Sermon #420

“A Season in the Desert”

Illustrations:

            That song “It’s not the end, the end of the world, its just another day…”

* David’s Desert Time

1. The Time David was in the wilderness looking after the sheep when he was a boy

            God told the prophet Samuel to go to a certain household and anoint someone there as king.  When he came to Jesse’s family, he had all the males of the family line up to inspect them one by one and each time felt the Lord saying that these were not the right ones.  

* 1 Samuel 16:11-12

11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”
12 So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one.”

            Oh, ya, there is one more, but he is way out in the fields looking after the sheep. 

            Later when Saul asks why David thinks he can defeat Goliath, the boy replies that when he was tending the sheep he saw a lion carry one off, hit it with a stone so it dropped the sheep, and then killed it with his bare hands.

* 2. The Time He was out there hiding from Saul

 * 1 Samuel 18:12

12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had left Saul.

            So the motivation to do away with this young man who looks like he will be king someday.

            He eventually had to flee from Saul, and ended up hiding in caves with some questionable company.

* 1 Samuel 22:1-2

1 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.
2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

            People flocked to him.  Swindoll suggests that those with him were in debt because of overtaxation, and discontented means ‘discontent because of wrong treatment’ (because of the harsh reign of Saul).  Indeed the word ‘distress ’ means distress caused by external pressure, usually from an enemy.  Neverttheless, it is hard to say for sure that this was only because of Saul’s persecutions and overtaxation.   Certainly Baldwin was right when she summed them up as ‘passionate for change’ and thus the core of what would become a great army.

            In time the number of those with him grew despite the fact that he was still in a lot of trouble:

 1 Samuel 23:13-14

13 So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.
14 David stayed in the desert 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.

            Sort of a nomadic existence.  They sustained themselves by doing favours for the people who let them live on their land, and by raiding Philistine towns.

* 3.  The time he was out there hiding from Absalom

            Even after this was over, and David was installed as king, reigning happily from his palace, he had to once again flee for a while into the wilderness when his son Absalom plotted against him to steal the throne. 

II - The deserts of life

            Even as David was sent out into the actual desert, we are sometimes sent out just as forcefully into an emotional or spiritual desert.

Defining the desert in our lives

            What are we talking about?  Do we need to define this better or is this obvious to anyone in it and so does not have to be defined.

            Illness in your family, grief that follows death, times of failure and not getting your goals,

            The desert brings fatigue.

* Characteristics of the desert

To us the desert is a time that often catches us by surprise. 

Why me?  Could I not have prepared for this more?

            And when we come out of it we are again surprised.   Yet for God this is all natural and expected.  In heaven is perfect peace as ever there was.  This truly is the heavenly peace that we pray for.  

            Years later you can se how it helped you or perhaps you do not see this until you reach the gates of heaven yet again God was not swayed and anxious as you were.  You continue for many years in a perplexed state, in the end all is understood and seems so clear as you pass into eternity, if only you had that while on the earth.  Perhaps you will not be able to find a good answer for your desert now. 

* It is not a place where many friends will join you, though those who do are more loyal than most. 

It is surprising who will join you in the desert.

When David fled to the desert his family went down to be with him, but also he attracted others who were hurt; "All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader." (1 Sam 22:2a) 

I suppose that when we are in a place of trial and trouble in our lives, people tend to shy away from us.  Those who stay with us often become lifelong friends.  Maybe the lesson in that is to be that loyal friend when another is in the desert.

* You often spend more time in the desert than you think you should. 

For a long while it seems that God was looking on David but not helping.  There he was fleeing from refuge to refuge pursued by his enemies yet God just allowed it to continue.

 Psalm 35:17

17 O Lord, how long will you look on? Rescue my life from their ravages, my precious life from these lions.

How long was David out there? 

Sam 27 7 “David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.’  This was even after much chasing around in the land of Israel.  Even after this when Saul died in battle, David only went down to Judah ‘in the course of time’.

Thoughts David must have had       

Who ever dreamed so many would flock to Absalom and make the odds so heavy in his favour?  Why does Saul pursue me so doggedly?  Doesn't he have better things to do?  I never thought I would actually have to take refuge with the Philistines.  Even that did not go well.  How humiliating that the first time I tried to join them that I failed and had to pretend madness just to escape with my life.

* The desert seems to be the opposite of God's intent for us. 

A further surprise

            Is He not always leading us to high places?  How could any type of bad feeling have its origin in God?  The desert appears to be a place of questions rather than answers, yet the shepherd leads us through these places anyhow.

            As we look on the story of David we think that the time in the desert was an interruption to the useful things in his life, and to some degree it certainly was.  Israel did not prosper while he was out there, nor did he expand his personal wealth or fame in the desert.  Yet it was a key part of his life.  Being a humble shepherd taught him much, but the Lord wanted to teach him even more.  James teaches us to count it all joy when you encounter trials, because it means God is working on you.

Why the desert?

What a puzzle such desert times must have been to him, and to us!  Is he not the anointed king of Israel?  Yet many chapters of his life were spent in seemingly pointless running in deserted areas.  Wouldn't it have been better for him to be conquering far away lands or building churches for the glory of God?

            Joseph languished for years in an Egyptian prison.  Moses wandered as a shepherd in deserted places for forty years.  Even though by definition there is not much in a desert, neither things nor activities, it is still a place of learning.

Sometimes we are under the impression that the Psalms were written inside a nice study in a quiet room, when in fact many of the most passionate psalms were written in the desert during periods of great trial.

* Painful but helpful things the desert gives

* The desert teaches us our weakness. 

            The desert teaches interesting and useful things. 

            We like to know about our strengths.  Who likes to hear her/his weak points. 

            The desert teaches specifically that our strength to be merciful and kind comes more from God than us.  That in fact when pressed in a tight spot we will not feel merciful and kind but nasty and selfish.  Spend time alone in the desert searching for these qualities within yourself and you will be disappointed.  Yet when we are surrounded by friends and luxury in the palace it is easy to forget such things.  So out to the desert for a little bit of school.

* The desert purifies. 

Isaiah 28:16-17

16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.
17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.

The desert strips us of all help but God

It is a place to ask for help

 Psalm 34:17-18

17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Tips to Surviving the desert

* See the positives of it

* It is a place of specific prayers.

So often when we are satisified and have lost a sense of mission and urgency we pray for the general good of all, yet in the desert we have specific needs and are sympathetic to the specific needs of others.

* Helps us understand the pain of others

            There is something about being in distress that makes you better able to later feel the distress of others.  Those who have suffered through cancer make excellent counsellors for those who have just contracted the disease.  Remember how David attracted those who were distressed and in debt and otherwise troubled.  He was seen by them as their leader because he had so much trouble of his own.

            We are still useful to God in the desert.  And we are most useful after we have been in a desert or two

* Understand its temporary nature

 * Isaiah 28:23-25

23 Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.
24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?
25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?

            Periods of desert come in turn with periods of blessing.

Again something to encourage those in the desert is that it doesn’t last forever.  Seems obvious but this can be missed while in the desert.

God casts off a while but not forever.  Really, David had it quite good for quite a while.  Just as the field is plowed to make it fertile, it will not be plowed forever, only till it is ready to receive the good seed.

Speaking of the bruised reed of Mt 12:20, the church is compared to reeds not oaks and bruised rather than whole reeds.  It is the description of a poor, distressed man.  The Lord promises not to break those of us who are bruised, yet he allows us to be bruised for a while.  Again this is for our good as one writer says, "The reed before the bruise had more wind than pith (inner part)."

* Remember to praise even in it.

            It is still a place where we can praise, since real dangers are evaded there. 

            With danger come victory, perhaps that is one of the only good things about danger and enemies.

            The tendency in a desert is to turn inwards and concentrate on ourselves.  Yet for the glory of God and for our own sanity it is good for us to look for opportunities of returning thanks to God.