                    [Times Square Church Pulpit Series]

                          A Place Called Wits' End

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By David Wilkerson
April 24, 1995
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          "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do
          business in great waters; these see the works of the
          Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth,
          and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves
          thereof.

          "They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the
          depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They
          reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and
          are at their wit's end" (Psalm 107:23-27).

          In this psalm, the place called "wit's end" is on a
          ship's deck in a storm-tossed sea. Giant waves carry
          the ship up to the heavens, then drop it down to the
          depths. Powerful winds toss it back and forth so that
          none of the sailors can find their "sea legs." They
          stagger across the deck like drunken men.

          The ship's sails are tattered and ripped, and wave
          after powerful wave crashes onto the deck. The sailors
          have to struggle just to hold on. It looks like it's
          all over for them, and they're in total despair. They
          are helpless - vulnerable to the power of the elements,
          unable to stop the storm, powerless to save themselves.

          These sailors have come to a place called "wit's end."
          It is a condition that afflicts all Christians at one
          time or another. This phrase means simply, "having lost
          or exhausted any possibility of perceiving or thinking
          of a way out." In short, it is the end of all human
          ability and resources. There is no escape - no help, no
          deliverance, other than in God Himself!

          Perhaps You Have Already Arrived at "Wit's End"!

          Like the sailors aboard the ship, you have simply been
          going about your business, moving on in your walk with
          Jesus. Then one day, out of nowhere, a storm hit - and
          waves of trouble came crashing down on you from all
          sides!

          Life's troubles seldom come one at a time. They're like
          the waves in a storm - coming one after another, fast
          and furious, mounting higher and higher. It's as if the
          sun has gone down, the air has turned cold and icy, and
          the winds of trouble have begun beating down. Like the
          sailors in Psalm 107, your "...soul is melted because
          of trouble..." (verse 26). (The Hebrew word for melted
          here means "fainting with fear.")

          I must note: God Himself has initiated this storm!
          "...For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind..."
          (verse 25). He's the One who brought the sailors to
          this place. He's the One raising the wind, stirring up
          the waves, tossing the ship. It is all His doing!

          Yet this can be a great encouragement to our faith
          whenever troubles hit us from all sides. We have the
          knowledge that all troubles and storms in life have
          been ordained by God, for those who walk in
          righteousness. They aren't caused by the devil or some
          particular sin. Rather, the Lord has brought us to
          wit's end - and He has a purpose in it all!

          "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery
          trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing
          happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
          partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory
          shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
          joy" (1 Peter 4:12).

          God is not surprised by your ordeal. In fact, it is
          happening because He wants to produce something in your
          heart - to reveal His glory in you.

          Yet you may feel it is absolutely the worst storm in
          your life! Your trial may be a financial struggle,
          business troubles, slander, family problems or a
          personal tragedy. You go to bed at night with a
          restlessness inside, a cloud hanging over you. When you
          awaken, the dull ache is still with you. And it keeps
          hanging on until one day you wake up crying, "God, how
          much more do I have to endure? How long will You allow
          me to go through this? When will it all end?"

          When did the storm stop for the sailors in Psalm 107?
          When did God bring them into their desired safe haven?
          According to the psalmist, two things happened:

             * First, the sailors came to their wits' end, giving
               up on all human hope or help. They said, "There's
               no way we can save ourselves. Nobody on earth can
               get us out of this!"

             * Second, they cried to the Lord in the midst of
               their trouble - turning to Him alone for help!

          "Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he
          bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the
          storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then
          are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth
          them unto their desired haven" (Psalm 107:28-31).

          If you are a true child of God - if you're set on
          allowing Him to mold you into the image of His Son -
          then your battle won't stop until you give up trying to
          figure it all out and throw yourself completely into
          God's care. Until He has accomplished His eternal
          purposes in you, your troubles will only continue to
          rage!

          Right now, you could be keeping your storm raging, your
          troubles piling up. You could be missing the calm that
          God wants to bring to you. How does this happen?

          It happens when you keep questioning the Lord in the
          midst of your crisis; when you keep murmuring and
          complaining; when you phone a friend whom you think has
          the answer for you; when you turn to counselors,
          psychologists, lawyers, experts; when you go to a
          Christian bookstore and buy stacks of self-help books
          and tapes; when you keep looking for that one secret,
          that one plan, to deliver you from your trouble.

          Beloved, you're only prolonging your trial! It sounds
          simple, but from the very beginning, God has been
          wanting our childlike trust and confidence. And you're
          only keeping the storm raging and the waves piling up
          when you refuse to cry out, "Lord, I'm in a mess - and
          the only way out is You!"

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                    God Keeps Bringing Us to Wit's End
                 Until We Learn To Trust Him Completely -
                   No Matter How Hopeless Things Appear!

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          We see this happen time after time with the children of
          Israel in the wilderness. Again and again God brought
          them to wit's end - to test them, to see if they would
          trust Him. But each time they refused!

          First the Lord brought them to a place called
          Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. He had shut
          them in - the sea in front, the mountains on both
          sides, and Pharaoh behind. God had actually led them to
          a place of human hopelessness - to wit's end!

          Had the Israelites simply believed one promise God had
          made to them, they could have been free from all worry
          and fear. God had told them:

          "...the Lord thy God bare [carried] thee...the Lord
          your God...went in the way before you, to search you
          out a place to pitch your tents in...to shew you by
          what way ye should go..." (Deuteronomy 1:31-33).

          God was saying, in other words, "I will go with you! I
          will carry you as a man carries his son. I will walk
          before you and find places for you to pitch your tents.
          Wherever the cloud I have provided for you stops,
          that's where you are to stop."

          It happened that the cloud stopped between Migdol and
          the sea - a place of total befuddlement, of wit's end!
          There was no way Israel could figure their way through
          the Red Sea. And now Pharaoh's army was fast
          approaching.

          Are you in a hard place right now, with a storm
          brewing? I ask you: How did you get there? Do you think
          the devil put you there? My answer to you is this: "The
          steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord..." (Psalm
          37:23). No matter what storm you're going through, no
          matter how black things seem, God has put you in that
          place - at wit's end!

          Please understand: God is never caught by surprise. He
          doesn't have to ad lib His divine direction whenever
          troubles befall us. He doesn't flip some cosmic coin to
          determine His actions on our behalf. No - long before
          Israel left Egypt and arrived at Migdol, God's plan for
          them was already set. He had already commanded the
          winds to blow at a certain hour, to wall up the Red
          Sea. He had known all along exactly what He was going
          to do!

          Likewise today, God has a plan to bring you out of your
          storm. In fact, He devised that plan long before your
          trouble even started. Yet He will hold it back to the
          very last moment, waiting for you to trust Him. He
          wants to see if you'll put your life into His hands and
          say, "Live or die, I will trust the Lord!"

          Israel failed this test. They became fearful, fainting
          at wit's end. Yet God still did for them what He had
          planned all along. He delivered Israel with a mighty
          miracle. But the result was, the people sang their song
          of faith on the wrong side of the Red Sea. Had they
          simply believed God's promise - "I will go before you
          and carry you as a man carries his son" - they would
          have passed the test!

          If you panic at wit's end as Israel did - fainting,
          accusing God of not caring - He nevertheless will move
          in at the last moment and deliver you. But, afterward,
          He will take you into another wit's-end experience -
          because you did not come through the last one trusting
          in Him!

          Indeed, just three days after their Red Sea
          deliverance, Israel was back in the middle of another
          big crisis. The people were hot, exhausted, overcome by
          thirst. Their scouts now came back crying, "There is
          water ahead at Marah, but we can't drink it. It's too
          bitter!"

          Scripture makes it very clear: It wasn't the devil who
          had led Israel to this testing place. It was the cloud
          that had led them here. Once more, the people were at
          wit's end. And what a wailing went up from the camp -
          what awful accusations against Moses and God: "You've
          brought us here to die!"

          Did God know these waters at Marah were bitter? Of
          course He did! But He had a plan. There was a certain
          living tree near that bitter pond, and He would use it
          to purify the waters for Israel.

          I wonder - how many years before had God planted that
          tree in that spot? And how many times had the hot sun
          beaten on that tree to wither it? How many worms had
          tried to kill it? How many passersby had tried to cut
          it down? I tell you, nobody could have touched it -
          because God had a plan for it! He said, "One day My
          children are going to come here, and these waters will
          need to be purified. I have a plan to deliver them -
          and it's going to involve this tree!"

          Of course, this tree in the desert represents the
          Cross. And, beloved, God has already planted a tree of
          deliverance for you! He knows exactly what to do about
          your problem, and the exact hour He will do it. All He
          wants from you is a quiet trust. He wants you to say,
          "My God is with me. He knows the way out of my
          trouble!"

          Wit's End Is a Place of Suffering, Pain and Insecurity!

          We see this illustrated in Israel's experience at
          Rephidim:

          "And all the congregation of the children of Israel
          journeyed from the wilderness of Sin...according to the
          commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and
          there was no water for the people to drink....

          "And...the people murmured against Moses, and said,
          Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of
          Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with
          thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What
          shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to
          stone me" (Exodus 17:1-4).

          God had led Israel to the driest place in the whole
          wilderness. It was a testing place - with no stream, no
          well, not even a trickle of water. Most baffling of
          all, Israel was led there "...according to the
          commandment of the Lord..." (verse 1).

          God Himself had allowed His people to grow thirsty:
          "And the people thirsted there for water..." (verse 3).
          Babies were crying, children wailing, grandparents
          suffering parched throats. Parents looked at their
          families and thought, "In a few days we'll all be
          dead." So they turned in anger to Moses, crying, "Give
          us water to drink!" They were still depending on man -
          on the flesh!

          I want to stop here to point something out. First, God
          took Israel to Migdol by the sea, to test them - and
          they failed to trust Him there. Next, He took them to
          Marah, where He had another plan of deliverance - and
          they failed the test again. Now He brought them to
          Rephidim for more testing.

          Do you see the pattern? If you don't learn to trust the
          Lord in simple, childlike faith when you're being
          tested, He will bring you back to yet another testing
          ground. You'll go from one test to another!

          Israel was in just such a place once again. They were
          hot, thirsty, angry. But God already had a plan! He
          wasn't going to let them die. He had chosen beforehand
          to have them walk up Mount Horeb to a reservoir of
          water that He had prepared long before. And that source
          would last not just a day, a week or a month - but
          thirty-eight years!

          Yet God was waiting for a response of faith from
          Israel. He was saying, "I have taken you through all of
          these things, but you've refused to learn. Will you
          trust Me now? How many more problems do I have to allow
          in your life before you'll trust Me?"

          Many Christians are being tested and tried right now
          through unemployment. They have sent out resumes in
          every direction, but weeks roll by and nothing turns
          up. They've used up all their savings, and now they're
          surrounded by creditors. Their situation looks totally
          hopeless. There is pain and suffering involved; it is
          never easy.

          Others have jobs but are underemployed. They don't earn
          enough to make ends meet. Many working young people
          have had to move back in with their parents. And
          thousands of single mothers are scraping by on a tiny
          income.

          Numerous business owners are barely surviving. Many
          have trouble sleeping at night because the business
          world is so crazy, with skyrocketing taxes, increasing
          regulations, shaky profits. The competition is growing,
          and they have exhausted all their ideas and
          alternatives. Now they lie awake worrying about what to
          do.

          These suffering, anxiety-ridden people come to church
          and raise their hands in praises to the Lord. They put
          on big smiles and hug each other. Yet they are going
          through awful pain and insecurity. They are troubled -
          completely at wit's end!

          I ask you: As God's children, do we have no option but
          fear - sleepless nights, endless days of questioning
          God, living in utter turmoil? Consider Israel: Was
          their fretting and grumbling the only response
          possible? Was it simply human for them to react as they
          did, out of concern for their families?

          Let me answer these by asking another question: Hasn't
          God always known what He was going to do in each of
          these cases? Hasn't He always had a plan?

          Think about it: Didn't God already plan to have the
          winds open the Red Sea? Didn't He already preserve a
          tree at Marah that would heal the waters? Didn't He
          already choose a rock on Mount Horeb, out of which He
          would supply Israel's water for decades?

          Our loving, heavenly Father would never lead His
          children into a dry desert only to let them die of
          thirst - especially when He has a reservoir stored in a
          nearby rock! God has always had a plan for His people.
          And He has a plan for you right now, to deliver you
          from your present trouble.

          There is no problem you have that He can't unravel!

          Let me show you why God had to bring Israel to the
          brink of disaster before He miraculously met their
          need:

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                      God Brought Israel to Wit's End
              to Try to Induce Faith Through the Miraculous -
                            And It Didn't Work!

                      -------------------------------

          I want to talk to you about the limitations of the
          miraculous. Many Christians travel thousands of miles
          each year to witness supernatural works - miracles,
          manifestations, signs, wonders. Yet, ironically, these
          sign-seeking addicts never develop a lasting faith -
          because miracles rarely produce that. Instead, they
          always need a bigger, more spectacular miracle.

          Nobody had ever seen as many supernatural works as
          Israel. God provided miracle after miracle for them -
          and yet each work left the people as faithless and
          unbelieving as at the first! You'd think that the ten
          plagues on Egypt would have produced faith in the
          Israelites. When Egypt was afflicted with flies, there
          were none to be found in Israel's camp. When Egypt fell
          under total darkness, there was no darkness in Israel.
          Yet none of these miraculous plagues produced faith of
          any kind!

          Even after God opened the Red Sea, Israel's faith
          lasted only three days. Scripture says:

          "...they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies;
          but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea"
          (Psalm 106:7).

          The psalmist is saying here: "They even doubted God at
          the Red Sea - the place where He performed His greatest
          miracle!"

          The elders who watched Moses strike the rock at Marah
          saw water come flowing out. Indeed, all of Israel drank
          to the full - and yet that miracle didn't produce any
          faith! Then God sent hordes of quail to Israel.
          Hundreds of thousands of birds fell from the sky into
          the midst of their camp, and the people cooked them for
          meat. Yet still they had no faith! The next morning,
          when Israel came out of their tents, the ground was
          covered with manna, miraculously sent from heaven. Yet
          even this didn't produce faith!

          On the contrary, after all these glorious miracles,
          God's children wrung their hands in despair, crying,
          "...Is the Lord among us, or not?" (Exodus 17:7). In
          other words: "Is God even with us? How could He be
          leading us when we have so much trouble?"

          Israel had received forty years of miracle food,
          miracle water, a miracle cloud by day, miracle fire by
          night, miracle protection, miracle clothes that never
          wore out. Moses told them:

          "...These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with
          thee; thou hast lacked nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7).

          And yet still they doubted Him. In fact, all but two of
          those who had witnessed these miracles died in the
          wilderness - in total unbelief!

          We are so like Israel. We want God to speak a word,
          grant us a miraculous deliverance, quickly meet our
          needs, remove all our pain and suffering. In fact, you
          may be saying right now, "If God would just get me out
          of this mess - if He'd give me this one miracle - I'd
          never doubt Him again!" Yet, what about all the
          miracles He has performed for you already? They haven't
          produced in you any faith to help you in your present
          trouble!

          Recently, two precious men of God from the Zulu tribe
          in Africa visited Times Square Church. An incredible
          revival is taking place among the 8 million Zulus
          today, and God is doing miraculous things among them.
          For example, more than ten cases have been documented
          of the dead being raised.

          Yet that is not what these men wanted to talk about.
          Rather, what has impressed them most about the revival
          are the "overcomer Zulus" - those who take a stand for
          Christ, burning witchcraft books and witnessing boldly
          even though they're being tested and tried severely.
          These people were once evil, with murderous spirits -
          and now they're being transformed into the image of
          Jesus!

          I believe the greatest sign or wonder to the world in
          these last days isn't a person who's been raised from
          the dead. No, what truly makes an impact on the mind
          and spirit of the ungodly is the Christian who endures
          all trials, storms, pain and suffering with a confident
          faith. Such a believer emerges from his troubles
          stronger in character, stronger in faith, stronger in
          Christ.

          I recently read of a foggy little town of 4,000 people
          in Hungary with an alarming suicide rate. The newspaper
          headline read: "Suicide Stalks Isolated Village."
          Residents there have committed suicide in every
          conceivable manner. One man tossed himself into an
          abandoned well. Another hanged himself. Some people
          have overdosed. Others cut their wrists, swallowed
          pesticides, jumped in front of trains. Entire families
          have taken their lives, from teenagers to grandparents.

          The town is Asotthalom, one hundred miles south of
          Budapest, and it is a desolate, lonely place. A doctor
          named Ulloh runs a psychiatric clinic there, and he
          told a reporter, "Some people call the road here the
          'narrow road to the cursed place.' ...It is ingrained
          in the people that God doesn't very much like us."

          Beloved, that is the destructive power of unbelief!
          There is no worse despair than to believe God has it in
          for you. This was Israel's problem, and too often it is
          ours as well. We have an unspoken sense that all our
          suffering and troubles are the result of God's
          displeasure with us!

          When You Are at Wit's End, One of Two Things Will
          Happen to You.

          Every Christian emerges from wit's end either trusting
          in man, or trusting fully in God - that is, either
          cursed or blessed. Which way will you respond in your
          time of trouble?

          Jeremiah writes:

          "Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth
          in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart
          departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath
          in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but
          shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in
          a salt land and not inhabited.

          "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and
          whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be as a tree
          planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots
          by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but
          her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in
          the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding
          fruit" (Jeremiah 17:5-8).

          The first person Jeremiah talks about here doesn't wait
          for God to move. He takes matters into his own hands -
          making his own plans, turning to people he thinks have
          clout, taking shortcuts. He is always scheming,
          planning, manipulating. His philosophy is, "It's not
          what you know that counts, it's who you know." And he's
          forever looking for that special "who" to solve his
          problems!

          Scripture says a spiritual dryness sets into this
          person's life:

          "...he shall be like the heath ,[shrub] in the
          desert..." (verse 6).

          He looks barely alive - with no fruit, no wellspring of
          life. He's always on the brink of dying!

          "...he...shall not see when good cometh..." (same
          verse).

          He never partakes in the joy of being delivered by
          God's hand. And everything he thinks looks good turns
          into misery. He is isolated, existing only in
          "...parched places..." (same verse). He keeps withering
          away - sweating it out, always frantic.

          But consider the one who trusts God in the hard places,
          at wit's end:

          "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and
          whose hope is the Lord" (verse 7).

          This Christian is "planted." He has roots, stability, a
          reservoir of Living Water. He is always "spreading
          out," fruitful and green with fresh life. Scripture
          says

          "...he...shall not be careful [fearful]in the year of
          drought..." (verse 8).

          When things get hot and bothersome, he won't be afraid!

          This person says, "Jesus, I give up looking to any
          person to bring me out of my trial. I turn to You
          alone! You're my only keeper, my only hope. I look to
          You to bring me out of this!" The Lord desires this
          kind of faith from us in everyday matters. You may
          object, "But, Brother Dave, I'm still unemployed, still
          having trouble." Yet I have to believe God's Word:
          "Trust Me, and you'll be blessed!"

          You may answer, "But I don't know what I'm going to do.
          The storm is still raging. It looks so hopeless. I
          don't see any sign of help or deliverance!" To all
          these things God still says, "Trust Me, My child - and
          you'll be blessed!"

          It doesn't matter whether your trial is with your
          family, with your business, or with putting food on the
          table. If you put your total trust in His Word and His
          faithfulness, God has promised to bless you - and He
          cannot lie! When the heat comes, you won't even be
          bothered. When the wind comes, you'll stand strong -
          because you will have learned to trust Him in spite of
          all unnerving circumstances. You'll be a green tree
          bearing the abundant fruit of confidence - and everyone
          around you will be given hope and encouragement as they
          behold your quiet trust.

          God, help us all to surrender our wills, our personal
          agendas, when we come to this place called wit's end.
          May it become a place of renewed faith and trust in our
          loving Father. Amen!

          ---
          Used with permission granted by World Challenge, P. O.
          Box 260, Lindale, TX 75771, USA.

          This material is solely for personal use and is not to
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