As the Lord may be pleased to
help us this evening, I would like to draw your prayerful attention
to the chapter we read together, the 30th chapter in the first book
of Samuel. And we'll take as our text the
last clause in verse 6. 1 Samuel, chapter 30. and the last clause in verse
six. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. David lived a very busy life
when he was so keen to start building the temple in the Old
Testament He was told, divinely told, that he was not permitted
to do this. He did much preparation for it,
but he was told by God he had been a man of war from his youth. His son Solomon would have the
responsibility and the privilege of constructing the temple because
he would have a reign of peace. I think by the time David came
to the end of his life, he was physically spent out. I think he works out that he
would have just about made 70 years of age. Many at that time
lived a lot older. But David is recorded as being
a man after God's own heart. Yes, he had his faults, he had
his failings, But look at the wonders of grace that God wrought
in him. And of course, he had the privilege
of forming the royal family of David, descendants of Judah,
of whom the Lord Jesus himself was born. Those words, six months
ago, they were on our tongues, weren't they? unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the
Lord. Now this same David is here heavily involved in battle and
it's a wonderful mercy as we read from the 29th verse that
David who lived at Ziklag and Ziklag was given to him by Achish
That was a place near Beersheba, over to the west side of the,
south of the Dead Sea. And that's where David and his
people lived. But David was prevented from
being involved in the war, the war that saw the close of the
life of King Saul and his son Jonathan. And Jonathan and David
were very close and a God-fearing two young men. And they of course
made this wonderful covenant that in days to come, whatever
should happen, they would care for the offspring. That's why David was concerned A few years
after this event, when he became king, that Mephibosheth, Jonathan's
son, should be cared for. He sent and fetched him. And
he cared for him and restored to him all that had been lost. Now here we have David, who was going to battle again, but In God's wonderful providence,
David was steered away from it and prevented from being involved
in the war that killed Saul, the king of Israel, and of course,
Jonathan, his son. And as we read together, David was advised and he took
the advice And David and his men rose up early in the morning
and departed to return to the land of the Philistines, and
the Philistines went up to Jezreel. And it came to pass when David
and his men came to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites,
the other descendants of Esau, had invaded the south and Ziklag
and smitten Ziklag 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." They came back to Ziklag, and
how sad it was. We have the record of what they
did. And this is again repeated when they found that poor young
man, that young Egyptian in a field who was left to die. But the remarkable bit is that these people who invaded
Ziklag did not take any lives. They took them prisoners, both
great and small. And of course the strategy was
set fire to the houses, the people would come out and then we can
leave the houses to burn while we take our captive people back
with us and we can make money out of them selling them for
slaves. David and his men of course came
to the city and behold it would burn with fire Their wives and
their sons and their daughters were taken captive. Then David
and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and
wept. They must have been absolutely
heartbroken, wasn't they? No wives, no children, no houses. Not only that, where were they?
Where had they taken them to? How were they going to find them? They wept until they had no more
power to weep. Completely exhausted. David's
two wives were taken captive. Yes. David was greatly distressed,
for the people spake of stoning him. Yes, he was supposed to
be the man in charge. No, look what's happened. It's
all gone wrong, they thought, because the soul of the people
was grieved. Every man for his sons and his
daughters. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. There was a time in Exodus when
the people spoke of stoning Moses. Yes, he led them out into the
wilderness and there was no water. What were they to do? Moses was
in trouble. He prayed to the Lord God. that
all God told him to take the staff that's in his hand and
strike the rock, and the water came out. The people drank. Their lives were saved, and that
water sustained them. They drank from the water of
the rock that followed them. What a rich blessing. God does
not leave his people without help. And here we see David greatly
endangered. There are three headings this
evening. Firstly, David was endangered.
Secondly, he was encouraged. And thirdly, he was enriched. David, endangered, was in great
trouble. Not only had all their wives and families been taken,
but the city was burnt. They didn't know where the people
had gone. They got a desperate situation. And David's army were
blaming him, all ready to stone him. They lifted up their voices
and wept until they were exhausted. And David was greatly distressed,
yes, but he was greatly encouraged in the Lord his God. David's faith was in action. Where is our faith when everything
appears to be going wrong? We can look to ourselves, we
can blame people around us, yes, but we have a glorious Heavenly
Father. And that verse in Romans 8 and
verse 28 remains the same. All things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to his purpose. All things, that is a rich mixture
of events that come into our lives and these, this mixture
of things, all things, God is able to work together for good.
It would seem in this case that everything had gone wrong, but
in it, The Lord is at work. David, who was endangered, is
now encouraged 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. The ephod was like a an apron
with a pocket in the front of the priest's garment and in it
were two stones. One was called Urim and the other
one Thummim. And I understand that Urim stood
for curses and Thummim stood for perfection. And God could
make his will known It would seem a mysterious way of doing
things to us. But here, God's instruction was
correct. The thumbing stone was produced
and God's will made known to the priest in this matter. And David inquired at the Lord,
saying, shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake
them? And he answered, pursue. For thou shalt surely overtake
them, and without fail recover all. Without fail recover all. David was the instrument in God's
hand. His work, no, was not in the
battle against Saul and Jonathan. They were involved in the great
fight. No, David was diverted from that have yet another encounter, although he was in
danger, and he'd been in danger for years. At one time, when
he was pursued by King Saul, he said, I shall one day perish
by the hand of Saul. But he didn't, did he? God preserved
him so remarkably time and time again. And here, even when his
own people threatened him, David encouraged himself in the Lord
his God. And the Lord there, notice, is
in capital letters. That is, the Lord God Jehovah,
the God of his people, who was and is and is to come, the Almighty
God. Now to recover all is to redeem,
is to bring back. And so David went, and it's worth noticing, which
has come to my mind. Saul used sorcery as a guide
as to which way he should go and which way he should pursue.
He had a vision of Samuel in one of his misguided attempts to know the
will of the Lord. and the vision of Samuel was
so solemn and frightening. But here, David is encouraging himself
in the Lord his God, that whatever befalls us, whatever difficulties
come into our pathway, our safest answer is to commit it to the
Lord. Commit thy way unto the Lord,
trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. What will he
bring to pass? He will bring to pass his will,
his purpose. Why? Because it's of him and
not of us. Ours is to commit our way unto
the Lord and trust also in him. So David went with his 600 men. They came to a brook called Besaw
and it was seen there that some of the men were so exhausted
They stayed behind with all the equipment that they didn't need
to go forward. And then what happened? He went
with his 600 men. 200 stayed behind. But David pursued, he and the
400 men, for 200 abode behind, which were so faint they could
not go over the Brook Beesaw. Now here we see the working out
of God's provision. And they found an Egyptian in
the field and brought him to David and gave him bread and
he did eat and they made him drink water. This poor young
Egyptian man had been left behind. He told them he'd been taken
ill and they didn't want any passengers, did they, in their
battle. They left him behind, and so
callous they were that if he'd died, he'd be no more problem
to them. But God, who is rich in mercy,
with his great love wherewith he loved us, this God is still
at work. He knew all about that young
man. He was so faint and so exhausted He had nothing to eat for three
days and three nights, or anything to drink even. And they gave him bread, and he did
eat. They made him drink water. And they gave him a piece of
cake of figs and a cluster of raisins. They soon found some
energy food for him. When he had eaten, his spirit
came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any
water three days and three nights. And David said unto him, To whom
belongest thou, and whence art thou? He said, I am a young man
of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me, because
three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the
south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth
to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag
with fire." He openly told them who he came from and what had
happened. They got first-hand information.
He witnessed all that had happened. And David said to him, can't
so bring me down to these people? And you can understand this young
man being completely frightened by this. He would have been a war criminal if his army had
found out what he did. But no, all he wanted was assurance
from David. And he said, swear unto me by
God that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands
of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. It
would seem that this young man believed in God. And so David
assured him, and he brought them down. Behold, they were spread
abroad upon all the land. You can imagine upon a hill,
and they could look down at Vantage Point. And there were all these
people singing and dancing, and they
were spread abroad on the earth, eating and drinking because of
all the great spoil that they had taken out of Ziklag. out of the land of the Philistines
and out of the land of Judah. And then David sprung to action.
David smote them from the twilight until the evening of the next
day. And there escaped not a man of them, save 400 young men who
rode upon camels and fled. They took fright. They went.
So there wasn't so much of an army left there. to oppose David's
invasion. But what happened? Verse 18,
we read, David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken
away, and David rescued his two wives. Can you imagine the rejoicing
as there they were, having overpowered them, that they began to see
whose children were there, sons and daughters and wives and all
their relatives. And as they counted them all
up, yes, everyone was present. They hadn't yet been sold as
slaves and transported elsewhere. No, they got there in time. All these things were in God's
almighty hand. Why? Because David encouraged
himself in the Lord his God. What a comfort. What a blessing. And dear friends, that which
is written aforetime we read in the scriptures was written
for our learning. That we, through patience and comfort in the scriptures,
might have hope. David went with his 400 men,
and that's how they found what was lost. And the attack that Israel encountered
in the promised land when the Amalekites attempted to prevent
the nation of Israel entering into the Promised Land. The same
people were opposing David's army at this time. But this Egyptian young man was
an instrument in God's purposes. and his plea for protection was
quite reasonable. But now we see how David was
encouraged and also enriched because not only did they find
all their families, David recovered all
that the Amalekites had taken away, David rescued his two wives
and there was nothing lacking to them, small or great, neither
sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor anything that they had taken
to them. David recovered all. And David took all the flocks
and the herds which they drove before those other cattle and
said, this is David's spoil. Yes, all these things are recovered. And what a wonderful mercy it
is. that all that is lost in the fall of mankind, and when
we think God created this world in perfection, he gave to Adam
one commandment, there is one tree in the middle of the garden,
and of that tree you shall not eat. I'm sure God gave this One
commandment, because Adam still needed to know, although this
was before sin entered into the world, God gave him that commandment,
that he might have a realization that he is the created and God
is the creator. And Adam had this one commandment
given to him first hand. He obviously passed it on to
Eve, Eve was tempted by the devil
and failed. Surely Adam was right there,
but we don't read any of his intervention whatsoever. And sadly, sin entered into the world,
and death by sin. But God, who is rich in mercy,
with whose great love we're with, he loved us. Even when we were
dead in sins, the sin which does so easily beset us, for all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're born sinners.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world as a saviour of lost souls. You all know the account in Luke
of how the Lord Jesus met with Zacchaeus, who climbed up into
a sycamore tree to see Jesus. And when Jesus passed by, Zacchaeus
was up there looking and he thought, that must be Jesus and all the
people following behind him. Yeah, that fulfilled his ambition
to see Jesus, who he was, not knowing that as he walked past,
Jesus looked up to Zacchaeus and said, Zacchaeus, come down. And Zacchaeus, although his life
of sin, taking money from people that he shouldn't have done,
through the Lord Jesus' wondrous love and compassion and teaching,
Zacchaeus' life was turned round completely. He stood before the
Lord Jesus, he said, the half of my goods I'll give to the
poor, And if I've taken anything by false accusation, I'll restore
fourfold. Zacchaeus' life was completely
turned round. And what a busy job he must have
had in Jericho, paying back all those, that money he'd taken
by false accusation, plus more. Not only that, half of his goods
he would give to the poor. All of Jericho must have known
what had happened to him. Yes, where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound, didn't it? And what happened is so remarkable
because where Adam failed, our Lord Jesus Christ, who came into
the world, succeeded. When the Lord Jesus was hungry
and then driven into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, Every
temptation that he was accused of and tempted by, he turned
to the scriptures. It is written, he said, it is
written, it is written, three times. He stood his ground, he
opposed the devil with the word, the true word of God. And in so doing, As we read, the
devil fled from him and angels came and ministered to the Lord
Jesus. The Lord Jesus uniquely lived a perfect life on this
earth. The fulfillment of the Passover
lamb without blemish. That word came from God himself
and people heard it regarding the Lord Jesus A voice came from
heaven and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear him. The Lord Jesus is perfection. He lived life as life was intended
to be lived. No one before, no one since has
done this. And through this man is brought unto us perfect life. He gave his perfect life to put
away sin. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. The words God gave to John the
Baptist to introduce the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, what are we saved from? We who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're saved from the wrath to
come. Everyone will have to appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. What a blessing it is that we
have those words, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses
us from all sin. And to those who are rescued,
everything that is brought back and retrieved and redeemed, because
our Lord Jesus is a Redeemer, is the greatest blessing any
of us can know while here on this earth. David pursued and achieved his
work to redeem and bring back all that was lost. The Lord Jesus,
in a far greater way, gave his life, a ransom for many, and
he has paid the price for sin. He gave his life, a ransom for
many, we read, and when he had by himself purged our sin, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. That word recovered all is a
remarkable statement, isn't it? And it's worth noticing that
when David came back with all this spoil and the treasures
that they'd gained from this battle, we read, David came to Ziklag and he sent
of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends,
saying, behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies
of the Lord. To them which were in Bethel,
to them which were in Bethel, the priority of the gift went
to Bethel, the house of God. O God of Bethel, by whose hand
thy people still are fed, and through this weary wilderness,
as all our fathers led, the priority The priority of the gains from
this battle went to Bethel, the house of God, the place where
the Ark was, telling us of the presence of God. And what a blessing
it is if our heart, mind and soul is centred on these wonderful
truths of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his life for ransom
for many, And all these various beneficiaries are listed, but
it's noticeable that at the top of the list is Bethel, the house
of God. And therefore, as we consider these things,
and that our dear Saviour has finished the work that He came
to do, and he is the Redeemer, he is also our refuge. That refuge for sinners which
the gospel makes known and is found in the merits of Jesus
alone. The weary, the tempted, the burdened
by sin were never exempted from entering their inn. What a refuge
this is. David, who at the beginning of
this account in the scriptures was in danger, He encouraged
himself in the Lord his God, and then, not long after this,
established as the King of Israel, he was enriched. Why? Because
he had tasted that the Lord was gracious. Oh, that we would more
often put our trust in the Lord our God, who is the Redeemer
and Salvation. all who put their trust in him. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. May the Lord bless his word to
us this evening. Amen.