Pastor Aaron Cordeiro
October 5, 2014 - W1440

Today we're going to look at the life of David whose life is quite loud when it comes to Biblical characters. But we are going to talk about the refreshing place known as the Quiet Place and how David often sought comfort in his quiet place. How vital are God's refreshing quiet places to our spiritual survival? It’s extremely vital, so here we will continue our series on the topic of Refresh.

 Well, the quiet places are not always the most exciting places of life. In fact to some it is a very monotonous place. But the quiet place is where we can find our perfect peace.  It's where our greatest successes will either be forged or forfeited.  And we learn through the life of David that it's in the quiet place that God will empower us to walk in His glorious best but only through His power.

 Albert Einstein once wrote: “The monotony and solitude of the quiet place stimulates the creative mind”

 In fact, Psalm 63 verses 1 and 2 says it this way.  

 O God, you are my God.  Early will I seek you?  My soul thirsts for you.  My flesh longs for you in the dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  So I've looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. (Psalm 63:1-2)

 You ever felt like that, tired, thirsty, and dry?  Well, King David did. In fact, when David wrote this Psalm, he is actually in the “desert”. There were at least three times where David was in the desert. The first time was when he was tending the sheep in the desert. In the solitude he was able to worship God by singing and playing his harp. Through this is a lesson about humility and seeking. The second time was when he was running for his life from King Saul who was once a mentor in his life and now because of jealously and rage has become a threat. However, when given the opportunity to kill Saul, David turned to God and obeyed Him when God told him not to touch His anointed one. The third time in the desert was probably the hardest because his own son Absalom was after him. But when he was in those moments, the only place he found perfect peace was through the power and glory of God which he found in the sanctuary where he could seek God’s presence. 

 When you read about David’s life and walk with him on the journey, it's a real raw life that is relevant to people like you and me, real life struggles where David has been at the fork in the road where he could be forged into a man after God's own heart or forfeit everything. Well, the promise is the same for every single one of us here today. If we are willing to run to the quiet places, then we will be forged into God's very best through His power or forfeit all that God has in store for us.  

 I asked my dad the other day, “Dad, what is it like to have true wealth in life?”  

 And he said, “You know, Aaron, here's something that I've learned. The first 30 years of life, you spend your whole life acquiring things.  You try to get more money or more things in life like a house and cars and all that kind of stuff, but after a while you have so much stuff, it takes the next 30 years of life trying to get rid of stuff.”  

 And I thought, man, that's so true because, you know, when we're young, it seems we need more, and more until after a while, it's like we're drowning in stuff, and we start to question God, “Are You there?  Where are you?”  It's almost like we have to get rid of stuff to see God. When you come into the quiet place, you realize that in life, God is really all you need.

 When David was in the desert, running from Saul or fighting his Goliath it was in those moments he would run to the quiet places and where his greatest successes in life were forged.  Every time before battle, he would stop and ask God if he should go or not

 It was in those quiet moments when he finds himself facing so much pain and struggle, where he cries out to God. Even though he had a life full of hate, adultery and murder,   in the quiet moments is where he finds forgiveness, hope, and life.

 You know, it's interesting where it's actually in the quiet moments of life that success, is built.  We see in the book of Mark, chapter one, that King David is not the only one who would show us this example but Jesus Himself. Jesus who is God in the flesh understood the value of the quiet place.

 “Now, in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

 You know what prayer is?  Prayer is, in its simplest form, thinking deep in the presence of God about your life and your future.  We see even Jesus trying to get to the quiet place to avoid any distractions if at all possible to get to this place. So how much more should people like you and me value the quiet place?

 You know, as a little boy I would wake up every morning, when I could get up early in the morning, I would go to my father's office.  I would always see my dad studying and doing his devotions.  Often I would walk into his room early in the morning, and he would be on his knees praying fervently.  And it was something that always stuck so powerfully in me.  

 And I remember when I was about seven years old dad would come in early, and say, “Aaron, you have an appointment with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords every day, and you can choose to show up or not, but let me encourage you, Son, if you show up, that which God gives you will never be taken away from you”.  

 “Okay, Dad”. So I would get up, and we would go to do our devotions.  

 He'd wake me up like that every morning. One day he came in with the spray bottle of water, it was like the Holy Spirit, trying to wake me up.   

 One morning, he said, “Aaron, we're going to McDonalds.”  No problem.  But it was at McDonalds where I would see my dad thumbing through the Word of God, spending those quiet moments with God.  And it was something that left such an impression on my life. I thought, you know, my dad really values this stuff.  I'd watch his life, and though he's not perfect, I’d witness his love for Jesus, his love for my mom, and his love for us as a family, his love for this church, the state of Hawaii, for people, for the globe.  That could not have come from anywhere else but the heart of God through those quiet moments every single day.  I realized there must be something that’s not just special but powerful and glorious about spending the quiet moments with God, thinking deep in the presence of God about our lives and future.  It's in those places where we'll find perfect peace and what God wants for us.

 Moments with my daughter often delight my heart more than anything. When she thinks of me, her daddy, and all that I’m going through she would run to that quiet place and pen a love letter for me. She just wanted to let me know how much she loves me.  I thought, wow, this really delights my heart.

 And I wonder if it would delight the heart of God when we run into those moments and we say, “Dear Daddy, I just want to say that I love You so much and I'm just so happy to be Your son or daughter.  Thank You so much for all that You've done for me.  I just want to say I love You”.  I wonder if that just delights the heart of God.

 Jesus said to pray like this:

 Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, like today, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and ever.  And could you say amen? (Matthew 6:9-13)

 You know, God is delighted when we pray in such a way that delights Him, when we run into those quiet moments and our hearts are joyful to spend time with Him. What is it about the quiet moments that delight God's heart?  Well, I want to give you just a few things about the quiet moments that would delight the heart of Our Father.  

 1) God is delighted when we pray appropriately.

Did you know that there's an appropriate way to pray and an inappropriate way to pray, but it delights the heart of God when we pray correctly.

 The first step to praying appropriately is:

a) We begin by listening:

 My voice you shall hear in the morning.  Oh, Lord, in the morning I will direct it to you, and I will look up. (Psalm 5:3)

 David is coming before God, saying, “God, here's my request, here's my life, here's my thoughts, my future”.  And he says, “I will look up to You, God”.  And it's almost like he's just waiting and preparing to hear and do whatever God tells him. “What do You have to say today?  Lord, here's my heart”.

 It's so hard to just be quiet. But King David comes before God and says, “Hey, God, I'm going to shut up and let You speak.”  What is the appropriate way to talk to God? It simply begins by listening.

 Another way to appropriately pray is to:

B) Check your intentions.

 Peter Drucker, who is sort of a conglomerate great in the world of organization, said it this way, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection”.  From quiet reflection will come even more effective action. I wonder how often we take the time to check our intentions or motives concerning the things going on round us.

 King David said it this way in Psalm 139:23:  “Search me O God and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts.”

 You know that word "try" is an interesting Hebrew word that means to examine or to test. Here in this Psalm, David is saying, “Search me, O God.  Here's my life.  Would you ‘try’ or test me and know my every thought.  Lord, make sure my intentions are right.”

 And I wonder if that's why it says here in Proverbs:  “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.” (Proverbs 16:2)

 Isn't it true when we’re busy, we're going, going, going, and when someone stops us to ask “Hey, how's everything going?” We tend to just say, “Oh, good.”  But things are not good but are actually chaotic.

 But I wonder if that can be the same in our spiritual life, same, even maybe in our marriage. Everything seems fine in our own sight.  But then God starts to touch the mind and it begins to hurt.  Maybe He starts to push and put some weight on our hearts and it starts to show problems. But when we get into the quiet place, we have time to hear ourselves think. The quiet places of life are so critical and so vital to our spiritual health.  One of the best things we can do is get before God and listen, and allow God to weigh the intentions of our hearts so that it matches up with that of His Glory.

 2) We can delight God when we start to admit bravely.  

We need to start to confess courageously.  Admit bravely our shortcomings. God presses on different areas in our life that needs improving and one of the best things that we can do is to admit bravely our faults and not to put the blame on others.  

 Did you know that confession or admittance is the greatest weapon against the devil?

 When King David was tempted by the beauty of Bathsheba, the Bible says he didn’t have self-control. Instead of running to the quiet place and allowing God to weigh the motivation, he gave into sin. The Bible says that King David had relations with her and in fact got her pregnant. Instead of confessing, he covered it up and made it worse.  He ordered Joab to send her husband Uriah to the front of the battle then pull everybody back so that he would die.

 This bad intention cost David perfect peace because of his unresolved sin. It also cost him the child, because God took the child.  There's consequence to the sin. When David couldn't take it any longer and confessed, here's what happened in scripture:

 “Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord, and Nathan replied, The Lord has taken your sin away.  You are not going to die.” (2 Samuel 12:13)

 3) And lastly it delights God's heart when we ask in humility and walk in humility.  

So we look at David's life, when there was un-repented sin, we see that some of the consequences were things like shame and embarrassment, guilt, insecurity, and pride. We find that what delights God's heart the most is when we ask God in humility and then submit ourselves under God's commands.

 In Acts 13:22 it says about David in this way:

 “God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’” (Acts 13:22)

God is delighted in that David was not perfect but that David was a man whose default was God, despite anything, he always went to seek God in the quiet places.  He would go through the toughest circumstances.  He would blow it.  He could be at the lowest of low, but yet, whatever he went through, his default was always God.

 It’s in the quiet place that we will be refreshed in God's presence, and your loudest successes will be forged. It's running into the quiet place where Jesus is, with ears that are open, where He is able to speak into our lives and weigh the things of the heart, the things of the mind, the things of our life and future, and thinking deep in the presence of God. Perfect peace is not a place.  It's not a thing.  It's not a decision, but it's the person of Jesus.  Amen?

 1) Where is your quiet place?

 2) How is your prayer life?

 3) How can you also be a person after God’s heart?

 4) What can you sacrifice so that you can spend more quality time with God?