IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS, WHAT TENDENCIES MUST WE GUARD AGAINST? 1 SAMUEL 21:1-22:23 JUNE 11, 2006

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Gordon Oliver
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1 IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS, WHAT TENDENCIES MUST WE GUARD AGAINST? 1 SAMUEL 21:1-22:23 JUNE 11, 2006 While I was a teaching assistant in grad school, one of my students was a former platoon sergeant in Viet Nam. Over the course of the semester, I got to know him pretty well. Because I marvel at the courage of those who go into battle, I asked him about his experience in Viet Nam. One of the things he told me was that his biggest concern was always a new soldier because they didn t know how to react during a sniper attack. Under fire for the first time, most people instinctively look for the shooter which gives him time to shoot again at an upright target. He had to teach every new soldier to resist the temptation to locate the sniper, instead the soldier first needed to get down. So, he placed each new soldier by his side, when they went out on patrol. The one soldier he lost from his platoon was killed in a sniper attack. He couldn t get to him quickly enough to pull him down. Just as soldiers need to resist the temptation to first locate the shooter in a sniper attack, there are a couple things we need to avoid when we are in the midst of a crisis. By way of example from David s life, God wants to give us a couple of those things we need to avoid in the midst of hard times. If you have a Bible, would you open it to 1 Samuel chapters 21 and 22? For we will look at this passage and try and answer the question, In the midst of a crisis, what tendencies must we guard against? As we catch up on David s life, it sure seems like things are falling part. Back in 1 Samuel 16, the prophet Samuel anointed him to be Israel s new king. Then, in 1 Samuel 17, in a great display of faith in God, David defeated a giant named Goliath in battle. David s popularity was at an all-time high. People were singing songs about how he had defeated tens of thousands in battle. It seemed as if things couldn t be going better. But then things turned. Saul the reigning king of Israel turned on David. He became very jealous of David and viewed him as a threat to the throne. As a result he tried on a number of occasions to end David s life. And now David is on the run. He seemed on his way to the throne and now he is a fugitive trying to elude a crazed king and the army of Israel. So, we pick up David s plight in chapter 21. Realizing he is a hunted man, David seeks supplies from the priest at Nob. Let s read verse 1. Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, Why are you alone and no one with you? Clearly, the priest, Ahimelech, is suspicious, so he asks for clarification on why David is alone. Let s read verse 2 to see how David answers. David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place. David lies to the priest. Why? David knows he is in trouble and needs help. He is afraid if the priest knows the truth that he might not help David. So in verses 3 through 10, David gets the supplies he needs. He gets bread to eat and Goliath s sword so he can defend himself. It looks like David s lie works. He gets what he needs and he is on his way. But there is one little detail we need to mention that relates to David s interaction with Ahimelech. Look at verse 7. Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul s shepherds. We will come back to look at more of David s maneuvers to try and avoid Saul. But for now, I want to follow this story of David s lie to the priest. Turn over to chapter 22 verse 6. Saul is speaking to his servants. Let s read chapter 22 verses 6 through 8. Then Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had

2 been discovered. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. Saul said to his servants who stood around him, Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day. From Saul s words it appears the hearts of Saul s servants are with David. Saul is looking for someone to give him some information on David. Well, Doeg the Edomite sees an opportunity. Let s read verses 9 and 10. Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. He inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. So, Doeg the Edomite betrays Ahimelech to Saul. So in verses 11 and 12, Saul summons Ahimelch and all the priests in Nob. In verse 13 Saul accuses Ahimelch. Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he would rise up against me by lying in ambush as it is this day? Ahimelech is honestly confused by Saul s charge, so he responds in verses 14 and 15. Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king s son-in-law, who is captain over your guard, and is honored in your house? 15 Did I just begin to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing at all of this whole affair. Ahimelch is truly innocent, but Saul feels his throne is threatened. He is unstable and irrational. In verse 16, look how he responds. But the king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father s household! In verses 17 through 19, we read that Doeg the Edomite kills 85 priests as well as the women and children in the city. Only Abiathar escapes and he runs to David for protection. We read of their conversation in verses 21 and 22. Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD. 22 Then David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father s household. Now how does David s lie look? In the short-term it looked great. It got him the supplies he needed. But in the long-term, his lie cost him. The blood of 85 priests and their families are on his hands. As is the case here with David, our sin often affects innocent people. Earlier we asked the question, In the midst of a crisis, what tendencies must we guard against? In the midst of a crisis, we need to guard against the tendency to deceive others. Often, in the midst of a crisis, we want to take things into our own hands by misleading others so we can get what we want. Maybe we need a job so we pretend to be something we are not on our interview. Or maybe it has been so long since we have had a boyfriend or girlfriend, we hold back on disclosing our core beliefs or values, lest that person think we are a religious fanatic. Maybe finances are tight and we really don t want to pay the government any more money, so we claim a deduction that really isn t true. Often, in the short term our deception works for us. We get what we want. But one way or another, our deception always finds us out. And the really sad part is that frequently, innocent people, like our kids or spouse or friends or co-workers, suffer for our deception. In the face of adversity, let s not give into the temptation of deception. In the fall of 1987, I applied to go on a one-year mission with Campus Crusade to Turkey. In filling out my application, I was honest about my weaknesses that I could be

3 controlled by circumstances. Three months later, I received a letter informing me that my application had been rejected. I was humiliated and devastated. My initial thought was, See, honesty failed me. Most people aren t that honest on their application and they find references that represent them in an overly positive light and the mission board accepts them. I was so mad I agreed to go see a Christian counselor, which until that point in my life I would have never done. I thought in one session, this guy will be able to certify how normal and stable and committed I am and they will reverse their decision. That one session turned into 12 sessions as this man helped me unpack hurts from my past that explained many of the reasons for my instability. It was a huge point of emotional and spiritual growth. Moreover, because I didn t go overseas, I ended up filling a ministry spot at the University of Northern Colorado. I had 5 incredibly rich years of ministry. On top of that because I ended up being the campus director, one year later I was required to go on a leadership training project where I met Hope Hughes, my future wife. Initially in the face of losing my dream and facing the humiliation of rejection, I wished that I had resorted to deception on my application. But 1 and 2 and 5 and now almost 20 years after the fact, I am so glad I didn t resort to deception. God had so much more that He wanted to do in and through my life. And I might have missed it all if I had given into deception. Don t miss out on what God has for you. Don t resort to deception. As we return to chapter 21, we see that David is still terrified of Saul. So, he is looking for some kind of escape or relief from his situation. And he is desperate so in verse 10 David goes to Achish the king of Gath. In order to escape Saul, David tries to live in the land of the Philistines, Israel s enemy. However in verse 11, the servants of Achish recognize David as a great soldier. So now David is in trouble. Verse 12 tells us that fear controls David. Let s see what happens in verses 13 through 15. So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house? Since in his attempt to escape Saul, David is found out, he is forced to rely on deception once more. He acts like a madman. The only problem is that the king says I have enough madmen in the city. Send him on his way. When we attempt to escape our difficult circumstances, we can get ourselves in some tough predicaments. In David s case, going to live with God s enemy is not a good idea. As a result, he is forced to pretend to be something he is not. But David isn t through trying to escape. Since it didn t work out with the Philistines, now he is going to try the Moabites. In chapter 22 verse 1, David escapes to cave of Adullam, where he is joined by his father s household. Verse 2 tells us that a group of about 400 men join David. These are people who are down in life -- distressed, in debt, unhappy. David needs to find protection for his family, so he goes to the king of Moab to ask protection. Let s read verses 3 and 4. And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me. 4 Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. We have to think that David would be interested in staying with his family. But in verse 5, David hears from God through the prophet Gad. The prophet Gad said to David, Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth. Do you understand the prophet s instructions to David? Leave this safe place and go back to the land of Judah, where Saul can get to you. That doesn t make sense does it? God

4 wants us safe, right? Then, why would God call David to leave the safe place and go to the place of conflict? God is preparing a king. In fact, he is preparing Israel s greatest king. And that preparation means God is going to work on David s character. He is going to teach David to trust Him at all times. And God can t teach David those things in the safe place. God can t change David s character as long as he is out of Saul s reach by living in Gath or Moab. God needs David in a place of desperate dependence. Why? So, He can develop his character to be king. In the midst of a crisis, what tendencies must we guard against? In the midst of a crisis, we need to resist the temptation to escape our conflict. In the midst of a crisis, we need to resist the temptation to escape our conflict. When we have conflict in a relationship our natural inclination is to get out, whether it be a marriage or a relationship with a family member or friend. Forget it I m done. God may well want to develop our character in working through the conflict. Maybe we want to bail out on our financial commitments. God probably wants to show us something of His provision for us. Maybe we have looked and looked for a job, and we just want to quit. God may want to develop a deeper understanding of His mysterious ways in us. But if we seek to escape our problems, we won t gain this understanding of God. If we try to escape every time it seems as if life is falling apart, our character will never be formed as God would have it formed. God loved David too much to let him stay in Moab. God had too great of plans for David to let him stay in the safe place. Likewise, I would say God loves you too much and has too great of plans for you for you to continually let you bail out when you face hard times. Are there times we need to get out of a relationship or financial commitment or redirect our search another way? Sure. All I am saying here is let s make our first inclination to stay rather than to run when we face a crisis. And let s stay with the prayer, Lord, teach me what I need to know that I might have your character in my life. In the midst of a crisis, let s make our first reaction to face our circumstances and only step away from these circumstances when God gives us clear direction to do so. The summer after my sophomore year in college, I worked in a gas plant. I spent two weeks of that summer following the operations guys around. One of the things they told me is that when I checked an electrical box, I need to check with the back of my hand instead of the front of my hand. If the box was hot, had current running through it, it would obviously deliver an electrical shock to my body. The problem is that when shock hits the hand the muscles naturally contract meaning the hand would wrap around the box. Obviously this makes a bad situation worse, because the body is exposed to an electrical current for a longer time. So I had to change my thinking. Whenever I went to check a box for current, I had to go against my natural inclination and check with the back of my hand. In the same way, when our life starts to fall part, if we go with our natural inclination and a human perspective, like touching the box with the front of our hand, we run the potential of doing much more damage to our lives. We run the risk of doing more damage to our lives, because our natural impulse is to deceive or to try and escape. Instead, when our life seems to be falling apart, like touching the box with the back of our hand, for our own good, we need to look at the circumstances form God s perspective. Looking at hard circumstances from God s perspective not only prevents us from doing further damage to our lives and the lives of those around us, but it also allows God to develop His character in us. In the midst of a crisis, what tendencies must we guard against? We must avoid the tendencies to deceive others and to try and escape our circumstances. *Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1987, 1988,

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# /7/ I #10 1 Samuel 21-23 "Blinded" by personal ambition and resisting God 8/7/2016 Page 1 I Samuel 15: 14 But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart