Tv 1730 | Childlike Trust

Well, praise the Lord. This is one of those weeks when I got up and I didn't have any idea what the service was going to be, very uncertain, and just saying, Lord, you're going to have to do something. And maybe somebody else has something. But I don't know how long. I'm going to share some thoughts that did come to me. I don't know how long this is going to take, but I'll tell you, the Lord has something for us this morning that we need. Anybody here need Him? Yeah. Well, I certainly would lift my hand first. And I thought about a psalm that David wrote, it's Psalm 131. David was a very amazing central biblical character in the Old Testament. He was known as a man after God's own heart. God picked him specifically and raised up a line of kings after him. And even though there were a lot of them that went sideways, it was through David's line that Christ himself came. And so the promises to David really looked beyond the earthly kingdom to the one that really matters, to the kingdom that Christ came to establish. And so here's this man who began his life as a shepherd boy, then was used, as we know, we know many of the circumstances that brought him ultimately to the throne. God put him through an awful lot, didn't He, to get him ready. Anybody going through some things today? The Lord might be getting you ready for something. But anyway, the Lord had a purpose for David's heart and David's life. And ultimately, he did indeed become king and God gave him victory after victory after victory over foreign enemies until there was just an amazing dominion that he had. People everywhere recognized, you don't mess with this guy. He is an absolute monarch. He's rich, he's got servants, he rules over a kingdom, and yet he does it with a just

and righteous hand. He's concerned about pleasing God. And we know that David was the one who established a system of worship that was just unprecedented. He had people who just worshiped the Lord full time. That was their job, if you want to call it that, and yet it was their ministry. And just an amazing man. And I've thought a lot about this lately. What does it mean to be a man after God's own heart? We know that David, as he writes, he's keenly aware of how great God is. He recognizes that it was through Him that everything was created. This is an amazing God. God, you created the heavens. What in the world do you care? How do you care about man? What are we? And he uses the word, the expression, in another place, we're just like a passing shadow. And yet here he is coming down and caring about us. And you know, Psalm 139, he writes about how the incredible knowledge the Lord has. He knows everything about me. And you know, every possible thing, you knew the substances that make up my body when they were still out there in the ground somewhere. You were aware, hey, that's going to wind up in David. I mean, every thought, the thoughts of the Lord toward David were like the grains of sand on the seashore. I mean, this is an incredible God, and he had the sense of a relationship with Him. And you know, I was thinking about that. If you think about a God who knows everything, that's kind of scary. You know, we don't even want to admit everything about ourselves, let alone somebody else know everything. And he does.

I wonder how you feel about that. But how did David feel about it? There was a sense, there was a relationship with him that is, that I believe God laid out in the scriptures as something that not only we ought to aspire to, but the way God himself looks at us and the relationship he desires. And so I'll just read this, and it's a short Psalm. You know, a lot of times you can see these short little Psalms, you pass right over them. But anyway, David says, My heart is not proud, Lord. My eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself. I am like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child, I am content. And then he exhorts, Israel, put your hope in the Lord, both now and forevermore. I mean, think about the man who wrote this, the king who could command anything and it would happen. The one who was lifted up and exalted as the great king, the great warrior. This is a great man in the earth. He's capable of doing many things. He's been celebrated for his virtue. victories in his leadership and all these things. And now he comes back and he says, my heart's not proud, Lord. Wow. Pride is the center of human nature. And here is the Lord looking down on this man and seeing, and David somehow has a sense of who he is in the bigger picture. He doesn't see himself as this great king who's capable of so much, my God, don't mess with me, I can do it.

That's how we would like to see ourselves. We want to imagine that we can do stuff and that we're smart and we're capable. But the Lord allowed David to step back and get a picture, a sense of the big picture that from God's point of view, he was just a little child. And not only was he a little child, he didn't sit there and say, I'm mad about that. I can do stuff, God, don't mess with me. It was this, yes, Lord. What a place to come to where we know who and what we are in the big picture and it's okay with us. You think of the fall in the beginning, wasn't it pride that caused Lucifer to fall in the beginning, Satan? But then he appealed to Adam and Eve on the basis of, you know, you want to be gods yourself. He's really just using you. You have the right to go up and stand beside him and be a god yourself. Just listen to me. And so pride and aspiration motivated them to step out in their own way and rebel against God. And here's David doing the exact opposite. The very thing that is contrary to human nature, he's saying, I'm just, my heart is not proud, Lord. I know you've done all these things, but when I stand back and I get the, I see it in the perspective of who you are and what I really am and Lord, I haven't got anything to be proud about. Lord, I'm just, there's a thankfulness in his heart. You see that everywhere else, but to take that posture, wouldn't that be a good way to approach life instead of constantly trying to be somebody in your own mind to say, Lord, I'm not proud. I'm going to take my place in your, in your, in your plan, Lord. You've got a plan, you're working out. You know, my, my fellow human beings, they set out to try to be gods.

Lord, I know you have got a plan. You've got a purpose for why I'm here, why you have done what you've done in my life. That's the purpose I want and I don't have to know everything. I don't have to be somebody. I just have to come and, and be in harmony with you. There's a relationship that's, that's central to what we have about God, what we, what there is with us in God. My eyes are not haughty, I'm proud. Don't mess with me kind of thing. Now here's another thing he says, I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. Boy, there's a lot of people who are out there saying, I've got to understand it or else. God help us to realize that we're, we don't know much. We don't know what we think we know. Not only that, we don't have to. You get the picture here of a small child. A small child doesn't have to know everything, they have to be with somebody they can trust. And that's the position God has us in. We are in a position where we don't know, and we need Him. And David, the mighty king who could command armies, is coming to the Lord, coming before the Lord and saying, Lord, the real truth is I'm a little child, and there's stuff I don't know. And it's okay that I don't know, and I'm not going to worry about it. Wouldn't that be nice if we realized what we don't know, and we didn't allow the devil to constantly put questions in there, you better understand that or else. If you can't figure this out, I don't know if it's true or not. There are a lot of people out there who use the pursuit of what they call knowledge as a, as a really a shield between them and God. If they can't get all of their intellectual questions answered, my God, I'm, I'm the one in charge here.

I ain't going to trust Him unless He explains everything. I don't need to know. I don't need to know the whys of things that are going on in my life right now. Now you're going to Medlin. But don't we get there? Oh, God. And so we're, we're not in a place of rest. We're not in a place. It's a trust that God wants. We're sitting there, oh God, what's going on, I don't understand it, please explain it to me, oh God, instead of just taking the place of a small child who is completely at peace and at rest. God help me, God help every one of us to learn how things really are because in the grand scheme of things, that's what we are. We're in a world that is going sideways, gone sideways, in the midst of a world system that is in rebellion and all about pride and achievement. Here's God calling out a people, as we said many times, preparing them for a place that will indeed be exalted, will be amazing, but the only way you and I are going to get there is to let go and let God have His way, as we sing, and to take this kind of a place. And Jesus say, unless you become like a little child, you'll never enter. A little child, again, just trusts because it's not a matter of what, explain it to me and I got to understand it so I can do it. There's just a confidence and a trust in the who. It's not about what, it's about who. It's not what set Abraham apart from all of the people of his day. God told him to do something and he did it. And the scripture says Abraham believed God. It wasn't that he understood everything or knew how it was going to be or he just said, God, I'll believe you if you explain it to me. Tell me how this is going to work out.

It wasn't any of that. It was just simply, God, you said it and I'm going to believe it and I'm going to trust because I know who you are. This is what matters. Paul didn't say, I know what I believe. He said, I know whom I have believed. That's the whole center of it all. I know Jesus and I know His Father and I know how He feels and what He's done. That's what my hope is. That's where my rest comes from. That's the position I want to take as I face life. We're in the midst of stuff where we don't ... Stuff happens all the time. We don't have the answer to. We don't have the strength. We don't have what it takes. We're just like a little child. I mean, stuff is happening all around with a little child. That's not their job to figure all of that out. If they've got loving parents that operate according to God's order, they've got what they need. They don't have to know how to get to grandma's house or how to drive a car. They got parents that can handle all that. They just enjoy the ride. Now, David is certainly not picturing something here where he doesn't have responsibility. It's like the scripture has many pictures, many earthly pictures that illustrate different things. One of the pictures of a Christian is a saint. I mean, he's not a saint, but he's a warrior, and we're meant to take up armor and be warriors for Jesus. Well, that's one of the pictures.

Here's David saying, I'm a little child. Look at how he goes on to describe that. I have calmed and quieted myself. Interesting way to put that, isn't it? Because it's like David says, you know, I got a choice here. I could just be really upset and worried all the time. Look at the responsibility God put on me. Oh, God, how is this going to work out? What do I do about this situation? The whole nation is looking to me. What in the world am I going to do? And David says, I have quieted myself, calmed and quieted myself. Wouldn't that be good if we could do that? But boy, we better have a grounds for doing it. It's not just some game, mental game we play. David had a reason he could do that, that he could be who he was, the mighty warrior king, and yet take this position and it be what God wants. God is lifting this simple little psalm up in an amazing way. I have calmed and quieted myself. And he goes on and says, I am like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child, I am content. So this is not a baby who's still nursing, nor is this a teenager. This is a young child. He's been, he's done nursing, but he still needs the comfort. He needs the closeness. What he needs is, he feels the best he ever feels is just to be leaning against his mom and feeling safe and loved and cared for. Now, do you think this is David saying, yeah, this is, I've learned how to live life. This is a good way to think about it. This is God talking to us through David.

This is not just what David wanted, this is what God wants. This is what he longs for us to come to where we can let go of every care, every anxiety, everything that would control and mess with our minds and our lives. The questions we can't answer, the stuff we don't know, where are we going, on and on and on it goes. And yet, all God wants us to do is to come to that place and find rest. Isn't that kind of what Jesus said, learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart. This is Jesus talking now, this is not just David. This is Jesus saying, I'm humble, gentle in heart and you will find rest for your soul. How did Jesus manage to get through life, through his earthly life and have a spirit of rest? He trusted his father. He leaned like a little child on his father's heart and his plan. You know, one of the things the devil loves to mess with all of us is to be not quite so sure how we stand with him and what he thinks about us. And like I said, he knows everything. Oh my God, I just, I'm a little nervous, I'm a little scared, I wish I could hide and pretend. God help us to realize that God knows all about those things. As we've said many times, he knew what he was getting into when he reached out to every one of us. And there isn't a single one of us that the devil does not work on to try to cut off the sense that we can lean against his breast and be loved and accepted and that be what God actually wants. He's not saying straighten up and then you can come and hang around and maybe I'll put up with you. This is not mom talking about a fussy, messy individual that she doesn't want to have anything to do with. This is the heart of a mother. Now that sounds strange because we think of God as a he, but he is all of it. Every aspect, every positive aspect that he placed in human nature comes from him.

The characteristics he gave us guys come from him, but the characteristics all of you ladies got came from him too. One of the names of the Old Testament for God means the breasted one, the one you can come to and get nourishment and you can find that place of peace and rest. You can lean against him and be loved and safe. What a feeling that is for a small child that really has that kind of a mother. There's no better place in the universe. And for that child to just let all the anxieties and worries go and just know that I'm loved and I'm safe. Isn't that a worthwhile thing? Is this just something we wish we could do? This is what God is calling us. This is the heart of God for every single person here. He sees the things that are going on in our hearts and lives that would steal our peace, that would steal that rest. He wants to bring us to a place where we could just learn to come to him, to cast our burdens upon him, to know that he loves us, to know that Jesus paid it all, all of the things that he's revealed in his promises. Isn't that what Abraham did? He believed God. He didn't have the explanation, didn't know how it was going to work out. There are a lot of things I don't know how God's going to deal with it in my life, but I know that he knows what he's doing. I'm not some teenager who's going to fuss at him and explain and think I can do it all by myself. I'm a little child. Here's David, a great king, but a little child, leaning against his ... the father as though it was a little child leaning against his mother's breast. Weaned, yes, but content. Anybody here need this this morning?

Do we not realize how God sees us and how much he loves us and that that's real? Why do we listen to the other voices? They want to plant every kind of thought that would try to intervene. Satan is scared to death we'll get this, that we'll understand that God actually loves us. Yes, we have needs. We can bring them to Him and He wants our heart to be in agreement with Him about stuff, but He is not put off with the fact that you're a little kid and you mess sometimes. He knows how to say, come to me, I'll clean you up, but this does not break our relationship. I love you. My love for you is unconditional. God awaken us to the simplicity of this. I guess you could go on and on. I don't feel like I need to. Like I say, I didn't have anything at all for sure when I got up this morning, but I feel like this is a thought that God wants me to, wants to plant in my mind. I'm one of these that just thinks about stuff and I've got to figure it out and understand it, but there's a place of blessing. There's a place of rest for you and you and you today, right now. Whatever the issues are in your life, whether you've got questions about theology, whether you've got questions about your own life and your own, where am I supposed to go? What's going on? We just need to be able to come and lay those questions at his feet. And if he doesn't answer right away, that's okay, because we're with somebody who knows what he's doing. He has got a perfect loving plan. He's done everything possible to make that known to his children. He sent his son to the cross, that's all I need to know. It's like my dad said to that man he was witnessing to that one time, you can trust somebody who died for you. Praise God.

Isn't there a simplicity in this? I mean, what a picture. Dave is not talking about the great battles he's fought and how God's given him the victory and this, that, and the other, and it's not even about the greatness of God. This is like God's almost a mother that I can just go and lay like a little child and lay on her breast and feel safe and loved. What a picture. But is this God trying to talk to you this morning? He's trying to talk to me because everything about my nature is contrary to this. I'm proud. I want to fix stuff. I want to do stuff. I want to feel like I can do stuff. I want to feel like I deserve stuff. It has nothing to do with any of that. It's coming to him like a little child and saying, Lord, I'm yours. Make me what you want me to be. Supply what I need. Obviously this again is part of the picture because there are things, yes, that we go and do. That's part of it too. We got all these different pictures. But how can you operate even as a king, excuse me, how can you operate even as a king without being like this little child? What an amazing contrast you get. And yet what an insight God gave David. And then God has preserved this word for what, 3,000 years so that we can talk about it this morning. That's how much he cares, how much he wants you to know how he sees you and what he wants from every one of us is to lean against his breast, to know that we're loved, to look

to him for stuff that we don't understand, to know that he will guide our path, to know that he will tell us something if we need to know it. If he tells us to do something, he'll strengthen us to do it. It all comes from him. It all comes from a relationship. And I guess the Lord's trying to tell me to shut up and sit down, but that's all right. I'm willing to try to be that child. He knows what he's doing. Isn't the Lord good to us? Isn't he worthy of being served and trusted? Praise God. This has been the Midnight Cry broadcast. If you would like a DVD or CD of today's message in its entirety, please request it by program number. While it is not required, a donation of $10 for DVDs and $5 for CDs is suggested to help with expenses. Also for those who request it, we will send you our quarterly publication, the Midnight Cry Messenger, free and postage paid. Send your requests to Midnight Cry Ministries, Post Office Box 685, Southern Pines, North Carolina, 28388. We invite you to join us again next week. next week at the same time, and may God richly bless you until then.