When The World Is Against You (Video) — Shane Idleman

Didn't I teach you? There are people in this church that I can feel the pressure cooking because they're in the school districts. And they're going to have to start calling a boy by his female name and addressing her as a she, but it's a he.

What do you do? The culture's coming down on us. The workplace environment is changing. The media, the government, society, friends, family, it looks like, do you ever feel that everybody's just coming against you?

Or is it just me this evening? You feel it. The more you want to live for Christ, the more you're going to feel the pressure of this world. When everybody's coming against you, what do you do? What do you do when the church, maybe, you feel is coming against you?

Or Christians, or friends, those you used to trust, or the culture, maybe, or society, and you feel the pressure. And if we're not careful, it will cause us to implode. Do you know what exploding is when somebody explodes?

But imploding is when the pressure on the outside is greater than the strength on the inside. That's what imploding is. And so you have to, where's that inside pressure? And just a personal confession this evening to let you know that I feel that pressure quite often.

I feel that pressure knowing that what I'm doing might be outlawed at some point. There's not a lot of happy campers in the United States when you start preaching the totality of God's Word, the truth of God's Word, and you start to remember back when the reformers would come on the scene and start to bring the church back towards reformation.

Opposition to Christians Who Preach the Whole Counsel of God

At any time, throughout history, it's interesting, it's throughout history, those who preach all of God's counsel are often hated by the church. Until they die, then monuments are built to them. Jesus even said that.

Your fathers killed the prophets, yet you build monuments to the prophets. You knew they were prophetic, you knew they were prophets calling the nations back, but your fathers killed them because they challenged their lifestyle.

So it's like being a Christian in this world, at least if you're living it out. You can be a silent Christian. I call that secret service Christians, where nobody knows. I don't know how that works, but I guess some people have done that.

But if you're living for God, you will feel the pressure of this world. The world will come against you. And we find ourselves in Psalm chapter three. If you have your Bibles, or hopefully you have your journals, if you don't have a journal, let me know.

I think I've got three or four we left in our office. We ordered actually 200. And we've got a few left, and we're going through each chapter of Psalm, and you are writing down your prayers to God, you're writing down answer prayers, maybe things you struggle with, any sermon notes that really stick out, write that down, and we're gonna go through the book of Psalm and grow together.

So if you haven't started that, it's okay. We're only in Psalm three. You might be in trouble if we're in Psalm 115. It might be cutting it close. But Psalm three, verse one. Lord, how they have increased who troubled me.

See, it's one thing that people are troubling you, but have you ever had that increase? Not one coming against you, but two or three, not just this group of people coming against you, but now this group of people coming against you.

In a church we can see this, not only would maybe the government be coming against us someday, but other churches someday, or other Christians someday, or the society in general, and you feel this pressure.

So David, we believe, wrote this. Lord, how they have increased who troubled me. Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, there is no help for him in God. Now, selah, you'll see that sometimes.

Selah, they're divided on really what that means. It could be a pause, a point of reflection, or it could be a place to really turn up the volume and go into the next verse. But for the sake of this study, let's look at it as a pause.

Being Desperate and Outnumbered

So the first area here, being desperate and outnumbered is common if you are a Christian. So just get that in your mind right now. You will be outnumbered. Isn't that frustrating? Because we like the numbers.

In politics, you want the numbers. In church, you want the numbers. All right, God, raise up 10 ,000 godly school teachers or raise up all these government officials that are Christians, and we want the numbers.

But you will always be outnumbered as a Christian in many areas. Of course, there are exceptions. But I'm convinced that the reason why is because God gets all the credit. He gets all the glory. And the more we stop relying on numbers, we start relying on Him.

Anybody concerned about the next election? Now, our trust isn't in that. I hope you know that. Our trust is never in laws or legislators or leaders, but they do play a role in shaping the direction of our nation.

And we get panicked when the numbers don't look good. And we get excited when the numbers look good. And then, or God will do something and just do a miracle, and God can prevail. So what I have found, at least in my life, when the numbers are against me, that causes me to draw closer to the one who makes me in the majority.

So as I fill that pressure from others, that pressure can be good. I mean, do you ever eat a baked potato without cooking it? No. Why? That pressure. So I fill that pressure, I turn to God. Little pressure, little time with God.

Even looking back in my life, I don't wish that we were designed this way, but when things are going good, prayer time. Do you think we'd be having Wednesday morning prayer meetings, Sunday morning prayer meetings, at church, seeking the heart of God if everything is wonderful?

Hopefully, hopefully. But often, that pressure cooker, that resistance drives you to the cross. So being desperate and outnumbered is very common throughout church history. Paul was outnumbered all the time.

Jesus turned the world upside down with an army of what, two million? Or 200 million like China boasts? What did he know? 12 men. He turned the world upside down because God's not concerned ever about numbers.

Actually, you'll see him get the numbers down. He'll take the church numbers down. Chuck Smith used to call it blessed subtraction, and get the church numbers down to where it's a remnant. God will get Gideon's army.

Gideon's army was gonna fight. They had thousands and thousands and thousands of men. God said, no, it was too many. They got rid of some. No, it was too many. They ended up going to battle with 300 men.

So God gets the glory and gets all the credit for what he's doing. But it's interesting, he said here, they were taunting David saying, there is no help for him, not even with God. And I like what Spurgeon said.

To be deserted of the Father was worse than be despised by men. Can you, do you ever get to that spot where you're questioning God? God doesn't care. God's not listening. God's not there for me. And I can handle a lot, but when I feel that God's gone, or when God's not with me, or when God has let me down, that's when the pressure is really put on.

That's when a person starts to fear and anxiety and depression and panic attacks start to take over, because if I don't have God, I have nothing. So that's what these people are taunting him. There is no help from God.

Now, keep in mind, though, your enemies will taunt you in this area. There's no help for you. You're trusting in your God, the God that is not helping you right now. And then he goes on, verse three, but you, oh Lord, notice how he didn't stay negative very long.

Remembering God as Shield and Sustainer

That's a word for some of you. Break out of your negative bubble this evening. No more complaining. No more griping. All these people complaining about California and Lancaster. If I have another email that tells me that we're in the 50 most deplorable cities in the United States, I'm gonna have a heart attack.

I know it. I got it. Go live in Syria, North Korea, anywhere. We are still blessed here. We should be thankful. Yes, there's concerns, and from those concerns, we take action. We pray. We get people in positions of leadership and authority, but we should not be walking around grumbling and complaining as Christians.

God doesn't like that. Read the Old Testament. Did you know that came out in the news? That Lancaster's in the top 50 of the whole United States of the most deplorable or something like that, the worst places that people don't wanna live.

It'd be interesting to see who they interview. But it is difficult, but I think we are blessed still. But you have to, and my whole point was this. You have to go back. You look at the negative. You look what's going on.

They've come against me. I'm in deep trouble. Lord, I'm in this spot of depression, but you, oh Lord, but you, oh Lord, you are a shield for me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. And this picture of lifting up your head, have you ever lifted up your kid's head that was sad?

They're crying, you lift up, look at me, and they're tears, and you build them back up. This is the picture in the Hebrew language of lifting up that head and restoring that confidence. Can you imagine looking into the eyes of God, saying, I've got this.

Look up, look into my eyes. I've got this son. I've got this daughter. And he lifts up your head, and I cried out to the Lord with my voice, and he heard me from his holy hill. Man, that is a powerful scripture to memorize, when you're negative, but you, Lord, and it reminded me, and I hope I can remind you, you must remind yourself of who God is.

It's a constant battle, in the battle of the mind, getting negative and grumbling and complaining and fearful, but remember who God is. I mean, if I stay on a news website too long, I'm gonna think the world's falling apart, right?

I'm gonna go buy 500 gallons of water. I'm gonna get electricity backups. I'm gonna build a bomb shelter, and just, oh, no, what's going on? Edison's gonna turn off all of our power for a year, and just live in this, because you're listening to the wrong voice.

Understand what's going on. Be aware, but be careful, but you, oh, Lord, you are my shield, and this shield isn't just this shield. It's an imagery there of all around protection. You are my protection from what's coming above, from beneath, from the sides, family, friends, whatever's coming against me, God, you're my shield, so I trust in you, so I have this image of the enemy throwing fiery darts at us, and different things, and he's the shield, because we're trusting in him and who he is.

That's what gets us through. It is he and only he who can lift up your head and lift up your mood and get you back on track, but look at here how he positioned himself. I've taught on this before, and I think it's so important.

When receiving from God or hearing from God, it's all about positioning, positioning. If I had my son here, my daughter, and I said, okay, tell me something, and I went out back, I wouldn't hear a thing, even though they're talking.

Same thing with God. You've gotta position yourself to hear the voice of God, to hear from God, and here's what he says here. I cry to the Lord with my voice, and he heard. See, when the Bible says he heard my prayer, it means he acted, and it could have been just holding them in that time of difficulty, this confusion, we've raised our kids good all of their life.

Why have they left God? Why are they distant? This doesn't make any sense, but God, I will cry out to the Lord with my voice. Do you know how many people are never changed, never see deliverance, never grow spiritually because they're not desperate enough?

Amen, Eva Marie? We just talked about that. Let me say that again in case you didn't catch it. To the degree you are desperate and cry out to God is the same degree you will change. And I'll tell people this before.

You're not desperate enough. You haven't hit rock bottom. You're still making excuses. You're still trusting in this or that. When you get desperate, you cry out to God. You don't care who's looking. There might be tears.

You might be blowing your nose, and I don't care. I just need God. God, I need you to answer, and that's the voice. He says, that's the cry of my child. That's the cry of a broken heart. Now you're done trusting in your own strength.

You're done making excuses. You're done blaming everybody but looking in the mirror. You cry out. Help. Remember when your kids would cry out? Was it a partial cry? No, when my kids cry out back, I know something's happened.

Or cry in the house. They cry, daddy, daddy, daddy. When you hear that, you just, well, hold on, I'll be there later. Funny story, our little baby woke up early a couple days ago. It was like six in the morning.

It's kind of dark out, and Morgan comes in, and I'm like, oh, we're gonna pray together, you know, and read the baby's up. This is wonderful. So I'm getting off the computer, working on this sermon, I think, and I turn around in the chair, and she's gone.

She went back to bed. So now I have the baby all morning. So my day just changed. So I'm playing with the baby for 45 minutes, take her on a walk, change her diaper. Here, it's eight o 'clock. But when you hear that child cry, and you know the cry where it's like, okay, I'm breaking down that door.

That kind of cry. Not the whimpering, grind yourself to sleep cry. But the cry, daddy, daddy, daddy. I've heard that not too many times. My kids have got stuck. They fell on their bike or something, and you run to that cry.

But now parallel that to a cry that's not that desperate. Like, dad, come here. Hold on, what is it? See, that's how many of us approach God. We want Him to answer in a powerful way, but we're not desperate.

We're not desperate. We don't cry out to Him. God, I give you everything. Bear me, I'm bare before you. My motives, if you really want to change, you want to grow spiritually, let me challenge you in this.

Remove the excuses. They have to die. Somebody's got to tell you the truth. Well, yeah, but, no, no, mm-mm. Now, everything you say, there's a baby, by the way, right there, I just told a story. Morgan, you've got to listen to that one.

I told him, you dropped the baby off at six in the morning, and I thought we were all going to pray together. Instead, you just left me with the baby. But hearing that cry, and I love you guys enough to tell you the truth, so many excuses that we don't want to change or grow because we're actually excusing our actions, and when we do that, we can't grow because growth involves repenting from our actions.

Growth involves this is wrong in me. I am this way. I need to repent and change. See, excuses block that from change ever happening. And so this crying out, any time you see in the Bible, I cry to the Lord, I guarantee it wasn't just a like, okay, Lord, help me this morning if you can.

You'd be shocked at probably some of the way these prophets cried out to God, or David cried out to God, like a woman in labor. Oh, God, God, you have to move. God, you have to move on behalf of me and my family in this situation.

Trusting God Through Family Conflict and Fear

Then verse five. Now, it's interesting. Because he cried out, because he laid it all bare, he goes from his enemies are after him. He's about ready to, to me, it looks like he's gonna have a massive panic attack.

He's in complete desperation. You think you got it bad. This could be when David, his son, Absalom, actually was rising up against him. His own, can you imagine your own son? And they didn't treat, they didn't just say, dad, okay, you're gonna have to retire, go get a nice cabin on the lake.

They would kill him. David was going to be killed. So his own son and his own family, can you imagine that? Getting bad counsel, rose up against his father. The city, the whole city, majority of the city is coming now against David, this mighty man of God.

And a lot of it goes back to Bathsheba and that sexual sin and that murder. And God said that the sword will not, the sword is always gonna be against your house and see how our consequences can affect our family.

And Absalom came against his own dad and David still had the integrity, the love for his son. He told his commander, I believe it was Joab. He said, when you find Absalom, please be merciful to him. Be merciful to him.

Please don't hurt him. And when news came back that they actually killed Absalom, he got stuck in a tree and they put spears through him and David cried out saying, oh, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, you are gone.

This is tremendous. So you feel the weight. So this guy knows what he's talking about. I don't know anybody of you have your kids rise up against you and they say they're gonna kill you and they can't legally.

And then you see that your own sin, your own deficit, your own consequences in your own life have killed your family. That's a lot of desperation, but David says this in verse five, I lay down and I slept.

How many of you know it's hard to sleep when you're going through difficulty? I lay down and I slept in God's strength and I trusted God. I awoke, I awoke. Why? How? The Lord sustained me. The Lord sustained me.

I will not be afraid of 10 ,000 people who have set themselves against me all around. Within a couple sentences, he goes from depression, turmoil. Oh, that's right. I need to get my thoughts back on track and trust again in God.

I wish I could just show you how important your thought life is. We minimize that a lot. Where your thoughts go, your feet follow. When you start to meditate, your mind is so powerful. That's who you are, body, soul, and spirit.

It's your thought life, how you think you become. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he becomes, Paul says be not conformed to this world, but be transformed. You can transform yourself by the renewing of your mind.

And so David just, can you imagine if he said, oh Lord, I think I've deserved this. You're gonna let me down. They're gonna kill me. They're gonna take me out. I don't know what to do. I'll just follow my own sword.

I'll just follow my own sword and kill himself. But no, he strengthened himself in the Lord. You know what? You need to do that sometimes. In these dire times, you're gonna have to learn how to strengthen yourself in the Lord.

What you do, you turn off the media. You turn off your phones. You get on your face before God or you put on worship and you begin to open the Psalms. You begin to open the Word of God and you strengthen yourself in the Lord.

You remember that he is the one who puts 10 ,000 to flight. You remember that he is the one who conquers kingdoms. He raises entire kings up and he blows nations out of the palms of his hands. He told the Atlantic and the Pacific here and no further.

He created life. He restores. He rebuilds. He convicts. He renews. It is God who will set you free. And it was God who said, you have to strengthen yourself. You have to strengthen yourself and encourage yourself in the Lord.

Don't wait for your neighbor to come by. Don't wait for your pastor's sermon. Don't wait for your Bible study group. Those are all great. But you've got to learn how to strengthen yourself in the Lord.

That's how you get through the life successfully. Because if not, we're always relying on other people. Build me up, build me up, strengthen me. It's good. Don't get me wrong. But many times we've got to learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord.

And what I found and you'll see here that faith and trust is how you sleep in the midst of trouble. Faith and trust is how you sleep in the midst of trouble. Anyone lost sleep over anything? No. Well let me, I'm going to save this for the 9 a .m. Sunday service.

Of course. Because what is our mind doing? And when you trust and you have faith in God, you can go to sleep and it is sweet sleep. I remember reading, I love reading the story of Martin Luther. When he walked into, he was going into what they called Worms.

It's where the council met there and they were going to, they had all his works out. And they said, you recant your works. Martin Luther said, Martin Luther, he was part of the Reformation. He challenged the Catholic Church.

He challenged the papacy. He told them all the things, praying to the saints and getting money from people and they have to do works. He just challenged the whole system. Well he had to recant all of his works.

They had it laid out there and they don't know for sure, but this is that famous line that he gave when they said, recant or you could lose your life. He said, here I stand. I can do no other. I can't recount these works.

But imagine that time going into Worms and going in front of this council of the hierarchy of the church and it's recorded in his biography that he had tremendous peace because he learned to strengthen himself in the Lord and trust in God.

I mean, if we really think this through, what can man do to you? Well, he can kill me. You're gonna see Jesus a lot quicker. Now we shouldn't have a death wish. We shouldn't be looking for that because we have work to do here.

But ultimately, what can man do to you? He can't do anything, especially beyond God's sovereignty. And then verse seven. So now I like what he goes on to say here. So Lord, arise. God, arise. Do something.

It's okay to say something. Have you ever caught yourself doing that? Lord, do something. Please, God, do something. That's okay. I'm giving you permission based on Scripture to say, Lord, arise. And what he's saying there is like sleeping.

Get up. Come on, God. You ever do that? Come on, God, come on. Let's go. Let's go get them. Where are you? Come on. Lord, come on. What are you doing? Wait. Wait and renew your strength, Shane. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

They shall mount up wings like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint. Save me, oh my God, for you have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone. You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.

And the image there, especially in Old Testament Hebrew, it could be that this image of like the beast. And when you would knock out the teeth of the beast, they were harmless. You could still see this.

I would not. You know what? I wouldn't be scared of a lion if they didn't have teeth and claws. I would kick that thing. I would kick a lion. Just gumming me with his mouth? 300 pound lion? But you put those teeth in there.

Game over. So God crushed the teeth of his enemies. And then salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. So he's saying, God, reveal yourself. Reveal yourself. And you might say, what does that mean, Shane?

Well, God, reveal yourself in your presence or your power. When God reveals himself in the presence, I've read enough books to know this is true. I see it in the Bible. I'll let you know. I've been praying it for this church.

Not everyone will be able to handle this. But when God's presence really hits a place in revival, it affects the whole audience. I won't be able to continue preaching. You'll be here weeping throughout the congregation.

The altar will be filled. The worship team will do worship if they can. Because God's presence is so strong. The manifest presence of God when it hits a building. That's called revival. And it's not weird.

It's biblical. Look at the manifest presence of God. Show us your glory, God. In the Old Testament, Moses met God face to face. And any time God would come, the people would fall down in the holy presence of God.

And there's something I don't understand. It's like his presence is magnified. Have you ever been in a worship service where you can feel just the presence of God? Like you could cut it with a knife and you're crying.

You don't know what's going on. And just the magnitude of the presence of God. So God, answer in your presence or in your power. And when God answers in his power, it's powerful. You see the hand of God literally moving or doing a miracle.

We've prayed, that prayer room is powerful. If you can get with us on Sunday morning, we've heard of court decisions being reversed. All hope is gone. Now there's tremendous hope. Marriages, prodigal sons.

Every Sunday so far, people coming back in there and they just come in, how can I pray for you? I need to know Jesus. They just ask us over there. Leading people to the Lord. Why? Because the power of God is in a place that worships him and puts him first.

God's Wrath, Christ's Propitiation, and Imputed Righteousness

Or how does God reveal himself? He reveals himself in wrath or favor. God will reveal himself in wrath. In the days, weeks, months, years ahead, ultimately people will know that there is a God because of his wrath.

His wrath will be poured out on mankind. I don't like that concept personally as a person who loves people, but I understand the nature of God, the character of God, and you understand justice, the justice of God.

True justice cannot let a crime go unpunished. Jesus can say, I forgave you. I took on the burden. Repent and believe on me. I'll take that place, but still the wrath of God still has to fall. If somebody is a convict of murder, and now if you're watching this latest story, this guy they believe is the largest serial killer to ever live.

He's just confessed an ungodly amount. I think it's over 100 now. How many? 90. They don't even know about. See, justice has to be served. Justice has... Could you imagine if the judge, you know what?

You've made the case. We found some of the bodies, and there's 100 people, but you know what? I'm gonna let you go. The judge, I'm gonna let you go. How would that sit with people? Because see, justice has to be met.

So the wrath of God, the justice of God has to fall on a disobedient people. Jesus gets in the way and says, in a good way, and says, I am the way, the truth, the life. I will take on that wrath of God.

So when you read that word propitiation in the New Testament, I think three times, that is Jesus absorbing God's justice, his just wrath. And because he absorbed it, we repent, we believe, we take on the imputed righteousness, the righteousness of Christ, and we are set free from the wrath of God.

That might change the way you worship if you can fully grasp that. Can you imagine? That's why you shouldn't make fun of people worshiping sometimes, because they've been set free. They were on the highway to hell.

Like the ACDC song, I'm on a highway to hell. Come on, you guys know it. Don't play like you don't know it. I used to listen to that song with a 40 ounce beer right in between my legs going 80 miles an hour.

I'm on a highway, and I don't know how I made it, but the grace of God, the love of God, the mercy of God said, no, devil, you're not taking him. He might have a praying mom. He might have a praying cousin or something praying for him.

He should have took me out 1 ,000 times, but the grace of God held me together. So when we sang Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was lost, but now I'm found. I was blind, but now I see, oh God, I must worship you.

I must cry out to you. I must bow my knee to you. Whatever you want, God, I must serve you. I'm still an imperfect vessel, but I'm looking to a perfect savior. See, it changes the way you worship. You get excited about worship.

You want to get up in the morning and worship. You want to look to his word, and you want to seek God with all your heart because of what he's done for you. Could it be that maybe he hasn't done much for you?

So worship is hindered? Because when God really, really changes you, you have to worship. That's like telling a baby, don't eat. I'm hungry, Dad. I need more of you. Now my flesh will tell you just the opposite of that.

Shane, sleep in. Perfect example, I'm just gonna be honest. Got up a couple times last night, hear the baby, and like, oh, man, this is tough. Poor Morgan, too. And I'm going back to sleep. I'm like, okay, how much more time do I have?

And it's 4 .45. Like, you know what? I committed to the prayer meeting this morning. It's 6 a .m., I gotta be there at 5 .30. I just better just get up. And did I feel like it? No, everyone do this. No?

Now I'm thinking, who could I text to see if they can do it? Because tired and just, you know, sometimes I don't wake up in a good mood all the time. You know that? You all wake up in good moods? How do you do that?

No, you can't take a Xanax right when you get up. I'm not talking about that. Just waking up in a good mood. Sometimes, you know, you wake up in a bad mood. And I didn't wanna go. And once I got there, I got there early, putting on worship, and it was just a wonderful time with the Lord.

So you do have to fight your flesh. And that is a little tag for our 6 a .m. Wednesday mornings. Every Wednesday at 6 a .m., we meet in Quartz Hill, California, Quartz Hill, California. Right over the hill.

I have to say it, I don't wanna tell other people. Where's that at? You guys know where it's at, but most people don't. So arise, O Lord, save me, O my God. So like wild beasts, their teeth were broken.

Psalm 4: Righteousness, Repentance, and Waiting on God

The part, here's what God does. The part that was going to damage a person was removed. The beasts were still there, the people were still there, but God removes the part that will hurt you. That's why this, when the Bible talks about, though I walk through the fire, I will not be burned.

Though I walk through the waters and the floods, and they begin to overflow, and I'm walking through these waters, I will not go under, I will not drown, because you're with me, God. So see, we still have the fire, we still have the challenges, but we trust in God the whole way.

So here's some possible application. A bad person's influence is removed, or their motivation is extinguished, or their criticism is halted. That's how sometimes God can help us in the dire times we're living in.

Somebody's influence against you, God can halt it, but they're still there. Or their motivation is extinguished. Do you ever find those people, they just want to go after you? Just leave me alone. Like what do we ever do without Facebook and all these media things?

When people had to talk to you in person, they weren't harassed as much. I guarantee, when it's in person, they won't talk to you as much. Now I won't do this, but my flesh has tempted me many times. When people say negative stuff to me, real critical on Facebook, I'm like, why don't you show up at the church service and public tough guy, let's see you say this to my face.

Little armchair quarterback on your, you're just a gentleman. Oh, come, let's talk in person. But see, we can hide behind that, and we weren't meant to absorb all this criticism. So God will begin to remove those things.

Maybe sometimes, so the heat is increased. And the more the heat's increased, the more you have to trust in God and go back to God. How do you truly know Him as God who gets you through everything unless you go through something?

We talk about, oh God, Jehovah Nissi, Jehovah Jireh, my provider, Jehovah Sikhanou, all the name for God, but you don't know Him as healer until you've been healed. You don't know Him as deliverer until you've truly been delivered.

You don't know Him as your provider until the floodgates open. So to know God is to experience God, often through the challenges. My relationship with God has been built through the challenges. Oh, man, I have such a good relationship with God because He gives me everything I want.

That's actually not a good father. Could you imagine giving your kids everything they want? They'd be dead by now. Because my own ice cream, and watch ungodly things, and more sugar, more this, stay up all night, don't do anything, don't learn, just die.

Because the flesh would go crazy. And then I was gonna get, I'm gonna go real quickly into Psalm 4 because it's the same theme. So they say here, the psalmist says, "'Hear me when I call, O God. "'Hear my call, hear my righteousness.

"'Oh, no, O God, you are my righteousness. "'You have relieved me in my distress. "'Have mercy on me and hear my prayer.'". So this is interesting. He reminds God of His past mercies so He can receive present favor.