Keeping Your Grip on God •1 Samuel 29-30

53:47 Teaching begins

Notes

I spoke with various people after last week’s message and they were saying, “I really relate to Saul doing desperate and stupid things.” They say, “I’m like that. I don’t want to be, but I am.” I think the unspoken fear is, “I’m going to end up like Saul and be an enemy of God.” No one has said that, but that’s the impression I get. Anxiety. Dread.

The opposite of Saul is David.

David has problems and tragedy and things happen out of his control. But David handles life differently than Saul. David lives with God. David constantly views life through this grid: I have God. He has me. Psalm 56:9 says, “This I know, that God is for me.”

This grip on God keeps him from doing desperate and stupid things. It enables him to face everything that happens in life with courage and trust that God will work through him.

So David’s highest priority is keeping his grip on God.

We’re reading in 1 Samuel 29.

1. David’s plans are thwarted, chapter 29.

A. The Philistines are getting ready to attack Israel, and the lords of the Philistines are reviewing their men, assessing their strength and ability. They want to be certain that they will win. You have to know this going into battle, otherwise you will be killed. You have to have this confidence.

B. They see David in the rear with Achish and they have a problem with him being there.

1. Achish says he’s a great guy. But the lords of the Philistines remember that they sing about David slaying ten thousands, and that’s Philistines they’re talking about. Get rid of him.

2. I also think that David is thinking I’m going to come from behind the Philistines, and Saul and I could cut these guys to shreds. He wants to fight the enemies of my lord the king, but who is he referring to? You could take his words two ways if you wanted to.

C. David protests, but Achish is firm. You are a great guy, but they don’t see that, so don’t make trouble, go home immediately. David has no choice, and leaves early next morning. Just like you and me, David’s plans didn’t happen like he hoped.

2. David comes home to unexpected tragedy, chapter 30:1-6.

A. They only find out later in the chapter who did it. All they know is they turn the corner and there’s Ziklag, a smoking wreck, and no one is around, nobody.

B. They assume the worst: all our families are kidnapped to be enslaved or killed. We’ve lost everything. And they are so devastated that they weep until they are emotionally exhausted and can’t cry anymore. They are little better than dead lumps.

3. Not only are David’s plans thwarted, he has sudden tragedy, but then his own men oppose and blame him.

A. They are calling for David to be stoned. That means they want him dead.

B. They are blaming him for what’s happened.

C. Typical unspiritual way to respond: let’s do something desperate and stupid that causes us more trouble. This is something that Saul would do. Fix the problem right now! You’re the problem! Kill you now! What, we have worse problems now? Kill him again!

D. It wouldn’t bring back their wives and children if they killed David, but it would make them feel better for thirty seconds. Then they’d still have all their problems, plus, now we have no leader.

4. Now David is greatly distressed.

A. You notice that he’s not magically saved from trouble because he is the anointed of God. He’s getting hit on all sides, from without and from within. All these things are against David.

B. But he doesn’t react like Saul or like his own men, acting as if they are all alone and relying on their own understanding and strength. A band of orphans.

C. Now David strengthens himself in the Lord his God. That is, he receives new courage, wisdom, and power in his inner man to face his difficulties and overcome them.

D. Wouldn’t you like to know what he did in order to be strengthened? But the verse doesn’t tell us what he did! This is the most important thing in this chapter. This is how he kept going to overcome tragedy, recover everything, and skilfully manage his men.

E. There’s only one clue, and that’s in the possessive pronoun “his God.” David took time to remember that the Lord is his God.

1. God came to David first and had him anointed to be His king. The Holy Spirit came upon David mightily from that day onward. David is God’s and God is David’s. They have a relationship.

2. David responded to God by seeking Him, looking to grow in knowing Him. Asking Him to teach him and empower him. One thing have I desired, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple, Psalm 27:4.

3. This relationship is consistent and certain because God is who He is: compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and truth.

F. This is the grid through which David evaluates what happens to him: my life is based on the fact that God is for me, and He is good.

1. So if my plans are thwarted, God is in control, He knows what He’s doing. I’m not going to fret about it.

2. Ziklag is burned and no one is here. God knows what is going on. I’ll ask him for knowledge and power.

3. I have to answer the men I lead. I need God to give me His strategy so I can lead effectively.

G. So the next step for David is inquire of God. Go get Abiathar and the ephod with the Urim and Thummim. God commands him: pursue. And He tells him with certainty, you will overtake them, you will recover everything.

H. Having that knowledge from God gives power. It gives strength. We know in advance that we will be successful. That changes the morale of the men. God told me and I believe Him.

5. David recovers all according to the word of the Lord, vv. 9-20.

A. 600 men set out but 200 are too exhausted to continue. David leaves them with their gear at the brook Besor.

1. Losing men is not necessarily what you want when you’re looking to attack a raiding party. You want all the help you can get.

2. But God is not limited like people are. He can deliver by many or by few, so numbers are not the only factor. David is not discouraged; he keeps pursuing.

B. Then they just happen to find a young Egyptian man abandoned by his master, who gives them important information.

1. Notice when he left him to die: three days ago. David didn’t know what happened three days ago. He only prayed to God today.

2. This Amalekite didn’t care about his Egyptian slave getting sick. Who cares? Let him die. I’ll just get another one. In so doing he actually gave David the information he needed to find him and kill him.

3. God kept that slave alive till David could find him. God answered David’s prayer before David prayed it. That’s how much God is for David.

C. By the word of the Lord David finds the Amalekites.

1. They stopped fleeing and now they’re partying because they stole all this great loot.

2. But strangely, no one is on lookout. David suddenly attacks and kills everyone except 400 men who get away on camels.

3. Why is the world did these Amalekites stick around and get killed? I wonder if they said, “There isn’t many of these attackers, stand your ground and chase them off.” But as hard as they fight, they’re getting killed. Only late in the day these young men realise, “These guys are incredible! We’re not going to win; we’ll die if we stay here.” And they escape on camels.

D. And David not only gets everyone and everything back, he also gets all the other spoils the Amalekites stole on their raid. He says, “This is David’s.” It’s for a purpose (we’ll see in a minute).

6. David has the patience and resources to successfully manage his own men.

A. David has recovered everyone and everything, but some of these guys are resentful, they’re not very friendly. “You 200 pooped out and left us to do all the dirty work. It’s not fair for them to get anything back but their families. Nyaaah!”

B. The writer says plainly these are wicked and bad men. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the ones who said to stone David. They are out for themselves, they resent doing something for somebody and not getting paid for it.

C. David has the inner calm and peace from God to manage his men skilfully in the power and knowledge of the Lord.

1. David doesn’t prove he’s the boss because he breaks heads or yells the loudest. Rather than blustering back at them, he’s appealing to them gently. He calls them, “My brethren.”  That takes patience.

2. That’s because they really are related as one nation under God. That’s their history. Remember who we are, guys?

3. He focuses them on God: God gave them the victory. God preserved them and God brought them back safely. This is due to the Lord, not our ability, therefore we can’t take credit for it, like we did all the work and you didn’t do anything. This was a miracle.

4. David asks a rhetorical question: who’s going to listen to you? Expected answer: no one. You’re out of line. We’re going to share and share alike.

5. So David makes a statute and ordinance for Israel even though he’s not king yet. We’re sharing together in the goodness of the Lord whether we go down to battle or not. We are not going to be like the rest of the world: dog eat dog and devil take the hindmost. We are not going to bite and devour one another. We are one in the Lord.

D. David is in the Spirit even as Moses. He is legislating love just like Moses did. It seems to me this the first new law for Israel since Moses.

7. David gives gifts to the elders of Judah, vv. 26-31.

A. By this time the battle of Gilboa (described in chapter 31) is over, and Saul is dead. There is no king in Israel.

B. David is using this occasion of victory to send a message: David is here, he is including you in God’s victory over His enemies. He is not using that plunder for his own private wealth, but as a humble step towards his calling to be king over Israel.

C. What a message to receive in a time of mourning and tragedy and confusion! Through the Lord David is looking to the future with hope, and the Lord has given him an occasion to pass on that hope to the elders of Judah.

8. So what? David handles life skilfully by keeping his grip on God.

A. Psalm 56:8-9 You have taken account of my wanderings; put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me.

B. Do you know that God is for you? When things are good and when things are terrible?

C. Do you have the right grid to look at life? Jesus died for my sins, He rose from the dead, He is coming again for me. I am His, He is mine. This grid never changes because God doesn’t change.

D. The way to know that God is for you is to take time to remember God.

1. You do this with God. You can’t seek God without Him. You ask God to help you. This is your life.

2. If you take time every day then it’s there for you in the day of trouble. You’ve been practising. So when trouble hits you practice the grid. You know Jesus. You don’t understand everything that Jesus has allowed but you don’t think God’s suddenly against you because your life is God’s, and He is yours, so you strengthen yourself in your God.

E. It’s amazing that when you practice this grid, all hell breaks loose. If you’ve ever tried to practice putting the Lord in first place every day, you know what I mean. Everything else in your life starts screaming at you for attention. The devil knows that when your inner man is ordered it affects all that you do.

F. You think, such a small thing, leave me alone! But this is the difference between groping blindly through life like an orphan and walking with your hand in God’s hand. It’s the difference between Saul and David.

G. This I know, that God is for me. Do you know that?

Let’s pray.