Bottomed out to Trust God

How did I get here? ()

Explanation: What in the world is going on with David? What is he doing behind enemy lines in Gath? And why is he pretending to be insane? Why is he by himself? What happened??

When we left David last week he was having great success and “all Israel and Judah loved David” (. David as a young warrior is coming into his own: the people admire him, he has been promoted to an army commander, and he lives in the palace. He has married the King’s daughter (), and he continued to be victorious in battle against the Philistines ()

His very success was the reason for his downfall. David had done nothing wrong, but his God -caused prosperity (“the LORD was with David”) was too much for the insecure and insanely jealous king. As we discussed last week, Saul was afraid of David. As a result of his irrational fear, Saul conspires to have David killed (). Jonathan talks sense to his father, and Saul drops his plan to kill David ().

The fragile peace is short-lived and crazy Saul decides to try to kill David again (), but David escapes. This incident is the turning point, and it begins David’s cycle of loss. Little did David know that as he played the lyre that day it would be his last, and that when he fled from Saul he would end up drooling and flailing like a mad man in front of Achish the Philistine ruler.

Example: Bowling with the SPBC youth on New Year’s Eve 2002. I knew it would be my last time with them and it was hard to believe that phase of my life and ministry was over. I remember thinking more than one time, “how did I get to this place?”

Application: Do you believe that your level of comfort in life is permanent? Without putting it in so bold of terms, do you think God owes you a certain station in life and that He is obligated to prevent you from difficult times? Are you trusting in your “stuff” more than Him?

David’s Cycle of Losses

I am indebted to Chuck Swindoll for the following cycle of David’s losses. The outline is from his book, David, A Man of Passion and Destiny, pages 54-59.

David loses his position as an army commander.

When the King is trying to have you killed, you aren’t going to report for work the next day. Loss of position and prestige is difficult for all adults, but men seem to struggle more with pride in these situations

David loses his wife. ()

When he flees from Saul he goes to his house. Michal tells David that Saul is going to have him killed if he doesn’t leave, so she helps him escape. When Saul confronts her, she lies and told her dad that David threatened to kill her if she didn’t help.

David loses his Adviser ()

David goes to Ramah to seek advice from Samuel. Saul sends messengers to take David, but God supernaturally intervenes and David is protected. Saul sent two more groups of messengers to take David, and when that didn’t work, he went himself. God protected David each time, but David realized he needed to move on. David was never able to spend time with Samuel after this period

David loses his good friend Jonathan ()

David meets up with Jonathan and tells him that Saul is set on having him killed. Jonathan thinks that he can talk his dad out of trying to have David killed. David disagrees and tells Jonathan that “there is but a step between me and death” (v. 3). Jonathan does make an attempt to talk Saul out of his plan, and Saul ends up turning on Jonathan. Jonathan has to admit that David was right, so he goes back to him and tells David to run. This is the last time these two friends will be able to see each other. It is quite the loss to David (v. 41)

David loses his self-respect and dignity ()

David is alone and desperate at this point. Upon leaving Jonathan he goes to the priest for food and armament, and he is received with suspicion because he is by himself. David ends up lying to calm the priest’s suspicions (21:2) and does get provisions, but he has to keep going.

Imagine David alone in the wilderness. All he has are the clothes on his back, the sword of the giant, and some loaves of bread. No job, no wife, no adviser, and no friends. All alone, possibly for days as he wanders around.

Finally, with no other options left (or none that he thinks of) he decides to go to the land of the enemy. Not only does he go to the land of the Philistines, he goes to the city of Gath. [There are 5 major Philistine cities] Gath is the home of Goliath, and if there is a place he would not be welcome it would certainly be that place!

The sudden losses he has experienced very well may have had a negative influence on his thinking. Depressed people struggle with the very act of decision-making, let alone making good decisions. Going to Gath as the Giant-Killer is not a good decision.

David realizes this when he is being brought before King Achish and the servants are reminding the king that David is the one who is responsible for slaying “ten thousands” of their fellow citizens. Though the text is brief, it is not hard to imagine the wheels turning in David’s mind: this is not good! How do I get out of here without getting killed! Talk about getting out of the frying pan and into the fire!

With little time and at the loss of his dignity, David pretends to be a crazy person. He begins to flail around and foam at the mouth. I imagine he was grunting and snorting and making wild eyes. It was enough to startle anyone.

Illustrate: meeting DJ for the first time in Amanda’s class. He is a big guy and he came and took a bat out of my hands while making strange sounds. Quite unnerving!

What to do when you have nothing left

King Achish falls for the ruse and has his servants toss David outside. While it begins another chapter in David’s story, we find that he leaves the land of the enemy, but ends up in a cave. And at the beginning of his time alone in the cave, God may have spoken to his spirit. It may have been in that time that God reminded His servant David that in spite of his losses, David still had God. And God is all anyone ever needs; most of us just don’t realize that powerful truth.

David wrote many of the Psalms, and we don’t have all of the information concerning the reason for the writing of all of them. But we do have the causes for some of the Psalms. According to the superscriptions, two of the Psalms were written after David’s encounter with King Achish: and . One or both of them may have been written while David was alone in the cave before reinforcements arrived.

Let’s look at what God taught David through his experience of being a fugitive who suffered at the hands of many. Turn with me to

Psalm 56

Verses 1 - 2

Verses 1 - 2

The Psalm begins with David asking God to be gracious to him. He acknowledges that he is being attacked and oppressed by men, and that he needs the grace that comes from God

Verses 3 - 4

Being alone in a caved can be a scary place and David admits his fear. In his fear, he turns to the LORD - he can’t trust people, but he can always trust his God. This thought leads David to praise the greatness of God. In spite of his circumstances, David chooses to praise and worship God. (Paul & Silas praising God in prison - )

Verses 5 - 7

David summarizes the actions of his oppressors. He describes how they have assaulted and tormented him. He remembers how every step he has taken has been loaded with danger. David does ask God to take them out! (v. 7b)

Verse 8 - 11

David has comfort knowing that God is fully aware of what has taken place. David is confident that God knows what he has endured, and the pain is not pointless or insignificant “You have put my tears in your bottle” and his suffering have been put in God’s book (v. 8)

This understanding of God again leads David to praise and worship. David is praising God for His Word, and he is praising God for being a God who can be trusted! (vv. 10-11). David realizes that his fellow men are limited in their attacks by what God allows (v. 11b)

Verses 12 - 13

David’s praise to God leads him to action. David is motivated to perform vows to God and to offer thanksgiving sacrifices. David’s praise time has reignited his faith, and that affects his outlook. Even though he is alone in the dark, David is preparing to “walk before God in the light of life.” What a victory march of faith!