Touré Roberts - The Meaning of Life

I want to talk today, and it is an audacious title. Audacious in the sense that it’s not untrue, but audacious in the sense that one would even attempt to make such a statement. I want to talk today about the meaning of life. The meaning of life—now, that’s pretty audacious! I’ll be honest with you, because men and women, God’s people, everyone has been trying to figure out the meaning of life. And so, I’ll be honest with you, one who is a constant seeker, one who is a constant pursuer of God’s divine truth, it’s a bit difficult for me to just throw it out there and have the nerve to have a message themed «The Meaning of Life.» All of us are still trying to unpack what life is all about, but I’m confident in the title, and I want to talk to you about that. By the way, it’s probably my favorite passage of Scripture, particularly that verse 4. The whole thing is amazing, but that verse 4 really gets me. This passage of Scripture is—oh, I’ll have a whole bunch of time with you today. I’m sorry because I got a little long-winded earlier, but this passage of Scripture is written by King David. Most scholars believe that they don’t know exactly at what point in his journey he wrote this particular psalm, but most agree that he wrote it when he was in trouble. There was something going on, and David had a lot of trouble, right? He had a little trouble, and then when God promoted him, his problems got bigger. Don’t be so quick to want to be promoted, because I’ll tell you right now— with promotion come bigger problems. Come on, somebody! I think even Biggie got it right: «Mo money, mo problems.» More responsibility, more issues; you’ve got to get your stress management together on another level. You talk about breathwork— you’ve got to get your breathwork together the more that God promotes you. We’re praying for promotion, but we don’t realize what comes with it. But anyway, I digress. We know that David was going through something when he wrote it. It could have been when he squared off with the lion; it could have been when he squared off with the bear; it could have been when he squared off with Goliath; it could have been when Saul was chasing him, trying to kill him; it could have been when he got, you know, in trouble with the Philistines. I don’t know; it could have been when his son Absalom rose up against him, trying to kill him and take the kingdom from him. You know, it could have been when he made his own mistake and got involved with Bathsheba, and that thing got a little wild, tricky, and crazy. You know, it became a reality show way back then. Come on, I mean, let’s just keep it real— the Bible is a reality show; come on, somebody! Just a true one. But what I’m getting at is that he went through a whole bunch of stuff and found himself in a lot of tricky situations. This particular passage of Scripture—we’re going to zero in on verse 4—was produced from one of those moments. Did you know that there was a gift in trouble? I’m learning that trouble has a gift in it, and one of the gifts that trouble has is prioritization. You get your life together when there’s trouble around, come on, somebody! Your church attendance goes up. Come on, somebody said—you figure out what matters and what doesn’t. We don’t like trouble, but one of the gifts that trouble affords us is clarity. Can we have a real conversation? When there is the threat of calamity, all of a sudden, there’s the manifestation of clarity. When there’s something looming and lurking and there are things outside of your control, all of a sudden, divine clarity kicks in. Stuff that you spent the majority of your time, energy, and passion pursuing suddenly doesn’t even matter. You’ve gotten to a place where life shows you something, and it really blesses you with the ability to perceive what matters and what doesn’t. Are you tracking with me? And David says something absolutely profound in his trouble right there in verse 4 of Psalm 27. David says, «The one thing, ” he says, „the one thing that I desire, that this one thing is what I will seek.“ He gets clarity on the single most important thing in his life—something that was so valuable, so important that he reduces it down, mind you, to one thing: the gift of simplification. And he says, „That will I seek.“ In other words, yes, you know I’m a king, and yes, I’m anointed—watch this, and yes, I have unlimited opportunities. Oh, this is for somebody! I want to get right in your gut with this one. I have manifold opportunities because I’m talented, and I’m resourced, and I’m anointed—this is David—and I’m a king! I can play the harp like it’s nothing. I can play the harp so well that demons flee when I play. I can play the harp so beautifully that I don’t even need to read music; I create the music as I go, and kings literally bow when I play. I’m talking about David; I’m sought after. I feel God—I don’t know who this is for, but I’m sought after because of my gift. I can go anywhere, and I can do…