Characteristic Communication
The Habit of Talking to God and Speaking to Him Again After Experiencing Failure
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It is easy to lose confidence. A misstep here, a failure there, and before long all faith is lost. Then there is a cloud of doubt. At times like this, don’t you wish there was some way to communicate with God and have him communicate back to you? An ongoing conversation that is consistent to the point where we could rely and hang on every word? The warrior and future king of Israel, David, during his most difficult times running away from Saul, the king of Israel at the time, had a complete reliance upon God. His faith was so strong that if God failed, David would fail. He had all his“proverbial “eggs” in one basket. Therefore, we see over and over again he would inquire of the Lord. Here are just a few instances:
“Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more than if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” Then David inquired of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.” (1 Samuel 23:2–5, NKJV)
“David inquired.” The men questioned whether David truly heard from the Lord, so he inquired again and heard the same message. Then they obeyed, did what God said, and the victory was theirs. Perhaps God allowed them to question his word because they needed to learn to trust two things: The first was that God is faithful, and the second was that God speaks to their leader, David. Once they learned this, no matter how outlandish it was, they followed their leader, knowing that when God spoke, David listened and obeyed. More on this in a moment.
Between chapters 24 and 29, David does not inquire of the Lord. Constantly being pursued and hunted down by King Saul got to him; he slowly lost his confidence in God’s ability to save him even though God continually did so. In chapter 27, David has finally had enough.
“And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow. And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more.” (1 Samuel 27:1–4, NKJV)
While in the camp of the enemy, David became a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a murderer.
It seemed to have worked! David despaired. He was terrified of Saul and lost his confidence in God. So he went to the land of the Philistines. The Bible says that Saul “sought him no more.” While in the camp of the enemy, David became a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a murderer. He lied to Achish and said that he and his men had raided in the land of Judah. In reality, he was raiding in Achish’s backyard, attacking small towns, taking all their treasures, then murdering every man, woman, child and infant so there would be no witnesses.
Once again there was a war between the Philistines and Israel. All the feudal lords met together, and Achish brought his army and David and his men. The ruse worked. David and his men were about to be given the opportunity to fight on the Philistine side in the war, then turn on them and give Israel, and Saul, a great victory, possibly putting David back into good standing with Saul. But this was not the will of God. The lords figured out the plan and complained that David should not be there no matter what Achish thought of him, and wanted him and his men gone. When David complained, Achish said,
“Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me.” (1 Samuel 29:6)
It was all a sham and the God of heaven was not pleased with David being a covert Operator in the flesh.
While they were away attempting to be victorious in the flesh, some Amalekite raiders attacked David’s city, Ziklag, where his wife, children, and the wives and children of his men were. The raiders took everything, including the people, and burned the city. As David and his men were grieving, they spoke of executing him for his destructive lack of leadership. They went from believing that their leader heard from God to wanting to kill him for leading them in the wrong direction. They could see that he stopped seeking God. Originally, they were willing to follow him anywhere as long as the Lord was with him. But they were having serious doubts now that he had led them somewhere for his own good, not theirs.
Then we read, “…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6, NKJV)
When all seemed absolutely lost, David didn’t run away. He didn’t try and appease his men. He didn’t negotiate his escape. He ignored the circumstances and the threats and found strength in the only One who could help in his situation. He had been very weak. He had been foolish. But now, things were different. It was time to begin to seek God again.
The mentality that we are “above” any failure makes us feel all the worse when we fail. We must learn how to cope with failure in a godly way, not a destructive one.
The Bible is so relevant to our lives because at one point in our lives, we have either found ourselves here, or we eventually will. It is human nature to make mistakes and bad choices. We must recognize a couple of things. The first is that we are not perfect. This is a hard thing for us to understand, and this is the reason that we get so depressed when we fail. The mentality that we are “above” any failure makes us feel all the worse when we fail. We must learn how to cope with failure in a godly way, not a destructive one. A godly way of dealing with it is to recognize our potential for failure while we are living in such a way that promotes success. If we want to live like Christians in an honorable and godly way, then we must believe that God has given us the power to do so. If we continue to make decisions in the flesh, we will continue to fail because we are not accessing the power of the Spirit to overcome.
Some questions we might ask ourselves are: What was the cause of my failure? Was I relying upon the Spirit or the flesh? Recognizing that our failures happen way before the actual incident, what steps could we take to be successful way before the failure? The second is that we must recognize that God is full of grace and mercy that leads to peace and eventual victory over the flesh. When we are defeated and feel like our world has collapsed, it is important for us to rely upon God’s grace giving us access to his presence and hearing his voice, and getting his direction once again. We must not despair. That is what got us into the challenge of fleshiness in the first place. We may think that desperate times call for desperate measures and be willing to sell our relationship with God for a morsel of bread and a bowl of soup. No! God has mercy for us and is ready to give us peace if we are willing to do what David did. He “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” We must also strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God. Once we do we will be in that position to inquire of him and hear his voice once again. Look at what David did after he received strength:
“So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” (1 Samuel 30:8, NKJV)
David is hearing from God once again and is now ready to do operations in the Spirit once again. He will take his place once again as a mighty warrior in God’s army to defeat God’s enemies. David is now not only fighting for himself but for his men and most especially for his God.
When we strengthen ourselves in the Lord our God, does that mean that God has to listen to us? Is he obligated to hear us? No. He is not obligated, but there are a few scriptures that come to mind that let us know that he is willing. In the Book of Judges, there is an interesting scripture that speaks about God getting tired of the sin of his people. Like a parent, he says that he has had enough and that they can go cry out to their gods and see if they can help. Look at this exchange:
“And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!” So the Lord said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods.
Therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.” And the children of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord.
And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.”
(Judges 10:10–16, NKJV)
“His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.” God’s compassion is so great that even though the sins of Israel were great, his mercy was greater. He loved them like a Father. And when a son cries out in agony, any dad worth his salt would act in lovingkindness toward him.
Then there is one of my favorite scriptures for this purpose. It is the scripture I write almost every time I sign my book. It is:
“So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.” (Exodus 2:24–25, NKJV, [emphasis mine])
God is not obligated to do anything. But he is a loving, grace-filled, compassionate, and merciful God. If you have been defeated and suffered a loss, call to him. He will answer you and he will give you peace.
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