Seeking the Lord's help this
evening, I'd ask you to turn in your Bibles to the portion
of God's Word that was read, 1 Samuel 29, verse 1 to chapter
30 and verse 19. And I read again the second part
of chapter 30 and verse 6. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. This evening's title for the
sermon is Encouraged When Discouraged. Encouraged When Discouraged. Job tells us that man is born
unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. And all of us must expect
trouble in this sinful fallen world. We know that disappointment,
affliction, difficulties are never far from us. And that is because of man's
universal rebellion against God. But we also know that becoming
a Christian is not some magical solution which frees us from
trouble and makes us immune to difficulty. As I mentioned in
my prayer, some Christians are persecuted and Christians may
suffer more than non-Christians because they are persecuted. Christians are also sensitive
to God's Word in a way that non-Christians are not sensitive to the Word
of God. And the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit in the child of God also causes them to mourn over sin,
which brings a sorrow that the unbeliever simply doesn't know. And it's true for all of God's
children that we must, through much tribulation, enter into
the kingdom of heaven. And of course, there are varying
degrees of tribulation for each Christian. that we know that
for each one of the Lord's people, there will be many sorrows along
the road to heaven. But the Bible doesn't just tell
us that there will be many difficulties in the Christian pathway, but
it also gives us principles and examples when we face trouble. And King David faced many disappointments
in his life. He suffered many afflictions
and troubles. At the time of our Bible reading
from 1 Samuel, David wasn't yet king. He didn't know it, but
it wasn't long before he would become king of Judah. But the situation that he faces
at the beginning of 1 Samuel chapter 30 is very serious. It is possibly the greatest trial
and the greatest challenge that he has faced in his life of nearly
30 years. And so we must consider firstly
David's serious trouble. Now David has been in this place
called Ziklag for about 16 months under the protection of the Philistine
king Achish of Gath. And whilst David is under the
protection of this Philistine king, he is he is able to be
out of the way of King Saul who had mercily pursued him in an
attempt to take David's life. And so to some extent we can
understand why David fled Judah with his wives and sought refuge
with the Philistines. And so David is with his family
in Ziklag and together with him are his 600 men with their families
and There are probably at least 2,500 of David's men and their
families in the town of Ziklag. Many of them would have been
young children. But for some days they have been out of the
town of Ziklag as David has attempted to join together with the Philistines
as they prefer to fight against the Israelites. And of course,
this was a very unwise thing for David to do. And David had
already deceived Achish king of Gath into thinking that he
had been all those 16 months raiding his own people and attacking
the Israelites. And so Achish king of Gath believes
that David is fully behind him and that David is fully aligned
with the Philistines. But when the other lords of the
Philistines saw David and his men lining up as part of the
review of the armies of the Philistines, they are furious. When they see
David and his men lining up as part of Gath's contribution to
the fight against the Israelites, the other lords of the Philistines
are not impressed. They tell Achish that David and
his men must not join with them in the fight. And we see in verse
4 of chapter 29, the princes of the Philistines were wroth.
And the princes of the Philistines said unto Achish, 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 battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us. For
wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master, should
it not be with the heads of these men? And it was in God's goodness
to David that he is stopped from joining with the Philistines
in fighting against his own people. In fact, if David had been allowed
to fight with the Philistines against the Israelites, we can
judge that it would have probably stopped David being king. And
it would have prevented any possibility of David becoming king because
he would always have been viewed as a traitor. And so God, in
his mercy, restrains David. He doesn't allow him to fight
with the Philistines against his own people. And so David
and his men take the three-day journey back from where the Philistine
armies are assembling back to Ziklag. And they journey for
two days. And they're completely unaware
of what has happened back in their hometown. And they probably
went back towards Ziklag on that journey with a careless mind. In their careless spiritual state,
they probably didn't realize there was anything wrong and
probably thought that everything would be fine at home. And they
were looking forward, as those of us who travel are, we look
forward to getting back to our wives, to our children, to our
home. And so they head back home. And they arrive on the third
day at Ziklag. And we're told at the beginning
of chapter 13, it came to pass when David and his men would
come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded
the south in 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. And they arrive home and their homes are burnt, their
wives, their children taken away, their livestock likewise taken
away. And we can understand how devastating
this must have been. I'm thankful that I'm sure none
of us have ever returned from a trip abroad or time away from
home. And we can be very thankful that
we haven't come back to find our home burnt to ashes and our
wife and our children taken away. But this was the painful scene
that met their eyes. And we're told in verse three,
Sir 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 although we may never have
experienced what David and his men came back to find, yet for
all of us we have experienced challenges that have suddenly
come upon us. We all know how illness can suddenly
arise. A child can be taken sick very
rapidly. An older one can be taken home
to be with the Lord in a moment. We know how suddenly accidents
and other things can happen. And we can understand something
of what is written in verse 4. Then David and the people that
were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had
no more power to weep. Oh, they were distressed. And
David too was affected personally because we're told in verse 5,
and David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoan the Jezreelitess
and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. But there was
something else that added to David's distress. We're told
in verse 6, he was greatly distressed because the people spake of stoning
him. Because the soul of all the people
was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. And as so sometimes happens in
life, there was one trouble after another. Oh, it was bad enough
that his wives and his men's wives and their children were
taken captive. He has his own distress, his
own concern for his wives. But then his men who have been
with him for months, even years, now speak of stoning him to death
because they are so greedy. And of course we have to acknowledge
that David was their leader. David had been responsible for
taking them into the partnership with the Philistines. David had
been responsible for leading them and attempting to join the
armies of the Philistines. David was the one who had deliberately
deceived Achish, the king of Gath, into thinking that he had
been raiding his own people when he had rather been raiding the
other nations around. And it's likely, as the men were
faced with the devastating loss of their families and their livestock,
that they began to realise that David had been doing things in
a wrong way. David had been living a deceitful
life. And we know that God doesn't
like deceit. Deceit is one of the marks of
the devil. The devil is the great deceiver
and God doesn't want his children to lead a deceitful life. God
doesn't want his children to be those who tell lies or who
are hypocrites or who pretend that they are someone that they're
not or tell untruths. To be deceitful, as David was,
is something that the child of God should seek to resist, should
seek to have nothing to do with it. And of course, David's friendship
with the Philistines was friendship with the most Serious enemies
of God's people. At this time, it was the Philistines
who were constantly attacking the Israelites, the Lord's people.
They were their greatest enemies. If David needed to flee, there
were other places where he could perhaps have fled. To Moab, where
his great grandmother Ruth came from. Or perhaps to Egypt, where
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had all taken refuge. Better still,
David and his men ought to have trusted God to keep them safe
in Israel as he had done for some years before they fled to
be with the Philistines. Sometimes it can appear easier
to run away from a situation rather than to stay in it and
to trust God to help and to take care. can often be a temptation when
we are in a challenging situation just to run away. And yet running
away may not have God's blessing but rather he wants us to have
the grace and the patience with his help to be in that situation
and for him to support us and to help us in the midst. of that
challenging situation. God often wishes us to stay in
situations that are difficult and to trust him. Well, for a while, David's dishonesty,
his dishonest strategy, it worked. For 16 months, he's been under
the protection of this Philistine king. But now his dishonest way
of life has unraveled. And I wonder whether David had
ever really committed his way to the Lord at this point in
his life. You know God's word is clear,
isn't it? Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not
unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy paths. David and his men had leaned
on their own understanding. They hadn't trusted in the Lord
with all their heart. They hadn't acknowledged the
Lord in what they were doing. And so God had let them direct
their own paths. And the result was now before
them. You see, pursuing the pathway
of human wisdom may work for a little while. But if it doesn't
have God's blessing, it will unravel just as we see David's
case before us. And we have to say that it was
David's deceitfulness and foolishness which led to the situation that
he now encountered as he came to the city of Ziklag. Now not
all the distressing scenes which come upon us will be because
of our own foolish or sinful behaviour. The example of Job
shows us clearly that not every trouble comes because of sin. Not every trouble comes because
of our own foolishness. Sometimes the Lord will bring
hard things into our life to test our faith or to teach us
valuable lessons that we need to learn. Sometimes the Lord
will send challenges in our life to further his purposes. But
when challenging situations suddenly come on us We should consider
our ways. We should think, has this distress
come on me because of my own foolish or sinful actions? That may be as we consider our
ways that we can say, well, no, I haven't sinned. I haven't done
anything foolish. This situation has come upon
me from the Lord. And it may be that the Lord is
testing our faith or he's desiring to teach us patience or desiring
to increase our resilience and our perseverance. Or it may be
that he's just moving on his purposes. But perhaps we are
in trouble like David because we've been careless and prayerless. It may be that we haven't committed
our way to the Lord in prayer as we should have done. It may
be that we ignored or discounted God from our thinking. And remember
it's in all our ways that we are to acknowledge the Lord.
It's not just the major decisions of life that we need to pray
over but the smaller areas of life as well. Think of a dear pastor now with
the Lord who had a tragedy happen in his family. And he said one lesson he learnt
from it was that it is very important
to pray the petition of the Lord's Prayer, deliver us from evil. Do you ever pray that prayer,
deliver us from evil? For a number of years I do pray
that regularly because so many things came upon my family. We need to remember that we need
to bring our situation constantly before the Lord in prayer, that
we need to bring our families, our local church, the cause of
God and truth before him in prayer. Well, David, he had been living
a life of deceit. His sin had come home to roost.
And David's actions for the past 16 months now had their culmination
in the scene that lay before him. But we must say the response
of David's men at the beginning of verse 6 was very wrong. They
shouldn't have spoke of stoning him. No one had been killed. Their families had been taken
captive. There was no call for their wrong and terrible solution
of stoning David to death. But thankfully, David was brought
to the right solution. And so secondly, we have David's
faith. But David encouraged himself in the Lord, his God. For months, David, as a believer
in God, had not been living as he ought to have been living.
But his genuine faith shines through. He encouraged himself
in the Lord, his God. And it is the case with those
who backslide in the Christian faith that it is the Lord's chastening
hand which brings them back to the Lord. And here it was. God's chastening hand on David's
situation brought him back to the Lord. He encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. As David viewed the ashes of
his home, as he heard the angry words of his men, he realised
in that moment there was no help from man. And in two of his psalms
he writes, Vain is the help of man. It in fact is a petition. Give us help from trouble, for
vain is the help of man. And it was very true at this
time. And David may have raised that
petition in prayer, give us help from trouble for vain is the
help of man. And if help is not found in man,
where can it be found? Well, it's found in turning to
the Lord. Well, what does this expression
mean? David encouraged himself in the
Lord, his God. And I believe we can identify
four aspects of what this means. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. And the first thing is that David
thought rightly of God. He acknowledged that God is sovereign,
that God has absolute rights in heaven and earth to do as
he pleases. He recognized that God was working
all things out after the council of his own will. David recognized that God had
a sovereign right to deal with him as he pleased. He realized that God was the
sovereign king who had allowed this terrible event to come to
pass. And when you and I face unexpected
challenges and tribulations, We are to humbly recognise God
has allowed it. God has permitted it to happen. We wish it hadn't, but God has
allowed it. Samuel Rutherford, the Scottish
Covenanter, said, all our troubles come through God's fingers. And that's based on a verse in
Ecclesiastes which says, for all this I considered in my heart
even to declare all this that the righteous and the wise and
their works are in the hand of God. You see, David looked to
God as the first cause of all that had happened. He could have
looked at the angry faces of his men. He could have looked
at the burnt ashes of his home. He could now think about the
Amalekites who were now out of sight and holding his two wives
captive. But he didn't. He lifted his
eyes to God as the first cause of the situation. And he lifted
his eyes away from those things that were the secondary causes. And for us, It can be easy to
focus on the person in the workplace who is unkind to us. It can be
easy for us to focus on the family members who may cause us such
grief. But we should rather look to
the Lord who has permitted that individual or those individuals
to be a trouble to us. Why should we look to the Lord?
Well, he's in control. of our circumstances. But not
only that, God cares for his people. As we think about David
encouraging himself in the Lord his God, not only does he think
rightly of God, but he remembers that God cares for him. In Psalm 55 verse 22, David says,
cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He
shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. And when God's children
are in deep distress, even when they brought that situation on
themselves, God is still there loving, heavenly Father who cares
for them. And although David realised that
he had brought this upon himself, he encouraged himself with the
precious thought that God cared for him. Amid the wreckage of
his family life, he remembered that God was still his loving
Heavenly Father, his shepherd. In Psalm 103, David writes, Like
as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him, for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we
are dust. And what a comfort that thought
was to him in this terribly distressing moment. And dear suffering child
of God, remember that the Lord pities you. His eye is upon you
all the time. His thoughts toward you are only
for your spiritual good. As David encouraged himself in
the Lord is God, he remembered God cared for him. He probably
realised he had gone away from God over the past 16 months. But as he encouraged himself
in the Lord, he remembered that he was precious in God's eyes. Isaiah had not yet been written
when this incident occurred in David's life, but the truth was
known. And Isaiah 43 verse 4 says, David
was encouraged as he remembered that God cared for him. And then
a third aspect of David encouraging himself in the Lord his God.
He remembered that God is always with his people. Again, the words of Isaiah 43
verse 2 have not yet been written, but the truth was known. When
thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through
the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Or the sweet psalmist was in
deep waters. He was looking at the ashes of his burned home. He was concerned that he might
be hurt by his own men. But he encouraged himself as
he remembered the Lord never forsakes or leaves his people.
And yes I know life can be so very difficult. But the child
of God should be encouraged by the sweet promise that God has
made. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. One old saint said. I have learned
that it is hard to keep sight of God in a storm. And that's true. Just as when
there's a storm the natural storm clouds obscure the light of the
sun so that it may become very dark even during the daytime. And our troubles tend to obscure
the presence of God. So it seems that he's not there.
But remember that in the storm the sun is behind the clouds. And so the Lord is behind those
clouds of trouble that may come upon us. He is there though he
may be unseen. David remembered that God is
always with his people. And then a fourth aspect. David
remembered that God keeps his promises. Later in his life,
David would say, Although my house be not so with God, yet
hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire. Not everything was as David would
wish it to be. And that's surely true for all
of us. Not everything is as we would wish it to be. but for
the Christian, for you who are trusting in the Lord. It's equally
true to say, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure. Oh, how precious it is to remind
ourselves, as David may have done as he encouraged himself
in the Lord his God, to remember that if we're a child of God
we have been chosen before the foundation of the world by God's
electing love. Each one is called in time to
hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ and brought to follow
him. And each child of God will be
preserved and kept by the love of God. Each one will be brought
safely to be with Christ forevermore. David knew that his soul, his
life was safe in the hands of God and that he could never be
removed from the grip of the almighty hand of God. Oh, how precious to remind ourselves
in times of great trouble. My sheep hear my voice and I
know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my father's hand.' David encouraged himself in the Lord
as he remembered that the Lord is always with his people and
that God always keeps his promises. And then thirdly and lastly,
we have David's right action. David has encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. He's been reassured of the Lord's
sovereignty. He's been reassured of God's
care for his people. He's been assured of the Lord's
presence even in the storm. He's been reminded of God's faithfulness
to his word. And so he rightly turns to the
Lord. And you and I are able to, to turn to the Lord
in prayer. And how good it is for us when
we are immediately perplexed to turn to the Lord in prayer. Just a few days ago, just about
nearly two weeks ago, I had occasion to talk to another pastor who
was And we were faced with a great challenge that concerned us both.
And as we talked together about what had happened, which was
unexpected, I said to the other pastor, let's pray together.
And when those things come upon us in life that distress us,
trouble us, unexpected things that we never imagined could
happen, almost the best thing we can do is to turn to the Lord
in prayer. Well, David could go one further
because he was able, through the high priest, to communicate
with God directly. Verse 7, David sent to Abiathar
the priest, a Himalayan son, I pray thee bring me hither the
ephod. And Abiathar brought hither the ephod to David. And David
inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I pursue after this troop?
Shall I overtake them? And the Lord answered him, pursue.
for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover
all. And as we read at the end of
that reading in verse 19, 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. How merciful God was to David. How kind that he was able to
Welcome back to his arms his wives and his men too were able
to recover their wives their children and all their livestock
and God was very merciful to him. Oh when we have been able
in the face of difficulty to encourage ourselves in the Lord
Let's seek his face in prayer. Go to the God who says, I will
for this being quiet of the house of Israel to do it for them.
Go to the God who promises, call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. And some of
you can look back this evening to times when you called earnestly
on the Lord in the day of trouble. And he did deliver you and he
did help you. And when he delivers us and he
helps us, let's remember to thank him for his help and for his
deliverance and to give him the glory. So often the Lord delivers
in ways that we could not have imagined. Perhaps he helps us
through people that we didn't know before or he appears for
us in remarkable ways. but you and I still have trials
with us. We still have troubles from which
we've not yet been delivered. What then? What is God's provision
for those tribulations that still are with us while he promises
sustaining grace and strength? For those trials that continue,
The Lord assures us, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Sometimes in the Lord's sovereignty
he doesn't take the trouble from us. He doesn't take away that
affliction. He doesn't take away that difficult
person. But he does promise, my grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. David encouraged himself in the
Lord, his God. Like us, David was not perfect.
Like us, David was prone to periods of backsliding, prone to times
of foolishness. But notwithstanding David's weak
faith, notwithstanding his falls into sin, God was still his God. God was still his shepherd. And that's true for you, dear
child of God. But I ask you this evening, is
David's God your God? Are you trusting in this God?
Even with a faith that is weak, if there is faith, then there
will be faith. that will stand the test of time. Is David's God your God forever
and ever? Or by God's grace may you be
able to say, yes, this God is my God. This mighty God who is
sovereign over all things is my God. This God who cares for
his people is my God. This God who is always present
with his people is my God. This God who keeps his promises
is my God. All by God's grace, may you be
able to say, the Lord is my shepherd and he is my God forever and
ever. Amen. Let's close our worship here
today with singing from Gadsby's number 667. 667. Immortal honours rest on Jesus'
head. My God, my portion, and my living
bread. In him I live, upon him cast
my care. He saves from death, destruction,
and despair. Hymn 667, tune 766. Honours rest on Jesus' head. My God, my portion, and my living
bread. In him I live. On Him cast my care, He saves
from death, destruction, and despair. He is my refuge in each deep
distress, The Lord my strength and glorious righteousness, through
floods and flames He leads me safely on, And daily makes his
sovereign goodness known. By a free need he richly will
supply, Nor will his mercy ever fail. In him there dwells a treasure
all divine, And matchless grace has made that treasure mine. that my soul could love and praise
him all, his beauteous trace, his majesty heart upon his bosom lean. Obey his voice and all his will
esteem. But the God of all grace, who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion
for ever and ever. Amen.