Cultivating Unshakable Faith: Lessons from King David's Divine Dialogue

Have you ever yearned for a connection with the Divine that's as deep and unshakable as King David's? Embark on a journey as we uncover the secret to cultivating a Psalm-worthy faith through the power of raw, honest communication with God. In this enlightening episode, we don't just talk about prayer; we explore the dynamic relationship that is built when our conversations with the Creator become as nurturing and trusting as those with our closest friends and family.

King David didn't hold back when he poured out his heart to God, and neither should we. By examining the profound expressions of fear, frustration, and faith found in Psalms like 56 and 34, we see the blueprint for a spiritual dialogue that acknowledges our deepest struggles while still magnifying the Almighty. Through David's example, we learn that our imperfections and doubts can be the foundation of a stronger, more sincere faith. It's a faith that's not afraid to question, to complain, and to trust in God's sovereignty, even when the path ahead is unclear.

Wrapping up our spiritual trek, we focus on the lifelong effort required to perfect our divine dialogue—a commitment akin to that which we give to our most cherished human relationships. By fostering a conversation with God that's filled with continuous praise, meditation on His word, and a healthy reverence, we open the door to a deeper understanding and a more fulfilling spiritual journey. So tune in, and let's strengthen the most important relationship we have—the one with our Creator.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Do you have a faith with such deep trust in God's sovereignty that it can honestly communicate every thought to him? If you do, you may have a Psalm-worthy faith. Welcome to Truth Trek, where we dive deep into God's Word to see what treasures we can find there. I'm Pastor Jason Hubdy and I'll be your host through this journey, as we take a look at what is Psalm-worthy faith. Psalm-worthy faith is faith that has such deep trust in the sovereignty of God that it can honestly communicate every thought to him. A person with Psalm-worthy faith has a relationship with God, has confidence in God's Word and has faith in God's plan. David didn't wait for others to write Psalms about him. His Psalms are a record of one who had a relationship with God, confidence in his Word and faith in his plan.

Speaker 1: 1:33

We talk a lot about relationships relationships in the context of the church, in our marriages with our children and community and we acknowledge that for truly deep and vulnerable and clear communication to happen, we must have a good relationship. It's often said that the biggest problem in marriages is a lack of communication. When we are not able to address a concern with someone for fear of what they may say or we fear how they may react to it. We are acknowledging that our relationship is not so great and when we never get past the small talk to the real issue, we are not communicating because the relationship is not strong. On the other hand, if the relationship is not strong, it is normally due to lack of communication. We may blame bad communication on our relationship problems, whether at home, at church or at work, but we can't communicate without a good relationship.

Speaker 1: 2:38

It is a little like the dilemma of many young people who find themselves looking for a job and all the employers want someone with experience and they won't hire someone without experience. So the inexperienced person is left wondering what in the world they are supposed to do to get the experience. Well, communication and relationship are the same way. It is a bit of a conundrum, a dilemma, a quandary. You see, you cannot have truly great communication without relationship and you cannot have a great relationship without good communication. The solution for the person who needs experience to get that job is to find a job that offers training or apprenticeship, and the employer who offers the inexperienced person an opportunity takes a risk with their own money, with the possibility that it won't work out or the person will be incompetent. But on the other hand, the person may be grateful and have a bond of loyalty to the one who gave them a chance. Relationship and communication must go hand in hand. You can't have a relationship without communication and communication does not happen without a relationship.

Speaker 1: 3:55

Now perhaps you are thinking to yourself that you can communicate and not have a relationship. However, this is not true really. I could go to McDonald's when I'm out of town and place an order and not know the person who takes my order. Yet we have a relationship, however surproofless it may be. It's a transactional relationship. I expect to state my order, pay the money and receive a meal. It's not a deep relationship, but if I took time to have a short conversation, the relationship could grow just a bit. And if I were a regular customer, perhaps over time I could know that person well enough to develop a friendship. And of course, that won't happen at many McDonald's today because many of them now have the kiosks. You order on the kiosk screen, you pay with your phone or your card and you just wait for your food to be served.

Speaker 1: 4:52

And we must have a relationship to communicate, but we must have communication to have a relationship. But not all relationships are equal. A transactional relationship, like I just mentioned, is normally a very shallow relationship. It's not a marriage, it's not a brotherhood or a sisterhood, it's just lunch. If we want to have a deep, meaningful relationship with God, we need to communicate well with Him. He greatly desires that.

Speaker 1: 5:25

The chief end of man, the Westminster Confession says, is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Thank you. He created us to be in relationship to him. He wants to have a great relationship and that means he wants two-way communication. That is love. That means we listen to him. We respond to how he speaks to us through his creation and through his word. We do that by doing what we are doing right now. He speaks to you through this teaching, through preaching from the pulpit on Sunday. You need to do this every day by reading his word, and you need to both speak and listen to him in times of prayer. He has given us a great example of this in the Psalms.

Speaker 1: 6:14

The Psalms show us how a person with a deep relationship with God builds that relationship with faith that can honestly express to him all that we are going through Our fears, our disappointments, our frustrations and our pain. And also the Psalms show us how we can and must express to God our praise and honor him with our lips. The Psalms are wonderful for a person's prayer life, for helping us to express ourselves to God. This is why so many people will tell you their favorite verses from one of the Psalms or their favorite Bible reading is in the Psalms. So it is important for us to take a look at those Psalms and as much as they can be meaningful to us, they can be even more meaningful when we know the circumstances that the Psalm writer was dealing with when those Psalms were written down or sung. And our passage here that we're going to look at from 1 Samuel 21 gives us a wonderful opportunity to do just that, because two Psalms were written by David on the day of the events I'm about to read about from 1 Samuel 21. Psalm 56 and Psalm 34 are both directly related to what happened on this day.

Speaker 1: 7:41

1 Samuel 21, verses 10 through 15. It reads this and David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Acish, the king of Gath, and the servants of Acish said to him Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances? Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Acish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Acish said to his servants Behold, you see, the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? Very interesting time.

Speaker 1: 8:44

So you see, david had felt the need to act like a crazy man. I'll give you a little background on this. Gath is about 25 miles southwest of Knob, where the previous passage talked about David being there. He traveled from Knob where Ahimalik had given him bread and Goliath's sword. Now he goes to the very hometown of Goliath bringing with him that same sword. It is a testament to the fact of the fear David had of Saul that he would seek to take refuge in what would otherwise be a really terrible place for him to hole up. If anyone would have hated David, it would be the people of Gath, who had seen their hero Goliath, killed by David. And yet David felt safer there than he did sticking around Saul. So David shows up there and, realizing he is recognized, he decides to put on a little act. He foams at the mouth, he claws at the doors.

Speaker 1: 9:47

We see here that sometimes acting like a crazy person is strategic. Sometimes acting like you are crazy is a strategy. Back when President Trump was present, he was talking about North Korea and said I won't rule out direct talks with Kim Jong-un. I just won't. As far as the risk of dealing with a madman is concerned, that's his problem, not mine. So pretending you're a little crazy can be a strategy. So David is playing this part in order to save his life. If he acts like a crazy person, the king will not see him as a threat, and that is just what happened. Not only that, but there is a bit of humor here, since the king makes this comment about having so many madmen around, he doesn't need another one. It's maybe as close as we get in scripture to someone saying I'm surrounded by idiots.

Speaker 1: 10:44

Remember what Psalm worthy faith is? It's a faith that has such a deep trust in the sovereignty of God that it can honestly communicate every thought to him. And a person with Psalm worthy faith, as I mentioned earlier, has a relationship with God. He has confidence in God's word and faith in God's plan. And David didn't wait, as I said, for others to write Psalms about him. His Psalms are a record of one who had a relationship with God and confidence in his word and faith in his plan. So let's look at one of those Psalms Now. We know what David went through that day and we will see how he honestly communicates with God. He has a relationship with God, confidence in God's word and faith in God's plan.

Speaker 1: 11:31

I'll read from Psalm 56. It says to the choir master according to the dove on far off, teribith's amictum that's a musical term amictum of David when the Philistines seized him and Gath. So we know the thing that was happening here. We just saw how David, fleeing from Saul, goes first to Nab, then to Gath and finds himself in danger there. David just can't catch a break. Every time he turns around, someone is trying to kill him and he is on the run from Saul, the king he was loyal to, not to mention his father-in-law and the father of his dearest friend.

Speaker 1: 12:13

And here is David's honest communication with God. Be gracious to me, o God, for man tramples on me All day long. An attacker oppresses me, my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly. David's example to us here is that, though he already knows that God knows his thoughts, he is pleading with God. He recognizes his own need to speak these thoughts to God. Someone said to me once that we should never complain to God. Well, if that is the case, then the Psalms would be a poor example for us in our prayers, since they are filled with complaints and frustrations, even frustration against God. But the Psalms are a good example to us, since we can learn that we can speak to God honestly, even in our complaints, without sinning. I think, off the top of my head, around 40% of the Psalms have parts in them that are imprecatory, meaning that the person is actually asking God to take action or give relief from enemies by actively getting himself involved in a situation. So, yes, we can express our frustrations to God, but we must do as David did and have, at the same time, the faith he had.

Speaker 1: 13:39

Continuing David wrote when I am afraid, I put my trust in you, in God, whose word I praise. In God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? David has stated his frustration and fear and now he returns to a common declaration he makes again and again in his life, that he will trust God. Verse 5, all day long they injure my cause. All their thoughts are against me, for evil. They stir up strife. They lurk. They watch my steps as they have waited for my life, for their crime. Will they escape In wrath? Cast down the peoples, o God? We see here that David is now asking God to intervene to the harm of his enemies. Verse 8, you have kept count of my tossings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Malachi wrote of a book where God remembers and scripture speaks of his knowledge of all things, including our intimate thoughts, our hurts and our disappointments. Continuing, david says in verse 9, then my enemies will turn back in the day. When I call this, I know that God is for me. Again, he is declaring his faith in God. Verse 10, in God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust. I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? I must perform my vows to you, o God. I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Speaker 1: 15:33

So we see that David, when it comes to his relationship to God, wears all of his emotions on his shirt sleeve. He is stressed, he is fearful, frustrated, angry, and it may seem like a conflict, but even in those thoughts he continuously pours out and returns to a statue of faith and praises God. You see, here our example is before us. We can cry out to God our hurts and our complaints and fears and ask Him to help in our conflicts, and he indeed desires for this type of intimate relationship where we would do this. And yet, at the same time, we must remember to have the faith in him that says, even in the trials, we will trust. Not only trust, but even praise. What frustration do we have? Speak out in your time of prayer and tell God what are your fears, what are your hurts, what are your pains. He already knows them and yet he wants to hear from you, and not only silent prayer, though there are times where this will be the case but speak out loud your prayers to him, speak as though he hears you Speak as though he loves you, speak as though you believe in him. And when you've poured out your heart to him and your complaints and hurts and frustrations, be sure to always return, like David did, to a stature of faith that praises God in the midst of your trial.

Speaker 1: 17:14

I speak often of how the Bible interprets itself, how the Bible offers application of each passage. If we would just search for it, the passage right before this passage had an application about David eating the bread of the presence. That was found in the Gospels, in the words of Jesus, who applied it to the Pharisees, who ruined the Sabbath for everyone by making it miserable instead of restful and joyful. And in this passage we find additional meaning and application in the Psalms. A Psalm worthy faith is a faith that trusts so deeply in God's sovereignty that it can honestly communicate every thought to him and remember. A person with Psalm worthy faith has a relationship with God, has confidence in God's plan and has faith in God's plan.

Speaker 1: 18:09

Now I'm going to move to Psalm 34, which is one of my favorite Psalms, because it was my preaching professor David Jones' favorite, and he told me what he knew best. Both Psalm 56, which I just went over, and Psalm 34 were written on this same day, the day that David went to Gath and put himself in danger and acted all cray-cray. He was put out of the city and that was better than being put to death in the city and David recognized that God was worthy of praise because he continued to protect David. He protected him from Goliath, he protected him from Saul and he protected him from Akesh, the king of Gath. David is expressing what faith he had in God and it is a Psalm worthy faith. He has a relationship with God that he is so at ease with God he can speak honestly. He has confidence in God's word. God had given word through Samuel that David was to be king and, despite his current situation, david trusts that God's word will come true and that God's plan will be completed. So let's take a look at Psalm 34 now, which says of David when he changed his behavior before a bimlak so that he drove him out and he went away.

Speaker 1: 19:38

This is a great Psalm. It says I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. If you're familiar with Aaron Schust, he has a song that's based on this. Your praise will ever be on my lips, and in a Bible study I used to do. We were in the book of Joshua and we learned that one of the keys to Joshua's success would be to meditate, which is a word in the Bible that literally translates to mumble. Joshua was to meditate on the book of the law, god's word, day and night. He was told that the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, so it isn't just a mere thinking about it, or even just reading it silently, but to speak it. So David says, perhaps recalling Joshua here, that he will bless the Lord at all times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth, or some translations say will always be on my lips. As I mentioned before the song, your praise shall ever be on my lips.

Speaker 1: 20:55

Continuing on in verse 2, david says my soul makes its boast in the Lord. Let the humble hear and be glad. We should boast in nothing other than the Lord, and even Paul said he would only boast in his own weaknesses. Why? Because boasting in your own weakness is an acknowledgement that nothing could get done other than when God intervenes and uses us to his glory. When he uses us weak vessels in his service. We can boast in him. Verse 3, o. Magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Magnify means to grow up, to make strong or to become great or important. Verse 4,. I sought the Lord and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Not only did David have his prayers heard, so we can as well.

Speaker 1: 21:53

In Matthew 7, 7, and 8, in the Sermon on the Mount, jesus said Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

Speaker 1: 22:12

Returning now to David's Psalm 34, verse 5,. Those who look at him are radiant and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you, his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer wanton hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Come O children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord". And Proverbs 1-7 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fool is despise, wisdom and instruction. Sometimes fear of the Lord leaves us trembling in fear of the sin we have committed, and rightly so. But better yet is to have a fear of Him in the sense of a healthy respect that would keep us focused on serving Him well and winning the battle against sin in our lives.

Speaker 1: 23:23

Verse 12, what man is there who desires life and loves many days that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. That's one of the Ten Commandments. Verse 14, turn away from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The man born blind that was healed by Jesus said we know that God does not listen to certain sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does as well, god listens to him. John 9.31.

Speaker 1: 24:03

Continuing on in our Psalm, verse 16, the face of the Lord is against those who do evil to cut off the memory of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. How many among us are brokenhearted or crushed in spirit? I have good news. The Lord is near, verse 19,.

Speaker 1: 24:32

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. This reminds us of the story of the crucifixion In John 19,. It says when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true and he knows that he is telling the truth that you also may believe, for these things took place, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken Verse 21,. Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. The Lord redeems the life of his servants. None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Speaker 1: 25:27

So do you have a Psalm where they faith, a faith that's trusting so deeply in the sovereignty of God that it honestly communicates every thought to him, a faith that shows your relationship is strong with God and your confidence in his word and your faith in his plan is clear and strong. We see once again the beauty of scripture, how it connects every part to each other. For here in 1 Samuel, we see a short narrative about David, in desperation, taking a chance at realizing he may be in danger, acting like a fool, escaping with his life. By itself this passage may not tell us much, but when we look at Psalm 56 and Psalm 34 we can see a bit more. And when we see in the account of the crucifixion, of what David said in Psalm 34 about himself, that was not only implied to himself but was also a predictive prophecy that applied to Jesus Christ. And so the connections in scripture continue.

Speaker 1: 26:33

And the more I study, the more exciting it is that I can see how miraculous this book is. Really, the Bible is much more than a book. It's a library 66 books, 40 authors. And the more you study it, the more it reveals to you about how in control of everything God is, shows how well he planned out his redemptive plan for us to be restored in relationship to him. And that is God's communication with us. He wants a relationship with us and he's given us an amazing set of books in the Bible to communicate his love and plan for us. God is the Creator and more than any one of us will ever understand, he knows that relationship and communication are inseparable. Deep relationship means deep communication. So sad it is that many people go all through life never knowing how really to communicate and therefore never having deep relationships. And there are books written and classes offered and counselors standing by that help people to communicate better. Those are all helpful. If any truth is out there, it's God's truth. A secular book on communication can be very helpful, but God has given us a better way. Throughout scripture he shows us how to communicate. The Psalms are a big part of that, and David has shown us a way to communicate with God himself. And so he started with this conundrum that communication is needed for great relationships and relationships are needed before we can have great communication.

Speaker 1: 28:11

So perhaps you feel distant from God relationally. What do you do? In some relationships we begin by being the main talker. When I first dated my wife, she thought I talked a lot and over time, hopefully, I've learned to listen a little better. Some relationships begin where you are the listener first.

Speaker 1: 28:31

But here is the not so secret secret Whether you are listening or talking, you are communicating. If you feel your relationship with God is not as deep as you would like, your strategy may be to listen more and talk less. For others, it may be to talk more and continue listening. You see, if you're listening to God by hearing sermons and teachings and reading the Bible, but never opening your mouth to speak to Him, the communication is incomplete and therefore the relationship lacks depth. On the other hand, you may speak an awful lot to God and never read His word and never pay close attention to preaching and teaching, and you may need to make more effort to hear Him through the means he most often speaks to His people, which is through His word read or preached or taught. And perhaps you're in a third category you don't talk to God much and you don't put much effort into finding out what he wants to say to you. But he desires a relationship with you, and relationship does not happen in a communication vacuum, and good communication does not present itself where little or no relationship exists. Rather, they must always be pursued together.

Speaker 1: 29:41

So we've taken a look at some of the one of the all-time greats at communicating with God, david and we take a look at what was usually a very private affair, which is one's conversations with God. We see these beautiful Psalms and for many of them we can look back in Scripture to see what David was going through when he wrote it. Psalm 51 is another great example of this, when Nathan the Prophet confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba. We see how he pleads with God for mercy and confesses his sins without making excuses. There are many examples of how we can speak to God.

Speaker 1: 30:18

We don't need to be a poet like David. We don't need to write down every prayer though that may help some of you writers but all of us need to continue a lifelong effort to communicate even better with our God. It is the same for the married couple, it is the same for the lifelong friend. It is the same with business partners. It is the same in the church. If we desire good relationships, ever growing in depth and love, we must work on our communication, and our communication with God should be the number one priority in our lives. Thank you for listening to this episode of TruthDreck. I hope that you've been able to get some good encouragement from it and, if you know of someone who you think might also be encouraged, please share the podcast with them, and we appreciate that very much and we'll see you next time on TruthDreck.