'm the one that you chose. You chose me to be king of your people, not Absalom." He doesn't come at the Lord that way. He comes to the Lord very humbly, as a humble servant.

The word "servant" is really "slave." In many Bible translations, that word in the Hebrew is "ebed." In the Greek, in the New Testament, it is "doulos," which is often translated as "servant." It's not just servant; it's slave. A servant is somebody you may hire to do a job. We are not hired servants; we're purchased slaves. He's purchased us with his blood. David recognizes, "Lord, I'm your slave. I'm your slave." He comes before God, not demanding anything, but humbly. That's really important. Why? Because God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.

He says in Isaiah 66, "The Lord says, for my hand made all these things; thus all these things came into being, declares the Lord. But to this one, I will look: to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word." Man, when you're in a crisis, you need God to look in your direction. You need God to favor you. And God says, "If you're proud, I'm not doing it." So David comes as a humble servant, appealing to God's character in his prayer.

"Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications. Answer me in your faithfulness, in your righteousness, and do not enter into judgment with your servant." He says, "For in your sight no man living is righteous." David is aware of his sin. That's why I think it's more about the Absalom situation than the Saul situation. David is very aware of his sin, and he is very aware of the fact that he has confessed his sin to God. And God, in his faithfulness and in his righteousness, has forgiven.

David reminds us of 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Isn't that kind of interesting? God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Doesn't it seem like it would say, "If we confess our sins, God's faithful and merciful, God's faithful and loving to forgive us our sins?" But it says, "God's faithful and just to forgive us our sins." Why would it use the word "just?" It's because God has said, "If you confess to me and you come before me honestly, humbly, and you turn from that sin," as David said in Psalm 32, verse 5, "I acknowledge my sin to you, and my iniquity I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

You come that way, and God says, "I will forgive your sin." You cover your sin; he who covers his transgressions will not prosper. But he who confesses and forsakes them finds compassion. So it is just and right for God to say, "Yes, you came the way I told you to come, and yes, I have forgiven that sin." David appeals to God's faithfulness and God's righteousness. Obviously, in there, it's God's mercy that God would forgive sin. David is reminding himself of the covenant that God has with his people.

The Lord says this: "He has sent redemption to his people; he has ordained his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name." We come before God; we don't have anything to commend ourselves before the Lord. We come humbly, and we appeal to God's character, God's goodness, God's mercy, God's compassion, God's faithfulness, and justice.

Then we come and we're not afraid to share the depths of our hurt. See, that's what David teaches us over and over again. When you come before the Lord, you tell him the truth about everything. You don't dress it up. You don't say to yourself, "Well, what does God want to hear? What's a safe prayer I can pray?" You know, sometimes, have you ever been in a meeting with some people, and there are subjects that you just know are sensitive? You think, "Don't talk about that."

Debbie and I were at a luncheon once at this very well-known guy's house, and Debbie asked a question about this person's son, prying into something she didn't know about. It turned out that son wasn't doing very well, and it was a sore subject. She kept asking questions, and it just got quieter and quieter, like, "Get off this subject." We kind of feel like that sometimes with the Lord. "I can't talk about this fear. I can't talk about this failure. I can't talk about this fault. I can't talk about this difficulty I have. God just wants to hear cheery things."

Well, in your relationship with the Lord, God wants to hear what's going on—the unabridged truth. Look what he says in verse 3: "For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground. He has made me dwell in dark places like those who have long been dead. Therefore, my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart is appalled within me." One version says, "I'm ready to give up. I am in deep despair." Don't you love that about David? He was great at pouring out his heart to the Lord. Psalm 62, verse 8 is such a good verse: "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us."

God is a safe place where you can pour out your heart. You can tell him everything that's going on. You can tell him how you're hurting. You can tell him how you're despairing. You can tell him about your frustrations. You can tell him, "Lord, I keep failing and failing and failing in this area, and I can't seem to get victory. God, help me." God longs to hear us pray honestly, openly, from the heart.

So that's the very first part: call on the Lord as a humble servant. The second part is to reflect on what the Lord has done in the past. Look at verse 5. David said, "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all your doings; I muse on the work of your hands." To remember means to call to mind. I meditate—this word literally means to mutter or groan. It's kind of like what you do with a verse of scripture. You meditate on it, and you just kind of think on it. Sometimes you might find yourself reading the Bible, and something really stands out. You just kind of, "Mm, that's really good," and you're meditating on it.

It's kind of like a picture of a cow chewing its cud, where it spits the chewed-up grass back up and chews on it some more. "I meditate on what you have done." Then he says, "I muse on it; I ponder it; I study it." Meditation and muse are real similar. But David is saying, "I'm remembering the past, the things that you have done." Why is that so important when you're praying in a crisis? It's important because we tend to be consumed with the crisis, and we can't see the forest for the trees. All you see is the house is on fire. All you see is, "My life is a dumpster fire; everything is terrible, and I can't seem to find a way out."

My daughter Sarah had brain surgery several years ago, and she had just gotten rejected again for PA school. This was a few years ago, and she said, "I just felt so worthless. I felt so damaged. I felt so rejected." She said, "I was so discouraged." Now, she looks at her life and says, "I have a great husband. I graduated with my PA degree. I got my board certification. I have a great job, and I've recovered from my surgery." She said, "I was on the treadmill, and there was no pain, and I was doing all this workout stuff." She said, "God has been so good to me."

Well, that's looking back. But when you're in the fiery furnace, when you're in the midst of it, it's hard to see. It's very easy for us to get consumed with the crisis, and things look hopeless. You just say, "It's never going to get any better." It's really important to fill your mind with the track record of the Lord—the proven track record of the Lord. When the crisis hits—and listen, it's going to hit everybody; everybody under the sound of my voice—we're not foreigners to trouble. I mean, we know about trouble.

What is a crisis? A crisis is trouble on steroids. It's major trouble. You're not talking about you can't find your car keys and you're going to be late to work. It's like a crisis is, "I got in a head-on collision, and now I'm in ICU." That's a crisis; that's a big-time thing. Everybody is going to face a situation that's a crisis situation in life. It's really important to be able to step back and remember what God has done—remember his track record.

Did you know that so much of preaching, so much of coming to church, is just to be reminded of things that you may already know but have forgotten? Every time we have the Lord's Supper, "This do in remembrance of me." The Bible is written; there's no new revelation. The Bible's not continually being written; it is written. What I've written, I've written, the Lord says, and it's done. So we come to church. If I'm going to preach on 1st Samuel 17, David kills Goliath every single time. I mean, it's the same story; it doesn't ever change.

We have some guys, especially some guys who can get too smart for their own good. A lot of those guys go to universities or seminaries, looking for hidden meanings and hidden truths and all this stuff. Listen, if you hear somebody teach on some passage of scripture and you say, "I've never heard that before, and I've been in church for 50 years," you mark it down: if it's new, it's not true. If it's new, it's not true. If somebody in 2021 can read the Bible and come up with some new interpretation that nobody over centuries and centuries and centuries of the church has ever thought of before or has ever said, "This is what that passage means," if it's new, it's not true.

What do we come to church to do? Just be reminded of what God has done because that encourages a person's heart.

Speaker 1

You're listening to Pastor Jeff Shreve today on From His Heart, and his message is about how to pray in a crisis. As we mentioned earlier, you have, are, or will go through a crisis in your life. Perhaps you are in the middle of one right now. Maybe you're experiencing a terrible time in your marriage, your family, or your finances. It could feel like your life is a dumpster fire, and you don't know what to do. You're not alone. Many people face these types of situations, just as they did in the days of Jesus. However, Jesus provided us with some keys to enduring and actually flourishing during these times. We're learning some of those in today's message, "How to Pray in a Crisis, Part One."

This is only one of nine lessons in Pastor Jeff's exciting and practical series, "Life is Hard, but God is Good." No matter the crisis in your life, God knows, God cares, and God is working on your behalf to see you through, drawing you closer to Him for comfort, power, and purpose in understanding why and trusting more in Him than ever before. You can receive a copy of this powerful series on CDs, DVDs, USB flash drive, or MP3 download for your helpful and important fiscal year-end gift this month.

This is a time of year when we're really planning for the whole next 12 months, and what we take in this month will determine so much of the opportunities we can take advantage of in the future. From His Heart is all about reaching people for Christ, and in the next few days, our books will close for another fiscal year. Would you consider making a generous donation this month? When you do, we'll send you the series and the booklet as our thanks for helping us. To get your copies, just call 866-40-BIBLE, that's 866-40-BIBLE, or go to fromhisheart.org.

Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart with the lesson "How to Pray in a Crisis." We heard part one today, and Pastor Jeff will return tomorrow to conclude this encouraging message and the series. Be with us on Friday for the conclusion to the series "Life is Hard, but God is Good," and we'll again open up God's Word to share real truth, love, and hope from His Heart.

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.