1 SAMUEL 27

Pastor Alan Carr intro to 1 Samuel 27:

I want you to place yourself in David’s sandals for just a moment.  You were told as a teenager that you were going to be the next king of Israel.  Samuel, the old man of God, came and anointed you for that office.  The next thing you know, you are in the royal palace playing and singing for the king. Then, like a whirlwind, one activity after another took place in your life that brought you to national prominence.

You killed Goliath with a single stone thrown from your sling.  You were promoted in the army and made the captain over a thousand men.  You married the king’s daughter and were best friends with the king’s son.  It seemed that every event in your life was bringing you ever closer to the day when you would step up and claim the throne of the land as your own.

Then, things began to happen.  Cracks began to appear in the perfectly constructed life you enjoyed so much.  You fell out of favor with the king, and he even tried to kill you!  Your relationship with your wife came to an end.  You could no longer fellowship with Jonathan, your best friend.  You were demoted and lost your position in the army.  The next thing you know, you are a fugitive, running for your very life, from an insane king who is determined to take your life.

Yet, even as you run from your enemy, you continue to carry yourself well.  You spare his life when the opportunity to kill him is virtually handed to you.  You show compassion when dealing with others you could have destroyed out of hand.  You even continue to seek God’s direction for your life, believing that some day His promises for your life will all be fulfilled.

Then, one day, something changes.  You awake as usual, but somehow, the world is different today.  For the first time, it looks like God may have forgotten all about you.  It looks like your enemies will eventually prevail.  You become discouraged, disillusioned and find yourself trapped in the pit of hopelessness.  While you are in that state of despair, you make a foolish decision that alters the course of your life; brings you troubles that you could have never imagined; and leaves you broken spiritually.

That, in a nutshell, is the life of David up to this point.  David was on the fast track to the kingdom; now he is a fugitive on the run.  Our text finds David hunted, hounded and haunted.  He is defeated, discouraged and depressed.  While he is in that condition, he makes a foolish decision that will produce some very serious consequences in his life.  David decided to give up on God’s plan for his life.  He decided that, somehow, God must have forgotten about him.  He decided that God’s plan for his life had failed.  David took his own life in his own hands and began to live for himself as he wanted to live.

As I think about this stage of the life of David, I see in him a portrait of many believers I have met over the years.  David pictures people who have been saved by the grace of God and who began their walk with God very well.  But, somewhere along the way, things didn’t go as they had envisioned and they became defeated, disillusioned and discouraged.  In their weakened spiritual condition, they made a terrible decision that had terrible consequences in their lives. Instead of staying close to the Lord and following His will for their lives, they chose to walk away from God and live lives of carnality and compromise.  They made a tragic decision and paid a high price.

1 And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

• Contrast these words of David to those spoken by him back in 1 Samuel 17. 1 Samuel 17.37 The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.
• Before we pull the trigger on David, keep in mind that it has been estimated that Saul has been hunting David now for around 7 years. As I said last week, this being hunted and hounded is no doubt getting a bit old. What is happening here is that David’s fear and mental faitgue is clouding his perspective.
• Persons who at one time exercise strong confidence in God, may at another be guilty of great unbelief, and instead of seeking his guidance, may trust to their own wisdom, and bring upon themselves and others many sorrows. FBN
• When we start to look at God through our circumstances instead of looking at our circumstances through God’s eyes, we will lose faith, patience, & courage, & the enemy will triumph.
• When David communed with his heart, he immediately forgot all the great promises which the Lord had made to him.  God had promised David that he would be king, 1 Sam. 16:1, 12-13.  That promise had been confirmed by Jonathan, 1 Sam. 23:17; by Abigail, 1 Sam. 25:30-31; and even by Saul, 1 Sam. 24:20.  Yet, all these great promises are forgotten when David begins to listen to his own heart.  David even thinks that he knows what will happen out there in the future.

2 And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

• It is interesting that the Hebrew word that is translated Gath comes from a root word that describes a wine vat or a place where grapes are stored to be pressed into wine. David’s fleshly decision is going to put a squeeze on him that could have been avoided had he walked by faith in the promises of God towards him.
• Imagine, the future king of Israel, running to the arch enemies of God to beg for help!  That’s the kind of trouble David’s heart got him into! That’s the kind of trouble that my heart, your heart can get us into beloved.
• Do you see what David is doing here? He is not thinking according to the Word of God, thus, he is found trusting in the enemy for protection instead of trusting the Lord for it…& as a result, he had to scheme, kill, & lieto survive.

3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

• On numerous occasions God had forbidden His people to form alliances with the pagan nations around them, because He knew that they would eventually be influenced by their immorality and embrace their false gods.
• Please note that these 600 men were brought into a place of compromise and temptation because one man listened to his heart instead of listening to the Lord. Remember how David cried out in despair because being in exile, he would be exposed to the false gods and idolatry?
• And so what does David do here by consulting his heart instead of The Lord? He goes to live with Achish, king of Gath and takes 600 men and their families with him.

4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

• Saul calls off the hunt for David. Thus, it appears that David’s move has paid off. But little does he know that he is living with a sense of false security. Acting in the flesh is never a solution to a problem.
• David got tired of the extended trial he was under, he thought of a human solution that would get him out of the pressure, he took it, and (take note!), it seemed to work.

5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

• David undoubtedly shared his tale of woe with Achish and assured Achish that the two of them had a common enemy: Saul.
• But did it ever occur to David that it might not be a good idea to dwell at Gath because it was the hometown of their hero Goliath that he knocked out there in the valley of Elah?

6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.

7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

• For 16 months David is out of the will of God, and from the outside, it looks like things are going just great. But do you know what else is happening? 1 Chron 12.22 tells us that many of Saul’s army in the north hear that David is down in Ziklag and leave the army of Israel and start coming down to live with David. 1 Chron. 12:22 says they are coming by the hundreds. David’s army is swelling and getting bigger. Such success, such blessing, incredible. No doubt, David just knows he has made the right decision at this point.

8 ¶ And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

9 And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.

10 And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.

• The deception practised by David on Achish is not mentioned to be commended.  It proceeded not from faith in God, but from a worldly spirit that seeks deliverance by worldly policy. FBN

11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.

• There were times in Israel’s history when God had ordered them to wipe out certain pagan groups as judgment for their sin. But God didn’t command David to do that here. David was acting on his own. These villagers were apparently allies with Achish. David didn’t want them talking. So he slaughtered everyone and then lied to Achish so that he thought David was attacking Jewish villages.
• What is he doing? Lying again. That is the third time he has lied. Remember he got Jonathan to lie to Saul that he had gone down to Bethlehem when he was hiding out in the field. And he lied to Ahimelech about going on a secret mission for the king. Here he does it again.
• Whenever a person gets snared by sin, there is always deception, both the sinner’s deceiving others and his deceiving himself by rationalizing his sin

12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.

• Please notice something very important: To this point, David’s wrong thinking, wrong feelings, wrong action, wrong company, and further wrong actions had resulted in what seemed to David to be very good consequences.
• Relief from pressure. This felt good! For the first time in years David was out from under the daily pressure of Saul’s pursuing him.
• He was given a place to call home. No longer did he have to go from cave to cave.
• As I mentioned earlier, David was experiencing a growing popularity. In (1 Chron. 12:1-22). Men of valor were defecting to David at Ziklag from Saul’s army, until eventually there was a great army. But as we will see in chapter 30, all of this outward appearance of success would end up in grave consequences.

The importance of developing the spiritual disciplines of reading the Word of God, prayer and consulting a multitude of counselors (not only looking for people who will confirm the decision that you have already made in your mind).

David was a lover of God who talked to the Lord constantly and wrote psalms about the Lord very expressively. In this situation, however, we see him not talking to the Lord, but talking to his heart. The Hebrew phrase translated “in his heart” literally means David talked to himself. And in so doing, he got mixed up. He came to wrong conclusions. He fell into depression. He ends up living in enemy territory for almost a year and a half because he talked to himself rather than talking to the Lord.

And whenever I begin talking to myself and listening to myself instead of reading The Word and talking to my Lord, and walking secure in His love and the wisdom of The Holy Spirit, I will always end up in Gath.

I can do the same thing oh, so easily. I talk to myself and convince myself of all kinds of things that are completely untrue. He or she is looking at me weird….(what does that look like when someone is looking at you weird?) I can tell by the way that that single brother or that sister talks about the Bible and lifts their hands up high at church that God has brought us together.  

But here’s the danger with talking to your heart: According to Jeremiah 17:9, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. This means that when you’re having a good “heart to heart” talk with yourself, you’re getting counsel that is desperately wicked. When I talk to myself, I am being deceived and I can very easily talk myself right into Gath. And the end result is that you’ll take a detour—be it sixteen seconds, sixteen months, or sixteen years—into Gath.

Beware of trusting your own heart beloved as the only and final authority of decision making!  When we only consult the feeling of our hearts and nothing else, the only counsel that we will get is the counsel of the flesh. Walking by faith is not a hunch….it is not doing God something that Scripture forbids me to do….  That is why the Bible cautions us against trusting the heart:

• Pr 28:26 ¶ He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.

When people say, “Well, I feel it in my heart,” they are usually headed for trouble! When someone says to you, “Just listen to what your heart is telling you,” they have given you advice that can lead to spiritual wreck and ruin, if you are foolish enough to follow it.

• 2Sa 7:1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;2 That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. 3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee. 4 And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, 5 Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?
• David had it in his heart to build the temple, and the prophet Nathan even told him to go ahead and build it. But that was not God’s will for David to build the temple.
• Walking by faith does not always mean that the idea that I have in my heart that is what God wants me to do. Solomon would be called to build the temple, not David.

What are we to do? Philippians 4 says, “Be anxious for nothing. But in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

• Pray and wait on God. When we pray the way God instructs us to, there will be a genuine peace about you that is winsome and attractive, pleasant and contagious. It passes understanding, because it comes from above, not this world.
• Question beloved. How much time do you/we spend really talking to God, as opposed to talking to yourself or others about making decisions or day to day situations in your life?
• In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Bend your knee to Him, open your heart completely to Him, and wait on Him. The end result will be a peace that will keep your heart and mind in Christ, and will keep you out of Gath.
• When you talk to yourself beloved, be sure to talk to yourself about the things of God, Psalm 1.1-3;Eph. 5:19-20.