If you will, let's turn tonight
to 1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel chapter 30. I emphasized last time when we
looked at chapter 29 God's goodness and mercy as it was there displayed
in the life of David. You remember he closed that 23rd
Psalm with those words, surely goodness and mercy shall follow
me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. And we saw how that God's goodness
and mercy followed David at this particular time in his life,
how that God delivered him from going to fight, going to battle
against his own people, that is, the nation of Israel. God
delivered him, God's goodness and mercy delivered him from
fighting against a people over whom he had been chosen and destined
by God to be king. The hearts, how did God deliver
him? We saw how that the hearts of
the lords of the Philistines, as the scripture says, the heart
of the king is in the hand of the Lord, As the water brooks,
he turneth it whithersoever he will. So God turned the hearts
of those four lords of the Philistines, and they decided they did not
want David to go with them into battle. Remember, one of those
lords, there were five lords of the Philistines, and one of
those lords, by the name of Achish, David lived in his territory,
and he had brought David along. But when the other Lord saw him
and his men with the army, they said, no, we can't trust him
to go with us. And that was a great deliverance
for David, there's no doubt about it. And we looked, I tried to
emphasize that God's goodness and mercy. Because every child
of God, it was true in David's life, and it's true in your life
if you are one of his children. And you recognize that tonight
and as you live through this world, the longer you live here,
the more it becomes apparent to you. God's goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life. Someone one time
reckoned those goodness and mercy to two dogs, two dogs that were
always on the trail. of a believer, always on the
trail, always guarding, always keeping the believer. Goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall
dwell in the house of the Lord forever, for long days. Now tonight, I want to emphasize
especially God's faithfulness. Last week, God's goodness and
mercy to his children, to his chosen people. But tonight, I
want us to think especially and see here God's faithfulness to
his people. Our God is a faithful God. He
is a faithful God. One of the few things the scripture
tell us that he cannot do. He cannot lie. He cannot change. He's faithful. He is the truth. He is the truth. Well, let's
look tonight. I have three points to the message.
First of all, David returns home to great distress. He was dismissed,
him and his 600 men. They were dismissed from the
army of the Philistines. And the first thing we see in
this chapter is that he returned home to great distress. And 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 Zilag and smitten Zilag 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. So 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. Then David and the
people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until
they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken
captives, Ahinah and the Jezreelites, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal
the Carmelite. and David was greatly distressed. David and his men, they returned
home to Ziglag to great distress. They had left their families
here when they, he and his men had gone out to fight. They had
left their families unprotected. They had left their families
unprotected just assuming that no one would dare attacked them. Now, I could not help but think
as I looked at this of God's promise and the law about keeping
the families of the men who went to worship. If you look back
over to Exodus chapter 34, just a moment, what a beautiful picture
we have here of God's power over all men and women. Not just the
heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord, but the heart of
all men is in the hand of the Lord. And he worketh all things,
the scripture says, after the counsel of his own will. That is the God of the Bible.
And here in giving of the law, God commanded that three times
every year, every male Israelite had to leave their homes and
go to the place, when he gave the law, to the place where he
would put his name. Now we know once they came into
the land, it wasn't long before God chose the place, that is,
Jerusalem. But God commanded here, if you
look in Exodus chapter 34 and verse 23, thrice in the year
shall all your men, children, appear before the Lord God, the
God of Israel. for I will cast out the nations
before thee and enlarge thy borders. Now watch this. Neither shall
any man desire thy land when thou shalt go up to appear before
the Lord thy God thrice in the year. You can just see these
nations around Israel and it wouldn't be long before they
would learn that a certain period every year, three times every
year, the men left their families and went to wherever God would
place his name, eventually Jerusalem, to worship, leave their families
unprotected. But God promised them, God promised
them, when they left and came to worship him, that no man would
desire their land, no man would desire their property. But back
in our text now, 1 Samuel 30, this didn't apply at this time
to David and his men. Why? They were not in the land
of Israel. They didn't go up to Jerusalem
to worship. They left to go to battle. Now that begs the question, of
course, why were they in this strange land? It was because
of unbelief and fear. That's the reason. I mean, when
you search it down to the bottom, that's the answer. It was because
on David's part, he was afraid and he was unbelieving. You say,
well, wasn't he a believer? Yes, he was a believer. Aren't
you a believer? If you are, you're never guilty.
I'm never guilty of unbelief. Aren't we all like that man in
the gospels when the Lord said, if thou canst believe, all things
are possible unto him that believeth? And he said, I do believe. Help
thou mine unbelief. At the same time, look back to
1 Samuel 27. We saw this a few weeks ago.
We see why it was that David, along with his men, were in this
strange land, the land of the enemies of Israel, the enemies
of the nation of Israel. They were among the Philistines.
And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by
the hand of Saul. What is that? That's unbelief,
isn't it? You know that. That's unbelief. There's no way he's going to
perish. He's been anointed to be king. God's word's not going
to fall to the ground. When God says something's going
to happen, it's going to happen. God's faithful. God cannot lie. God cannot change. God's purpose
is established. And he does all his purpose,
the scripture says. But David at this time, out of
fear of Saul, David said in his heart, I shall now perish one
day by the hand of Saul. Now notice, there's nothing better
for me to do. Oh yes, there was. There was
something better. There was something better, David,
for you to do. But he thought because of fear
and unbelief, the fear of man and unbelief, there's 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 anymore
in any coast of Israel. So shall I escape out of his
hand. Why was David and his men in
this land because of fear and unbelief. Now, what we read here
tonight, the distress that they returned to, who can even begin
to imagine? The scripture says they wept
until they could weep no more. These were warriors. These were strong, sturdy, courageous
men. Wielded a sword. They knew what
it was to go to battle. But I tell you, when they came
home and all their wives and their children were gone, their
houses had been burned, the city was burned, they began to weep. They began to weep because of
the distress of losing all of their loved ones as they had.
And by the way, they were taken. All their loved ones were taken
by those that God, remember, had commanded Saul to slaughter,
to take out of the land, the Amalekites. They were the ones
who had come and invaded Ziglag. And we saw here that some spoke
of stoning David. And notice that it says, in verse
six, 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. Some of the men spoke of stoning
him. And if you look down to verse
22 in this chapter, these men that spoke of stoning him had
to be this group that are described here in verse 22. Then answered
all the wicked men, These are part of his army. Then answered
all the wicked men and men of Belial, that is the devil. No doubt they're the ones who
especially began to speak of stoning him. Thinking of God's
faithfulness, we know what David, you and I tonight, we know what
David and his men didn't at that point, At that point, to where
we've read here, we know tonight what they didn't know. We know. We know what they didn't know.
All of their wives and all of their children were alive. They
didn't know that. We know that, don't we? They
didn't know it. We know that all their children,
their wives and children, are alive and will be recovered Soon,
in God's providence, they'll all be returned. These families
would all be reunited again. David, as I said, was a believer. He was one of God's children.
And what we will see now is how all things, as the scripture
says, concerning every believer, every child of God, for we know
that all things work together for good to them who love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. We know that's
true because God's faithful and God has all power. And we're going to see now how
all things began to work together for David's good. Let's read
on, the last part of verse six there, we see David encourages
himself in the Lord his God. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. Now, there's something that must
be recognized and we must not pass over this. I'm going to
name some truths in just a minute which David no doubt thought
about and used to encourage himself in the Lord. But first, there
had to be repentance on David's part. You just can't read over
this and think, well, he just sat down and started encouraging
himself in the Lord. There had to be repentance on
his part, first of all. Repentance for what? Repentance
for unbelief. We saw that. That's what took
him in to the land of the Philistines. He could not encourage himself
without, at first, repentance toward God. He had to recognize. I was reading in Leviticus chapter
30, I believe it was, or 29 this morning, that When God told Israel,
the nation of Israel, what would happen to them if they disobeyed
him, how he'd bring one chastisement on them. If that didn't correct
him, he'd bring another chastisement and so forth and so on. But when
they finally turned to the Lord, these three things would happen.
First of all, they would confess. They would confess their sin.
And no doubt, before David ever begins to encourage himself in
the Lord, first of all, he confesses, I've sinned. I've sinned. I'm guilty of unbelief. Number two, humbling oneself. A person humbles himself before
the Lord. And number three, recognizing
that God's justice, his chastisement, is well deserved. That's what
this was. This was David, God rather correcting
David for his unbelief. That's what this whole thing
was. He had to recognize and confess
his unbelief that had brought him among the enemies of God's
people. If David had encouraged himself
in the Lord, his God, now think about this. Notice it says, read
that verse again, verse six. 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. What if, I know there are not
any ifs with God, but let me just ask this, what if David
had encouraged himself in the Lord his God and sought the Lord's
direction back there in that verse in 1st Samuel 27 when he
said, I can do nothing better. Oh yeah, this is something better
here. This is something much better,
David, than going into the land of the Philistines. You can encourage
yourself in the Lord your God. What if he had done that? if
he had sought God's direction through the priest. The Lord
was the same. God hadn't changed. And the priest
with his ephod was there with him at that time also. He could
have sought God's direction, but he didn't do it. And I don't,
I'm not trying to disparage David. He was a great man of God, but
he was a man. After everything said and done,
he was a man, just like you and I. And we learn from these lessons. That's the reason they're recorded
for us, to learn. If he had first sought the Lord
and encouraged himself in the Lord, he never would have gone
among the Philistines. But first we see here his need
to confess his sin, to acknowledge his sin and ask God's forgiveness. it would be time now to encourage
himself in the Lord his God. Now, what do you think he thought
about? What do you think he rehearsed
in his mind, truths that he knew about God, to encourage himself
in the Lord? Well, look at Psalm 130, just
a moment. I think, we don't know when he
wrote the Psalms, the times, but surely, If this psalm had
already been written, this would have been one that he may have
turned to to encourage himself in the Lord his God. Verse one, out of the depths,
Psalms 130, out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. What depths? Well, we're not
told, are we? And there's a reason for that.
Why? no matter what depth you may
find yourself in. If it's the depth of sin, whatever
depth it may be in, this word is to you, it's to me. Out of
the depths I cried unto thee. O Lord, Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. Now notice this. If thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, Oh Lord, who shall stand? In other words, if there's not
forgiveness with thee, if you keep track, got a record up there
in heaven, you know that's one sin, that's one sin, that's five,
you know, that's 10, that's 20. Lord, if thou shouldest mark
iniquities, who could stand? Who would stand before thee?
We're all guilty of so many. Many that we don't even recognize. Oh, no. But notice that next
verse. But there is forgiveness with
thee. Aren't you thankful tonight?
There's forgiveness with thee. Why? That thou mightest be feared. In other words, that thou mightest
be reverenced and worshiped. There's forgiveness with thee.
That may have been a place he used to encourage himself in
the Lord. Surely he would think about the
covenant, that covenant of peace we read about earlier in Isaiah
chapter 54, that covenant of peace that God made before the
foundation of the world. And you know, at the end of his
life, that certainly was a great encouragement to him, wasn't
it? When he said, although my house be not so with God. Yet
he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire. And then I
thought he might have encouraged himself in the Lord, remembering
that all That oil that Samuel poured on his head, anointing
him at God's command. Samuel didn't just decide one
day, I think I'm going to anoint one of Jesse's sons. No, God
sent him there and David knew that. Remember how when Samuel
came to the house of Jesse, the oldest son, he was such a nice
looking young man and Samuel thought, that's him. No, that's
not him. He ran six sons through, right? And the Lord kept telling the
prophet, no, that's not him. Are these all your sons? Well,
there's one out there keeping the sheep. Bring him in. Bring
him in. That was David, right? David
knew that he had been called in and Samuel had taken that
horn of oil and poured it on his head, anointing him to be
the king. He knew that Samuel was God's
man and he'd been annoyed. There's so many things that he
may have used to encourage himself in the Lord, but think about
this. You and I, tonight, we have so
many more promises than David had. You look at the Bible. How
much of this Bible we're reading here, this hadn't been written
yet. I mean, is this all he had? The law? Joshua? Judges? Book of Ruth, maybe? Look what all we have. He hath
given unto us great and exceeding great and precious promises,
the apostle Peter tells us. How much more of the promises
of the word of God do you and I have when we get down in the
dumps, get discouraged and somewhat depressed, maybe? to encourage
ourselves in the Lord with the word of God, right? With the
word of God. All right, here's the last thing. David seeks the Lord's direction
in verses seven and eight. He seeks the Lord's direction. He calls for the priest, the
high priest. David said unto Abathar the priest,
Elimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And
Abathar 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 notice, and thou shalt
recover. And without fail, recover all.
He answered him, he asked, shall I pursue? He asked, pursue. And he even told him more, right?
You're going to recover all. You're going to recover all. What a blessing did Israel have
with the cloud and the pillar of fire above them as they traveled
through the wilderness to direct them. We too have promises of
God's direction as we walk through this world, this wilderness world. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths. Now hurriedly, let's see David's faithful God
goes before him. We see how God made all these
things that I'm going to mention in these next verses. Eight things,
all these things, how they all work together for good. Not one of them by itself. See,
that's the thing about that promise. You have something happen in
your life and you say, well, how could this be for my good?
It's part of the all things. It's not just that one thing.
It's part of the all things that God uses. God works together
for your good. And what I see here, I won't
read this, but let me just mention this. First of all, the Egyptian
slave falls sick. There was an Egyptian slave among
the Amalekites, and he turns up sick. That's the first thing.
The second thing, this slave had such a cruel master, he just
left him. He just left him there to die.
Three days without food or water. What a cruel man that was. The third thing, when David's
men found him, now here's a man who took part in taking away
our wives and our children. It's a miracle they didn't kill
him. He was still alive. It's a miracle
David's men didn't kill that man when they found him. No,
they didn't kill him. They gave him some food and God
revived him. God kept him alive and God revived
him. And that man was able, that's
the fifth thing, that man was able to lead David and his army
to where these Amalekites were who had taken his wife and his
children. And the sixth thing, here the
Amalekites were, foolishly celebrating, dancing, dancing and celebrating,
no watchman, And David's army comes upon him. And David's small
army, there's only 400 soldiers now. 200 had been too tired to
continue, remember. 400 of these Amalekites escaped,
the scripture tells us here. So that had to be a large army. But here David and his men defeat
this large army. And two times, if you look down
in verses 18 and 19, two times we read that David
recovered all. Verse 18, and David recovered
all. that the Amalekites had carried
away. Verse 19, 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. Now the title of my message is
David's Faithful God. But those of us here tonight
who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we may say, my faithful God,
my faithful God. He is not only full of goodness
and mercy, but he's also faithful, faithful to his word, faithful
to his promises, faithful to his people. May the Lord bless
these thoughts to us here this evening.