1 Samuel 23:15-29

Through Thick and Thin.

Intro

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are in desperate need, and then out of nowhere, someone shows up to help you? Once in the dead of summer, my dad and I were driving down to the church when the car overheated on the freeway. It was an 89 chevy caprice. Dad pulled over on the highway and lifted the hood, and flames came pouring out. Dad was yelling at me to get out of the car and come to where he was up in front of the vehicle. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a police officer with a fire extinguisher. He must have pulled in behind us without me noticing, but it seemed as if he showed up out of thin air. He put the flames out and waited with us until the tow truck came. My dad always said that he must have been an angel; what are the chances that at the very moment we happened to need a fire extinguisher, their one was.

I am sure that you can think of instances in your own life when God brought about a deliverance that saved you. Usually, these are formative experiences that forge our character. We have been traveling with David through his wilderness experience as a fugitive from Saul. David has had numerous times where it seemed hopeless, yet God intervened. David has learned to rely on God, seeking his will before acting and trusting in him to keep him safe. Hebrew storytellers have one main rule that they stick to tenaciously, too, brevity. Often characters are not developed beyond a few sentences, the dialogue is short, and they are not overly descriptive. They also do not usually tell us overtly the point of their stories or give us the interior development of the characters. That is, of course, except for in the case of David. Not only do we have the narratives of his exploits in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Chronicles, but we have David's own thoughts recorded for us in the psalms, sometimes even with the situation that prompted him to write them.

Psalm 54 was written during the events of 1 Samuel 23:19-29, "WHEN THE ZIPHITES WENT AND TOLD SAUL, “IS NOT DAVID HIDING AMONG US?" That psalm provides us with an inside look into David's thoughts and how he reacted to this situation. His response is instructive for our own cliff-hanger moments when we desperately need God to deliver us. So to understand this text, it will be helpful for us to keep our finger in Psalm 54 as we learn from David how he deals with the treachery of betrayal. But more importantly, seeing How God delivers David from his enemies. You may not have physical enemies who threaten you with death every day, but you certainly have enemies—Not least of which is the enemy of your soul, Satan. The situations David faces will be instructive for how God delivers us from our enemies? Since God delivers us from our enemies, we must give him thanks.

Summary of the Text

David has already faced betrayal, certainly being hunted down by your father-in-law must feel like a betrayal, even if Saul only ever gave his daughter to David to entrap him. Plus, there was the betrayal of Doeg, who, although a foreigner, should not have treated the priests of Nob the way he did. Then last week, David finds out from the Lord that the inhabitants of Keilah, even after delivering their city from the philistines, would have given him up to Saul. So he leaves there quickly before they have a chance.

After he does, Jonathan comes down to David to encourage him. David and Jonathan have formed one of those deep and lasting friendships that have left an indelible mark as the ideal of male friendships. Jonathan is a type of Christ,

Philippians 2:6–8 (ESV)—who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Although David is abandoned by many within even his own tribe, in Jonathan God sends the kind of encouragement only a friend could give. It seems God sends Jonathan at such crucial times in David's life, right when he needs it the most. Because just after he leaves the Ziphites, who know of David's whereabouts, turn as Doeg did, into opportunists and offer to help Saul find David. Saul is grateful of course, but skeptical because David has, with the help of the lord, eluded Saul over and over again. So he tells the Ziphites to be sure of David's whereabouts. Nevertheless, he pursues David. And he gets rather close to finding him, although he doesn't know this. But as he is on oneside of the mountain David is hurrying to flee from him on the other. Saul is so near to closing in on David, that unless the Lord had intervened he would have apprehended him. But Saul hears the Philistines are making raids against the land and has to stop his pursuit.

We see that God first delivers David from internal fears through the strengthening of Jonathan, before providing a way of escape when Saul again pursues him. But as we examine these two ways that God delivers David, I want to frame this all with Psalm 54. Really this is a two for one, two expositions for the price of one. And who doesn't like a deal? Psalm 54 is a personal lament. We study some fo the lament Psalms in 2020 and found that a lament is a form of prayer meant to move us from a place of pain to a position of trust. That comes out clearly in the two sections of this psalm v. 1-3 and then 4-6. First David cries out for the Lord to deliver and vindicate him from his enemies. Strangers and ruthless men have risen against him and seek his life.

Then in v. 4 the tone shifts. The psalmist is moving to a place of trust by recounting God's past faithfulness. God is his helper and has upheld him and therefore will deliver him from his enemies. Because he is confident in the Lord he pledges to offer a freewill offering and to give God thanks. And so the context for David's deliverance is thanksgiving.

God delivers us from our enemies by the strengthening of friendship.

First then, God delivers us from our enemies by the strengthening of friendships. It's not surprising that some of the same themes have surfaced repeatedly as we have followed David in his sojourn in the wilderness as a fugitive, trust, and reliance on God, friendship, community these have come up again and again. So as Paul said to the saints in Philippi, "To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you." Jonathan comes to David at an opportune time to bolster his faith in God, strengthening him in the Lord.

It's not printed in your bulletin, but if you will remember from last week in v. 14, the narrator tells us that Saul sought David every day. That's what we call relentless. I have been in battle, fought in a war. Still, I cannot say that someone sought to kill me every day. What would it feel like to be pursued like that? It makes me think of our Christian brothers and sisters in countries openly hostile to the gospel. They are constantly on guard because they know their every word, every correspondence, every move is being scrutinized. The mental exhaustion this kind of toll takes is astounding. Some cannot make it under this strain, their minds give way, and they break. Even the best need the encouragement of another.

Ours is a therapeutic age. Part of this is because we have replaced the meaningful community connections in everyday life with the soul-crushing despair of our isolated individualism. We have rejected the wisdom of the community so we could be free to follow our hearts. We have to rely on therapists and psychiatrists because a network of relationships that once sustained communities across this country have been torn down. It used to be that you could depend on the wisdom of the previous generation. Still, the youth culture developed since at least the middle of the twentieth century has been conditioned to distrust authority and mock their parents' traditions. They are often skeptical in all the wrong areas and not the least bit skeptical where they should be the most—skeptical of themselves.

Our culture's hunger for a community presents a helpful point of contact. For Christianity is the community of the called-out ones; that's what it means to be the church. We have been gathered together as one body, with many members into a communion of saints. Since the pandemic, the gathering of the church has been under attack. People have often claimed the church isn't a building. It's a people, and that's true. But it would be better to say that the church is "a people assembled in a place."[1]

David is facing tremendous external pressure because of persecution, but also to protect and provide for the small band of people who have fled to him for leadership. As Paul so eloquently put it in 2 Cor. 2:5, "fighting without and fears within." David also had internal struggles, doubts, and fears. First, fears about why. Why is this the path God has him walking on, why through the wilderness? Whenever we encounter difficulty in the Christian life, you can be sure that Satan is there, ready and waiting with his lies designed to make you doubt primarily the goodness of God. He whispers into your ear, is God even good? Does God even love you? Does he even care? Why would he put you through this if he loved you?

Of course, we need to be personally equipped to handle those thoughts by ourselves. We do this by arming ourselves with the promises of God. By arming ourselves with scripture. This is exactly how Christ countered Satan's lies—he quoted scripture. But if the trauma is significant enough, and the fears crippling, or the doubts relentless, you will not be able to handle them alone. You need a Jonathan to come alongside you and strengthen your hand. Notice how Jonathan does that; look at v. 17.

1 Samuel 23:17 (ESV)—17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.”

He relieves his fear by reminding David of the promises of God. God has made you king, David. I know this; my dad knows this. When God says something, you know David that it comes to pass. God doesn't make promises he can't keep. I imagine David then reminded him of all the ways God had been faithful to him. I imagine that after this conversation with Jonathan, David pens the 54th psalm. As he laments the persecution of enemies, he bolsters his faith by reminding himself of God's past faithfulness. I can't help seeing the signature of Jonathan on that. David says,

Psalm 54:4–7 ESV

Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them. With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

I won't belabor this point because it's come up repeatedly in 1 Samuel. But notice that for Jonathan to be able to do this, he had to be involved enough in David's life to be able to recount God's past faithfulness; he had to know the promises of God concerning David. There is an intimacy here that most men don't have with other men, but which we must work all the harder to cultivate. The world around us says you can't have this kind of committed, covenantal, intimate relationship between two men without sex. Like all God's good gifts, homosexual sex is a perversion of the close intimate relationships between men. The sex doesn't make them closer together. Homosexual men are statistically more depressed, have more anxiety, are more suicidal, and are more lonely than straight men, in committed marital relationships. These statistics are still higher even in monogamous homosexual marriages (which are incredibly rare).

So men, let's show the world how it's done. Love the brothers God has put in your life, and form deep bonds with them. Confess sin to one another, call out sin in one another, and encourage one another with the promises of God. Remind your brother of God's faithfulness to his promises. Strengthen him in God as Jonathan did for David. But not just you men, women likewise encourage each other with the promises of God. Don't let your bible studies and prayer times turn into gossip sessions about so and so's husband or the latest scandal. But encourage one another in the things of God, teaching the younger women to be keepers at home, loving their husbands, and bringing up children in the faith.

You won't be able to speak that timely word that strengthens your brother or sister in Christ if you are not paying attention to what's going on in their life. Which means we all need to be doing life together. God may just use you and your words of encouragement to deliver them from the dreadful internal enemies of fear and doubt that daily threaten our faith.

God delivers us from our enemies by providing a way of escape.

God delivered David from the internal fears by the strengthening friendship of Jonathan, but he also delivers by providing a way of escape. Despite his deliverance of the inhabitants of Keilah, which is near Ziph within the territory of Judah, the Ziphites betray David to Saul. Opportunists like the Ziphites and Doeg suffer from a lack of discernment. They routinely back the wrong guys, essentially because they measure not by biblical standards but by what power. Who has it, and how can they get some themselves. We find the same problem reoccurring throughout history.

Given the prevalence of the lament, especially in the psalter, that the wicked seem to be getting away with it, while the righteous are persecuted (Ps. 37, 73), we can be prone to despair. But just because someone occupies a position of power, sitting as Saul does as de facto king while the king de jure hides in the wilderness, does not mean that the Ziphites judge rightly. But that is because they don't have the eyes of faith. They look at the situation and judge based on what they see. Whereas the small remnant that has fled to David sees by faith that David is the rightful king, despite his currently being on the outs with the current regime.

But it turns out these are the kinds of situations that God loves to put his people in, not be he is a cruel and unloving God who just wants to see his people squirm. Like he is some kid with a magnifying glass who wants to scorch the earth. No, God is not like that at all. But he is interested in building faith. All the lessons in scripture can be boiled down to trust and obey, for there's no other way. But the diversity of scriptures proves the opposite truth that we, as sinful creatures, go to great lengths to discover ways not to trust and obey. We sing a different tune, distrust and disobey, for I'll go my own way. Unfortunately, we don't learn to trust God by everything going swimmingly. We learn trust in the forge of adversity. We learn it when we experience God's deliverance, and not a moment too soon.

Imagine the scene. David is on one side of the mountain, while Saul is on the other. David is hurrying to get away, while Saul is getting ever closer. Then just as Saul is about to catch him, a messenger comes and warns that the Philistines are attacking. Saul must turn from pursuing David just at the moment when to David, it seemed he had almost succeeded in capturing him. God brings his people to the edge of the red sea, with the water at their back and Pharaohs screaming chariots at their front before he provides the way of escape. When all hope seems lost, when there are no more of our own resources to rely on when we are forced to depend on God, he delivers us.

The point is to remember as David does in Psalm 54. He remembers God's past deliverances. "For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies." Reminding himself of God's faithfulness gives him the courage to wait for God to act again. You might think, I don't have an experience of God delivering me as these men did. To which I would respond, First, you do; you just might not have noticed it. We'll return to see what this experience is in a moment. But secondly, the experience of David is yours, which is why this story is included. Paul said, "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." (1 Cor. 10:11).

If David was brought through this nick-of-time deliverance just for himself, for his faith to be strengthened, then it would hardly have needed to be recorded for posterity. Take another example from Paul:

Romans 4:19–25 (ESV) — 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Abraham looked at his state and looked at the state of his wife, concluding that by appearances, it is impossible for them to bear a child. But he wasn't looking at appearances, but by faith, believed the promises of God. That was counted to him as righteousness. But that wasn't written for him, but you. Because when you believe that Jesus was delivered up to die in your place, for your sins, and you believe that God raised him from the dead for your justification, that is for you to be declared to be righteous. When you believe that, then you will be counted righteous just as Abraham was. So God has given you the expereinces of these nick-of-time deliverances so that your faith and trust grow by seeing the character and attributes of the God who delivers. How great is that? You can learn just by seeing how God acted in the past.

But it is also not true that you don't have a personal experience of God's deliverance unless, of course, you don't believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. Paul again in Romans says:

Romans 5:6–8 (ESV) — 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

"At the right time..."The most remarkable deliverance was the cross of Jesus Christ. There in Him, you were delivered from the penalty and guilt of sin, and in exchange, given Jesus' perfect righteousness. If you have trusted in Christ, then God has provided a way of escape, delivering you from what you justly deserved his wrath and judgment—eternal punishment of hell. And if God has delivered you from the greatest of enemies—death—then he certainly can deliver you from this light momentary affliction. That is why each of us must view our current situations through the cross and in light of eternity. If the chasm of distance that separated you from God could be overcome at the cross, which on the scale of magnitude is seemingly infinite. How much more can God deliver you from the small daily challenges that are scattered on the pathway of your life.

Trust's response—thanksgiving.

Turning again to Psalm 54, we see that the response of trust is thanksgiving. What else would we offer the God who freely gives us everything in Christ Jesus? We could never pay him back or hope ever to make a return on what. But we can give him thanks. David says, "With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good." The name of God is an expression of His character. His name is YAHWEH, and that is his covenant name, which expresses the nature of God to be faithful to his covenant. He revealed this name to Moses at the mountain of God when he said to him:

Exodus 3:7–9 (ESV) — 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

He is the LORD, that is his name, and we give him thanks because he has delivered us from our enemies, namely death; and promised us a land better than Canaan. A new heaven and a new earth, the very contemplation of which causes us to fall like the elders in Revelation 5 in worship giving thanks saying:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13).

Since God delivers us from our enemies, we must give him thanks.

[1] Hansen, Collin, and Jonathan Leeman. Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential, 2021. Pg. 48.

Charge

Cultivate community. Don’t live in isolation to each other, but do life together. That way you will be in a position to offering strengthening support like Jonathan, or receive it like David.

Trust and obey, for there is no other way. Nick-of-time deliverance is God’s specialty, and is meant to teach you to rely on him.