Let's open our Bibles together
to 2 Samuel 21. 2 Samuel 21. It's been a blessing
to follow the life of David and to see the struggles that
God sent him and to be able to identify with those things in
the struggles that the Lord sends us. If we compare what David
experienced with his conflicts with Saul, with Absalom, with
Sheba and all of the internal struggles that he had trying
to establish his kingdom. We can see ourselves in those
things. The struggle that we have living
in a world that we don't belong in. The struggle that we have
living in a body that we don't agree with. The struggles of
the spiritual conflicts that we have with the very devil himself,
the accuser of the brethren and how the Lord gave to David victory
in each one of those conflicts. David's throne has now been firmly
established. All of the civil unrest and rebellion
seeking to overthrow his power has been put down. And chapter
21 of 2 Samuel, God sends a famine. A famine. The windows of heaven
have been shut. It's not rained for three years. The crops have failed. The people
are starving and dying. And I ask you what I asked myself,
what's worse? What's worse? The conflicts that
we experience daily as believers in this world, typified by David's
struggle with his kingdom, or a famine. Speaking for myself, I can say
the latter is much worse. And whether it be year after
year for three years as it was with David or whether it be for
three days or three weeks or three months, however long, the worst thing that we can experience
is a spiritual famine, is for God to leave us to ourselves.
And this message is so much in line with the text we looked
at this morning in the first hour from John chapter six, where
the Lord multiplied the globes and the fishes to feed the multitude. Our need is to be fed from heaven. When God withholds the rain and
the heavens are shut and the very sustenance of life, the
bread of life that feeds our soul, the Lord Jesus himself
seems so distant. And we find ourselves like that
prodigal eating the husk that the swine do eat. and finding
for our sustenance nothing but fleshly pleasures and fleshly
means. What are the signs of a spiritual
famine? Is it not coldness of heart toward
God? Is it not a lack of love? a critical spirit murmuring the dominion of sin, sin that seems to have a hold
that cannot be broken, the signs of a spiritual famine,
lack of prayer, indifference to worship, Scriptures that are silent, lack
of peace, comfort, and joy. Spiritual famine is experienced
whenever we have the form of worship without the Spirit of
God. Lord, spare us. And might we do what David did and the title
of this message is what to do when God sends a famine what
to do when God sends a famine might we do what David does did
not after three years but much sooner than that the first signs of hunger the
first evidences of a cold heart and an indifferent spirit and
a complaining critical heart might we find ourselves seeking
the Lord as David did and having the Lord open those windows of
heaven. 1 Samuel chapter 21, then there
was a famine in the days of David, three years, year after year. And David inquired of the Lord
and the Lord answered, it is for Saul. and for his bloody house, because
he slew the Gibeonites." If we go back to the time when
Saul's rage and jealousy against David were being fulfilled by Saul, in the
slaughter of anyone that gave David refuge. Once it was brought on by a man
named Doag, in another place it was the slaughter of the Gibeonites. Saul shed blood out of jealousy
toward David. If he thought that you were giving
David refuge or that you were providing for him, that you were
siding with David in any way, Saul would send his army and
destroy you. But here God singles out the
Gibeonites. Who were these Gibeonites? To
find out who they were, and it's important for us to know who
they were in order for us to understand this, this passage
of scripture, we have to go back 400 years, 400 years before David. When Joshua brought the children
of Israel, Moses has just died. Joshua brings the children of
Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land. And God
gives a sound defeat to Jericho. And then they go up against Ai.
and find out that Achan had sinned and God defeated. They weren't
able to defeat Ai because of the sin of Achan. Now that gets
settled. And the children of Israel are
on their way of doing what God had commanded them to do. Clear
out the land. Kill everyone that possesses
this land. I've given it to you. And in Joshua chapter six, I
think it's chapter six, there's a group of men that hear
about all of the things that the God of Israel had done, not
only in Egypt, but all throughout the next 40 years and the wilderness
coming into the promised land. They heard that these Israelites
are not to be fought with. And so they dress themselves
up in old garments, they carried with them old moldy bread, and
they approached Joshua and told Joshua that they were from a
far country, but that they wanted Joshua to make a covenant with
them make a league with them, a vow with them that they would
not destroy them. And the scripture says that Joshua
did not consult with the Lord. He believed them. He believed
that they were from a far country and he made a covenant with them
not to destroy them. Come to find out. they actually
inhabited a small town called Gibeah. And they're called the
Gibeonites. And they lived right there in
Israel among the people of Israel. But as a result of that covenant
that Joshua had made 400 years ago, the children of Israel made
these Gibeonites slaves. They could not kill them because
of the covenant that Joshua had made, but they made them slaves.
The scripture says that they were hewers of wood and carriers
of water. They were the lowest slaves. These were the ones that Saul
killed because he thought that they were harboring refuge for
David. And now God says to David, because
of what Saul did to the Gibeonites who you had a covenant with,
therefore I have sent this plague, this famine, into the land." Now that story is important because of what the Gibeonites required of David in order for
atonement to be made, in order for the famine to be stopped.
What do we do when God sends a famine? Well, the first and most important
thing is to recognize that there's a famine. Sadly, because of the hardness
of our hearts, sadly because of how prone we are to sleep
and to slumber. Sadly, oftentimes we're like
the frog in the kettle. We've gone a long time in a famine
and it's become very gradual and we've not really seen how
serious the problem is. In order for us to know what
to do in the time of a famine, we have to realize that we're
in a famine. Malnutrition, starvation, and
death of the body in a physical famine are easy to be recognized. We've seen pictures of it on
our televisions in places like Sudan and Ethiopia. where millions
of people are suffering physical famine, those things are easy
to see. But to acknowledge spiritual
famine, just as a person has to be physically alive in order
to experience the symptoms of physical famine, so a person
has to be spiritually alive in order to suffer the symptoms
of spiritual famine. Turn with me to Amos, Amos chapter
8. Amos chapter 8, verse 11. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a
thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they
shall wander from sea to sea and from north even to the east,
They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and
shall not find it. The worst famine of all often
comes when things physically speaking are the opposite of
a famine. When there's great health, wealth,
and prosperity, when men are, as the scripture says, at ease
in Zion, when we are fat and happy and everything's going
well and we have no real physical
needs and consequently we lose sight of our spiritual needs. That's the worst famine of all. And the greatest fear that every
child of God has is that the Lord would leave them to themselves. That they would be left to spiritually
starve and not know it. Surely there's a famine. in our
land, not a famine of bread or of water, plenty of that, but
a famine of hearing the word of God. Lord, don't let me, don't let
me not be able to hear. Lord, open the eyes of my understanding. Open my ears. Lord, meet with
us. Lord, open that which only you
can open. Break open the word of God. Break
open the bread of life. Break open the windows of heaven.
Lord, feed my soul. That's what I need. I need to
be fed. We've all experienced enough
of the symptoms of spiritual famine. to know what they are. Notice in our text, go back with
me if you will, in verse one, that this famine
lasted year after year for three years before David seeks the
Lord. David, why'd you wait three years? Well, David's probably doing
what you and I would do. He probably gave instructions
to his leaders to ration the remains of the food. We can last
a little bit longer. He probably gave some instructions
to his engineers to dig some channels, some irrigation ditches
from the supply of water, maybe we can get water to these fields. He probably gave instructions,
well, let's put out the seed one more time, one more time,
let's just try it one more time, maybe we can fix this problem.
Why do we wait? Why is it that we can experience
spiritual famine and not be alarmed by it? And oftentimes we think, well,
I'll just stir up a little more religious activity and perhaps
that'll help. Notice what David does. Finally,
after three years, David inquired of the Lord. Oh Lord, give us
the grace to do that after three hours. Three days at most, three
weeks, don't let us go three years. Lord, let me feel. Let me feel
the hunger pains of malnutrition so that I'm brought by your spirit
to seek the Lord. What to do in the time of famine? Not to try to fix the problem
with all these other devices or not to be lulled into a into
a spiritual stupor and sleep, but rather to be awakened and
to ask the Lord. Turn with me to Jeremiah 29.
Jeremiah 29. Now the Lord is, telling Jeremiah the prophet
how long their Babylonian bondage is going to last. And after 70
years, when it's been accomplished, what God had purposed in the
children of Israel being in Babylon, then he says to them in verse 10,
for 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 toward 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." 70 years they were in Babylon. before
their hearts were turned to seek the Lord. Three years David experienced
famine in Israel before he sought the Lord. But here's the point,
however long the famine is, however long the bondage is, the only
way this famine is gonna be broken, the only way this bondage is
gonna be set free from this bondage is to have our hearts turned
toward the Lord. Verse 13, and you shall seek
me and find me when you shall search for me with all of your
heart. Lord, I can't live this way any
longer. I can't be in this famine. I'm too hungry. Lord, I need
for you to speak to me. I need for you to save me. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
55. Isaiah chapter 55, look with me at verse 6. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Grace is never anything to be
presumed on. We cannot say, well, I'll take care of that later.
The Lord never tells us to go home and think about it. He never
tells us to wait until things are just right. No, the command
is to come. Now is the accepted time. Today
is the day of salvation. Come just like you are right
now. That's how we seek the Lord.
Thinking that we've gotten put it off and that God's going to
be gracious again to speak to us at a future date is presumable
upon grace. Lord, I've got to have this famine
broken. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord
and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly
pardon. It's possible to cover up spiritual
famines with a lot of good activity. I mentioned Mary and Martha earlier. Mary was feasting at the feet
of Christ, feeding her soul with the word of life. Martha was
doing a lot of good things. She was experiencing a famine
and didn't even know it because she was so involved in her activities. Go back with me to our text. David sought the Lord and wanted
to know what the reason for this famine was. David knew that it
came for a reason, that God never did anything without a reason.
without a purpose. And the Lord reveals to David
that it was because of the blood that Saul had shed. Sin is always the root cause
of our famine, is it not? Always the root cause. When the Lord spoke to those
churches, the seven churches, of Asia Minor in Revelation chapter
two and three, only two of those churches were commended. The Church of Philadelphia and
the Church of Smyrna were the only ones that weren't rebuked.
The other five churches were all rebuked and the Lord warned
them. And he said, you know, you have
He told the church at Sardis, you have a name that you're alive
but you're dead. He told the church at Laodicea,
you think that you're rich and increased in goods and in need
of nothing but you don't know that you're miserable and poor
and wicked. These were gospel churches that
had fallen into a spiritual slumber. These were believers and the
Lord told them that to repent, the Lord was gonna take their
candle off the candlestick. That's my greatest fear for my
life and for our church. Lord, don't leave us to ourselves. Don't let us, we've tasted, as
I said, the symptoms of spiritual famine enough to know that, Lord,
I can't live there. What do we do in the time of
spiritual famine? We seek the Lord. And you can
be sure that when the Lord saw it, he's going to reveal the
problem. And what a blessing it is. What
a blessing it is. When the Lord says to you and
to me, thou art the man. What a blessing it is when the
Lord lays at our feet the fault of the famine. Because only then, only then
can we come before him and seek mercy. Look to him for the forgiveness
of our sin. What a blessing it is to be made
a sinner. And I'm not talking about just
the shame and the pains of conscience and the consequences and discipline
of sin that we might experience as a result of our disobedience.
Sin has never really been seen as sin until we look to what
the Lord Jesus did at Calvary's cross to put it away. That's
the only time. All those other symptoms, guilty
conscience, all the things that we experience as a result of
our sin, some of those things unbelievers
can experience and never be made a sinner. But when the Lord brings us to
the foot of the cross and we look upon him whom we have pierced
and we mourn after him as one mourneth for his only son, that's
when the Lord does a work of grace in causing us to see this
is the reason for the famine and this is the solution for
the famine. You see, it wasn't just any sin
that Saul had committed. He was guilty of plenty. It was
the shedding of innocent blood. At one time, he killed 70 priests
who were Israelites. At another place, at another
time, he goes into the Gibeonites who were servants of Israel.
but they had a 400 year covenant that they were not to be touched.
And Saul thought that they had given refuge to David, so he
killed him. It was for me, he died. When the Lord Jesus shed his
blood on Calvary's cross, he was shedding innocent blood. Yes, God made him who knew no
sin to be made sin for us. He owned the sins of his people
as his own. He bore our sins in his body
upon that tree, but it was the innocent blood that you and I
shed. And that That brings a famine. But as I've already said, that's
also the remedy for the famine. We look to the cross to see our
sin, and we look to the cross to see our Savior. And the two
things cannot be separated. Only sinners need a Savior. Only
sinners, only those who have violated God's law, sinned against
God. Go back with me to our text.
I want you to see, so what do we do when God sends a famine? What do we do? First of all,
we have to recognize that this is a famine. We can hide famines
for a long time. We can cover them up with a lot
of good activity. We can enjoy the prosperity of
this world and ignore our spiritual famine for a period of time. Lord, spare us. Lord, don't let
us do that. Don't leave us to ourselves.
Seek the Lord. And in seeking the Lord, he'll
reveal what the cause of that famine is, it's sin. and what
a blessing it is to agree with God. Take sides with God against
yourself and say, Lord, this is all on me. If we confess our
sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse
us of all of our unrighteousness. Lord, I'm the cause of this famine. It's my unbelief. It's my worldliness. It's my cold heart. It's my attraction
to the things of this world. It's my indifference towards your word
and towards worship. Verse two, and the king called
the Gibeonites. Now, Gibeon was a small village. They lived there for 400 years.
They weren't Israelites. They were slaves. When Joshua
found out that he had been deceived by them, He had already made
the covenant with them, and he made it before God, so he couldn't
violate his covenant. He couldn't kill them, but he
turned them into slaves. And for the next 400 years, these
Gibeonites were servants of Israel, the lowest servants of all. A
three-year famine has come, and the king comes to the Gibeonites
and said, what do you want? What can we do to atone for what
Saul did to you? What an opportunity to demand
reparation. What an opportunity for these
poor people to say, okay, here's what we demand. We don't wanna
be servants anymore. We want the best houses in the
land. We want the best land. You give us that, God will take
away the plague and all will be well. Is that what we do? They could have demanded that
for an atonement. And the king called the Gibeonites
and said unto them, now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel,
but of the remnant of the Amorites. And the children of Israel had
sworn unto them and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the
children of Israel and Judah. Wherefore, David said unto the
Gibeonites, what shall I do for you? David had everything at his disposal. What do you want? Anything you
want, I'll give it to you. Wherewith shall I make the atonement
that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? This famine has
come because of what Saul did to you. And it's in your power
to give us an atonement price. so that this famine can be lifted
and the blessings of God can come back on Israel. And the
Gibeonites said unto him, we will have no silver or gold. This sin of Saul is not going
to be atoned for by material means. What is the application of that?
Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55. Here's God's call to everyone
who's experiencing a famine. The lack of spiritual food to
the soul, the lack of life-giving water living in a dry and thirsty land,
trying to satisfy your needs with worldly means. Oh, I love that word. Give your undivided attention.
It's God heralding from heaven. Oh, everyone that thirsts it. Everyone that's thirsty. Come
ye to the waters, ye that have no money, come, buy and eat,
yea, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Now that word price means to
barter. Nothing in my hand I bring, but
only, only to the cross of Christ can I cling, only to Him. You see, a blood sacrifice had
to be made. The Gibeonites are going to tell
David what their atonement price is. And it wasn't silver and
gold. Now, oftentimes we go through
a spiritual drought. Yes, let the wicked forsake his
ways. Yes, let the unrighteous forsake
his thoughts. Yes, seek ye to do good, eschew
evil. God convicts you of your sin,
confess that sin, agree with God, mortify the flesh, put to
death those fleshly things that would separate you from God.
Seek the Lord with all of your heart. But don't think for a
moment that making amends for your ways is somehow going to
atone and going to bring back the waters from heaven. No, it's
only a blood sacrifice that will do that. Yes, those are the things that
God causes the children. He makes us willing to do of
His good pleasure. He causes us to see our sin and
hate our sin and forsake our sin and keep coming back to Him. That's His grace and mercy toward
His children. But we can't think that because
we did that, that we've atoned for our sins. That's a works
gospel. We do those things because of
the atonement, not for the atonement. The atonement for sin is only
a blood... These Gibeonites are gonna say,
we want seven sons of Saul. We want the sons of the king. And if you read on through the
names of these boys, they were the sons of concubines, they
were grandchildren, but they were all descendants of Saul.
And if you remember the story of Mephibosheth, There's two
Mephibosheths, two of them here mentioned. And David had made
a covenant with one of the Mephibosheths because of his covenant that
he made with Jonathan. And he hides that Mephibosheth,
he doesn't give that one to the Gibeonites, he gives the other
Mephibosheth. And they take the seven sons
of Saul and they hang them up. they hang them up on a wall,
they shed their blood, and the Gibeonites say, we're satisfied. And the end of the story, turn with me back to our text,
the end of the story, the last part of verse 14, and
after that, God was entreated for the land. God was entreated for the land. The Gibeonites said, we don't
demand silver and gold. We want the blood of Saul's sons. And the only thing that's gonna
cover your sin and my sin before God is the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We come to God in Christ. We're accepted before God in
the beloved. Nothing else, nothing else will
atone for our sins. Nothing else will open the windows
of heaven. Nothing else will break the famine. Nothing else will cause the showers
of God's blessings to come upon us. Nothing else will result
in the feeding of our souls. I've watched it. Oftentimes, men do just the opposite. when it comes to a famine. You
remember the story of Ruth? And her mother-in-law's name
was Naomi. And her husband's name was Elimelech. And the scripture says that Elimelech
lived in Bethlehem. And Bethlehem, translated, is
the house of bread. And there was a famine in Bethlehem. and Elimelech took his wife,
Naomi, and their two sons and went to Moab to find a better
job. There was a famine. So they left
the place where they could be fed and they went to a place
where Elimelech thought, well, I need to take care of my family
and their physical needs. And he put material things above
the spiritual needs. and Elimelech dies and his two
sons die in Moab and Naomi is left a widow and her life is
so, well, tried by her husband's
mistake that when she comes back the people of Bethlehem see her
coming and they say, is that Naomi? Surely that's not Naomi. And she says to the people of
Bethlehem, don't call me Naomi. They call me Mara. For God has
dealt bitterly with me. And through that whole story,
of course, Ruth meets Boaz and Boaz has, Boaz and Ruth have
a child and that, and we know the rest of the story. God brings
salvation through that whole experience. But how oftentimes
somebody's going through a spiritual famine. It's the one time they
need to go to God's word. It's the one time they need to
be on their prayers, on their knees in prayer. It's the one
time they need to be in public worship. And a spiritual famine
causes people to do just the opposite. It causes them to run
to Moab. I've watched it thousands of times. I've seen it in my
own life. You know, I'll try to hide this
spiritual need that I have with something else. Seek the Lord. Say, well, I don't
feel like going to church. That's when you need to go to
the worst. Well, you know, I'm tired. I've
just got other things going on. That's when you need to be there.
Now, I'm not trying to put a... Gil, I'm telling you as your
pastor, this is the time when we need to seek the Lord, when
we're experiencing a spiritual famine, when the bread is light,
when the water is dry, and when we don't have, this is where
God meets, it's where He meets with His people, this is where
He opens the windows of heaven, this is where He causes our hearts
to seek Him, and to recognize our sin, and to
call out to Him, And to say, no, we're not gonna have silver
and gold. We're gonna have a blood sacrifice. That's the only thing
that's gonna satisfy. Oh, we need. The Lord gives us
a couple of examples of the opposite of spiritual famine in scripture.
Let me show you one of them. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
25. Isaiah 25. Verse six. This is such a beautiful promise
from God for his children. Verse six of Isaiah chapter 25.
And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people
a feast, a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the leaves
and of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the leaves, Well
refined. And in Matthew chapter 22, the
Lord gives this parable of a king who's putting on a feast for
his son, a wedding for his son. And he tells his servants, go
out and gather in from the highways and tell them that everything
is ready. Everything is ready. What do we do? in a time of famine. Come, just like we are, nothing
in our hand, seeking the Lord. Lord, I've
got to, I've got to have fat things. You know, what that's
a reference to, you read the Old Testament sacrificial system,
the fat part of the animal was given to the priest. The best
cuts of meat, were given to the priest or they were offered up
as burnt offerings. They weren't to be distributed
among the people. Here we have a picture. God enables us to worship Christ. He takes the fat things. He takes
the wine and he satisfies our souls with Christ. Things to do. In a time of famine, we've all
experienced it. The Lord said to that church
at Ephesus, you've left your first love. You left your first
love. Oh Lord, feed us. Our heavenly Father,
thank you for reminding us again of how easy it is for us to do
as David did and let famine go day after day, week after week,
year after year. Lord, set our hearts to seek
Thee and feed us as only You can. We ask it in Christ's name,
amen. 168 in the hard back teminal. Let's
stand together.