DAVID FINDS STRENGTH IN THE LORD HIS GOD

1 Samuel 29:1–31:13

Key Verse: 30:6

David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.

I. But what have I done? (29:1-11)

In chapter 27, David ran away to the land of the Philistines because he knew it was the one place Saul wouldn’t come to find him. It was simple plan, really. David and his men were tired of running from Saul. If they went down to Gath and pledged their allegiance to king Achish, they wouldn’t have to run anymore.  And the plan seemed to work for awhile. They raided neighboring peoples: the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites. They accumulated sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. King Achish trusted David, and even gave him and his men a town of their own in Ziklag. What a life! Everything was going according to plan. Until now.

Read verses 1-2. The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel. As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish. I wonder what David was thinking in his head. There he is marching in the back. He can see the thousands of Philistines marching in front of him. These were the same men he once called “those uncircumcised fellows,” basically calling them the enemies of the living God. Now I’m fighting with them. Against my own people. What have I gotten myself into? As David arrived at Aphek, he could see the Israelites, his people, across the Jezreel Valley. How am I going to get myself out of this one? Thankfully, he didn’t have to.

Read verse 4. But the Philistine commanders were angry with him and said, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master's favor than by taking the heads of our own men?” Have you ever had a mouse in your house? I bet you run around screaming like a little girl when you see that mouse. You know the mouse is more scared of you than you are of it. I feel like that’s what’s going on here. David is afraid of Achish and what will happen if he refuses to fight for him. But we see it’s really the Philistines who are scared of David. Verse 5 tells us they still remember David killing Goliath and the songs the Israelites sang. And 1 Samuel 14:21 tells us that the Philistines have been betrayed by seemingly loyal Hebrews before.

Even though Achish is pleased with David and even calls him an angel of God, Achish can’t ignore the other commanders and tells David to go in peace. In his reaction to Achish’s words, we see that not only could David play the harp and write beautiful psalms, but he could act. Read verse 8. “But what have I done?” asked David. “What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why can't I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” And the Oscar for Best Actor is…David! Who should David thank in his acceptance speech?

Some might say David just got lucky. Fate intervened. But I don’t think so. Even though he is not mentioned once in this chapter, God intervened on David’s behalf. David was saved not by circumstance, but by God’s grace. It is grace because David didn’t do anything to deserve to be rescued by God. Actually if anything he deserved to be ignored by God, left alone and abandoned. I once had a teacher who would say, “You caused the mess, so you better go and fix it.” Thankfully, God didn’t do that to David. Why didn’t God abandon David? Because David, though not perfect, was a man after God’s own heart, and God had a plan for his life. God still had much he was going to accomplish through David’s life and God intervened on his behalf. Just like he did when David was fighting lions and bears as a young shepherd boy, to when he fought Goliath, to when Abigail prevented him from killing Nabal and his men.

God intervenes on our behalf too. Even before we were born. God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” It’s no coincidence or circumstance that you are here. It’s not by chance that you came to know Jesus. It is completely by God’s grace. And his grace continues with us each and every day. You know adopted children often have quite an adjustment to make to their foster families. Do you know what their greatest fear is? Abandonment. That when they make one mistake or say something wrong the foster parents will abandon them or give them back. Good foster parents would never do that. For us, God is the best foster parent and we are his adopted sons and daughters. He will never ever abandon us. This is true even when we make mistakes. His grace is sufficient to overcome all our sins and mistakes. I am really encouraged by this word because I know I have many sins and make lots of mistakes. 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “…if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” Why is remembering God’s faithfulness so important?

II. David finds strength (30:1-20)

Read verses 1-2. David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. David and his men were finally going back to Ziklag. They couldn’t wait to get home to their wives and kids, and to sleep in their own beds. But when they arrived, what did they find instead? Read verses 3-4. When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.

David and his men were a hardened, battle tested group of soldiers. But the sight of their homes still burning, and their families taken away was too much. They just broke down and started crying. At this point they didn’t know if their families were still alive or killed or sold off into slavery. The uncertainty killed them. By the time they had finished crying, a surprising thing happened. Verse 6a tells us that they were bitter in spirit and talked of stoning David. It started off with one man who said, “Why did we have to raid the Amalekites? I knew they would find out and try to get revenge on us.” Another said, “Why didn’t we leave any men behind to guard the town? Who made that decision?” Another said, “We should’ve killed Saul when we had the chance? Then all our problems would be gone.” Still another said, “What were we doing standing next to those uncircumcised Philistines? We should never have been with them. If we were here, this wouldn’t have happened.” All their searching for answers led them to one conclusion: it was David’s fault. David who had taken them all in including the indebted, the distressed, and the discontented, was now the source of all of their troubles. He needed to be killed as if this was going to make the men feel better.

The men were utterly broken and discouraged. This kind of discouragement and negativity happens when we view things purely from a human point of view. These men could only see what was around them, the destruction and despair. They tried to find meaning through their own understanding but could not find any. And so they looked for someone to blame.

David was hurting too. His wives were gone. He could have looked for someone to blame too. He couldn’t blame the men, so maybe he was tempted to blame God. But that’s not what David did. Let’s read verse 6. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God. The KJV version says “but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” How could David find strength in God at this most difficult time?

David stopped focusing on the problem and focused on the solution. David closed his eyes and his ears to the things that were going on around him. The burning houses, the sound of weeping, and the whispers of the men plotting to stone him. In that moment, he was literally all alone. He couldn’t trust anyone. So he turned to the one person he knew he could trust and who was able to help him in the most difficult of situations. He remembered God and that gave him strength. He identified the person who could help him, and he encouraged himself in that knowledge. We find strength when we identify the person who is able to help us

I used to drive an ’85 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. I remember one day something was wrong with the engine. I don’t know anything about cars. I was distressed because I didn’t know what to do. And then I thought I can call David Brogi. He’ll know the answer. At that moment, not knowing whether or not David was available or whether he could even fix it, I was encouraged. Because I had identified the person who could help me. Those of you who have struggled to find a babysitter for your kids know what I mean. When my needs a babysitter, she runs through a mental list of possible babysitters. When she identifies one who might be able to help, she is encouraged and hopeful even before she picks up the phone to call.

David wasn’t encouraged because God had promised to save his family or to give him vengeance on the Amalekites. David was encouraged because he found the one who was greater than his problems. The one who was able to help him. David had maybe forgotten God for awhile but in this moment he remembered that God was there. He knew that no matter what God was faithful and would hear him if he cried out to him. Remembering God’s faithfulness is important because it means we never have to feel alone, or helpless, or hopeless. We can trust that he will always be there for us.

Practically, it’s hard to ignore the noise of life that is around us. It’s not quite like 600 hundred weeping soldiers. But our problems can be just as loud and just as discouraging. Our disappointment, sorrow, and fear can be overwhelming. How do we encourage and strengthen ourselves in God? By remembering that God is much greater than our problem, our worries, and our sorrows.

We can do that by not focusing on the problem but instead focusing on God through his word. Paul says we walk by faith and not by sight. By focusing on our problems we walk by sight and not by faith. To focus on God, we need to refocus our faith. Romans 10:17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” Faith is built up by hearing the Word of God. Take a look again at your Bible and you will be reminded of just how great God is. God broke down the walls of Jericho and he parted the Red Sea. He changed the hearts of tax collectors, adulterers, and hardcore Pharisees. Be encouraged not only in his miracles and wonders, but also in his promises. David wrote in Psalm 34:17, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

I think it’s interesting that the KJV says David encouraged himself in the Lord. As if he was talking to himself like a boxer before a big fight or a skydiver about to jump out of an airplane. Did you know a couple of the Hebrew words for ‘meditate’ actually mean murmur and conversing with oneself? When we meditate on God’s word, we encourage ourselves to face any situation. Neighbors getting you down. Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.” (Rom 15:2-3) Tempted by that beautiful woman. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. (Pro 31:30) Don’t know what the future holds. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. (Psalm 56:4)

Read verse 7-8. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.” Once we know who to call, all we have to do is pick up the phone and dial the number. Just like there was the direct line to Batman, the ephod was like the direct line to God. God answered them and gave them clear direction to take action.

We have a direct line to God too through Jesus. Hebrews says he is our high priest who intercedes on our behalf. We have to pray to know God and to know God’s will for us. If David had just stopped at verse 6, then he would’ve been sitting in Ziklag feeling strengthened. Prayer is like the key that turns the engine. It was the precursor to putting David into motion. Through his word and through prayer, let us find strength and direction to face life’s challenges. Even when everyone and everything around us seems to disappoint or fail us let us be encouraged to know that God will never disappoint or fail us. He is faithful and able to overcome any of our problems.

III. David, the shepherd king (30:21 – 31:13)

The rest of the verses in chapter 30 are what I consider David’s graduation from his training in the wilderness and caves. He has been on the run from Saul for at least 8 long years. But these years were not for nothing. God used them to prepare David to become the shepherd king of Israel. In the closing verses of chapter 30 we see what David’s reign would be like. When the men wanted to punish the 200 men who had stayed behind, what did David say?

Read verses 23-24. David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.” With these words we see that David will be like a shepherd for Israel. He recognizes that though he is a king the true king is God himself. All good things including this victory belongs to the Lord. As a shepherd, he cares for even the weakest among them, and does not harbor even a hint of resentment towards those who had earlier wanted to stone him. Humble, compassionate, and forgiving. Looks a lot like the true shepherd king, Jesus.

Contrast this graduation of David with the last days of Saul. Read 31:2-3. The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua. The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. Eventually Saul would die alone on a lonely mountaintop along with his armor bearer. Not surrounded by family and friends peacefully in his bed.

Later, the men of Jabesh Gilead would come and take down Saul’s headless and naked body. These men remind us of how promising Saul’s reign started when he helped rescue the people of Jabesh Gilead in chapter 11. I always took it for granted when Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” But Saul’s death while tragic reminds us of how hard it is to be faithful and how much we need God’s grace to say what Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Let’s pray to hold on to God’s word, to be encouraged in him. Let’s read the key verse.