Keith Battle - Trust The Process

Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for allowing us to be in church today. God, I sense such a need for You in my own life and in the lives of these brothers and sisters who are here. I stand in awe of this moment; I reverence this moment. I have nothing to say unless You give me something to say. The lives of these people are too precious and too important for me to simply give them something that I think. Give us what You think. Give us Your words; speak life into this situation, into this moment.

To everybody watching online and to everyone joining us via CD/DVD, everyone in this building, speak to us. We need You; we need direction. We open ourselves up to You to hear what You have to say to us, and may we not just hear it but help us to heed it in our lives. I pray now for these moments that You will block out all distractions, that You would bind the works of the enemy, that babies will fall asleep, cell phones will be silenced for the next 30 minutes or so, and that You will have our undivided attention. Nothing else matters but hearing You. Jesus, speak; Lord, Your servants are listening. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Psalm 66. Thank you, Praise Team; the music ministry was outstanding today. Awesome. Psalm 66, I think, will be today’s subject: «Trust the Process.» I must tell you something: I don’t even know how this is going to work, but I’m going to tell you something I don’t think I’ve ever said publicly. My mother did hair when I was young; she was a cosmetologist—back then, they called them beauticians. Interestingly enough, my wife’s mother, Vicki’s mom, did hair too. Because my mother did hair, she would bring some of her supplies home. So, in the ’80s, when it was in style, I gave myself a jheri curl. I did. She had some stuff—and yeah, it wasn’t a jheri curl; it was something called Bantu. I remember the name of it; it was a perm. You know, I didn’t have that straight curly wavy black hair; it laid down tight. So, I wanted my hair to lay down nicely, so I put the perm in, saturated it, and made sure I got every spot because, you know, this was the nappy section. I really doubled up there. I was in the bathroom; she wasn’t home, and I just laid it on. I figured, you know, it said a time on the bottle for how long it was supposed to be in before you washed it out, but I thought, since my hair was so tight, I needed to extend that time.

After a while, I started feeling a sensation around my head; it was getting warm, and then it started burning. If I could have talked to my hair at the time, I would have told my hair, «Just relax—no pun intended; when this is over, you’re going to be straight.» I don’t know what’s in perms; I really don’t, but it is hot, and it will get you straight. I think sometimes God’s work in our life is just like a perm: it’s hot, it’s uncomfortable, but if you stay under that process long enough, He will get you straight. You have to trust the process.

Now, I didn’t know what I was doing because I wasn’t a cosmetologist, but people who do know how to put that stuff in. I’m not suggesting anyone go perm their hair; I’m just saying that was for illustrative purposes. In this psalm, there’s a process that happens, and I have three points. Psalm 66 begins at verse 8; it says, I’m reading from the New King James Version: «Bless, O God, you peoples, and make the voice of His praise to be heard, who keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved.» That means He protects us; He keeps our soul among the living and does not allow our feet to be moved. He’s our defender; everybody needs a defender. Verse 10: «For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid afflictions on our backs. You caused men to ride over our heads. We went through the fire and through the water, but You brought us out.» Somebody say, «A deliverer.» He’s not only our defender; He’s our deliverer. He protects us; then He says, «But You brought us out to rich fulfillment. You brought us out to a place of abundance; You brought us out to a wealthy place.»

It’s easy to celebrate the God who defends, the God who protects, the God who prospers, and the God who delivers. The problem is in between Him defending in verse 9 and delivering them at the end of verse 12. In verses 10, 11, and the first part of verse 12, they’re going through development; they’re going through a test. That’s the part we need to trust God because He does something in between the going-through part, that the process is just as important as the destination. We tend to celebrate God, and this is actually a Thanksgiving psalm, so they’re celebrating not just the God who delivers and not just the God who defends, but the God who develops us—the God who tests us by fire, the God who causes men to ride over our heads.