Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. It is on the second page of your
hymn sheets. 2 Samuel, 2nd book of Samuel
chapter 5, and just reading the last part from verse 17 to 25.
Now this is the time The king Saul had just been slain
by the Philistines, but David then had been made king, and
as soon as he was made king in Hebron, then it was that the
Philistines came up, not just once, but twice against him and
that is what we are going to read now of these two occasions
that the philistines came up and how david responded and how
he prayed to the lord at these times and how the lord answered
him from verse 17 But when the Philistines heard that they had
anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to
seek David, and David heard of it and went down to the hold. The Philistines also came and
spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired
of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? Wilt thou
deliver them into mine hand? And the Lord said unto David,
Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. And David came to Baal-perazim,
and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth
upon mine enemies before me. as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name
of that place Baal-perazim, and there they left their images,
and David and his men burned them. And the Philistines came
up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And
when David inquired of the Lord, he said, Thou shalt not go up,
but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against
the mulberry trees. And let it be, when thou hearest
the sound of a going, in the tops of the mulberry trees, that
then thou shalt bestir thyself, for then shall the Lord go out
before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.' And David
did so, as the Lord had commanded him, and smote the Philistines
from Geba until they had come to Gaza. Now I put the text as verse 24
where God had said that where he was to be under the mulberry
trees that when he heard a sound or a rustling of the wind rustling
in those trees Then he was to rise up and go out and smite
the Philistines. I want to consider especially
prayer this morning. Prayer in the face of the enemies
of the people of God. Right through the Word of God,
it is very evident that God's people do have enemies, your
adversary, the devil. But the children of Israel, right
from the very start, Moses leading them through the wilderness,
had enemies. Then came Amalek, And of course,
in Israel, the Philistines were an enemy that came up again and
again against Israel. God's people will have, do have,
enemies. Literally, people, they will
have those that the Lord said, I have given them thy word and
the world hath hated them. But we have the enemies of the
world, the flesh and the devil, our own wicked heart, the devil
and the world itself. But it's how we deal with those
enemies, how we deal with that opposition. David might have
thought, well, The Lord has anointed me king. If I'm rightly king,
everything will go smoothly. There won't be any opposition.
There won't be any trouble. How many times, like Nehemiah
coming back from captivity in Babylon, that they proved, though
they were doing the Lord's work in the right way, they still
had those that opposed them. I say to you, don't judge that
you're not a child of God because you have enemies, because you
have those that may oppose you, or because you have so much trouble
with your own sin and wicked heart. with so much temptation
from Satan, or from the pull and drawing of the world as well. Don't take that as a sign that
you're not one of God's children. David did not take it as a sign
that he was not anointed and that he shouldn't be king, but
it's how he dealt with that. And the thing that he did, he
took it to the Lord in prayer. He asked how to deal with this
opposition with the enemy, the Philistines. Now do you, do I
ask the Lord, how shall we deal with this problem, with this
enemy, with this opposition? David asked two things. He asked,
shall I go up, and will thou deliver them into mine hand? Two things in that first instance. And the Lord said to him that
it was to be in this place very direct. He was to go up, and
he would deliver them into his hand. And he did. a conquest,
a deliverance. You and I might be able to look
back over our lives and find many deliverances, many times. The Lord has answered our prayers,
saved us from our enemies, saved us from our sins, saved us from
those that oppose us, and we're blessed and thank the Lord for
it. But then we read that the Philistines
came up yet again. How much of that is a pattern
in your life and mine that we've had the same enemies? We thought
we dealt with them. We thought the Lord had overcome
them. We thought those lusts shouldn't
rise anymore. those fits of anger or jealousy
or hatred, that they were put to bed, that they were dealt
with, but they rise up again. And you think, how is that so? And the temptation might be to
say, well, I asked the Lord once on this, I don't need to ask
what I should do this time, we'll just do what we did last time. David could have said, it's the
same enemies, the Philistines. He could have said, it's the
same valley, it's still Rephaim. So why do I need to ask the Lord
this time? But he did. What a reminder to
always pray, not to just assume, because this problem, because
this trial, because this enemy, is the same as last time, that
the way of dealing with it will be the same. Right through Scripture
there's many things that are the same, but God will have His
people deal with them in different ways. Sometimes it was the miracles
the Lord did upon people. Sometimes He said to them, go
home to thy friends and tell what things God hath done for
thee. Other times He said, tell no
man. And you think, why the difference?
God knows the difference, why it should be so. Why should it
be so with Elijah on Mount Carmel that he prays once and the fire
comes down from heaven, but when it comes to praying and asking
for rain, he must say go again seven times before he gets his
answer. A difference, the same God. Sometimes
the same problems, the same need for the Lord to appear, but different
ways. But every time one thing is the
same, pray, pray. Pray as often as there is troubles
and trials and opposition, pray. How our Lord taught them to continue
in prayer, and to not give up in asking the Lord and listening
what He'd have us to do. With a second time, God gave
a different answer. David in this time was not going
to do a direct approach, but God gave him a place where he
was to wait. It was opposite the Philistines,
but it was near these mulberry trees. God was going to give
him a sign when he should rise up and fight against the Philistines,
but he had to be near the mulberry trees, otherwise he could not
have heard the rustling. In one sense, God has, when he
would direct his people a place, sometimes where they must wait,
and the prayer that is given, there's not an immediate answer,
do this, do that, but wait, and wait here in this place, in David's
case, wait near the mulberry trees, and wait until you hear
my voice to go forward. The places where God's children
especially are to wait, apart from the places it may be in
Providence, or a place of worship, or a home, where they are to
stay for a while until God moves them on, but we are to wait at
the place of prayer, we are to wait in reading the Word of God,
we are to wait upon the ministry of the Word, hearing the ministry
of the Word preached, And when the Lord will have us to know
when to act and move, He will speak to us through prayer, through
the Word, or through the preaching of the Word. We cannot expect
to receive direction and guidance from the Lord if we separate
ourselves from the Word, or from prayer, or from hearing the Word
preached. The Lord has appointed those
means of speaking to His people through the Word of God. And so we have, when that time
is given, when the sign is given, the hearing in the tops of the
mulberry trees, then they are to act. There's a time to sit
still, There's a time to act, there's a time for the children
of Israel to wait at the Red Sea, there's a time when Moses
said that they must then go forward, there's a time for David to wait
under the mulberry trees, there's a time for him to rise up and
act. The Lord help you to continue
in prayer, wait upon the Lord, and seek his direction. I will
instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. David was a man after God's own
heart. This is the inspired word of
God. The message this morning, pray
always, don't be discouraged through enemy's opposition and
wait for the Lord's direction. May the Lord bless the word to
you and to me as well.