Followed By Mercy

From Cave to Cathedral: Finding God in Your Darkest Moments

• W. Austin Gardner • Season 2 • Episode 45

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How do you move from the pit of depression to the pinnacle of blessing? From self-pity to divine joy? In this message from Shady Grove Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, I open Psalm 23 and walk through David’s remarkable journey. Hunted, hiding in a cave, overwhelmed by sorrow, yet he discovers that what is really pursuing him is not danger but God’s relentless goodness and mercy.


This message calls us out of performance-based religion and into the security of God’s love. We don’t chase Him down. He chases us. His goodness isn’t quietly trailing behind us; it is actively pursuing us. David could rest in this not because he was good, but because God is good. And today, through Christ, we experience an even greater reality: the Shepherd not only leads us and follows us, He lives within us.


When we grasp this, everything changes. Pity gives way to praise. Complaint gives way to gratitude. A rescued sheep doesn’t sing because it found the shepherd; it sings because the shepherd found it.


If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, today can be the day you say yes to His free gift. Simply pray, “Thank You for dying for me. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for being buried. Thank You for rising again.”


Come discover the joy of a life pursued by God’s relentless love.

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Austin Gardner:

Thank you, bibles, if you would turn with me to Psalm, chapter 23. Psalm 23. Father in heaven, I love you and these people love you. God, just like a little family here we know we are because you're our Father and Jesus, you're our big brother and you brought us all together. God, there's sweet, loving people that love you and love each other in this room, and I just pray today that you'd help them to know how much your goodness and mercy is chasing them down, and I'll give you praise for all that you do In Jesus' name. Amen.

Austin Gardner:

How do you get from the pit of depression to the pinnacle of blessing? How do you get from the pity party? How many of you? If y'all ever had a pity party, if you ever held one, hold your hand up. You know the problem with pity parties. Nobody wants to come to yours. Amen. I mean, it's like I like my pity party. I want to think about how bad off I got it. Nobody else cares. It's like, just go have your pity party. Don't invite me to that.

Austin Gardner:

Well, david starts off Psalm 23. He's basically having a pity party. I mean, he's in a cave, he's being chased down by his own son and he's brought his own army to attack him. They're going to kill him. If they can find him, if they can get to him. They're on the move to do all of that in his life. His best friend is out there giving him advice. I know how he thinks. I can tell you how to kill him. I'm his best friend. If anybody knows him, I know him. We got him.

Austin Gardner:

And so David is probably hiding in a cave somewhere. His soldiers are outside watching him. His kingly garments are probably a little tattered now, mud splattered. He's not doing too good, and when he starts off I think he's probably like at his own pity party. I've been there, you've been there. When we're just thinking, I don't know how I did all this. I don't know what in the world brought all this on. I don't know why my life has to be so stinky, but it's all really bad right now. And that's basically where David was living.

Austin Gardner:

And David is changed from that in six short verses he goes like this you know, I'll tell you what's really chasing me. It's not my son, it's not enemy armies, it's not people trying to kill me. I'm being chased by goodness and mercy, and it's happening every day of my life. So how do you get from there to here? Well, you change the way you think, you change where your focus is.

Austin Gardner:

So David's alone in that cave and David goes the Lord, he's my shepherd. And so, all of a sudden, david takes his eyes off. David puts his eyes on the Lord, stops thinking about his own problems, stops thinking about where he's living, stops thinking about his pity party and starts thinking about the Lord. That's what you need to do, what we have got to do. We've got to quit, because if you sit around in a corner somewhere, or you're in your rec, or you're in your recliner, or you're in your dark bedroom and you're going oh poor me, oh poor me, oh, poor me, you're just going to get lower and lower and lower. The darkness gets darker and everything gets worse. So David does the opposite.

Austin Gardner:

David's looking at himself and looking down. He looks up to the Lord and says you're my shepherd, I, the creator, god the great, I am the God of all mercy, the God of all kindness, is my shepherd. And then he goes and to think about it, ever since you've been my shepherd, I have never wanted. You've taken care of every need I had. I have never wanted. Then he said you know, fact is you've been better to me than I ever deserved. I mean, you made me lie down in green pastures. I mean, I ate so much, I got so full. I just laid down Because I was like I can't eat no more Because you've been good to me. Fact is, in all the chaos of my life and I've had my share of problems, father Lord, but you know what you have led me to some peaceful waters where I could rest, and I have not.

Austin Gardner:

This is not my first time to be discouraged, but you have always restored my soul. You've always brought me back. You've always refreshed me. You've always got me rolling again. I haven't known where to go and how to go and I haven't known what the next step was, but you've always led me in paths of righteousness for your own namesake. You've just been good to me and, yeah, I've been walking through the battle of the shadow of death, but I'm not afraid of the evil because you're with me. Because you're with me, because you are with me.

Austin Gardner:

If you ride your staff, they comfort me. They're not there to hit me, not there to scold me or beat me. They're there to protect me, to knock the devil in the head and beat up my enemies. You're taking care of me, my goodness. You've anointed my head here. It is dirty, and you have poured oil on my head and reminded me of who I am. You've lifted my face up and said look in my eyes. And you've said I love you and there's nothing between us because Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. And Jesus lifted your face and said to me look, you eyeballed the eyeball because I paid your sin debt. Things are right and I'll be honest with you, lord. You've been so good to me, you've been so good to me. I mean my cup won't hold it, I mean it's overflowing and running over.

Austin Gardner:

And he goes come to think of it, you know what's chasing me. You are goodness and mercy. Do you remember what he said his name was? He said the Lord is my shepherd. We studied it a long time ago. The Lord, he's merciful, the Lord is goodness. The Lord is goodness and mercy. And he says, come to think of it, the Lord is my shepherd. You're out in front leading me and you're behind me protecting me. You're all around me. The Lord is my shepherd. And surely in goodness, and surely goodness and mercy are following me, I am protected. I love the surely that you find in the verse. I love the surely there because there's two or three things going on in my mind. I think he's going think about it. I was so scared of my son Absalom, and I was worried about the army chasing me. But when I get to thinking about it and I meditate on you, the reality doesn't change. I still got problems, I'm still in trouble, things are still going wrong, but you're my shepherd and you take care of me, and there's no doubt about it. It's like he wakes up and goes wow, well, the truth is, the truth is he's always been there for me, and you might be lying in a bed with cancer, or you might be having financial troubles or marital problems, or you're losing your job or whatever's going on, or you're you're all by yourself and you're lonely and you're like sometimes I don't know what to think. And he goes the Lord's my shepherd, and goodness and mercy are behind me. And it surely means without a doubt. I am certain of it.

Austin Gardner:

Now I need you to understand something about the gospel today. Somewhere along the way, performance-based religion messed us up on this. We don't seek God, god seeks us. Seek God, god seeks us. We don't love God to get God to love us. We love God because he first loved us. That's what the Bible says.

Austin Gardner:

Hey, god didn't save me when I was doing good. God saved me while I was still a sinner Romans 5.8. God saved me while I was weak. God saved me while I was still a sinner Romans 5 8. God saved me while I was weak. God saved me while I was ungodly, when I was horrible. That's when he saved me. So he has known me at my worst and still loved me.

Austin Gardner:

Oh, wait a minute. I want you to think Remember that filthy night. Or it was a morning for you, or it was a morning for you, or it was an afternoon for you, it doesn't matter when it was. You know you're most embarrassed about that. You're most ashamed about that. If that's the one thing you would never want to come to light, remember that he knew you then. He knew you before that and he still loved you.

Austin Gardner:

Now, when you get a hold of that, you're going to be able to understand the Lord is my shepherd. You're not seeking him, he's seeking you. You're not trying to get God to bless you. Listen to me. You don't have to say oh God, please bless me. He's like I am blessing you. I am blessing you. Surely Goodness and mercy do follow me all the days of my life. He is chasing you. Now, why is he chasing you? You know, what surely refers to is his character. You see, performance-based religion makes you think it's based on how good you are, how well you perform, what you accomplish, what you do, what you don't do wrong. I used to do those dirty things. I don't do them anymore. I now do all these good things and that's why he's liking me. Well, the truth is surely goodness and mercy follow. That's not about how good David was.

Austin Gardner:

Can I remind you, david's not really been that good a guy. You probably wouldn't want him to be the pastor of your church. Fact is, you probably wouldn't want to have him over for family supper. I mean, he kills his friends. He takes their wives and kills them. Come on, you're right. You ever heard of that. It's a pretty rough guy. Yeah, I'll have him over for supper. He killed one of his best friends. He had 30 special friends. That killed one of them and he took his wife.

Austin Gardner:

And can I remind you, he was a pretty lousy dad. I mean, his one son raped his one daughter and he didn't do anything about it. So the other son waited a few years and when his dad wouldn't do anything, he finally killed the brother that did the raping. He still didn't do anything about it. David's like I mean, he's not my kids, I don't know these kids, I ain't responsible for these kids. He wasn't doing too good as a king.

Austin Gardner:

But you see, david goes, surely, goodness and mercy, not because I'm good, but because he's good. Somehow you live in this fear and you've got this dread and you've got this. I've got to keep working that, keep working. That keep working so he'll love me. And he's up in heaven looking at you going no, you don't, I'm God and I love you. It's his character. So you don't look at your shepherd and see him watching your fears and your failures. You look to him. He loves you. You rest in his character.

Austin Gardner:

You know that Numbers 23, 19 says God is not man, that he should lie, and he doesn't say things and not make it happen. God keeps his word. Psalm 23, 6 in your Bible, god said surely, surely, surely, goodness and mercy do follow you. In Hebrews, chapter six and verse 18, he said it was impossible for God to lie. You know why. It's against his character. You say are there some things God can't do? Yeah, I'll give you one Lie. He doesn't say one thing and mean nothing. He tells the truth. It's his character, it's his unconditional, covenant love. He loves you because he's in a relationship with you Somehow. Because he's in a relationship with you Somehow, we tend to act like husbands and wives are better than God is, because husbands and wives look at each other and say, for better or for worse, sickness or health, good times or bad, riches or poor, I ain't leaving you, I keep my word.

Austin Gardner:

And then you get a divorce. But the God of heaven looks at you and says I loved't leaving you, I keep my word. And then you get a divorce. But the God of heaven looks at you and says I loved you when you was a sinner, I loved you when you were ungodly. I loved you when you messed up. And I just keep my word, I'm going to keep on loving you. So this morning you can rest in that. Surely, goodness and mercy, you know what. You can know that what I'm about to preach to you this morning is true, because he's our shepherd. He's our shepherd and in the New Testament.

Austin Gardner:

In John, chapter 10, jesus said I am the good shepherd. I am the good shepherd. And he said I know my sheep and my sheep know me. I am known of mine, my sheep know me. Can I give you one New Testament concept that's even better than what we can get in Psalm 23?

Austin Gardner:

Because David didn't understand everything. You can understand because you got the New Testament. David said the Lord's my shepherd, he leads me, and surely goodness and mercy are chasing me. But y'all ready for this one? He lives in you. He lives in you. Jesus made you His temple. You're the temple of the Holy Spirit. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I. Christ lives in me. I live in the flesh. I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. You understand Galatians 2.20. You're his sheep and he lives in you.

Austin Gardner:

Here's what David said in Psalm 27.13. I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. David said I'm telling you, things are bad, things get rough, I hurt, I suffer, but I know this. God is good and he is going to do good things. He is going to do good things. Do you realize what the Bible says? It's Old Testament. That's where you tend to think of God. He's no different in the old and the new. That's a misunderstanding on your part, because in the Old Testament he was still the same God who loved you, still the same God who provided a sacrificial system, still the same God who made a promise to send Jesus.

Austin Gardner:

But in the Old Testament the Bible says I recall this to my mind, lamentations look at it, lamentations 3, verse 21. I recall this, toations 3. I recall this to my mind. I bring back to my mind. I think again your mercies are not consumed. It is of the Lord's mercies. We are not consumed. His compassions fail not. They are new every morning.

Austin Gardner:

Great is thy faithfulness. Hey, john didn't write that. It wasn't written by Paul. It wasn't written in the New Testament. In the Old Testament they said great is thy faithfulness, god keeps his word. That's why you can say surely, surely God is going to take care of it. I think I got to.

Austin Gardner:

I just meditate a lot on Psalm 23. I guess you figured that out by now. But if you think back over your life you realize he's been real good to you. Now we're going to get to. We're going to get to the whole point of this message in a minute, which is gratitude. But you listen to this. He goes, surely been thinking about it, been meditating on it, been seeing the Lord as my shepherd, been seeing all he does.

Austin Gardner:

You know what Goodness chased me when I was a boy keeping the sheep? He was there. He was chasing me. A lion came to attack my sheep and God gave me strength to win. A bear came and he gave me strength. Goodness and mercy were there. You know, when I was a boy, I was just a young guy and I fought Goliath, but God was there. You know, I got real discouraged. Saul was wanting to kill me. Everybody was against me. It seemed like I ran and I hid in a cave. The next thing, I know, god sent me 600 friends, all warrior men. Boy, god, you have been good to me. Would you stop a minute and think, could I ask you, would you go back? Betty and I will be married tomorrow, 52 years. That was goodness and mercy chasing me.

Austin Gardner:

This redneck, hillbilly, tennessee country boy shows up in Rome, georgia, at Shorter College, and he walks into college. I mean, I couldn't match my clothes. I mean I wore stripes on my pants and a stripe on my shirt. That went a different way. I had no idea I was walking optical illusion. I'm a country boy. You should just be glad I wasn't wearing blue jeans and flannel.

Austin Gardner:

Say amen. Betty said I got to marry that and fix that. That's a problem. But all I'm saying is that was goodness and mercy, that was goodness. I remember holding my friend's baby and thinking to myself man, that's the neatest thing in the world, I guess, be a daddy. And then God gave us our four children Surely goodness and mercy. And then God gave us 20 grandchildren Surely goodness and mercy. Now them getting married, bringing more people in the family Surely goodness and mercy. Hey, shady Grove, for my family, surely goodness and mercy. Would you go back over your life? You see, you ought to realize. David has come out of the pity party and he's up here on top going whoa, wow, surely, man, god's been good to me. How many of you can say God's been good to me? Say amen, say it Surely goodness and mercy, god's been good to me. I can stay in the pity party, I can stay in the pit and whine, I can have a bad attitude, or I can just look at it and say, boy, god's been good to me. Surely goodness and mercy have followed me.

Austin Gardner:

Now, what's goodness and mercy? What is goodness and mercy? First off, let me just say this I really believe they're just personifications of our shepherd. I really believe. It's kind of like I just read this morning the guy that owns Facebook, meta and all that stuff. He pays over $500,000 a week for security For people to walk around him, like the president, so he can walk down the street and have people everywhere guarding him. Well, you know what you and I have, don't you? We got a shepherd leading point and goodness and mercy coming behind us and the shepherd living in us. At the same time, I've got four points. Security Can I get an amen there? But listen, goodness. I think that's really just a picture of saying you know, god's one is good, god's one is mercy, and God's goodness and God's mercy have been pursuing me and following me.

Austin Gardner:

But goodness here means something agreeable, beneficial, beautiful, excellent. It is not stuff, it's God being good to you. You know, you remember when you gave your kids gifts. You remember that, and they liked the gifts more than they liked you, or they liked the box more than they liked the gift. See, goodness is what gives us good times, even in difficulty. Goodness is what restores us. Goodness is what brings fruit. Goodness, surely goodness and mercy.

Austin Gardner:

One of my favorite Bibles is Joseph. Joseph is a prisoner, but first he's a slave, and as a slave, working for the guy who owns him, the owner realized in Genesis, chapter 39, in verse 2, he said the Lord's with Joseph and he's a prosperous man. And he said I realize whatever he does, the Lord makes it to prosper. That's goodness and mercy. And it's difficult times, it's horrible times, things aren't going right, but God is with him. Did you know?

Austin Gardner:

When John writes to Gaius in 3 John, he said Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. God wants to bless us. God is blessing us. God hears your prayers, god answers your prayers. God is blessing you. He has a love, mercy, this faithful kindness. He won't let you go, he will take care of you. That's goodness and mercy. They're spiritually pursuing us.

Austin Gardner:

I just want you to know that when you get in a car in just a minute, or you walk down the road, or however you leave here, and whatever you do you need to know this If you're a born again believer, if you're not, he still loves you. Trust him Today, accept Jesus, look at him and say thank you for loving me, thank you for the gift of eternal life. The Bible says the wages of sin and death, but the gift of God's eternal life. Say thank you, accept the gift, amen. But I just need you to know, except the gift, amen. But I just need you to know goodness and mercy are chasing you.

Austin Gardner:

Now. The next thing I need you real quick to look at is follow after me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Now, the Hebrew word for follow there is really not like the way we use the word follow today. It's more like the word the FBI does when they're chasing somebody. It's like we're going to get you, we're going to get you, we're coming after you, buddy, we're on your trail, we're hot on your trail. We are pursuing you, we're chasing you down. Surely goodness and mercy are chasing me down. They're about to capture me. He's about to throw me on the ground and handcuff me with goodness. That's what God's doing.

Austin Gardner:

So you see, david has gone. You remember a little bit ago he was down in the bottom of that pit going. My life stinks. I'm having a pity party. Everybody wants to kill me. I think I'll just go eat worms. Nobody loves me. And then now he's going. I can't get away from it. Everywhere I turn, everywhere I go, no matter how much I mess up, he just keeps on loving me. That's what the Bible says God's doing to us. He's chasing after us, relentlessly after us. He's like the shepherd who went to find the lost sheep and said I'm going to chase him until I get him, I'm going to bring him home. So stop fearing what's behind you, stop being afraid of what's chasing you, because it's not the enemy soldiers, it's not Absalom, it is surely goodness and mercy.

Austin Gardner:

I think maybe one of my favorite stories, hosea and Gomer. You remember that story. So God wanted Israel to know how much he loved him, and so he told Hosea to go marry a woman who was an adulterous woman, who had love affairs with other men. He said you marry her and she's going to be disloyal to you. She's going to go out and find other men, even though you marry her, even though she makes promises to you. He said that when she does, she's going to go sell her body to everybody. He said but then I want you to buy her back. And so you know what.

Austin Gardner:

Hosea marries her and they have some children. He's not even sure all the children are his children. He's like he names one of them. I he's like he names one of them. I ain't sure nothing's mine, huh. But you know what? They're selling her as a prostitute that's used up and no one wants. They're going to sell her to work in the kitchen, to chop firewood, to do whatever she's fixing, to be sold as a slave. And you know what God tells Hosea. He said you go down there and buy her back. You go get her. She might have messed up, she might have ruined everything, but she's mine and I don't lose mine. I pursue them and I chase them till I get them and you bring her home and you restore her.

Austin Gardner:

Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Let me just quickly. Time's running out for us, but all the days of my life, every day, constantly, you know, even on the day when you think you're in the dark valley, even though there's shadows forming across your path, even on the bad, boring days, even on the days when you're grieving the loss of someone you love, even on the days when you fail, even when you're Peter denying Jesus, that's got to be a really bad day in old Peter's life. Peter denies Jesus. You would think that if Jesus were like the God you think he is he's not. Jesus would have just left Peter. But Peter gets through denying. When Jesus comes and says hey, peter, I love you, buddy, you love me. Peter said I do. He said well, you didn't act like it. No, he didn't say that. Oh, you denied me. He didn't say that. You know what he does.

Austin Gardner:

The day of Pentecost is coming up, when the most famous sermon ever is going to be preached and 3,000 real believers are going to be saved and baptized. I had to pick John. I had to pick John. I had to pick Matthew. I had 10 other choices. Jesus said I think I'll just pick the one that messed up the biggest, because that's how I am. Surely goodness and mercy. Do you understand? Do you understand? All the days of your life, all the days, he keeps a count of every hair on your head. That's how important you are. You're important to him. He delights in you, he sings over you, he takes pleasure in you, you're His. You know, I was so excited when God, let me be a daddy.

Austin Gardner:

I used to sit and hold Chris in my arms and say, buddy, I named you Cross-Bearer because you're going to talk about Jesus. And I witnessed to him when he was six months old. I was telling him how to get saved. He didn't do much about it, you know, he just ignored me. I'm talking to this little three, four, five, six month old baby. I said the Bible says you're a sinner, but God loves you, buddy. He just said they're going, you know.

Austin Gardner:

So one day we're in Peru and I'm holding one of the Peruvian pastors newborn baby and I'm over in the corner all by myself. There's 50 people in the room. I'm just over going. Hey, he loves you. You know you're a sinner. One of these days you get paid if you need to accept Jesus. And my son goes hey, that kid can't understand you. And I said didn't hurt you. None did it.

Austin Gardner:

Hang on to something. Do you know what your father does with you? He holds you in his arms and says I love you. I paid your sin debt. I took care of everything you've ever done wrong. I've taken all your shame, I've taken all your failure and I've nailed it to the cross. Surely goodness and mercy does follow me all the days of my life. Can I end with this? Surely goodness and mercy does follow me all the days of my life. Can I end with this? Let's quit complaining and whining and start being grateful. I think if I had time to finish it, I think I could.

Austin Gardner:

Gratitude is the language of the believer. Thank you for loving me, thank you for saving me, thank you for answering my prayers. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for all you've done. That's it. Gratitude is our language. It flows from the fact that we're resting in Jesus and what he did on the cross at Calvary.

Austin Gardner:

You know what? A rescued sheep doesn't sing because it found the shepherd. Here's a lost sheep and he doesn't go. I found the shepherd, I found the shepherd. He goes. A shepherd found me, the shepherd found me. We ought to live in gratitude.

Austin Gardner:

You ought to be able to say as you go home today, thinking about it goodness and mercy, god has led me, protected me, guided me, been in front of me, inside of me and behind me all the days of my life, and I am thankful. Do you know Jesus as your Savior. Do you know that you've trusted Him, accepted the free gift? If you haven't, do it today, say Lord, I just love you. Hey, there's no beat yourself up, there's no come and list all your sins. It's just accept the free gift.

Austin Gardner:

It's just say thank you for dying for me, thank you for loving me, thank you for dying for me, thank you for loving me, thank you for being buried, thank you for rising again. I trust Jesus and what he did for me as he came down here and died and buried and rose again for me and you can be saved. Father in heaven, I love you and I thank you so very much for how good you've been, how kind you've been, how you've worked in our lives, and I pray you'd work in the lives of your people here. I pray you'd save the person who doesn't know you and I pray you'd help the Christians to honestly be blessed and grateful for who you are and what you're doing. God, I'm going to give you praise for it all. I love you and I thank you for how good you are. I thank you for your kindness Move and I'll give you praise in Jesus name, amen.

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