[AI translation] Dear Brothers and Sisters!These arbitrarily selected passages, which I have just read from the Bible, bring to our attention passages from the life of the famous King David, whose great psalms, translated by Albert Szenczi Molnár, we still sing in Reformed churches today. And the reason why I have juxtaposed these different passages is that it makes it almost plastic how the same man - a believer, of course - behaves in different situations of life. These two quite opposite situations in David's life, the situations I have read, are almost an illustration of the wisdom of the believer's life, which the apostle Paul once wrote to the Philippians: 'I can humble myself, I can be generous; I am familiar with everything and in everything, with being well fed, with hunger, with being generous, with being poor. I have strength for all things in Christ who strengthens me." (Phil 4,12-13) And this is very important, dear brothers and sisters, because it is not so easy to know these two things. It is very important to know these two things, because it is not easy to know them both, either at the same time or separately, because it is usually the case that those who know one do not know the other. I knew someone, for example, who was really very Christian in his need, and during his time of need he was really so kind, so good, so humble and so trusting in his soul, as only a truly believing person can be. Then he began to rise and he began to grow, as I have just read from the life of David. And as he rose in public life and grew in prosperity, so he grew in arrogance, self-confidence, self-righteousness, and unfriendliness to other men. It is not a harmless thing when one begins to rise and begins to grow. Because often they get dizzy, they are not used to heights, to heights, they get dizzy with heights and they get dizzy with glory. To rise from the depths to the heights is a great art. It requires great spiritual delicacy. It takes real living faith. Of course, the reverse is exactly the same. Very often we have seen someone who has been high and come down from the heights to the depths. And he bore the height well, bore it with faith, bore it with a humble spirit, and then when he came down to the abyss, all at once his faith collapsed and his whole being became a rebellion. So it is not so easy to be able to be both fat and thin. The apostle Paul could. King David could. What was the secret of this knowledge? Let's try to look a little closer at this, following the verses we have read.
So, we read first that David was in great distress, because the people were talking about stoning him and the people's spirit was very bitter against him, and David came from a very great height into this great depth of distress and danger of life, as the scripture says. For the people were almost celebrating him as their future king. For his many public exploits he was the most popular man in the land. Then all at once the wheel turned, or the dice turned, as they say, and everything changed around him. Those closest to him fell into a severe, harsh captivity, a captivity with no prospects. The people's souls rose up against him, they wanted to stone him, everyone lost confidence in him, he was in a situation where all human possibilities were bankrupt. What can be done here? He is surrounded by a darkness through which not a single ray of hope can break through. This is the low point in one's life where despair tends to set in. This is the state where scarcity sets in, where life is narrow and cramped. And the whole situation becomes overwhelming. It almost overwhelms you with your life, your circumstances. It's a low point from which there's no way out. There's no way out. Is there really no way out? But there is! There is only one direction! And in this one direction, the way always remains open: up! To God!
That's what David did, that's what we're talking about here in this verse, that when he got into this very great distress, and when the people were talking about stoning him, and the people's spirit was despairing of him, it says, "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." (1 Sam. 30:6b) I think it probable, brethren, that it was from this awful abyss of his soul that the beautiful phrase of Psalm 130, "Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O LORD," (Ps. 130:1), was torn from his soul. When nothing else can be done, one can still cry out, and one is always free to do so. And that cry is in itself a connection with the One to whom one is crying. And the very knowledge that I can cry out means in itself that I am not alone, that there is at least someone who hears my cry. We read that you have confirmed yourself in the Lord. It does not mean that the predicament in which he finds himself has now been resolved, it does not mean that the predicament has now been resolved, that the sun has now shone over his head and all the dangers have passed. Oh, no! It doesn't mean that at all! David is still in the worst of the mess, in the most terrible depths of his life, but there is no more anxiety. But the Spirit is quieting down in him. Now he no longer falls into despair. He is at peace spiritually, and an unheard of peace is spreading through his heart. He can now face events with his head held high and his heart brave enough to take up the fight. He is no longer paralysed by hesitation, no longer knocked off his feet by the storm that rages around him, but, on the contrary, strengthened, lifted up, made a hero! This is what it means to say that "David strengthens himself in the Lord". How did he do it? I couldn't say exactly what he did, but obviously in some way he kept in even closer touch, or realised his relationship with his Lord God. Yes, there in the abyss. Obviously, somehow it could have been in a way that he told his Lord about the delicate situation he was in. Surely it must have been somehow that he poured out his grief to her, and wept to the LORD all his sorrows, and discussed with her, as a dear, good friend, the troublesome things of his life. And most importantly, he clung to the promises he had heard from the Lord before. Because that's how it always happens, dear brothers and sisters. The strengthening of a man in the Lord is always done by pouring out before the Lord all that is pressing on his soul, and then he gets into the promises he has heard from the Lord before. For you know, the arm of God with which He reaches down to us, the hand of God with which He helps us, with which He grips us: that is His word. His word is like an outstretched hand that can be grasped, that can be clung to, that can be leaned on, that can be built upon.
Oh, but I have so many happy experiences to tell you about this! I very well remember knowing a man who had got into a really terrible, hopeless strait in his life, but with no prospect of survival, so terribly narrowed was everything around him, and then he kept thinking of this one word, 'Worry not about anything, but in your prayers and supplications always make known your desires to God with thanksgiving. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7) And this "peace that surpasses all understanding" so overflowed in this man's heart - and he bore the storm that was terribly shaking his life with a wonderful, peaceful heart. Try it! You can!
Or, for example, I once wanted to and did bring communion to a very dear, believing brother who was about to undergo his third brain operation for cancer. And all the way there, I kept wondering what words of comfort I could say to this poor soul? And I could think of absolutely nothing. And I remember entering the ward where he lay with a profoundly shaken soul, and he greeted me with a smile. And there was a wonderful serenity in his face, in his soul, of course. I was quite surprised, and he noticed in me that I was surprised at this unexpected sight, and he immediately gave me an explanation, and told me that Jesus' encouragement kept ringing in his ears, "My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor 12a). It is certainly enough! And then I was amazed at the reality of how a man can be strengthened, what a man can do in Christ, if he really clings to even one word.
Then someone from this congregation, in the last few weeks and in the last few months, has gone into greater and greater depths. There is no greater pain, brothers and sisters, than when one is forced to watch helplessly the suffering, the agony of the one dearest to him. And when he was almost at the lowest point, it was miraculously that day's Lozung that saved him from despair. The Lozung of that day said: "For you, O Lord, bless the righteous, and surround him with your mercy as a shield." (Psalm 5:13) And he told me with a smile - when he had every reason to weep and cry, he told me with a smile - that he could almost feel the Lord's favour around him, the strength of the Lord's favour, as if invisible, embracing, protective arms were holding him, keeping him from collapsing. And he did not collapse! And yet, humanly speaking, he would have had every reason to do so and it would not have been a miracle at all.
Another person was in distress because of her sins. He was terribly oppressed by his old sins, by the memory of his old sins. And it was only when he could finally grasp this word, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin" (cf. 1 John 1:7b), that he could be reconciled to his own conscience.
Well, that is how one can be confirmed in the Lord. But in the Lord ! So not by the particular method that advises one to suggest to oneself that one can almost suggest to oneself that one has strength by repeating to oneself twenty or thirty times every day, "I feel better today than I did yesterday, I feel better today than I did yesterday", and repeating this to oneself twenty or thirty times until finally one finally suggests to oneself that one really feels better today than one did yesterday. And not in the way we humans encourage our discouraged fellow human beings to: Don't give up on yourself! Pull yourself together!" and so on. This is wise advice! But, just as the apostle Paul says on another occasion, "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power" (Eph 6,10) So it is one thing when I myself draw on my remaining strength, my reserve strength, because it can be cranked up in some way, and quite another when I realize my personal relationship with the mighty Lord, the powerful Lord. Yes! I say to myself! There, in the depths, repeating over and over again, I just say to myself and suggest to myself: because I have a Lord who has conquered the world! To whom be all power in heaven and earth! Who I know for sure loves me and forgives me and can and will do everything for me! May I say to myself, and say over and over again to myself, what one of our beautiful hymns expresses in this way. Love me! (cf. Canticle 300, verse 2) Say to yourself, "Lord, I will weather the storm! No matter how the storm may shake, you will stand with the Lord, for you must stand! And you can stand! The Spirit is always strengthened in man when he confirms himself in the faith and the certainty that I am not alone! The Lord is with me, and I with Him! So it must have been something like this, that David confirmed himself in the Lord.
But brothers and sisters, it is not only the tightness and the depth that can be a problem, but also the reverse. Just as much of a problem can be height and carefree prosperity. The tables were turned again in David's life, and lo and behold, we read that David began to rise and grow at the same time. His fame, his name, his glory, his influence, his power, his popularity, were growing - you could almost say that he had reached the climax of his life. He has been at the low point, but now he is at the high point of his life. God has delivered him from all his enemies, and all the promises he ever made to him have been fulfilled, fulfilled, and then enthroned. This is the moment when one grows up, rises above others and is surrounded by a host of admirers and worshippers, and is looked up to with great reverence by men. Precious, rare moments in a person's life - this is the sunny side. The high ground. A time of joy, of happiness. But believe me, brothers and sisters, it is no less dangerous than the abyss.
Once a very serious believer, who had suffered a series of adversities in a short period of time, was asked: how can he even bear such losses? And then this serious believer said: how strange, so many people ask me if I am able to bear such losses - but no one has ever asked me if I am able to bear my joys... - And how right he was, because to bear the carefree prosperity, the heights of life, requires no less spiritual strength and readiness, readiness of faith, than to bear the abyss. In trials and suffering, and in misery, and in the abyss, it is easier for the human soul to connect itself with the Lord - of course, because there is nothing left for it but the Lord. But joy and prosperity very soon make a man forget that all this, too, is only grace. Our frailty, our human frailty, is so boundless, brethren, that as soon as the path of our life begins to curve upwards a little, to wind upwards, as soon as we begin to see success and results in the wake of our labours, as soon as the sun begins to rise over our heads, we are at once willing to attribute it all to our own merit and excellence, and to think of ourselves with a little spiritual pat on the back, saying: well, I am somebody after all! Right? Jesus also has a word that I always feel as if He is giving such a person a little pat on the back when He says "Man, what have you got that you haven't got?" It is much easier to forget the Lord on high, on the heights of life, than in the depths, because it is easy for the soul of man to think that he no longer needs the Lord's help, since everything is going so well anyway, smoothly, without trouble.
That's why I think what is written about David is so significant, that when he began to rise, when he began to grow, he realized that the LORD had strengthened him, that the LORD had exalted him, that it was to the LORD that he owed everything, and for every good thing the LORD alone deserved all the praise, all the glory, all the honor, all the honor, all the thanksgiving. He is now at the height of his life, when everyone is celebrating him, when everyone is praising him, and he cannot help but marvel at it. Observe, "Then David the king went in and fell down before the LORD, and said, 'What am I, O LORD God, and what are the people of my house, that you have brought me forth thus?' How am I to come to that? For it is not at all a matter of course that the sun should shine on a man, and it is not at all a matter of course that a man should do well. It's not something that he deserves, or has earned, or has suffered for. Oh no, brothers and sisters! It is all grace alone!
I don't know whether it has ever gone up in your heart, but it has gone up in mine many times, this amazed thanksgiving, what am I, Lord, that I have been so showered with your goodness? How did I ever come to be able to be healthy, for example, or to live in a well-ordered life, or to be happy about something or someone, or to have happy hours in my life, or to live at all? Oh good God! But He has lavished so many blessings on us unceasingly. And so it is, brethren, even at the lowest of lows, He has so many gifts for which one cannot fail to give the Lord enough thanks. Imagine what would happen to us if He were to direct the destiny of our lives as we deserve! Thank God, He does not!
In up and down, in joy and sorrow, in storm and sunshine, oh how gracious is God! Merciful, for God has the same purpose with each soul, and that is to draw that soul to the recognition and acceptance of His grace, to forgive for the sacrifice of Jesus, to open His Fatherly heart, and to receive Him into His love. He does this with you, and with me. That is why He shapes our destinies as He sees fit, according to His paternal wisdom, to make the way necessary to achieve this goal. Through all good and all bad, He is always urging us again and again to accept His grace at last, to know His love, to feel His love, and to feel that He only wants to draw the relationship between Himself and us even closer. He wants to embrace us even more, for better or for worse. Oh, how happy is the man who understands this! And it is very difficult to understand!
So, whether in depth or in height, in any case, we can only praise with gratitude the Lord whose every care is to purify our lives, to educate us, to lift us up to Himself: that is, to make us truly happy. Let us also stir up our souls to this thanksgiving!
Praise Him, because the Lord has done everything so well!
He hath borne you on eagle's wings, He hath guided you, He hath protected you in your trouble.
He has poured out His great mercy on you day by day: in all things you feel His blessing.
Bless Him, for He has wondrously created you,
He leadeth thee in thy way, and by him thou hast health.
In the midst of many troubles, He has been your strength and your joy.
(Canto 264, verses 2 and 3)
Amen
Date: 22 March 1970.