When You’re In Trouble & It’s Your Fault
1 Samuel 27–30
1. The Cause of David’s Problem
1 Samuel 27:1 (ESV)
Then David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul."
Psalm 42:5–6a (NIV)
Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
1 Samuel 27:1 (ESV)
Then David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines."
I Am God’s Child And He Loves Me
1 John 3:1 (NIV)
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
God Is For Me
Romans 8:31 (NIV)
"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?"
I Have Supernatural Strength
Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
I can do all this through Him who gives me strength
1 Samuel 27:1 (ESV)
Then David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines."
1 Samuel 21:10–15 (NIV)
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"
1 Samuel 27:2–4 (ESV)
So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
Proverbs 16:25 (NIV)
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
2. The Consequences of David’s Problem
1st He Was Living with the Enemy and Serving the Enemy
1 Samuel 27:5–7 (ESV)
Then David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
2nd He Was Living a Lie
1 Samuel 27:8–11 (ESV)
Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish. When Achish asked, "Where have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or, "Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites," or, "Against the Negeb of the Kenites." And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, "Lest they should tell about us and say, 'So David has done.'" Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines.
3rd He Was Drafted into the Philistine Army
1 Samuel 28:1 (ESV)
In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army."
4th Their Families Were Taken and Homes Burned
1 Samuel 30:1–4 (ESV)
Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
1 Samuel 30:5–6 (ESV)
David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters.
3. The Consecration After David’s Problem
1 Samuel 30:6 (ESV)
But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
1st Remember His Promises
1 Samuel 23:16–17 (NIV)
And Saul's son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. "Don't be afraid," he said. "My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this."
2nd Pray for Guidance
1 Samuel 30:6–8 (NIV)
But David found strength in the LORD his God.
Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, 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.
1 Samuel 30:18–19 (NIV)
David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
1 Samuel 30:26 (NIV)
When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, "Here is a present for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies."
