We turn again to God's Word in
the chapter that we read, the first book of Samuel, chapter
23, and reading again at verse 9. For Samuel 23, verse 9, And
David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him,
and he said to Abiathar, the priest bring hither the ephod."
And it's those four words that we have at the end of the verse
that I want to concentrate your attention upon. David's request
to the priest, Abiathar, he says, bring hither the ephod. What does such a request tell
us about David, what is the significance of the thing that he is asking
here of Abiath? Well, the ephod is, of course,
associated with the breastplate and that that was within the
breastplate of the high priest, the hurim, and the thamin. those mysterious words that we
find back in Exodus, in Exodus chapter
28, that portion where we see Moses receiving the various instructions
concerning the worship of the tabernacle and the attire that
was to be worn by the high priest. And there, in that chapter, Exodus
28, and verse 30 we read, "...they
shall put in the breastplate of judgment the urim and the
thamim, and they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in
before the Lord. And Aaron shall bear the judgment
of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually."
It was by means of the Urim and the Thummim, that they
could establish what God's will was. They could consult, as it
were, the oracle. And God would be pleased by that
in some mysterious way. It's difficult for us to know
just how this works, and yet God would give impeccable guidance
to His people. When the ephod is here brought
to David we see as immediately he addresses himself to God in
verse 10 O Lord God of Israel thy servant hath certainly heard
that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy the city for
my sake and then he asks quite specific questions in verses
11 and 12 and the Lord God gives an immediate answer to the questions. He is answering him by means
of the Urim and Thummim. If we go back again into the
books of Moses in the book of Numbers this time and there in
Numbers chapter 27 At verse 21 we read these words
concerning Joshua who was Moses' servant, who was to succeed Moses. And there at the end of Numbers
27 we read, "...he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who
shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the
Lord." At his word shall they go out, and at his word shall
they come in, both he and all the children of Israel, with
him even all the congregation." So we see how that Joshua is
to ask counsel of Aliezer, the priest, after the judgment of
the Jurem. As I said, this is the oracle
whereby they could determine the will of God. In an infallible sense
they were able to do that. And it was this that God denied
unto King Saul. As we see here in chapter 28
and verse 6, When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered
him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. God in those days, of course,
would make His will known in supernatural ways by the word
of the prophets. He would speak sometimes in dreams. We see that quite clearly in
what's written, for example, in the 33rd chapter of the book
of Job. Here we have the words of Elihu,
and what does Elihu declare at verse 14? God speaketh once,
yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not, in a dream, in a vision
of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings
upon the bed, when he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their
instruction. God would speak by dreams, God
would speak sometimes by that the words of the prophets or
the seers and God would also speak in this remarkable way
by means of the Urim and the Thummim. And this is what David
is doing then here in the words of our text this morning. He
is seeking to ascertain the will of God, bring hither the ephod. And let us remember that David
at this time was constantly moving, he was having to flee from one
place to another before Saul. We're told of David and his 600
men here in verse 13, and they departed out of Keilah and went
with us wherever they could go. And then it was told Saul that
David was escaped. And David was abiding in the
wilderness in strongholds and remained in a mansion in the
wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day,
but God delivered him out of his hands. Poor David, forever
as it were on the run. And then the Ziphites go and
speak to King Saul there in verse 19, Doth not David hide himself
with us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hekila,
which is on the south of Jeshima? And so we are told in verse 24,
They arose and went to Ziph before Saul, but David and his men were
in the wilderness of Maon. in the plain on the south of
Jershimon. Saul also and his men went to
seek him and they told David wherefore he came down into a
rock. the boat in the wilderness of Maon. All the time here is
David running hither and thither seeking to escape from Saul who
would seek to destroy him. The whole of the book really,
the latter part of this book is taken up with these various
movements of David. If we go back to chapter 20,
we're told how David fled from Naoth in Ramah and came and said
before Jonathan, what have I done? What is my iniquity? What is
my sin before thy father that he seeketh my life? In fact, David is fearful that
he will yet one day die. He goes on to say in verse 3,
there truly as the Lord liveth, as thy soul liveth, there is
but a step between me and death. And so what does David do? He
flees. And we see in chapter 21 that
he goes there to the priest in the opening part of chapter 21.
Then came David to Nob, to Himalek, the priest. And the Himalaya
was afraid at the meeting of David and said unto him, Why
art thou alone? And no man with thee. The high
priest is fearful if King Saul should hear anything of his association
with David. He goes to the high priest and
he goes there to find safety. And then subsequently In chapter
22, of course, we have him in the cave at Adonai. And now,
all his brethren in his father's house heard of it, and they went
down thither to him, we're told. But then, shortly after that,
he's moving again. In verse 5 of chapter 22, the
prophet Gath Said unto David, Abide not in the hole, abide
not in the cave of Dodolam, depart and get thee into the land of
Judah. Then David departed and came into the forest of Horeb. Now, there, it's interesting,
you see, he would follow the will of God. He hears the words
of the Prophet. As I said, this is how God would
reveal His will in those times, by dreams and visions, by prophets,
or by the Yurim and the Thummim. And David goes at the bidding of the Prophet.
He knows that this is the man of God who is speaking the Word
of God to him. Previously we know he had fled
of course to be with Samuel. Back in chapter 19 and verse
18, David fled and escaped and came to Samuel to Ramah and told
him all that Saul had done to him and then Samuel went and
dwelt in her. Now Samuel was clearly the Lord's
servant, the Lord's prophet, that is made quite plain at the
end of the third chapter, the beginning of the book of course.
His first book of Samuel is very much taken up with the history
of Samuel, his remarkable birth and so forth. And there at the
end of the third chapter we are told how Samuel grew and the
Lord was with him, and he let none of his words fall to the
ground. And all Israel from Dan, even to Beersheba, knew that
Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the
Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself
to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord." What does David
do then? He goes where Samuel is. He goes to the man of God. He wants to be doing what God
bids him to do. Yes, he's constantly on the move,
but he's not running hither and thither as someone who knows
not what he's about. He is one who is always desirous
to be subject to the Lord's will. And David goes to the priest
also in order to seek and to understand what the will of God
is for him. In chapter 22. We talk quite
clearly there about Doeg, the Edomite. over the servants of Saul. Tell
Saul, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech,
the son of Ahitab, and he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave
him rituals, and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine."
Why did David go to the priest? He goes to the priest because
he wants the priest to consult the Urim and the Thummim to establish
what God's will is. And so we see it in this particular
chapter that we're considering this morning in this 23rd chapter. He calls upon Abiathar who is
now the priest to come with the with the ephod, that he might
know what God's will is. David himself is clearly a man
of prayer. Concerning this whole business
with the Philistines in Keilah, he asks God, David inquired of
the Lord, we read in verse 2. shall I go and smite these Philistines?"
And the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines
and save Keilah. Again at verse 4 we're told,
David inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered
him, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines
into thy hands. David is so much a man who is
concerned to establish what God's will is. He wants to wait upon
the Lord with regards to all his movement even at this time
when his life is in the gravest jeopardy with Saul constantly
pursuing him and David moving from place to place and yet you
go sometimes to the prophets, he'll go at the bidding of the
prophet or he'll consult with the priest that he might understand
through this oracle, through the Urim and the Thummim what
God's will is, he prays himself also. What is the great principle
then that we see? Even in the words that I announced
as our text this morning, when David comes to Abiath the priest
and says bring hither the ephod. Does he not stand before us as
a great example of the necessity of seeking God's will? Now how are we to seek the will
of God? We cannot consult the Urim and
the Thummim? There is not that office of the
priest that was there in the Old Testament. All these things,
of course, are now finished and fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. What are we to do? Well, we have
the Word of God. We are to consult the Word of
God. We're told at the end of Deuteronomy 29, the secret things
belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children. Where has God given this revelation?
He's given it to us here in His Word. We're to consult the Word
of God. We're to pray over the Word of
God, that God would direct us by His Word. we're to observe
of course the providences of God as we see in the 107th psalm
which speaks so clearly of God's providential government over
men in all the different spheres of their lives and we come to
the end of that great psalm and it says who so is wise and will
observe these things we're to observe God's providences who
is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord." We have the Word of God to observe,
we have the providences of God, we are to pray in that great
pattern prayer that Christ taught His disciples. One of the petitions
that we are to pray is, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. We sang of it just now in that
lovely hymn, of course, of William Gadsby's. But let us turn to
these words and what's written here concerning the history of
this man of God, David. Here in verse 9, David knew that
Saul secretly practiced mischief against him, and he said to Abiath
the priest, bring hither the ethos. we see in the first place
that one of the marks of the child of God, one of the marks
of the true believer is that he will be one who is seeking
to know God's will. He wants to know what the will
of God is and he desires to do what that will is. Now David,
often times in the book of Psalms, prays over these things. Psalm
143 and verse 10 he says, teach me to do thy will for thou art
my God. Well if God is our God this morning,
will we not also ask that he would teach us not only to know
his will, but teach us to be those who are doers of the will
of God. And in all of these things we
see quite clearly that David is a remarkable type of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ comes, of course, of that
line of David. Christ is David's greatest son,
the one of whom his son Solomon is but another type. And there in the in the 40th
Psalm. The Psalm of David we're told.
And what do we read? Verse 6, sacrifice and offering
that is not desire. mine ears hast thou opened burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required then said I
lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight
to do thy will O my God yea thy law is within my heart." Now
we know how those words are taken up in the New Testament Paul
in Hebrews chapter 10 quotes that very passage and speaks
in terms of it having its fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
true of David. Here is a man who is always seeking
only to do the will of God. But if that was true of David,
how much more was that the case when we come to consider the
Lord Jesus Christ? Or Christ himself is that one
who is a great pattern to us of doing the will of God. Let us not shy from the thought
of Christ as a pattern. I know there are those who of
course deny The truth of Christ is that one who has come to make
the great sacrifice for sins. There are those who profess the
name of Christ but they don't like the idea of bloody sacrifice. They simply speak of Christ as
a great example, a great pattern. And they see nothing more than
that. They are foolish. They don't understand the Word
of God. They don't feel the awful reality of their sin and how
that sin must be atoned for. And the Scriptures plainly reveal
to us that Christ is that One who is not only a priest, but
He's a sacrifice. He's the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. He is that One who was born in
His own person, the wrath of God. and by that he has reconciled
sinners unto God. They deny all of that and they
constantly emphasize Christ as a wonderful example and we can
react to that by failing to recognize that Christ is to us a great
pattern. The Apostle Paul says to the
Corinthians, be ye followers of me even as I am of Christ. We are to follow Christ. He is
our pattern. and what a remarkable pattern
he is to us of doing the will of God the language that we find
falling from the lips of the Lord Jesus he says in John chapter
4 and verse 34 my mate is to do the will of him that sent
me and to finish his work or we will do the will of God it's
like his necessary food As a man, of course, he needed food to
sustain his human life, just as we have
to eat and drink, so too the Lord Jesus as a man. But when
we consider him as that one who is the promised Messiah, how
he speaks of his meat, his necessary food, as he will execute that
great work that He has undertaken in the covenant. All His meat
is to do the will of God. His meat is to finish the work
that the Father has given Him to do. Again in John chapter
6 and verse 38 Christ says, I came down from heaven not to do My
will, but the will of Him that sent Me. He would always be about
His Father's business. John 8, 39, I do always those
things that please Him. Those things that please God.
And this is David you see. This is why David, even now,
in the midst of all his troubles, comes to the priest, knowing
that Saul is set on his destruction, secretly practicing mischief.
But David says to Abiath and the priest, bring hither the
evil. He wants to know the will of God. He wants to know the
will of God. Now, this, I say, is the mark
of those who are the followers of Christ, those who are true
believers. These things are written here
in the Old Testament concerning David. Because David, of course,
is to us a patron. These things are written for
our learning, are they not? What do we see then with regards
to the believer as one who would be seeking God's will? Well,
there is of course that necessity of prayer. There is that necessity
of prayer. As soon as the ephod is brought to David, Immediately,
as we've said, in verse 10, we have David addressing himself
to it, in a sense, addressing himself to the Lord. Then said
David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard
that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy the city for
my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver
me up into his hand? Will Saul come down? As thy servant
hath heard, O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant.
And the LORD said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the
men of Keolah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?
And the LORD said, They will deliver thee. All David prays,
you see. You see what David is doing here? He is seeking to understand the
will of God, the necessity of prayer. And now we have that
tremendous emphasis there in the New Testament. Christ, in
His parabolic teaching, He spoke a parable unto them to this end,
that men ought always to pray, and not to faint. And what Christ
said is re-echoed time and time and time again when we come to
the writings of the apostles, when we come to the end of the
epistles, the oratory parts of those epistles, you know, and
at the end of the epistles time and again we see a man like Paul
giving very practical instruction and direction concerning how
these Believers in these New Testament churches are to behave
and they are to conduct themselves. To the Thessalonians, he says
in 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. Something very
similar to the Colossians, Colossians 4.2, continue in prayer and watch
in the same with thanksgiving. he says something very similar
does he not when he comes to address himself to the church
at Ephesus there in Ephesians chapter 6 having spoken of that Christian
armour verse 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be
given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known
the mystery of the gospel." All the importance of prayer, time
and again. Philippians chapter 4 and verse
6 he says, be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgivings let your requests be made known
unto God. And so it was also with this
man David, he saw the necessity of prayer. When he had not long
since returned into Judah, that was the instruction he had received,
was it not, from the prophet in chapter 22 and verse 5, The Prophet God said to David,
Abide not in the hole, depart and get thee into the land of
Judah. He's got to go to the land of
Judah. But here is David now, you see, in Judah. In chapter 23 then they told
David saying, Behold the Philistines fight against Keilah and they
rob the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired of the
Lord, shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said
unto David, go and smite the Philistines and save Keilah. As soon as David hears of these
Philistines coming and raiding against Judah, immediately David
prays, he sees or the importance of constantly waiting upon God,
seeking God, desiring to know what God's will is for him in
every situation. And in contrast to that, this
necessity of prayer, we see the great danger of presumption,
do we not? And we see that, of course, with
Saul, a very different man. Saul doesn't pry. Saul just presumes
in verse 7 when he was told Saul that David was come to Keilah
Saul says he presumes you see God hath delivered him into mine
hand for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and
bars and Saul called all the people together to war to go
down to Keilah to besiege David and his men nothing of this man
seeking God and seeking to know the will of God. So different
to what we read concerning David in the earlier part of the chapter. He doesn't just presume to go
out against the Philistines. No, David inquired of the Lord.
Here is the difference, you see. The man who is presumptuous,
who imagines he understands the will of God He thinks that God
has delivered this man into his hands because he's now in a walled
city. He's not out in the open field
anymore where he's able to run so freely. And he's going to
go to Keola, so he thinks, and to take David. But not so. What a danger of
presumption. Of course there are situations
when it is very difficult to pray in a formal sense. Sometimes we come into a certain
situation and we have no time to withdraw and to go into the
closet as the Lord Jesus says and to seek God's face in secret.
But is there not even in those situations a place for interjectory
prayer? And we have a wonderful example
of that in the history of Nehemiah. When Nehemiah, there in the opening
chapter of the book of Nehemiah, had heard of the sad situation
in Jerusalem following the return of Ezra the scribe, although
they'd addressed the matter of the Rebuilding of the temple,
yet still the city was in ruins. And here is Nehemiah, he is cop-bearer
to the king Artaxerxes. And we read there in the second
chapter, it came to pass in the month Nisan in the 20th year
of Artaxerxes, the king that wine was before him, I took up
the wine and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been before
time sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto
me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This
is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
and said unto the king, Let the king live for ever. Why should
not my countenance be sad? When the city, the place of my
father's sepulchre, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire,
And the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?
And here it is, so I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said
unto the king, If it please the king, if thy servant hath found
favour in thy side, that they would ascend me unto Judah, unto
the city of my father's sepulchres, that I may build it. Oh, but
what does he do in this situation? He's afraid. Before this haughty
king, this absolute monarch, I prayed to the God of heaven. Oh, there is a place, you see,
even for those interjectory prayers. Shortly we're going to sing as
our concluding praise, Joseph Hart's hymn on prayer, but sadly
there's one of the verses omitted in God's Beselection, and it's
this one, and I think it's a very striking verse really. Hart wrote,
if pain afflicts, or wrongs oppress, if cares distract, or fears dismay,
if guilt deject, if sin distress, the remedies before thee pride.
Whatever our situation you see, whatever the circumstances of
our lives, we are to pray. We are to pray in all the vicissitudes
of life, all the changes that in God's mysterious providences
come upon us. What are we to do? We are to
pray. The remedy is before the prayer. And this is what Nehemiah
did. This is what David is constantly
doing. He calls for the priest of Biotha
and he says, bring hither the ephod. Oh, it is the mark, I
say, of those who are truly the children of God. It's the mark of the election
of grace, is it not? God's own elect which cry day
and night unto him. Now this seeking after God also
will bring an assurance with it. There is comfort, there is
assurance when we see God's face, when we call upon God that he
would make his will known to us. Let us not forget that this
God with whom we have to do is that one who is omnipotent. His sovereignty is an absolute
sovereignty. Our God is in the heavens, says
David in the psalm. He hath done whatsoever he pleased. And in Daniel chapter 4 we see
our God humbled at that great Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar
humbled him to the dust, he became like a beast of the field. His
reason was taken from him. Oh, how proud he had been, but
how God brought that man down and he is made ultimately to
acknowledge God's sovereignty. All the inhabitants of the earth
are as nothing he says. And he doeth according to his
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand. or say to him, what doest thou? God is sovereign and yet here
is the amazing thing that the poor prayers of believers
and do we not often times feel that our prayers are such poor
prayers? Or we can scarce sometimes put
two words together when we come to pray and yet these prayers
of his weak feeble children have their part in God's great purpose
because he is not only in his sovereignty ordained the end
but he has also appointed the means whereby that end will be
realized and that's the importance of prayer and we oft quote those
words at the end of Ezekiel 36 concerning prayer There we see
Israel of course in exile, in captivity in Babylon. In chapter
37 we have that vision that is given to the prophet, the vision
of the valley of dry bones. And this is the state of Israel. All the nation is gone, destroyed. Like a valley full of dead men,
dry bones, and they're very dry. And yet God is going to restore
them. God is going to bring them again to Jerusalem. There's going to be the rebuilding
of the Temple of the Lord, the rebuilding of the city. And there
at the end of the 36th chapter we have that text, I will yet
for this be inquired of. By the house of Israel to do
it for them, I will increase them with men as a flock. God will bring an army, as it
were, out of that valley of dry bones. But he'll be inquired
of. He'll be inquired of. His people
must pray to him. There in the exile. And that's
what we see Daniel doing of course. Daniel's great prayer recorded
in scripture in the 9th chapter of the book of Daniel. When he
understands, he's reading the book of Jeremiah the prophet
and he understands what God has said concerning 70 years and
then the restoration and he sets his face and he prays and he
pleads with God all prayer you see has its place in the great
purpose of God and there's a remarkable statement that we find at the
end of verse 11 in Isaiah chapter 45 Concerning the work of my hands,
command ye me." If I remember right, some years ago now that
I read it, but there was a sermon I read, and I'm sure it was by
Ralph Erskine, the great Scots minister, on that particular
verse. Concerning the work of my hands,
command ye me. That's what God says. All what
it is to pride it, and to enjoy that blessing of boldness and
access with confidence by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I say it brings comfort, it brings
assurance into the hearts of the children of God. God's will
of course is unchangeable. God's will is unchangeable. In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
17 we read the immutability of His counsel. Oh, we're dealing,
you see, with certainties when we come to have dealings with
this God. We're not just dealing with possibilities,
probabilities. It's not a question of ifs and
buts and maybes. That's not the way of God. We're
dealing with a God who deals in certainties. The God who knows
the end from the beginning. The hymn writer says, unchangeable
is well, whatever be my frame, his loving heart is still eternally
the sign. Always in that our comfort. And
so, what a blessing if we're those who do business with God.
This is what David would do. He will do business with God.
He will be found in the ways of God, in the means of grace
as they were there in the Old Testament. And this is what we
see in the text. He knew that Saul secretly practiced
mischief against him. What does he do? He says to Abias,
the priest, bring hither the Ephites who will attend to what
God himself has appointed for my comfort. I say friends, there
is comfort, there is assurance. in dealing with such a God as
this. And then finally this morning,
let us observe how God does answer prayers. He answers the seeking
of those who would call upon Him. And we see that so clearly
here in the chapter, do we not, when
David asked God, in verse 2, David inquired of the Lord, saying,
Shall I go and smite these Philistines? He asked God, and the Lord answers
him. The Lord said unto David, Go
and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. And then he asks again, in verse
4, David inquired of the Lord yet again, And the Lord answered
him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver
the Philistines into thine hands. And we see David doing it yet
again. Here when he consults the ephod. As we see in verses 10, 11 and
12. David is repeatedly calling upon
God He's seeking God and God is answering him. Oh, his men
may be afraid. In verse 3, David's men said
unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah. What is the answer
to their fear? David will pray. And as David
prays, so God himself will answer those prayers. He does not pray
in vain. None can seek the face of God
in vain. Again, look at the language that
God speaks through His servant, the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 45 verse 19, God says,
I have not spoken in secret in a dark place of the earth. I
said not unto the seed of Jacob, seeking me in vain. I, the Lord,
speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
when his people speak to him God answers their prayers what
does he say later there in chapter 65 and verse 24 of the book of
Isaiah before they call I will answer while they are yet speaking
I will hear or we're not you know heard because of how much
speaking in prayer nothing to do with us it's all to do with
God and the goodness of God and the grace of God. How that we
might learn then from the example of this man even of diving in
the midst of all his difficulties. I'm sure none of us would say
that the troubles that have come into our lives can be compared
with what David was experiencing at this time. He was a vagabond.
He was running, as I say, hither and thither and yet constantly.
His concern was to know and to understand the will of God for
him. He would look to God, be it by fleeing to the prophet,
to Samuel, or hearing the words of God, be it by calling upon
God himself in prayers, or be it by consulting the Urim and
the Thummim. He wanted to know God's mind
for him. He wanted to know what God's
will was for him. He knew that Saul secretly practiced
mischief against him, and said to Abiath the priest, Bring hither
the ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of
Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come
to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of
Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as
thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech
thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, He will come
down. Then said David, Will the men of Keolah deliver me and
my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will
deliver thee up. And so what does David do? Oh,
he flees again for his life. But he knows that all that he
does is in the hand of that God who is good, who is constantly
watching over him and fulfilling in him his own good pleasure.
He must one day, he must one day become the King. And Jonathan knew it. Saul's
son, who surely would have expected to inherit the throne, but what
a man was Jonathan. He went to David into the wood
and strengthened his hand in God, we're told. And he said
unto him, Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find
thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel. and I shall be next
unto them. And that also Saul my father
knoweth. And they too made a covenant
before the Lord. And David abode in the wood,
and Jonathan went to his house. Oh, the Lord be pleased to bless
these things to us. Amen.