So we are going to 1 Samuel chapter
29. It's a shorter chapter, but I'm
going to read a few verses into chapter 30 as well. So chapter 29, verse one, and
we'll read a few verses into chapter 30 as well. Now the Philistines gathered
together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites pitched
by a fountain which is in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines
passed on, I'm sorry, and the lords of the Philistines passed
on by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed
on in the Ririward with Ashish. Then said the princes of the
Philistines, What do these Hebrews hear? And Ashish said unto the
princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of
Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days
or these years? And I have found no fault in
him, since he fell unto me unto this day. And the princes of
the Philistines were wroth with him. And the princes of the Philistines
said unto him, 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? Is not this David, of whom they
sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands,
and David his ten thousands? Then Ashish called David, and
said unto him, Surely as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright,
and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good
in my sight. For I have not found evil in
thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day. Nevertheless,
the lords favour thee not. Wherefore now, return, and go
in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines.'
And David said unto Ashish, But what have I done? And what hast
thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee
unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies
of my Lord the King?' And Ashish answered and said to David, I
know that thou art good in my sight as an angel of God, notwithstanding
the princes of the Philistines have said, he shall not go up
with us to the battle. Wherefore now, rise up early
in the morning, with thy master's servants that are come with thee,
and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light,
depart. So David and his men rose up
early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the
Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel. And it came
to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third
day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag,
and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, and had taken the
women captives that were therein. They slew not any, either great
or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So 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 captive. And David and the people that
were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had
no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken
captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal
the Carmelite. David was greatly distressed,
for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all
the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his
daughters. But David encouraged himself
in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the
priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee bring me hither the effort.
And Abiathar brought thither the effort to David. And David
inquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop?
Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue,
for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover
all. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading from his word. Last time we mentioned how David
and his men had been placed in a predicament when the Philistines
went to battle with Israel and with Saul. Ashish, the king of
Gath, so that was one of five lords of the Philistines, there
were four others as well as Ashish. Ashish wanted David to be his
personal bodyguard. He clearly trusted David with
his life. David had pretended to be faithful
to Ashish, but he had deceived the king on numerous occasions
concerning his activities in the south of the country and
in the places in which David and his soldiers were active. Ashish thought, apparently, that
he was raiding Jewish towns and Jewish villages. while in fact
David was attacking the Geshurites, the Gezrites and the Amalekites
in the south, south of the land of the Philistines. Ashish took David and his men
as this Ririward or rear guard. But when the other lords of the
Philistines realised that David was in the camp, They refused
to allow him to go to battle with them. And their logic seems
very good, to me at least. And despite Ashish's protests,
their view prevailed. Ashish called for David and sent
him back home, back to Ziklag. David made a plight protest as
might be expected, but surely in his heart he was greatly relieved
to be free from this dilemma in such an unexpected way. Who knows what could have happened
otherwise? On returning to Ziklag, however,
David discovers that an Amalekite raiding party had overrun the
town and destroyed it. All the women and children, including
David's two wives, had been captured and the town pillaged and burned. No doubt, these Amalekites took
advantage of the absence of David and the Philistines from the
region and perhaps looking for revenge against David, who had
been raiding their towns and villages, they came specifically
to Ziklag. And we read that when David and
his men returned, and saw that their homes were destroyed and
their families were gone. That it says in verse four, then
David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice
and wept until they had no more power to weep. What a strange and desperate
life these people lived. We often imagine that no one
knows the troubles that we have, the troubles that we see. But
truly, the Lord has blessed us more than we can say when our
circumstances are measured against the lives of others of his children
of the past. Let us remember how good the
Lord has been to us and let us thank him for that. In the midst
of their sorrow, in the midst of their distress, David called
for Abiathar, the priest, he was now the high priest, to inquire
of the Lord what was to be done now. And I think this is interesting
because we don't hear about David inquiring of the Lord for some
considerable time. He had not done so recently,
and especially he had not done so with regard to going with
his soldiers into the land of the Philistines to be with Ashish
in the first place. But now perhaps the seriousness
of this situation convicted him of his neglect. And this time
he was quick to take his concerns to the Lord. But I wonder if
you can see the difference here. There is a difference because
when we think we're being clever, when we think we're being sharp
and we're doing things wisely and rightly and we've got things
in control, we don't take it to the Lord, we don't ask for
his help, we don't ask for his direction, we don't ask for his
wisdom. It is only when we think that
we can't deal with a problem ourselves, when we realise that
we cannot, that we go to the Lord for help. There's a lesson
in there for us. That was David's experience and
invariably it is ours as well. So I think there's a few lessons
that we can take from this passage and we're going to look at a
couple of them now. Well, three, I've got three.
The first one is this. It is right to acknowledge God's
providence in getting David and his soldiers out of this difficult
situation. David had tried to play Ashish. He had won his favour thinking
that it would do him good to have this safe location safe
from soul. but it was questionable whether
David should ever have been here at all. The prophet Gad had told
him to stay in Judah, to stay in his own part of the country. But David had felt that Saul
was increasingly getting closer and closer to him and that he
would be safer out of the country altogether. So he had gone down
to the land of the Philistines, down to the land where idols
were worshipped, down to the land where the heathen dwelt. and there he ingratiated himself
to Ashish and he pretended to be his friend and his supporter. But there was a price to pay
for this. David feigned loyalty and when
the time came for him to really prove with whom he stood it seemed
that he was trapped in a dangerous situation with no way out. He would either have to fight
against the Lord's people or risk being exposed as devious
with the dangers that that brought. And I don't know whether the
other Philistine lords were just being careful or whether the
Lord God had laid it on their heart to oppose David's presence. But it seems clear to me that
David was released from a bind due to no other cause than the
good providence of God. We have a merciful Saviour who
is kind and gracious, even when we get into a mess. And it is important that we realise
and remember that. I'm sure that many of us can
think back to times when the Lord delivered us from a situation
when sin and shame seemed inevitable. We should never imagine to take
advantage of the Lord's kindnesses or think that we can sin, that
grace may abound. Nevertheless, it is good to acknowledge
when the Lord is faithful, even when we are not, and to thank
him for it. Let me speak to the young people
particularly. There will be such examples in
your lives also. I can't specify what they'll
be, but I think that when it happens, you'll know. When you
see the Lord delivering you out of those holes that you've gotten
yourself into, You will see and you will know that it was the
Lord that did this in his kindness, in his goodness and in his providence. And you will have opportunity
to thank the Lord too. Don't forget to do it. And there's
another element to this as well. The Lord ordered it so that David
was sent home from the battle. or from before the battle, the
Ishish sent him away, sent him away before the battle even started.
And the Lord ordered that timing, that he was sent home from the
battle just after the Amalekites had destroyed his home and stolen
his wives and the wives and children of those of his men. Had David been sent home before
the raid, then probably the raid by the Amalekites might never
have happened at all. Or if afterwards, if after the
battle, then the opportunity to pursue and recover would have
passed. so that here again in the timing
of this whole episode, God's providence can be discerned. And I think that David learned
lessons from this incident. We're going to speak about those
lessons next time, God willing. But he was brought back to the
Lord. And while he was much chastened
and stricken with grief in the process, The Lord, as we shall
see, brought good out of a bad situation as only he can. You and I, we shall all know
loss. We shall all weep tears. Sometimes, like David, until
we have no tears left. Nevertheless, let us carry this
thought in the midst of our troubles. The Lord knows, and he has ordered
our lives thus. And despite the way that we feel
now, he'll bring good from the hardest and from the harshest
situations. I don't want to seem unkind or
unsympathetic to your particular case at the moment. But let us
all take this as an overriding principle. Whatever brings us
closer to the Lord is a blessing, even when it appears to be a
terrible loss. David had lost those that he
loved most. His heart was broken and yet
it brought him back to the Lord. So may our troubles do so too. Here's the second point that
I want to make. People of faith lean on the Lord
in times of greatest trouble. And in verse six, we read, verse
six of chapter 30, we read that David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. And I want to be practical here
as well. Troubles will come. But I want you to prepare for
those troubles now. by becoming familiar with the
Lord, by learning about him, by learning to commit your ways
into his hands. Learn to pray, learn to read
his word. deepen your relationship with
him, deepen your knowledge with the Lord, so that when these
difficult times come, you will be able, like David, to be encouraged
in the Lord your God. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God by returning to think about what the Lord had
taught him and told him in the past. The Lord was his God. Is the Lord your God? Do you
know the Lord as your saviour? Do you know the Lord as your
helper? Will you discover him as your encourager and your comforter? After we first trust the Lord
for our salvation, we shall be taught to trust him for our encouragement. And here's my third point, and
it's just a little one. David turned to Abiathar, the
high priest, to inquire of the Lord concerning the way ahead,
and the Lord answered him. Do you remember last week when
we were speaking about Saul? We learned then that the Lord
would not speak to Saul. The Lord would not answer Saul,
and that's why Saul ended up going down to that spiritualist
and seeking advice at, well, we can only say, at the gate
of hell. Saul was a stranger to grace,
and the Lord did not speak to him. But here the Lord answered
one of his little ones in need. Now we don't have an Abiathar
or an Ephod that we can go to, but we have a far better High
Priest. Our High Priest is the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Take your troubles to the Lord,
He represents us in heaven at the throne of God's grace and
the throne of his goodness, of his mercy and his love. He represents
us there upon the merits of his shed, blood and sacrifice. When we know the Lord and trust
the Lord, we shall be encouraged during our hardest times. David
was, and we shall be as well. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us today.