Know Where to Go

Know Where to Go

1 Samuel 29:1-30:6

 

Illus. Losing sight.

 

In chapter 29 of first Samuel, the spotlight centers on a chapter in David’s life where he reaps the results of taking several wrong turns. We have seen throughout the past couple of weeks and will study this morning the specifics of his situation and status. David had taken the wrong turns and would find himself at the lowest of lows, but it is at that point that he knew where to go and turned back to God. As we study this chapter, these circumstances in David life, I pray that God would show you and I that despite the wrong turns we may have taken in our own lives, God wants us to know where to go when we have gone farther away from Him than we ever thought we would and that He can work even our lowest of lows for His glory and His good.

 

1 Samuel 29:1-30:6

 

While section of Scripture we are covering ends with David turning back to God, we will start back at the beginning of chapter 29, prior to working our way forward. It is in the beginning of chapter 29 where we learn that the Philistines are marching into battle against God’s people. The battle lines had been drawn up in chapter 28, and the Philistines were deep into Israelite territory. Their desire was to take them out completely, to deliver a deathblow. Amongst that army, marching at the back with the Philistine king, we see David and his men. He was marching with the ungodly, ready and willing to fight against God’s people. David was in step with the enemy, he had crossed over and was walking on the wrong side, he was marching with the wrong team.

This is important to note and apply to you and me because there are times in our lives that we can find ourselves doing similarly. I have noted throughout this Old Testament study that it is often suggested that the physical realities of the Old Testament, are often seen as the spiritual realities for a New Testament believer.

In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul gives these words to Timothy, “fight the good fight of faith,” In 2 Timothy 4:7 some of his final words to Timothy, “I have fought the good fight…” in 1 Corinthians 9:26 he told the church that he doesn’t “fight as one swinging against the air,” in other words, there is a real battle going on! From 1 Peter 5:8, we know that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour. So be alert, stay aware…

In other words, the Spiritual battle lines have been drawn up and the Lord wants us to be sure we remain on the right side, on His side in every situation we may face. But the situations and circumstances people come up against are often complex, they can become conflicted, thrown off course, even committed or contending for things more congruent with the will of the enemy than God Almighty.

How does it all start? Sometimes it starts slows, and other times it happens quickly; for David, it started with a false belief that turned to despair and distress. Then came compromise and we will look at what that compromise led to in his life, but ultimately the place he lands and that is, turning back to the Lord. As we continue this morning, I want to look at three aspects of David’s story that will provide direction to us so that we always “know where to go.” Specifically, what is important to see, where to set your focus, and where to find strength as you go forward.

 

1. See That There Is Calamity in Compromise

 

1 Samuel 28:1-3(a), Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel. And the governors of the Philistines were proceeding on, leading hundreds and thousands, and David and his men were proceeding in the back with Achish. Then the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

 

• Here David is marching with the enemy. The governors were leading hundreds and thousands into battle, and it is noted that David and his men were marching in the back with king Achish.

 

• The indication here is that David had been given a promotion in the land of the enemy.

 

• In the beginning of chapter 28, when the king told David that he and his men would go to war with them against the Philistines, David responded, “very well, you will see what your servant can do.”

 

• In response, Achish said, “Then I will surely make you my bodyguard for life.”

 

• As everyone marches along, the commanders of the Philistines seems to be looking over their army, making sure everyone is ready and in place and it’s all good until they see David and his men marching with them.

 

• Seeing them, they say, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

 

• In other words, they look at David and is men and realize what David should have realized 16 months earlier but seems to have become blind to… David doesn’t belong there.

 

• It is a good question, however, what was he doing there? How did he end up there?

 

• The Philistines were the enemies of God’s people. We often see the Philistines seeking to take out God’s people, going against not only them, but against God Himself.

 

• F.B. Meyer noted in his commentary that the Philistines are a biblical representation of the world and worldliness that is far from God, and David is a representation of God’s people.

 

• David had turned to enemy territory and the whole things started with compromise.

 

• David had been on the run for his life from Saul for nearly a decade. No matter what David did, good or bad, Saul would not relent. David would spare Saul’s life at times, and Saul would still seek to take David’s life.

 

1 Samuel 27:1(a), Then David said to himself, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to safely escape into the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.”

 

• David believed that escaping to the land of the Philistines was the only way out for him.

 

• He sought himself rather than seeking God.

 

• David began listening to himself rather than listening to the Lord. Had he been listening to the Lord, he would have been reminded of what the Lord had to say about his future…

 

Illus. David’s promises… Anointed by Samuel as the next king (1 Samuel 16:13); Told by Saul, “I know you will certainly be the next king (1 Samuel 23:20); Abigail described it as the good God has spoken to David, that he would be appointed ruler over Israel (1 Samuel 25:30)

 

• In going to Philistine territory, David went to Gath. It was a town he had already been. He had gone there earlier in his life when he was on the run from Saul.

 

• Gath was the hometown of Goliath and David showed up to Gath with Goliaths sword in hand. As soon as the people recognized him, he was arrested and pretended to be insane.

 

• Ultimately he was released, but just a few chapters later, he is back again.

 

• This time, instead of pretending insanity, he immediately begins compromising.

 

Illus. The compromise of chapter 27… Verse 2: David “set out and crossed over” to the camp of the enemy. Verse 5: Sought favor from the Philistine king. Verse 5: refers to himself as a servant of Achish. Verse 10 and 11: Lies to the Philistine king about his battles in order to gain favor. Verse 12: leads the king to believe he is repulsive amongst God’s people. 28:2: Tells the king he is willing to fight with him against God’s people. 29:2: is now marching with the Philistines to fight against God’s people.

 

• What are these Hebrews doing here? That is a good question, a question David should have asked himself!

 

1 Samuel 29:3(b)-5, And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found nothing at all suspicious in him since the day he deserted to me to this day?” But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man go back, so that he will return to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For how could this man find favor with his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men? Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”           

 

• While Achish speaks to who he had known David to be for the past 16 months since David defected to Gath, the Philistine leaders looked further back in David’s history.

 

• Their belief was that this could be a strategy for David to get back in Saul’s good graces. “He could find favor with Saul if he took off our heads and brought them to him.”

 

•  Then they remind Achish of the song that haunted them all. It was a song that made him famous with the Israelites, but the worst of foes amongst the Philistines.

 

• It was the song that was sung after David defeated Goliath. That Saul had slain thousands and David his tens of thousands!

 

• It was a song that was hated by Saul, a song that haunted the Philistines, but it was a song that God had been using in David’s life to show that he was going to be the king, and here God was using it to rescue David was doing something that he would end up regretting.

 

• The word compromise has several different meanings. One definition of compromise is “an intermediate between different things.” It is also defined as “a dangerous place where one’s reputation and integrity is exposed to danger and suspicion.

 

• Calamity is defined as affliction, adversity, disaster, or serious injury.

 

• Calamity is a word found in the Bible in many places as well. It is a word associated with disaster, destruction, adversity.

 

• It is a word in Hebrew that Moses uses in Deuteronomy 32:35, which is part of a song that depicts God’s people as children who had forsaken and turned against their Father. They had been faithful in the past, but had turned toward evil, they had compromised and that would cause their foot to slip in due time, followed by calamity. 

 

• It was not just a warning that was real in Deuteronomy, but for you and me.

 

Psalm 1:1, Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

 

Illus. Peter’s Denials.

 

Illus. Calamity.

 

• In verse 4, the Philistine leaders told their king that he should send David back to the place he had assigned for him. That assigned place was out in the country of enemy territory, assigned by their king.

 

Romans 12:2, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

1. Set Your Focus on Being Pleasing in God’s Sight

 

1 Samuel 29:6-9, Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have indeed been honest, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the governors. Now then, return and go in peace, so that you will not do anything wrong in the sight of the governors of the Philistines.” However, David said to Achish, “But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant since the day that I came before you, to this day, that I cannot go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” But Achish replied to David, “I know that you are pleasing in my sight, like an angel of God; nevertheless the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us into the battle.’

 

• As the Philistine leader tell Achish to send David along, we get some perspective on what the people in enemy territory thought of David.

 

• Achish thought David had been honest to him (though we know he was not completely honest about his battles), he stated that he found not evil in him, and David was generally pleasing in his sight.

 

• But catch this, he was not pleasing in the sight of the leaders.

 

• David attempts to defend himself, what have I done? What have you found wrong in me that I cannot go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

 

Illus. Who?

 

1 Samuel 29:10-11, Now then, rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you, and as soon as you have risen early in the morning and have light, leave.” So David got up early, he and his men, to leave in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

 

• David is in an interesting place. He thought in chapter 27 that there was no place or peace for him amongst God’s people, so he went to Gath, now he finds that his new “Philistine friends” aren’t so fond of him after all.

 

• David had no home, so to speak.

 

• His focus was once on being pleasing in Saul’s sight, then he had set his sights on being pleasing in the sight of the enemy…But neither was working.

 

• David tried to make himself like one of them, but that was not the place for him.

 

Illus. Fitting in.

 

• It was Jesus who said, you cannot serve two masters. You will love the one and hate the other, you’ll be loyal to one and despise the other.

 

• There was a time in David’s live when he wouldn’t have been caught dead marching with the Philistines.

 

• There was a time when David would have considered it a badge of honor to displease the Philistines, but now compromise has brought him to the conclusion that being pleasing in the sight of the Philistines may have been a good thing.

 

Philippians 3:18-20, For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even as I weep, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight—  but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive compensation for his deeds done through the body, in accordance with what he has done, whether good or bad.

 

1. S. Lewis once said, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’; aim at earth and you will get neither.”

 

• It is somewhat difficult to see David at this particular place in his life, wanting to be pleasing in the enemy’s sight. David, here being shown as a man after the wrong hearts, but David will ultimately be known as a man after God’s own heart and in chapter 30, His focus shifts back to the Lord.

 

III. Turn Again to Finding Your Strength in Him

 

1 Samuel 30:1-5, Paraphrase…

 

• Upon being told that he and his men didn’t belong with the enemy army, David and his men headed back to the place that had been assigned to them in enemy territory, Ziklag.

 

• Ziklag in Hebrew means “winding road.” But once David realized that there was nothing there for him on that winding road he had been on for far too long, he knows exactly where to go, and that is back to God.

 

• It was a three-day journey back to Ziklag and when David and his men arrived, they saw that another enemy, the Amalekites had come and burned the city with fire, they had taken captive all the women who were in the city.

 

• Their wives had been taken; their kids had been carried away.

 

1 Samuel 30:4, Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep.

 

• Their families, including David’s family personally, had been taken by another enemy.

 

1 Samuel 30:6, Also, David was in great distress because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters….

 

• David was at the lowest of lows. He we public enemy number one in Israel, so he tried to find success on the other side and realize that it was not the place for him. He had made a home for himself and it was now burned to the ground. His family was gone, and how his mighty men were turning on him.

 

Illus. Where?

 

• But it was at that place and at the time, where it seemed he had nowhere to go, and David knew where to go.

 

• It was a place he had not turned for some time, that is, the place of grace…He turned to God.

 

1 Samuel 30:6(b), But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

 

• The rest of this chapter is going to look much different after that statement.

 

• David seems to be at the lowest point he had ever been in his life up to that point.

 

• But it was at that point, where David’s distance from God, his extremity, turned into God’s opportunity.

 

Illus. In a distant land.

 

At his extremity…a turning…

 

Psalm 34:18, The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

 

Psalm 120:1-2, I cried to the Lord in my trouble, and He answered me. Rescue my soul, Lord, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.

 

Psalm 40:1-2, I waited patiently for the Lord; and He reached down to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud; and He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.

 

• David strengthened himself in the Lord.

 

Illus. Look to Jesus.

 

 

1 Samuel 29:1-30:6