Sermon Tone Analysis

How does God lead us in worship when times are difficult?

How does God lead us to worship when we don’t feel like worshiping?

What does it look like to worship when your life is on the line?

David was just a lowly shepherd boy.

He cared about his flock and tended to them as if they were his own.

He loved the Lord and worked hard to please Him in all that he did.

In just a short time David had gone form sitting under trees in the shade to slaying giants, fighting wars, and fleeing for his life from a king he once called friend.

There was nothing peaceful about his circumstances.

You might wonder if David ever longed to be back home in Bethlehem, sitting under a tree, listening to the gentle bleating of his sheep as he plucked away at the lyre.

Regardless of how he felt, David shows us what it looked like to be a worshipper.

Last week we talked about how Jonathan had been a true friend to David.

He made a covenant with him and ensured that David would escape Saul safely.

We pick up today with David on the run from Saul, fleeing for his life as Saul pursues him from town to town.

This chapter in David’s life would be very influential in shaping the king he would be.

Within this short period of time, David writes five Psalms.

Each one shows us David’s heart of worship as he wrestles with his environment, and although Psalm 23 probably isn’t one of the ones he wrote during this time, it gives us a good perspective about who God is in the midst of all the chaos.

Who is God?

Why is He worthy of our worship?

David sees the Lord as his shepherd.

As the good shepherd the Lord cares and protects us.

All our needs are found in him.

He cares for us when we are in seasons of peace and comfort.

He cares for us when we are in seasons of heartache

With his staff He draws us in and with His staff He fights off our enemies.

Death cannot harm us when we’re under the Shepherd’s care.

He cares for us even when our path leads us before those that wish to cause us harm.

David found himself eating with his enemies often, but even there God continued to protect him.

Where David should have found distress and harm in his situation he found instead the goodness and faithful love of His good shepherd.

What does this say about the kind of God we are worshiping?

He loves us, He cares for us, He provides for us.

Even in valleys of shadows and death, even when our table is in the presence of our enemies, our God is with us.

We find that the only way to respond to the great care God demonstrates for us as Good Shepherd is to respond in worship.

David begins his escape after Jonathan warns him by shooting his arrow past where David was hiding.

His journey brought him to Nob.

Nob was a priestly city in the land of Benjamin.

It was a town that Saul would have been familiar with having come from the tribe of Benjamin but it was also one that David knew would provide him refuge.

David comes to a priest named Ahimelech for assistance.

This story leads us to an interesting conflict of character.

Should David eat the consecrated bread of the priests.

He was not from the tribe of Levi and did not serve as priest in Israel and so technically should not have been allowed to eat the bread under the law.

As we talk about worship it’s important to remember that God desires our hearts more than He desires sacrifice.

This doesn’t mean we can disobey what God has commanded us as long as our hearts desire Him.

It means that our relationship inspires action and not the other way around.

David understood that the Law was made for mankind to show how to be holy.

Man was not made for the Law instead man was made for relationship with God.

So although David did not fulfill the letter of the law in eating the bread, David fulfilled the spirit of the law in remaining holy and centered on his relationship with God his good shepherd.

This question of character would appear over a thousand years later as the Pharisees accused Jesus’ disciples of breaking the Talmud and sinning against God on the Sabbath.

In Jesus’ day you had the Law and you had the Talmud.

The Law was the first five books of the Bible, inspired by God and given to the people to live by.

The Talmud was a list of man-made oral traditions created to ensure the Law would not be broken.

They were not equal in their authority but were treated as such by the Pharisees.

If the law said to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, the Talmud would say you can’t walk over a mile and a half or your guilty of working and not resting on the Sabbath.

Part of worshipping in our difficult circumstances is recognizing that Jesus is our rest.

When we are worn out and burnt out not feeling like worshipping, Jesus reminds us it’s not about duty.

It’s about recognizing Him as the Lord of rest, coming to Him, and finding Him to be our comfort and ever-present help in times of danger.

And so David flees to Gath.

The home of Goliath the Philistine.

Here is David carrying the sword of the man whose head he cut off and is now staying in his hometown.

Do you think David was welcomed into that city?

Here we have the first of five Psalms that David writes during this time.

David knows men can’t do harm to him.

Look at that beautiful stanza in verse 3-4.

With his words, David paints a picture of his worship.

Think of a circle.

Fear on the outside ring with a shield of “I shall not be afraid”, with a layer of “I will put my trust in You”, with praise to God in the center.

Here in the middle of it all David finds a place to worship and it’s under the trust and protection of God.

His response?

What can mortals do to me? Incredible.

Here’s the list of all mankind might do to me but You are God and if You are for me who can be against me?

It almost sounds like Paul read the old testament when he wrote in Romans

While David is in Gath he pretends to be insane.

It says that he scribbles on the doors of the city gate and has slobber all over his mouth and beard.

The king sees David and says

David is able to avoid danger and even make his way to Moab where he can protect his family and rally 400 men to stand with him against Saul.

Here we get another Psalm from David.

David responds to his circumstance with blessing and exaltation of God.

He sings of how God has heard his prayer and how his face is radiant with joy.

There is nothing about acting crazy to avoid death that screams joy to me.

Here he is surrounded by his enemies and what does he say?

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and rescues them.

Even when he is surrounded his enemies it is the Lord that encamps around and protects him.

That is something worth singing about.

How do we worship when our life is on the line?

We do it without fear knowing that God is near to those who have put their trust in Him.

Saul desperately wanted to catch David and kill him but could not find where he was.

It wasn’t until Doeg the Edomite spoke out and told Saul where David had gone.

Doeg willingly lead Saul to Nob where David had recieved the sword of Goliath and bread from the priests.

When Saul and his men got to Nob Saul accused the priests of conspiring against him.

He ordered his servants to kill the priests but when they would not do it Doeg stepped in and killed the 85 priests along with all the women, children, babies, oxen, donkeys, and sheep that were in the town.

He killed everything.

When David heard his heart was heavy.

He knew Doeg was there the day he came to Nob and felt responsible for what had happened.

In response to this David writes another Psalm.

Worship is not something done for selfish gain.

It is done because God is worthy.

David lived a life of worship and it put him in the crosshairs.

He could have lived selfishly and been comfortable doing it, but he knew doing what was right was more important than doing what was easy.

No rest for the weary.

David soon after this was led by God into battle against the Philistines.

Even though Saul was still chasing him, David went and protected the city of Keilah from the Philistines.