Finding Strength in God

This is our 12th and final week of our Bible study on 1 Samuel, called The Coming King, and today we're going to cover those last three chapters, 29, 30, and 31. And even though we're finishing 1 Samuel, I want to remind you, in the original, Samuel is one book. So we can't delay too long to get into 2 Samuel, because this is just a convenient place for the Bible editors to have said, let's make this 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. But these last three chapters that we're doing are going to narrate events from different locations and different perspectives. The last five chapters aren't necessarily in chronological order, where it's like, this happened, then this happened, then this happened, but rather, it's almost like the movie director ran over here and looked at this perspective, and then we ran over here, so they're not a linear, you know, timeline. But if I were to put titles on these last three chapters, I would do this. Chapter 29, I would say, when even the enemy rejects you. Chapter 30, when you hit bottom and cry out to God. And chapter 31, when life changes dramatically. That kind of sums up the end of 1 Samuel. So here's what we know, as a reminder, heading into these chapters, David has spent the last year and a half living among the Philistines. David made those plans without prayer, and he hasn't, it doesn't seem like he hasn't been communicating with God since he made those plans. Saul has been so terrified by the Philistines gathering their forces for war that he hit a new low as he needed some encouragement, tried to reach out to Samuel and used the Canaanite dark arts of going to a medium in order to do that. Samuel was allowed by the Lord to actually come up and speak to Saul, which was something quite extraordinary and unusual, and he told him that he would die in the battle and that Israel would be defeated. So that's what we know going into this. Chapter 29, which I said, when even the enemy rejects you. This starts as the Philistines are positioning themselves to go to war. The commanders of Achish, the leader, they're angry with him because he's allowing Hebrews to be among their fighting men, which is an illogical thing for sure. This made no sense, an unacceptable risk, and they were even recalling what Israel used to say about David years ago. So we'll pick it up in verse five. These commanders are saying, is not this David of whom they sing to one another in dances? Israel has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. And Achish called David and said, as the Lord lives, you've been honest. And to me, it seems right that you should march with me in the campaign, for I found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the Lords do not approve of you. So just go back. And David was such a good actor because, you know, you want to keep all of your options open. You're not sure what's going on here. And you want to make sure that you have all the avenues open to you. And so he could have just said, whew, well, that solves one problem in my life. I know I'm not going to have to, you know, fight against Israel. No, no, no. Instead of doing that, he says to Achish, verse eight, but what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord, the King? Achish answered, I know that you're as blameless in my sight as an angel of God, but it's these unreasonable commanders I have to live with. And so verse 11, David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel. And this is where we get the idea we're out of chronology here, because last week we realized they were only five miles away from Gilboa. But it's okay. We're just looking at things from different perspectives. So now we start chapter 30, which I called When You Hit Bottom and Cry Out to God. Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, and the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negev and against Ziklag, David's town, remember, they had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. But the men don't know this, that they're alive, because how did David's men raid? They left no one behind. Okay, in verse six, and David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him because all the people were bitter in soul, grieving for his sons and daughters. Now we're going to pause a little bit there and just reflect on what we know about life. Grieving people often, when people grieve from tragedies, they often need to make sense of what's going on. And in order to make sense of what's going on as human beings, we will often find some place to place blame. We will blame a person, blame a situation, blame ourselves, if only I had. And that is what we see David's men doing here. They're grieving, they need to make sense of it, so they find something to place their blame upon, and as a group, they put it on David. Now they want, it's all his fault, and they want to stone him. So in a span of a few verses here, from David's perspective, he was stripped of everything he possessed, everything he found comfort in, everything that he cherished in life. David had already, a year and a half ago, left his own country, he lost his country to live with the Philistines. Now he's lost his town, Achish kicked him out, he's been rejected by everyone, he has no one to turn to and nowhere to go in this moment. That sums up the term greatly distressed. And maybe you've had a similar situation in life. When we face a tragedy, we could call it the worst day of my life. This was the worst day of my life. Or a trial of some kind, we call it hitting bottom, or a wake-up call. And in that situation, the next thing that we do can be the most important thing of our lives. I think the next thing that David did was the most important watershed moment of his pre-King life. The man who made plans without prayer, the man who stopped talking to God, the man who went to live in the world, now makes a complete turnaround as he realizes God's all he has left. And look at the end of verse six, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. That is such a fabulous phrase. That was such a fabulous choice for David to do. It doesn't tell us here how he strengthened himself in the Lord, but I want to investigate, I want to pause here just a little bit and investigate with you how we can strengthen ourselves in the Lord when we face these sorts of situations. And so I titled today's lesson, Finding Strength in God. In our study guide, I sent us to Psalm 55, and there's nothing to suggest that this psalm was written exactly at this time, but it does give us a few tips for how to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. And so I want to draw out three things for us from Psalm 55 in a situation like this, how we can strengthen ourselves in the Lord, and I'll put them on the screen for you. You can turn to Psalm 55, I'll also put the verses on the screen. So number one tip, speak honestly. If we haven't talked to God for a while, which happens in our lives, if we've been living in the world, if we've been making our plans without prayer, we are best served to just be real and honest with God. And so I want to show you how David does this. Psalm 55, verses four to seven, David says to the Lord, my heart is in anguish within me. The terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me. These aren't the words of someone who just realized they need a new transmission, and oh shoot, there goes the tax refund, that's a bummer. These are the words of someone who just got that gut punch. You know, those things happen to us. You guys can all think of a day when something happened in your life, and you just felt like the air was just sucked out of you. That's what David, that's how honest. he's being with the Lord. And I want to point out here, David is not blaming God for what has happened. Sometimes I've had women say, it's OK to blame God. Eh, I don't think so. I don't really see that David ever did that. But he is being real. He is being honest. And when we face a day like that, here's how we feel. Look, it goes on in verse 6. And I say, oh, that I had the wings of a dove. I would fly away and be at rest, because right in that moment, you want to be anyone else or anywhere else but who you are and where you are. And that's what David says. He goes, I would wander far away. I would lodge in the wilderness. So tip number one, when a person is reconnecting with God, it's good to be real. It's good to be honest. Number two, ask for mercy. When we have distanced ourselves from the Lord, made plans without prayer, lived in the world, it can be really hard to ask God to work on our behalf. And so this portion of the psalm gives us permission. Come through the front door and just ask for mercy. And I'm going to take us to verses 1 through 3, where David says, give ear to my prayer, oh God. Hide not yourself from my plea for mercy. Attend to me. Answer me. I'm restless in my complaint. And I moan because of the noise of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for they drop trouble upon me. And in anger, they bear a grudge against me. So again, David's describing his situation. But he's asking God, would you be merciful to me in this situation? That was bold. That was bold for someone who has been living with the Philistines for 16 months. And I like that boldness. And I think it reminds us that we can be bold, even if we have been the ones who have distanced ourselves from the Lord. And the third tip is pray with humility. Every single one of us have this nagging little feeling inside us that says, I got myself into this. I got to get myself out. Then I'll connect with God. He'll be proud of me. That's pride. That's pride that tells us that we have to resolve our problems. And David says in verse 16 to 18, but I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I utter my complaint, and I moan. This speaks of his perseverance and humility. And he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me. It's our job to do the asking. It's God's job to do the saving. That's humility. And the very last verse of the psalm says, but I will trust in you. If you don't remember anything else of that psalm, to remember the phrase, but I will trust in you, that phrase can get us through so many things in life. To just tell the Lord, I'll trust in you through this, that sums up the humility and the mercy and the honesty. But I'm going to trust in you. And David did trust in the Lord. So then we get to verse 7. And David said to Abiathar, the priest, bring me that ephod. So Abiathar brought the ephod to David, and David inquired of the Lord. Yay, we're happy to see that again, right? Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them? He answered him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue. So David set out, and the 600 men who were with him. And they came to the brook Bezor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued. He and the 400 men, 200 stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Bezor. And then we have a provision of the Lord. Look at verse 11. They found an Egyptian in the open country. And they gave him some food and drink. And they brought him to David. Verse 13, David said to him, to whom do you belong? And where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. We had made a raid against the Negev of the Karathites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire. Can you imagine? David said, will you take me down to this band? And he said, swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master. And I will take you down to this band. And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, a long time. And not a man of them escaped except 400 young men who mounted camels and fled. Now, I thought about this. If none of them escaped except 400 young men, that doesn't mean there was like 500 to begin with. You wouldn't say that none escaped except 400. Well, that's 80% that escaped. It must have been a vast number for 400 men to be sort of a side issue. So this was a great victory that the Lord had allowed David to have with his men. This was amazing over the course of a day and a half or whatever. Verse 18, David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds and the people drove the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil. Now, I'm gonna guess that the people who were saying this is David's spoil were maybe not the ones that said a minute ago, stone him. Or maybe they were, I don't know. But this opens up a temptation for David like Saul had a temptation in his early days to is he gonna gloat or what is he gonna do with this? They just wanted him dead and now he's bringing back their little kids and handing them off to them. And so remember our definition of self-control from two weeks ago. I said self-control could be described as composure in responding to life's problems. And David gets a badge for self-control here. He wins the prize for it, but he also gets a badge for mercy in this moment. The text tells us that he became especially generous with the spoils. First toward those who lost their strength to fight, those who had to stay by the river. Verse 22, some people were saying, as we get into this verse, some worthless fellows were saying, well, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we recovered except that each man may lead away his wife and children into part. But David said, you shall not do so my brothers with what the Lord has given us. He's crediting this great battle to the Lord. He goes, we're not gonna be stingy with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. So first David is generous toward those who didn't have the same amount of strength that he did. And then he's generous to those that didn't fight at all. Toward the parts of Judah that had also lost things to the Amalekites. Verse 26, when David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah saying, here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. And so the chapter ends with a list of all the parts of Judah that David had sent spoils to. But we're gonna move on to the different location now to Mount Gilboa as we kind of change our movie set now and we focus on what's going on on Mount Gilboa. Verse, or excuse me, chapter 31. Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons and struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Melchishua, the sons of Saul. The battle was pressed hard against Saul and the archers found him and he was badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armor bearer, draw your sword, thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and mistreat me. But his armor bearer would not for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. Thus Saul died and his three sons and his armor bearer and all his men on the same day together. And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had. and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled, and the Philistines came and lived in them. The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. Now this is quite sad. The front line has moved in such a way that Israel cannot even come and collect their dead and show them the proper respect, do even the tent of their body. And so we have the violent and the disrespectful nature of the Philistines, of the Canaanites shine through here. Verse nine, they cut off his head, they stripped off his armor, sent messengers throughout the land to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people, and they put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan, which kind of reminds us that not much has changed since those days when the ark was captured and put in the temple of Dagon. It seems like they wanted to present to their gods what supposedly their gods had accomplished. And this would be a really tragic place to end our Bible study, except the writer gives us a very heroic and very courageous narrative of what the men of Jabesh-Gilead did at this moment. It's a very heartwarming mission, and we're reminded, remember one of Saul's very first acts as king was to defend the people of Jabesh-Gilead against Nahash the Ammonite. And he came and brought a whole bunch of people and they were successful and they defended their spot. That kind of thing stays with you for a long time. And perhaps that was Saul's finest hour as king, his first hour and maybe finest hour. So we find great satisfaction to wrap up this portion of 1 Samuel with watching these men pay back the goodness that Saul had done. Verse 11, but when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and they went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-Shan, and they came to Jabesh and they burned them there, which is an appropriate way to finalize the tent that we live in, and they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and they fasted for seven days. And so with that we pause, we come to the end of 1 Samuel, we have learned in this that none of us are all good or all bad because we've watched Saul do good things and bad things. We've watched David do good things and bad things. What we've learned is that we're all human. And we've learned that no matter what happens in our lives, God is waiting for us to cry out to him, always waiting, his back is never turned, he's always listening and always waiting. We've watched David learn his lessons in leading, some of those same lessons that we have talked over in our groups, and we've realized that David's pilgrimage of problems has uniquely trained him and qualified him now because of his suffering to arrive at the throne of Israel, to be the coming king who will actually lead his people to love God and to serve God. Not perfectly, David isn't gonna be perfect from this moment on, we probably know that. David is merely human, but David has a heart for God. That's how we close. Father, thank you for these lessons, thank you for what we see in here. Lord, I feel like the most important part of this lesson is the reminder that you are always listening. Lord, whenever we are ready to turn once again to you, we don't have to do the hard work of cleaning up the problems that we've created, we merely need to come to you and ask for mercy, come in humility, Lord, and come with real hearts and honest hearts, and Lord, I pray that you would help us all to accomplish that, and we're looking forward to coming back together whenever we do to do the next chapter of this story of King David. Thank you for this time, in Jesus' name, amen.