Sitting at a Red Light

Title- Sitting at a Red Light

Passage-

Attention-

There are moments in our lives that I cannot describe other than “red light” moments

The red light at the stop lights

Drinking…partying…living for self

Coming home and seeing what life would be like if it continued

Am I drinking too much

Should I keep going….

Introduction

These red light moments are some of the most influential moments in our lives.

They often carry much more significance than the spiritual mountaintop moments

When you are on top you start to wonder if you really are as great as you think you are

In the valley you know exactly why you are there

It gets you thinking

This week that is where David finds himself…in the gutter

What is the main driving point (CPS)?

Friends, sometimes it take circumstances for what we have accepted subjectively to flesh itself out objectively

Why does the CPS matter, what is the consequence?

It happens with childhood conversions…we say they need assurance of their faith

It can be moments of decision for the Lord

There are moments like these that shape us

Transition

Last week in we saw that Jesus Christ wants us to exchange our burdens for his peace

This week we will see several areas where David made an exchange

The first exchange that David made was…

I. Exchanging trust for scheming (21:1-9)

Explain

Saul has already tried to kill David a number of times

Saul’s hatred toward David is no secret

David is no dummy

He needs to go where he knows he will be safe

He needs someone he can trust

So he flees to Nob to Ahimelech who worked in the tabernacle there

David’s friendship with Samuel would give him an ally in Ahimelech

We are beginning to see a different David than we saw in the beginning of our study

The humble, faith filled man is beginning to show his humanity

You may have read right over this like I have many times like I did

Ahimelech starts to question David because some things aren’t adding up

Ahimelech was actually afraid at the fact that in spite of David’s reputation and position he was traveling alone…it just didn’t make sense

I am sure at some point we have all had the feeling that something doesn’t add up

Verse 1 he asks “Why are you alone?”

David’s response is quite telling of where his focus is right now

Verse 2….I am doing the king’s business and he said to keep it a secret

Come on now David!!!

Did the king send him? NO!!!!

The next problem is that he needs food

He asks Ahimelech what he has and Ahimelech responds that the only bread he has is the showbread…we won’t get into the details but I don’t think the issue is that David received bread from Ahimelech that was consecrated to the Lord, Ahimelech had the right to distribute the bread

The issue here is in the end of verse 2 when he tells Ahimelech that he has appointed men to a certain place and implies that the bread is for them.

Read all of chapter 20-22 and no where does David send men to a certain place and go get bread for them

David lies to Ahimelech to get extra bread

David goes from Nob to Gath to King Achish

Then he goes from Gath to Naioth to a cave and when his brothers and father hear where he is they went to him

Even in verse 8…he lies again that he needs a weapon because the kings business required haste

David goes from spiritual giant to liar and schemer

Bridge to today

You don’t want to connect with David so much anymore do you?

But we ought to…if we connected with David in the valleys we could come to the same understanding of God that he did to lift him out of those valleys.

We really wanna be the giant killer like David not the liar and schemer

Yet the reality is…this is more often how we relate to David

-We go from trusting God to trusting self

We walk in faith when the way is smooth and flat, when the mud and hills come we look for a different way

When our marriage doesn’t go the way we want we look for another

When finances are tight we hold back from the Lord and others

When our children don’t respond we trust in our emotional responses to them

Relevance

We adjusts the boundaries of the truth to suit the size of the situation or the stature of those we are talking to

Why does this matter?

I will ask the simple question, “why does this matter”?

The truth has a mysterious way of coming out

David had it all figured out…but he didn’t account for Doeg (verse 7)

Saul’s herdsman who “just happened” to be there to be cleansed by the priest

We may have a great plan…we may have rehearsed the words

But there are too many Doeg’s out there

We ought not to be afraid of a person catching us lying and scheming but we ought to be fearful of God’s sovereignty and ability to bring it to light

And as we will see in the near future we should be fearful of the consequences it has on others.

Be honest…You cannot out smart God…David tried and failed miserably.

Transition

The second exchange that David made was

II. Exchanging faith in God with fear of man (21:10-15)

Explain

It does not take long to get to the root in this section.

I think we often overlook this simple phrase because we are so much like David

“David arose, and fled for fear of Saul”

Turn with me back to

Back to

The chicken that was to afraid to fight the giant

The one who only killed his thousands

Brought fear to DAVID!!!

The Giant killer

The one who had mountains of faith that day

Now he’s running in fear of the coward king

Verse 11, even his enemies could see it…..

“Is this not David the king of the land”

“did they not sing one to another of him”

but David doesn’t

David goes from being afraid of Saul to being afraid of Achish the king of Gath

So David’s response to his fear is to act like a mad man

Bridge to today

Fear does strange things to people

It causes people to respond in ways they normally wouldn’t

Maybe you have been like me….”But this is DAVID!!!!!!!!!!!”

He is the leader of the mighty men

He is the mightiest of the mighty men

Those mighty men, they take their orders from David

How could he

Fear is powerful

Fear is controlling

Fear is what fills the vacuum left in the absence of faith

David took his eyes off the Lord

When David did that he became fearful

Relevance

This happens in so many areas of our lives

Every time an opportunity to walk in faith presents itself fear will attempt to overshadow it

And fear often wins

Fear is shortsighted and untrue

Fear is based on a lie

The root lie of fear is that the quick fix will be better

Fear is the spare tire in your car

You know…that dinky little thing they call a tire

It is not meant to be a lasting solution

What happens if you drive on it too long…

They are designed to go about 100 miles and to stay under 55 mph

The design of the tire makes it dangerous to exceed those limits

That’s fear…it is not designed for the long haul

You drive to far on fear and you’re gonna have a blowout

There isn’t enough tread on fear to get you where you need to go

It doesn’t have the cushion to handle the bumps in the road

That $200 a piece tire

It’s got the strength to hold together over the long haul and high speeds

Its got enough tread to get you where you need to go

It has the integrity to handle the bumps in the road

We need to choose faith…and not just faith but faith in the Lord

Transition

That moment on the battlefield with Goliath was defining.

I dont believe as much for David as Israel

In the battle with Goliath God is telling the Israelites nationally “You need me to be your King” .... In this valley God is declaring to David individually “You need me to be your King”

David has come to a moment of decision and has a choice to make...

The final exchange that David made was

III. Exchanging self reliance with humility (22:1-2)

Explain

David has been running, more or less alone.

He had some help from Jonathan at first but since then he’s been alone

Scheming…lying

Afraid

This is more of a pivot in the life of David than or

This is bigger than his anointing or his slaying Goliath

What does he do that is so pivotal?

He humbles himself and stops trying to do it alone

22:1 David leaves scheming and lying behind and reaches out for help

He departed where he was and went where he could be safely joined by his father and brothers

When all else fails, hopefully you can count on your family.

This is not true for everyone…David meets a whole group of them in verse 2

These were the outcasts…those who probably had been rejected by family….by friends….by coworkers….by society

-All they that were

-In distress~ The word literally beans to be in a straight (the narrow passage of water) Those that are in dire straits….stuck between a rock and a hard place

-In debt~ Someone that owes more than he can pay

-Discontented~translates two Hebrew words, “bitter of soul.” This expression is used elsewhere in the Old Testament in reference to persons who are bitter because they have suffered some kind of loss or because they are without something that they need.

These are David’s subjects

It takes great humility to go from slaying the giant “alone” to banding together with a group of outcasts

We don’t know exactly from the narrative but I suspect that David did not just humble himself to be banded to these chosen of the Lord

I would propose that it was possible that David was in the King’s presence when he said “Have I need of a mad man, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence”

The word can mean to be mad or to pretend to be mad

Either way Achish wanted nothing to do with it

I honestly believe this is the point that David becomes like the Prodigal Son

He said to himself “What am I doing”

I have Jahweh on my side and I am running and pretending to be mad

I believe this is the point in David’s life that it is apparent to him that he needs the Lord

This moment defined David personally as much as his killing Goliath defined Israel nationally

That was that he cannot do it on his own

Bridge to today

We get to those points in our lives as well

We have been going it alone for far too long

We get to that proverbial red light

That point in life where something stops you in your tracks

Gives you a moment to get your bearings

Causes you to think

And you have a decision to make

Right, left, straight

Why does this matter?

Moments like these are more important than the mountaintops

The mountaintop moments are what everyone strives for but its the time spent at the red light gathering your bearings that points us to those mountaintops

We do not like connecting with the lying, scheming, fearful David

But I challenge us that this is not only where we more closely line up with David it is also the moments where we can get back on the right track once again.

Conclusion

Review of the Principles and the Sermon Proposition

Stop the scheming and lying

Choose faith over fear

And humble yourselves before God and others

Challenge to act now (your part)…immanence

All of David’s failures pointed to one thing…he needed the Lord

Without the Lord he was making a mess of his life

We are no different

We need to identify with David in the valleys…we need to come to those defining moments that point us to the Lord

Now is the time to respond

We are going to close with a song in just a moment

Let the Holy Spirit keep working

Don’t tune Him out now

This could be a moment that could shape the rest of your life

Final Statement

What will you choose?

Trust or scheming

Faith of fear

Pride or humility

The choice is yours

Closing Hymn

We are more like David in his failures than in his successes. We want to be David when he kills Goliath but as soon as we see David making mistakes we look to another biblical character to identify with. Until we see ourselves as the David in the gutter we will not find the path to the one thing we need most, the Lord and His direction in our lives.