How We Learn to Lean

How We Learn to Lean

1 Samuel 21:10-15

David: A Man After God’s Own Heart

Our passage for today is a pretty strange one. We see the man who killed a giant and would one day be the king of Israel acting like a complete madman. We see this man who has just tossed aside all of his self-respect and dignity. And it really seems like he may have hit rock bottom.

So, we need to ask what brought David to this point in his life and I think the answer to that question is worth discovering.

And the answer to this question is one that all of us are affected by.

You see, every one of us leans on someone or something to help us get through this life. We all have some kind of support system in place whether we recognize it or not. We depend on the people and the things in our lives to help us make it through our lives day by day. In fact, we’re guilty of leaning on our support systems more and more, far more often that we lean on the Lord.

But God didn’t save us so we could rest ourselves in other people and in other things. God saved us to walk in absolute and utter dependence upon Him. And, when He us leaning on everyone and everything but Him; we can count on Him teaching us the lessons we need so we could learn to lean on Him alone.

We can see this principle at work in David’s life.

Today, I want to show you how David was taught to learn only on the Lord. I want us to learn the truth that what God did in David’s life, He’s ready and prepared to do in all of our lives. You see, leaning isn’t always a bad thing; as long as we’re leaning on the right One.

So, let’s pray and we’ll see how we learn to lean.

Pray!

1 Samuel 21:10–15 ESV

And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

The first thing we’ll look at this morning is that

David’s support system is developed

Up to this point, David’s done everything right in his life. He has been a model of faith, courage, obedience, integrity and devotion to God and to his king. But he’s still a very young man who’s living a long way from his home and his family. David needed some stability in his life. So, God placed some things and some people in David’s life to be a support system and to be somewhere for him to lean.

He leaned on his position

A humble shepherd boy had been promoted to a captain over a thousand men in Saul’s army. He was also the chief musician in Saul’s court. His work gave him stability in his life. He needed that in his life and he leaned on that.

Of course, David probably saw his advancements in the army and in Saul’s court as merely stepping stones to the throne of Israel. After all, he’d been anointed king!

He leaned on his popularity

The people of Israel loved David and respected him for what he had done and how he conducted himself. David leaned on popularity among the people. No doubt, their praise was just another assurance that one day he would be their king.

He leaned on his people

There were some special people in the life of David during those difficult days.

The partner – Michal

David was given a wife who genuinely loved him. No doubt David drew great strength from leaning on the support of Michal’s love for him.

The prince – Jonathan

Jonathan proved to be a faithful friend to young David. He was David’s eyes and ears in the throne room. Jonathan even placed his friendship to David higher than his allegiance to his own father. David often leaned on the support of his friendship with Jonathan.

The prophet – Samuel

The old prophet was also a support in the life of David. Samuel taught David about sacrifice, service and worship. He was a significant support to David during those early years.

He leaned on his pride

David took pride in the life he lived and he knew how to carry himself before men. He probably put a great deal of importance on doing the right thing. He had self-respect, self-control and self-esteem. His pride was a crucial part of his support system. And there is nothing wrong with the right kind of pride!

Now, each of us today has some sort of support system in place in our lives or we should have. I mean, think of where you would be and what you would do without the people and props that God has placed in your life.

· Where would you be without the love and support of your spouse?

· Where would you be without the support of your family?

· Where would you be without the encouragement of your friends?

· Where would you be without the fellowship and encouragement of your church?

· Where would you be without the guidance and direction from the Word of God?

· Where would you be without the benefit of all these things God has placed in your life?

We should be thankful for the supports, props, crutches, or whatever you want to call them that God has placed in our lives to help us make it through! He’s given us a more than adequate support network to help us through life.

David’s support system was developed and next we see

David’s support system is demolished

And as we look at this, let’s first see the:

Process of demolition

David’s support system was in place, but it wasn’t going to last for very long. God allowed a series of events to take place in David’s life that destroyed and removed every single prop he had in his support system.

One day David was on top of the world. The next day, he was at the very the bottom. David became a man hunted by his enemies; haunted by death and hounded by destruction.

David could have gone in two directions at this point. He could have held a pity party. He could have blamed God, society or himself. He could have become disillusioned and forget God’s promises for his life. But he knew the truth; God was still in control.

You see, God began the process of systematically demolishing every piece of David’s support system.

Think about it:

David lost his position

The Captain of Israel’s army, the greatest hero in the nation’s history, has become a fugitive from justice. Another prop is taken away.

David lost his popularity

As he was quickly removed from public scrutiny, David was soon relegated to just a memory. People probably assumed that Saul would be successful in his attempts to take David’s life. Still another prop removed.

David lost his people

Every person David had leaned on in his life was taken away.

Michal was removed

First Michal tells David of Saul’s plot to kill him and helps him escape; then she lies to her father and says that David threatened to kill her unless she did. She deliberately walks away from David and their relationship will never be the same again. Another support is taken away!

Jonathan was removed

Jonathan goes as far as he can to protect David, and in the end, Jonathan must send David away for his own safety. There’s a tearful parting of these two close friends and they meet no more as friends in life. Still another support is removed from David’s life.

Samuel was removed

David went to his old friend and mentor, the prophet Samuel. But eventually David had to run away from Samuel because of the relentless pursuit of King Saul. He lost another of his supports.

David lost his pride

David finally hits rock reaches the bottom when the last support in his system is torn away and David reaches the lowest point in his life. In our text, he goes into the palace of King Achish, the king of the Philistines, to see if he will give him sanctuary. Imagine the champion of the armies of Israel runs to the palace of the enemy to try and find a friend!

But the Philistines haven’t forgotten it was David who defeated their champion. David is filled with fear that the Philistines will retaliate, so he pretends to be a raving lunatic, so he might escape from these people too.

Here he is, the mighty man who killed the great giant Goliath; and he’s scratching on the gates and drooling on his beard like a mad man! Oh, how the mighty are fallen! The last crutch; the last prop in David’s support system has been thoroughly demolished by the Lord and David has reached the very bottom.

He has nothing left!

Every dream, every goal, every hope had been dashed to bits at David’s feet. He has nothing and no one and nothing to lean on. He’s alone, afraid and alienated. God has brought David from the very top to the very bottom of life.

Why?

Let’s look at the

Purpose of demolition

Why did God do this to David? Why did He allow all of this to happen? Why would He do this to a man who was after His own heart?

God did this so David would learn to lean on Him and not on all the other props he had in his life! To teach David the great truth that God’s people should lean only on the Lord, God systematically removed one support after another from under David until he had been taught to lean completely on the Lord!

It’s so important that we hear this truth today!

All the way through our lives we lean on one thing and one person after another. We look to our parents when we’re young. Later we lean on teachers, schooling and friends. Then, our prop becomes a job or a pile of money somewhere. We lean on this crutch and on that prop and we forget a couple of very important truths.

The first is:

Our support system can get to the point where it takes the place of God in our lives

Today, you need to seriously look at what you’re depending on. Are you trusting in yourself, other people or things more than you trust in the Lord?

Our support system can keep us from looking up for the help we need

Our focus should be vertically and not horizontally! Nothing derails our walk any more than all the earthly, human crutches that we find ourselves leaning on. All of those crutches make us look at what we can do for ourselves or what others can do for us.

In the end, all these props will fail and fall away; our focus should always be towards heaven!

When we lean on God, who is always going to be unfailing, we can be certain that He will always come through for us.

Our support system is temporary at best

One of the most important things that all of us need to understand is that every single part of our support system will fail at some point. But if we learn to lean only on the Lord, He will never fail us.

And I know, that isn’t easy to take it. But the truth is that God finds us leaning on everything else in our lives instead of Him. He’ll begin the painful process of demolishing system one prop at a time. And He doesn’t do this to hurt or harm us. He does it so that we can learn to lean on Him alone!

David’s support system was developed and demolished. Finally, we see:

David’s support system is declared

So, did David learn to lean completely and fully on the Lord?

I think His did! As David’s life was tempered and shaped through the refining processes of God working in and through his life, David learned to lean completely on the Lord. He would even write about this in Psalm 34.

The inscription shows us when it was written:

Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

David wrote this psalm after all of his props in life had been demolished and taken away. It came after David learned to lean on the right One, to lean on the Lord, instead of all the other things in his life. First:

He learned to lean on the Lord’s praise

The focus of David’s praise has been shifted much higher than position, popularity, people and pride. David has learned to lean on the praises of God.

Psalm 86:10 ESV

For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God.

He learned to lean on the Lord’s protection

Instead of running to Jonathan, Michal or Samuel to try and find protection; David had finally learned the lesson that God is the One who protects His people.

Isaiah 54:17 ESV

no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”

He learned to lean on the Lord’s provision

He doesn’t need the kindness of others, or the bread from the Tabernacle; he’s learned to lean on the open hand of His heavenly Father for the provisions of life.

Psalm 37:25 ESV

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread.

He learned to lean on the Lord’s promises

David eventually learned that the promises of men don’t amount to much. He has also learned that those who learn to lean on the hand of the Lord will see every promise of God fulfilled in their lives.

Psalm 119:89 ESV

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.

He learned to lean on the Lord’s presence

The other props in David’s life failed just when he needed them the most. He has learned that those who lean on the Lord are never without a faithful Friend.

Proverbs 18:24 ESV

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

He learned to lean on the Lord’s preservation

In the end, not a single crutch that David leaned on so heavily was able to secure him or protect him. He learned the priceless, eternal truth that God, and God alone, preserves His people.

Psalm 61:2 ESV

from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I,

If I’m honest, this whole leaning business hits pretty close to home for me. There are plenty of times I find myself leaning on this thing or on that person instead of the Lord. How about you?

But the truth is that I have also found that when I learn to lean on other things in my life; God will systematically and painfully remove every crutch I have. He will bring me to the place where I am leaning on Him and on Him alone.

That’s where He plans to bring each of us!

Now, when God begins to demolish our support system, it can get pretty painful. But we shouldn’t be afraid of what He’s doing in our lives. He’s simply trying to grow us and teach us that He is all we will ever need.

He is all-sufficient; more than enough; He is God Almighty, and He will never fail you, leave you or let you down. He wants us to learn this truth: When we have Him. We have all the support system that we will ever need!

Psalm 46:1–3 ESV

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

What makes up your support system today? On what or on whom are you leaning for your support?

If you know that you are not leaning on the Lord as much as you should be, I would invite you to tear down your own support system today and lean fully on the Lord.

If God is in the process of tearing down your support system right now, come to him and express your faith in Him again today. Ask Him to help you learn to lean.

If you have never been saved, this would be a good time for you to throw down all your crutches and come to the Lord and lean on Him for your salvation and all the needs of your life.