Scripture: 1 Samuel 23:1-29
Sermon Series: 1 Samuel: God of Reversals – Sermon 24
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 23:1-14. Prayer.
Did you hear about the Rolling Stones saving four friends? It happened a few weeks ago. What started as a sailing
adventure for Rick Rodriguez (pictures) and three friends ended in a dramatic rescue in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Rodriguez and his friends had been on what was meant to be a weeklong crossing to French Polynesia on his sailboat, Raindancer. They’d been enjoying some pizza for lunch when they heard a loud bang. It was a very violent impact with some crazy noises and the whole boat shook. They immediately looked over the side to see a huge whale bleeding. The impact was so severe that the boat’s propeller was ruptured and fiberglass around it shattered, sinking their boat in less than 15 minutes. As water began to rush in, the group snapped into survival mode. Their distress signal was picked up by Geoff Stone, captain of the Rolling Stones, who incidentally is from Muskego. WI. His boat was about 60 miles away when they realized their vessel was the closest boat. They were eventually able to locate the group of friends and rescued them. In case you decide to sail across the ocean, since 2007 there have been about 1,200 reports of whales and boats colliding.
Don’t you love a great rescue story? 1 Samuel 23 is a rescue story. Like David – God is our Rescuer. You don’t have to get hit by a whale to need rescuing. Maybe you’re here and you feel like you’re sinking. You need rescuing. What a comfort as we go through deep waters to know God is our Rescuer. I love that song by Lauren Daigle (picture) song,
God the Father speaks to those at the point of giving up and says, “You’re not alone. You’re not forgotten. I will rescue you.” It was the message David needed to hear. It’s the message that we need to hear.
What were you doing ten years ago? For ten years David had been running for his life as a fugitive from Saul. There’s a price on his head. He’s an enemy of the state. Though he’s been anointed Israel’s future king, Saul is determined to murder David.
It must have been very discouraging living every day with someone dogging your steps, trying to kill you. Many of the psalms share David’s heart, like Psalm 54 that we read earlier. It was written because of events in this chapter. David needs to know that God is his rescuer. Whenever we encounter a trial we need the same, to be reassured that God will care for us.
There are four rescues in 1 Samuel 23. If you’re taking notes.
1.God uses us to rescue others when we need rescuing, vss. 1-5. Do you have a problem with bad political leaders? Do they stress you out? Make you angry? Can you imagine living under King Saul?
God gave Israel a king to protect them from their enemies, much a like a cop is to protect citizens from thugs. When Keilah is attacked, Saul, rather than protecting them is hunting down David. Saul should have been the savior of Keilah, not David. Scripture teaches that one of the responsibilities of government is to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Keilah (picture) is located on the edge of the enemy territory of Philistia, making them an easy target for raids. If something didn’t change, it could mean starvation and their extinction, much as the war in Ukraine is causing havoc on parts of Africa who are dependent on that region for grain.
It’s apparent that the spies of both Saul and David were active throughout the land. Saul would have known what was going on, yet instead he’s obsessed with taking out David.
The text continues the contrast between Saul and David by relating this attack on Keilah. Remember in our last study, Saul, instead of being the savior of Nob, has them executed because of their suspected loyalty to David. So David is on the run. He’s the one who needs saving but instead he becomes the savior of Keilah.
Ironically, it’s the fugitive who takes actions to save this Judahite city. Christine Caine (picture) insightfully said, “God uses rescued people to rescue people.” David the fugitive is the one who cared enough about this Israelite town under attack to pause and ask whether he should save them.
When we’re going through tough times, what’s our tendency? To play it safe. To be self-focused. But the Christian life is not safe. Our safety is not in this world. We’ve been rescued and God’s plan for us is to be His rescuers. Our mission is not just to take care of ourselves. The Christian life is one of risk. It’s one that lives for others because God sacrificed for us.
Rescue.
There’s never been a moment. You were forgotten
You are not hopeless. Though you have been broken. Your innocence stolen. I hear you whisper underneath your breath. I hear your SOS, your SOS. I will send out an army to find you. In the middle of the darkest night. It’s true, I will rescue you.
Covid showed that. New York City was ground zero for Covid. But who runs in, even though they are despised by many in leadership in that culture – Franklin Graham’s ministry, Samaritan’s Purse (picture).
That’s the history of the Church. From the 1st century until now, we’re to be the first responders. It’s why God put you in that neighborhood and us in this community. Each of us needs to periodically do a heart check of how involved we are in the lives of those around us.
David doesn’t go off halfcocked. Verse 2 tells us he inquired of the Lord to see if this was God’s will. It’s the first time David has direct communication from God. God wants us to know His will.
Our struggle can be that there are so many needs it’s tempting to jump at all of them. I feel that. I’m sure many of you do. Every time I visit Franklin or Oak Creek and see so many Muslims, I wonder, “Is anyone trying to reach them?” Every time I’m in a city and see abandoned churches, it weighs on me. Our mission field isn’t just across the ocean, it’s across the street.
Someone asked me recently, how I felt about the subdivisions planned for all around our church? Three words – Bring it on!
Many of you know that Jane and I don’t drink. I’m from multi-generation alkies, so it’s a choice that I’ve made to not drink though the Bible doesn’t prohibit it. Yet the neighborhood bar are central in our culture. Think of that TV show, Cheers (picture). So Jane and I purposefully go to bars for meals so we can connect with people who might never darken the door of a church and more importantly, don’t know Jesus.
Please be part of the PTO. Join a bowling league. Go to the neighborhood block party and company Christmas party. Coach Little League.
Can you relate to David’s men? I can, verse 3. “But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” It was dangerous enough hiding out in the forest from Saul but now they’re going to attack the Philistines and make themselves a target for Saul and the Philistines.
So David double-checks on whether God is really leading (vs. 4). He inquires of the Lord not once, but twice. Both times the Lord tells him to go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.
Two points are worth noting: 1) David is unwilling to help without hearing from the Lord. He’s not thinking, “How can I leverage this to help my reputation?” His only question is: “What does God want me to do?” As with David, so with us. Our only desire should be to do God’s will.
2) David immediately obeyed once he knew God’s will. Once you know, you go. Case closed. David doesn’t complain about the danger. He simply rises to do God’s will and his duty. If David had been looking out for himself, he’d have ignored Keilah. He’s willing to risk himself and his men because he’s determined to obey God no matter what the cost.
Spiritual leaders need to be wise and not presumptuous. Yet, part of their responsibility is to lead, not play it safe. Our God-given responsibility is not to be comfortable or make you comfortable. Like David, leaders must prayerfully seek to discern God’s will and direction and then lead.
2. God rescues us when evil is returned for our good, vss. 6-13.
Remember Samaritan’s Purse in New York City? New York asked them to come. They had no expectation of receiving any compensation for the weeks of work that they did to combat Corona with their tent hospital. It was funded by donations from Christians. But after they were done, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (picture) charged all of their personnel income tax.
Most of us have been there. You may have even quoted Irish poet, Oscar Wilde’s (picture), sardonic observation, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
David rescued Keilah. His army is in the city when he learns Saul is coming with a huge force, so David inquires of God on what the citizens of Keilah will do – will they support him or surrender him to Saul? The Lord warns David that they will turn him over to his nemesis.
Too often the ones you help the most are the very ones who turn on you. It’s tempting to get turned off or become jaundiced or cynical. We must be like David. He didn’t grow bitter. David wasn’t there for them, he was obeying God. Freedom comes from living for an audience of One.
Yet if I’m honest, the person I know that mistreats those who do the most for him – is me. I do that to God. How many times has God forgiven me, blessed me and I’m off living my own way – in a way that I know hurts Him? If we do it to the Lord, why are we surprised when others do it to us?
David was committed to overcoming evil with good. He’ll faithfully do it for years. Saul doesn’t go away. Life will periodically treat us that way.
In the defense of Keilah, no doubt they’d heard what Saul had done to Nob. They were more terrified of Saul than they were thankful for David. If you and I are looking for others to treat us right because we’ve helped them, we’ll often be
disappointed. It’s why we must do it for Jesus. He keeps accurate books and will always reward us for the smallest, good thing we do.
Verse 7 needs to get our attention. Notice Saul says, “God has given him into my hand.” Evil people often rationalize and convince themselves that they’re doing God’s will. Saul claims that God is working for him.
Just because a political leader or star athlete invokes God’s name or praises the Lord, it doesn’t mean they’re on the side of God. It’s the behavior not just the words. How hard is it to praise God when you’ve won? I think we should pay more attention to how they respond to God after they lose.
Sin distorts our thinking. Saul is a murderous tyrant so messed up by this point that he can actually view the evil he’s doing as serving God. It’s monstrous. He’s trying to justify his evil.
Periodically you’ll hear someone justify what clearly violates God’s Word with, “God is very happy if I’d do this. He wants me to do this” and so on. Sin distorts the thinking.
What a contrast to David who submits and seeks God’s will through Abiathar’s ephod. The need for divine guidance is an undeniable link between believers of Bible times and today. While David seeks God’s guidance, Saul assumes that his will and desires are God’s.
This practice of consulting God is the standard practice for David throughout his life. His example of seeking God in life’s decisions is something we must emulate. Yet, we have something better than a priestly ephod, we have the Word of God. Much of God’s will is clear-cut, and spelled out in His Word. “The better you know the Word of God, the better you’ll know the will of God for your life” (picture) Warren Wiersbe.
Our culture lives by feelings but feelings are fickle and unreliable. God has revealed His will for us in His Word. Let me share some steps of discovering God’s will to help in decision making.
First, when faced with a decision, we should seek to understand what the Bible prohibits or commands. God has given us clear commands like the Ten Commandments that we’re to obey.
Second, having ascertained that, Christians should then consider which options are wise and beneficial according to biblical principles. Is a decision likely to be profitable? For example, say I’m buying a house. Is this house going to cost so much that we’re going to have to work long hours to pay for it and miss out on marriage and family time?
Third, what effect is this choice or decision likely to have on others? I’ll share a choice I’ve made. Could I put up a political sign in my yard? Yes. But I have neighbors on both sides politically. Personally, I don’t want to put any barriers for sharing the gospel with them. That’s a choice that I’ve made.
Finally, is there a biblical example, character or illustration that I can compare my decision to? For example, the compassion of God’s people throughout Scripture should be a model for us.
There is one key prerequisite for all of this – it all presupposes that we know our Bibles! A few years ago there was an article in Reuters that asked, “How many of The Ten Commandments can you name?” Here’s the answer, “Americans recalled the seven ingredients of a McDonald’s Big Mac and members of TV’s ‘The Brady Bunch’ more easily than the Bible’s Ten Commandments.” People wonder why they have difficulty knowing God’s will. We don’t know our Bibles.
3. God uses faithful friends to rescue us, vss. 15-18. “David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.”
Are you someone who “strengthens a friends’ hand in the hand of God.” The word “hand” is used nine times in this chapter. But God’s hand is the one that really matters. That’s where Jonathan directs David.
When David’s hand was trembling with discouragement and fear, Jonathan helps him put his hand into the hand of God. Jonathan didn’t promise he could solve David’s problems or promise that he could protect David’s life. Instead he reminded David of the promises God made to him.
Jonathan did what a true friend does and is also our greatest need – He strengthened his hand in God. How did he do that? He reminded David of God’s promises. Our presence can be a great encouragement to those suffering but anything of eternal value will come from the Word of God.
You and I can be quick to give others advice. We can empathize and be compassionate, yet what our friends need most is to have their hearts turned back to God. He’s the one they need and the source of their strength.
There is a terrible shortage of encouragers today, even in the Church. Our Christian friendships should be a place where our spiritual cups are refilled. The world doesn’t need more critics. It’s starving for encouragers.
Are you an encourager? How can you be an encouragement? First, avoid sarcasm. We use it to be funny but it isn’t. We meet someone’s parent, “Oh, you’re the one we should blame for so-in-so…” Really? Please be a source of
encouragement instead. Words like, “Your son – your daughter has blessed my life. Thank you.” Let’s be those who encourage others.
We can be an encourager by pointing people back to God’s promises. We can offer the abiding hope that only the Bible provides. Dale Ralph Davis (picture) puts it beautifully: “Encouragement from God for the people of God comes from the word of God.”
Jonathan was what Bible teacher, Ray Pritchard (picture) calls “2 a.m. friends.” That’s someone you could call in the middle of the night if you needed help. If you have an emergency, this kind of friend asks two questions: “Where are you?” and “What do you need?”
Neither David nor Jonathan knew that this was the last time this side of eternity that they’d be together. It makes it very poignant, doesn’t it? Because my friend, there will be a last time when we’re in the presence of our friends. That’s why all of our hellos and all of our goodbyes matter—the way we walk out from a situation. Make every time one worth remembering.
4. God rescues us even when we’ve been betrayed, vss. 19-29. “Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.” And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.”
This next episode plays out much like Keilah but with a different set of people. David is hiding in the wilderness of Ziph, so the Ziphites decide that they should turn David in. Ziph is 16 miles south of Bethlehem and they’re members of David’s own tribe! How their betrayal must have stung!
They tell Saul where David is and Saul hunts him down. He trapped David by surrounding him on the side of a mountain. This scene is an Old Testament version of The Fast and Furious. David is close to being captured.
Please don’t read this section and think, “Boy, David sure is lucky.” There’s no such thing as luck. No, it was God. We marvel at the endless ways God mysteriously directs and protects his servants.
Jerry Bridges (picture) defines providence as “God, in some invisible and inscrutable ways governs all creatures, actions and circumstances thru the normal and the ordinary course of human life.” As the great Sovereign of the universe, God not only sees events before they happen – He directs them using seemingly insignificant events in our lives. God’s not passive. He’s actively working out His divine plan. Life is not left to blind chance. Behind our trial is a loving sovereign God in control.
The response of Saul to the Ziphites is pathetic. “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me.” He casts himself as the victim! But David’s the fugitive! David’s the one he’s trying to kill! Sin can really distort your thinking.
Ours is a “victim culture.” You’ll find it’s very common for those like Saul who are victimizers, that they cast themselves as the victim. It’s Manipulation 101. While there’s no formal psychological definition of a victim mentality, a useful one is: “If you have a victim mentality, you will see your entire life through a perspective that things constantly happen ‘to’ you. Victimization is thus a combination of seeing most things in life as negative, beyond your control, and as something you should be given sympathy for experiencing as you ‘deserve’ better. At its heart, a victim mentality is actually a way to avoid taking any responsibility for yourself or your life. By believing you have no power then you don’t have to take action.”
In other words, any bad thing in your life is the fault of others. They’re the ones that are bad, wrong or dumb, and you’re good and right. Other people do bad or stupid things, and you suffer as a result. Social media has given victimizers a whole new means for spreading their manipulation.
Yet God rescues David again. David is saved this time because Saul does something out of character: Saul acts like a king and goes to fight the Philistines. David rescued Keilah from the Philistines and now God uses the Philistines to rescue David. It’s a shocking turn of events.
Saul abandoned his kingly responsibilities to pursue David. So why, now that he finally has him, does he change his mind? God intervened. Saul erroneously thinks God has given David “into his hands.” God didn’t give David into Saul’s hand.
Sometimes we fall into the hands of evildoers. Whether it’s annoying—like a boss who’s difficult to work for—or devastating—like being a victim of abuse or assault—there are times when it seems like God gives us into the hands of others. David will feel like that frequently, but not here. In this account, God rescues him. If you’ve been a Christian for very long, you have your own stories of God’s strange saviors and startling timings just like this.
Conclusion: God is still in the rescue business. This wasn’t just back then. He truly is our Rescuer. We face many things and situations we need rescuing from, whether it’s financial stress, relational problems, career slumps, sicknesses, depression or loss, sooner or later we face something that’s beyond us. In times like this we’re forced to call out for external help.
We need someone who never fails and will always make all things work together for good. We find that in no one else but God. He will always be the most reliable One to look to when we need rescuing. How do we know that?
God is all powerful. There is nothing in this world more powerful than God. Even sin and death were defeated by Christ’s work on the cross. Because God is all powerful, He is most capable to rescue us.
God loves us. God is not just powerful, He loves and adores us. Because of that, He won’t hesitate to use His power for our overall good. It’s funny how many times we get in trouble and it’s usually because we got ourselves into it. But God is still faithful and will rescue us simply because He loves us.
God made us for His purposes. God will protect and rescue us because He chooses to make us key to His will and purposes. We’re crucial pieces to His kingdom advancement. To God we’re worth protecting and rescuing.
Jesus rescued us from the greatest threat: sin. In His love for us, Jesus left the comforts of heaven to come down and defeat the power of sin over our lives and rescue us from it both now and for all eternity.
Let me end with another rescue song, Rescuer, by Rend Collective (picture). The chorus is: He’s our rescuer. He’s our rescuer
We are free from sin forevermore Oh how sweet the sound
Oh how grace abounds
We will praise the Lord our rescuer.
They wrote the song because there’s so much bad news in the world. The word gospel means Good News. And gospel good news has a name – Jesus. The Lord Jesus came down from Heaven to rescue each one of us. He came down to change our situation and our destination. He came down to lift us out of the filth of our own sin. Jesus is our Rescuer,
All of us are lost without Him. All of us are overwhelmed. All of us are caught up in and part of the bad news. Today there is nothing more powerful we can do, in the darkness, in the bleakness, than proclaim the gospel.
Is that the message you need to hear today? Do you need to know that you can be rescued? That there’s hope. Maybe you just need to celebrate the fact that if you’ve committed your life to Christ, you’ve already been rescued. Jesus is our Rescuer. There is good news in Him.
We can get obsessed with fear. We can allow it to overwhelm us. It’s time that we started proclaiming the clear message of Jesus, that there’s Good News – He has come to rescue us.
God rescued David again and again. He wants to rescue you. Are you facing a situation where you need Him to rescue you? Have you let Him rescue you from sin and give you His gift of forgiveness and eternal life?