WHERE DO WE FIND STABILITY IN OUR UNSTABLE WORLD? JUNE 4, SAMUEL 18:1-20:42

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Rachel Parker
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1 WHERE DO WE FIND STABILITY IN OUR UNSTABLE WORLD? JUNE 4, SAMUEL 18:1-20:42 In our first few months in Chile, we lived in a 22 nd floor apartment. One night, after traveling 24 hours to return to Chile from my brother s wedding in New Jersey, the apartment began to shake. At first, we thought we were imagining the movement because we were so tired. But then we realized that the movement was not a product of our imagination. We were in the midst of an earthquake. It was my first time to experience an earthquake so I panicked. I ran into the bathroom, then out in the hall. I was thinking of going down the elevator, but realized that would be a bad idea. Before I could think of what to do next, the trembling stopped. All total, it lasted 10 or 15 seconds. But in those 10 to 15 seconds, I was desperate to find a place of stability. I wanted to find a place that wasn t shaking. When we look at the world, many of us feel like I did during the earthquake. The world seems so uncertain, so unstable. We have a war in Iraq and now there is talk of an invasion of Iran. Gas prices keep going up. Where will that end? And we have talk of the coming pandemic with the bird flu. Can we stop it or contain it? How can we protect ourselves? I could go, but you get the idea. Is there any stability in our unstable world? This morning as we continue to look at the life of David, we will see that David is going through a tremendously unstable time. A crazed king wants to take his life. Let s look at this story that we find in 1 Samuel 18 through 20. As we consider this period of David s life I think we can answer our question, Where do we find stability in our unstable world? As we focus on the account recorded for us in 1 Samuel 18 through 20, let s get a quick overview of what has gone on. The nation of Israel wanted a king, so though the decision didn t please God, He appointed Saul as Israel s first king. God, however, removes His blessing from Saul as king because Saul s heart is not completely given to God. In the face of Saul s rejection as king, God calls David to be the next king. However, the transition from Saul to David as king of Israel is going to take some time. In chapters 16 and 17, we have already seen evidence of the impact of God s favor in David s life and the impact of God s rejection of Saul. When faced with fighting the giant Goliath, Saul shrinks back in fear while David s rises up with faith in God to defeat the giant. With that background, I want to pick up our saga in chapter 18 verses 6 through 9. It happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. The women sang as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands. Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. We see that David s victory over Goliath has increased his popularity among the people so much that they sing songs of David slaying his ten thousands, while they sing of Saul slaying thousands. We see that Saul s response is anger and that he looks with suspicion on David from this point on. Saul s suspicion and anger are going to be the

2 source of great instability for David. Saul is still king. And we will see that his obsession with David leads him to use all the resources available to him as king to end David s life. Where will David find stability? How will he endure Saul s obsessive jealousy? Let s find out. In chapter 18 verses 1 through 5, we meet Saul s son Jonathan. Verse 2 tells us that Saul takes David into his house. We remember from earlier chapters that David s harp playing soothes Saul when he gets in fits of depression. As a result of living in the same house Jonathan and David become the closest of friends. Look at verse 3. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. God will use this covenant relationship to protect and encourage David in this time of great instability. As we go on, Saul s paranoia increases and he becomes more consumed with David. Let s read verses 10 and 11. Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a spear was in Saul s hand. Saul hurled the spear for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped from his presence twice. We see Saul boil over. Twice he tries to run David through with his spear and twice David escapes. Where will David find stability in this time? We get a clue to our answer in verse 12. Now Saul was afraid of David, for the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul. We know that God has already anointed David to be the next king. And there is no stopping God. Saul doesn t know that David has been anointed to be king, but he does recognize that God is with David. And I think Saul realizes that because God is with David there is no stopping David. So in verse 13 Saul removes David from his presence and puts him in the army. But in verse 14 we read that David continues to prosper and as a result in verse 15 Saul dreads David. So Saul concocts a plan to get rid of David. In verses 17 through 30, he offers David the hand of his daughter in marriage. Only he puts a condition on his plan. David needs to become a part of the army that fights the Philistines. Saul figures he will let the Philistines do his dirty work. Surely, David will die in battle won t he? In verse 17, Saul first offers his daughter Merab. However he retracts that offer and give her to another in marriage. Then in verse 20, he offers his daughter Michal. However, he puts a price of 100 Philistines killed in battle for David to marry his daughter. The evidence of those deaths will be foreskins. Saul figures that surely in the process of killing 100 Philistines, David will be killed. But verse 27 tells us that David and his men struck down 200 Philistine soldiers. So when David shows up with price in hand to marry Michel, Saul is very afraid. Look at verses 28 and 29. When Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul s daughter, loved him, then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David s enemy continually. The most powerful man in the land is trying to kill David. This would qualify as a time of instability. But to this point, Saul s plans keep failing. Why? We keep reading that the Lord is with David. God has a plan for David to be king and there isn t anything Saul, the most powerful person in the land, can do about it. But that doesn t stop Saul from trying. Let s read chapter 19 verse 1. Now Saul told Jonathan his son

3 and all his servants to put David to death. But Jonathan, Saul s son, greatly delighted in David. One of the ways God is going to thwart Saul s plan is through relationships. God is going to use David s friendship with Jonathan and his marriage to Michal to thwart Saul. In verse 2 Jonathan warns David of Saul s intentions. In verse 3, he tells David that he will report back to him about his father s intentions. In verses 4 through 6, he persuades his father to lay off of David. And in verse 7, Jonathan brings David back into Saul s presence. In verses 8 through 10, after David has great success In battle, Saul again tries to kill David by throwing his spear at him. David flees into the night. Starting in verse 11, Saul has men watching David s house in order to put him to death. In verse we read how David s wife, Michal, who also is Saul s daughter, lies to protect David, risking her father s wrath to do so. In chapter 20 we read further of David and Jonathan s friendship and how God uses Jonathan to protect David. David is supposed to be at a festival, but does not attend because of Saul s irrational behavior. Jonathan offers to feel out the situation to see if it is safe for David. When Saul realizes Jonathan is acting in David s interest, he becomes very angry. Let s read the account in verses 30 through 34 of chapter 20. Then Saul s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die. But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done? Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death. Then Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved over David because his father had dishonored him. In verse 31 we see that Jonathan is willing to risk his own position as future king to protect David. And in verse 33, he risks his life for David as Saul turns on him and tries to kill him with a spear. We started looking at this story by asking the question, Where can we find stability in an unstable world? David is living an incredibly unstable life, but through this we keep reading that God is with him. We know that God has anointed David as king. And we know that nothing can stop God and His purposes. We also see that God is using Jonathan, and to a lesser degree, Michel to aid David in fulfilling God s purposes for His life. And this combination of God s purpose and supportive relationship is the only stability David has in his otherwise very tumultuous world. So in answer to our question, Where do we find stability in an unstable world? We can say, Our stability comes from knowing that God will raise up supportive relationships so His people can complete the purposes He Has for them. Our stability comes from knowing that God will raise up supportive relationships so His people can complete the purposes He Has for them. As we look for stability in our world we need to know that our stability is found in God and His purposes for our life. No war, no economic down turn, no illness is going to stop what God wants to do in and through us. The problem is that when circumstances

4 turn against us, we can forget that truth. We can get so focused on the circumstances that we forget about God. That is why God insists that we be in close relationships with other believers. Jonathan is God s provision at this time in David s life. Without Jonathan, David might have just given in. I believe that God wants His followers in close relationship with other believers. Supportive relationships are God s provision for us. Yet, we have a responsibility in initiating these relationships. That is why we encourage involvement in a life group. In times of instability we need others to remind us of God s faithfulness in completing His purposes in our life. At the end of 1 Samuel, we will read of Jonathan s death. We have no record of David replacing Jonathan s friendship. As a result in 2 Samuel David makes huge, huge mistakes adultery, murder, open defiance of God. I doubt he would have made those mistakes if he had been in authentic relationship with other followers of God. If we are not living in close community with other believers, we put ourselves at great risk. As we return to our passage, there is one other way in which God protects David. Back in chapter 19, verse 18 after escaping from his house, David runs to Samuel. In verse 19, Saul find out that David is with Samuel, so he sends soldier to capture David. in verses 20 and 21, Saul sent three groups of men commissioned to arrest David, but each time these groups came near David, they came upon a company of prophets. When they come in the presence of these prophets, they start prophesying and fail to complete their original mission. Finally Saul is fed up so he goes himself to get David. Starting inverse 22, let s read what happens. Then he himself went to Ramah and came as far as the large well that is in Secu; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And someone said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah. He proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets? Saul just can t pull capturing David off. It would seem he has got David dead to rights. But instead, he ends up buck naked, prophesying before the Lord. This is a very humiliating position. He looks pitiful. Saul is fighting against God and His purposes and he just isn t going to win. God will orchestrate circumstances, so David can become king of Israel. Where do we find stability in an unstable world? From these verses we can say, We find stability in knowing that God orchestrates circumstances so his people can complete the purposes He has for them. When we combine our answers we can say that We find stability in knowing that God will raise up supportive relationships and will orchestrate circumstances so His people can complete the purposes He has for them. There is a lot of comfort in this passage. God is in control and no circumstance, no mad king, is going to thwart God and the purposes He has for our life. So when we want stability in our world, we need to seek God. We need a commitment in our heart to live out His purposes for our life above all other priorities. I can t guarantee your physical health, I can t guarantee your financial stability, I can t guarantee anything except that God will not fail. He will accomplish His purposes in your life. Seek those purposes and then live those purposes. Another comfort is that not only do we not have to worry about circumstances, we can rest in the fact that God is working through

5 circumstances to accomplish His purposes. In the next chapters, we are going to see Saul madly chasing David. And we might wonder, What is going on? But in the end we will see that God is preparing His greatest king. We will see that God is developing David s character to lead. The big challenge to us of this chapter is that we need to be in significant relationship with other believers. Our culture is becoming less and less relational. As we become busier and busier, we become more and more isolated. If we are going to experience God s best and God s peace in our life, we need to be in significant relationships with other believers. Without Jonathan, David would have been much more vulnerable. Likewise without spiritual friendship, I think we are much more likely to be controlled by circumstances. What are you doing to build significant relationship with other Christians? On day six of the ill-fated mission of Apollo 13, the astronauts needed to make a critical course correction. If they failed, they might never return to earth. To conserve power, they shut down the onboard computer that steered the aircraft. Yet the astronauts needed to conduct a thirty-nine-second burn of the main engines. How to steer? Astronaut Jim Lovell determined if they could keep a fixed point in space in view through their tiny window, they could steer the craft manually. That focal point turned out to be the earth. For 39 agonizing seconds, Lovell focused on keeping the earth in view. By not losing sight of that reference point, the crew avoided disaster. 1 In the same way, in the midst of turbulent circumstances, in order to avert spiritual disaster, we need to find a fixed point God and His purposes. Yet, we need to know that it is not easy to stay fixed on God and His purposes, so God has made provision to help us through supportive Christian relationships. Where do we find stability in our unstable world? We find stability in knowing that God will raise up supportive relationships and will orchestrate circumstances so His people can complete the purposes He has for them. *Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1987, 1988, The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. North Pointe Community Church, PO Box 29,555 Lincoln, NE Copyright 2005 Andrew A. MacFarlane. All rights reserved. 1 Finding a Fixed Point from

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES GIVING OUR DEEPEST ALLEGIANCE TO GOD MAKE IN OUR LIFE? 1 SAMUEL 16:1-17:58 MAY 21, 2006

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES GIVING OUR DEEPEST ALLEGIANCE TO GOD MAKE IN OUR LIFE? 1 SAMUEL 16:1-17:58 MAY 21, 2006 Imagine you are a sales person with a product that though it is expensive, produces superior