Things started so well for David. Anointed by Samuel to be the King God wanted. He s led God s people to victory over the giant Goliath. He was a hero of the people. He married King Saul s daughter. From shepherd boy to this amazing position. But, then King Saul, the king God rejected, gets jealous, and suspicious. David has to flee, Saul is hell bent on killing him. And now in chapters 21-23 we get the wilderness years. His life is in danger, he s on the run, he doesn t have a home. He s being pursued and betrayed. He has a rag tag band of the oppressed and marginalised as his followers. Things aren t looking too good for God s chosen king, the anointed one. What on earth is God doing? If he s in control and has a plan for his people, it doesn t seem that impressive does it? But remember another anointed one of God, another one chosen to be his king. He was despised and rejected. He was betrayed and deserted by his closest followers. He said himself that he had nowhere to call a home. He had to go round in secret so that the Jewish leaders couldn t arrest him and get him killed. The pattern of David s life as the anointed one of God is a shadow pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ. What David goes through in these chapters helps us understand what Jesus went through to be the true, eternal King God provides for his people. These chapters help us understand how God is in control of all things, even things that look to be going so badly. The key point flowing throughout these verses in 1 Samuel is how God provides, protects, guides and delivers his anointed one, his king. Now, you may say to me that s all very nice, and it helps me have confidence that Jesus is God s anointed king. It helps me know that I m following the right team, and that s very important, but how do these verses help me to live my life as a Christian day by day? Well as you say it is very important that we have confidence that the struggles, the pain, the suffering, the rejection that Jesus went through is what we should expect of God s chosen, eternal king. It s really helpful to be reminded that before Jesus ascended to heaven to be the all powerful, glorious eternal king, he had to suffer and die. That s great isn t it to have the confidence that Jesus is the real deal. It is really important to remember that we are not the Christ figure. We re not normally supposed to think of ourselves as David in this story. As God s anointed king he points us to Jesus not directly to us. But, it is also true to say that the way that God keeps his chosen king secure, the 1
way he provides for him, guides him, delivers him; helps us know how we can deal with difficult times as part of God s family. The New Testament frequently describes Christians as being in Christ and that we belong in his family. And one of the many amazing benefits of being in that kind of relationship with God is that he will keep us secure when we face difficult and tough times. Even in their most desperate moments God does not let go of his people. Our job as part of his family is to keep going, keep persevering, keep trusting God even in the tough times. We re going to see how he does that to his chosen and anointed king David and think how that encourages us to keep going in trusting our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. God keeps David secure (21:1-22:5) We re going to spend all of our time in this chapter and point forward to the other verses. Here at the start of chapter 21, David s in a panic. He s fled Saul s court. He flees empty handed, he needs food and armour. I think David went to Nob because he knew they d have food and he knew this was where he could get hold of Goliath s sword. The key point in this account is that David got the bread that was set aside for God s use. In a very real sense God provided for David (21:1-9) by the giving of this bread. Jesus picks up on this event in Matthew 12 and said David was right to ask for this bread that normally only the priests were allowed to eat. Jesus used this event to show that he had authority on earth, even over the Sabbath laws. Jesus implies that as the anointed one of God David had the authority to ask for this bread. This was a specific provision for the king. But it also helps us personally to trust that God will provide for us. David was given the consecrated bread which meant he could have food to live. And Jesus tells us John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." God provides living bread for us to live forever. That is ours if we trust in God s anointed King, the Lord Jesus Christ. His flesh which he gave for us by dying on the cross so we can live forever. God s provides for us all we need. But not only did God provide for David, God protected David (21:10-15). So imagine the scene. You re fleeing from your enemy Saul. You think, I know I ll go to my enemy s enemy and they ll be 2
my friend. That seems quite standard military strategy. This doesn t work for David, and if he d stopped to think about it he d have gone pretty much anywhere else but Gath. You may not remember the detail but Goliath, the giant, was from Gath. And here is David, the one who killed their hero, running to them, carrying Goliath s sword that he d just been given by Ahimelech. Talk about flaunting your success in their face. But, not only that, David was hated even more than Saul was. Look at 1 Samuel 21:11 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'?" And then we get this weird scene of David pretending to be mad, dribbling down his beard, graffiti over the walls. They had him this enemy of theirs, but David pulls of a masterful performance and they believe his plea for insanity. And let him go. Now, in all this how can I say that God protected David? God isn t mentioned in verses 10-15. Well I can say this with absolute confidence because David himself attributes his protection in this event to God. David wrote Psalm 34 and 56 about exactly this event. Do read them later as they really help us understand how God was working to protect David. But, here are the introductions to these Psalms. Psalm 56:1 For the director of music. To the tune of "A Dove on Distant Oaks." Of David. A miktam. When the Philistines had seized him in Gath. Psalm 34:1 Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left. 4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. David is in a panic, he is fleeing and God provides for him and protects him. God does that for us too. Please do read all of Psalm 34, but let me read the last verse of that Psalm. Psalm 34:22 The LORD redeems his servants; no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him. David wrote that after his escape from Gath. And this is a promise for us. To be redeemed is to have the price paid to be freed from slavery. We were all in slavery to sin, and Jesus, the Lord, has redeemed us by paying the price we owed to be free. The price we owed was death. And Jesus paid that price for us. So now we will not be condemned as long as we take refuge in him. Whatever tough times we face. Whatever trials we face. Whatever the circumstances of our life. We can be sure that God provides for us and protects us, because his anointed one, the Lord Jesus Christ, has done everything necessary for us to have life forever; to be free. That means 3
that whatever is going on in our lives we can keep living for him, serving him, trusting him, even in the darkest moments. There are many here who are facing really tough, awful times right now. How can they keep going without plunging into despair? They can keep going because God provides and protects them. Not only that, but also God provides sanctuary for David s family (22:1-4). The oppressed and the marginalized follow the Lord s Anointed king, there s a group of about 400 of them. Presumably people ostracized from Saul s society. God s king still provides sanctuary in his family for all kinds of people. Then David visits Moab, another Gentile area and asks the king of Moab if his dad Jesse and mum. And he agrees. But then of course he would, David s great-grandmother was a from Moab. You need to read the book of Ruth to find out about this history. But, if there wasn t that family connection then I doubt this king would have provided sanctuary for David s family. God had ordained events in history to provide sanctuary for the family of his anointed king. The point is that God is clearly in control of history. Back in the days of the Judges, a 100 or so years before these events in 1 Samuel 21, God allowed the famine to happen in Israel so that Naomi and her husband found refuge in Moab. There they married of their sons to local Moabite girls. Naomi s husband and sons die, she heads back to Israel with one daughter-in-law in tow. This daughter-in-law, Ruth, marries Boaz, they have a baby, Obed, Obed was the father of Jesse, who is the father of David. That s how the book of Ruth ends with a genealogy pointing us to David. God ordained events so that his anointed one s family could be safe. This should give us immense confidence that we can keep going, we don t always know why God allows certain things to happen, but God does. All things work together for his glory. He did this in the life of Christ. Emperor Augustus issued a decree that all people had to be registered in their home town. If God hadn t arranged for that to happen, then Jesus wouldn t have been born in Bethlehem and he couldn t have been the long promised Christ. The angels couldn t have said Good news of great joy I bring you, today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord. God is in control of history. His purpose in history is to glorify his son and for the good of his people. We don t always know why he allows certain things to happen, but we can trust him 4
because God always provides sanctuary for his people. Personally speaking, God allowed my dad to die just over 18 years ago. That was really hard, but that was key part in my becoming part of God s family. More recently Nicki and I struggled with infertility for 6 years. We never found out why we were unable to have them, and wondered why God wasn t giving us children. Wonderfully God did provide us with the twins. But during those 6 tears we often wondered what God was doing. Well since then we ve been able to help counsel a number of couples who themselves are struggling with infertility. God is in control of history to provide for his people. And finally, in verse 5, God guided David. 1 Samuel 22:5 But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth. A prophet is someone who speaks God s words to his people, and in this case directly to his anointed king David. David didn t need to speculate on what he should do, he didn t need to guess. God gave him guidance. He provided a prophet to tell him what to do and also the priest to give him God s direction. You can see that very clearly at the start of chapter 23. Look on there now, 23:1 the LORD answered him, and again in verse 4, verse 11, the LORD said, then again in verse 12. At one level we don t have this direct communication with God. We don t have a prophet sitting behind us. We don t have a priest with the ephod able to ask specific questions of God and wait for his to give his answer. But, we do have the completed word of God. We have in the Bible everything we need to know about salvation and everything we need to know about how to live a life that is pleasing to God. We don t need a prophet sitting on one shoulder and a priest sitting on the other giving us guidance. We have God speaking to us through the Bible. We have his guidance. Our job is to read it, think about it, apply it and obey it. Jesus said If you love me you will obey what I command. What does Jesus command? Well Jesus is the Word of God made flesh; the Bible is the Word of God. So this book contains all that Jesus commanded. And if we love him we will obey him. And that is how God guides us. God the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the truth contained in God s Word the Bible. We have all we need. God provides, protects and guides his anointed king. He also does all that for each of us who are part of his family. What else do we need to keep going in tough times? 5
Even thought David was fleeing for his life, even though he had nowhere to call home. Even through all that God was protecting, providing and guiding him. On the face of these chapters you could feel despair at what will happen to God s anointed King David. God looks like he s backed the losing horse. But, that s how God works. God is in control of history, God s plan for the salvation of his people will win. Even in the middle of the deepest crisis God s promises will be fulfilled. This has always been the case. Just look at the history of God s people, look at Abraham childless at 100 years old, will God s promise fail? No God provided a son. Look at the story of the Exodus, Pharaoh attempting to wipe out the Israelites by killing all the baby boys, but God rescued Moses to provide the deliverance from slavery his people needed. Look at David that small shepherd boy whom God anointed as his king over his people. He will be king. But he must go through these trials, these betrayals, this suffering before he can be crowned as king over God s people. And all of those point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was despised and rejected by men, but now he is crowned with all glory and honour. Jesus is the long promised Christ, the anointed one, who will rule on David s throne for eternity. That s the truth of history. That s something we can remember, celebrate and trust in. Therefore we can keep going, even in the darkest moments, because God provides for us, sustains us, protects us, and guides us. Let s Pray!. 6