What To Do When You’re Waiting on God | Robby Gallaty | 1 Samuel 24

I wanna welcome you to Long Hollow. If you're here in Hendersonville, at our Hendersonville campus, or Gallatin, we welcome you, or incarcerated. We have seven campuses that worship live with us, and then there's about 650 prisons who get to watch around the country, so we welcome you as well. Today, I wanna talk about how do we respond, or what do we do when you're waiting on God? You ever been there before? What do you do when you're waiting on the Lord? If you've been reading with us up to this point in 1 Samuel, we realize that David is in the spiritual waiting room of God, right? I mean, this is a man who has been promised the throne, so why in the world do we find him in 1 Samuel 24, hiding and hunkered down in a cave? When God anointed David king of Israel, David has to wait a long time. He's hiding in a dark cave. He's dodging spears from Saul. He is running for his life, and so the question we're gonna find today is why? Why didn't God just hand him the kingdom? Why didn't God just give it to him right away? Instead, he's gonna endure years of waiting, years of tears, years of questioning when, years of running for his own life. Now watch this, that's not David's question.

That's actually the question we're all asking today, right? You ever wondered this before? As a Christian, if God is sovereign, and God has promised one day to wipe away every tear from our eye and to remove all pain and suffering, why is the Christian life so hard and long? Anybody with me? Or better yet, God, I've got a calling on my life. I know you put this fire in me to serve and to preach and to teach and be used by you. Well, why am I not seeing it? Or better yet, what about this one? Why are evil men prospering, women prospering, and good people struggling? I wanna know those questions or answers to the question. If you've asked any of those questions, then today's message is for you. If you have a Bible, turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 24. 1 Samuel 24, if you're there, we like to say word. We know the word changes our life, and so we wanna get in the word and to the word. Thank you. Thank you. Now listen, do not let eight o'clock outdo you, because they were lively today. Thank you, thank you, Jess. Just in my amen corner over here, thank you. Say that with me, say amen. Amen. See, that wasn't so hard, okay, so here you go.

The word of the Lord, verse one. When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told that David is in the wilderness near in Gedi. So Saul took 3,000 of Israel's fit young men and went to look for David and his men in front of the rocks of the wild goats. When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. Now think about this. Of all the caves in all of the wilderness, desert, he's gonna go to the bathroom in the exact cave David is hiding with 600 men. Like, this is bonker. I mean, like, really, Lord? Now watch this. So they said, all David's friends said, look, this is the day the Lord has told you about when he said, I will hand your enemy over to you so that you can do to him whatever you desire. I wanna show you two insights I think will help us as Christians living in the spiritual waiting room of God. By the way, if you're not there, just wait. You will be, right? Number one is this. How do we navigate the waiting room of God? Number one is this. We need to trust God's timetable. We need to trust God's timetable.

Now, in order to understand 1 Samuel 24, we have to go back to 1 Samuel 23. In that chapter we read this week, David is instructed to go after and attack the Philistines. He inquires of the Lord, God says to go do it. His men are pretty skeptical. They're like, do you really think we could do this? We've only got like 600 dudes and these guys aren't the best. They're the lower class, you know, overlooked of society. So David goes back and asks God again. And God says, no, I told you, go take them. And so they go and attack the Philistines. Saul gets word and Saul says, here's our opportunity to finally take David out. David's like a gnat on Saul's skin, just won't go away. Saul's like, I'm gonna exterminate, I'm gonna eradicate him and his army. And so David literally makes it out by the skin of his teeth and he goes and hides in the wilderness and they find a cave. Now put yourself in David's shoes. They are hiding in a cave in the shadows, fearing for their life. And all of a sudden they hear someone walking in. And of all the caves and all the desert, Saul is going to relieve himself in the exact cave that David and his men are in. Now, if you're David, put yourself in David's shoes.

This is the coincidence of a lifetime, right? Like, you can't even make this up. If you look at this from spiritual or natural eyes, you missed the point. But David's gonna teach us a principle of how to see natural things from a supernatural perspective. Here's what David knows. David knows this is a test from the Lord. Here's the thing. Will he take the crown, don't miss this, by force, or will he trust God's timing by faith? Will he take it to be his own? And on the surface, this is the moment, right? I mean, think about what's happened up to this point. First Samuel chapter 16, Samuel goes to David, anoints him as king. So the prophet says, you're the guy, you're the king. This guy has the title, but he shouldn't occupy the role or the position. Then we fast forward to the last chapter, 23. Jonathan, Saul's son, says, look, my dad's not the dude, he's not the guy, you're the king, and I'll be your man. So now you have the prophet, you have your best friend, now you got your buddies. The guy's like, this is your moment, man, let's take it. His friends are like, take this joker out, David, here's your opportunity. Let's seize the day. There's only one problem.

And the problem is this, God hasn't told him. God has not told David to take Saul out, and because of that, David refuses. Now, how do I know that? In order to understand how David is a man after God's own, you ever wondered that? How is David a man after God's own heart? Because it's not because he's got a perfect record, he's anything but perfect. The reason I think David's a man after God's own heart is not perfection, it's direction, or progression. When David falls, he gets up, but notice this, the one or two times in Scripture where David royally messes up, he doesn't pray beforehand. David is a man after God's own heart, why? Because he wants to know the heart of God so he can live it out in his life, and I'll prove it to you. Go back to verse one of chapter 23, and I want you to see what's happening here. Notice how many times David inquires of the Lord. It says, look, the Philistines are fighting against Calia and raiding the threshing floors, so David, verse two, say it with me, say it out loud, David what? Inquired of the Lord, he sought the Lord in prayer. Drop to verse four, once again, David what? Inquired, hey, listen, my guys don't think we should attack, you said we should attack, should I attack? God says yes, drop down to verse 10. Then David said, Lord, God of Israel, your servant, he asked him a question, should we do this?

What does he ask? Is Saul gonna come to Calia? God says yes, verse 12, he asked another question, will the citizens of Calia betray him? David asked the Lord how many times in one chapter? Four different times, let me ask you a question, how many times do you go to God first with big decisions or you seek guidance from other people? How many times do we approach the biggest decisions of our lives without ever asking God for guidance? You know how I know that's an issue with you because it's an issue with me, right? Here's my challenge, I want you to get this. Before you ever seek a promotion, before you ever take a new job, before you ever move to a new city, before you ever date a new person, before you ever seize an opportunity, before you're tempted to take a shortcut, before you seek the advice of your friends, start, pull over, park, and start by asking the Lord. Now you have to understand something, how long has it been since David was anointed king to this moment, 1 Samuel 24? How long was that? I asked the Logos Bible Software, thank you very much, it asked me, show me Kevin, I just went and looked this week this is crazy, from the time he's given God's hand is on him, you're the king. Guess how long the time has elapsed to 1 Samuel 24?

Get this, 13 to 15 years. He knows he's gonna ascend the throne, so why in the world is God dragging his feet? God, why are you wasting time? Why am I running for my life? Why am I defending myself against this guy who has the title, but he doesn't occupy or should occupy the position? David is teaching us a principle, write this down, and somebody needs to hear this today. God works the best in our waiting. God works the best in the spiritual waiting room of life. God is never on our time. I've been a Christian now for 24 years. I've learned this one thing about God. He's never on our time, he's never late, but he's always on time, amen? Somebody knows that. Think of the lives of the great men and women of faith from the past. Guess how long Noah is constructing the ark and preaching righteousness to that world that is against God. The Bible says 120 years before the first drop falls. The first drop falls. Think about Joseph in the Old Testament. He has a dream that his brothers and mother and father are gonna bow down, he's gonna be the ruler, he's gonna be over all. Oh, by the way, God says, strap your spiritual seatbelt in,

it's gonna be a while, 13 years. You're gonna go in a pit, you're gonna go incarcerated in a prison before you're raised to the palace, 13 years, hang on. What about Abraham? You're gonna have a son and he's gonna be the lineage through which the Messiah will come. Oh, by the way, you're gonna have to wait 25 years. My favorite example is Moses. What's supposed to be a six-month journey is a 40-year excursion. I heard a sermon, it was a clever title years ago, I love this title. It says, God draws a straight line through a crooked path. I mean, I love that, I wish I would've come up with that. But here's what he means. It was supposed to be a six-month linear journey. What did it take? It was a crooked path, that's how God works. Anybody know what I'm talking about? The best example is Jesus. Think about this. Jesus knows, you can debate, was it at birth, was it at birth, it was at 12. I'm pretty convinced, 12 or 13, Jesus knew who he was and why he was here, okay, for sure. How long does Jesus wait before he ever preaches a sermon, before he ever heals a person, before he ever speaks the truth publicly?

He waits 30 years to begin his earthly ministry. The disciples are ready to go start the 501c3, Jerusalem Ministries, Inc. You know, they're gonna go out, they're gonna do a church planning ministry. Jesus is like, whoa, wait for the Spirit to come. 10 days they have to wait. The best is Paul. Paul, arguably the greatest church planner ever to live. Paul never plants a church or preaches a public sermon until three years, where the Bible says Galatians, he is tucked away in Arabia, in silent solitude, in obscurity. Here's my point. How many people would agree, waiting is tough? Anybody with me? However, here's what waiting demonstrates to God. What you demonstrate to God is that you trust that God knows best, better than you. That's what you're saying. David could have taken the throne, and rightfully so. He was promised the throne. He could have said, God, I thought this was it. But here's the thing. If David would have taken the throne by force, he would have started his ministry with murder. And we know what murder got solved, because his whole ministry was fear, and anxiety, and struggle. And David said, no, watch this.

I'm gonna receive the ministry from God, not achieve the position on my own. Here's the principle I want you to get. David knows this. What you and I take by force will one day be taken from us. What we take by force will one day, if you don't believe me, go look at politicians. Go look at corrupt CEOs. Go look at pastors, some who call themselves pastors. They rise to power, and prominence, and position. One of the things I've learned about God is you may operate in sin in secret, but there's coming a day of reckoning where God will bring all darkness to light. And God's timing's always perfect. And here's how it works. It always happens in our lives at the worst possible time. And so here's the point. Trust God's timing. Here's the point. God does not count time the same way you and I do in his economy. Think of it this way. When you first became a Christian, remember that moment? I mean, you're like a mountaintop, man. You're like, man, I'm a Christian, and man, my mind's clear now. I can think. And then rapidly, I know for me,

rapidly you start to see change. Like habits start to go away. Your language hopefully cleans up a little bit. And you're dreaming different. You're speaking. Your conversations are. But then the longer you're a believer, things start to slow down, right? It's not a bad thing. It's just what it is. The longer you follow the Lord, it just becomes one step of faithful obedience for the future. And that's hard for us, because we have a problem waiting. I remember a seminary president was asked by one of the students who was taking a course that was a semester long, but he didn't want to do it in a semester. He felt like he wanted to microwave it in a couple weeks. So he went and asked the president. He said, listen, I want to take this course, but I don't want to do it over a semester. for the course of six months, five months. Can I do it in like a short term? Can I shorten the prescribed course? The president said, well, it depends on what you wanna be at the end of the course. When God makes a squash, it takes six months. When God produces an oak tree, it takes 100 years.

What do you wanna be? A squash can go tomorrow, you can step up. An oak tree will last forever. Here's the point, some of you may feel like God is not doing anything extraordinary in your life. You're like, man, what is it? I got a calling on my life. God, where are you? Are you even here? It feels like nothing is happening. Friends, you may be in the spiritual waiting room. Let me say a couple names and this will encourage you. Have you ever heard of these names before? D.L. Moody, anybody heard of that? George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, the missionary. F.B. Meyer, John Prang Hyde. What about Amy Carmichael? You know what all of these people have in common if you study their life story? Every one of them has this in common. On average, it was 15 years before when they were called by God until they were used mightily by him. Now, I'm not trying to discourage you from saying, wow, throwing the towel, I can't be. No, I want you to set your sights on eternity. Remember, friends, we are living in such a way where we're preparing for tomorrow. I love what Dallas Willard said. Dallas Willard said, training today, I love this line, is for, that's why I love discipleship.

Training today is for reigning tomorrow. Training today is for reigning tomorrow. What that means is every person in here is in process. Say that with me, say process. We're all in process, and what that means is this. The process is not complete until God says so. Not you, not your neighbor, not your spouse, when God says so, and so if that's the case, if you get nothing else, zone in. Let us commit to stop measuring our second quarter to someone else's fourth quarter, or let me flip it around. Stop measuring your final inning to another person's second. Why? Because we're all in process, and God's working in our life, and he's gonna bring this work to completion. David trusted in the timetable of God. Number two, so trust the timetable, number two, or trust the Lord, number two, drop the sword. Drop the sword, that's what David does. Look at what happens in verse four. Then David got up and secretly cut off the what? Thank you, one person. Cut off the corner, circle that, corner of Saul's robe, that's specific. Afterward, David's conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe. He said to his men, as the Lord is my witness, I would never do such a thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed.

I will never lift my hand against him since he is the Lord's anointed. And with these words, David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Because they thought, at first, David's a coward. Like, what are you doing? I mean, if you look at it from a worldly perspective, David's soft. This is your chance, man. David, let me remind you, this is the guy who, up to this point, no less than three times has tried to assassinate David. Threw a spear at his head, you know, just for funsies, almost killed him. I mean, David needs to be taken out. And you would think, from David's perspective, this is the moment, so what does David do? Instead of murdering Saul, which could end the whole thing, don't miss this, David is going to do something way worse. Because when you understand the culture of cutting the hem of a robe, you realize it is way worse. David is sending a message to Saul that he's gonna have to think about every single time he lays his head on the bed. What does it mean? I don't know if you remember, but in 1 Samuel chapter 15, we see another instance where the roles are reversed. Saul doesn't lose a corner of his robe, Samuel does. Watch this, you see this already in context.

1 Samuel chapter 15, after Saul doesn't obey the Lord and kill and wipe everyone out, Samuel comes and says, because you've messed up, you're done. I'll never speak, I'm done, I'm out. I'm not speaking to you again. Look at verse 27. When Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed, what word I tell you to say out loud? Here it is again, grabbed the corner. When the Bible has an insight like this, it's for a reason. Grabbed the corner of his robe and he tore it. And Samuel said to him, because you did this, this is a picture of what the Lord is gonna do to you. The Lord has torn. the kingship of Israel away from you today, and has given it to your neighbor, David, who is better than you. Here's what David's doing. By cutting off the corner of Saul's robe, he is reminding him of the prophecy of God. He's saying, you sit in the seat, but you have no right to the throne. And it's only a matter of time, brother, before God brings a reckoning. What David is teaching us is something, particularly the men in here, I want you to get. David is teaching us there is a difference between meekness and weakness. You know the difference? There's a difference between meekness and weakness, right?

Weakness is one thing, meekness is a different thing. Jesus said, blessed are the weak. Is that what he said? No. Blessed are the what? The meek, for they will inherit the earth. Now, the CSB translates it. I don't think it's the best, it's too simplistic. Blessed are the humble. That's not the flow of the word. The better translation of meekness is this, write this down. Meekness is controlled power. The opposite of meekness, I'll help you think of what the word means. The opposite is violence, brutality, anger, theft, wrath, condemnation. It's a person who's boastful, prideful, doing it in their own strength, all about them. The greatest picture I can give you of a contrast between meekness and the Bible is Jesus standing, you may remember this, John 18, in the presence of Pontius Pilate. And what a picture, I want you to picture it in your mind. On this side you have Pilate, on this side you have Jesus. John 18, 36, Pilate says, what is the question? Are you the king of the Jews? Now, why is he asking that question? Because if he's the king of the Jews, Pilate has a problem. He's the man, you can't have two men in one place, right?

So he's saying, are you the king of the Jews? And what does Jesus say? Oh, you missed this. My kingdom is not what? Of this world. It's a baffling statement, why? Because I want you to picture the two men, okay? So we're just looking now, picture in your mind. On one side is standing Pilate. Pilate is the embodiment of the Roman Empire. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was a knight that was appointed governor of Judea with the full backing of the Roman Empire, the superpower of the world behind him. Pilate blinks and people die. On this side, what you have standing there is a picture of a man who is bruised, blood is coming down his cheeks. He is broke by the world's standards, and he's alone. If you look at Jesus at this moment, Jesus looks pitiful after the mob has punched him and beat him. He's got saliva in his hair, in his face. It looks like this man is not who he is. But we know from Scripture and we know from Jesus, things are not always as they seem. You never judge a book by its cover, why? Because Jesus the prisoner, you're gonna love this, bound by chains, was the only free man in the entire room. Pilate, on the other hand, Jesus is in complete control. Pilate, on the other hand, not bound by chains,

is actually bound by his own sin of arrogance and pride and greed and thirst for power. Here's my point. Meekness is controlled strength that you can hold back. It doesn't mean that you're shy or introverted. It doesn't mean that you're withdrawn all the time. In fact, the best way to think of it is this. In the ancient world, this word meekness was used for a wild animal that was caught and broken, tamed, or domesticated. That's a great picture for us. What that means is the lion can rip your face off in a second, but it was taught not to, okay? The potential for attack is there, but it's restraining. Here's my point in telling you this. Anybody can swing a sword. And I'm not talking about like physical, I'm talking about like your mouth. I'm talking about your keyboard. I'm talking about your phone. I'm talking about getting online. Anybody can swing a sword. It takes a bigger man or woman to sheathe it, to drop it, and to trust the Lord. It takes a bigger person to trust the timing of the Lord. Write this down. This is the line. I've been sitting on this for, I think, 10 years. I hadn't given it to you yet, but I hadn't found the right sermon.

This is it. This line, let me tell you something before I tell you this line. This line has helped me probably more than any line I've ever heard. I can't remember who told it to me, but years ago, I heard this. This line, sometimes God presents an open door in your life to walk past, not to walk through. Sometimes God will open a door in our life, because we think open door, of course I wanna, guys I don't know, I'm testing you like David to see if you'll walk past it to walk through it. So let's go back where we started and I wanna show you what I mean. Let's go back to the beginning. We find David as a fugitive entering a cave, okay? David walks in a fugitive and then he walks out what? A fugitive. Nothing changed, right? Nothing changed on the outside. If you look at Saul, he's still wearing the crown. Saul's still in control. Saul is still prospering. David is sleeping in caves. David is on the run. David is still in the waiting room. Nothing changed on the outside, but come in close. We don't look with natural eyes, we're looking with spiritual eyes.

Something happened in the dark in that cave that mattered more than the crown. David proved to God that he could be trusted with power before he ever held it. See, God was trying to see if David, if he could trust him when he had an opportunity so that when he has the power, he can trust him. The pattern points in this text of restrained power to another king who 1,000 years later from David is gonna go to a desert, very similarly, and be tempted not by Saul, but by the serpent. And the serpent, Satan, goes to Jesus, said, listen, man, listen, I know you think you're a big deal, but I'm the man. I've been here a long time. In fact, all these kingdoms here, Rome and the Arabian Empire, all this is mine. If you just bow down to me, I'll give it to you. Card blank, it's all yours. Here's what he's saying to Jesus. Jesus, I want you to seize the crown, but I want you to skip the cross. Easy street, just take it. And what does Jesus do in his humanity? He trusts the timing of the Father, so much so that the road will be difficult in Rocky. He's gonna go to a garden. He's gonna be betrayed by his friends. He's gonna be tried for a crime he didn't commit.

He's gonna be beaten. He's gonna be persecuted. He's gonna be whipped. He's gonna be nailed to a cross. He's gonna be buried into a cave, but don't miss this. When David hid in a cave, he came out of the cave still waiting. When Jesus went into a cave tomb, he came out of the tomb raining. You see the difference? Big difference. I want you to think of your own life. Are you in the waiting room now? Like, man, I wish God would hurry up his plan, you know, and let me in on it. You know, I sometimes think about my life back in the world before I came to Christ, and just kind of an exercise I do in my mind. I think, what were the angels in heaven? Because they're not omniscient. They don't know everything, obviously. I think, what were the angels in heaven looking down, thinking of me when I was, you know, went to college with Jeremy and Kelly and William Carey, and I was in, you know, doing dumb things. Anybody went to Knucklehead University like me? By you, yeah, I got that degree. Yeah, or when I was in the drug world, and I was on cocaine or heroin or strung out alcohol,

I was like, what were the angels? And I always think, like, the angels are like, God, we're gonna use this guy right here. This guy right here, what are you gonna do? He's a thief, you know? He's an addict. You're gonna use this guy? This guy can't even pay his light bill. He's living in the, God, you're gonna use this guy? And I almost wonder, if God looks back to them and says, no, don't look at the man he is now. I want you to watch the seed within him grow to fruition over time. Friends, listen to me, yeah, praise the Lord. Aren't you glad God doesn't see us where we were or even where we, here's what God does. When God looks at you, he sees the potential in you for the person he knows you can be, who he created you to be. And that's what he does for all of us. And notice this, it wasn't just God protecting me from drugs back then. It was God's protection, even from my own ambition. You know, after I had a radical transformation, I spent 24 hours with the Lord Jesus. I met Jesus personally, kind of a, not gonna go into it, but I met the Lord personally. And I knew, God had called me to preach. I didn't know what that meant. I was a brand new Christian.

And I would pray at night. I'd say, God, why don't I have opportunities to preach? Why I have this calling, but I don't have this opportunity to communicate. And by the way, if you know me, I'm not praying small prayers. Like I'm praying like, God, I wanna fill stadiums. Put me on platforms and oh, by the way, make sure there are bright lights on me You know when i'm up there make sure the platform big enough So and I want a big crowd while you're at it, you know, i'm praying i'm bringing these big prayers god I want i'm ready. I'm ready for it Or so I thought And as I prayed those prayers No one called No invitations came in no big stages no auditoriums back then Door after door as I look back on my life just stayed shut And I remember one night i'm like god, are you even listening to me? Are you even answering the prayer? Because you're not giving me anything and here's the thing I I know looking back and some of you are right there god answered the prayer with a no Because he loved me too much Here's what I know about me candy will tell you If god would have opened the door for a big platform back then I wasn't ready for that I would have gotten up in front of thousands of people and said something That would have been etched in the annals of youtube and instagram for eternity, right? You know, we live in a world nothing is wasted and I would have regretted it the rest of my life Generation after generation would have heard that message on you. How many people thank god. There's no youtube back when we grew up Right because what you stay on a stage or an instagram or facebook stays forever Friends don't miss this I was praying for a big platform

God was protecting me from a permanent record I thought god was withholding something from me. Here's what i've learned looking back god was actually Shielding me don't miss this. I thought a closed door in my life was rejection. Here's what i've learned since then it was god's Protection to protect me from myself because he knew best When ignoring my prayer he was answering it with a better one, which is no not right now So some of you look at me when you're waiting on god and the door Won't open and you're begging god for the stage and he keeps refusing to give it to you Look at me. Maybe he's not rejecting you rejection is not punishment Maybe it's god's protection to say. Hey, I know better than you do Maybe god loves you too much to hand you over to something. You're not ready to bear There are some in here today who would say man i'm right there ravi I feel like you did when you were praying in your room. I feel stuck I'm in the waiting room. Here's my challenge to you lock in for a moment. I want you to hear this I want to challenge you from doing something foolish In your own strength by your own force why because you and I what we'll do is we wait on god if god doesn't act We start to grab things by force, right? We're going to grab the opportunity by four. We're going to force the relationship We're going to force the job. We're going to force the promotion. We're going to force the ministry We're going to force the timeline We're going to force what we think is right and we're going to be tempted to take out saul before god's time And if you take it by force god will take it from you So don't do that Friends god works the best in our waiting. Here's the thing. I want to close with god Is building something in the dark in your life that one day he will bring to light He's never early He's never late He's always on time And so I know in a room this size some of you like man. I don't know what to do I don't know if the closed door is god or not I don't know if the open door is one for me to walk through and and that's where you are now There are a lot of questions and that's why we need wisdom. The bible says in james 1

Count it all joy when you face trials of many kind because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance Perseverance must finish its work in you and me so that we are mature Not lacking anything watch this if any of you you and me if any of you lack wisdom Let him ask god to give and god will give generously without finding fault That's the best part of the whole line. Why because when we ask god, hey god, would you help me? We think man, but i'm in sin god said that doesn't matter You know, yeah, we deal with that, but i'll still give you wisdom But god, you don't know what I did. It doesn't matter if you ask for wisdom God says I will take it to the bank. I'll give you wisdom But god look what i'm doing if you ask for wisdom i'll give you wisdom and I know some of you are like man I need wisdom how to deal with this relationship how to how to navigate this ministry how to navigate retirement years Should I take the next step? Should I move to hendersonville or long hollow? Should I should I leave this town? Should I go for the promotion? You got to remember what you say? Yes to they're probably 10. No's you're going to say no to So we need wisdom. Amen, and I don't know what you need wisdom for but i'm going to pray After I pray we're going to stand if you're at home You might just kneel by your couch, if you're in a cell, you might wanna kneel next to your bunk or your celly and just say, hey, I'm gonna get down. But if you're here, I'm gonna pray, and then we're gonna stand, watch this. And then I'm gonna ask you, if you're here and you need wisdom, direction, I'm believing in this moment, if you ask God for wisdom, God will speak to you. I believe that, he's done it for me. He's gonna do it in such a way where you're gonna say, there's no way I could have, there's no way that has to be the Lord. I've had this happen over and over in my life. The problem in the Christian life

is not unanswered prayers. The problem in the Christian life is unoffered prayers by his people. So we're gonna pray in a moment. And if you really need wisdom, I really believe you'll come and I'm praying, God will answer. Father, pray with me. Father, we pray right now, God, even in the moment we're in, God, that as we come to you and ask and seek and knock, you will answer and you will give to us what we need. God, the problem is we ask everyone else first and then we come to you last. And so we're gonna course correct that today. We're gonna change. We confess, God, that we've done that. And so today's gonna be a new day. We're gonna come to you first. We're gonna turn the car off, take the keys out, get on our knees and say, God, I'm here. Speak to me now. And Father, I ask you to speak to us in such a way that we know without a shadow of a doubt, it's you. And we're praying for discernment as to walk through the next door or not or to open the closed door or not. We ask it in Jesus' name. And everyone said.