Steven Furtick - What God Says Vs. What You Feel
This is an excerpt from: Running For a Reason
Isn't it confusing when God calls you one thing and your circumstances call you another? Isn't it crazy when God calls you free and your habits call you addict? Isn't it crazy when God calls you loved but your emotions feel closed? Isn't it amazing when God calls you chosen but you feel left out? Enter David, the chosen one of God, the one who wasn't called to appear before the prophet Samuel when he came to anoint the future king.
As a matter of fact, at the moment the king was about to be chosen, David was just doing his chores, tending the sheep. But the prophet knew each time he went to anoint another son with oil, "This is not the one God has chosen". One commentary says the oil froze until David showed up. The oil would not move from the flask of the prophet to anoint the next king. David did not have to chase the crown; the crown chased David. This may set you free from thinking you have to be at a certain place at a certain time or you have to get the attention of a certain person or you have to be recognized in a certain way in order for your anointing to be real.
Being recognized doesn't make it real. It is what it is before they say what they say. I was anointed to preach when there were no people coming to the "Run to Win" seminar. I'm anointed to preach today. The only difference and what has changed is the number of people I'm doing it with and for. One thing I need you to know about your life is it's one thing to run for something you chose to run toward. "I'm going to start this business. I'm going to find a husband. I'm going to get my life together. I'm going to lose 20 pounds. I'm going to run a marathon".
(The Devil is a liar. The Lord didn't tell you to do that.) It's one thing to run after something you chose, but it's another thing to run when you're being chased. I don't necessarily just want to preach today to those who are running toward something. That's wonderful. If you're motivated and inspired and are like, "By 50, I want to have this much money. By 40, I'm going to have that much so when I'm 50 I can have this much…" That's fine if you've figured that out. But there is a sense in which you and I both know that sometimes what's really moving you in your life is not what you're running to; it's what you're running from. People see what you run to, and they judge you by that. People see what you run to, and sometimes they admire you for that.
The significance of the text in 1 Samuel 22 is that David is a king and he's in a cave. He's not running from a giant. No. He's not running from his assignment from God. No. He is running from the king, and he is running from what he is going to be. Not by his own choice. David did not sign up for this event. Saul, the king, was supposed to hand David the baton. Instead, he is beating him over the head with the baton he is supposed to be handing off. See, some of us run because we weren't handed everything easily. Some of us run because what we were handed was hazardous.
Some of us run, and we don't even understand what compels us and drives us. You don't really understand this until you take some time in life to reflect and ask, "Why am I so hard on myself? Why am I so prone to anger? Why do I always look for how things are going to go wrong even when they're going right"? You start discovering that some of the things you are broken by are because of the batons that were not handed to you in the relay that never was because you are running from something. It's hard to run toward what I've never seen. It's hard to run toward wholeness when I only saw my parents cuss each other out. It's hard to run toward wholeness when I only saw people continue to self-sabotage. It is hard to run toward something that has never been exemplified before me.
So, now I find myself, like David, running from something I ought to be able to run to. Saul should have helped David, and he didn't. So David is in a cave because of a king who did not ever want his crown to begin with. The Lord sent me to speak to somebody today to tell you, "Don't let the place you're in make you confused about the person you are". That oil that was on David's head… It didn't just stop on his head. It ran down, because when they anointed you in the Bible times, the anointing was an announcement. The Bible says Samuel had a flask filled with oil. It wasn't a quarter full. It wasn't half full. It was a full horn of oil, and it was dumped on David's head. It was dumped on David's head to signify David's destiny.
As the oil ran down his head, David didn't know what it really meant at the time, but the oil was trying to tell him something. The oil was trying to tell him that every king will have some caves. Don't let the cave you're in right now cause you to forfeit or discontinue the thing God has put in you. Maybe this is why it meant so much when I went to preach to the women in the prison this week. Every day, they are surrounded by signals and signs that say, "My life is over". When we went in with our worship team and our staff that go out there every month, not just once a year, and we showed up to announce to them, "God knows your name," all of a sudden, women who were stuck in a situation were lifted to a place to remember that before the situation, God spoke his word over their life.
This cave situation in 1 Samuel 22 is not David's fault. He is not like Jonah who decided to run from God. He is not like an Olympic athlete who wanted to give their life to get a gold medal. He is not like Elijah. Remember Elijah, the one who ran from Jezebel? You want to be like, "Dude, what are you running from? You just called down fire on 850 false prophets. Excuse me. I'm not being sexist, but one woman? One anything after what you've seen should be enough to make you stand firm". Maybe you need an illustration. I think you need an illustration. Okay. All in our backyard we have deer. We also have a Boston Terrier. I noticed that the dog is smaller than the deer. I also noticed that the deer run from the dog.
Now, if you watch Bo chase a deer, you can see his arrogance that is unjustified. This little dog who can't do anything is chasing a big deer. I'm thinking to myself, "This must be the most thrilling event in the world for his brain to process". "I can make something this big run, and I don't even have to bark. All I have to do is this". But I saw a movie in my mind the other day. I wondered, "What if the deer turned back and ran at Bo? What if the deer even hissed at Bo"? All of a sudden, I don't think Bo would be so bold, because he would realize, "This thing that is bigger is being triggered by emotion that can't affect him in the least, so I can no longer manipulate this thing that is bigger than me into running from me".
If the deer ever turned around, it would be the worst day of Bo's life. If the deer ever found out "I'm bigger than you," Bo wouldn't run up on a deer. Bo wouldn't go outside. I told you last week he's scared of a suitcase. What do you think he's going to do with a deer? If you ever got the revelation that "Greater is he…" Oh yeah. The Devil is hoping you never find out you're bigger. The Devil is hoping you'll always flinch and fall back, but I see somebody turning around today, talking about, "Wait a minute. Why am I running from you"? I mean, if you're going to run, if you're going to quit your family, at least have a good reason. Don't do it because they got on your nerves.
If you're going to quit loving your wife, at least have a good reason. Don't do it because she didn't appreciate you. That's not a good enough reason. Trouble isn't a good enough reason for you to give up. Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame. Jesus said, "I hate this, but I love that". "The joy set before him". What I'm running toward and what I'm running from. It all comes in concert in David's life. "Wait, wait, wait. God didn't protect David". Yes, he did. He didn't protect him from being chased. He kept him chosen although he was chased. Our expectation of God must not be that there will never be anything chasing us. Our expectation of God is that we are chosen while we are chased.
I'm not preaching to everybody today. Some messages are for everybody. This one is for somebody who has something on their heels. As a matter of fact, you have hell on your heels, and you are running from something. You can't figure out why, and you're like, "But the Bible says, 'Rest in the salvation of God.'" Yes, rest in his salvation, but run toward his arms for this season of your life and let him be your strength. You know, this preacher from California pulled me aside one time and said, "I can tell you struggle with depression". I said, "You act like that's a hieroglyphics revelation, the Da Vinci Code. I tell my church all the time that I deal with depression". He said, "No, I can tell".
I thought this was a nice thing for him to say. He said, "I could tell you deal with it because you give people the tools to deal with it". Then he said something. And you know how preachers talk in alliterated outlines. He said, "The tools you use tell me a lot about the trouble you've been through". I said, "That's a compliment"? I said, "I'm not depressed all the time". He said, "No. I just can tell what you've been through by your tools". Maybe this is a helpful way for you to look at the situations in your life. I have to tell you a little bit more about David. Do you know that David prayed in the cave? He's hiding from Saul, who has already thrown multiple spears at him, at his head. Talk about experience, on-the-job training. And he has lost his best friend, so he's all alone, and he prays in the cave.
Now look at this in Psalm 142. This is the prayer David prayed in the cave. You're going to be surprised what David prayed in that cave, but maybe it'll be a tool for you to use when you're in a cave. Look at verse 3. "When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me. Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. I cry to you, Lord; I say, 'You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.' Listen to my cry…" I think he is feeling unheard. I think he is feeling unseen. You don't say, "Listen to my cry" if you feel like the person is already involved in the situation.
"Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need…" "Oh, David, I can tell you deal with depression". "You think so? I put it in the Bible". "I am in desperate need". The three people who need this message are going to really receive from this next part, the three people who have been running a race and are being chased by something and cannot see what they are running from, but they can feel it and know it, and it has become a template for the track their life has taken and the trajectory they're on. He said, "Rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me".
Now, when he said, "The righteous will gather about me when you get me out of this…" Some of you all are praying, "God, when you get me out of this, oh, it's going to be amazing. I'm going to pay my tithes. Lord, I'm going to give you 50 percent if you'll just get me out of this". ("Do we have 55? Do I hear a 56? Do I hear a 57"?) The Lord is like, "Whatever, whatever, whatever". Listen to this. He's praying, "The righteous will gather about me". He's praying for support. He's praying for help. He's praying for somebody to care. He's praying for somebody to see. He's praying for somebody to hear. He's screaming in a cave. There's echo, and there's no one talking back.
Watch what happened in 1 Samuel 22:1. His father's household heard David was running, and they went down to him there. Not only his family, which we're going to talk about in a second, but look at who else came. "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him". "Okay, God. Remember how I was praying for you to send me people? I take it back. I don't need anybody, Lord. Just me and you, Lord. 'All I need is you, Lord.'" And here come 400 lined up. And what are they? They are David's 3D army. You ask, "Where do you get that from"? They were in distress, they were in debt, and they were discontented. God might show up at your door with 3D this week.
Remember how we were saying sometimes you pray for something, and then it comes, and you don't want it because it came in 3D? It came in debt, distress, and discontentment. It came in the form of a need. Why would God answer a prayer with a need? Come on. Think with me. I can't just say stuff that makes you want to shout. I have to help you so you know that while he was praying in that cave, these… You know, he prayed, "God, then the righteous will surround me". And here come in debt, in distress, and discontented. David is like, "Let me try that again. 'Then the righteous…' You thought I said 'wretched.' I said 'righteous.' Sorry, Lord".
Now we have a decision to make, church. Why did these 400 people show up at David's cave in the moment of greatest need in response to God's answer to the prayer? I will suggest to you it's because David was anointed, because he was chosen because he was anointed. For everybody who is in the cycle of self-pity, of "Why is everybody always making withdrawals from me and not deposits?" it's because you're anointed. "Why doesn't anybody tell me 'Good job'"? Because you're consistent. They won't tell you, "Good job" when you do it consistently. They'll tell you, "Good job" when they're surprised by it. The moment they stop being surprised, they stop saying something.
Ask your kids who ate your peanut butter and didn't say a word. They didn't even throw the jar away either. They just left it in there, because they expect peanut butter in the pantry. They expect you to be on time. They expect you to be kind. Their expectation is the greatest compliment, so don't cry about it. I told one preacher one day, "You will know you're a good preacher when people stop telling you, 'Good sermon,' because they will all of a sudden become less concerned about you and how you felt about it, and they will become more concerned about them and what God spoke to them through it". I put this to you as a personal challenge today. Are they running to you for a reason? What did you think God anointed you for? What did you think the oil was for? What did you think God blessed you with that experience for? You say, "Well, they're using me". Nuh-uh. God is.