“CAN YOU OVERCOME DISCOURAGEMENT?”
1 Samuel 27-30
Series: “Heart of a Champion: A Study of David”
Pastor Rusty Russell
New Day Christian Church, SW Florida
September 14, 2024
INTRODUCTION
In our study on the life of David, we are currently studying his fugitive years. The Bible devotes about 11 chapters to this decade of David’s life. These stories of his life show us how our hero handles various trials. Today David wanders from his faith and hits rock bottom. We learn a lot about how to return to God when we hit rock bottom.
Let’s jump forward and see the moment when David hits rock bottom:
[1Sa 30:4, 6 NIV] 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. … 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters…
What has happened to our hero? Let’s go back to chapter 27. The Bible tells us this was sixteen months earlier:
DAVID WANDERS FROM GOD
A. DAVID DECIDES HE MUST ESCAPE TO PHILISTIA (1 SAM 27:1-3)
[1Sa 27:1 NIV] 1 But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” 2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath.
Be careful: Long periods of suffering can lead to irrational thinking. Wait patiently for the Lord!
B. DAVID SETTLES IN GATH (1 SAM 27:4-6)
3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
Two wives? That wasn’t smart! We will revisit this issue in a couple of weeks. David is making bad choices.
4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
His plan worked for a while. You can make bad decisions and get relief for a while. But the Bible says you reap what you sow.
C. DAVID RAIDS NEARBY VILLAGES (1 SAM 27:7-9)
[1Sa 27:7-9 NIV] 7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months. 8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. … 9 Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes….
David continues his drift from God. He and his men are behaving like the nearby terrorists. They surely justified it as a holy war, but David is not in a position of authority to carry out God’s commands to Israel. David has seriously backslidden.
Have you ever backslidden? Maybe you even prayed God won’t let you get caught! David’s bad behavior is about to catch up to him.
D. DAVID FACES A DILEMMA (1 SAM 28:1-2)
[1Sa 28:1 NIV] 1 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.”
The Philistines and Israelites are about to engage in a significant battle. The Bible tells us that on the Israelite side is David’s best friend Jonathan. David is being invited to fight against his countrymen and best friend! At first he says yes! It’s not clear whether he plans to fight for the Philistines or turn against them in the battle, but this is risky behavior. The Bible tells us not to associate with bad company. Your bad friends will always take things further than you ever intended.
II. SAUL REACHES A NEW LOW (1 SAM 28:3-25)
A. SAUL ASKS FOR A MEDIUM
Saul, desperate for a word from the Lord, contacts a medium to speak to the dead prophet Samuel. This was strictly forbidden in Israel (Lev. 19:31; Dt. 18:11). But Saul is not pursuing God’s will.
[1Sa 28:7-8 NIV] 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”
B. SAUL HEARS FROM THE PROPHET SAMUEL
“There is one in Endor,” they said. 8 So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”
This is the only time this happens in Scripture, but God allows the spirit of Samuel to visit Saul through this medium. Samuel delivers the bad news to Saul: Tomorrow you will be defeated by the Philistines, and you and your sons will die in battle.
Saul faints in fear and has to be revived by the witch of Endor. What should Saul do next? Repent and beg God to change his mind! Instead, Saul changes nothing! He goes on as if he received no warning from the Lord at all. Do you know people like that? The signs are all around that they’re about to suffer greatly for their bad decisions, but they do nothing.
III. DAVID HITS ROCK BOTTOM
A. DAVID IS SENT BACK TO ZIKLAG (1 SAM 29)
[1Sa 29:4-5 NIV] 4 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? 5 Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances: ” ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
B. DAVID DISCOVERS ZIKLAG IN RUINS (1 SAM 30:1-3)
[1Sa 30:1 NIV] 1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.
3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
C. DAVID IS GREATLY DISTRESSED (1 SAM 30:4-6a)
4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured–Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters….
This is rock bottom for David. But David, the man after God’s own heart – unlike Saul – when his heart hits rock bottom it breaks in a million pieces. And all he wants to do is to get right with God.
IV. DAVID RETURNS TO GOD
A. DAVID FINDS STRENGTH IN THE LORD (1 SAM 30:6b-8)
But David found strength in the LORD his God.
From that moment, everything changed for David. Life didn’t get easier, in fact it got more difficult. But everything began to turn around.
The first thing he did was contact his pastor and say, “Pray for me.”
[1Sa 30:8 NIV] 8 and David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”
“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.”
God tells David he’s got a job to do, and it’s time for him to get back on mission.
B. DAVID RESCUES THEM ALL (1 SAM 30:9-31)
17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
Everyone was rescued, all because David, when he hit rock bottom, found strength in Lord his God.
CONCLUSION:
When you hit rock bottom, find strength in the Lord your God. When you’re ready to find strength in God, respond like David:
(1) GRIEVE (EXPRESS GODLY SORROW)
(2) PRAY (INQUIRE OF THE LORD)
(3) OBEY (PURSUE GOD’S WILL)
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.
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