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We all have dreams, hopes and promises from God about who we will become or what God will do in our lives.

I want to encourage you today to think back on the times when you felt God was giving you a specific promise and speaking to you about your destiny.

It’s important that we write these things down and read them over often so that we will not forget.

As we go along the journey of life it seems we have more times of waiting for our promise to be fulfilled than we have actually obtaining the miracle.

It takes as much faith to wait as it does to obtain the promise. God is looking for faith.

We see that the people in the Scriptures were honored for their acts of faith. Their acts of faith included receiving the promise and waiting for the promise in faith.

I have been looking at the life of David recently and I have come to understand a few things about him that have been really encouraging.

David was anointed to be the king of Israel when he was a young man. While he was looking after the sheep, the prophet of the Lord called for him and anointed him with oil and gave him a tremendous promise. Maybe the grandest promise that could be given to an Israelite in those days. “You will be king of Israel.” But then, after receiving the word, David went right back to the fields to tend the sheep! There were many lonely hours spent out in watching over his sheep. He must have thought a lot about the promise of God and wondered how it would come to pass. But I am sure that he believed God.

From the time David was anointed king, to the time when he actually became king, David showed his faith by doing several acts of faith. I realize there are many things he did (you can research on your own) but for the purpose of this particular message, I see three main things that David did.

1. He developed a life of Worship.

2. He developed a life of Prayer.

3. He developed a life of Celebrating His Victories.

1. David developed a life of Worship

As we read the Psalms, we can see a glimpse into David’s inner life. I am sure that David experiences great loneliness in the fields waiting on God to fulfill his promise. What did he do in the mean time? He worshiped. God became important to him. God became big in David’s vision. God became the One that David ran into and was saved. God became his Hiding Place. David said, “He is my refuge. He is my fortress… I will find shelter in the shadow of his wings…”

David learned that he could not live without God.

In the times of trial, loneliness or struggle; in the times of waiting, we can worship. We can run into God. We can make it a habit of hiding in him.

David got accustomed to God’s presence. He learned that when he needed to experience God, he could come into his presence by worship, and God would come and meet with him.

When he did finally become king, he probably was not as lonely as he was out in the fields, but think about it, Who really is buddies with the king? He most certainly needed to keep God ever before him. God had trained David out in the fields to regard God as his most precious treasure so that when he did ascend to the throne, David’s heart was fixed on God.

Below is a beautiful hymn that I used to sing when I was a girl that was inspired by David’s words,”You are my Hiding Place.”

Hiding in Thee

Words: Will­iam O. Cush­ing, 1876 Music: Ira D. Sank­ey, 1877

O safe to the Rock that is higher than I,
My soul in its conflicts and sorrows would fly;
So sinful, so weary, Thine, Thine, would I be;
Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.

In the calm of the noontide, in sorrow’s lone hour,
In times when temptation casts o’er me its power;
In the tempests of life, on its wide, heaving sea,
Thou blest “Rock of Ages,” I’m hiding in Thee.

How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe,
I have fled to my refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often, when trials like sea billows roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O Thou Rock of my soul.

Hiding in Thee, hiding in Thee,
Thou blest “Rock of Ages,”
I’m hiding in Thee.

2. David Developed a Life of Prayer

Prayer is not the same as worship. Worship is meditating on God. Exalting and Loving God.

Prayer is crying out to God. This shows our faith. David’s Psalms are filled with cries, supplications, groanings, and requests. David was painfully honest. He was brutally blunt.

“God! Help! Save me from my enemies!”

This showed David’s constant reliance on God for his help. He needed miracles to see the promise of God fulfilled in his life.

Soon after David was anointed king, he began to play the harp for King Saul. Directly following that, David had another opportunity to serve the king in the army where God helped him kill the Giant Goliath. It was not long until people in Israel began to see that God’s hand was upon David and he was indeed a special and chosen person. As they began to sing his praises, King Saul got very jealous and began to hate David. For some reason, Saul took it upon himself to start hunting David down to kill him!

During this season of David’s life, he had to run away from his home and remain in hiding. The king would come after him and David would begin to pray for help. So much of the Psalms is filled with desperate prayers: “Hear my cries O God, give heed to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I cry to Thee when my heart is faint.” “Deliver me from my enemies!” He expressed his faith in God. He told the Lord that he believed him. He reminded the Lord of his promises to him. His prayers showed that he trusted and relied on God and God alone to deliver him. “My help comes from the Lord,” He stated.

No doubt David had developed a life of prayer and trusting in God out there in the fields with the sheep. He had seen God answer his prayers and do miracles for him, so he continued to present his requests to God during his time of great trouble.

3. He developed a life of Celebrating His Victories.

David showed his faith in God by rejoicing when God did a miracle for him. Even if it was not the ultimate fulfillment of the promise of his becoming king, every time David had a victory, he celebrated.

David strengthened himself in God as he recounted the things God had done for him in the past.

He said, “Forget not one of his benefits.” He began to remind himself of all that God had done and thus revealing God’s character and what kinds of things God was able to do.

Check out Psalm 18! It is a fantastic celebration of the defeat of his enemies.

This is a powerful principle in our lives. If we can learn to praise the Lord along the way, we will create an atmosphere of faith for God to do more.

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