God's Radical Interruptions

Introduction

I bet that none of us expected 2020 to go the way it went. When we celebrated the New Year we had plans. There were anniversary trips to be taken, vacations to be had, and family get togethers in the works. Weddings went from big events to small family gathers of people six feet apart. And if we didn’t have anything specific, we at least thought life would go on as usual. Who knew that their career would be sent to another hospital? Who knew that the promotion they just got would be so quickly taken away soon after buying a house? Who knew that lumber would triple in prices and the building of homes would have to be stalled? Who ever expected closing down shops, restaurants, and even churches would happen all around the world?

Who among us would not go back to 2019 and buy stock in this thing called Zoom? Who among us would not have started the year off with an entire pantry filled top to bottom with toilet paper, if we had only known? As the John Steinbeck wrote as the now famous opening lines in Of Mice and Men, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

But that doesn’t help, does it? Just to know that we are not in total control of every detail of our lives, does not bring comfort. It doesn’t strengthen our resolve and it doesn’t strengthen our weary souls. Not only did plans not go as expect, but life got exponentially worse! I have a feeling that 2020 will one day be known as the forgotten year. Not in the sense that we will forget it, but that it was the year we had to forget about those trips, those get together, every plan had to be put on hold. Everything we wanted, we just had to forget about.

As we finish off 1 Samuel, we see much the same thing happening in David’s life. His best laid plans: God takes them away. When David goes home and expects to go on with life as normal, he found life went from bad to worse. But what we found was that God was working all things out for the good of David, who loved him and was called according to his purpose. In essence, God radically interrupted David’s life in order to fulfill his radical promise to make him King of Israel. I believe that he has been doing the same thing in our lives. It was not because David’s plans were bad per se, and not because ours were either. But because God has the ultimate agenda. We read what David went through 3,000 years later and see what God was doing. We don’t have that luxury for 2020. We are still in the midst of it all. So let us at least learn from this episode in David’s life this morning.

We see God’s interrupting David’s life in three chapters and in three unexpected ways:

by stripping him of his scheme

by stripping him of his support

by stripping him of Saul

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Stripped Scheme

The first way God interrupted David’s life was by stripping him of his schemes.

Last week, Pastor Matt was going over how Achish, King of Gath, made David his bodyguard as they were headed into battle against Israel. David was excited to show Achish what he could do. The week before that we had read how David was making raids on various people groups throughout the land, enemies of Israel, but came back and reported that the raids were on the Israelite people. So there was no reason for Achish to think that David had betrayed his own people. In fact, as Pastor Matt preached last week, David had no intention of fighting Israel, but had successfully infiltrated the military of Israel’s greatest enemy.

Unfortunately for David, the Philistine commanders weren’t as gullible as their king.

1 Samuel 29:4–5 ESV

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”

Achish felt horrible about it. He defended David to them, but it was no use. He had to tell David he wasn’t welcome. He had to take his men back to Ziklag.

Sixteen months! That’s how long 1 Samuel 27:7 says David and his men had lived among the Philistines. Sixteen months of planning and waiting for this very day. Remember David was a schemer. He was cunning and prudent. There was no way that he had not planned for this day. Surely, we don’t think that David planned out the attacks on all of Israel’s enemies except the Philistines! And then, all his scheming—all his plans and patience—were stripped away in one quick moment. Surely, this was not what David had wanted.

I pointed it out before and will point it out again,

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

In the case of David, plans were set. Events seemed to be heading in the right direction. Achish’s trust had been built, he was asked to go into battle, and he would be next to the king so he could strike him at just the right time. God was in this! At least that’s what it seemed. God was in it until it was clear that God had other plans.

This wasn’t like planning on having steak for dinner and having to suffer with hot dogs instead because of unforeseen circumstances. This was really hard work. It took planning, maneuvering, lots of care. And all for naught. Didn’t God want him to defeat the Philistines? Didn’t God want Israel to be the nation that displayed his glory? This was the perfect plan! Except it was only as perfect as the man planning it. There is only one perfect plan for our lives, and it can never come from us.

The disciples thought they had the perfect plan. Jesus was the Messiah. The kingdom would soon be restored. Jesus would liberate them from Roman oppression. When Jesus informed them he would be betrayed, they were dismayed. When he told them he would be handed over, they were mortified. When he told them the shepherd would be struck and the sheep would scatter, they denied. But when it happened just as Jesus said, they were distraught. Their plans had been stripped away. Their dreams were toast.

Looking back on this period in David’s life, we can see from our point of view, that God was doing something amazing by stripping David of his schemes. We can see that God was doing something amazing by stripping the disciples of all their plans. After all, hindsight is 20/20. But how much more difficult is it to believe the same thing is true for us while we are in the midst of being stripped?

Anniversary trip? Stripped.

Building a house? Stripped.

Keeping your job? Stripped.

Walking around town like a normal person and not like a bank robber or a surgeon? Stripped.

What is God up to? Is he up to anything? Most definitely.

Stripped Support

Things went from bad to worse. Not only did God interrupt David’s life by stripping him of his schemes, but by stripping him of his support too.

When David and his men got back to Ziklag, they found a horrible sight before them.

1 Samuel 30:1 ESV

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire

This was almost a Job episode. In one day, David lost his job, his family, and his house. David had lost his family support. Not only David but all 600 men who were with him. They were devastated. Beyond devastated.

1 Samuel 30:4 ESV

Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

David had lost his family support. They were gone. Kidnapped and who knows what else! Here was David. His plans had failed. He and their men were going home with their tails between their legs. The love of family would mean so much to them. But when they get home, they see there is no home. No family support.

For some of us, this may be exactly what we are missing. We are mourning the loss of family support. Perhaps it’s due to the pandemic.

Those special anniversary trips. Stripped.

Family vacations. Stripped.

Going to the relatives for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Stripped.

But it wasn’t just his family support that David was stripped of. He also was stripped for a moment of the support from society at large. Those who were in his group. Those men who followed him through the wilderness and thick and thin. He lost them for a time.

1 Samuel 30:6a ESV

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.

His men spoke of stoning him! How was this David’s fault!? It doesn’t matter. One thing I have learned in 20+ years of ministry: hurting sheep bite. They will say things they don’t mean and do things they never thought they’d do because of the pain that cuts deep into the heart.

Though the circumstances are different, the results are so similar in our day.

The hugs, kisses, even handshakes these days. All stripped from us.

People who have masks on look at people who don’t as if they are pariahs. And the ones who don’t have masks look back at them with disdainful eyes for being “sheep.” It’s as if society, even friends at times, have turned their backs on us. As if they are wanting to stone us.

So how did David handle being stripped of his schemes and his support? We saw at first he mourned and for good reason. The Bible does not pretend that we live in a mournless world and God does not expect us to live a mournless life. But we are not to mourn as those who have no hope. David mourned, but from there, he sought the LORD.

1 Samuel 30:6b ESV

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.

He strengthened himself in the Lord. That Hebrew word for strengthened means strengthened. Remember that David and his men had wept until there was no more strength to weep. David was exhausted. God had brought the man who killed his tens of thousands, Israel’s greatest warrior to nothing. He had stripped him of everything. He was a shell of the man he was just three days before. What is a man like that supposed to do? There was only one thing: strengthen himself in the LORD his God.

So he called for the ephod—the apron that contained a pocket to carry the urim and the thumim. The urim and the thumim was the only way that God had ordained to reveal his will. Saul couldn’t seek it as we saw last week, and so he went to the witch of Endor to conjure up Samuel. David had them and needed to be strengthened by them. One could easily say that the only way David recovered his strength was by going back to God’s revelation.

If only we had God’s revelation today! Oh wait! We do have it. The question is not whether or not we have it, but whether or not we seek it out. After Jesus’s death, the disciples were distraught. Sunday came and some of the disciples were scattered. Two in particular were on their road headed toward Emmaus. Jesus, came to them, though they were made to not recognize him, and he started to talk with them. They told him everything that had happened over the last three days. Clearly they were confused and saddened over the events. What then did Christ do?

Luke 24:26–27 ESV

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

What happened? When Jesus had vanished, they didn’t say, “Holy cow! That was pretty neat how Jesus was able to vanish!”

Luke 24:32 ESV

They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Beloved, we may not get personalized guidance from the Scriptures like David was able to get from the urim and thumim. But it does not make the Scriptures any less of God’s special revelation to his special people. It is Satan’s scheme to bring us to the point of despair that we do not seek our comfort in God’s Word. It is our own sinful nature that buck the very notion of finding strength in the Bible. But if not the Bible, then where? We are looking for an escape. Either God is our Refuge or something else is. If it is something else, could it be that we we have discovered an idol in our lives? It is the busyness of the world, the entertainments of the world that send the message that we don’t have time to enter the realm of God’s revelation.

If you have not put your faith in Christ, you will not get that at all. There are things in this Book that you will never understands because they are spiritually discerned. Only when the Holy Spirit lives in you does he start to teach you and reveal to you God’s Word.

Stripped of Saul

So we see that God interrupted David’s life by stripping him of his schemes and support, and now we see he stripped him of Saul. While David was dismissed, headed home, and found his city annihilated, Saul, his sons, and the rest of the Israelite army were fighting the Philistines. This is what we call parallel actions. Both events are taking place at the same time, but the author can only tell the story one at a time.

1 Samuel 31:1–4 ESV

Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and mistreat me.” But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.

You would think this would make David happy. His enemy was dead. He would finally be crowned king. But if you looked in 2 Samuel 1, you will find that he was grieved and wept and fasted over Saul and his sons. Perhaps if he had been there, he and his men could have prevented Saul and Jonathan and all the others’ death. But God took him completely out of the equation. What did God have him do? He was fighting the Amalekites who had razed the city and kidnapped his wives and the families of his men.

1 Samuel 30:17–20 ESV

And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

And then he took some of the spoils and divided it among the men. That’s what he was doing! It wasn’t that saving his wives and families was unimportant. But it was not the battle that David had planned to fight! It wasn’t the battle he had prepared to be in! God could have easily kept the Amalekites at bay so that they did not kidnap the families and burn the city. He could have easily changed the minds of Achish’s commanders. Why didn’t he? Who knows? Except that his way was better than David’s way. His thoughts were higher than David’s thoughts.

God could have not let this virus even come into existence. He could have kept it from spreading or from being so contagious or so deadly. Why didn’t he? Who knows? Except that his way is better than our way. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

But let’s stop and think for a moment. If Achish had not sent him and his men away, they may have never been able to catch up with the Amalekites having been led by an Egyptian who knew where they were camped. Their wives and property would be gone forever. So it was good for them to be stripped of their schemes. But the cost was the loss of the LORD’s anointed.

Now, also imagine, what if what if David was able to go to battle with Achish and his plan had not gone the way he expected. What if he wasn’t able to kill Achish. What if the Israelites saw David fighting in the Philistine army. What would happen to his credibility? How could he rule over the people who thought he’d betrayed them? As good as David’s plan may have been, God’s was perfect.

Though he could not save Saul, he saved the lives of hundreds. He provided the spoils to men in his army. He built a coalition that would love and serve him faithfully.

Saul died by his own hand. His sons, killed in battle. The Philistines mutilated his body, cut off his head and hung his torso up in one of their temples. Some in the army went in the cover of night, stole back the body and burned it. They buried the bones. No funeral for the king. When Samuel died, all Israel came to bury him, but when Saul died, only a few soldiers were there.

Conclusion

God turned David’s life upside down. He radically interrupted his life so he could keep his radical promise he’d made. He interrupted it by stripping him of his schemes, then stripping him of his support which he was able to rescue, but then was stripped of Saul. To top it all off, many of the cities of Israel were taken over by the Philistines. In his mind, this whole episode in his life was supposed to go radically different, but God radically interrupted his life. These happened within days of each other, but it was necessary to bring David to the throne. This was not a discipline upon David as far as anyone can tell. It was simply the path to kingship that God had chosen for David. In the same way, he chose the hard path of death for Christ so that he could inherit the Kingdom of God and lead many children to glory. Let us not doubt God’s good work.

This year has been a trying year. Many of us are tired to the point you can’t cry anymore. Some have gone from COVID-fatigue to COVID-anger. To say it has been a trying year is an understatement. But like David, we can rest assured that such heartbreaking circumstances, even when coming one after another after another, is God’s radical interruption of our lives to bring us to the kingdom that is coming.

1 Peter 1:3–9 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

If you have never received Christ, never entrusted your whole being to Jesus who died and rose again to make this kingdom available, you can today. He will receive you, forgive you of every wrong, even the wrongs you didn’t know where wrong, and make you right with God, giving you peace with him always. I’d love to talk with you more about what that means.

If you have entrusted him with your whole being then trust him with the process he is taking to bring you into his kingdom. That’s what Peter was saying. He has given us a living hope. That living hope is Jesus who then provides the imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance in heaven. It is God who guards you and will see you through. Therefore, we can rejoice in all of that even when God chooses to take us through heavy trials like missing out on anniversary trips, a new home, a loss of a job, and more. May we not lose sight of the end game, but let us keep our eyes on our living hope and strengthen ourselves with God’s Word.