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Surprising and quiet illustrtaion
pray
It’s entirely possible that this chapter, 29,
happened on the very same day as last weeks chapter.
They were certainly close together as is made clear by the events.
The purpose of these chapters then seems to be to continue to draw a stark contrast between the faith and actions of David, over and against Saul.
If you like, chapter 28 showed us the pain, frailty, fear and pointlessness of being a man or woman who seeks their own heart,
their own ways ,
and chapter 29 shows the result of being a man or woman after God’s own heart.
To refresh our memories, back in chapter 27
David is still running for his life with his 600 strong malitia,
from King Saul,
and they take the desperate decision to run to the Israelietes arch enemy the Philistines for safety!
Needless to say David has been on best behaviour amoungst the Philistiens
to assure them that he means them no harm,
and in fact can be of use to them if they give refuge from Saul.
Of course though
it is not
long before the philistones pick yet another fight with the Israelites and they advance for battle.
That is the scene at the beginning of the last chapter and we’re taken back to that very point again in this chapter, to see the contrast between Saul and Daivd.
Saul if you remmebr sought demonic guidance,
he went in search of the Witch of Endor
- the dark forces of JR Tokiens book the LOTR spring to our minds.
And yet in his bid to make sure he gets what he wants,
to be assured that he will be victorious and sucessful,
he is promised a terrify result for his ongoing rebelion against God, spelled out to him during his evil seionse
The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”
The prophesy that the kingdom will be taken from Saul is getting close to fulfillment.
He’s reminded again of his failure to obey the Lord back in chapter 15 when he fought the Amelekites.
Incindentally, david is about to do what Saul didn’t on that occaision in next weeks chapter.
And this looming battle against the Philistines is not going to go well for Saul. He’ll loose his life.
So there is the result of a life lived for yourself.
It’s a life of fear that seeks and clings to dangerous phylosophies,
has nowhere concrete, truthful to turn to.
and ulimately ends with your kingdom falling and judgement and death before God almighty.
It’s as true for Saul as it is for everyone of us today.
The NT writer Paul speaks of this self-serving attitude, as one that means we are enslaved to sin. We live to please ourselevs not God who is worthy of our service.
Sin is simply a word used to decribe a rebelion or rebelious acts against God.
But whatever you call it, the results are the same.
Rom 6v23 is clear - the wages of sin is death.
That’s what Saul has earned by his selfserving and fearful life.
I’m not sure why so many choose that sort of life today, I’m not sure why even Christians, you or me, sometimes choose sin over the alternative.
When the alternative is so much better...
And what is so good about the alternative, is that it actualy doesn’t depend on us,
the results depend entirley on the suprising and quiet provider God Almighty.
So into chapter 29.
David’s situation couldn’t be much worse.
He’s rightly or wrongly fled to the Philistines and now the Philistines are going in for an attack on Saul and the Israelites.
And David and his men are expecetd to fight.
We were actually told that as this whole scene is introduced back in
In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.”
David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.”
Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”
What else could Daivd do, he either dies at the hands of Achish the Philistine or fights for him against his own King and people!
I think the messy nature of life is captured here perfectly by the author of 1 Samuel,
in that we get no mention or commentary about how David was feeling here!?
We’re not told what is wrong or right.
David is between a rock and hard place - and no options seem good!
We know full well that Daivd is not prepared to lay a hand on God’s anninted Saul - he’s spared his life twice before.
David surely isn’t prepared to kill his own people in battle,
There isn’t even any bible comentary on whether Daivd was right or worng to go the Philitisines or to pledge alleience to them!
Life is heavy, complicated, messy, confusing.
We often find ourselevse in situations we don’t know the right thing to do.
Think of the ‘Why Lord have you foresaken me’ moment syou might have prayed through tears before.
The Help me, I don’t know what to do.
The I can’t cope with this any longer, prayer.
If you’re younger, and I hate to put a dampner on things,
you’ll know these occasions one day.
but it is no reason to abandon God and seek your own will.
For Saul chapter 28 chartered his actions and the result was to be death and fear and failure.
For David though, he has not forsaken the Lord God,
He has not lived his life to please himself,
even if many of his decisions would be very questionable,
He is still a man seeking, albeit weakly at times, the will of God.
And so his result will be very different...
As the 5 other Philistine commanders arrive at the battle camp, David’s situation begins to change..
The commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?”
Achish replied, “Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.”
But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favor than by taking the heads of our own men? Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances:
“ ‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
Everyone knows the song about Daivd - that is how famous he is across the middle east.
No way they say, he’s not fighting for us - he’ll turn on us.
The next conversation is almost comical!
Achish tells David he can’t fight after all.
But David dare not show his relief!
What if Achish then realises he is still loyal to Israel!
So ironically Daivd protests!
What? But I’ve done nothing wrong, I’ve been compleety loyal!
Achish probably also not wanting to enrage this famous warrior who they sing that song about appeases him,
You’re like an angel to me,
But the others, it’s not me - wont let you fight.
Then both turn away and undoubtedly feel the great relief!
So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
The Philistines - God’s enemies, have been God’s surprising instrument to spare His man David, not for the first time.
You may have heard the very old story of a village woman who was praying for bread becasue she was beginning to starve.
Her aithiest neighbour who couldn’t stand her faith overheard her pleading with God for bread decided to proove the folly of her faith once and for all...
So the neighbour bought 2 loaves of bread and put it on her neighbours doorstep.
When she heard the woman praising God for the bread, she went round and told her it was not
God who had answered her prayer.
The woman of faith replied,
“Oh, yes, it was the Lord who answered my prayer—even though he used the devil to do it.”
I dont; share that story as an example of how to respond to neighbours who ridicule our faith,
but more to remind us that God works in surprising ways as he does here for David.
suprising
suprising
I recall one of the times we moved to Lesotho and we had to take everything we would need for 3 years in the sum total of 3 checked bags for each of us.
The bags were all overweight and we had an extra bag full of commentraires that we hoped to slot into bags as they got weighed if we could.
It was the very helpful Muslim lady on the checkout who not only spent a long time with us
humouring our attempts to sqeeze every gram we could into each bag,
but also who let us go over on every bag and allowed us an extra bag too!
She even knew we were Christian missionaries and the books were to help us teadh people the bible!
Hardly an ambition for another religion to want to help!
We thanked her of course, but it was God’s suprosing provision that meant we were equipped and more at ease to go in the end. And so he is to be praised.
We need to refelct on our lives and see how an enemy, or simply someone who doesn’t believe in God has been an answer to your need?
We need to be reassured by a God who does and can act in suprising ways to care for His people.
We need to praise him and trust him.
God is not just suprsing in this passage though he is also quiet.
Quiet
Quiet
There is no proper mention of God in this passage. David doesn’t know what’s happening in God’s mind.
No prophet to explain the plan.
No visible way forward for David at all!
And yet, how else could David have avoided this terrible situation other than at the mercy of God.
Why doesn’t God declare it aloud, tell Daivd and the Phislitsines that he is at work!
Why doesn’t he send a great new prophet,
or drop a stone tablet of his intentions!?
Well I think there is something powerful about an unsaid or unexplained situational relationship.
Will David not look back on this event and say, God was very quiet, silent even, yet I knew he had me.
Perhaps like 2 close siblings who sit silently after a tradgedy. Neither needs to say, or even do anything, their care and love and support for one another is more real without explanation.
Neither would benefit, in fact it would lessen the relationship if one or both had to declare how they will always be there, how they share their pain.
The silence shows it more powerfully - nothing needs to be declared or said - they simply know.
A lifeltime of experince and growing togetehr has prooved and developed a relationship that cannot be improved by declaration.
SImilarily, David on reflection no doubt, can look back at this time as being one of endless times he has seen the love and care of God in his life.
Decalrtion from God is not required for each speciifc situation,
for David,
we,
already know God’s intentions towards his chosen,
and they are very good.
God may not decalre his every intention in every situtation
But he has of course declared himself and spoken to us suffciently in His word, by His Son Jesus.
David had been given the promises he needed for his life, and now quietness was no threat to his faith.
And so have we, we have the promises in Jesus, delcared clearly in His word, the bible,
and now quietness in the specifics is no threat to our faith!
Perhaps in our desperate times when God seems so quieet, even silent,
there is some reassurance that so deep is his love and care for you,
already prooved beyond question in the very quite time for Jesus as he died in our place,
that no more declaration into your specifc situation would help or is required.
God cannot love you more,
and cannot make it clearer than he already has.
He has freed you from those wages of sin - death.
and he will delievr you as he knows best in every quiet situation, for his glory and our good.
Perhpas the best example of God’s ‘surprising and quiet’ ways, was in the work of Jesus as well.
The Son of God born in a stable,
to grow up in obscurity and quietness,
for 3 short years he would teach and heal like no man has or will again.
And yet he ends up being killed on a cross.
God come down to take the wages of sin upon himself.
Could it get any more suprosing!
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it’s sheerer, He was silent. Quiet.
Humanilt wanted to silence him completely!
That should have been the quiet end of a man’s life.
And yet that surprising and quiet event 2000 years ago
has become the only hope of all humanity,
The resurection of Jesus to life has become the loudest and most celebrated event in all history!
As that romans verse finishes
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
IF there is anyone here who is still living a life like Saul, one of fear and that leads to death,
repent before the Lord Jesus,
talk to a Christian friend today,
Read the bible,
Find out more - hear God declare his promises of life to you.
For those that do believe
This week.
Spend some time thinking back through your life,
Firstly, have you failed to praise God becasue you didn’t realise he was at work, it seemed like a suprising way for God to work?
SO you assumed it was luck, or chance, or your own good work.
However surprising, God is always at work, and soverign over all things - Let us praise Him - for every delieverance.
secondly, is God seemingly quiet in your current situations and trials?
How are you going to be reassured of his love and care, without the need for his specific decalration each time we face trials?
Let us recal and praise Jesus for taking our death and giving us life.
And as such, have the courage to keep our hearts seeking the will of God at all times,
even when life is beyond manageable.
We’ll give the last words to David in his Psalms,
perhaps he first sang this refrain when he left the battle field early that morning..
Let it be our song this week..
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
or
I will exalt you, Lord,
for you lifted me out of the depths
and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
Lord my God, I called to you for help,
and you healed me.
You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;
you spared me from going down to the pit.
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people;
praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Amen