Change Is Coming, Pt. 1

Wayne Matthews

October 31, 2015

The title of today's sermon is Change Is Coming, and this will be Part 1.

As we see in the world today, there are many changes taking place. Millions of people are affected by these changes. The world does not really understand what major change is soon coming to this world, coming to this earth. Death and massive destruction are coming, along with great physical destruction that is going to affect all of mankind. We are preparing for this physical change, and we're preparing on a spiritual level. The spiritual level that we have been preparing is this transformation that is taking place within our thinking. We know (we understand) that all physical changes, all physical matters that happen in life (and to us and to others), have a spiritual component. How we see this change around us will be important, which is how we "see" it on a spiritual level. Because although these physical changes are taking place now, and have started, there is a spiritual component to it.

Mankind has had change a whole 6,000-years. There's always been change. But everyone deals with change differently. The important aspect of all of this is to come to understand that change is important. We know that change is important within ourselves, changing the way we think. Well, mankind is going to have to go through that process.

God has chosen that a great physical change is going to take place. Now, we see change affecting everybody. People around us are affected by change, and how they respond to that change varies, just like it does with us. When something happens in our life that really is a major change on a physical level, everyone responds differently because of our background, or because of who we really are.

For example, there is great change taking place in Europe where we see millions of people moving. And there are hundreds of thousands of people that have actually crossed over the ocean and have entered into places like Greece, and are heading for Germany. Well, that is a great change on a physical level. Now, what happens with that change, not only are those people affected, the children, the mothers, the fathers, the young men, all of them, they're all moving because of a way of thinking, mankind is going to be affected by all of these changes, because as this change takes place and these people move into these countries it affects other people. Therefore, there is a change that is going to take place within their life, and every individual responds differently.

For example, here within Australia, in a country town, which is called a city, the city of Bendigo, there is a mosque that has been planned and has been given permission. Well, that is a change to the community. Well, now we see, because of this change (which is something physical), it's affecting people's thinking, and what is taking place is demonstrations. Between the two groups, they are now in opposition to each other. One group doesn't want the mosque to be built and they're taking on the fact that they say that the religion is evil and many other things, and they're demonstrating. People are travelling from different parts of the country to join into this demonstration because it's an ideology that's taking place. It's something that's going to affect that town. But within the thinking of people, they don't want that change. Others say that by not building it they'd be demonstrating that they'd be racist. So one group's out there saying, "Don't build it!" Another groups is there saying, "Don't be racist; build it. It's not a problem; we accept all types into that community."

Well, that's a change that's taking place and it is affecting and is going to continue to affect everybody in that region. As change is coming to all nations there is going to be different ways of thinking.

Well, we're going to see now today, we're going to look at aspects of change that has taken place within people's lives all for a purpose. And the key to all of this is to come to see that God is often involved in areas of mankind where He is implementing this change. And we're going to look at the story of Joseph, the life of Joseph. And the life of Joseph really is about this change that took place. Some of it had terrible outcomes within other people's lives. And looking at the way that Joseph handled it, the way that Jacob handled it, it's the way the brother's handled this change, because God was working to bring an outcome from this change that was taking place. It doesn't mean to say that God was in every thought, word, and action that was taking place, but God used this change for a purpose. And that, of course, was to take Israel and the tribes of Israel into Egypt for the point of being delivered from Egypt so that God's plan could be fulfilled. God would establish a nation through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So let's pick it up in Genesis 37:1—Now Jacob, which is Israel, dwelt in the land where his father, his father Isaac, was a stranger (sojourner) in the land of Canaan. This is the genealogy of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, so he's only a young man here, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father. Now, this is the beginning of things, when a bad report is brought back to his father. Well, this bad report, of course, is about saying something about his brothers. Now, that can only cause issues within the relationship of the brothers and the relationship between the father and the sons.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children. Problem; big problem. The fact that "Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children." Why? ...because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of colors. There's a demonstration here of the problem within Israel (Jacob's) thinking. Because when we favor someone more than another it comes out in either words or actions or in deeds. And here is a demonstration of it, that Jacob did love Joseph more. And the reason for it was "he was the son of his old age." Also, he made him something. He made him a tunic of colors, which was for the purpose of demonstrating this affection, or this favor, that he's done. Now, this being partial or showing favor one over another is a big problem. And God warns of this through the book of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, about this not showing partiality, because it will cause a problem. This is going to be shown because of this demonstration that has taken place, that it does cause tension within the relationships and that the father now is demonstrating a favor or a bias or a partiality towards one of the sons over the others.

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. Which is this whole thing about this tension that builds up because he's the favorite. This can be often demonstrated in school yards where people say, "Ah, you're the "teacher's pet," and many other things, or "You're the boss’s favorite." So it's showing a favoritism. Now, we don't always know that we're doing this within our own life, and we don't know that we're demonstrating it. And we demonstrate it through words, we can demonstrate it through actions, or in the world it can be demonstrated through behaviors. And we can see this in today's society where maybe a parent or parents show favor or love more (which is to give more) to one than the other.

Verse 5—Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. So this hatred is now building because he's had this dream that's going to elevate himself. He's going to elevate himself up above the brothers. Now, this dream is from God, so this is God now working, working with Joseph for the purpose of bringing him into a place where God can work with him for the purpose of bringing Israel (Jacob and the sons) into Egypt. This is going back in time where Joseph is only seventeen. Obviously, he has the attitude of a 17-year old and he has this confidence that he has and he's now going to say something that's going to cause more problems within his family.

So he said to them, Please hear this dream which I have dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves, so there's a clear distinction between them here, stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf. So this now is, of course, going to be interpreted reasonably easily by the brothers, because they would say, "Well, you're standing upright and we're bowing down. My sheaf versus your sheaf!" So it's very clear what he's talking about. And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? So they picked up on it really quickly, that here it is that he's saying he's better, in their eyes. They are natural. They are just simply hearing something and they'd be saying, "You're just a big head, just a smart-aleck, and you're actually just saying you're going to reign over us?!" Well, you can imagine the attitude here. They already didn't like him because of this favoritism and because of his behaviors and because he's gone back and rattled on them to their father. You know, he's a tattle-tale as far as their concerned. Or shall you indeed have dominion over us? "Will you rule over us? You're the younger of all of us. You're just a whippersnapper. You're just small, and yet you're saying you're going to have dominion, you're going to rule over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words, what he said. Now, this is now great tension within a family. This tension would have been picked up by Jacob (Israel) and also the mothers that are involved in this relationship here.

Verse 9—Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, Look, I have dreamed another dream. Now, these dreams are from God. They are actually demonstrating something that is going to take place. But as far as the ones involved here, they can't see God in it. They would just see this 17-year old smart-aleck that's now placing himself above them and telling them these things, and they would just simply respond in a natural way. And this time, the sun and the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me, which is implying that the mother and father and also the eleven sons of Jacob here would bow down to Joseph. So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother (the moon) and I (the sun) and your brothers indeed come and bow down to the earth before you? Now, Jacob is now getting involved here and is actually saying, "Well, what is this that you're saying?" He's starting to question him. And his brothers envied him, they became very jealous of him because of what he is saying, but his father kept the matter, which it's saying he protected it, he kept it, in his mind. He was aware of it. He was aware it had another meaning and he would "look after it," which is "protect or watch." That word there which is, "he kept the matter," he's protected it in his mind, he's aware of it, he hasn't let it go out of his head, he's not going to forget it. He knows it has a real purpose or an intention. He wouldn't have understood what it really means, and there is something important there, but what it really means, he wouldn't have known at that point.

Then his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them. So he said to him, Here I am. Then he said to him, Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks."Go check up and just make sure everything is okay, that you're brothers are well and that they're protected and that there's no drama there, and that the flocks are well, and there's plenty of feed." Basically, "Come back and let me know. Tell me about it." ...and bring back word to me. So he was now being a father where he's concerned for the brothers because they have all gone out (his own sons have gone out), they've taken the flocks and they're looking for feed, and they're out in a different area than where he is located and he wanted Joseph to bring back word to him, to give him an update. So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

Now a certain man found him, found Joseph, and there he was, wandering in the field, looking for his brothers. And the man asked him (Joseph), saying, What are you seeking? So he said, I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. And the man said, They have departed from here, which they were there previously and they were feeding and they've moved on, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. Now, Dothan is "Do-thawn" is another way to pronounce it, and this means "two wells." So there's water there and there's feed there.

Now when they saw him afar off, so they've seen him at a distance coming, and he's got this coat on (this tunic on), even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. Because deep down they hated him, they despised him, they were jealous of him, they were jealous of the relationship that he had with his father and the fact that Jacob was showing him favor, was being a favorite. He was the youngest and this demonstration has built up this envy or this jealousy and this hatred so much so that they'd rather see him dead and gone so that he wasn't affecting the family anymore, because they just saw him as a smart-aleck who's had dreams and was elevating himself up and he was the youngest.

Then they said to one another, Look, this dreamer is coming! And the word there, "the master of dreams." Now they're ridiculing him and they're looking back at what he did, what he had demonstrated, what he had lived by saying this dream, and in the dream he was elevating himself. Come, therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, we have to say to Jacob about this, what happened, so that we can give an answer to the father and give an answer to the mothers, Some wild beast has devoured him. That's what they had planned to say. That was their intent; let's kill him, let's get rid of him. And what we will say, we will lie. We'll actually say back to Israel (to Jacob) that a beast has devoured him, so that there would be no blame or guilt on them. Now it continues on... We shall see what will become of his dreams! So this now shows this attitude, this hardness of heart. It's like a putdown. "Ah, we'll just see. He has all these dreams thinking we're going to bow down to him, well, we'll see. We'll kill him. We'll get rid of him. Then we'll see how all his dreams turn out. He's just so smart that we'll just prove a point here. And his dreams and the fact that he's said these things, well, we'll just see. We'll just prove this." And you can see this attitude come out where people say certain things and other people go, "Yeah, well, we'll see." In other words, "We'll fix you up."  "All these things you're saying won't come true because you're dead."

Verse 21—But Reuben heard it. Now, Reuben is the oldest brother here. He heard, and he delivered him out of their hands, because of what he said, and said, Let us not kill him. Reuben is saving Joseph's life here because he's intervened, because he has a different attitude towards it. He didn't want to get involved in this killing. He would rather not do that. And he didn't want to get in actually murdering his own brother. And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him. "Let's not kill him." So he's now saying, "Let's just put him in the pit and not hurt him in any way. Let's just put him down and teach him a lesson," in other words. Now, the reason he did it, the reason that Reuben has said that — that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. So the intent here of Reuben is, "Well, let's just teach him a lesson. Let's put him down in the pit, and then we'll just bring him back to Jacob later on."

Verse 23—So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of colors that was on him. So they've stripped it off. He would have been quite terrified at this point in time because his older brothers were handling him and stripping off this tunic that he had. Now, he would have been a little distressed about this and realized something was wrong. There's a change taking place for Joseph, and those that are implementing this change are now demonstrating an attitude. They're demonstrating a behavior because of this thought process that leads to an action. Then they took him and cast him into a pit. Now, we can imagine what Joseph was going through here where he's really being handled roughly by the brothers. They're stripping off his tunic that his father had given him, and he would have treasured that particular tunic and it would have had special meaning to him. Now that they've taken it off and they've thrown him in the pit his mind now would be racing. And the brother's minds would also be fulfilling the intent they had, which was this ill will, which was this hate, which was this envy or jealousy they had towards him. They would actually be getting some selfish pleasure out of it. And the pit was empty; and there was no water in it. So it's an empty pit and they've thrown him in it.

And they sat down to eat a meal. Now, Reuben, at this point, is actually not here, but they've put him in the pit, they're sitting down, and they're having a meal. And they would have been talking about it. And actually there's self-satisfaction here because they've actually got rid of "the problem." They say they've thrown him in the pit. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming with their camels, bringing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt. So Judah said to his brothers... Now, Judah is the fourth son of Leah, and Leah had six sons. So it's the fourth son. And here we see this attitude that comes out, which is one of gain. It's a way of thinking. It's a way of get. "Let's get something else out of it. Let's gain something from our actions." So Judah said to his brothers, What profit, "What's in it for us," if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? So what's the point of doing that because it's going to cause more problems? There's another way to handle it. There's another way to handle this. Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him. "Let's not kill him. Let's not have this blood on us because he is our brother." ...for he is our brother and our flesh. So now he's having the same attitude as Reuben, but with a different intent. Reuben's intent was to save Joseph, where here we see Judah's intent. He's saying, "Well, let's not kill him," because the intent was, "Let's not kill him because we can gain something out of it. He's our brother. He's our flesh." And his brothers listened to him, because they could see there was an advantage to this, the moving of, "Let's not kill him," to, "Let's just sell him." Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph out and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

God is now working here where they'd have no idea of what is going on. But God really is moving something forward. His plan's moving forward from the point of view that at some point in time soon that Israel (Jacob) would be moved to Egypt. And this is an incredible change that is taking place. This change is now affecting Joseph. This is a major change. Joseph was in an environment where his father really loved him and he had a mother that loved him, and he had brothers that he was working with and dealing with all the time, and he would have got to know them and got used to them. Well, all of a sudden he's thrust into a pit, he's pulled out, and he's sold, and he's now taken off to Egypt. This is a big change of thinking. Now, all this time (he's only seventeen years of age), his mind would have been racing. When he's put on the camels or he's made to walk behind the camels and heading towards Egypt, his mind is going through major change.

Now, how he handles that change is interesting, because he has to go through this point of having to deal with this (so-called) getting even. He would have had these thoughts, "Why have my brothers done this? At some point I'll probably get even." We don't know what he was thinking, but he was a normal seventeen year old, his mind would have been racing and he would have had all of these different thoughts. "Why have my brothers done this? And how could they have done this?" All of those types of thinking would have taken place. So he's now left and the other brothers are there, and Reuben's not there at this point.

Verse 29—Then Reuben returned to the pit, because he was always going to go back, grab Joseph out, and take Joseph back to his father, so no harm came to him, taught him a lesson; now we'll just take him back. He's gone back to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he (Reuben) tore his clothes, which is this outward sign of grief.

Verse 30—And he returned to his brothers and said, The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go? What he's saying is, "He's not there! We're in big trouble here! What shall I do? I can't go back to Jacob (I can't go back to Israel) and say to him, 'He's gone!' It's my responsibility. I'm the oldest brother. I carry this responsibility and I'm in charge, therefore, I've got to go back to Israel and say, 'He's disappeared!' What am I going to say? Where can I go? What can I do? What am I going to do? This is a terrible thing! It's going to affect me." This is a major change within Reuben's life because he has to go back to Israel and say to him and tell him that he's now lost Joseph. Joseph's now disappeared.

So they took Joseph's tunic and killed a kid of the goats, this is a cover-up, and dipped the tunic in the blood.

Verse 32—Then they sent the tunic of colors, and brought it to their father and said, We have found this. Now, this is a complete lie! Continuing on in verse 32... Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not? Now, this deception is quite incredible, really, because they knew. They knew they had sold Joseph to the Midianites and that Joseph was being taken down to Egypt. They have deliberately now covered up the sin. And the only way they could do that, they've taken the tunic, which they knew (that was given to Joseph by Jacob because of this favoritism), and they've dipped it into goat's blood to show that possibly a wild animal has killed him and that he's dead. Now, they know this, and yet they have to face Jacob and do it. And what do they do? They ask him a direct question, "Do you know whether it's your son's tunic or not?" This is an outright lie, and this would have been difficult. Their minds would have been racing because they've implemented this major change in Joseph's life. Now they're going to have this major change in Jacob's life. Jacob's life is going to change.

And he (Israel) recognized it and said, It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces. Now, they would have had a level of satisfaction from this, the fact that Israel has turned around and made this statement. "It is my son's tunic." Well, they knew that. And then for Israel to turn around and say, "A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces." They would have got a satisfaction because that's what their deception, that was the intent of their lie, was to actually imply that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. And the fact that Israel now has stated it, it actually imbeds their lie as being truth, because now their lie has now come true in the life (or in the mind) of Jacob. That's exactly what they wanted. They wanted no guilt, no responsibility, nothing to affect them. They wanted the change that they had implemented – it was going to affect Joseph and it was going to affect Jacob – but it wasn't going to affect them. But the reality is it does, because it's in their mind. So this change that they have caused is going to be in their mind for the rest of their life. Because these types of things don't just disappear. They will be there. They knew what they had done. They knew what they had done and now they're having to lie to their father. That is an incredible thing to do and to live with that lie.

Then Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. There's a death in the family and now he is going into this mourning. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him. They're trying to comfort him because of this death, and he refused to be comforted. So this would have been quite distressing for them because they're trying to move Jacob on by saying certain things and trying to move him emotionally to get over the grief. But he's refusing. He is actually going into this deep grief, and they know that they're the cause of it. "But he refused to be comforted," and said, For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning. In other words, "I'm going to die with this grief." Thus his father wept for him. Jacob now is very upset and he's mourning and he's really struggling to get over this grief. Well, this would have affected the family, because to have a father in this deep grief and this continual suffering, and to know (the other sons knew) they were the cause of it.

Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

Genesis 38 covers the story of Judah and Tamar. And we won't go into that at this time because we'll just follow the life of Joseph and the change that is taking place within Joseph's life and how that change is going to affect everybody.

Genesis 39:1—We understand here at this point that Joseph has now been taken down to Egypt and he's now with Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard. Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, the officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites, so he's now been sold as a slave, who had taken him down there. He is now a slave. He is now working for Potiphar.

Verse 2—The LORD (the Eternal) was with Joseph. Now, this is an incredible thing if we understand this on a spiritual level about what God is doing. Because "the Eternal was with Joseph." God had never left Joseph. God had a plan. And God was going to use Joseph in that plan. The outcome is that this major change that is taking place within Joseph's life, that God was always with him. Now, for us, brethren, this is the same thing. When this change in our life takes place, and as the world is going to be affected by major change, we have to remember this particular statement, "The LORD was with Joseph." The Eternal (Yahweh Elohim) is with us. God is with us and we can trust that God is with us. He's called us into a relationship with Him for the purpose of being with us, for the purpose of fulfilling His will. Well, this is the same with Joseph. God was going to fulfill His will in Joseph's life and Joseph was not aware of the level that God was involved in His life. Well, when you go back and look at the dreams that Joseph had, they were actually a prophecy of something that was going to take place in the future. Joseph would not have fully understood the ramifications of those dreams, just like the brothers would not have, just like Jacob would not have, just like the wives would not have understood, because of this very fact that it is God that is doing the works here. It is God's plan being fulfilled, and Joseph was now in a situation that it is really a major change in his life. He is now a slave.

When you look at the background of where he has come from, he's come out of a family relationship with brothers and sisters. He has come out of a relationship where his father favored him, where his father demonstrated his love by giving him this tunic of colors – a demonstration of this favoritism because none of the other brothers were given this particular tunic of colors, just Joseph. Joseph now comes out of this environment, he's been sold, his mind would have been racing. He's seventeen years old. His mind would have been racing, "Why have my brothers done this? I'm now sold as a slave!" But he does have this relationship with God and God is with him. And he would have realized that these dreams had meaning, but he may not have understood the depth of the meaning of these particular dreams. Just like the world does not fully comprehend the real meaning of the dreams that have taken place within God's apostles and prophets over time, where God uses these things for a purpose.

Continuing on in verse 2, referring to Joseph, and he was a successful man. Everything he did God was involved in it and God showed him favor, because God is almighty, God is all-powerful. And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. Everything he's doing, working for Potiphar, is turning into be successful. And his master saw that the LORD was with him, so he saw this influence, that everything that Joseph put his hand to was successful, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand, which is referring to the fact that the evidence was there that this is not normal that everything that he touched was turning into be a success and that Potiphar realized that it wasn't just a man that he was dealing with. It was actually an influence there that everything he did worked out well. And this would have built up a trust; that everything he did, all his behaviors demonstrated that Potiphar could trust Joseph.

So Joseph found favor in his sight. Now, Joseph is being shown favor because God's involved. God can show favor to any of us the same, brethren, that our actions and the way we live our life, that if God desires to show favor to us, He will. God can influence people to show favor to us, and therefore, when it says, So Joseph found favor in his sight and served him. That he made him an overseer in his house, and all that he had he put in his hand. He put it into Joseph's control or Joseph's care. Why? Because he knew that it would be well looked after and that Joseph would have been a zealous person, an honest person, and that this favor was there, that everything he did with the zeal that he did it, with the thought that he did it, that it would be blessed and prosper. So why not hand everything over to someone you trust? And that's the key. The key is this trust. Why not hand everything that we have over to someone we trust? Because there was something in it for here for Potiphar. He could see there was an advantage in this. He could actually trust the person, therefore, give everything over and don't have to worry about it because someone else is worrying about it for you, someone else is intervening.

Well, we can take this principle out in our life about this trust. Hold your place there and let's look at 2 Samuel 22:1. Holding your place in Genesis 39:4, 2 Samuel 22:1. We may not actually get back to Genesis, but if you put a marker in there and we'll be able to get there in a future sermon. 2 Samuel 22:1. Now, we're looking at this from the point of view of trust. Because as Potiphar trusted Joseph, and God was involved in Joseph's life, there is this level of trust, this level of confidence.

Well, we, brethren, going forward, are going to see major change. We're going to see major physical change take place within our life, and how we handle it will be so important. Because great distress is coming on this world and it's not going to be easy for God's people. Whether it's to do with clothing, housing, food, physical life, all of those things, it's going to be distressing on mankind. Great distress is coming. Great change is coming. We have to be ready for change. We have to be ready for this change because all these physical changes have a spiritual component. Just like Joseph's life where he's put down the pit, he doesn't really fully comprehend what it really means.

Well, we're very similar, brethren. We don't fully comprehend everything that it means. We're aware of certain things. We're aware of certain outcomes, but in-between all of it we don't fully know yet. We have outlines and brief things that we see change and there'll be more change. We understand aspects of change, but really in the percentage wise, we know little of the direct change that's going to take place. Because when change comes it affects us, just like it affected Joseph, just like the change affected Israel – his thinking changed. He went into mourning. He went into grief because of the loss, it was so great. Well, we can't be like that. We can't be in the state of wanting to give up. We don't want to withdraw from God. We don't want to withdraw from God, we want to draw closer to God. So this all goes down to this aspect of trust. Do we trust God or don't we? Do we really trust God or don't we? And we're going to now go through this aspect of where David is now outlining his trust of God because on a physical level we can't control much, really. We might think we've got control of things, but the reality is we have to trust God in everything because things are going to change, our income is going to change, our lifestyle is going to change, everything is going to change around us. People around us are going to change. Just as in Joseph's life and with the brothers and with Jacob and his family there was great change and it affected everybody. And everybody had a different way of handling it. Because it would have caused great distress, because it was all based on a lie. But we know the truth. We know what's coming. We know change is coming, dramatic change, at some point in time soon, dramatic change is going to affect every single one of us. We have to be ready on a spiritual level because the physical, we can't control. We cannot control the physical. The reality is we, our lives, are in God's hands. As God was with Joseph, God is with us, and therefore, we need to continue to draw close to God and realize that yes, we can have physical plans, but the reality is that we have to trust in God.

2 Samuel 22...Then David spoke to the Eternal the words of this song, on the day when the Eternal had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said... So this is David now reflecting something back to God, which is what we need to do. We need to reflect and place our lives in God's hands because God's in control of everything. And God will use our situation to our benefit on a spiritual level – not necessarily on a physical level, but on a spiritual level. Every change that is coming has an outcome. And as we mentioned first in the sermon, everything physical has a spiritual component, and therefore, the way we handle the change that is coming in our life is going to have to be handled on a spiritual level. We have to "see" God in it. We have to draw closer to God no matter whether it's an uplifting or whether it's humbling. No matter what situation we're placed in, physical distress, we have to see God in our life. We have to have this relationship with God.

The Eternal is my rock, which is referring to spiritual protection. "The Eternal is my rock." He is the foundation. So our trust in God is our foundation. That's what we've built on, this trusting in God. We've been called to trust God. So "the Eternal is my rock." So this rock, this foundation we stand on, we won't fall because God is our foundation. My fortress. We know what a fortress is, which is like a high tower. It's a way of defending. We're in the fortress. Well, God is our fortress. What we have learned of God's way of life, that's our strength, our fortress, and my deliverer. God is the one that can deliver us from everything. There is to be no self-reliance in our life. So "God is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer." Now, this is about trust in God. What David is saying is, "I trust God. God is my foundation. God is the one that will deliver me from every situation." We have to look at this on a spiritual level, not just on a physical level, but a spiritual level, because it's more important.

Now, the reality was that Joseph is being delivered! Joseph is being delivered, for the purpose of what God would do in his life. At the time, seventeen years old and in a pit, being carted off down the road by camels, by a group of people you don't really know and sold into service as a slave (or purchased to work for somebody), at the time we don't always see it. But in the end this is about relying on God, trusting in God. God is in our life no matter what situation we find ourselves in. No matter what we find ourselves in going forward (with all the change that is coming), it doesn't matter if we can believe this. If we can believe it on a spiritual level, that God is our spiritual protection, He is our foundation. The mind of God in us is our strength; it is our foundation. That's what we trust in. We trust in God's word. We trust in God. "The Eternal is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer."

The Eternal is my strength. God is our strength. God in us is our strength. What we have, the truth we have, the way that we know we have to learn to think, the fighting against selfishness, those things are our strength because it's God in us that will do the works. ...in Him I will trust. Now, this, brethren, is the answer to what is coming towards us. Now, this very scripture is so important to us. When we have heard the sermon with regards to "be strong and of good courage," this is the same thing. "The Eternal is my strength, and in Him I will trust." Because if we trust in anything else. If we trust in being delivered on a physical level, if we trust that our food is going to get us through, if we trust we've got money in the bank, we will fall. And the fact is we're not in a fortress because it's all physical. And we're not going to be delivered because we're relying on something that can't save us. "The Eternal is my strength," the thinking of God, God in us, God working with us. We are part of the Body of Christ, the Church of God. We are God's. We belong to God. God is with us just like God was with Jacob. God showed Jacob favor. God showed Joseph favor. God shows us favor. "The Eternal is my strength; in Him I will trust."

My shield and the horn of my salvation, the defense. God is our Savior. My stronghold and my refuge, which is a place of safety, "my high tower," My Savior. My Savior, You save me from violence.

Verse 4—I will call upon the Eternal, who is worthy to be praised. Let's go back over some of this. Really what David is saying is that he puts his total trust and confidence in God. It does not mean there is not some suffering involved on a physical level. It's not saying that at all.

We look at this on a spiritual level. "My shield and the horn of my salvation." Well, this is God is our defense and it is God that can save us. How are we saved? Because of the penalty of sin, which is through repentance. We understand that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin: "the wages of sin is death." Well, Jesus Christ paid that penalty, therefore, we can be saved, and that saving is all done by the gift of repentance, the ability to go before God in prayer, to repent of wrong thinking. To repent of sin, well, that's our defence, because God is all-merciful, God is all-loving. He desires to have a family. He desires that we be in His Family. God desires to forgive us if we forgive others.

"My stronghold and my refuge," which is this stronghold, which is a high tower. Because they were able in those days to build high towers or fortresses and the enemy would come and they could shoot arrows at them or they could pour water on them, they could do all sorts of things to them because it's a way of defense. "And my refuge." This is like a place of safety, a place to flee to, which is a refuge or a place to fly to. Well, we understand from scripture that this really puts back that God does all of this, that God can do this. "My stronghold and my refuge, My Savior." It's God that saves. God saves physically, but the important part here is that God saves spiritually. We are being saved. Now, whether or not we are saved boils down to the choices that we make because we are free moral agents and we have a choice. Will we go back and say, "The Eternal is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my strength. In Him I will trust." Well, brethren, I know that we do trust God that we trust God because we know that the only way to be saved is through trusting in God. We believe, we trust God that He has paid the penalty of sin through Jesus Christ. We believe that. We trust in that. We live our life knowing that. We know we have access to God the Father at any time we choose through prayer, and we know that if we are willingly wanting and desiring to repent, not desiring to hold on to sin but to get rid of it, that God will be our strength because He is willing to forgive us if we are willing to repent.

Verse 4—I will call on the Eternal, we do that in prayer, who is worthy to be praised. Yes, all credit should be given to God for His great mercy, for His great plan, for everything that He is doing. Now, as this change comes to the world we can continue to change on a spiritual level and we can call out to the Eternal. We can call out to Yahweh Elohim, "who is worthy to be praised," because He is all-powerful, He is almighty, He is our strength, He is our provider, He is our protector. All of those on a physical, but also on a spiritual level. God is worthy to be praised because of who He is.

So shall I be saved from my enemies. We understand that our enemies are Satan and the demons, and we can be saved from sin.

Verse 5—When the waves of death encompass me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. He became fearful. We understand floods are basically pointing to false doctrine, that false doctrine can come out like waves and wash over people. And this "ungodliness," these behaviors that come out of this false doctrine, believing what is not true or fighting against the truth that God is placing in the Church, well, those things can affect us. Well, there is change always taking place spiritually within God's Church. We are continually being fed the truth, and these things that come into the Church, we have to make sure that we have the right attitude and the right approach to them, that we're not fearful of change. Because our life is one of change. We've been called into the Body of Christ for the purpose of spiritual change. But what is coming is major, major physical change. What we do with that change on a spiritual level will be important. How we respond to that change will be important.

The sorrows of the grave surrounded me. So it looks like death. It looks like death is here. Those "sorrows of Sheol," which is the grave, surrounded him. So it looked like he was in a position, possibly, of dying. There was a lot of death around. We're going to be the same. We're going to see and we're going to be surrounded by death all around us, brethren. Death is going to be all around us. How we respond will be the key... how we respond. The way we think about this change because death is change; one minute a person's alive, then they're dead – that is a major change. Well, it affects the person that dies. They don't know it. They're dead. But it affects those that are left alive. So that's what we need to be aware of. It affects those that are left alive. It can affect us both physically and it can affect us both spiritually. The snares of death confronted me.

Verse 7—In my distress I called upon the Eternal, and cried to my God. He heard my voice from His temple. God hears all things. God hears our prayers. And it's all based on whether they are sincere or not and the motive behind them. So when we're praying, brethren, it is important that our motives are righteousness, our motives are right. Because we can pray and there can be selfishness in those prayers. So our prayers are about trusting in God, that God will hear those prayers, and the end result will be that whatever is best for us spiritually, that enables spiritual growth or the outcome of God, or God's will in our life, or God's will in other people's lives, that God will hear. And God answers prayer.

I remember often it has been said that God doesn't hear what people say. People will pray about certain things and there seems to be no change or no real improvement in matters. And it often can apply to situations like healing, where people can go to a minister and request to be anointed, and they may do it two or three times for the same ailment or the same issue in their life and they see that there is no change, that there is no healing at that point in time. Well, they can say and think that God didn't hear the prayer, but the reality is God heard the prayer the first time. God hears the prayer if it's done in sincerity and truth, but the answer is not always accepted. The answer is that God is not going to intervene to heal at that point in time. That's the answer. God has heard it and God has made a decision and that's the answer. But we, naturally, don't always like to hear the answer. We do not like to hear the answer on a spiritual level because the answer is there is no healing because the best thing for us as an individual is that we continue in that situation. And God has many outcomes that He is achieving and the main outcome that He is achieving in our life is spiritual growth. To go back to this main point of this sermon, really, is about "I will trust in Him." Our trust in God. This is the key to any relationship, this trusting in God, or trust. We have to believe that God hears and that God answers. No matter what physical situation we are in God is with us. Just like Joseph came to see that his physical situation – at some point in time — he would have come to realize that all of the physical things that he went through, what his brothers did to him and his moving and being placed in a role of service as a slave, that at some point in time in the future he would come to "see," come to understand that God was working in His life, that God allowed these things for a spiritual benefit. And a lot of this spiritual benefit was about us, brethren, about spiritual Israel and the lessons that we can learn from what Joseph went through, what God allowed Joseph to go through.

Continuing on with what David is saying. Going back over verse 7 again, what David is saying, "In my distress I called upon Him, and cried to my God. He heard my voice from His temple." And my cry entered His ears. So God does hear and God does answer. God does answer. Then the earth shook and trembled; and the fountains of the heaven moved and shook, because He was angry. Now, this is symbolic language and it's talking about how God is now answering the prayer. God is going to intervene. Now, this is something that we don't always "see," that God does intervene into our life. It's not instant that we see the intervention of God, but God is aware of us, God is for us, and God loves us, therefore, God does hear and God does answer. Now, the answer to all prayer is not always the way that we think the answer is going to come. We can pray for certain things that may not be what God is trying to achieve. We may not fully comprehend or understand what God is trying to achieve in a situation. The one thing that we can pray is that, "Your will be done." That God's will be done. Now, God can shake the heaven and move the earth and move the foundations, and He can be angry against a situation, against a nation because of their sin, their unrepented sin. And God will in His mercy move to have an outcome. Well, we don't always "see" the outcome of why God is doing it, but the long term thing is "to bring many sons to glory." God's purpose and God's intent is to bring many sons to glory. God intervening into nation’s lives, God intervening into our lives, is all about this one outcome, "bringing many sons to glory."

Smoke went up from His nostrils. And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down with darkness under His feet. He rode upon a cherub, which is an angel, and flew; and He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness canopies around Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled. This is symbolic language talking about God and how God is intervening, and God is now moving to take action, and all the things that God can control, and all the things that God does control. He can change the heavens. He can put darkness under His feet. As we understand from some scriptures that God can be moved by cherubs. He can change the wind. He can surround Himself with light or with darkness. He can do all of these things. "From the brightness before Him coals of fire were kindled," because He has this power. He can do all these things. God can act and intervene into man's life. God can bring change on anything. God can change anything.

Verse 14—The Eternal thundered from heaven, the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out with arrows and scattered them; lightning bolts, this is referring to the fact that God can intervene and God can war. God can wage war. God can change a war. God can bring the outcome of the war. God's will is done. He vanquished them.

Verse 16—Then the channels of the sea were seen, which is opened up. The foundations of the world were uncovered, at the rebuke of the Eternal, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. He sent out from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters, which is to save him from bad situations. He delivered me. He delivered him from the trials. He delivered him from being surrounded by armies of war, "being saved" is another way to put it. He delivered him from my strong enemy, which is something that has happened to us. We have been delivered from a strong enemy. That enemy is sin, which is going to be destroyed at the end. From those who hated me; for they were too strong for me.

Verse 19—They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Eternal was my support. Yes, we trust in God that He will deliver. Now, on a spiritual level we know that God delivers us through the gift of repentance and forgiveness. He also brought me out of a broad place, so this is about protection. He (Yahweh Elohim) delivered me. Well, we're delivered from sin. And what we're going to face coming forward, God is going to deliver us. And the important part is to always remember everything physical has a spiritual component. He delivered me, because He (Yahweh Elohim) delighted in me. So this is very similar to our calling, brethren, the fact that we are being delivered. We're on the path of salvation and we are being delivered, because He (God the Father, Yahweh Elohim) called us to be delivered. "He delighted in me." Well, going forward we understand (we know) that God delights in us because we've been called into a relationship with Him, we are part of the Body of Christ, and God is delivering us from sin for the purpose of bringing many sons to glory. But going forward with all the change that is going on around us, with the death and destruction and all of the change that is coming upon this earth, we can be delivered on a spiritual level – not necessarily always on a physical level, but on a spiritual level if we remain focused on the spiritual.

Verse 21—The Eternal rewarded me according to my righteousness. This is about yielding to God. Not that he is righteous, but God delivers him for the purpose of yielding righteousness in him; God in us. So we can live righteousness and we can be rewarded because of our righteousness – not our own righteousness, God in us, us yielding to God is our righteousness. Because it's God that is righteous, we're not. But if we yield to God and we allow God to live in us, it is that, that makes us righteous.

According to the cleanliness of my hands, which is the intent of the actions. "According to the cleanliness of my hands," which is starting with the thinking, starting with the actions, the way we respond to situations, the way we respond to change by allowing God to be in us, by yielding to God, by trusting in God no matter what is happening to us. And when the change happens within our lives, when change happens within our family, when change happens within our community, when change happens in the world, it is all about the way we respond. It's about "the cleanliness of my hands," which is to do with the intent, why we do what we do, our actions. What's motivating our actions? It's about the way we think. And it goes back to that very point, which we read in Genesis, that God was with Joseph. Well, God is with us. And it goes back to this point in verse 3 where it says, "God is my strength, and in Him I will trust." Well, that's the answer, "according to the cleanliness of my hands," about our actions because we're trusting in God. We're putting our faith and trust in God. And whether we live or whether we die on a physical level is irrelevant. Whether we have excess food during a long period of time or whether we don't it will not make a lot of difference because we still will trust in God. Because God knows what's best for us; God loves us. God is working with us for an outcome, that at some point in time we will enter His Family.

Continuing on, verse 21... According to the cleanliness of my hands, which is those actions, which is this right intent, spiritual intent, He (God) has recompensed me. It's a reward. There is a spiritual reward, and we understand that spiritual reward.

Verse 22—For I have kept the ways of the Eternal, this is the part that we are involved in. We are desiring to be obedient. We are desiring to keep the ways of the Eternal, which is all starting within our thinking, and have not wickedly departed from my God, because we trust in God; we repent of sin. So if we depart from God we are in a state of non-repentance. So if we stay repentant we are departing from sin, we're getting rid of sin, and we have not wickedly departed from God because we are repenting. Now, to not depart from God means we are repentant and we're continuing to fight against ourselves. To depart from God is to have unrepented sin because we can't have this relationship with God because of this unrepented sin. We have to continue to fight against ourselves for the rest of our physical life.

Verse 23—For all His judgments were before me; and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. So he is being obedient. He is desiring to choose to be obedient. He is desiring to choose to be obedient to God's laws, His statutes, and His Commandments.

Verse 24—I was also blameless before Him (before Yahweh Elohim), because it was God in him, he had this intent or this desire to be obedient to God, to fight against himself. And I kept myself from my iniquity, from his selfishness, from his sin. Therefore, the Eternal has recompensed me according to my righteousness, which is this obedience, this desire to obey, according to my cleanliness in His eyes.

Verse 26—With the merciful You (Yahweh Elohim) will show Yourself merciful, which is regarding an attitude. "With the merciful." We have to have this merciful attitude. We have to have this loving kindness towards others. We have to live it powered by God's spirit. "God will show Yourself merciful." Well, He's already done that to us. The fact that He's called us and that we understand the process of this calling, the repentance that is involved, and the forgiveness of sin, and the power of God's holy spirit in us, which is relating to this whole process of living mercy. "With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful." Well, God has already done it. This is about an attitude that we live or that we show to others, which is one of mercy. That if something goes wrong in a person's life and they are sincere in the fact that they are repentant, well, we, brethren, have to forgive and move on. We can't hold it against them and hold a grudge or hold in memory that we've burned something in our brain that we think, "Ah, they're always like that." No, if they are sincere and they are genuine and they're trying to do the right thing. But we have to show mercy. We have to show gentleness and kindness to them and move on.

With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless. With the pure You will show Yourself pure, which is to do with sincerity. "Pure" means "clean." So "with the clean," with those that have a clean heart or sincere heart, "You," Yahweh Elohim, "will show Yourself as clean," which is to do with motive and intent. And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. So someone that is actually having a wrong intent (they're devious, they're not sincere) God will handle them in a shrewd way which is not about lying or deception. Because a devious person is someone that is lying and deceiving and they're trickery (which means they're not sincere), well, God will be shrewd. God will handle them in a way of righteousness because God can outsmart them. You know, as much as they're trying to be deceitful and they're trying to be devious and their motives are incorrect, God's motives are always pure. Well, God will show Himself, God will live a particular way to them, which is one of more intelligence. God is not deceptive. There is no deceit in God. God doesn't have to trick or show something that's false.

You will save the humble people. Now, this refers to us. God will save the humble people. But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. This is where we are heading. The change that is coming is about this, the humble and the proud. Because God says that He is against the proud and He's going to bring the haughty (the proud) down all for the purpose of bringing them to humility, bringing them to repentance. "You will save the humble people." Well, we, brethren, should be those humble people. We should be the humble because we have God's holy spirit and we trust in God; we've put our trust in God and God is for us. So God says He will save us, referring to something on a spiritual level. It doesn't mean physically. Here David is referring to something physical in the way he's saying these things, that God will save the humble people. Well, look at that on a spiritual level that we, brethren, are those humble people, because we are afflicted; we are afflicting ourselves. Because that word there, "humble," is "the afflicted people.” “You shall save the afflicted people." Well, we afflict ourselves. We afflict ourselves through fasting. We afflict ourselves by bringing our thoughts into check. Therefore, if we're doing that we are humbling ourselves. Bringing our thoughts into check, bringing them into line with God, we are demonstrating humility because we're afflicting ourselves. We're putting the self down.

"But," the opposite to that is anybody who's not fighting against themselves, who is not afflicting themselves, if they're not humble in their attitude. "But," those that are not fighting, "God's eyes is on the haughty," which is those that are proud. Well, God knows them. God is aware of them. "That You may bring them down," will bring down. God is going to show by His great power that He has the ability to humble mankind. This change that is coming is because mankind has to change. Mankind has to change. There is great physical change coming all for the purpose of a spiritual change. Great physical change is going to take place in people's lives just like it did in Joseph's life, all for a spiritual outcome. That spiritual outcome will be implemented through those that God is going to allow to live into, who God is going to choose to live into the Millennium. And then the real change takes place through the power of God's holy spirit. The rule of Jesus Christ and the 144,000 is a huge change. It's a massive change, something that mankind cannot grasp, mankind cannot even think about. To imagine that all that is in existence today, powered by Satan (it's Satan's system, it's the prince and power of the air, the ruler of this current age), that he is going to be removed? Now, that is a huge change!

Talk about change that is coming, the greatest change that is coming is spiritual because the removal of Satan and the demons will have a physical outcome, which is a physical change, because the influence is not there. But it's a spiritual change in the first instance. The return of Jesus Christ into this earth (powered by God) with 144,000 is a huge and massive change that the natural carnal mind cannot grasp at this time. It's not possible. We, within the Body of Christ, the Church of God, believe this change is coming, but can we fully comprehend it all? Can we understand over this next period of time the amount of change and all of the change on a physical level, all for a spiritual outcome? The spiritual outcome is the ability for man to be humbled so that they can be changed, their thinking changed, that they can afflict themselves (powered by God's holy spirit), and that God will fight against the proud, which He's going to do during this next period of time and on the Day of the Lord. That is going to take place. Then the greatest change of all is going to take place, the removal of Satan and the implementation of righteousness on this earth. That is huge change! And our minds can see dimly, but the reality is as much as we can read scriptures and believe we understand all these things, until we've lived it, until we are put in that situation of this great distress for the outcome of the return of Jesus Christ to this earth and the implementation of God's way on this earth for 1,100-years, we can only just briefly get a grasp of it. We can only briefly imagine it. We can believe it and we can trust that God is going to fulfill it, but can we really see it? Well, the answer really is we can't. We can believe it, but we can't fully see it. We see it dimly. Because we have to live it.

Just like the change that is coming on a physical level before us, we can sort of prepare for it, but the reality is that when we're in it we're going to be just like Joseph down the pit because the mind is going to race. We're going to know that God is doing it, that we trust in God, and that He is our strength, that He is our Savior and He is going to look after us, that He is with us because we are His people and we've humbled ourselves before Him, and we understand that, but we're still going to have to go through it. There's going to be a lot of pain and sorrow in this world and we're going to be affected by it. And the world will lie; the world will do all sorts of things. They will fight to the end because that's the natural carnal mind, it will fight to the end. It will resist God to the end. Mankind resists God till the end. And we see that through scripture.

Here it says in verse 28, "You, (God, Yahweh Elohim), will save the humble," the afflicted people. That's us, brethren. We can be saved and we are being saved now. It doesn't necessarily mean physically, but spiritually that is God's purpose and intent. But the opposite to that is that God's eyes, God's aware of the haughty. God knows the proud. He knows. And He knows how to humble them. And He will bring them down. Well, that's the period that we now face. This scripture is going to come alive more than we ever imagine, that the humble people (God's people), those that God is humbling and that have chosen to humble themselves, afflict themselves so that they cannot lift themselves up to be proud, but to be humble, to choose to be humble (powered by God's holy spirit), that those people God will work with, God will use and He will save us. God will save us, brethren, on a spiritual level.

But the opposite to that is what we're going to see. We're going to see a major change take place because God's eyes are on the proud and He has the ability to bring them down. Well, that's the next period of time. The haughty, the proud, will be brought low. Mankind will be brought down. And to live through this process of this humbling of mankind is going to be very, very difficult. It's going to be like Joseph in the pit and then to be pulled back out and then to be sold into slavery, because it's major change! Not that we're going to be sold into slavery, because we've come out of it, but the change that takes place and the things that are going on around us, well, we are so fortunate to know the truth. We know the end now. We know the outcome of it, but we're still going to have to go through it and it will not be easy. It won't be easy for God's people. It's not going to be easy for anybody in this world.

Verse 29, David continuing, For You (Yahweh Elohim) are my lamp, O Eternal; the LORD shall enlighten my darkness.

Verse 30—For by You I can run against the troop; by my God I can leap over a wall. As for El, (as for God), His way is perfect. There's no blemish in it. The word of the Eternal is proven; it's set. It can be trusted in. He is a shield to all who trust in Him. David here is saying that His strength is God. He trusts in God. And God's word shows the way, shows the way for the natural carnal mind, and the truth, the law, the Commandments are His strength. And it's by God that He has this strength. Because he says in verse 30, "By You," for by You, by God, by God living and dwelling in us, "I (David) can run against the troop." So he can fight against himself. He can fight against His enemies. "By my God I can leap over walls." We have this great spiritual strength – not physical strength, great spiritual strength so that when change comes we have this spiritual strength to have this relationship with God, to know what God is doing. One of the strengths we have (the power of God in us, God in us), one of the strengths we have is we understand, although darkly in some areas, but we do understand, we do know what God is doing. We know why things are happening. Because the world won't. The world won't. There are many in the world that will have no idea whatsoever of what God is doing. They just won't. But there are many that will. They'll have an opportunity to have had a witness. But there's going to be a lot that won't. They won't comprehend. They won't know why the change is taking place. They'll see physical things and they'll know they're at war and they'll know there's great distress and everyone will become quite focused on personal physical survival.

Well, we have a separate strength. We have a strength to run against a troop. We have that strength. Well, that troop – and we look at it now on a spiritual level – we have the strength by God, "for by You, Yahweh Elohim, I can run against a troop." We can fight against Satan and his demons. We can fight against ourselves. We can run against a troop. A heap of them there, well, we can fight against them because of God's great power in us. "By my God I can leap over a wall." Yes, we can overcome sin. We have this enormous strength from God, that we have been called into a relationship with God to fight against ourselves, therefore, we can leap over a wall, we are strong. We have God in us which is our strength. We trust in God. We believe God. That is our strength.

Verse 31—For as for God, His way is perfect. There is no blemish. The word of the Eternal is proven, already is set. So God says He's going to have a family, God is going to have a family. God's word can be trusted. It's trustworthy. It's proven. It's set. And therefore, what God has set in His word will be achieved. "For as for God, He is perfect. The word of the Eternal is proven. He is a shield (He is a defense) to all who trust in Him." Well, that's us. God protects us. God is for us, just like He was for Joseph. God was with Joseph; God is with us.

Verse 32—For who is God, "Who is Elohim," except the Eternal, (except Yahweh)? There's only one true God. "For who is God except the Eternal?" That's the question. Well, we know Yahweh Elohim. We know. The world at this point doesn't know. The Churches that are scattered do not know. But we know. We know Yahweh Elohim personally. We know in the one true God. We know His plan. We know what He has done for us. What strength is this to know Yahweh Elohim? To know that He loves us? To know that He is going to protect us, that He has a plan for us? This is incredible knowledge and it's an incredible strength that we can trust in. We can trust in Yahweh Elohim. "For who is God, except the Eternal?"

And who is a rock, except our God? That's the question. Well, there is nothing else to be trusted in. If we trust in anything else it's a foolish trust. If we trust in the physical, it's foolishness. All the physical is passing away. We can't trust in it. It's not going to save us. Although we should have a stash as we've been encouraged to do, and maintain it because there is going to come a time where change is going to affect us. A period of time, over a time, for a certain length of time, yes, there is going to be a change in the physical conditions and food will be important, health will be important. Those things are important. In the end, "Who is a rock, except our God?" Who is going to save us physically and spiritually except God? So that's the question. There's only one Yahweh Elohim. There's only one God. There is no god like Him. No one has the strength like Him. As we've read previously back in the book of Job, all of the things that God can do, the power that God has. So who is our strength? Well, God is our strength. "Who is my strength and power?" God in us. The power of God's holy spirit in us is our strength. That is our protection. God is our High Tower. God is our strength. God is our protection. So when all of this change that is coming takes place we have to go back to the strength that we have. This is who we have to trust in, Yahweh Elohim. The power over life and death sits with God. The power over a spiritual life sits with God. And He makes my ways perfect. It's God that makes our way pure or clean, and that's done through the gift of repentance.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, God is the one that can make us swift, swift in thinking, swift in thought, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. So this is that warfare that takes place. He's talking about something here with regards to physical warfare. Well, we can look at this now and say the spiritual warfare that we have is by God's great power. It's God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us that shows us, that teaches us how to war, to battle against our selfishness, to battle against Satan and His demons. And it is God that can help us to fight. It's God in us that helps us to fight. So this spiritual warfare that we have, that we undertake every single day, is powered by God's holy spirit. It's "God is my strength and power. He makes my way perfect." Because it's God in us that's doing the works.

Verse 36—You have also given me a shield of Your salvation. Which we understand from Ephesians 6 what that shield of salvation is. We understand that we have to take on the whole armor of God, and that is all spiritual thinking or spiritual components of life. And Your gentleness has made me great. This is God in us that makes us great. It's God's holy spirit living and dwelling in us that makes us anything that we are.

Verse 37—You enlarged my path under my feet (under me); So my feet did not slip. It's God that supports us. It's God that cares for us. It's God that's going to get us through this change that is coming. I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. Now, our enemies are sin. So we've pursued that sin in our life and we've got rid of it through repentance. Neither did I turn back, so we didn't turn back to that sin, till they were destroyed. So we're not to give up. We're to never give up. We're never to turn back. We're not to turn back again and go back into the ways of the world, the way of thinking, this falsehood, these lies and deceit that can live and dwell in us. We're to seek to get rid of sin. We're never to give up. Now, when physical change happens there will be confusion in the mind on a physical level. What should we do? How should we do it? The key to all of this is to never turn back from God, never to turn back on overcoming sin. We're never to give up until it's totally destroyed. Well, when's it totally destroyed? Sin will be totally destroyed at the end. So during our whole life we are always to seek to get rid of sin, and we're to never give up fighting against our own selfishness.

Verse 39—And I have destroyed them and wounded them. Well, yes, we wound them. Sometimes we destroy certain behaviors of sin, ways of thinking, and it can be replaced with God's thinking, which is destroying it. Because when we destroy the selfishness or the way of thinking of selfishness we've destroyed it and God has replaced it with the power of thinking His way. "And wounded them," because there's often things that we think we've destroyed, but we haven't, we've only wounded them. We thought we got rid of them and we didn't want to think that way again, but put in a certain situation we think that way again. It's only wounded and it comes back; it's still alive in us.

So that they could not rise, so they're wounded so it can't rise itself back up. They have fallen under my feet, which is this repentance or by repentance. We can destroy sin in our life through repentance. And if we have sin and we repent and then it comes back (because it's there and it may have fallen for a time, it can rise up, sin can rise back up in us) well, we can put it back down so that it cannot rise up by repentance. For You have armed me with strength for battle, which is referring back to the power of God's holy spirit. You have subdued under me those who rose against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me. We understand who really hates us. Mankind, yes, they may have ill will to us and may hate us, to a degree, just like the brothers did to Joseph where they hated and despised him and looked down on him and really wanted to get rid of him and teach him a lesson because they thought he was just a smart-aleck, so "We'll teach him a lesson." Well, no different here, brethren, that people do hate us and despise us. Well, this is referring to those who hate us on a spiritual level – is Satan and the demons. They actually hate us.

In verse 41 here where it's saying that David has said that, "You (God), have given over to me the necks of my enemies," which is that he has the ability to destroy them and get rid of them. Well, we have that same. "So that I destroyed those that hated me." Well, we do that through repentance. And there is coming a time when they're going to be removed (at the end of 6,000-years of man's self rule they'll be removed), and really they are destroyed from that point of view because they don't have the influence on mankind. But their end is at the end of 7,100-years where they will be destroyed. They looked, but there was none to save; even to the Eternal, but He did not answer them. Because it's God that saves the righteous. God will not save the wicked, but God does save the righteous. Then I beat them as fine as dust of the earth; I trod them like dirt in the streets, and I spread them out. In other words, he destroyed them.

You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people. Which is to do with the contentions or the anxiety there. That there was this contention with the people and he's saying, well, he's been delivered from that. You have kept me as the head of the nations. He was king. He was king over Israel. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. The foreigners submit to me. So he's now won the battle and he is ruling. "The foreigners submit to me." As soon as they hear, they obey me. The foreigners fade away, and come frightened from their hideouts.

The Eternal lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, the Rock of my salvation! It is God who avenges me, who subdues the people under me, who delivers me from my enemies. You also lift me above those who rise against me. You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks to You, O Eternal, among the gentiles, and sing praises to Your name.

Verse 51—He is the tower of salvation to His king, which is David. God is David's KING, and shows mercy to His anointed, which is referring to David. God shows mercy to him like God shows mercy to us. ...to David and his descendants forevermore. We can now apply these principles to us, that we can give thanks to God, Yahweh Elohim, because He has lifted us up, He has called us out of Babylon, out of confusion (the spiritual confusion) and He is giving us an opportunity to live during the change that is coming, this massive change that is going to take place within the lives of mankind – all mankind – including us. There is great physical change that is coming and we have to change spiritually during this period. Because if we give up on changing spiritually, it's all a waste of time. So no matter what physical change is going to come upon us and is going to affect us, just like Joseph down the pit, just like Joseph going into slavery, we have to continue to trust in God. We have to continue to fight against our selfishness. We have to continue to guard against ourselves, against wrong thinking, having wrong motives and wrong intents, not desiring to save self, but desiring to destroy self so that we can serve God, so that God can continue to live and dwell in us.

We'll end Part 1 here, brethren, and we'll pick up Part 2 soon.□

Table of Contents

Chapter 1