Richard Ellis Talks

Richard Ellis: You think you're sitting there at work or in your family or wherever it is, and people are doing stuff that you and He doesn't know. You need to stop praying to God to get them and start praying that God will have mercy on them. That's what will happen when you understand who God is and who you are as His child. If you understood what God could do to someone who messes with one of His kids, you really do start to pray, "God, have mercy on their soul."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Richard Ellis Talks with Richard Ellis. We're taking the entire month of September to focus on something that is very important to Richard and I'm sure to you as well, and it all centers around the word legacy. How do you want to be remembered? Who has influenced your life in a meaningful way? What would people say about you when you're gone? What's left behind?

Well, we're introducing a brand new exciting feature that will be a place where you can share your story. I'll share more for you at the end of the program, but for now, let's jump right in with today's talk. Here is Richard Ellis.

Richard Ellis: The title of today's message is In the Toilet. I know you'll never believe this stuff, but it's in the book. So just hang on. It's in 1 Samuel 24, "In the Toilet." One of the reasons I chose that title today is this. Sometimes we use that phrase to describe how our lives are going and how we feel. Either your relationships, your family, your job, your life, just whatever it may be, you say, "You know what? It's just all in the toilet."

It's going down the drain. It's a mess. It's a nightmare. It's not working out. I don't know which way to go, what to do, how to handle the situation. Maybe it's job-related and in this case, it'll apply somewhat to that. There's a guy in the Bible named David. He was not king yet. He had been anointed king by one of the prophets, Prophet Samuel. David was to become king, but a guy named Saul was still king.

Saul basically was spending a lot of his time and energy tracking down David because he was jealous because he wanted to kill him because he realized that the mantle had passed, the anointing that David had received had gone away from Saul. Saul was still technically the king and David respected that, and you'll see that in a minute here. Saul was just obsessed, was just consumed with ruining David's life and taking it if possible.

In this case, you'll see here, he goes after him with 3,000 men. Kind of between war, he goes and tracks down David. He's just consumed with it. Jonathan, Saul's son, and David are great friends. They're best of friends. Anyhow, we're going to dive in the story here where David is basically on the run. He's got 600 guys with him. These guys are just losers. Convicts, all kind of just loser guys that band together with David. He's out in the wilderness.

We'll pick up in chapter 24, verse one. It says, "Now it happened when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him saying, 'Take note, hey, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.'" Let's go after David again. We don't have anything to do today. Let's go track this boy-king down. Then Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.

He came to the sheepfolds by the road. So they go down there. There's a road obviously, the sheepfolds where they keep the sheep when they're not wandering through the desert, where there was a cave. Now here it is guys, so pay close attention. And Saul went in to attend to his needs. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. This may be more information than you want to know, but I'm just going to try to be technical here and tell you what's in the book.

One of the things I love about the Bible is it just puts it out here. This is part of life. This is part of what goes on and God uses the most mundane things that are part of our everyday life to literally change the history of time itself. He goes into this cave, and let me give you a little Hebrew here. Really the word it says he went in to attend to his needs means to cover your feet. I'm going to try to be technical.

We all know that if you are covered with robes and drapes and all this stuff, and you have to attend to your needs in a cave, what you would do with all that is cover your feet. Saul is, needless to say, in a very precarious place in this cave. Now, it must have been a pretty big cave because David is in there and he's got 600 men with him. There's this huge cave. It's not what you're thinking. This is not one of those caves.

They're just hiding in this cave and it just so happens that David is in this cave, 600 men back in this cave, and they're quiet enough where Saul has no idea he's in there with 600 men and one of them, David. The king goes in this cave to attend to his needs and David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. They're hiding. They know that Saul is there to find them. Verse four: Then the men of David said to him...

Can you imagine? This king is after you and he's in the cave with you by himself, which he probably doesn't have a lot of people around him. He's taking care of business. You're vulnerable, to say the least. Then the men of David said to him, "This is it. This is the day of which the Lord said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.'" And David arose secretly, cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

He's right there. Here Saul is taking care of business. David sneaks up behind him somehow. His robe's on the ground and David, all he does is go up and takes a piece of his robe and cuts off the corner of it and gets away. Saul has no idea that anybody's in there with him, much less 600 people, and that David, who he's out there trying to hunt down, has come up and cut a piece of his robe off.

Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. Listen to this. David had an opportunity to kill this guy who was trying to kill him and would have been justified and all his men are saying, "Duh, this is it. You've got this guy. There's no way he can defend himself." And you cut his robe and then David, after doing that, goes, "Man, I feel bad I even cut his robe."

Let me tell you where we're going with this today. For me personally, this is one of the areas that I got my chops busted in. Let me tell you something about authority. You may not like the authority you're under, but as long as you're under it, you are under it. I have been under authority that I bucked and screamed and fought, and one man in particular will never forget me and probably I won't ever forget him either.

A church that I was in before this, I got it in my heart and in my head, "Let's go after lost people." So I went to the Hard Rock Cafe and I sat down with the management. I said, "What's the worst night of your week?" I knew what it was: Sunday night. So I started negotiating with them. I said, "What if we came in here at Hard Rock Cafe to go in here and do a Gospel Rock night, a Christian Rock night?"

I got all those ducks in a row working that side, so I went into the church. I went straight to the pastor and I didn't have much dealing with him really because I was down in the system somewhere. I said, "Here's the deal." And I pitched it to him and he shut me down. Said, "No." Now you know what? My little heart was like, "No? But this is the right thing to do. This is the great thing to do. It's the right time, it's the right thing. Let's do it."

I wasn't the pastor. It wasn't my call. So I regrouped a little bit and a few months later, I went back again at him and it got more heated and I was sent away again back down. Well, I waited a few more months, maybe about a year, and got my guts up again. Went a third time and got absolutely shut down. It got pretty in-my-face. You say, "Why didn't he do it?" You know what? I don't know. I didn't have all the information.

I wasn't responsible for an entire congregation and everything that happened and the ramifications of one thing. So at some point, I had to be under authority and trust what happened and say, "You know what, God? I don't know what he's thinking, but he's going to have to answer to You for all of this, and I'm going to have to answer to You for my reaction or response to what he's doing. That's where I'm responsible."

In this story, you have David and he is going to be king. It took years and years and years for him finally to become king. But until he was king, though he had been anointed and proclaimed and declared, hands laid on him, anointed with oil, he's it. It's going to happen. But he did not have the position and he knew that as long as Saul was alive, he had a responsibility to acknowledge him and respect Saul as the king.

David was under that king's authority. He had a chance to kill that king who was trying to kill him and he didn't. Then he cut a piece of the robe off and felt bad about that because even that was a little disrespectful. Look at what happens, how this thing unfolds. Now it happened after that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe and he said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he's the anointed of the Lord."

So David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. Now guys, not only was Saul in the toilet, but David in his life was in the toilet. You're stuck out in some God-forsaken almost desert with 600 men backed up in a cave. Some king comes in, you've got a chance to end all your problems, and the guy who's leading you says, "No, we're not going to do it."

Think of the anticipation, the adrenaline rush. They see him, they know they've got this opportunity, and they follow. They're under authority and they hold back and David says, "Don't do it." So they all stop. Saul gets up, got up from the cave and went on his way. Verse eight: David also arose afterward, went out of the cave and called out to Saul. After Saul gets out, David gets up and he calls out and says, "My lord the king!"

When Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down. Now guys, David screwed up later in his life, but let me tell you something: this is a great man. This king, who is a piece of work, David is still acknowledging who he is because of what God has done and said, not because of what David thinks. David bows, stoops with his face to the earth and bows down and acknowledges the king.

David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of men who say, 'Indeed, David seeks your harm'?" He says, "Why are you listening to these people that are telling you I'm trying to kill you? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you into my hand and someone urged me to kill you, but my eye spared you and I said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.'"

Moreover, my father, see, yes, see the corner, look down at the corner of your robe, for in that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand and I have not sinned against you, yet you hunt my life to take it." David begins to reason with him. He says, "Look, I could have done something against you." Now guys, you say, "How does this relate to me?"

If you are in a situation and you have a job and you have a boss and your boss is a piece of work, let me tell you something: if God tells you to stay there, you stay there. If you're under that person's authority, then be there and do whatever you do as unto the Lord, not to that boss anyway. If God tells you you're free to leave that job, jobs aren't about money. Jobs are about life. They're about ministry. They're about people.

You're not where you are to climb some ladder. You're where you are to reach somebody or some people. People say, "Well, I wanted that job, not that..." Don't pray about your jobs in terms of salary alone or benefits. The benefit is there may be somebody there and some reason God wants you there and that's the only reason for the job. God's going to take care of you. He's going to feed you. He's going to take care of your family.

People say, "Well, I got laid off." There's tons of people being laid off and people think that's a disaster thing. I just see it as massive transfers. A lot of Christians get sucked up in this thing and I think God says, "You know what? Trust Me. I know what's going on and I haven't left you. I told you I'd never leave you nor forsake you. I've got a plan. I'm going to take you from this place to this place."

Don't miss out on the education in the process because I'm going to teach you some things that when you get over here, you're going to need to be able to reach these people. They're going to need to see that you had hope and patience and trust in Me and faith in the process of this going on and that I took care of you and that I'll take care of them as well when their turn comes. It's all about people. Don't get locked into a job. Get locked into people.

Ask God to open your eyes and let you see who's there. Some of you are bosses and you're a piece of work and you have people under you that you don't know and they don't know you. You don't talk to them. You don't connect well with them and you expect them just to follow. Be a good leader and ask people, "Is everything okay?" Don't just give them a chance to really say it. If they want to write it down, if they want to get a few feet away because they think you're a hothead or something.

The Bible says don't do it for eye-service as men-pleasers. Just saying, "When the boss is looking, I'm going to do the right thing." You do the right thing all the time because you have somebody else watching. You have a supervisor and it's not your supervisor; it's the Supervisor with a capital S. David understood this principle and he says to Saul, "Who are you listening to? Who is talking to you, telling you I'm after you? I could have killed you in there in the toilet. I had you."

Six hundred of my men and me in there with you. You were a dead man. Who are you listening to? Verse 12: "Let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you. As the proverb of the ancients says, 'Wickedness proceeds from the wicked,' but my hand shall not be against you. After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog, a flea?"

Who are you out here hunting with 3,000 men? Therefore let the Lord be judge and judge between you and me and see and plead my case and deliver me out of your hand. So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. You know what? I'm convinced that there are people out there that just don't know any better.

When they get right down to it and they realize, I've had encounters recently with some people that they just could not say, "You know what? I'm wrong." You know what you need to do as a leader? You need to go to that person and say, "I'm wrong. I'm sorry. Will you forgive me?" You have no idea the amount of respect... You don't do it for this reason, but people will respect you more if you can be wrong. They know you're sorry. It's all how you say that of course.

See, there are situations, guys, there are times in your life with a boss or somebody you think you are right or you may really be right. It's how you respond, not react to the situation that says something about who you are, not who they are anyway. If you've got a boss, you're under somebody's authority and they're a piece of work, they may not change, but God expects you to. He expects me to.

When I sat in that situation that I came out of, God busted my chops. I think one of the primary reasons He had me in that place, in that position and frankly, under that man... and at the time, I was not very grateful for him, but when I think of him now, I thank God for him. You know why? Because he taught me to be under authority. You say, "Well, you're a pastor now. You're not under anybody's authority."

I'm in worse trouble now than I ever was because I've got no man to point at and blame. I have to talk to God and say, "Father, if I screw up, it's not just me. It's a whole world of people that are affected by it. Give me wisdom." You talk about slowing down and rethinking things. We've got women in our church right now who are married, having rough times, and they are submitting to their husband's leadership.

They know they're under authority. We've got women who have lived that way for 30 years and prayed their husbands out of some wreck and they've come back around, but the woman did the right thing. You cannot control what your husband does. You cannot make him be a godly man, but you can change his heart by talking to God about him and sicking God on him. I almost don't even have to ask my wife what she is praying for about me.

I just start thinking about what I'm getting clobbered with and I realize she's after me again. She didn't even have to say anything to me. She goes around my back to God and gets Him after me. You say, "Well, I don't like it down here under authority. I don't like somebody controlling or determining if I'm a wife or I'm an employee. I don't like it this way." You know what? You think it's bad there until they make you boss.

Now everybody's barking up your tree. Sometimes you have to make decisions when you're in authority and not everybody has all the information. At some point, you have to say, "You know what, God? I don't know what's going on there and if they're doing the right thing, great. If they're doing the wrong thing, I don't know, but they've got to answer to You ultimately. I'm going to react and respond to this situation the way You want me to because that's what I'm responsible for. I'm going to keep hoeing my row until You tell me to go somewhere else or do something different."

Back in here at verse 18: "And you have shown this day that you have dealt with me. You didn't kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, who would let him get away safely? Therefore may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore swear now to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father's house."

Now he's making a deal with David saying, "Please don't wipe out my family." Verse 22: So David swore to Saul and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the strongholds where they would hide out. Now some of you, if I say the word enemy, you say, "Well, I don't really have any enemies." Some of you have literal enemies. You have people at work, you have people in your family, you have somebody in your life that is out to destroy you.

Anybody know what this is like? It's a coworker. It's somebody who's sabotaging your work. You just know for a fact you're getting undermined in some way and you want to take their head off. You get so upset. Pray to God for them. Do your job. I'm telling you, "Vengeance is mine," says the Lord. "I will repay." What you don't realize, you forget if you're a child of God, if at some point in your life you've said, "Father, I know without You I am done. I need Jesus. I believe He died for me, was buried, raised from the dead, shed His blood to pay for my sin. I'm exchanging my nothing for Your everything. Come live in me. I accept this gift of eternal life. Change my life, change my forever. Take me, God." You become His child.

You think you're sitting there at work or in your family or wherever it is, and people are doing stuff that you and He doesn't know. You need to stop praying to God to get them and start praying that God will have mercy on them. That's what will happen when you understand who God is and who you are as His child. If you understood what God could do to someone who messes with one of His kids, you really do start to pray, "God have mercy on their soul," because He'll come after them and it's not fun to be on the other end of that hand.

So Saul will not let up and David a second time is being chased down. Let me read this to you if I can do it quick. Verse one of chapter 26: "Now the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, 'Is David not hiding in the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon?'" Then Saul arose and went down. He couldn't control himself. "Let's go get him." So he takes down there 3,000 chosen men of Israel again to hunt down David. He's only got 600 guys down there.

David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul had indeed come. So David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. David saw the place where Saul lay and Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Now Saul lay within the camp with the people encamped all around him. The king is in the middle of the camp with his personal guard, the commander of the army, and 3,000 guys asleep around him. Look what happens.

Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp? I need one guy. I'm going to go in the middle of 3,000 men." Abishai said, "I'll go down with you." So David and Abishai came to the people by night and there Saul lay sleeping within the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. He's laying on the ground, a spear is right here stuck in the ground by his head, sound asleep.

Abner and the people lay all around him. Then Abishai said to David, "God has..." They're all pushing. "Okay, we had him in the toilet, you didn't do anything. We've got him right here, he's asleep. We've got his spear by his head. Let's lose this guy. God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore please..." Look at this word. "Please let me strike him at once with the spear right to the earth and I will not have to strike him a second time. David, I'll do it and I'll get it right the first time. This will be over. Please let me kill him."

But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?" David said furthermore, "As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him or his day shall come to die or he shall go out to battle and perish. This is not my job to take his life and God is in control. God is sovereign. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed, but please take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head and let's go. We're not cutting any more fabric. Get his spear. Get his jug of water."

So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul's head and they got away. No man saw or knew it or awoke, for they were all asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on all of them. Never rule out God's intervention and His power in your life. Now David went over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill afar off, a great distance being between them, and David called out to the people and to Abner the son of Ner saying, "Do you not answer, Abner?"

Then Abner answered and said, "Who are you calling out to the king?" So David said to Abner, "Are you not a man and who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die because you have not guarded your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jug of water that was by his head. Find his spear and his jug."

Then Saul knew David's voice and said, "Is that your voice, my son David?" Same spiel as a few days before. David said, "It is my voice, my lord oh king." And he said, "Why does my lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done and what evil is in my hand? Now therefore please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, 'Go serve other gods.'

So now do not let blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea and when one goes hunting for a partridge in the mountains. What are you doing out here hunting me?" Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will harm you no more because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly."

David answered and said, "Here is the king's spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it. May the Lord repay every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. And indeed as your life was valued much this day in my eyes, so let my life be valued much in the eyes of the Lord and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation."

Then Saul said to David, "May you be blessed, my son David. You shall both do great things and also still prevail." So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place. Now I don't know what you're under and I don't know what's going on in your life, but let me tell you something: do not miss out on what God is trying to teach you. If I had not been in a place under authority and had that pressure and had those problems and had to deal with that, I could not do what I'm doing today.

You say it's not good, it's not fun. Certainly not. But I'll tell you what: David would never have been the king that he turned out to be if it hadn't been for the pursuits and the pressure that Saul put on him. He had to learn to deal, he had to learn to negotiate, he had to learn to show self-restraint in that situation and not react like Saul did, but respond as a king should respond.

If God is going to trust you in authority, He's got to find if He can trust you under authority. You say, "Well, I don't like it." Well, let me tell you something: then let them make you boss and see if everybody likes you. See if you've never been in the mailroom and you've never been through the system, you don't know what it's like down there. When you've been in the trenches and then you rise up through the process, you don't make decisions quite as fast that affect people.

You think it through and say, "You know, I've been there. What would that be like? How is this going to affect all these people?" Now I don't know how your life's in the toilet today. It may be your marriage, it may be your job, it may be a kid who's out of control and will not submit to your authority, but don't give up on either end of the spectrum. If you're a boss, be a great boss. If you're under authority, be a great follower and realize it's ultimately God that you answer to anyway. Work for Him, do it for Him.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to Richard Ellis Talks. We so appreciate you taking the time to be encouraged by Richard's unique way of challenging us to become more like Jesus every day. But it doesn't stop there. We want that same inspiration to be passed on from you, too, for others to be encouraged by your life in their own walk with the Lord. Most of us have seen great examples in someone else firsthand that has significantly touched and inspired our life, so much so that we want to pass it on to others as well.

This legacy should be what we all inspire to. Even the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I followed the example of Christ." So who is it in your life that was a great example as a Christ follower that has inspired you to do the same? What is it that you want to make sure others know about? What is most important to you as a believer? Well, I have some really great news to share with you.

We have just added a Legacy Wall on our website for you to tell your story. Who has made a difference in your life? What is it that you want to share with others in leaving a legacy of your beliefs and values? We want to hear about it. Go to richardellis.com and share your story today. We love bringing you the program every day, but it means even more to us when you let us know how the program has helped you.

Call us at 855-6-RICHARD or at richardellis.com. While you're there, you can help us greatly by giving to this ministry. This program is making a huge difference in people's lives and you can make a big difference to ours, too. We really do need to hear from you on this. Go to richardellis.com to support this ministry and share your story. Thank you, and until next time, thank you for listening. We look forward to coming alongside you again for more Richard Ellis Talks.