“David, Sleeping with the Enemy”
1 Samuel 27:1-12
Vs. 1-9 Nothing better for me?
Vs. 10-8:2 From courage to discourage
Intro.
The 26th chapter left off with the final words of Saul to David: “May you be blessed, my son David! You shall both do great things and also still prevail.” Two things become quite apparent as we read the 27th chapter:
- 1. David didn’t believe Saul.
- 2. David did not believe the Lord’s ability to “both do great things and also still prevail.” The first point in light of Saul’s character was the right assumption; the second, however, was way off base.
Oswald Chambers, in his devotional, wrote, “Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led. But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading.” Our life is indeed a life to be lived in knowing Him who calls us to go! Ah, but what if you don’t much care for the road He has us traveling on? Well then we are faced with a difficult choice: travel on the wide road of discouragement or choose the more difficult road of faith. I suppose that of all of Satan’s weapons in his arsenal, discouragement would be the corridor by which all of his other weapons against us enter.
For by discouragement, sin first entered the human race, and it is still the pathway we exit the throne of grace for the dumps of this world (drugs, alcohol, adultery, etc.). It is here in this section that we see our hero David, “the man after God’s own heart,” leaving the presence of God for the world all because he succumbed to discouragement. Think of that dear saint, the “man of courage,” who had just crept into Saul’s camp of 3000 commandos that encircled Saul with a spear by his head and had been reduced in only a few days or hours into complete discouragement. What has happened, and how could it have been prevented? That is what we shall find out now!
Nothing better for me?
Vs. 1 This verse reveals to us six things that led David down the road of discouragement, and I believe that in examining them, they may keep us off this deadly road. I promise that as we look at this passage we will find great reasons to be encouraged even if we have spent a good while of our time walking the road of discouragement, and perhaps it might be good if I start with one of those before we look at the six things in David’s life.
Based upon chapters 25:1 and 28:3, we know that Samuel had already died. Yeah so? Well, that means that Samuel is not the one recording this chapter, and it is safe to assume that it was David himself who wrote this section about his own journey living in the land of discouragement. My point is that David survived and even lived to write about it. I find that as I am in that place of discouragement, I am prone to believing two lies:
- I’ll always be in this place.
- There is nothing of value for myself or others while I’m here.
Neither of these sentiments is true, as clearly David lived to write about it, thus he was not always going to be there, and furthermore, the fact that he is retelling his time here means that there was something of value here. That to me is very valuable insight to keep me from becoming even more discouraged about me being discouraged in the first place. Hey Christian, you and I can pull out of the dive of discouragement any time we hand the control of our lives back over to the Lord, and it starts with reminding ourselves that we don’t have to make it our home, and there is something we can learn about the time we have spent here.
“David said in his heart”: David may have never said these words aloud or uttered them to anyone else, and it is obvious that he didn’t say them to the Lord, but he said them “in his heart.” Furthermore, a close examination of the scripture reveals something very interesting to me. Go back to the 26th chapter and look at David’s words to Saul in verse 19: “They have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.” In light of this chapter, it appears that David had been contemplating his exodus to the enemy’s camp for some time. This points out two important details as it relates to our discouragement:
First, it shows us that David’s discouragement was not a “big event” but rather a gradual descent. You can search this passage high and low and not find one single “big event” that pushed David into discouragement. Rather, it was an accumulation over seven years of being on the run now with the growing responsibilities of an army and their families, along with his two wives. My point is this: sometimes we look for some major reason for our discouragement and we find none, and this causes us to become even more discouraged. Satan knows that the best way to slip in his poison pill of discouragement is to do so gradually over a long period of time so the effects of it won’t be noticed all at once. Secondly, it reveals that David didn’t take his discouragement to the Lord. Some versions render the phrase “in his heart” as “within himself and to himself.”
In other words, while David was pondering things in his own mind and considering the circumstances in which he was in, he became discouraged. It is an interesting truth with regards to our discouragement. Though building circumstances may be what settles upon our hearts, it is our lack of giving them to the Lord that sends us into a tailspin. David was overcome by his own feelings, and it is for this reason that we ought not to “listen to our own hearts.” Hey Christian, there is a reason why the Lord placed your head above your heart!
The tragic truth is that David was only 1 ½ to 3 years away from ascending to the throne which God had promised and all (Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and Abigail) had told him would be his. Ah, but what could David have done with these piling thoughts of impending doom? Well, he could have taken them to the scripture, as Paul suggests to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 10:5 that we are to take “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Consider the words of Psalm 42:5, as he wrote not of listening to the mounting discouragement of his heart but rather said, “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.”
“Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul.” Secondly, we see David suffering from a very bad case of “nearsightedness,” as he seems to have fallen into that terrible trap of thinking that says, “God can’t fulfill what He has promised, so I’m going to have to help Him out.” There are a great many of us who know that nowhere in the Bible does it say that “The Lord helps those who help themselves,” but nonetheless we still act as if that verse is in the Bible. Had David forgotten multiple times the Lord had been able to keep him from Saul as well as himself?
I suggest to you that David had grown weary of trusting the Lord and wanted to trust in the situation instead. I make this indictment against my own heart, as at times I would rather find rest in the circumstances than to find rest from the circumstances in the Lord. Ah, the best words for our discouraged hearts come from our own lips. Consider David’s words to the Goliath in 17:45-46. “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied… that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” Do not, dear saint, underestimate the mighty power of discouragement, as it was able to accomplish what 3000 commandos could not, and that is make a coward out of a hero!
“There is nothing better for me.” Time and again David is seen as a man who talks with God, yet here he has been reduced to a man who merely talks to himself. Jeremiah spoke of the self-delusions of the heart when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (17:9-10) “Nothing better?” What of the cave of Adullam, “refuge” (22:1), where you wrote those words of Psalm 142:5, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living?” Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not faulting David; I’m speaking yours and my hearts, as we are so prone to not remembering God’s faithfulness in times past in our own lives. David has been reduced to a man whom he wrote about in Psalm 32:9 that is “like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.” When the Lord would prefer to “guide you with His eye.” God does not desire to deal with us as man does with his animals but rather with a face-to-face relationship.
Take a look at our Lord Jesus, who faced an hour far worse than that of David’s in John 12:27–28 when looking at His death for the sins of the world when He said, “My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose, I came at this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Jesus had the Father’s glory uppermost in His mind; David had his comfort and ease.
“Than that I should speedily escape”: We can never improve on God’s plan for our lives, and David’s words reveal a tactic of the enemy and the flesh: “hurry, hurry.” Don’t think, just react! I find in my own life that I’m either responding to God or reacting to the situation. When I was just starting out as a goldsmith, the man I apprenticed under noticed that I was always in a hurry as it related to my work habits, and finally he took me aside and said, “You know Dale, I’ve noticed that you never have time to do it right, but you always have time to do it over!” Again, I encourage you to not “give in” but rather learn to “give it up!” Impulsive decisions will often lead us into the wrong land, away from God’s will. Is it not interesting that salespeople often try this ploy to cause you to buy something without considering the costs?
“To the land of the Philistines”: There is always “something better” than going away from God to a land where they worship idols. David is leaving the land of God’s promises and protection and seeking comfort amongst the enemy. Again, how many times have we done the same? “I give up; I quit; I can’t take it any more; I’m just going to go back and seek comfort doing the things I used to do!” Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making fun of you, nor am I offering excuses. What I am saying is that we have all gone through times like this where we think that the Christian life, the walk with God, is too hard and that a little comfort of the world with its “leeks and onions” is pretty tasty. Consider this Christian; the Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:25, speaking of Moses, that he forsook “enjoying the passing pleasures of sin.” The things of the world always offer their delicacies up front and make you pay for them after you are hooked.
I have yet to speak to a Christian and tell them to stop “praying, reading their Bibles, or going to church,” but I have had to warn them against going after the quick pleasures of sin. In Jesus’ miracle at Canaan, where He turned the water to wine, there is an interesting statement made by the steward who sampled the wine: “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” You see what he is saying? The world offers the best first, then when you are drunk and what it has to offer gives you the stuff that rots your guts. Ah, but Jesus always saves the best for last!
“And Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” Two things are wrong with David’s thinking in his own heart:
Saul will not despair when we turn to the world; no, he will rejoice. It was not Saul’s despair that caused the compromise; it was David’s.
Vs. 4 does inform us that “Saul was told that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more.” Ah, but since when does the “end justify the means?” David obtains his peace of mind, but at the price of a troubled heart, and that will cause a further problem that we shall see as lies and deception become a part of his life, which will escalate into murder and mayhem.
Vs. 2-6 David went over with his 600 men and their families, and Achish of Gath was receptive to him coming. No doubt he had heard of Saul’s repeated attempts to kill David and, with his army, saw David as a good ally in his battle against Saul. Note that it says that David took his wives with him, Ahinoam and Abigail. You will recall that their names mean “Daddy’s grace” and “Daddy’s joy,” but though you may attempt to take “Grace and Joy” with you into the world, they will never be in your heart!
David seeks his own city from Achish no doubt so that he would be able to keep his tabs upon David and his men. There are some interesting facts concerning “Ziklag.”.
First is its name: As it means “measured or pressed down,” which so fits David’s heart condition. It was a walled city with all of the comforts of the world but none of the comforts of the Lord.
Second is its location: It was originally given to Judah and Simeon (Joshua 5:31), but neither of them had ever been able to root out the enemies that dwelt there. Simply put, this was “God’s land given to God’s people,” but they had never kicked out the things of the world. There are always areas of our lives where we are content to live in God’s country but don’t want to uproot the inhabitants of the land.
Third is its history: These were supposed to be where the people of God lived, but instead it was where the world was squatting. And David made it his home for 16 months, and we are told in verse 8 that he continually raided the “Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from old.” Now these folks were allies of the Philistines, and even though this land was in the allotment of Israel, David went after those who should have been removed to begin with. So perhaps David thought to justify his actions by saying, “I may not be where I’m supposed to be, but it’s ok because I’m still carrying God’s plans.”
So far everything is working out fine until you read verse 9, where we read that God committed genocide upon the people of the land to keep any of them from coming back to Achish to tell him that David and his men were wiping out all his allies. From courage to discourage
Vs. 10 Perhaps it would be a good time to offer some encouragement? There is an interesting fact that during these 16 months David writes no psalms of praise. But three psalms (8, 81, 84) record for us that they were to be played on the instrument of a “gittith” (we get our word guitar from this word), which was an instrument invented by the people of Gath. My point is that even though David wrote no psalms of worship, he learned to play an instrument of worship during this season of discouragement and compromise. It is impossible to praise the Lord when we are in the world, but God can and often does use that season as an instrument of praise for His faithfulness in the future!
When Achish finally came to inquire of David’s raids, David lied and said that he had been out against the “southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites.” The “Jerahmeelites” were one of the major families of the tribe of Judah, and the “Kenites” were the descendants of Moses’ father-in-law. So David lies and says that he is taking spoils from his own family and friends when in truth he is taking spoils from Achish’s allies.
It is this lie of David that prompts him to consider David and his men to a frontal assault upon Israel and God’s people, to which David must respond that he would go since he has already claimed that he had been raiding them all along. This, by the way, is the very battle by which Saul as well as Jonathan are killed, and had it not been for the Lord causing suspension from the tribal heads of the Philistines, David might have been involved in the killing of his own countrymen. But here David is not only made a commander; he is given the position of chief bodyguard to the enemy of God’s people. (29:3,7). Just because things are recorded in scripture doesn’t mean God is for them. Instead, this section teaches us the necessity of what we are told in Jude 1:21: “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”