I Can't Do It: Finding Strength in God

Aug 30, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When "I Can't Do It" Becomes Sacred Ground

David’s raw confession—“They were too strong for me”—marks the moment human strength crumbles. This admission isn’t failure but the threshold where divine rescue begins. Like a warrior king brought low, we discover God’s strength thrives in our emptiness. True deliverance starts when we stop pretending we can muscle through storms alone. The toilet-lid altar, the silent Bible held like an anchor—these become sanctuaries where pride dies and dependence breathes. [34:53]

“The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”
(Psalm 18:4,6 ESV)

Reflection: Where have you been white-knuckling life instead of crying out? What shame might you release to let God’s strength fill your “I can’t”?

Day 2: God’s Fury Is a Rescue Mission

Smoke from nostrils, earth-shaking wrath—this isn’t anger at us, but fury against what seeks to destroy us. Like a father storming a burning building, God’s rage is love in motion. David’s cave became a front-row seat to divine violence against despair. Our darkest moments are where He parts heaven, not to scold, but to grab us mid-sink. [54:04]

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.”
(Psalm 18:16-17 ESV)

Reflection: How might viewing God’s anger as protective love change your approach to suffering? Where do you need His “holy fury” to intervene today?

Day 3: Drowning Teaches What Swimming Can’t

Near-drowning at Vero Beach mirrors our spiritual reality: self-reliance sinks. The riptide of grief, sin, or failure exposes our need for a Rescuer who needs no cooperation. Like David entangled in death’s cords, we discover salvation isn’t a self-help program—it’s a gasp for air and the grip of grace. [01:06:36]

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.”
(Romans 5:6 ESV)

Reflection: What current threatens to pull you under? How might surrender—not effort—become your lifeline?

Day 4: Church Is a Misfit Family, Not a Fix-It Shop

Abandoned by fair-weather believers, David’s story—and the pastor’s—reveal church as God’s ER for the shattered. True community doesn’t shame the broken but sits in the basement bathroom, holding silence like a sacrament. It’s the Body learning to bleed together. [01:21:01]

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”
(Romans 12:15 ESV)

Reflection: Who needs your presence more than your advice? How can you create space for raw honesty in your relationships?

Day 5: Wounds Become Witnesses

Galen’s hard truth—“God will use this”—transforms agony into altar. David’s victory song wasn’t born in triumph but the cave’s echo. Our deepest losses become megaphones for divine faithfulness when we let scars testify. Healing isn’t erasing pain but redeeming its voice. [01:31:25]

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
(Romans 5:3-4 ESV)

Reflection: What broken place might God want to repurpose for others’ healing? How could your story become someone else’s lifeline?

Sermon Summary

David opens Psalm 18 with love, not self-confidence: “I love you, Lord, my strength.” David had been a shepherd, warrior, strategist, and king, yet he came to a place where the enemy was “too strong for me.” Psalm 18 puts words around the moment when a capable person hits something that cannot be fixed, endured, thought through, or muscled up against.

The cords of death, the torrents of destruction, and the snares of the grave describe more than a bad day. David’s distress crushes the very spirit that had carried him through every other fight. The contrast between crying and crying out matters here. Crying expresses pain, but crying out admits need. David cries to God because there is nowhere else to go and no strength left to manufacture.

God answers that cry with holy fury. The earth shakes, the heavens part, darkness gathers, and God comes down. God’s anger is not aimed at the crushed child for failing to be stronger. God’s anger rises against the thing that is drowning His child. God reaches down, takes hold, draws David out of deep waters, and brings him into a spacious place because He delights in him.

The gospel carries that same truth. Christ died “at just the right time when we were powerless.” Salvation does not begin with a person finding enough strength to climb out. Salvation begins when a powerless sinner finally says, “I can’t do it,” and discovers that God can. No amount of try harder can save a crushed spirit. Christ becomes strength when personal strength is gone.

The Holy Spirit does not abandon believers in suffering. The Spirit lives in those who have been born again and supplies wisdom, guidance, correction, endurance, and the power to keep going through the worst day of life. Suffering does not prove faith has disappeared. Suffering exposes how desperately faith needs Christ.

The church must become the kind of family that can sit with devastated people without handing them cheap answers. Compassion does not demand a timeline for grief or diagnose every wound as somebody’s failure. The body of Christ cries with the hurting, corrects in love when needed, rejoices without jealousy, and refuses to leave people alone in the fight.

God’s rescue also points to the cross. God knows the cost of loving because He gave His only Son while sinners were still powerless. David’s testimony is not that the rescued person became strong. David’s testimony is that the Rescuer was strong. Christ has saved, is saving through sanctification, and will ultimately save His people into glory.

Key Takeaways

1. God meets people at powerlessness. Powerlessness is not a disqualification from God’s help. It is often the place where self-reliance finally runs out and the gospel becomes more than information. Christ died for the ungodly precisely when they had no ability to rescue themselves. [71:18]
2. Crying out names real dependence. Tears can carry pain, but crying out turns pain toward God as the only true help. David does not clean himself up before calling on the Lord. God hears a desperate voice from the cave, the bathroom, the pit, and every place where strength has failed. [40:07]
3. God’s anger defends His crushed children. God does not come down to shame the person who cannot get back up. Psalm 18 pictures a Father tearing through the darkness to rescue the child about to go under. God’s fierce response reveals how deeply He delights in and defends His own. [55:47]
4. The church must carry compassion. Broken people do not need somebody to hand them a timeline, a platitude, or another demand to try harder. The body of Christ is called to stand in the gap, sit in the grief, and refuse to leave hurting people isolated. Love becomes believable when it stays present. [49:11]
5. The Rescuer receives the testimony. David’s praise does not center on how tough he became after the battle. God heard, came down, reached down, took hold, drew out, and rescued. Christian testimony remains rooted in God’s strength, God’s grace, and God’s saving work.

## [98:25]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[32:35] - David Encounters What He Cannot Handle
[35:27] - The Lord Is My Strength
[38:54] - Crying and Crying Out
[42:58] - Grief That Crushed the Spirit
[50:34] - “I Can’t Do It”
[53:30] - God Comes Down to Rescue
[63:03] - The Gospel for the Powerless
[75:57] - The Holy Spirit in Suffering
[80:25] - A Church That Walks With the Hurting
[91:48] - The Father Knows the Loss of a Son
[95:46] - The Cost of Love at the Cross
[98:25] - The Strength of the Rescuer
[101:36] - Cry Out to God Today

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Psalm 18
“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.” [35:44]

Romans 5:6
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” [01:11:18]

Proverbs 18:14
“A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” [40:54]

Observation questions

What names and pictures does David use for God in the opening verses of Psalm 18, and what do those words show he believes God is for him? [36:24]
In Psalm 18, what words describe David’s trouble, and what does David do “in [his] distress”?
What does Proverbs 18:14 contrast between a sick body and a crushed spirit? How does that help explain why David says his enemy was “too strong for me”? [41:06]
According to Psalm 18:16–19, what actions does God take to rescue David, and why does God rescue him? [55:03]

Interpretation questions

Why does David begin with “I love you, O LORD, my strength” rather than beginning with his own courage, skill, or victories? What does that reveal about where real strength comes from? [36:13]
Psalm 18 says God hears David’s cry, then comes down with frightening power. How should a hurting believer understand God’s anger in this passage—as anger toward the crushed person or toward what is destroying that person? [55:47]
Romans 5:6 says Christ died for people while they were weak and ungodly. Why is “try harder” not the message of the gospel for a person who is powerless? [01:09:13]
If suffering and confusion do not automatically mean that faith is gone, what might faithful dependence on Christ look like when a person still feels crushed and does not have clear answers? [01:18:21]

Application questions

Is there an area of life where you have been trying to fix, think through, endure, or muscle your way through something that is too strong for you? What would it sound like for you to honestly tell God, “I can’t do it”? [01:42:05]
When you are in pain, do you tend to keep it inside, only cry, distract yourself, or cry out to God for help? What keeps you from bringing your real need to Him?
Where have you been tempted to believe that being overwhelmed, grieving, angry, or confused means you are failing spiritually? How does Psalm 18 speak to that lie? [01:18:25]
God reached down, took hold of David, drew him out, and brought him into a spacious place because He delighted in him. Which part of that picture is hardest for you to believe about God’s care for you right now? [55:03]
Think of someone who is hurting deeply. What would compassionate presence look like this week—without offering a quick fix, a timeline, or a shallow answer? [49:11]
Is there someone in the body of Christ whose joy, blessing, grief, or struggle you have kept at a distance? What is one simple way you could move toward them in genuine love and support? [01:24:22]
Christ saved us when we were powerless, is continuing to change us, and will one day bring us fully into glory. Where do you most need to remember that God’s saving work in you is not finished? [01:39:06]

Sermon Clips

49s

#GodIsStronger

“See, I I I don't want you to go away with with with a false understanding of me telling you that you're stronger than you think you are. I'm not telling you that because you're not. What I want you to go away from here thinking is God is stronger than you think he is. He's got more going on than we realize. it's it's it's him and his grace and his mercy. It's his holy spirit that he sent to me. It's his word that edifies me and builds me up. It's his spirit that guides me and corrects me and and and teaches me. It's his body. It's his body that I find fellowship and unity, and I find those things. That's that's do you understand what he it's him.”

53s

#FatherRescues

“See, when I first started reading that, I thought the anger was directed at me. It's like I thought I was gonna get to the verse that said, I'm mad because you should have faith and you should know better, and I'm coming down there and I'm gonna take you to the woodshed. I thought that's where it was headed. I didn't have any idea. As I'm reading this, this is a father who sees his son that is in distress and he ain't stopping at nothing until he gets there. He parts the heaven back. He steps into the night, and he flies to me, and he grabs hold of me because he knows I'm about to go down for the third time, and I'm not coming back up. And it says he got a hold of me, and he pulls me out.”

60s

#SinnerNeedsSavior

“I believe David in an act of desperation in the back of a cave when he's being pursued by a man that had no right to pursue him. And he didn't want that fight. I believe he cried out in the darkness of that cave, oh god, save me. I can't do this. Skip with god today, articulate that to him. There's no such thing as super christians. There's no such thing it wasn't our blood, wasn't our cross. Don't pretend to be something you're not. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. I need his holy spirit in my life every single day.”

35s

#YouCantSaveYourself

“You see, and and as I and as I begin to look at that, was thinking, this is the essence of the gospel that I have been preaching for years. I've been telling people over and over and over, you can't save yourself. why that didn't apply to me, I don't know. I don't know why it took so long for that connection to hit. But I could not get back to the point or the fact that Mark Myers cannot save himself unless God comes and saves me, I'm I'm done for.”

52s

#CryOutNotJustCry

“Do you understand that there is a difference between crying and crying out? See, crying expresses my pain. Crying out expresses my need. And I and I can tell you, I have cried. I've cried so much in in in a period of my life that I didn't think there could possibly be any more tears to cry, but they still keep coming. And I was like, why can't you stop? Why can't it stop? I don't understand. I would get up some days and like, I do not want to cry today. And that lasts about thirty seconds and I'd be in it again.”

71s

#HolySpiritPower

“I just wanna tell you something. If you have the holy if you've been born again, the holy spirit of god has come to reside in you. Yes. Yes. Yes. Okay? You don't need to be waiting on any other experience. The holy spirit's there. He's there. You couldn't have got born again without him. He's the one that brought you to that place. He's the power source that god has implanted in your life to get you through the worst day of your life. He's the one that has prepared you for suffering. He's the one that's going to get you through that. He knows the way through difficulty. That's why we have to learn to lean on the power of the holy spirit. We have to learn to lean on his wisdom and his guidance and his his his leading and and and sometimes his correction.”

65s

#ChurchIsFamily

“See the purpose of church is being in a body of faith that you want to suffer with. And I tell people this all the time. When you look around the room, is this the group of people you wanna do life with? If this is not the group of people that you want to be with you on the worst day of your life or on the best day of your life, you're probably in the wrong place. Because church is a family. We're a family of faith. And if we do this thing like the bible says, we're to pull together to be so tight with each other that we know what's going on with each other and we don't offend each other with these stupid things like try harder. We put our arms around you and we cry with you. We walk with you. If you're being a knucklehead, we correct you because we love you.”

54s

#CryOutToGodNow

“Could I offer you some just really practical advice If you're in that place, get with God today. Don't wait. Find yourself a little corner or a toilet, whatever works for you. And just say, God, I can't do it. I can't do it. And cry out for him to come and save you. And when I say cry out, I mean, scream. That's what I did. That's what David did.”

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