In the Waiting

“The story of David isn’t set before us as a moral model to copy. David isn’t a person whose actions we’re inspired to imitate. David’s isn’t an ideal life but an actual life. We enter the company of David not to improve our morals but to deepen our sense of human reality.” (page 62) — Eugene Peterson

What we see in the life of David alongside all the good is struggle to believe, a propensity to doubt God’s goodness, power, and care for him, a arrogance in thinking he knew better than God, and a proneness toward tuning God out.

There really are 2 reasons God chose to record these moments and seasons of sinfulness and unfaithfulness in David’s life.

He desires us to see ourselves in the life of David

And He desires us to see how much greater our King Jesus is than the greatest King in Israel’s history was. David’s life displays our desperate need for Jesus.

So as we dive into chapters 27-30 in the next few minutes, don’t lose sight of that second point.

Yes we are broken, lost, and hopeless in our humanity, but “praise God there is one who did what no mere man could ever do. Jesus is the true and better king, and the true and better Savior.

So with that as our overarching reality, let’s look to David’s life for the nuggets of truth that help us forge the path through this life of faith.

A Quick Refresh

To this point in the story we really have only seen David as a humble, kind, wise, and victorious person. He has face trials and conflicts, but he has escaped them without much incident and his courage and character have shined through.

Back in chapter 16, God had sent the prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem because He had turned against Saul as king in Israel and was going to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king.

David, the youngest and least likely, is the one God chooses.

And at the time David was only 14-16 years old.

One chapter later, David, still serving as a shepherd to his father’s sheep, bravely takes on and takes down the giant Philistine Goliath and begins to make a name for himself in Israel.

By chapter 18, Saul, who had jumped on the David bandwagon at first, began to get really jealous of and angry with David’s fame and ultimately tries to kill him.

This begins a long season of David’s life where he is on the run from Saul and those Saul sends to kill David to protect his throne.

Last week Andy walked us through chapter 24 when David had the chance to kill Saul, but instead shows incredible restraint and trusts God’s plan and promises.

Another, very similar, situation is recorded in chapter 26 as David enters Saul’s camp undetected and finds him asleep in his tent with his spear next to his head. And again David chooses not to kills Saul and end this long, hard season of running and hiding.

That is where we pick up the story today.

1 Samuel 27 CSB

1 David said to himself, “One of these days I’ll be swept away by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me everywhere in Israel, and I’ll escape from him.” 2 So David set out with his six hundred men and went over to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath. 3 David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow. 4 When it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him. 5 Now David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” 6 That day Achish gave Ziklag to him, and it still belongs to the kings of Judah today. 7 The length of time that David stayed in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months. 8 David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. From ancient times they had been the inhabitants of the region through Shur as far as the land of Egypt. 9 Whenever David attacked the land, he did not leave a single person alive, either man or woman, but he took flocks, herds, donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he came back to Achish, 10 who inquired, “Where did you raid today?” David replied, “The south country of Judah,” “The south country of the Jerahmeelites,” or “The south country of the Kenites.” 11 David did not let a man or woman live to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Or they will inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’ ” This was David’s custom during the whole time he stayed in the Philistine territory. 12 So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself repulsive to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”

Connection Points

1) WAITING and TRUSTING is hard.

It is hard to wait on the lord.

The time from chapter 16, when David was told he was to be king, until chapter 27 was a many as 15 years.

15 years of running, hiding, and fighting to stay alive.

The David we meet in chapter 27 is frustrated, tired, and at the end of his rope.

His words at the beginning of the chapter make a lot of sense don’t they.

1 Samuel 27:1 CSB

It is hard to wait on the Lord isn’t it.

I think we can all relate with this and if you can’t right now, you will know exactly what I am talking about some day soon.

We go through seasons of life, struggles, trials, and pain that seem to persist longer than our bodies, minds, and souls can stand.

We believe God is good, that He is with us, and that He is working all things out for good for those who have their faith in Him, but that good seems to be slow in getting to us.

It is hard to wait…and it’s hard to trust.

David had done well, stayed faithful, and had even passed up two great opportunities to take Saul out and end this season of life, but he chose to trust God and His plans and timing rather than take matters into his own hands.

But something changed between 26:25 and 27:1.

David had lost hope, had become weary in waiting, and was struggling to believe.

There is a very telling and yet easy to miss detail about chapters 27 and 29 as they record what David was doing in the land of the Philistines.

There is no mention of God in either of the chapters outside of the Philistine king Achish talking about David in chapter 28.

This is telling because it seems David, who had expressed deep trust and faith in God in previous chapters, was in a season of distance from God, maybe brought on by doubt and perhaps even a bit of anger.

So when David decides to go to Gath, it doesn’t seem to be a prayerful decision, but one coming from a place of fear and doubt.

But he has a plan: His plan is to convince Achish that he is a valuable person to have around.

So once he gets to Gath he quickly convinces Achish to give him the land of Ziklag, a town with some distance away from Achish where he can do his own thing.

There David begins to conquer groups of Amalekite that inhabit the land around them.

And he begins hoarding their possessions which becomes a quite lucrative venture.

Then when Achish asks him what he had been doing David lies telling him he was attacking tribes loyal to Saul/Israel rather than the truth that he is taking out enemies of Israel.

He is seeking to convincing Achish that he was on his side and David is successful.

David had successfully stopped Saul from chasing him, had convinced Achish he was a friend and an asset, and he had justified the whole thing by believing he was doing what God had told Joshua and the trips of Judah to do all those years ago.

David had grown weary of waiting and had decided his plans and his power were the avenues he would pursue to get the results he wanted.

A wise and Godly missionary once told me “If something we do in life doesn’t require us to have faith in God, then it probably isn’t from God.”

If you are in one of those seasons of waiting I want to challenge you and encourage you to don’t give up and don’t lose hope in God.

For when you do your temptation is going to be to pursue a path that might seem right in the moment, but leads much further than you would ever want from the Lord.

2) God is WORKING even when we can't see it.

Let’s skip over to chapter 29. I am going to summarize what happens really quick rather than read it for time purposes.

In Chapter 29, David's scheme has put him in a difficult position.

War is brewing between Israel and the Philistines and David is in the middle and in a very awkward position.

If he fights for the Philistines it could jeopardize his future as king in Judah,

But if he fights for Israel, he will lose out on this sweet arrangement in Ziklag.

Achish comes to David and invites him to fight alongside him and even be his personal bodyguard on the battlefield.

David accepts the invitation, what his intention was in the long run we don’t know, but at this point he is planning to fight with Achish.

That's when we see the grace and providential care of the Lord come into clear view.

Achish loves David, but the other Philistine elders do not

They are not convinced David should be trusted and believe he might just be a Trojan Horse ready to turn any moment against them in battle.

So they force Achish to send David away and, in effect, save David from a very difficult situation.

I don't think David was in a place to understand, or receive, God's grace and mercy at that moment.

He had invested himself so much in his plans and agendas that he didn't see god protecting and preserving him.

David actually argues with Achish to reconsider, seemingly believing that this was what was best and unable to see how God had used these pagan generals in Philistine to save him from a very vulnerable situation.

It is often hard for us to see God’s gracious hand working in the middle of our disappointments and discouragements, but He is and He has a reason, a plan, and a mission.

Now, looking back at Chapter 28, it actually happens at the same time as chapter 29.

Saul is also getting ready for war, but in a much different way.

He is scared and struggling to find answers. God is quiet and so he goes looking for answers in a very peculiar place, the house of a witch who was a medium.

He asks her to bring up Samuel, who has died by this time.

And when Samuel comes he does not have great news for Saul, he tells him that not only will he lose the battle, but that he will also lose his life.

This account is placed in contrast to David to show 2 things.

The desperation of someone far from God.

Saul had turned his back on God many years ago and refused to repent, so now, as he faces the scariest moment of his life, he has no one to turn to and no one to hope in.

He is desperately lost.

To show the providential power of God working even when we don't see it.

Not only was God using sinful Philistines to protect David, he was working things in Saul's life to bring His plans to fruition.

We can’t know for sure how everything in your life is going to workout, but they thing we must remember and constantly remind ourselves of is that God is ALWAYS working even when we don’t see it.

Maybe the situation you are facing today seems like it is utterly hopeless and that God is absent, but what is God working that you will not see until it is finished?

David was too fixated on his plans and his ways to see God doing something right in front of his eyes, so of course he missed the thing happening where he wasn’t looking at all.

Don’t grow weary in waiting and remember, God is working even when we don’t see it.

3) God's GRACE really is AMAZING.

Now in chapter 30 as David and his troops get back to Ziklag they find the whole town ransacked and burned by Amalekite raiders and all the women and children have been kidnapped.

He and his men, we are told, “wept loudly until they had no strength left to weep.”

This is the moment I think where David’s hard heart began to soften.

He began to see how his plans had led he and his men to a place much farther from God and to a place much more dark and desolate than they had been in Israel under God’s protection.

And then his men turn on him and begin to talk about stoning him to death.

But in verse 6 we are told

1 Samuel 30:6 ESV

6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

DAVID TURNED BACK TO THE LORD!

For David that meant he went to Abiathar the priest and sought the Lord’s direction and what he should do next.

David had come to the realization that God’s Word is a much better guide than his own ingenuity and scheming.

And in the end, God provided a deserted Egyptian slave who led them directly to the Amalekites where they destroyed them and got all their wives, children, and possessions back.

Compare chapter 30 with 28 and Saul's story.

God's presence was no longer with him.

Too long did he try to do things his own way and when confronted he seemed to always have an excuse...but not David, the man whom God's heart is for.

After they destroy the raiders and get back what was stolen, some of David's men want to exclude the ones who didn't fight from the bounty,

but David says no and says:

1 Samuel 30:23–24 CSB

23 But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the Lord has given us. He protected us and handed over to us the raiders who came against us. 24 Who can agree to your proposal? The share of the one who goes into battle is to be the same as the share of the one who remains with the supplies. They will share equally.”

David was intimately aware of God's grace and provision.

It often takes us getting on the other side of a hard season or a season of disobedience or a coming to faith moment for us to see how amazing God's grace really is.

Open hands and an open heart for what God might be working in you, around you, or through you today.

Psalm 37:3–7 CSB

3 Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. 5 Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act, 6 making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. 7 Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.

Psalm 37:34 CSB

34 Wait for the Lord and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land. You will watch when the wicked are destroyed.

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