God’s Work in the Wilderness Part Two

God’s Work in the Wilderness Part Two

If you have your bible turn with me to 1 Samuel 23.

In chapter 20 when David leaves Jonathan, he’s running for his life. No time to pack, no time to plan, David is a fugitive and he doesn’t have any idea where he’s going to go. And so what we see in chapter 21 and 22 is David on his back foot trying to figure out how to survive and react to things coming at him.

And so in that place it’s not surprising that David makes mistakes.

• His first mistake is letting Doeg witness Ahimelech help him. David knew Doeg was there. He knew he would tell Saul. But David miscalculates terribly Saul’s reaction. Saul is so unhinged that he kills Ahimelech, he kills all eighty five priests. Then he sends Doeg to Ahimelech’s hometown to slaughter the men, women and children of Nob. When he hears about it his heart is broken, he feels responsible. It was a fatal mistake.
• In his desperation to go somewhere his second mistake is going to the Philistine city of Gath – the city that Goliath was from. His plan is to ask them for shelter but they recognize him and the only way he escapes with his life is by acting like he’s lost his mind. Tremendously humiliating mistake.

I want to point this out because when God suddenly detours our life into a desert, a wilderness that we didn’t expect, I think there’s usually a period of time when we’re living off our back foot too. A period of time when we’re trying to figure things out, when we struggle to process. To cope. Maybe, like David, we make some mistakes. They can be costly mistakes. And those mistakes can make our desert hotter and our time there longer.

And listen if you’re there I get it. I want to encourage you this morning. Whether you in a wilderness totally out of your control. You got the pink slip at work. You got a phone call from your doctor. Years ago Janice and I were in Florida when I got a phone call in the middle of the night, and for the next several days my heart just ached. God, where are you? Or maybe you made mistakes that contributed to steering your life into the desert. You said things to your spouse you wish you could unsay. You handled things poorly with your kids and it has hurt your relationship. Those deserts can be even more discouraging because you know you got yourself there – at least partially.

All these things are swirling around David. God is deliberately detouring his life into the wilderness but you know what, he’s also made mistakes and missteps that have made the wilderness more barren and heavier on his heart than it needed to be. His mistake indirectly caused the death of maybe hundreds of people including women and children. How heavy that must have weighed on his heart. How do you shake that off?

But I want to encourage you. Because chapter 23 marks, in my estimation, a shift in David’s attitude and response to this wilderness he’s in. David is going to shift from back foot reactive to front foot proactive.

1. David begins to ask God what He wants him to do!

Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” ² Therefore David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” ³ But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 1 Sam 23:1-5

David is regaining his balance. He took a rag-tag group of losers who were distressed and in debt and unhappy with their life and he has made them a band of brothers, he has turned them into an army.

But even more important: David is asking God, what should I do? What do you want? Should I go and help my people in their distress? Keilah is a city in Judah and David is of the tribe of Judah. They are his people.

David has his own problems but he’s saying God do You want me to help them with their problems? I have my own fights but do you want me to fight their battles for them? David is God-focused and other’s minded.

When we’re in a wilderness it can be easy to go into survival mode. We reduce life to self-preservation when God always has more for us than that! Jesus said those who live just to save their life will lose it. And those who lose their life for him will find life.

And yes, there may be a time when you get that phone call or life suddenly veers into the wilderness where you do go into a kind of preservation mode. A time of processing and getting our balance. But eventually we should look up and say God I might be in a barren place but that doesn’t mean I need to live a barren life. What do you have for me in this desert? How do you want to use me to be a blessing to others?

So David’s looking outward but he’s also looking upward. He’s asking God for direction. And when his men come and say, “is this really wise? We’ll only be putting ourselves in greater risk.” David goes back to God and asks, “Lord, are you sure?”

I think this gives us a great example. When we’re tempted to pull in the sidewalks, to turn the lights out, and just “get by”, to look outward and look upward. We can’t do everything, we can’t meet every need, but when we see a need, we should ask God, “Lord, do You want to use me to meet that need?”

God is able to set a table in the wilderness (Ps. 78:19). We can thrive in a barren place as we trust in God and make ourselves available to love and serve others. David begins to ask God what He wants him to do.

2. People let David down, God lifted him up

⁷ Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” ⁸ And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. ⁹ David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰ Then David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. ¹¹ Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” ¹² Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.”…¹⁴ And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

¹⁹ Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? ²⁰ Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand.” 1 Sam. 23: 7-12, 14,19-20

David again asks once again, will the people of Keilah surrender me to Saul? God answers yes. After being besieged by the Philistines, they’d rather hand David over to Saul than be besieged again. So he runs to Ziph but they seek Saul out to betray David.

People are letting David down. Saul hates him for no reason. The people of Keilah are disloyal to him. And the people of Ziph betray him. All of this reminds us of Jesus who left heaven to come and save us and give us abundant life. Jesus came to a world that would not receive him, hated for no cause, betrayed by his friend, abandoned by his disciples. But…God therefore exalted him to the highest place as Lord of all and King of kings. We see Jesus in the life of David.

But I don’t want us to sterilize or over-spiritualize this. This hurt David deeply. In Ps. 41 he writes of this from personal experience:

My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die and his name perish?”
⁶ When one of them comes to see me, he speaks falsely, while his heart gathers slander;
then he goes out and spreads it around…⁹ Even my close friend, someone I trusted,
one who shared my bread, has turned against me. Ps. 41:5-6,9

Some of the hardest wildernesses are man-made. People disappoint us, come against us, maybe even betray us. Betrayal is one of the deepest wounds which is why Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is mentioned in all four gospels as well as the section we use for communion from 1 Cor. 11. On the night he was betrayed… That betrayal is an integral part of Jesus’ sacrificial work for us. He was betrayed by a friend.

Some of the most painful wildernesses we go through are man-made. People will let us down, hurt us

(we hurt others too but that’s for another message), maybe even betray us. If you’ve gone through that you know it’s painful. It’s meant to be. People can be the source of our greatest joys, and our deepest pain. Some of the most brutal wildernesses aren’t caused by circumstances, they’re caused by broken relationships. They’re man-made.

People can hurt us and let us down. But when our trust is in God, people cannot – cannot! – destroy our lives. The more people let David down, the more God raised him up. Psalm 41 goes on to declare:

But may you have mercy on me, Lord;raise me up, that I may repay them.
¹¹ I know that you are pleased with me,for my enemy does not triumph over me.
¹² Because of my integrity you uphold meand set me in your presence forever. Ps. 41:10-12

God sends Jonathan to David one last time:

¹⁶ And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 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.” 1 Sam. 23:16-17

In the midst of betrayal and unjustified hatred, God sends a friend to strengthen David’s hand in God. “Do what God has called you to do David, nothing can stop you because God is with you. My father knows this too. And I am with you all the way!”

Listen, there are gonna be people who hurt you. Don’t live in the smell of that smoke. Don’t let that forest fire pollute your atmosphere! Don’t live in the bitterness of that hurt. Move on, find people who support you, who strengthen your hand in God. Who love you, encourage you, tell you the truth even when it hurts, and who cheer you on!

And most importantly, believe that God has your life in His hand. People can hurt you, but no one can destroy you. No one has the power to destroy your life if you are in Christ Jesus! He’s got you! Even if they kill us, they haven’t destroyed us. They’ve just sent us home a little earlier.

The final scene in chapter 23 is the Ziphites have told Saul where to find David and Saul and his army are closing in. They’re moving around a mountain and are catching up and about to kill David, when a messenger comes and says to Saul, the Philistines are attacking our hometown, we need to go back right away.

If someone hurts you, or betrays you, or slanders you, or let’s you down, commit them to God. Pray for them – not for their demise but for them to repent and receive fresh grace from God. But keep moving and let God do it.

God rescued David from his enemies. But God has more for David to learn in the wilderness so it’ll be years to come before David gets out. But there has been a shift. From this point on, David is hearing from God and learning and growing into the man God has called him to be. And God means our wilderness to make us into the person God wants us to be as well.