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David Who Prayed Even in Suffering

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Bible verse : Psalm 13:5 (NIV)

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

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We may encounter unexpected difficulties in our lives. The most difficult thing is the suffering given to me even though I have done nothing wrong.
What should we who have believed in Jesus and been saved do when we encounter these difficulties?

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Among the people introduced in the Bible, there is a representative person who suffered great pain and difficulty even though he did not do anything wrong.
He is David, the great king of Israel. David was a man who suffered many truly unfair hardships throughout his life.

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David is one of the representative people who suffered unfairly. David had courage at a young age and did a great job of rescuing Israel from the hands of the Philistines. However, because of that, he was hated by King Saul and was chased away for a long time.

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After King Saul died, David became king of Israel. David, who became king, tried to lead a government that pleased God. Even when he went to war, he first asked God's will, embraced those who wronged him, and practiced good politics.

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But David faced another great difficulty. This is because his beloved son, Absalom, rebelled to take the throne from his father David.
David was able to barely escape the palace with his servants and save his life.

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He could not even wear proper shoes and had to run barefoot to a place called Bahurim. There, Shimei, a member of King Saul's household, saw what had happened to King David and poured out harsh curses on him.
“Go, go, you murderer, you bastard! The Lord is punishing you because you killed Saul’s family. You took away Saul’s throne.”
What Shimei said was very wrong. It was a lie.

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David was a human being like us, so he was distressed by the difficulties he faced through no fault of his own. However, David did not turn away from God even during any hardship. Even though he was going through difficulties, he prayed to God and told Him about his situation. Psalm 13 is a Bible record of how David prayed to God during his suffering.

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Let’s read Psalm 13 together with David’s heart.
1. How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
  How long will you hide your face from me?

2. How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my
  heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3. Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
  Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
4. my enemy will say, "I have overcome him," and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.

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In verses 1 and 2, David is telling God how painful and difficult his heart is.
Even though David suffered greatly, he did not give up on coming to God.
David did not hide from God the pain he was experiencing due to his difficulties.
As saved children of God, we must also act like this. We must believe that God knows the difficulties we are facing and tell him in prayer.

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In verse 3, David talks about how difficult a time he is having. He desperately wants God to pay attention to him and look at him. He asks God to give him strength so that he may not become weak in his faith and turn away from God.

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In verse 4, he says that he was also afraid of being killed by his enemies who were trying to kill him. David is saying that his situation was so difficult that he imagined his enemies rejoicing over him.

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However, verses 5 and 6 show how great a man of faith David was. He confesses that his faith did not waver even when the great difficulties he was going through were too difficult to endure and he felt like giving up. Even in that difficult situation, David believed that the Lord still loved him.
And he was happy, believing that the Lord would save him from various crises.

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However, verses 5 and 6 show how great a man of faith David was.
He confesses that his faith did not waver even when the great difficulties he was going through were too difficult to endure and he felt like giving up.
Even in that difficult situation, David believed that the Lord still loved him.
And he was happy, believing that the Lord would save him from various crises.

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God answered David’s prayer during his suffering. God saved David, who did not lose his faith in God even in the midst of his difficulties, and made him honorable. Through David's lineage of faith, God gave him the blessing of the Messiah coming to this earth.

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David shows us through Psalm 13 how a person with true faith should act in the midst of suffering. Just as light shines after darkness, people with true faith reveal their true value when they face difficulties. In our lives, we too may encounter many unfair things like David. We may suffer through no fault of our own.
At that time, we must believe that Jesus, who saved us, will protect us until the end and have the faith to overcome with strong faith like David.
When we face difficulties, we must remember the words of Psalm 13 that David gave to God and gain new strength to become victors.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)