Hang in There. God’s Word is True!

We are are looking David as a continuance of our study. Thematically we have been looking at God and how he anoints. We have come to the conclusion that God anoints one to win. He anoints you to succeed and to complete that task for which you have been assigned. It is actually out of character for God to pronounce you something and he not efficaciously bring it to pass. Meaning God cannot lie. So we can say that win God anoints one, he has anointed one for purpose. If God anoints you to do something in the future, you will do it. He cannot say, you will be A and you not become A. Notice I did not say, He cannot say you will become A and you become B. What we have learned is that God may decide to make B part of the process to becoming A. Even in our study of the life of David, we saw that God had anointed him to become King and he became a musician in the King’s court, a commander of the King’s Army and a fugitive of some renown. But as we will see, he will become King.

Now for the last few weeks specifically we have been examining the life and promises of David. David has been anointed King and promised by God he will be King of Israel. The problem is that was several chapters ago. Beloved, entire chapters can go by in your life but “hang in there” God’s Word is True. I want to begin our examination of this pericope by looking at verse 1 of chapter 27. It is rendered thusly:

1 Samuel 27:1 NRSV

David said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”

In the NLT it is rendered:

1 Samuel 27:1 NLT

But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to the Philistines. Then Saul will stop hunting for me in Israelite territory, and I will finally be safe.”

Before we look at the substance of this statement it is only fair that we examine the context. We are in chapter 27, but let’s review:

In Chapter 16

David is anointed King at his Father’s House By Samuel

The Spirit of the LORD left Saul and came upon David

An evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul

In Chapter 17

The Philistines assemble themselves to war with Israel

Goliath insults and challenges Israel

David kills Goliath

In Chapter 18

He meets Jonathan and they become trusted friends and brothers

David Successfully battles and defeats the Philistines

Upon their return the women sing a song that enrages King Saul

Saul receives a tormenting spirit and tries to kill David

In Chapter 19

Saul plans an assassination of David with his sons and commanders

Jonathan attempts to intervene

David is restored to the King’s court

Saul tries to kill David again

David runs to the Prophets

In Chapter 20

While in hiding David tells Jonathan his father is still trying to kill him

They hatch a plan to see if David can be restored

Saul gets aggravated and tries to kill his son

In Chapter 21

David goes into hiding and meets the priest at Nob

Ran to Gath and escapes for the King Achish’s men by acting crazy

In Chapter 22

After escaping Gath he goes into hiding in a cave

While in hiding men connect themselves to him. Men who were distressed, discontented and in trouble

In Chapter 23

establishes a stronghold in the wilderness

While hiding from the King, the Prophet and the Word of the LORD finds him

The Word to him: Saul will never fond you and You will be King of Israel

Allow me to stop here and thank God. I thank God that God does not tell us everything involved in getting to our purpose. Can you imagine if God anointed David and then told him, now on your way to becoming King, The current King will try to kill you, multiple times. You will lied too. People you help by fighting for them will betray to the King that is trying to kill you. The house you’re living in is nice but I need you to live in the wilderness for a few years. Also, you are going to set up your stronghold in a cave in the wilderness. You will have some success when 600 men join you, but that crew will not grow. You will win battles but the men will not grow. You are going to be discouraged surrounded by men who are discontented, in debt and distressed. While you go to war, you are going to lose everything you leave behind and your men are going to want to kill you. The woman, Michal that you married, she is going to be giving away. No do what I say.

How inviting is that. Thank you Jesus that you do not inform me of everything I need to go through to get where God will have me to be. The crazy thing is that David needed to go through all of it in order to be what God him to be.

And so this now brings him to verse 1.

1 Samuel 27:1 NRSV

David said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”

1 Sam 27:

The text says something amazing. The situation is daunting. It is absolutely a daunting task let us take a look at this. The Word of the LORD came to him twice in chapter 16 and in chapter 23. Here he is in chapter 27 he is tired and convinced that there is on escaping what keeps happening. The thing that catches my attention is the wording that says David says in his heart. It is interesting that you can a word from God and still convince your heart that the promise does match your present circumstance. Here we find there is consternation between God’s word and the mind. The mind is incredibly powerful and can change perspective so much that we act on our perspective instead of hold to our Word.

We are challenged with the notion that you can speak your heart out of obedience. If you are only focused on what you see you can convince your heart there is nothing more to your situation. Let’s be honest, he received a word that does not match up to his circumstance and how often do we find this to be our reality. We cannot talk ourselves into believing that God has not spoken because that would be lying. The problem is that word was several chapter ago. And I believe if you are constantly chased by a Saul and do not see the palace you were looking for, the natural instinct is to say to yourself, your heart, this will never change. I need to be honest, I am guilty of this myself. It is difficult to keep believing what does not ever happen. If I were to be honest, this is the reason some people get discouraged. Not because there is no Prophet but because the everyday reminder of what your wilderness can cause one to speak themselves out of a miracle.

Look at this situation.

David did not ask to be King.

Have you ever found yourself believing something you did not ask for? He was tending his father’s sheep. One could say there was a career in that for him. He could have run the family business. Many people are happy tending to sheep and there is a career in it.

He was told this and it is a public prophecy now. Which means it is not a private failure on David’s part. Many know that God has anointed him King and the prophecy is the reason for his problem. He has to hide from the current King because God rejected the current King and has chosen David. This is not a smooth transition.

The people that have attached themselves to him number 600. This is not an Army by any means. Most cities have police departments with more people than that and he is supposed to be a King. Even the men that attached themselves to him know they are no Army.

Even with David’s victories, his numbers have not grown. Know this is a problem. You would think, that after a number of successes, your popularity would grow and the numbers would reflect that. If nothing else, he is a good warrior, and still no increase. You can anointed to do a work and there is no increase for a time. This is why he is in the wilderness thinking where do I go from here. Notice, he is a King and he is not looking at palaces because of his present situation.

This Situation now has him believing he will die at the hand of King Saul.

His present situation has him believing God’s prophecy will not happen. Even with the effort God has gone through to encourage him, he is confronted with lack and this can cause discouragement.

One can be anointed and lose faith in the very thing, you are anointed to do. This is where the devil starts using code words like be “realistic”. You start believing God’s word is a pipe dream and begin to try and provide for reality as opposed to preparing for prophecy.

The situation can cause you to believe “there is nothing better for me”

When you start believing the reality that challenges your prophecy, you believe your choices are limited. You start believing that there is nothing beside your problem and if you are going to get out of this problem you are going to have to do it yourself. Some of us will even convince our selves that God would not want us to stay in this situation. Beloved, If God got you in this He will get you out of this.

The situation will have you believing that the right thing to do is live in Philistine.

Philistine has always been the enemy of God’s people. How is this a good idea? Can your lifelong enemy ever be a good place to wait for God’s promise? Just a question. It is possible because can do anything but fail but I am asking a question regarding the thought process of discouragement. If God’s word were visible would you even think of doing what you’re thinking about?

Why are you letting your enemy change your strategy? Yes your enemy is really trying to kill you and you can not see how God is going to do this, but do not let your enemy change your process. Do what God says and hang in there.

This situation has you believing that you will be safe with people who do not believe in God. As a matter of fact they do their level best to fight and beat up on anyone who believe in God. You really think, this is a safe place for you?

Proverbs 23:7 KJV 1900

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.

Now we can look at this lesson with the benefit of time and see something David did not see.

God Kept His Word!

Proverbs 27:3 KJV 1900

A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; But a fool’s wrath is heavier than them both.

Seriously, we need to remember that whatever our current situation is God Keeps His Word!!! Even if your situation, don’t give up.

Hang in There. God’s Word is True!!!!