The Life of David: 1 Samuel 28-30

“Hindsight is 20/20.” “If I would have known then what I know now.” “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” “I wish someone would have told that one day these will be the good old days.”

“If I would have known then what I know now.”

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”

“I wish someone would have told that one day these will be the good old days.”

Can you think of a time when you wish you would have known then what you know now?

We can all look back on conversations, situations, or events and think, I wish I could go back and change them. One day there will be things we do know that we will wish we could go back and change.

The fact is, we do not know the future, but we know the One who does know what lies ahead. God knows everything that He has planned for our lives.

Our job is not to try and figure out everything. Instead, we are to trust Him, stay faithful, and follow where He leads. When we stop trusting Him and take matters into our hands, problems are inevitable.

Why is it good we do not know the future?

Background

After numerous attempts on David’s life, the time finally came where David could kill Saul. Two time he had the chance. Two times he refused to touch God’s anointed.

Even though David did the right thing, he plummeted into a series of compromises. In fear, he compromised his future by placing his fate in the hands of King Achish.

For sixteen months he deceived King Achish, who hired him to defeat Judean cities. Instead, David went south of Judah as far as Egypt to defeat cities, take their money, and split it with Achish. During this time, David was a mercenary, working for Achish.

His compromises created vast problems that unfolded. Very few people realized David compromised, but God did. During these sixteen months, we have no record of David’s prayers of songs.

How does fear cause us to compromise?

What David did not realize is God was getting ready to work everything out in his favor. God prepared a breakthrough for him, he needed to patiently wait.

What is a spiritual breakthrough?

In the next three chapters there are two stories working simultaneously. We see how far Saul has fallen and David’s consequences for compromise.

Story

Saul and the Medium

;

With the death of Samuel, Israel lost one of their greatest prophets. Prophets spoke to the people for God. Saul is still king, though he had not communicated with Samuel for years, he was at the end of his rope.

The Philistines are coming toward Saul and his army. He knows David works with King Achish, so he was afraid. He called on God, but there was not response, not by the prophets, priests, or by dreams.

Saul makes a fateful decision, he decides to consult with a medium. Not far from where they were was a woman who was a medium.

One version calls the Medium a woman with familiar spirits. Mediums were strictly forbidden.

Deuteronomy 18:9–14 NKJV

9 “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.

Deuteronomy 18:10–12 NKJV

10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you.

Why was it foolish for Saul to consult a medium?

Why is mediums/witchcraft forbidden for God’s people?

Beyond the visible realm is a supernatural dimension. Many people dismiss these a pretend, myths, or fables. But the fact is, there is a real God and there is a real devil. God wants humanity to draw closer to Him, Satan does all he can to pull humanity from God.

To deceive people Satan provides counterfeits to the genuine. Name some of the opposites to the following:

God

Jesus

Good

Angels

Truth

Heaven

Life

By going to a medium, Saul sought a counterfeit source for the spiritual direction he desired. Satan was prepared to provide a counterfeit to Saul’s concern, but God stepped in and dealt with Saul.

1 Samuel 28:8–12 NKJV

8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Please conduct a séance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” 9 Then the woman said to him, “Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?” 10 And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”

; 11-12

Saul returns to deception. He knows what he is doing is wrong so he disguises himself. The medium, who was demon possessed, had more integrity than Saul. She told him, “I can’t preform a seance, Saul outlawed that from Israel.”

Pushing her into his sin, he tells her it is okay and no one will ever know. She relents and asks, who do you want me to bring?

Who does Saul want?

He wants Samuel! Here is where the story gets interesting. The medium was well acquainted with demonic spirits, or familiar spirits. When she saw Samuel, she began to scream in fear, for it was really Samuel.

Saul’s encounter with the medium gives us insight to Satan’s counterfeits. Mediums, palm readers, psychics, astrological signs, and other methods of witchcraft, claim to “tell the future.”

Saul’s encounter with the medium gives us insight to Satan’s counterfeits. Mediums, palm readers, psychics, astrological signs, and other methods of witchcraft, claim to “tell the future.”

What is really happening? Scripture shows that it is not the person’s spirit speaking, it is a demon pretending to be the dead person. The mediums/psychics are familiar with these spirits.

Hence the reason the medium in Saul’s story began to scream. She summoned many spirits/demons before. She knew they were not the real person. But she sees a man with white hair and a mantle, a symbol of his prophetic authority.

Was it really Samuel? Many scholars believe it was. Not because God approves of seeking the demonic for guidance, but to show He is powerful over Satan’s counterfeit, and to get to let Saul know how far he is from the Lord.

Why would God include a story like this in scripture?

Saul spoke to Samuel with three complaints, the Philistines are on attack, God has not responded to me, and I do not know what to do.

Samuel answered, if God has stayed silent, why ask me? You already know he rejected you as king, you killed the priests who could have helped, and by tomorrow you and your sons will die in battle with the Philistines.

Does this story give approval for Christians to get involved with mediums, psychics, palm readers, etc?

David and his future

After working for Achish for a year and four months, the Philistines do not want David around. He volunteered to fight with the Philistines against Saul’s army. But they told David to return back to Ziklag.

David placed his trust in King Achish over God, because of his compromise, the security he felt disappeared. If only David stayed put, God was preparing to turn the kingdom over to him.

King Achish complimented David, going as far as to call him an angel of God, because he believed David stood by his word for over a year. But David knew the truth. His compromise caused him to pretend to be someone he was not.

Whether he realized it or not, God intervened by making the Philistines send David home. David was prepared to fight the people God called him to lead.

How did God protect David from making a foolish mistake?

Though God spared David the mistake of killing people he was called to lead, there were still consequences to his compromise.

What are some consequences to compromise?

When David returned to Ziklag the security he had for sixteen months was destroyed. The Amalekites burned the city and took the wives and children of David and his mighty men. These were the same people David attacked when he deceived King Achish.

Now The 600 men that looked up to David were not suffering the consequences of David’s compromise. Remember, compromise affects more people than we realize. The problems start internally, but eventually spiritual compromise negatively affects our family. David was not spared. He wept with his men.

Remember, compromise affects more people than we realize. The problems start internally, but eventually spiritual compromise negatively affects our family. David was not spared. He wept with his men.

Why does God allow consequences when we stay unrepentant in our compromise?

1 Samuel 13:6 NKJV

6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits.

Finally, after sixteen months of seeming silence from David to God, he calls out to God and strengthens himself before the Lord. He encouraged himself in the Lord.

How can we strengthen/encourage ourselves in God?

David called Abiathar, the priest, and they ask the Lord if they should pursue the Amalekites.

;

Because David returned to God, He answered him and promised David would recover all that he lost from the Amalekites. The entire time, God knew David’s future. David grew impatient and nearly derailed his future.

Application

David was at a low point in life. He allowed stress, fear, and worry to cause him to compromise. Looking back, he had to know he made many mistakes during these sixteen months. Saul was nearly at the end of his life, David was about to begin to walk in his destiny, and he nearly lost it all because of compromise.

There are times we feel like David. We know God has a hope and a future for us, but we do not know how it will all come to pass. In the meantime we can get impatient and antsy. It is normally in these seasons that we start to compromise.

When compromise sets in, Satan starts to offer counterfeits. He will deceive us, which is why we need discernment. If we will be patient and hold on, we will be able to look back and see how God was working it out for us.

What counterfeits are available to us?

Why should we avoid the counterfeits the enemy offers?

Who does compromise affect?

How can we encourage ourselves in the Lord?

Challenge

Ask the Holy Spirit to give us discernment in the face of counterfeits.

Pray for patience when we are tempted to compromise.

Ask the Lord for boldness in times of intense spiritual warfare.

Ask the Holy Spirit to fill us, thereby giving us the supernatural power we need.

Read 1 Samuel 31