25th May 2026

25th May 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (1 Samuel 29 focus v1-5)


Message (Alan Burke) 


Let’s say you get chickens. I’d love some chickens, the motivation is to have fresh eggs every day; it seems very appealing. You get two chickens, then you need to buy all the stuff to look after them; you need a lot of fresh eggs to make up for your outlay. Even so, initially, it seems like a good decision. But then it comes to you going on holiday, and someone needs to look after the chickens, unless you decide they are for the pot and you get a couple more when you come back. Although as time goes on, there are other unexpected consequences. After you’ve had the chickens for a few months, you start to see that the food is disappearing, there is a chewed hole in the chicken coop, and rat droppings. You just wanted a couple of chickens for fresh eggs, but now you’ve got rats as well. Unintended consequences are more than you can handle, so the chickens have to go. 


Today we come to 1 Samuel 29 and David is facing the unintended consequences of his own sin. He had sought to escape the relentless pursuit of Saul, so he had gone to live amongst his enemies in the territory of Gath. This wasn’t the first time that he had tried to escape from Saul and live among the Philistines; the last time, he pretended to be insane so that the Philistines did not kill him (21:10-15). This time, he didn’t have to pretend to be insane because it would have been known of Saul’s pursuit of David, that he was the enemy of Saul. He was able to go and live among them, because, well, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ as the saying goes. 


There in Gath, David was given Ziklag, but he was living a double life; he had woven a web of lies. He had been going off to fight against the enemies of Israel, and he would leave not a man or woman alive so that the Philistines would not find out what he was doing. Then he would bring back the spoils of war, taking the sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes back to Achish and tell him that he had gone out against the enemies of the Philistines. In his deception, his lies, he had told Achish that he had gone out “Against the Negev of Judah” (27:10). Deceiving Achish to believe that he had killed his own people.


Yet in these opening verses we see the LORD sovereignly working. He was going to fight against his own people but the commanders of the other four Philistine kings protest at the fact that David is even there. They ask “What about these Hebrews?” The LORD was at work in the midst of this situation. While Achish defended David, the other Philistines didn’t buy in so easily. They knew who David was, they remembered David was their enemy, who killed Goliath who had killed tens of thousands of their people. The LORD was sovereignly at work in this. David could have marched out against the armies of Israel along with the Philistines, but the LORD used the commanders of the Philistines to have David sent away.


The LORD was working in spite of David. He was at work and is at work in all that is going on. He is in all things working for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). David had faced much according to his own sin, his own folly, but the LORD was working in spite of him to achieve his purposes. While David was saved from the consequences here, it doesn’t mean that we will be saved from the consequences of our sin in what we face, yet he works in spite of ourselves and while we may face the consequences of our sin in the here and now, eternally we know that our sin has been dealt with, for; In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Eph 1:7)


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q76 Which is the ninth commandment?
A. The ninth commandment is, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
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