The Glory of God in Awful Places — Carter Conlon

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David's Distress in Psalm 55

Psalm 55, I don't think I told you that already. Psalm 55 in the Old Testament. The glory of God in awful places. The Psalm of David. Now, as we're turning there, I just want to ask the question again.

Have you ever been in an awful place? Are you in an awful place? Have you come to church this morning saying, I'm in an awful place? Have you said those words to somebody around you? Have you uttered them to God?

Have you just groaned them from your own heart? I'm in an awful place. The Webster's Dictionary defines awful as extremely bad, unpleasant, disagreeable, and a place that inspires fear. Have you ever wandered out of an awful place before?

And perhaps you're in an awful place and you'd like to get out now. This is where David was in Psalm 55. I'm going to read from verses 4 to 8. He says, My heart is sore pain within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me. Horror has overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove. For then would I fly away and be at rest. I want to put it in modern terms. If I could just figure out a way to get out of here, how happy I would be.

Lo, then I would wander far off and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Now, don't have to go into all the circumstances of David's trouble. Needless to say, it was a people trouble.

Most of our troubles always are somehow associated with people. And David, in his heart, is saying, I just want to get away. I want to get away from all of the strife. I want to get away from the advice or lack thereof.

I want to escape the criticism. I want to just get away. I want to find a place of peace and rest. Have you gotten to where you don't see anything of God in an awful place? Have you ever been there? And the place starts to look so dark.

It seems to be so little light at the end of the tunnel that you don't see anything of God. You don't find any purpose to it. And you don't see any reason as to why you should remain in it. All, in a sense, that might be of God appears to be lost.

It's gone. It's dissipated. This is an evil place. And, of course, the enemy will be right there telling you those very things and telling you somehow you've angered God. Somehow God is mad at you. Just leave this place.

You see, because the enemy himself knows that in the place that you're in, this awful place, there's a very deep work of God going on there. Something that he has experienced through history. When a man or woman come out, in the Song of Solomon, for example, it says, Who is this coming out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?

He knows the danger. When somebody has come out of one of these places and has learned something about the way the kingdom of God operates, how much violence as it is can be brought against his kingdom and how much he can lose hold over the minds of the people.

As David, some here today would say, if I had a way and a plan, I'd be out of here. I'd rather live in the wilderness than remain here. And I know I'm speaking in the spirit to somebody. Myself, anyway, I've been here.

God's Purpose in Seasons of Suffering

I know what this is all about. I've been in places throughout my life as a Christian. I've been in seasons and times through sickness. I've been there through difficulties that we all have to face that everything in me wanted to be somewhere else other than where I was.

And how confusing it must have been for David at this time. He could remember Samuel walking into the room that day. He could remember in his youthfulness the expectation, perhaps in his heart, that God was going to do something supernatural through his life.

He can remember the day when all of his brothers were passed by for this specific anointing. And Samuel poured this horn of oil on his head, the words that were spoken over his life. And many of you can remember this, the day that you first came to Christ.

Christ came to your house. You didn't come to his. He came to yours. He revealed himself to you. Spoke these incredible things over your life and poured this precious anointing of the victory that he has won for you on Calvary over you.

And this anointing began to lead you, as it had with David, into places that you knew that only supernatural strength could win victories there. Think of David standing up on the mountain, and when the whole army, who have really lost the presence and the understanding of the ways of God, are unable to fight for the honor of God, David, running into the valley, facing that giant, and with the anointing of God on his head and the promises of God in his heart, defeating this incredible enemy that had come against the testimony of God among his people.

Think of David carrying within his heart a resident promise that he was to be part of a lineage that could never be triumphed over. Now, the Lord, in some point in his journey, had given him these promises.

He would have had to know it spiritually, and then eventually God would speak this to him vocally, that I've put you in a place and given you a lineage, and the lineage that I'm giving to you and through you cannot be triumphed over.

Now, he couldn't fully understand that this lineage is Christ, that he was in the physical lineage and a spiritual type of Jesus Christ, and there is a lineage of which you and I are part that could not be triumphed over.

Now, God's word to him was completely true. But yet, even with all of the promises that David had and all of the promises that you and I have, we can find ourselves in moments like Psalm 55, My heart is sore pain, terrors of death are all around me, fearfulness and trembling are upon me, and I'm overwhelmed with horror.

Those are not just... He didn't write it that way because it rhymed, folks. This was coming from his heart. I'm overwhelmed. I've got a sense of darkness that's come upon me, a sense of foreboding of something terrible has happened, something very dark is going on in this place that I don't understand, and it's possibly in measure at least taking away some of the promise that I felt that I had in my life.

And that's why he cries out, Oh, if I had wings like a dove, I'd get out of here. And if I could just get out of this place, I'd be at rest. I'd wander off and I'd find a cabin as it is in the wilderness, and I'd stay there.

Oh, I'd be so happy there. No, you wouldn't be happy there. None of us would be happy in the wilderness. It's just like when I go home in the summertime. Have you ever noticed? We have two dogs and there's a door with a swinging thing in it.

Have you ever noticed that whatever side the dog is on, he always wants to be on the other side of the door? And he goes out and lays down there for two minutes and then looks at the door, and then he wants to be on the other side of the door.

And this goes on all day, never happy. And there's a lot of that in us, folks. We always feel like we're on the wrong side of the door, and especially when things seem to be out of our control, in spite of the fact that they're never out of God's control.

As with all of us today, I'm sure David would like to have just reigned without suffering. I mean, it'd be awesome. I remember when I first got saved, and I heard we're going to rule and reign with Christ forever.

I remember the thought comes into your heart, well, let's do it now. Let's just go. Let's rule and reign. And there are some theological misguided places where they actually attempt to do that now in immaturity, like giving a child a chainsaw and sending him out into a forest to cut it down.

He had failed in Psalm 55, but there's forgiveness. So we ask ourselves the question, why would this awful place need to be? That is if it needs to be at all. Why this awful place? What is the purpose to this?

I thought we're supposed to be saved and happy. I thought we're supposed to run around as happy, happy, happy all the time. Blessed. No problems. No struggles. No trials. On the top. Remember, we're the head, not the tail.

All the rest of that stuff. We're supposed to be running around with this testimony of ever-increasing victory. And, of course, there is an ever-increasing victory. It just doesn't come the way we think it comes.

Suffering and Reigning With Christ

Now, in the context of what I'm speaking, I want to ask you a question. Don't turn there. But in 2 Timothy 2, verse 12, what does Paul mean when he says, If we suffer, we shall also reign with him? What is the context of that?

Now, Paul is speaking to Timothy. He's telling Timothy earlier on in that chapter to endure hardness as a good soldier. He says, Don't be entangled with the affairs of this life. And he tells Timothy, and he's constantly encouraging him not to be afraid.

You're going to be drawn, as it is, into places that you'll need the grace of God to go. And Paul is always encouraging this young man. And he makes a statement, actually, before you get to verse 12. And he says, The husbandman that labors must be first partaker of the fruits.

And he said, The Lord gives the understanding in these things. Paul is talking about hardness. He's talking about being a soldier. And then he goes on to verse 12 where he says, If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.

So what is he talking about? Now, a lot of people have taken that out of context. There are the flagellants, for example, the religious people who climb stairs on their knees, and they beat themselves until their backs bleed, considering, perhaps, that they're, in some measure, fulfilling the scripture.

But that's not what it's talking about. There's something much deeper than just what we can see on the surface. Now, in Luke chapter 9, if you'll put a marker in Psalm 55 and go to Luke chapter 9, please, with me.

Verses 23 and verse 24. Now, this is where Jesus talks about taking up our cross and following him. Now, verse 23 of Luke chapter 9. And he said to them, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. Now, the context of taking up our cross to save our lives, folks, can only be understood in that if we seek to preserve what we think life is and should be, then we will lose the life that God in Christ is destined for us to have.

That's what he's talking about. Take up the cross. Jesus, from the moment he had an understanding, as it is in his physical body, of the will of his Father, had taken up the cross, knowing where that cross was going to lead him, knowing the kind of life it was going to give him, knowing the adversity he was going to walk into, and the rejection he would experience.

But you see, there was a life far beyond anything that we think in the natural life should be. We live in a generation when much natural thinking has been infused into the ways of the Word of God. And so people are trying not to hammer this square peg into a round hole as it is, and it doesn't fit.

That life should be always thus and thus. But it's all strictly a humanistic view of what life should be. Jesus said, no, I have something so much better. If you seek to save this life, if you seek to save your image of yourself, if you seek to save your own ambition, or what even you think religion should make you into, if you seek to save it, you're going to lose what I have for you.

Something much deeper, something much more powerful, something much more glorious. Something that we have that is motivated and moved by the resurrection of life of Christ. Like Paul says, in Him we live, and we move, and we have our being.

This is the life that Christ is saying. I don't want you to lose this, and you will lose it if you attempt to come to church and mold God as it is into agreeing with what you think life should be. Because He has something so much deeper, so much higher, so much farther.

Christ's Prescribed Path to the Cross

Now think of Jesus for a minute, knowing for a certainty that at a particular age in His human body, that the purpose of His life was the redemption of man from his sins. Now, remember, I'm talking this morning about the glory of God in awful places.

Now, if this is the case, if He knew this, let's say, let's reason back, say He knew it at five, maybe He knew it at seven, maybe at eight, certainly at twelve because He was in the temple at that age.

Reasoning as it is in the scriptures. He knew this was the destiny of His life. To be given as a sacrifice, a substitute sacrifice for the sins of humanity so that you and I could have eternal life in God.

My question to you then is why not just then go to the cross at twelve years of age? Why not go at eighteen? Why not at twenty-five? Why not just leave the table at the Last Supper and just go and be nailed there?

If that was the final destiny, if that was the purpose. Why all the awful places in between? Why the awful places in between the Last Supper and the final nailing to the cross? If really the cross is just the issue.

Why couldn't He just have gone to Calvary and His own disciples say, look, let's just fulfill the scriptures, nail me to this thing now, let me die here quickly. Why all the awful places? And I'm speaking in the context of where Christ says, if you will know this life that God has for you, take your cross daily and follow me.

There's a pathway. You see why? Why did He have to be betrayed for money? Why did He have to face an angry mob in Gethsemane? Why did He have to stand before hollow and hypocritical religious accusers?

Why did He have to suffer abuse at the hands of the Roman authorities? Why did He have to be nailed and counted among thieves on the cross as opposed to just being exalted as it were as a king? Why did He have to suffer being reviled by those that He had even created by the words of His own mouth?

Why did He have to suffer the humiliation of the parting of His garments while He was still yet alive? What is the point of all of these places? You see, the only reason I can even fathom is because it had been prescribed in the Word of God that through this journey He would bring glory to God.

This was a prescribed journey. He said, I didn't come to do my own will. I came to do the will of the one who had called me. I came to do my Father's will. It was pre-written, folks, in the Word of God.

Everything I've shared with you was written in the Word of God. And folks, there is a path for you. There's a path for me. And as much as we would like to avoid it, it is found. When you begin to study the Word of God, you're going to discover something.

There's a pathway where God's glory is revealed in awful places. And if you and I try to escape it, we end up being a church that has no influence in our generation. We have no power in our words. We have no authority.

We just run around trying to save our lives all in the name of Jesus and wonder why. It has no effect on our society around us. Listen to these words from Psalm 22. It says, I'm a worm and no man, a reproach of men.

I'm despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot at the lip, they shake the head, saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near and there's no one to help.

Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls have bashed and beset me around. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I'm poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint.

My heart is like wax, it's melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried like a potsherd and my tongue cleaves to my jaws. And thou has brought me into the dust of death. Dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.

They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare at me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. Be not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength. Haste thee to help me, deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog.

Moses, Paul, and Joseph in Awful Places

Now these are the words of Christ. And folks, it was in the word of God. And when you study the scriptures, you begin to understand there's a pathway for those who are going to follow Him. It's a pathway that God has prescribed.

And what God prescribes has a reason. It's not just there to create misery for you and I. The best way I can describe the purpose of suffering, I want you to think for a moment, a man clinging to the sides of a sinking ship.

He's not knowing that soon the downward pull will take him down with it into the depths. And many people are like that, even Christian people. They go to church Sunday, but they're desperately hanging on to some old way of thinking.

Some old values. Something of this world that is doomed to spiral downward. Now the captain sees it from his vantage point and instructs the first mate to take some kind of a blunt object and start hitting him on his fingers until he eventually lets go.

Now this man is going to suffer. He's hanging on to this thing with everything he's got and he has no idea. All of a sudden, somebody comes along. He comes to church and he thinks that the pastor, Oh bless me, bless me in my present condition.

Help me to hang on. And the pastor takes out the hammer of the word and one by one starts hitting his fingers until he has to let go finger by finger until he's hanging on by two more fingers. And surely he's not going to hit me there also.

And if the final blow of the hammer comes and he has to let go, not realizing it, his life has been spared. He's not going to be dragged down with this whole system as it is. That's the purpose of suffering the best way I know how to describe it.

Think throughout scriptural history. Think of Moses suffering in the wilderness. Having left the palace as it was in the place where he thought the destiny of his life was supposed to begin and end. Only to realize that the letting go of what he thought the purpose of his life was brought him to a place where he was able to lead many to freedom.

It was in this place of suffering. It was in an awful place. I don't have any doubt that if you were to go back in history and talk with Moses, he'd say this is an awful place. I had such access to power.

I was once called to do something, but I really totally misread what I was to do. And because of it, I'm in this awful place, leading a few sheep. And I've even lost the power to speak here. I used to be an eloquent speaker, and now I can only stammer a few words together.

I'm no longer young. I'm not seemingly a man that anybody would look to, but I've encountered God here in this awful place. And how could Moses know that this was prescribed by God? This was an awful place.

It was a God-awful place, for lack of a better description. An awful place prescribed by God. You might be in a God-awful place this morning. Because out of this place he was going to, in this place he was going to meet God.

And out of this place he was going to come with something worked in him that cannot be learned in a textbook. It can only be learned by the Holy Ghost. And he comes out with something so deeply worked in him that God now has a vessel in his hands through which he can bring 3 million people out of the captivity of one of the most powerful armies in the world at that time.

Think of the testimony of Paul. When Paul is saved and the Holy Spirit goes to Ananias, Ananias is told, I will show this man the great things. He must suffer for my name's sake. And Paul's testimony is of being taken from awful place to awful place.

When you read his testimony, the number of times he was beaten, the number of times shipwrecked, the number of times he was betrayed, the number of times he was stranded even in the ocean or the sea. From awful place to awful place.

And only to have a pen placed in a yielded hand at the end of his days. God now had a vessel through whom he could flow. And words were not just from his mouth but through his hand. Something from the heart of God was about to be revealed that has been a great encouragement and continues to be even to you and I today.

I don't know what Paul's hand looked like. It might have been fairly gnarled and maybe a little bit of arthritis may have set into it. I don't know. He'd been a long time and through a lot of things. I don't know what his hand looked like.

But I do know when God looked at it, he said, now I can put a pen or quill in that hand. And now that hand can be moved by the Holy Ghost. And words in my heart can be put on paper for future generations.

Think of Joseph for a moment from the place of a dream to 13 years of awful places after his dream. 13 years of betrayal. 13 years of imprisonment. 13 years of being forgotten. 13 years of being worked and quite often not rewarded.

Only at the end of this awful place, without hesitation, even crying out to one of the king's servants. Remember me in this awful place and get me out of here. Do something. I don't know how long I can stand being here any longer.

Only to come out at the end and in his hand were put the keys to a storehouse. A storehouse of supply that a starving generation was going to need. Oh folks, I do believe that God has. The Moses, the Pauls, the Josephs, the Deborahs, the Deliverers are in the appointed awful places right in this moment.

I do believe that there are many sitting here even today. You wonder, say, God, why am I in this place? Not realizing the Lord is preparing you for a hard time coming. When people are going to be starving, they're going to be needing direction.

They're going to be needing a way out of captivity. They're going to need resources. There's going to have to be men and women who know God. They found Him in these awful places. They've known His glory.

Their whole testimony is not, well, one day, you know, we're all going to get out of here and we're going to be so happy. That's not their testimony. Their testimony is, no, I found Him in these hard places.

I know. I know who He is. That's why Paul and Silas could sing in the midst of an inner prison. And all of hell begins to shake because there are two men there who have found Him in one of the most awful places this world could ever put a person into.

Reigning With Christ Through Resurrection Life

That's why Paul says, if we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. If we suffer, we shall reign. Now, a lot of people think of suffering as now and reigning in heaven. And that's the way this is quite often interpreted.

But I want to suggest to you that this is all in the present. If we suffer, we shall reign. Now, think about Jesus. And I'm going to share something with you. If you could open your heart, I believe it could revolutionize how you see the difficult places that the Holy Spirit will take us through.

Now, what is the first thing that Jesus did when He rose from the dead? I'm going to read according to the Gospel of John. The first thing. Now, He's now a victor over death. He's now been raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Ghost.

He's a victor now over death. He has suffered. Now, He's living now on the other side of that suffering. Still in a human body, still on planet earth until the day He ascends to His Father. But He's still reigning.

He's already won the victory. It's not to be won, it is won. John 20 tells us that He spoke with such tenderness and authority that He brought a woman called Mary who had lost hope in her awful place immediately out of her despair.

That's reigning with Christ, folks. It's when you've gone through suffering. You've known hardship. You've known difficulty. You've trusted God. God's hand has kept you. He's lifted you out of the place that would have swallowed anybody who hasn't got the power of God upon them.

You walk into somebody else's situation, a woman who's lost all her hope. The things she thought would bring her freedom look to be dead. And He speaks her name with such incredible tenderness. Asks her a question, why are you weeping?

What are you looking for? And speaks her name. Folks, this is what I mean when I talk about reigning with Christ. It's the power to speak that brings people out of despair. It's a word. It's not just light information that we all have.

It's not just opening your Bible and quoting a scripture to somebody who's suffering. It's far beyond that. It's reigning with Christ. It's the power to speak with such tenderness. Just a few words. And prisons are unlocked.

And wounded hearts are healed. And hopelessness finds hope. And blinded eyes see what they couldn't see before. It's reigning with Christ. And I dare say those who have never suffered will never know this.

The second thing He does, He appears in an upper room where the disciples are gathered. The doors are locked. The scripture says, for fear of the Jews. This is an assembly of the fearful. An assembly of afraid people.

He walks in. And the first thing He says out of His mouth is, Peace. Amazing. Peace. To reign with Christ is to have the power to bring the peace of God with you wherever you go. You walk into your house.

And your children are fighting. And everything seems to be out of control. You walk in. But you're walking in resurrection life now. You're walking and reigning with Christ. You walk in. And your presence, just the presence of God in you, coming into the room.

You can say, Peace. Whether you have to speak it with your mouth or just the presence of Christ in you coming into the room. Peace comes. Peace. That's what happens to those who reign with Christ. There's a power in their speech to lift people out of despair.

There's an anointing and an authority in their lives to bring peace wherever they go. And then it goes farther in verse 22. It says, He breathed upon them. And He said, Receive the Holy Ghost. Amazing.

The Lord was speaking to my heart. He said, Carter, that's when I brought you to the place where I can breathe through you. Where your words are not your own. It's not your own reasoning anymore. You're not trying to just help somebody out of a situation.

You have something from God. You are living in this place. Where you can open your mouth and the life breath of God is infused into those who are listening. That's the difference between preaching and resurrection preaching.

Anybody can stand in this pulpit and just open the book and read it to you. But if God finds a vessel of suffering and come out in victory. I'm not even remotely suggesting I've arrived at this, but I see it.

And I embrace it with all my heart. Then God says, No. Then all of a sudden this takes on a new dimension. I am now reigning with Christ. That means that you give me authority to open this book. And the words that have come from the heart of God will breathe life into dead bones.

And breathe life into hopeless situations. And breathe life and hope and expectancy into those that have lived under the illusion that you're a loser. That you're never going to amount to anything. You're never going to get out.

There's no purpose to your life. God gives authority. Not only breathes life into them. But then tells them what they're going to do. And tells them they have authority. He said, whoever sins you remit, I remit it.

Whoever sins you retain, I retain. You're going to walk in a realm of life. That's what it means to reign with Christ. And the classroom to that reigning is suffering. If you found another way, well, bless God for you.

But I never have. I'm not aware of one. And these are classrooms that the Lord will take you through. They're God-appointed, God-awful places. And in these places you'll find Him. You'll find Him. There's no sense in trying to escape.

If you escape it, you escape the very work that God has been doing in you to bring about a life that will glorify Him. We're coming into a time in history where people are going to lose their hope like Mary.

Everything they hoped for as they see it is dead and gone. We're coming into a time like with Moses where people are weary and crying. And they don't know what to do. We're coming into a time where people are going to be locked in their houses for fear.

It's already beginning now. We're coming into a time when people are going to be desperate for provision. And God has been preparing an army. And the army has been preparing, if you study this book, has always been found in awful places.

But in these awful places, the glory of God is manifested. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Today, if you will trust God and believe that all things work together for good. If you will simply believe one verse of scripture.

All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. It will put your flight plan to flight. You say, no, I'm not leaving here. I'm going to trust that you will reveal yourself to me and you'll reveal yourself through me.

I'm letting go of my own reasoning. I'm cutting off my escape routes. I'm saying no. Here I will find God. Here I will find power, purpose and meaning. I am going to reign with Jesus Christ. I'm going to walk in resurrection life.

I'm going to walk in resurrection power. I am not running from this situation. I'm not going to look for deliverance from outside. I'm going to find God right where I am right now. In this job. In this community.

In this building. In this body. In this marriage. In this circumstance. I'm going to find God here and now. And at the appropriate time, He'll roll the stone back. And I'll find authority in my words.

And so will you. Real spiritual authority. Hallelujah. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Lord. How many this morning need to find the glory of God in your awful place? Raise your hand. All right. In the annex, we couldn't see your hand, but the Lord sees it.

Seeking God Without Escape Routes

Well, I got a scripture for you. If you seek me, you will find me. If you search for me with all your heart. No escape routes. No back door. No plan B. I've got you where you are. And there'd be something in my life given to you.

If you will seek me right where you are. And don't seek me to escape. Seek me. Just because. The Lord says I'm worthy. That you should seek me. Don't try to escape. I've got you. In the place where you need to be.

If you can see that he is preparing an army. If you can understand that there will be voices in these streets in the days ahead. With spiritual authority. And hope. And life. Who can bring peace into terrified homes and neighborhoods.