Let us turn to the Word of God
again. Here in 1 Samuel chapter 30.
I want to read verses 6, 7 and 8. 1 Samuel 30, 6, 7 and 8. We're told, And David
was greatly distressed, For the people spake of stoning him,
because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his
sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the
priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought hither the
ephod to David. And David inquired at the Lord,
saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake
them? And He answered him, Pursue,
for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover
all. And in particular those words
at the end of verse 6. David encouraged himself in the
Lord is God. David encouraged himself. The word literally means to be
firm or to be strong. And that strength he found only
in his covenant God. But as we come to consider that
great truth in David's encouragement in his God, I want to set the
words in the context as we have it here. First of all, to say
something with regards to the distress that David finds himself
in at this point, and then to see what his encouragement was,
and then thirdly, how that encouragement leads him to the seeking of God's
face in prayer. That's a three-four division.
that I want to follow this evening. First of all, David's distress. We see that he was greatly distressed
as his men are minded to stone him to death. Or there was much
to cause him to be greatly grieved. In fact, we see previously. When David returns with his men
to Ziglag it was that town that had been allotted to him by his
friend Achish and the Amalekites had come and attacked the town
and they'd killed no one but they'd removed all the women
and the children, all the wives and the sons and the daughters
and a great spoil had been taken away by the Amalekites. Then in verse 3, David and his
men came to the city and behold it was burned with fire and their
wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives.
And then we're told how David and the people with him lifted
up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep.
Oh, this is the situation then, and his men now so greatly grieved,
who is the cause of all their trouble, and they turn against
David, and they want to stone him. And now, this, his men turning
against him in this, in this fashion, compounded all the troubles
that David felt himself to be in the midst of at this time,
we know. that Saul, who was the king of
Israel, was so very much against him. You know, something I'm
sure of the history that's recorded here at the end of 1st Samuel,
the many times that David is fleeing from Saul, Saul full
of jealousy and rage against him, seeking only to kill this
man. There in the opening part of
chapter 19 Saul spake to Jonathan his son and to all his servants
that they should kill David. And so David has to flee from
the presence of the king. He lives that strange life of
fleeing from one place to another. In chapter 20 David fled from
Naoth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, what have I
done? What is my iniquity and what is my sin before thy father
that he seeketh my life? Or Saul was so determined that
he would kill him and David feared that that would be the outcome.
There in that 20th chapter at verse 3 he says to his great
friend Jonathan, Jonathan the son of Saul, but you know of
that great love that there was between these two men, between
David and Jonathan, greater than the love of women it says. How
they were so attached one to the other, what a friendship
it was, a remarkable, nothing improper of course, in that relationship
between these men. But David there in verse 3 of
chapter 20 turns and says to his friend, truly as the Lord
liveth and as thy soul liveth there is but a step between me
and the he knew or he thought he knew that one day Saul would
take his life and we see how this comes out so many times
in the Psalms you know there are those Psalms in which the
title of the Psalms tells us something of the the circumstances
that David was in and circumstances would cause him to write, as
we have it, writing of course under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. For example there in Psalm 54
and other psalms around that particular psalm. But Psalm 54,
a psalm of David, when the Scythians came and said to Saul, Doth not
David hide himself with us? you can read the titles. And
it was these circumstances that caused this man David to write
as he does, this record of his many prayers, his pleadings with
God. The guy there in the 119th Psalm,
in verse 109 he says, my soul is continually in my hand. Oh
how he felt his soul in his hand, it's so vulnerable there. How
many times do we find that we have something in our hands,
maybe, and we're looking for the very thing, we're carrying
it about with us, and we say, where did I put that thing down?
And then all of a sudden we realize it's there. It's a vulnerable
place, our hand. Sometimes we don't hold onto
a thing as we ought, we're prone to what we call accidents, we
drop things. We think, well, we must be careful
with that particular object. And here is David, he feels his
very soul, his life, continually in his hands, so very vulnerable. And there are those times when,
as he is fleeing from Saul, God brings him into situations where
he does have the opportunity maybe to kill his great enemy,
King Saul, but he won't lift a finger against him because
he recognizes that Saul is the anointed of the Lord. See how
he speaks to Saul there in chapter 26? In verse 20 he says, the king of
Israel has come out to seek a flurry as one does hunt a partridge
in the mountains. He feels he's being hunted after
constantly by King Saul. Saul was so very much against
him. And so what does David do ultimately? These are strange things. When
we come to the end of this chapter, we see how he has fled to the
Philistines, the great enemies of Israel. Was it not David who
had brought a great deliverance against the Philistines when
he slew the giant Goliath, the champion of the Philistines?
And yet here is David, in chapter 27. David said in his heart,
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing
better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land
of the Philistines. And Saul shall despair of me,
to seek me any more in any coast of Israel. So shall I escape
out of his hand. And he was right. when he goes
to the Philistines we read subsequently there verse 4 it was told Saul
that David was fled to Gath and he sought no more again for him
and David said unto Achish one of the lords of the Philistines.
If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me
a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why
should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? Then Achish
gave him Zilag that day. Wherefore Zilag pertaineth unto
the kings of Judah unto this day. And the time that David
dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months,
16 months. He dwelt there amongst the Philistines,
safe and secure in that town of Ziglach. But our soul was
against him. But what is the situation now
when we come to the words of our text here in chapter 13?
Not only is his soul against him, But the Philistines are
also against him. The Philistines are gathering
their armies together to fight against the Israelites. That's
the situation that we're introduced to there at the beginning of
the 29th chapter. And David, remember, is dwelling
in one of their towns in Ziglag and in many ways he's a servant to Achish. But then there at
verse 4, chapter 29, the princes of the Philistines were wroth
with him, that is with Achish. And they say to him, make this
fellow return that he may go again to his place which thou
hast appointed him and let him not go down with us to the battle
Lest in the battle he be an adversary to us, for wherewith should he
reconcile himself unto his master? How would he reconcile himself
to Saul, they are saying? Should it not be with the heads
of these men? Is not this David, of whom they
sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands,
and David his ten thousands? Then Achish called David, and
said unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright,
and thy going out, and thy coming in with me in the host, is good
in my sight. For I have not found evil in
thee since the day of thy coming unto me, unto this day. Nevertheless,
the Lord favour thee not. All these Philistines, they don't
want anything to do with him. They want him to be dismissed.
falls against him. And now these Philistines, and
so he is dismissed to his place, he goes back to Zilag, and he
discovers there that the Amalekites are against him. The opening
words of chapter 13. It came to pass when David and
his men were come to Ziglag on the third day that the Amalekites
had invaded the south and Ziglag and smitten Ziglag and burned
it with fire and had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew not any, either great
or small, but carried them away and went on their way. Oh, wherever
David turns, to the left, to the right, whichever way he directs
his gaze, everyone's against him. Swords against him, the
Lord of the Philistines, the Amalekites, and now worst of
all, or worst of all, his own men. His own men turn against
him. And we're taught here in verse
6 how David was greatly distressed. For the people spake of stoning
him. Because the soul of all the people
was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters."
Well, here is David's distress. It's great. It is great, and
you know, oftentimes God's children might be brought into circumstances
not dissimilar to David's. Everything seems to be against
the Christian. Does he not sometimes feel himself
to be like a sparrow alone upon the housetop? Joseph Hartz says,
Lord pity outcasts, violent base, the poor dependents on thy grace
whom men disturb as call from sinner and from saints. Not just the sinners, also the
saints sometimes turn against him. From sinner and from saint
he meets with many a blow. His own sad heart creates him
smart which none but God can know. Oh, that's the Christian. Sometimes you see the Christian
is brought into that place and he's in deep distress. But there we can learn from David
and what a remarkable pattern this man is to us. What does
David do in the midst of all the opposition, all the enemies
that surround him? David, it says, encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. Oh, and what encouragement there
is in this God. Why? He is the God of providence. And providence is a wonderful
thing. Or did we not just sing of that providence of God in
that 70th hymn that we just sang? The pictures, powers of chance
and fortune I define. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to His eye. Or the eye of the Lord, you see,
as we were saying on Thursday. It is upon them that fear Him. It's upon those who are the upright.
It's those who are the justified sinners. God's eye is upon them.
His ear open to their cry. There we see how God's providence
in many ways is so evidently for David. David was prevented
from fighting against Israel. Could he ever have done that?
when the Philistines gathered together all their armies to
Aphek. And the Israelites pitched by
a fountain which is in Jezreel. There's going to be a great battle.
And is not this that awful battle that will ultimately lead to
the death of Saul and of Jonathan. If we read on into the opening
chapters of 2 Samuel, we see that. Would it have been possible for
David really to have gone with those Philistines into the battle? One wonders if David was at this
time deliberately a straggler. Verse 2 of chapter 29, the Lord
of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands,
but David and his men passed on in the rearwards with Achish. That sued David to be at the
back, as it were. Was he deliberately seeking to
be a straggler? But then we see how God works
in his providence. When these other princes, these
lords of the Philistines, come with their objections here in
verses 3 and 4 of chapter 29, What do these Hebrews here, they
say to Achish? But this is all under God's hands.
Remember the words of the wise man in Proverbs. The king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth
it whithersoever he woulds. and that king, that includes
these lords of the Philistines, all their hearts, all their thoughts,
all that men do, even the most ungodly of men. God turns all things by his Providence,
that doesn't make God the author of sin. But let us not lose sight
of the absolute sovereignty of God. All we see it here, God
is at work, and what God is doing is all for the sake of David. He is as the apple of his eye.
His life's minutest circumstance is subject to the eye of his
God. He arises in gladness, and then
we see how subsequently the men do not, they do not stone him,
they speak of it. David encourages himself in his
God, And then David receives this direction that he should
pursue after these Amalekites. And we're told of verse 11, how
as they pursue they find an Egyptian in the field. And they bring
this man to David. He seems to be almost on the
point of death. They give him bread. and water,
a piece of a cake of figs, clusters of raisins, and when he eats,
his spirit comes again to him, and he revives. Now it's interesting. Here they are pursuing after
the Amalekites, and it says in scripture, they found an Egyptian
in the fields. Verse 11. Now the word that we
have here, fields, literally means an open field. on cultivated land. It's really
a wilderness. It's a wilderness that they're
in. And yet, they discover this young
man. And it's God, you see. It's God again directing the
steps of these men. The way of man not in himself,
not in man that walketh to direct his steps, the steps of men,
they're all orders directed by the Lord himself. This young
man had been left by his master to die. But he had not died. He was sick
and doubtless his master couldn't care for him, was not troubled
to minister to him in any way, simply leaves him behind. But he's left there for the purpose
that David and his men might find him in that wilderness. And David says to him, to whom
belongest thou? Whence art thou? And he said,
I'm a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master
left me because three days ago I fell sick. And then he tells
of all that had transpired, how they'd made an invasion into
the south of the Carathites, had gone into Judah, and into
the country of the Philistines, and they'd taken a great spoil,
they'd burned Ziglag with fire and so forth. And David asks,
canst thou bring me down to this company? And it is this young
man who is going to direct David and his men to the Amalekites. And when they arrive, they see
them there eating, drinking, dancing. Because of the great
spoil, they're going to take them completely and utterly by
surprise. Oh, isn't this all the providence
of God? This is the God, you see, that
David encourages himself in. It is that God of providence.
There is a great mystery in the providence of God, we know that.
There are many things to God's dealings that are so unfathomable
to us. Why the very entrance of sin
into creation is a great mystery, and yet, if there'd not been the sin of
our first parents, There'd not been the sin of Adam, there would
not have been the appearance of the last Adam. There'd have
been no great work of redemption to be accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ. How strange! But this is all
the great purpose of God. Constantly being worked out,
even in our day. In this theatre, this wicked
world, God is fulfilling his own great eternal purpose. by the mystery of his providential
dealings. But you know the Puritans didn't
just speak about the mystery of providence, they would also
sometimes acknowledge that at times providence is a soft pillow
to the believer. Oh well, we have to be those
who would be diligent in observing these things, marking these things.
Remember the language that we have there at the end of the
107th Psalm, that great psalm on the theme of providence. Whoso
is wise and will observe these things, says David, even they
shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. Or to be wise, to
be observant of God's ways, His providences. We should be observant
of His Word. Or I take it we read His Word,
we seek to be diligent in the reading of it, we want to understand
it, But we don't just read the Word of God, we compare spiritual
things with spiritual. We take God's Word and we seek
to see how God's Word relates to God's dealings with us. And
as we come to understand something more of the ways of God, we see
that there is much there to encourage us. All those who observe these
things, the psalmist says, they understand the loving kindness.
the loving-kindness of the Lord. That's a great word that we find
oftentimes in the book of Psalms, loving-kindness. And I think
I've said before, probably more than once, that it's a word that
is difficult really to adequately translate into our English. I
like the word loving-kindness, but it also speaks of God's covenant
faithfulness. It speaks of God's grace, the
sovereignty of His grace. There's so much in the word.
It's a word that's rich and full and pregnant with meaning. We
understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Now look at this,
David is encouraging himself. It says, in the Lord is God. And you observe the language. Who is it, this
God? It's the Lord. It's Jehovah. It's the God of the Covenant
that's spoken of at the end of this sixth verse. But it's also
the language of appropriation. It is David's God. It's David's Lord. David knows
his God. because he is known of this God.
Well, here it's not only that he could encourage himself in
God's providence, in spite of all his wanderings in the wilderness
seeking to escape the wrath of King Saul, constantly God was
watching over him. Yes, his life might be continual
in his hand and it might seem at times that there is but a
step between him and death, but God preserves him in his providence.
but he also can encourage himself in the fact that this is the
God of the Covenant. This is the God of the Covenant. Oh, it's not only Providence,
it's Covenant. It's the Covenant that is the
source of his encouragement. And remember, when David comes
to die Then at the end of the second book of Samuel, 2 Samuel
really recounts the days of David's reign. And we come to the end
and we see David, a dying man. And what does he say upon his
deathbed? Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure, This is all my salvation and all my
desire. Although my house be not so with
God, there was much, even when he became king, there was so
much that seemed to turn against him. The behavior of his children
was often a great grief to him. There was the whole business
of Amnon and Tamar. How that wicked man cast his
lustful eye upon his sister, his half-sister Tamar, and forces
himself upon her and then, having had his own way, his wicked way
with her, he despises her, he rejects her. How her brother
Absalom is so angry So what does Absalom
do? It's the honor of his sister
and she was his fourth sister. And Absalom is responsible then
for the death of his brother. And then what happens? Absalom
rebels against his father. Steals the hearts of so many
of the children of Israel. Although my house be not so with
God. all these things were against
me that's what Jacob said Jacob felt all things were against
him often David must have felt the same but no David says although
although my house be not so with God yet he hath made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure although
he make it not to grow although he doesn't make his house to
grow as David would have wished Oh, but His comfort is there
in the covenant. I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, says the Lord God, even the sure mercies of David. All the sure mercies, the loving
kindness, all that pertains to that covenant. Remember our great dear brother
Sidney Norton used to often say, it's all in the covenant. with
regards to the people of God and all that comes into the lives
of God's children, it's all in the Covenant. And this is where
David is encouraging himself. David encouraged himself in the
Lord, that is Jehovah, that is the Great I Am. I am the Lord,
I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. David encourages himself there
and as I said this word, this verb to encourage literally means
to be firm and to be strong. Where is the source of David's
strength? It's not in himself. David's
strength centers altogether in the Lord his God. Isaiah 45, 24, Surely shall one
say, In the Lord's have I righteousness and strength. It's in the Lord. Again, think of the determination
of the Apostle Paul. Well, what does he say there
in Philippians 3? His great desire is determination
to be found in Him. To be found in Christ. Not having
mine own righteousness which is of the Lord, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith. Found in Him. And so here with David we're
told quite clearly it's in the Lord. David encouraged himself
in the Lord. The gods of sovereign providence. The gods of covenant grace. Well, that is encouragement.
And how do we see it all being worked out? How does David encourage
himself in the Lord his God? When he sends for the priests,
Abiathar. I pray thee, he says, bring me
hither the ephod. And he brings the ephods to David
and then what do we read? David enquired of the Lord. David encouraged himself in the
Lord. And not just David encouraged
himself in the Lord, David enquired of the Lord. No good talking
of encouraging ourselves in the Lord if we don't enquire of the
Lord. This is what David does, he prays. David inquired at the
Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake
them? And he answered him, Pursue,
for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover
all. Now we have mentioned in verse
7 then of the priest, Abiath, the Himalayan son, bringing to
David the Ethod. Now what is the Ethod? It's that
mysterious thing that we read of with regards to the breastplate
of the High Priest. You can read it back in Exodus
28. Moses is commanded by God thou
shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the
Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart." The garments
of the high priest spoken of there in that chapter, Exodus
28, and in the breastplates was to be put the Urim and the Thummim.
We don't really know what it was, but this is the ethod that
he's being spoken of. This is where in some strange
and mysterious way they could seek the mind and the will of
God. When in Numbers chapter 27 Moses
is speaking of Joshua who is to be his successor. Look at
what it says. God is giving command to Moses,
the context there, Numbers 27, 18. The Lord said unto Moses,
Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit,
and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar the
priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their
sight. And they shall put some of thine honour upon him, that
all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. And
he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel
for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. At his word shall they go out,
at his word shall they come in, both he and all the children
of Israel with him, even all the congregation." And Moses
did as the Lord commanded him, and so forth. But we have reference,
you see, to Joshua here, as he stands before the priest Eleazar,
they are to ask counsel after the judgment of Urim, the judgment
of Urim and Thummim, the ephod, the ephod. And this is what David is doing here,
in verse 7 of this chapter, this 30th chapter. Now Saul, King
Saul had sought to ask counsel of the Lord, but what does it
say? In verse 6 of chapter 28, When
Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither
by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Why? He had disobeyed
the Lord, and the Lord had turned His face against him. The Lord
would not answer Saul, but the Lord clearly answers David. David inquired of the Lord, and
He answered him, Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them,
and without fail recover all. Oh, here is David. Here is a
man, you see, so favoured of the Lord, he receives an answer
from God to his prayer. Now, I'm sure you pray, or you
try to pray. Sometimes one thinks that's all
one really does, try to pray. They're poor prayers. But are
we those who, when we pray, look for answers, and expect that
God will answer our prayers? This is how David encourages
himself in the Lord. He prays, expecting an answer.
This man is so favoured. He's favoured by God with such
a godly simplicity. Remember, his heart was fixed. This word, encourage, it means
to be firm. His heart is fixed. His heart
is set upon God. That's how we're to pray. we're
to fix our heart there, we're to look to Him and cry to Him
and call upon Him and wait upon Him and to come and cry not just
once but again and again and doesn't God encourage us to pray,
you shall seek me He says and find me when you shall search
after me with all your hearts or if we would encourage ourselves
in the Lord He must be wholehearted seekers after Him And the Lord
encourages us constantly to come in that manner. The Lord Jesus
Christ Himself says, Ask and it shall be given you. Do we
believe that? Ask, it shall be given. Seek
and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened
unto you, says the Lord Jesus. Everyone that asketh receiveth.
He that seeketh findeth. To him that knocketh it shall
be opened. And we read that chapter this
morning 2nd Corinthians chapter 1. What are those promises of
God in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why Paul says they're all yea
and amen to the glory of God. But it's by us. God is glorified
when he answers our prayers. Or we have every encouragement
in God's Word to pray to him. We can come, we can ask. We can
ask the gift of faith or the Lord Jesus is that one that we
are to ask looking on to Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith we can ask the gift of repentance why he has exalted
the Prince and the Saviour he says to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins he tells us we can come and ask
God to give us the Holy Spirit now we need the Holy Spirit if
we are going to have real repentance and true saving faith if she
being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children Christ
says how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask but you ask and you receive not because
you ask and miss that you may consume it upon your lust or
that we might ask and ask like David, encouraging ourselves
in the Lord our God to be firm, to be strong in calling upon
the name of our God. You know God's sovereign providence,
and I spoke of that providence here in the life of David at
this time, sovereign providence does not stultify our prayers because our prayers have a remarkable
place in the outworking of the purpose of God. Now you know
that And certainly a man like Daniel knew that. We have his
prayer there in that ninth chapter of the book of Daniel and what
does he do? Why? He's reading. He's reading there
and it would seem the portion he was reading would have been
in Jeremiah 29. He's there of course in exile in Babylon and Daniel realizes
70 years has now pretty well been accomplished and he reads,
thus saith the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon
I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing
you to return to this place for I know the thoughts that I think
towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give
you an expected end then shall you call upon me and you shall
go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and you shall
seek me and find me when you shall search for me with all
your heart God's Word you see is that that encourages us to
come and to seek and to seek with all the heart I will yet
for this be inquired of, he says, by the house of Israel to do
it for them. I will do it for them. I will
do it, God has said it. But how will God do it? I'll
be inquired of. And this is what David did. He
encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Verse 8, And David inquired
at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake
them? And God answered him, Pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake
them, and without fail recover all. And it was so. Verse 18, David recovered all
that the Amalekites had carried away. And David rescued his two
wives, and there was nothing lacking to them, neither small
nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that
they had taken to them, David recovered all. All this is the
way of our God, what a God is our God. Look at what he says,
we haven't quote those words. I find I do this, I remember
bits of verses, And when I go back and actually look at what's
said, I think, well, I've missed so much because I only remember
part of the verse. And there in the book of the
prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah 45 and verse 19, God says, I said
not unto the seed of Jacob seeking me in vain. He said that. trots off the tongue quite nicely.
Oh, God says not to the seed of Jacob, seeking me in vain.
But look at what else it says. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. How the truth of that promise
is so underlined, underscored. God doesn't just say, I say,
God says, I speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
how we can rest our confidence in the Word of God. We don't
have the ethos, we don't have the Urim and the Thummim, whatever
it was. No, we have that full, final
revelation of God here in Holy Scripture. God has given us His
Word and we're to plead His Word or we're to pray over His Word,
to thicken all our petitions with all those promises that
he has given, to surround him with them, to hold him true to
what he himself has said. Oh God grant us that gracing,
to be like David. David encouraged himself, in
the Lord is God. And David inquired of the Lord
and he answered him. The Lord bless his word to us. Amen.