DAVID A man after God's own heart!

Good morning.  Today we will continue in 1 Samuel chapter 23.  It is important to remember that David inquired of God if he should go to Keilah, and God told him yes.  His men questioned him, or protested, and David went back to God and a second time God said yes go.  So God is right where God asked him to be.  Then....

READ:  1 Samuel 23:7-13

Saul Pursues David

7 Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” 8 And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

9 When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” 10 David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. 11 Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.”

And the Lord said, “He will.”

12 Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?”

And the Lord said, “They will.”

13 So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

So David was right where God had asked him to go.  Had done what God asked him to do and now... He didn't trust that the very people he had just helped save, would save him.  

How many times do we feel that way.  There are a few things we can learn from David here.  

1.  David didn't question whether or not he had heard God correctly the first time.  Do you ever think you know what God is asking you to do and then things don't go exactly as you thought or things change and you go into questioning mode wondering whether or not you heard God right?  David didn't say, "Why did you tell me to come here if you knew that Saul would try to trap me here and the same people I just saved would turn me over to him?"

2.  He didn't put his faith in man but in God.  You would think that if you had just fought for and defended a certain people that they would do the same for you.  You would think.  But they were human.  When we put our faith in humans, we will be disappointed.  

3.  He didn't gripe and complain about the imbeciles that weren't helping him out.   He just asked God, then took action.  

If you are like me you weren't sure about why he asked for the Ephod.  Remember the priests had been murdered and one of the sons came running to tell David the story.  Why would David ask for the priestly robes?  Why was that important now.  Below is what Ellen White wrote about this.   

"Set in the breastplate, one on either side, were two brilliant stones, called the Urim and Thummim. By means of these stones the mind of the Lord could be ascertained by the high priest. When questions were asked, if light encircled the precious stone at the right, the answer was in the affirmative; but if a shadow rested on the stone at the left, the answer was negative. The breastplate being attached to the ephod, David, in calling for the priest to bring the ephod when he was undecided as to what course to pursue, was really asking for the breastplate, by which he might know the mind of the Lord." (CIS 88.2, 88.3)

So when David called for the Ephod, he was wanting a clear answer.  Another commentator suggests that we can be confident in what David asked for based on the fact that the questions asked were yes or no.  He asked them in such a way that the Ephod or the breastplate could help him get a clear answer from God.  

Have you ever longed to hear clearly from God an answer to your question?  Have you ever wanted a clear sign as to what you should do or not do? 

This is one of those times for David.

Though there are times I wish I had a breastplate with stones that glowed to answer my questions,  I can with confidence know that it is for that very reason, we were gifted with the Holy Spirit.  It is also why we were gifted with the Bible.  God has made things just as clear for us.  

It is also interesting to me that God told David that the people wouldn't protect him, so David took action.  He didn't ask God should I go or should I run?  Should I stay or should I...should I...? 

Sometimes we just need to take action.  Pastor Ryan's email to all of us last night beautifully spoke to this very concept.  We don't need glowing stones.  We have the still small voice!  We don't need Him to speak to us through the burning bush we have His word.  God has given us all we need to KNOW and, to with confidence, follow Him and do His will.  The question is, "Are we willing to listen and act?" 

I am not in anyway suggesting that there aren't times when we feel uncertain of His will or that we wish things were clear.  It happens to me all the time!  The gap is not in God's willingness to communicate but either my willingness to hear or act.  

We need to spend time in His word always!  Too often throughout my life I have gone to His word and to my knees when I needed something, needed guidance.  Long before I NEED, I need to be in His word, and on my knees.  It is in the everyday relationship that He prepares and answers questions.   Before I even know I have the need or question.  

When my grandfather graduated from medical school he joined the Army as a physician. World War II was still raging and he hoped to help those soldiers in need.  The Army asked him what he would like to do.  What type of medicine?  He asked to be a surgeon.  He was ready to go anywhere they needed him.  His dad was a surgeon and that was where he believed God wanted him to serve.  They agreed.  Then when he got his assignment... it was in a basement room in Asheville, NC.  He wasn't a surgeon.  He was asked to read fecal slides.  So hour after hour he sat in this windowless basement, and looked at fecal matter through a microscope.  He was so disappointed and angry at being put there.  After the war ended, my grandparents accepted a call to start a hospital in Gimbi, Ethiopia. Months later he became very ill.  He didn't know what he had but he could tell it wasn't good.  He kept trying to diagnose himself, but wasn't having much luck.  Finally, he decided to take a look at his fecal matter and see if that gave him any clues.  There on the slide he saw something he had seen in that windowless basement months earlier.  It was a parasite that had been affecting the soldiers in the Pacific Theater.  Something that when he saw it in that basement, he didn't know what it was.  So he researched it.  Discovered what parasite it was, the prognosis and what the treatment.  In the boredom of the basement, he used the time to research this new creature.  Now months later in the African wilderness, he saw the same parasite in his own fecal matter.  He not only knew why he was sick, but he knew the prognosis and the treatment needed.  He told the one nurse at the hospital what he knew and what he needed.  He knew they didn't have the treatment needed and so he was quite confident he would die.  He told the nurse what would happen to him so she could help him as best as she could while he died.  She then told him that back in a closet were some old medical supplies left by the Italian army.  The nurse said, "We could look there and see if the medication you need is in the crate." They looked and there it was.  Exactly the dose needed.  

This is a beautiful story, but it isn't extraordinary.  You may be in the basement, but you have the opportunity everyday to spend time learning.  We have the opportunity to get in the word, and be on our knees, and it will prepare us, it will teach us what we need long before we even need it.  He will prepare us, He will not forsake us. The question is, are we going to sit in the basement and mope, or are we going to take that opportunity to learn? 

God left us the Holy Spirit when he went back to heaven.  He gave us his Word.  

READ:  1 Samuel 23: 14-29

14 David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.

15 While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that[a]Saul had come out to take his life. 16 And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 17 “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” 18 The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

19 The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? 20 Now, Your Majesty, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for giving him into your hands.”

21 Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. 22 Go and get more information. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. 23 Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.”

24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.25 Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.

26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them,27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth.[b] 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

What about this passage stands out to you?

1. I really appreciate how it says that God didn't deliver him into the hand of Saul.  God is where we need to put our trust.  Not in man, not in our own power, but God.

2.  Jonathan encouraged David.  Sometimes we need encouragement.  Sometimes we need to be the encourager.  Today do you need or can you provide for someone else's need?  Encourage one another! 

3. When it feels like everything is closing in.  When you are sure that everything is going to catch you... God is still there.  Hang onto that.  Saul may be closing in but still keep looking to God.  He will deliver you!

This week I challenge us all to spend more time in the word!  More time on our knees!  Let your basement time not be brooding time, but time preparing you for the challenge to come. 

This week I challenge us to encourage each other.

This week I challenge us to never stop trusting in the almighty God we serve!