By John Thiel, mp3

The Story of King David

Our title for this study is gained from the book Education.

The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall. {Ed 57.3}

But such a character is not the result of accident; it is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature—the surrender of self for the service of love to God and man. {Ed 57.4}

When the heavens fall, what stamina do you have? When everything goes wrong around you, do you have a character that has developed the ability to bring the lower nature into subservience to the higher. This will connect us with the series we had recently about learning the baptism of fire of the spirit to govern that human nature. When everything falls down around us, when the heavens fall we need such a skill and ability. In the near future the heavens will indeed fall.

Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

What will happen? The heaven shall vanish away like smoke and the earth shall wax away like a garment.

Isaiah 34:4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree.

What will happen? The heaven shall fall.

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The heavens will fall. When that happens we need something. Before those heavens fall to such extreme measures, you might have noticed something interesting.

Isaiah 51:6 …the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner.

The earth grows old like a garment and the people will die in like manner. Is this a once off bang or is this a developmental situation? Indeed when it grows old like a garment, the garment gets weaker and weaker and people die accordingly. The extreme manifestation of heavens falling is an event that takes place after other heavens have fallen. How real is this already in our time ever since the turn of the twentieth century? This was the case that the earth was growing old like a garment and the people were dying accordingly. The First World War, Second World War, all the associated experiences, people’s heavens were falling down around them.

Isaiah 59:8 The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. 9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if [we had] no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; [we are] in desolate places as dead [men]. 11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but [there is] none; for salvation, [but] it is far off from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions [are] with us; and [as for] our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.

This is the experience of the inhabitants of this planet. Is it your experience? Some have horrible experiences to look back to. Some are still in horrible experiences. Everything that we have hoped for, everything that we have reached out for has melted away. The heavens have fallen down around us. We are groping around and that which we anticipated will be the answer to our problems melted away into smoke. This has been our experience, has it not as a company? We have been with the church and we hoped that it was God’s church and it fell down around us.

This is the experience already for people today and as the consequence to that experience, people have fallen with the falling heavens. People have fallen apart under it all. They are no longer following in the paths of their anticipated hopes. They say times have changed. The description of the perils of our time is fully given in:

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Can you see what is happening in society? The parents are in dire straits because their children are not under their control anymore. They have to change their mode of dealing with them to even keep the home free of violence but it keeps on bursting out getting worse and worse. People’s lives are wearing away under the stress of social pressures, they’ve grown old like a garment.

2 Timothy 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away

Is this not the truth of today more than any other time of our history? But the most interesting thing is that they have a form of godliness. I was fascinated to listen to a senator being interviewed. He was a homosexual and he claimed faith in God. He claimed godliness but he denied the power thereof because the power of God saves us from things like that and we are surrounded by these extremes. Even the milder forms are just as mind bending equated to the heavens falling. It says from such turn away.

Consider these ramifications and influences of this kind of experience. Here is what Gods people are surrounded by that cause their heavens to fall:

The developments of sin are becoming so full, so deep, so abhorrent to God, that soon He will arise in majesty to shake terribly the earth. So artful are the plans of the enemy, so specious the complications that he brings about, that those who are weak in the faith cannot discern his deceptions. They fall into the snares prepared by Satan, who works through human instrumentalities to deceive if possible the very elect. Only those who are closely connected with God will be able to discern the falsehoods, the intrigues, of the enemy…. {TDG 96.2}

That last point is what we want to comprehend that we may be so closely connected with God that we cope and we will not fall apart when the heavens fall. The words of Jesus in Mathew 24 where he describes the horror of our time in which the metaphoric heavens are falling already.

Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Iniquity will be so vast that Satan’s confusions and the complications that he generates, the life experiences that may become so complicated, that if we were to be the elect of God we could still be deceived if possible. That’s how serious it is and we are right there.

How to Endure

We need answers. We need the inward skill in order to handle the complicated deceptions and fallings of that metaphoric heaven.

And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The very atmosphere is polluted with sin. Soon God’s people will be tested by fiery trials, and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true will prove to be base metal. Instead of being strengthened and confirmed by opposition, threats, and abuse, they will cowardly take the side of the opposers. The promise is: “Them that honor Me I will honor.” Shall we be less firmly attached to God’s law because the world at large have attempted to make it void? {5T 136.1}

Today this quote is no longer future; today the majority are already proven to be base metal. We are living in that time and the people who were in the time of the quote appearing to be faithful through the trials that came their way became base metal, and that happened in the First World War and in the Second World War, base metal. We today live in a society that have different aspirations and these are all falling down around their ears.

Already the judgments of God are abroad in the land, as seen in storms, in floods, in tempests, in earthquakes, in peril by land and by sea. The great I AM is speaking to those who make void His law. When God’s wrath is poured out upon the earth, who will then be able to stand? Now is the time for God’s people to show themselves true to principle. When the religion of Christ is most held in contempt, when His law is most despised, then should our zeal be the warmest and our courage and firmness the most unflinching. To stand in defense of truth and righteousness when the majority forsake us, to fight the battles of the Lord when champions are few—this will be our test. At this time we must gather warmth from the coldness of others, courage from their cowardice, and loyalty from their treason. The nation will be on the side of the great rebel leader. {5T 136.2}

Everything that people were hoping to be of benefit to them fell. Heavens were falling. Already back there floods, in the tempests and how much has this increased to our point in time? It is hard to walk in the path of Jesus when things go wrong. When there are no champions in this path, when they are so few, when peer pressure pushes you in the direction where you know it is wrong but it is pushing you.

Even under the most faithful surroundings, it is difficult to hold fast the Christian profession of faith unto the end, to stand decidedly and earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. But it is most difficult to keep true and loyal to God’s holy commandments, when there are few in number to help and encourage one another, and when many of these are sickly and ready to die because they do not honor God by keeping his commandments truly and loyally. {RH June 8, 1897, par. 11}

The few champions are so sickly themselves. How can you stand faithful in such a time? We are living in that time. As you may know those who are coming into the faith even just now are confronted with Christians who let them down. Everything that Christianity was meant to be hardly exists. I have noticed that out there in the world people know what Christianity is meant to be. I was working among brick layers and they knew what it was. They put pressure on me, and when they discovered they couldn’t weaken me they then knew that here was a Christian and then they would ask questions. They would not make fun of me anymore. Then in my conversation with them, if I would even give a hint of doing something not quite perfectly correct they would say ‘you, you are a Christian, you shouldn’t be doing that.’

The people know what true Christianity is meant to be. Where is it in their experience? They don’t know they can’t see anymore. Where are such a people? They are sickly themselves. To stand loyal and true under such disastrous circumstances is what we need to find the answer to when the heavens fall especially when these things strike into our living space, when they affect me. When I anticipated good results after faithfully adhering to truth . If you try to follow truth and you anticipate that it is going to end well and then it falls in chaos around you, how to enjoy and to remain vibrantly faithful is the question.

When you put your whole effort behind it and then it falls down in a heap of rubble are you tempted with the question; ‘we obey God’s commandments, pay our tithe, we do this and that and then it all comes down in a heap, is God on my side or not? This is what causes people to change because they think the trouble they are going through is not worth it, so they take on a form of godliness but deny the power of thereof.

The disciples of Jesus, were they genuine followers of Christ? They were weren’t they? But did their heavens fall? Shockingly. Jesus Himself a Son of God, His heavens fell. There is a story by which we may gain the answer to our burning quest. What to do when the heavens fall. The picture I have just painted is horrific. It is a reality that if I want to follow the Lord perfectly, I am disappointed because it does not work, heavens keep on falling.

David & Saul

The story of David in his rise to the throne is a perfect illustration. When he was chased and persecuted by King Saul, him and his six hundred men were fugitive and in their efforts to run away they finally find themselves under the care of the Philistine king.

1 Samuel 27:1 And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: [there is] nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

Can you see the strategic work of the mind of David here? ‘I have to escape from Saul and if I will stay in the land of Israel he will catch and kill me.’ What was he actually doing? He was not going to God at this time, was he? He did not say ‘Lord where do I go?’ He said ‘I will go to the land of the Philistines, Saul will be afraid to catch me there.’

1 Samuel 27:2 And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that [were] with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, [even] David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife. 4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him. 5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? 6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. 7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

He was under the protection of the enemy of Israel the philistines whom they were supposed to have eradicated out of the land and their protection. David had gone to fight and clear the land of all the heathen kings and while he was there in Ziklag as he came back from those wars, Achish came to him and asked him, ‘Where have you been, what have you been doing?’ David was afraid to tell him what he was doing. He was killing all the nations that were with Achish and he gave him the understanding that he had been fighting with Israel.

1 Samuel 27:12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.

King David was in a real mess now. By falsehood he had given Achish to believe that he was fighting against Judah and now Achish thought ‘wonderful he is on my side!’

1 Samuel 28:1 And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.

Wow! What a trap. We are going to fight against King Saul. Come on now, you come with me. What a trap. Was he in a tight spot? The rest of the story goes that he was trembling and he was going with them and the king said to him ‘you will go with me, won’t you?’ He said ‘yes, you know what I would do as your servant’. Again he was not straight with him so he had to go and he went. But the lords of the philistines said ‘why are these Hebrews here?’ As the angels of the Lord are they are now helping David and they said, ‘If he comes they can suddenly turn on us, don’t let him come’. So Achish said to him, ‘Okay off you go.’

They had left Ziklag with all their household gear without being guarded. They left their women and children and households there. As they started coming back from the war zone we read the following:

1 Samuel 30:1 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; 2 And had taken the women captives, that [were] therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried [them] away, and went on their way. 3 So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, [it was] burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. 4 Then David and the people that [were] with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Did their heavens fall? Totally. Burned and destroyed. That was the situation and their loved ones that were coming home to there weren’t anymore. David’s wife Abigail was taken captive. Their heavens had fallen but now David’s heavens were falling good and proper because those six hundred men were going to kill him. How would you have acted in that situation? Who could he blame but himself? Because the Amalekites that came to destroy that city were the ones that he had conquered a few months before. Now they came to call for retribution and that is what they did. What did David do?

1 Samuel 30:6 but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

David had messed up and these were the consequences. Have you messed up? What are your consequences? The heavens are falling. Everything we anticipated has just left me bereft.

David was caused to feel that he had missed his path. Far better would it have been for him to find refuge in God’s strong fortresses of the mountains than with the avowed enemies of Jehovah and His people. But the Lord in His great mercy did not punish this error of His servant by leaving him to himself in his distress and perplexity; for though David, losing his grasp on divine power, had faltered and turned aside from the path of strict integrity, it was still the purpose of his heart to be true to God. {PP 690.2}

Have you gotten yourself in a mess? But in the mess that you are in, are you still at heart wanting to be true to God? As we look at each other and we see each other messing up, can you forgive your brother or your sister for messing up? Is there still a light as it was in the heart of David?

While Satan and his host were busy helping the adversaries of God and of Israel to plan against a king who had forsaken God, the angels of the Lord were working to deliver David from the peril into which he had fallen. Heavenly messengers moved upon the Philistine princes to protest against the presence of David and his force with the army in the approaching conflict. {PP 690.2}

Here again David was chastened for the lack of faith that had led him to place himself among the Philistines. He had opportunity to see how much safety could be found among the foes of God and His people. David’s followers turned upon him as the cause of their calamities. He had provoked the vengeance of the Amalekites by his attack upon them; yet, too confident of security in the midst of his enemies, he had left the city unguarded. Maddened with grief and rage, his soldiers were now ready for any desperate measures, and they threatened even to stone their leader. {PP 692.3}

David seemed to be cut off from every human support. Have you been in a situation where the whole world is against you? In the church you feel nobody cares it’s all gone wrong? Have you ever been in that experience? You will meet more of that, it will happen more. Our heavens will continue to fall as we get nearer and nearer to the final. As these things come upon us, remember the times of Jacob’s trouble? That is coming in great intensity.

All that he held dear on earth had been swept from him. Saul had driven him from his country; the Philistines had driven him from the camp; the Amalekites had plundered his city; his wives and children had been made prisoners; and his own familiar friends had banded against him, and threatened him even with death. {PP 692.4}

Encouragement

Could it get any worse? Nothing to hope for. But what did we read? David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Those words we need to understand so that when we meet every given situation that is going to get worse and worse when your heavens fall in your and my experience we need what David did. David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

In this hour of utmost extremity David, instead of permitting his mind to dwell upon these painful circumstances, looked earnestly to God for help. He “encouraged himself in the Lord.” He reviewed his past eventful life. Wherein had the Lord ever forsaken him? His soul was refreshed in recalling the many evidences of God’s favor. {PP 692.4}

Here is very important information – the skill of dealing with falling heavens. He didn’t permit his mind to occupy itself with that. But was that wrong? Can you do that when everything is going wrong around you? David did not permit his mind to fall. What did he do? He encouraged himself in the Lord. He reviewed his past eventful life. Wherein had the Lord ever forsaken him? This was after he had killed his ten thousand when Saul had just killed some thousands beforehand. When Saul wanted to kill him and the Lord protected him. He had all this history experience of the past when he was a shepherd boy and the Lord led him.

Instead of looking at the dilemma he looked upon his Saviour as to what his Saviour had done for him in the past in his hour of utmost extremity. Had the Lord ever forsaken him? No. His soul was refreshed in recalling the many evidences of God’s favor.

The followers of David by their discontent and impatience made their afflictions doubly grievous. {PP 692.4}

They were with him, they could have done the same but no, they made their afflictions worse and worse. They couldn’t sleep at night, they blamed David of insanity and they wanted to kill him for it but he did the opposite. Here is important information. It is very essential that we pick this up. Please don’t let this slip because you will need it. You will desperately need it because it will look absolutely hopeless to you. It is so easy reading that story, isn’t it? That was David, what happens to me? We fall down and fall apart. How many times I have had to encourage people whose lives have fallen apart and they keep on weeping and looking at the problem. Don’t look at the problem. Look upon the beauty of Jesus. No matter what I said, they could not be consoled. Here is that wonderful answer. Ponder on what the Lord has done in the past, His mercy to you and me as David did.

The followers of David, by their discontent and impatience, made their affliction doubly grievous; but the man of God, having even greater cause for grief, bore himself with fortitude. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee” (Psalm 56:3), was the language of his heart. Though he himself could not discern a way out of the difficulty, God could see it, and would teach him what to do. {PP 692.4}

This is the actual Psalm that he wrote when he was in that horrible plight. We are reading the answers to our dilemma when it strikes. Here are the skills that we are to exercise. Whenever your heavens fall, read this Psalm.

Psalm 56:1 Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. 2 Mine enemies would daily swallow [me] up: for [they be] many that fight against me, O thou most High. 3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. 4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

He goes on describing how everything he had intended had gone wrong and they twist his words, there is no hope, no way out.

Psalm 56:6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.

Justice shall not spare, truth shall fail. This was his experience among his own men.

Isaiah 59:14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Psalm 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: [are they] not in thy book? 9 When I cry [unto thee], then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God [is] for me.

Is that an encouragement? I have messed up but I know my God is still for me. This I know even though the enemies are hopelessly against me.

From Failure to Restoration

What was it? There is a purpose of his heart to be true to God. This was the difference between Job and his wife. She said ‘just curse God and die’ No, my purpose is not to curse God. My purpose is to persevere though the heavens fall. I am not going to give up. I will cry out to my God and I will rely on Him and I will listen to Him and follow His counsel.

Because God told him when he asked, ‘What shall I do about this situation?’ God said, ‘Go and pursue the Amalekites.’ It is a great encouragement, indeed in doing what God said he was able to recover the entire household, all the spoil from the Amalekites and slew them. God turned the tide, by David asking Him to help him through. His purpose in his heart was to be true to God. Secondly he looked earnestly to God. Finally his soul was refreshed in recalling many evidences of God’s favour.

Psalm 56:9 When I cry [unto thee], then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God [is] for me. 

Psalm 56:13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: [wilt] not [thou deliver] my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

His soul was refreshed in recalling the past. Those three points that I have focused upon, still a purpose in his heart to be true to God even though he messed up. Secondly to looked earnestly to God no matter how hopeless the consequences. Thirdly to refresh my soul in recalling the many evidences of God’s favor. This is what God had set King David aside for our salvation for. God is speaking to us saying, look at my servant David I am going to do similarly for you if you trust me as he trusted me. I will do this for you:

Isaiah 55:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, [even] the sure mercies of David. 4 Behold, I have given him [for] a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.

What did Jesus give David for? As a witness of God’s sure mercy and Jesus was the Son of David. Remember Christ? His heavens fell. He was there in Gethsemane and in Isaiah 44 He said, then said I, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain. This is how Jesus felt. I came here to redeem Israel and look what they are doing to me, it is all in vain. ‘My God why hast thou forsaken me?’ were His words. How did Jesus find His way through the heavens that had fallen around Him? He did exactly what David did.

Amid the awful darkness, apparently forsaken of God, Christ had drained the last dregs in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied upon the evidence of His Father’s acceptance heretofore given Him. He was acquainted with the character of His Father; He understood His justice, His mercy, and His great love. By faith He rested in Him whom it had ever been His joy to obey. And as in submission He committed Himself to God, tAe sense of the loss of His Father’s favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor. {DA 756.3}

David did this and Jesus the Son of David did the same. As He was crying there ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain’, what were the words that followed?

Isaiah 49:4 [yet] surely my judgment [is] with the LORD, and my work with my God. 5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb [to be] his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Was Jesus refreshed? He died in the joy of committing Himself to the Father, “into your hands I commend my spirit”. It was a dead end as it was with David but He would not distrust God in the dead end experience. He remembered God’s wonderful mercy as did David and He refreshed Himself by recalling the evidences of God’s favour.

When all seems hopeless, look to heaven’s ladder. That is where we are to look when the heavens fall and we must learn it now. If our eyes could be opened we would see the angels of God all around us and the evil angels are here also trying to destroy us but the good angels are pressing them back.

Jacob thought to gain a right to the birthright through deception, but he found himself disappointed. He thought he had lost everything, his connection with God, his home and all; and there he was a disappointed fugitive. But what did God do? He looked upon him in his hopeless condition, He saw his disappointment, and He saw there was material there that would render back glory to God. No sooner does He see his condition than He presents the mystic ladder, which represents Jesus Christ. Here is a man who had lost all connection with God, and the God of heaven looks upon him and consents that Christ shall bridge the gulf that sin has made. {CTr 86.3}

We might have looked and said, I long for heaven, but how can I reach it? I see no way. That is what Jacob thought, and so God shows him the vision of the ladder, and that ladder connects earth with heaven, with Jesus Christ. A person can climb it, for the base rests upon the earth and the top-most round reaches into heaven. Then the soul climbs right away from the customs, practices, and fashions of earth right towards heaven. The light and glory of God are upon every round of this mystic ladder, and men and women climb upon whom? Jesus Christ. Cling to what? Jesus Christ. Made one with whom? Jesus Christ. . . . {CTr 86.4}

When the heavens fall, Jesus was there and when they literally fall an accumulation of shattering sensations will break upon those living. Even the 144,000 will experience some of the plagues we are told. You might think ‘I am lost, God has forsaken me. I am experiencing the plagues. The truth is you and I must be equipped to meet this and not to fall apart and it is now that we must learn the fortifying skill of the innermost being that is going to hold me through. I must learn it now because if I haven’t learnt it now, I won’t survive then. If I fall apart now, the Lord says I am still here. Learn David’s experience of past catastrophes, past disasters and past broken heartedness.

Look at heaven and see where the Lord has got you so far. Has He forsaken you? Why do you feel forsaken? Remember He has not forsaken you. Keep your heart determined He will not forsake you and as the present difficulties and shattering episodes of my life continue to pour upon my being, these are God’s methods to take us over the ground again and again to learn to do what David did.

As we repeatedly flee to Him and develop the habit of fleeing to Him, it becomes our character to successfully meet the greatest final test. So we will say:

Habakkuk 3:17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither [shall] fruit [be] in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and [there shall be] no herd in the stalls:

The falling of the heaven will be like the falling of the fruit from the vine.

Hbakkuk 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God [is] my strength,

We need to have that. May God help us to learn this important character development, it is my prayer.

Amen.