David had been a very faithful shepherd boy, content in the hills with his sheep and God. The forgotten uninvited one, as when Samuel came to his father to anoint a new King of Israel. Though he was sent to King Saul’s court to sing soothing songs and to become his armor bearer, he was uninvited to the battle with Goliath. None of this seemed to disturb him. He held the key to triumph in a crazy world. His world was about to turn even further upside down. However, even in the darkest hours, he sought God for his counsel.
Anointed King, he was exiled for many years before his time to sit on the throne would finally come. King Saul out of jealousy wanted David dead. But David knew his times were in God’s hands. Just as Jesus knew, the fullness of time remains in the Father’s hands. Only the Father knows the hour when Jesus will receive once more the deed to this earth on which we reside.
29 “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. …36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Matthew 24
Through Many Sorrows
David would face years of great sorrows before he would assume his role as King. Jesus came to earth and faced many sorrows. He paid the price that sin demands to purchase back this broken world. Yet, He waits until the fullness of time when the Father proclaims “Now go get your bride”. That proclamation will begin the final stages until Jesus takes His throne in Jerusalem for 1000 years. David waited patiently to take his throne as so does Jesus wait to take His Earthly throne.
How Do We Triumph in A Crazy World?
- Understand the truth “My times are in Your Hands Lord”
- Seek His Face
- Obey His Word and Command
- Focus on Things Above
- Accept Grief and Sorrow Are Part of a Broken World
- Never Forget—Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
- Hold Fast to His Promises
There you have it. But how do we do this? What about David’s journey points us to Jesus? And how do we incorporate these truths into our lives? That is the beauty of God providing for us all the truths of the Old Testament so we might understand in practical terms how. It is also how centuries ago, God told us the means of therapy we needed to face all kinds of trials from grief to burn out. So, let us delve in a little deeper into each of these seven facets on how to triumph.
Triumph by Understanding “My times are in Your Hands Lord”
Not only my life and death, but my times. When I am to rise and when in this world I will fall are in your hands. It has been His guiding hand each step of the way. David knew this. That is why he did not move forward to take his throne before God deemed it so. Although he had already been anointed, he would wait until God’s timing to take his throne.
8 Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand; now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke, and I will not [d]strike him the second time.” 9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be without guilt?” 10 David also said, “As the Lord lives, surely the Lord will strike him, or his day will come that he dies, or he will go down into battle and perish. 11 The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jug of water and let us go.” I Samuel 25
Jesus Also Placed in times into the Father’s Hand
Jesus while in human flesh, also awaited the timing of the Father. He referred to His time not yet being and other times that the hour was coming when He would give His life a ransom. He had prayed in the Garden of
Gethsemane, “Not my will, but thine be done.” and then from the cross.
“It is finished!” John 19:30 46 And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Luke 23:46
This being the same as did David cry out in Psalm 31:5, only for David his only means of saying that was because he had been ransomed from his sin by God. Looking forward to that day on the cross when Jesus would proclaim it.
Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O Lord, God of truth. Psalm 31:5
Whether in life or death I too must cry out, “My times are in Your hands Lord.”
Sad to say, that is also true of each person who fall into the hands of an angry God for their disbelief. But while there is breath in each body, God is granting grace for today. They still have the chance to believe in Jesus, repent and be made whole. Oh, sinner let us heed the warning and saint be comforted in these words, “My time is in His Sovereign Hands of Grace. His plans are what is best for me, even when I cannot see.
Seek His Face to Triumph
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice,
And be gracious to me and answer me.
8 When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You,
“Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me,
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not abandon me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation!…
13 I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
Be strong and let your heart take courage;
Yes, wait for the Lord. Psalm 27
And these were the words of Jesus.
30 “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me….39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; 40 and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from men; 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
Oh, that we would seek God with all our hearts, minds, and strength. Then we would triumph in life and death.
To Triumph Obey His Word and Command
O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
161 Princes persecute me without cause,
But my heart stands in awe of Your words.
162 I rejoice at Your word,
As one who finds great spoil.
163 I hate and despise falsehood,
But I love Your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise You,
Because of Your righteous ordinances.
165 Those who love Your law have great peace,
And nothing causes them to stumble.
166 I hope for Your salvation, O Lord,
And do Your commandments.
167 My soul keeps Your testimonies,
And I love them exceedingly.
Psalm 119: 97, 161-167
And Jesus
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6
5 Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2
Focus on Things Above and There in Triumph
David knew that if he looked around him all he would see was sorrow. Therefore, he knew to keep his focus on God above. That was the only hope to settle his weary heart and to gain strength to march on.
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121
When Peter turned his eyes to this world, losing the focus of heaven, Jesus said.
21 From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” 23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Matthew 16
Or as Paul reminds us.
Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3
Triumph means I Accept Grief and Sorrow Are Part of a Broken World
David understood grief. He was running for his life in exile and this after being anointed to be the successor, King. Sorrow was deep in his heart. Yet he trusted in God to be with him.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul, and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow
And my years with sighing;
My strength has failed because of my iniquity,
And my body has wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach,
Especially to my neighbors,
And an object of dread to my acquaintances;
Those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many,
Terror is on every side;
While they took counsel together against me,
They schemed to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,
I say, “You are my God.”…
19 How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,…
21 Blessed be the Lord,
For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.
22 As for me, I said in my alarm,
“I am cut off from before Your eyes”;
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications
When I cried to You.
23 O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.
24 Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord.
And concerning Jesus we know
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53
Never Forget—Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
God established a covenant with David that his kingdom would become an everlasting kingdom. David understood that through him would come the Savior, the eternal King. For this he was humbled.
8 “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. 10 I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, 11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you.
12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’” 17 In accordance with all these words and all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
18 Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 19 And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the [g]custom of man, O Lord God. 20 Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God! 21 For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know. 22 For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
2 Samuel (NKJV)
We too must remember that we are saved by grace alone. Every gift is a gift of grace, undeserved by my feeble hands. How quickly does my heart turn to selfishness, anger, pride? Oh, that I always realize that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Only in Him can I find a hope of righteousness, yet he gave it to me anyway.
Hold Fast to His Promises to Triumph
All His promises are true, for that reason I have hope. David held fast to the promises of God throughout all the years of his running. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises from Genesis through revelation.
The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Psalm 119:160 (KJV)
Therefore
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD? He is our only Hope in Life and Death! Our Joy is found in Him.
Therefore if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you today. Go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
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©Effie Darlene Barba, 2024
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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