6th December 2023

6th December 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - 1 Samuel 21:9-15


Message Alan Burke 


When we are desperate we can make foolish decisions that otherwise we would not even dream of. David was desperate, he went to Nob got some food and Goliath’s sword and when it comes to idiocy David is now the shining example because in fleeing from Saul he leaves Israel and goes to their enemies to find refuge. Not only does David go to the Philistines he goes to Gath. Goliath who was a son of Gath, the champion of the Philistines was from Gath and David who was too young and too little to fight had beheaded him for good measure. David is now in Gath, his desperation has lead him to go to his enemy. His fame though had spread to the extent that even the people of Gath know of the song of the people of Isreal, they know that he is not just some random wonderer from Israel. (1 Sam 18:7). He may have thought he could simply slip in unnoticed, be a refuge among the people of Gath, an unknown refuge but his attempt failed, he was recognised immediately. 


Notice David’s response that comes in v12, David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. He printed to be insane, like a madman, marks on the doors and gates, saliva running down his beard. And Achish wants the pitiful disgusting creature out of his sight. 


One of the questions that comes in this is, what has happened to the shepherd boy of chapter 17? What I mean by that is in chapter 17 we had a David had such confidence in the Lord, he was willing to stand in the midst of such overwhelming odds, there we learnt of his character, not a young upstart but someone who was confident that the Lord would be with him, who believed that he would be delivered from the hand of the Philistines through God, he had confidence in the Lord his God and even facing Goliath head on did not cause him to fear but now on the run from Saul, he’s a shadow of his former self. We know that David becomes king, but here desperation had fled to Gath and was facing the consequences of his own failure, his decision in desperation had consequences and now he’s pretending to be a madman.


There are situations that we may find ourselves in that our desperation drives us to make decisions that we look back on and think just how stupid that we have been, the payday loan that seemed like a good idea at the time or the loan shark, maybe self harm to someway escape the reality and feel in control, or self medicating with prescription drugs or alcohol just to put us to sleep so we can stop worrying. Rarely are the decisions that we make in desperation by ourselves the wise ones.


While David didn’t volunteer for this situation, I’m pretty confident to say that if he had have been given the option in the midst of being hunted by Saul to avoid it all he would have chosen to be out with the sheep in the field with his ma and da back at home but God was at work in all of it. The LORD could have spared David all of this, he could have been left in the field with the sheep but the Lord instead throws him into the midst of turmoil and God was working in spite of David, providential at work in it all. 


We will all face trials, God doesn’t promise us an easy life, christianity that is nothing more than moralistic therapeutic deism will leave you lacking, you’re always going to be disappointed with God, you are never going to grow in our knowledge and love of him, you’re faith is always going to be rocked to its very core when life knocks you over and kicks you when you’re down. And we will face trials along the way. The Lord is at work in what we face, for his glory and our eternal good, David was being shaped into the man who would lead the people of God and we are being shaped into the people God wants us to be, the process is called sanctification, we are being made holy, transformed more into the likeness of our saviour. In 1 Peter, Peter reminds us that Christ suffered once for sins (3:18), Jesus suffered more than we do, more than David did and he uses unjust suffering for his glory, the most unjust suffering was the suffering Jesus expected for us. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q8 How doth God execute his decrees?
God executeth his decrees in the works of creation and providence.
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