The Lord is Our Helper
Notes
Transcript
We’ve learnt over the past 2 weeks that even in our darkest desperation,
God has not cast us off,
and then that even when it doesn’t look like it,
God is in complete control!
It’s wonderful reassurment, and encouragment to know all that,
But What do we actually ‘do’ in this often difficult life?
Do we hide and wait - perhaps for God to sort it out.
Do we do our own thing?
Or do we do learn and do what David and his follwers do in chapter 23?
1 - Our Duty in Suffering v1-13
1 - Our Duty in Suffering v1-13
Suffering, obedient, victorious, approachable.
David we know is running for his life from King Saul.
yet God provided and sustained him in chpater 21, - he was not cast off.
and having seen that God is in control despite his pain in chapter 22,
He now is prepared to ‘act’ not 'hide’.
When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,”
he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
It’s impressive isn’t it - that despite his own serious problems,
he’s ready to act to save his people.
And it’s impressive that he still prays and talks to God before acting - despite all he’s been through.
As the chapter develops it’s clear that the one preist who escaped the mass slaughter in the last chapter and comes to David, is now of significant benefit to David,
for he brought with him the ephod used to speak with God.
What Saul intended for evil, God has used for good
and David is now given a preist to help him.
His men aren’t so sure - those 400 despertae men who joined David in chapetr 21 have grown to 600 men in v13,
as presumably more and more people flock to this suffereing king of hope.
They don’t want to go and save the town of Keilah,
they are worried enough about themselves surviving,
let alone at the same time protecting a whole town - from a whole other enemy!
so,
Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.”
What a reassurance it is to listen to the word of God as David does here.
Notice how God reminds him that it is ‘I’ the Lord God - who will give you victory.
God’s work, even in our terrible weakness - does not rely on us, but him!
But He does still want our obedience.
Of course we aren’t really David in this story
- we’re more like the 600 fearful followers of David
Not only are we desperate, perhaps in our circumstances,
perhaps even in our sin,
but so also our king suffers
- For them David, for us Jesus at the hands of sinful men, and ulitmately death on a cruel cross.
But surely this is the very point, of this stage of David’s life, being recorded for us here,
a suffering king is no less likely to be victorious
- so long as he listens to the voice of and is perfectly obedient to God’s word!
You may remeber last year as we went throgh the book of John,
how Jesus repeatedly repeated
how he can only do what his father in heaven asks him to do.
He and the Father are one.
Jesus too suffered greatly
- why would we expect anything else given the set-up for him in the OT,
and yet in his weakness he always chose perfect obedicene to God’s voice,
and by doing so cannot avoid being victorious!
For he is on God’s side!
So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.
Imagibe the confidcene that the 600 men must have recieved when they saw the great victory their saviour had becasue of his obedience to God’s word.
Imagine their great love and admiration at their saviour who suffers as they do,
but is still able to be obedient.
Imagine the feast as they now have animals and food,
Imagine the difference in approachability that these men had with David,
especially compared to the officials and ‘friends’ of Saul as he flung his spear about!
Daivd suffered to show the glory of God’s victory
in our weakenss
- when God’s word is obeyed He is glorified and His people are victorious.
As well as all that, a suffering king and saviour enables him to be trusted and apporached and followed.
Jesus is just that for us.
in fact Hebrews peices all these points togetehr for us.
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.
in other words, it is in His perfect obedience in suffering that brings us salavtion!
And not only that,
but it is in seeing the suffering of our saviour that makes Him apprachable!
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Our suffering, obedient, victorious king is also apporachable,
and so approach him in faith
and we will find the grace to help us in our own suffering - while still acting in obedicen to God’s word.
OUr duty in suffering is the same as at all other time,
to obey our Lord in His word.
But particualrily in our suffering, our obedience becomes very Christ-like!
And any time we are Christ-like we are also victorious in faith and life.
Not beacsue our problems go away, but becasue in our problmes we remain faithful to Him in obedience.
A victorious Christian life is one that keeps on seeking the word of God and obeying it even in our suffering!
No wonder we read about the apostles in acts, having been beaten and flogged,
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
And James is able to write
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Suffering gives us oppertunity to join with our saviour,
to test and proove our faith through obedince,
and each time we choose obedience to God’s word, partiicyularly in suffering -
it is a great victory of faith to the glory and garce of God.
In our suffering,
assured of his love for us,
assured that he is in control,
knowing he suffered first for us,
we should trust our saviour,
and obey His word.
What is God’s word then for us today?
We, unlike David, no longer have prophets with ephods,
but as Hebrews again points out, we have a better access to His word..
heb 1v1-3
The New International Version Chapter 1
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
It is in Jesus and His word - as recorded for us in the bible,
that we hear the voice of God,
It is in Jesus in his word that we can apporach our suffereing saviour,
It is in Jesus in his word that we find grace to face the challenges and the call to obedience today.
I doubt the 600 men following Daivd could see how obeying God’s word and going to rescue this city would make things better!
They had a much beetter chance of surviivng if they kept low and hid!
But obey they did,
becasue they trusted their saviour,
And what they found was victory.
Even if it’s short lived..
pause
in vs 7-14 - Saul’s intelligence services report back that Daivd is in Keilah.
So Saul makes plans to attack him.
And our suffering king does what he knows will work.. he prayed, seeking God’s word.
When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.”
And the Lord said, “He will.”
Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?”
And the Lord said, “They will.”
Not only will Saul attack if David stays here,
but the very people he has just saved will hand him over to Saul!
It’s easy to be hard on the people of Keilah,
but I wonder how quickly we would hand over our ‘faith in Jesus’
if our famlies lives depended on it?
But our true saviour will not test us beyond what we can manage,
So David and his men leave - to save themseleves and the people of Keilah again!
David’s suffering is far from over,
obedeince to God’s word doesn’t remove suffering,
even though it is the right and victorious thing to do.
But, regardless of circumstances - our duty in suffering is to obey.
What if you’re not suffering today though,
what is our duty in supporting those who are suffering?
2 - Duty to others Suffering
2 - Duty to others Suffering
And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”
isn’t that a nice phrase - He ‘helped him find strength in God’
That’s what church is about for each other isn’t it?
For those who are lost, who don’t know Jesus - we want you to stop looking for strength and salavtion, in the wrong places,
and to find strength in the only true place - in God, through Jesus.
And for each other who do believe - we want to help each other find strength in God!
And where is that strength to be accesed?
In his word.
Do you see what Jonathan does - David’s closest friend?
He reminds him of God’s promise, God’s word, to David earlier in his life.
YOu will be King!
You were annointed by the prophet Samuel - God’s word does not fail,
You will be King!
So, whatever you are going through, Do not be afraid Jonathan tells him.
We were doing XTB
a daily bible notes for chidlren with Zeph and Zeke the other day and were reminded that the phrase ‘Do not be afraid’ occures 366 times in the bible!
That’s one for eveyday and an extra one for leap years or really scarey days!
David needed 2 on this day!
The message every day is simple =
Do not be afraid - remeber the word of God and trust it!
i don;t know the challenegs you are facing at work, at home, at shcool with health,
but I do know God’s word to you,
in Jesus he has pormised you eternal salavtion if you repent and believe putting your trust in our suffering king,
We are saved even though we are not perfectly obedient!
And becasue of that, we do not need to be afraid.
we can trust his word,
and we can therefore be obedient to God’s word again in his grace.
The best thing we can give others who are suffering,
is a reminder of God’s promises to them.
The writer to the Hebrew does just that - and the words are for us too..
Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”
Well, Perseverance is exactly what Daivd needed,
The tension of the follwing section is high!
But let us see now,
3 - God’s Duty in Suffering
3 - God’s Duty in Suffering
Lets face it - we already know God’s duty in our suffering is that he will keep his pormise of salavtion for us!
It’s stated now in the life of David.
David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.
God will not let his people fall into the enemies hand.
And now comes miraculous proof.
Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them,
it’s painfully tense,
and seems hopeless, and yet
a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth. And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
Again God uses his enemies to bring about his purposes and will!
Daivd and his followers are spared - as the Philistines draw Saul away!
It’s a foretatse of Jesus on the cross isn’t it?
,God’s enemy, Satan, and a sinful humnaity, putting Jesus to death on the cross!
It is that very sinful act,
that God had planned all along to satisfy his wrath at our sin on Jesus not us!
His people, followers of Jesus,
rescued through the will of God working out through even the evil aims of satan!,
God’s duty in our siffering is to deliver us safely home,
the enemy will not defeat His people.
So,
Do not be afraid,
Approach the saviour,
Obey his word,
Revice his grace and victory.
We’ll end with another quote from Hebrew, Heb 13 v5-6
The writer, In a call to us to live obedient and holy lives (even in suffering) says,
The New International Version Chapter 13
because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.” s
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” t
Pray