Why focus on God when you need help?
Text: Psalm 16
Hosts:
Brian French
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Kristin Norman
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2025 CrossTalk Global
Kristin: Right now, while you're listening to this podcast, you have significant troubles. If you don't, you know someone who does. Some of those troubles are legal problems, a lawsuit, or even issues with the police. Others of us have financial troubles. The bills keep getting bigger and our paycheck keeps going down. Still others of us are in a health crisis, looking for a miracle while going to the doctor for a resolution. Why should we focus on God when we need help? Didn't he let things get this bad? What's he been up to? Maybe the problem is too big for him. Maybe he doesn't care. Why should we focus on God when we need help? Today, while Dr. Kent Edwards is away teaching with CrossTalk, join Vicki Hitskus, Brian French, and Nathan Norman as they explore Psalm 16. Welcome to Crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. I'm Kristin Norman. Today, Brian French, Vicki Hitskiss, and Nathan Norman. Take a look at the Psalms. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Psalm 16 as we join their discussion.
Nathan: So, Vicki and Brian, let's stress everyone out today and list the kind of dilemmas people might be in.
Brian: Well, from my social media feed, it could be the price of groceries, it could be the things that are happening all around the world that they can consume in an instance. And it could be legitimate pain that family and friends post, both sometimes oversharing and sometimes under sharing. And that really does stress people out to the point where I have family and friends who are deleting social media because they cannot take the constant bombardment of negative news, negative experiences. It's just rough right now in that way.
Nathan: Yeah, it is.
Vicki: And people don't have money. Things cost so much, and they're stressed out. I know people that have lost jobs. I feel that I'm falling behind. I'm trying to learn artificial intelligence, and it's hard. And a lot of my friends aren't interested in it, don't know anything about it, and I don't want to get behind. I find it very challenging to keep up these days.
Nathan: Yeah. And Brian, you mentioned people have health issues, health crisis that they're in, and troubles and dilemmas.
Vicki: Yes.
Nathan: And you never know what the right thing to do is. I was talking to a friend and the doctors were saying, well, you can do this, which is very invasive and is going to ruin your body, or you can do nothing, which is not invasive and your body will get ruined. Yeah. What's the best thing to do? And let's pray about this. Right? It's hard. It's hard. So you have financial, you have the health issues, there's relational issues.
Vicki: I have kids. Yeah, go ahead. I've interrupted you.
Nathan: No, no, that's okay. I was going to say I haven't looked at the stats recently, but I know the divorce rate was skyrocketing. Last I checked, people are stressed out. And typically when they're stressed out, they don't have good marital relationships.
Brian: I actually just read this morning in some email consolidation news emails that I get, that people are finding that more and more people are just being rude in public, that they're just deliberately saying, oh, you're like this to people's faces. More so than being more polite and a little bit more, I don't know, social than before. And so if people are feeling that. No, people are just being more rude and I have to be rude back in order to survive. That's a scary thought.
Nathan: Yeah. There are a lot of troubles, a lot of dilemmas, a lot of stressors that we have. And as we turn to the Bible, we are looking today at Psalm 16. And the Bible doesn't give us the context of David's psalm here, but this psalm begins with David in trouble. And as the context tells us later on, it's a life and death situation. Now, I have no basis for this, but to use my sanctified imagination, like your dad used to say, Vicki, you know, I imagine David on the run from the insane King Saul. Saul sent his henchmen. And after David and the young unrecognized king is running through the woods, he's lost his own warriors, he's lost his sword and even his sling, and he stumbled into a gully and decided to hide in it. It will throw off the soldiers for just a little bit, but eventually they'll find him. And then he calls out to God for help and begins listing the reasons God should help him while Saul's soldiers are bearing down on him. Let's start reading Psalm 16:1.
Vicki: Isn't it interesting to you that here he is fearing for his life and he's writing a poem.
Nathan: I think he's reflecting on it after the fact, though maybe not though.
Vicki: Protect me, God, for I take refuge in you. I said to the Lord, you are my Lord, I have nothing good besides you. As for the holy people and who are in the land, they are the noble ones. All my delight is in them. The Sorrows of those who take another God for themselves will multiply. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and I will not speak their names with my lips.
Nathan: Okay, so essentially David is saying, protect me because I love you, I love your people, and I have nothing to do with these imposter gods. He won't speak the names of BAAL and Molech. It's not like a Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort thing. He who must not be named because he's afraid of them. No, instead it's because their names mean something. BAAL literally means lord and Molech means king. And David refuses to acknowledge their false divinity and their false titles. So what emotions is David invoking in this part of the psalm?
Brian: I think he's feeling vulnerable, but it feels like he's feeling like, hey, I'm being marginalized here. So I think he's kind of disapproving a little bit of what's happening to him. God, I've done all the right things. I've associated with the right people. I love the things you love. I don't follow. The things that you say don't follow. I won't even speak their name. And so I think he's feeling a little bit let down, a little bit.
Vicki: Disapproving, and in a way, manipulative, trying to get God to do what he wants.
Nathan: Yeah, I like that. Let's transition to the next question, because I think that's. I wouldn't have put it that way, but you're right, I love it. Because imagine you're employed by a company that you enjoy working for, so you like your job. And then the dreaded announcement comes. The company will be making a significant number of layoffs next month. So, Brian and Vicki, assuming you want to keep your job, what kind of things do you do in the next month? While before the layoff comes, what kind of things do you do to try to keep your job?
Vicki: Well, look sharp. Walk around with a clipboard when you're walking around, Smile at the boss. Make sure whatever projects I'm working on are seen front and center. Pray a lot. Let my friends outside of the company know, hey, I may be laid off. Tell me what's out there. Do whatever I can to impress the boss. You don't want to lose me.
Brian: Yeah, yeah, I'm the same way. I want to. I want to think of it almost like a 360 review, and which is where you think of those above me. What do they think of me? But those who I work with, what are they thinking of me right now and those who are under me, what are they thinking? And are there one or two relationships that I can choose to really invest in, in the work that they're doing in order to, you know, bump myself up and as you said, Vicki, make sure that the projects that I'm doing are seen by those people so that when it comes time for layoffs, you may still not beat the economic choice. But if it comes down to, well, what does this person offer versus this person, I want to be seen as all rounded individual. I work under people well, I work with people well, and I lead people well.
Nathan: Yeah. And that's kind of what David's doing here, isn't it? There's some layoffs that King Saul is trying to do, and I want to keep my job. Right. God, here's me.
Brian: I have been Getting fired by Saul, though, is slightly different than getting fired today.
Nathan: That's right.
Brian: It seems a little more permanent back then.
Nathan: Well, we talked about it on this podcast before. Saul's action figure would have a spear throwing action because that's just what he did to people is he'd throw it and throw it and throw it. But David's doing a similar thing here. He is trying to argue his way into protection, like you said, Vicki. So David needs help. He builds this argument of why God should protect him. And then this happens in verse five.
Vicki: He says, lord, you are my portion and my cup of blessing. You hold my future. That's a good thing to remember. You hold my future. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
Nathan: Okay, so again, to your point a lot earlier, Vicki, I don't think he's composing this while he's hiding in the ditch or he's hiding out, but he's reflecting after the fact. But in my mind, I'm picturing him. He's in this ditch. He starts off, God, you got to protect me. Here's the reasons. And then he says these two verses. How would you describe his emotions at this part of the psalm?
Brian: Oh, I think he's being incredibly optimistic and trusting that as long as he has the Lord, he's good. Because again, he holds the future. The boundary lines are set. I've got this inheritance. There's this trust that I think he's trying to display.
Vicki: Here he is, he has all these brothers, and they're farmers, shepherds. He's an amazing kid. He's the youngest and he plays a harp and he's a poet, and he just has a whole different soul and spirit going on. And his brothers are all tone deaf, and they don't really value him. You know, he's just a kid brother, but he looks at his life and he says, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. My father said that to me when he was older. And I looked at my dad's life. He was an only child. His father, who loved him very much, never bought him Christmas presents because he was just a guy. He didn't know to do it. And as a child, he hated that. And his mother died when he was 12. And he wasn't an attractive person, and he got beat up a lot. He was in the slums of New York, and he had a lot of things about his life that were crummy, really bad crummy. But his life ended up being. He married my mother. She adored him. He had kids who had adored him. He excelled at everything he did. And he said to me, not looking back at the bad parts, but he said to me, and he meant it, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
Nathan: Wow.
Vicki: And I look at that verse and I think, and that's the same with David. He had a lot of bad stuff. Somebody's trying to kill him. And he looks at it and says, the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.
Nathan: Wow. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. What a shift of emotion here. What a shift in emotion.
Vicki: What a cool thing to look at, what God does do. It's like with Leah, maybe my husband will love me now. Maybe my husband will notice me. Maybe. And then she ends up saying, now I will praise the Lord. That was the last kid she named him. Now I will praise the Lord. It was a shorter name than that, but that's what it meant. Now I will praise the Lord. And that's like this. You know, he's after me, he's going to kill me. But he ends up saying, you're my portion. You're my cup of blessing. You hold my future. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. That's a long answer to your question.
Nathan: No, no, I appreciate that because I. Well, because we don't know the context, but it's almost like he's hiding in this ditch and he becomes giddy as he's reflecting on what God has done for him, even in his moment of crisis.
Vicki: Okay, let me throw something else out there, if you'll let me do it. Okay. So one day I was speaking, and I was in, I don't know, anywhere, usa in a Holiday Inn, having dinner by an indoor pool that reeked of chlorine. And I was bored waiting for some no big deal dinner. And Oprah was real popular at that time and she was just going on and on and on about a gratitude list. And it was, you know, people were all talking about if you're a girl, you were talking about it and you know, blah, blah, blah, gratitude list, blah blah blah. So I thought, I don't have anything else to do, I'll make a gratitude list. And I was not in the mood to make a gratitude list. But I was bored and I had a pen. So just for the heck of it, I started writing things down and writing something else. I was happy as can be. By the time my soggy meal came and you know, breathing it through stingy nostrils of cor I was happy. And I think David's doing that because he was making a gratitude list of where all good gifts come. He was thanking God.
Nathan: Yeah, yeah. It's an incredible thing. I think you're right. Kind of answered. My next question is so when you're angry or anxious or stressful, I'm way.
Vicki: Ahead of you here.
Nathan: I was going to ask what would take to change your emotional state in that moment. Right. And for you here, Vicki, great story about making that gratitude list. What about you, Brian? If you're anxious or angry or stressed out, what would have to break through that mood?
Brian: There's a couple of things. The one is to really think that does this define me? Does this define who I am before God? That kind of reminds me that while I want to make the best decisions I can, that when I'm in a stuck position and I'm in a stressful angry spot, even just that deep breath of wait, no, God still loves me. And remind myself of the core of the gospel. But the other thing that happens is kind of fun. It's my wife. And I'll often when I'm angry or anxious or stressed out, I'll either tell her about it and kind of use her as a grounding rod. That's not really fair for pastors wives, all the pastors wives out there. Can I just tip my cap to you and apologize universally for the amount of emotional transference that we sometimes oftentimes give our wives. But my wife will do three things. Some she'll listen and she'll sometimes problem solve with me and ask me questions, help me process through, help me see stuff that helps provide a way forward that really helps. Just the way I think, what's the next step? Sometimes she'll just listen and she'll put a hand on my shoulder and say, God's got us. And just her presence is enough that the fact that I can communicate to someone and not feel like, oh, this person's now devaluing my role as pastor because I'm not just her pastor has really been helpful. And the third is just really personal. Sometimes she'll just flirt and she will do something that I just find really sexy. And then that changes my mood, surprisingly.
Nathan: Yeah. Sometimes it takes a lot to break us out of that. I know. I have a cousin and he's about my age. His dad was one of those yellers, you know, just yelling and screaming and everything. But my cousin learned pretty quickly that if he could crack a joke and if he could make his dad laugh, like, it instantly took the rage out of his dad. And so he kind of became a comedian as he's trying to navigate this emotional state that his father would sometimes be in. And something similar to that happens here. I think Vicki's analogy is closer with this gratitude. He's looking at God and all of a sudden he's almost giddy. He is almost giddy while he's asking God for protection from a very real situation. And then David gets further sidetracked from his present danger as he further reflects on God's goodness. Verse 7.
Brian: I will bless the Lord who counsels me even at night when my thoughts trouble me. I always let the Lord guide me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken.
Nathan: Okay, it seems that David's time of prayer, at least in this context, was at night. So as a side note to those of you who aren't morning people, apparently neither was David. So if spending time with God at night works better, feel free. I can't tell you how many times I've heard cross. Well meaning Christians say, oh, first thing in the morning, you know, I got to spend time with the Lord. Well, all of the night owls, right, they're just trying to function in the morning to get to school or to get to work. And then they feel all this guilt. Oh, I didn't have quiet time with the Lord because I could barely get up, right. Well, David had night, nighttime devotional, so that's okay. But David would spend time in prayer and meditation on God's word and he would receive instruction from God in his conscience, in his mind, and in his thoughts, that still, quiet voice of God. David says God then became his right hand, which is an incredible metaphor because the right hand is the place of power, strength and support and honor. Because it was the sword hand. And David declares, if God is his strength, then David himself cannot be moved because there's no moving God. So, Brian, you play video games. What can someone do if they're playing a game and they're stuck or confused in a part of the game?
Brian: That's never happened to me personally. But out of the games that I play, I find that when I remember that I can ask for help or Google it or find a community that I can ask questions to that often provides the answer. I can go to YouTube and look at a video that shows, here's a way another player did it. And, oh, that's a way I can approach this. But I can also just walk away. I can say, you know what? I'm done for the night.
Nathan: It's just a video game, right?
Brian: This is not real, and I can come back and try again. That's really the benefit of a lot of the games that I do try, is that there's multiple ways to try solving the puzzles and finishing the story that they're trying to portray, that it doesn't have to be overwhelming. You can step back, you can ask for help.
Nathan: Okay, so you go online and cheat. Great. And Vicki.
Brian: Vicki, ask for help, not cheat.
Nathan: Vicki, if you received an offer to speak for a company you weren't familiar with, what would you do?
Vicki: Oh, this is happening. When I was a new speaker, there are all kinds of businesses out there that do things. I don't have any idea what they do. And I had to go speak to them and motivate them. Oh, yee.
Nathan: Keep doing what you're doing, guys.
Vicki: Yeah, yeah. Keep it up. Well, and I'll tell you exactly what I did. I would call back the meeting planner, because I'd be on a conference call with, like, the CEO and the president. I'd call back and go, what the heck? I wouldn't say, what the heck? I'd say, help me understand exactly what it is you do. I want to be really clear about that. And inside, I'm thinking, what do you do? I don't know. And then they'd walk me through it. I'd Google it. Now that there's Google, when I started, there wasn't Google the most research that I can do. I would do it. I got so that I would call vendors if I could for the company, and I would call people that worked there, and I would say, explain your job to me. Tell me who you enjoy working with and why. The more research I could do, the better speaker I was, because I could Talk like I worked there.
Nathan: Yes. Okay, so like Brian, you also cheat. No, no, no, it's not cheating, but it feels like it because that's what David's doing. He needs trouble. He needs help from God. And so what does he. He goes to God and he says, in verse eight, I always let the Lord guide me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. So David's cheating here. At least it feels like that from the outside source. I remember in certain seminary classes just asking God for help to remember some of this material. Okay, it was Greek and Hebrew, and at times it kind of felt like cheating because I'd be taking a test, and I'm like, I know what this word is. I don't know why I know what this word is. But here we go. And David is receiving this special knowledge, this special wisdom, this special guidance, this special strength from God in the same way where, Brian, you can go online and look for help. Vicki, you are going to the source material and saying, okay, what do you do? What do you do? What do you do? And they're giving you the inside scoop so that you can better communicate to them. In the same way, David is getting help directly from God in his situation.
Brian: So God is the cheat code for life.
Nathan: There you go. That's our sticky statement for all this. Actually, that's a 90s Christian T shirt right there.
Brian: It sure is, isn't it? It sure is.
Nathan: All the Christian cheese just oozing off of it. Okay, so at this point, David is just outright worshiping God. He starts off saying, God, protect me, Help. Very legitimate prayer. And it's just turned into a worship service. Let's close out this psalm with verses 9 through 11.
Vicki: Imagine going from being terrified for your life to ending up with this. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being being rejoices. My body also rests securely. For you will not abandon me to Sheol. You will not allow your faithful one to see decay. You reveal the path of life to me. In your presence is abundant joy. At your right hand are eternal pleasures.
Nathan: Wow.
Vicki: Amazing.
Nathan: Just what a change. So reflecting on all the things God has already done for David caused him to become confident in his future. He rejoices. He realizes that the Lord has walked with him this far. And even if God does not deliver him from this moment, even if he.
Vicki: Dies, even if he dies, which no.
Nathan: Matter what, David will eventually die, he declares that God will not abandon him to Sheol. And Sheol is kind of a strange word. It always refers to the abode of the dead. But sometimes it means the place the dead go who do not follow God. And sometimes it simply means the grave. They're dead. But here, David is filled with this supernatural confidence that came from reflecting on his relationship with God. He knows that God did not establish a covenant with him and provide for him and guide him throughout his life, only to abandon him at the moment of his greatest need. Death. The relationship does not end in death, but the Lord would deliver him to eternal life. So we come back where we started this whole podcast. Why should we focus on God when we need help, when we have troubles, when we have dilemmas in our lives? Well, we should focus on God when we need help, because our problems become small when we realize God will never abandon us in our absolute worst case scenario, your dilemma kills you. God will not abandon you if you are in him. So, Brian and Vicki, imagine that I was holding up a quarter or a similar coin. Which is larger, the coin or the sun up in the sky?
Brian: That's got to be the sun.
Vicki: Depends on where you hold it.
Nathan: Yeah. Yeah. So if I take the coin and I hold it really close to my eye, which one appears larger?
Vicki: The coin.
Nathan: Right. It's kind of the game. I don't know if you guys played this as kids. When you're driving somewhere and you see pedestrians on the side of the street, and so you put your fingers real close to your eye and you start smushing people. Right. It's kind of like that.
Brian: And you'd say some odd games as a child.
Vicki: Sure. Did you need more friends?
Nathan: I'm not the only one. And you could do that. Look, I'm squishing all the people. Right? And you're not bigger than the people. Your fingers aren't bigger than them. But it's a matter of perspective. The coin isn't larger than the sun in the sky, but it a matter of perspective. It appears the coin, if it's right up next to my eye, is larger than the sun. In fact, it blots out the sun if it's right on my eye. The same is true when we focus on our troubles. When we focus on our troubles, it appears that they're larger than God. But if we shift our focus and we focus on God, it puts our problems into perspective.
Vicki: Oh, that's good. I like that.
Nathan: Yeah. I mean, we still have troubles. They're not gone. And yes, we need to make hard decisions and often take decisive action, but when we focus on God, the Holy Spirit fills us with a comfort that the God who did not spare his own son for us, will not abandon us in our moment of need. We should focus on God when we need help because our problems become small when we realize God will never abandon us.
Brian: So focusing on God is always better than focusing on our problems.
Nathan: Amen. God is bigger than your problems.
Kristin: We all face problems and we tend to focus on those problems. But if we focus on God when we need help, our problems will become smaller because God will never abandon us and God is bigger than our problems. The Cross Talk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global equipping Biblical communicators so every culture hears God's voice. To find out more about this educational non profit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. this month we've launched a new educational cohort group in Southern California. Help us empower the next generation of Biblical communicators. All you have to do is click Donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on Apple Podcasts. Or be sure to listen next Friday as we continue our discussion in the Word of God and discover how to go deeper in our relationship with God. You won't want to miss it.
Brian: Right now, while you're listening to this podcast, you have significant troubles. Not because of the podcast, just because of other things that are happening in your life.