Overwhelming Circumstances
Tom Shrader walks through 1 Samuel 26–30, tracing David's remarkable restraint toward Saul followed by a rapid collapse into fear, flight to the Philistines, and moral compromise. When David's city of Ziklag is burned and his men threaten to stone him, the turning point arrives: David strengthens himself in the Lord His God rather than in his own resources or schemes. Shrader draws the pastoral application that overwhelming circumstances expose where our true trust lies, and that finding strength in God is not a genie-wish formula but a real, relational return to who God is and what He has promised.
“Peace is not the absence of turmoil. It's the presence of God right in the midst of it.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: So You Really Want a King?
Recorded: 2009 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 48 min
Themes: fear, trust, failure, perseverance, crisis, strength, compromise, restoration, overwhelmed by circumstances, struggling with fear, feeling abandoned, leader under pressure, recovering from failure, new believer, husband, navigating crisis
Scripture: 1 Samuel 23:19, 1 Samuel 24, 1 Samuel 25, 1 Samuel 24:17, 1 Samuel 24:20, 1 Samuel 26, 1 Samuel 26:8, 1 Samuel 26:9, 1 Samuel 26:10, 1 Samuel 26:12, 1 Samuel 26:13, 1 Samuel 26:14, 1 Samuel 26:23, 1 Samuel 27:1, 1 Samuel 27:4, 1 Samuel 28:2, 1 Samuel 29:2, 1 Samuel 29:6, 1 Samuel 29:8, 1 Samuel 29:11, 1 Samuel 30:1-2, 1 Samuel 30:3, 1 Samuel 30:6, 2 Corinthians 4, Psalm 118, Philippians 3
Theological Themes: sanctification, becoming holy, divine providence, spiritual warfare, repentance, means of grace, imago dei, faith in suffering
Full Transcript
Introduction and Context
If you don't have a Bible, we'd love to give you one to use — just raise your hand. When you get it, please turn to 1 Samuel, chapter 26, around page 220 or 221.
Glad you are here this morning. Tim Maughan and I were talking between services, and we made a note to self that next year the 4th of July is on a Sunday, so we need to make some appropriate plans. When the 4th hits right around a weekend like this, it just decimates attendance. So many people are traveling — somewhere around 718,000 Arizonans travel more than 50 miles from home this weekend. That is an amazing number, and clearly you are not part of them, so we are glad you are here.
God had you here for a reason, and I will tell you, this has been for me a wonderful study. To look at the man proclaimed everywhere as a man after God's own heart, and realize that he is not necessarily this extraordinary superhero — he has some major flaws. The Scripture does not hide them. They are fully exposed, and we see them yet again today.
Recap of Chapter 25
Let me remind you of the context. Because of summer, I know you travel and vacation, and when you miss a Sunday it is really helpful to go to the website. Once you are there, one click gets you a video of pretty good quality — it will keep you up to speed.
In chapter 25 we met a woman named Abigail, who is described as intelligent and beautiful. Beyond that, she has discernment. She spares her husband Nabal, who had offended David. David, who in chapter 24 showed incredible restraint — having the opportunity to kill Saul but choosing not to — now turns around and is willing to go after and kill a man whose name is Nabal, which means "fool," and he is living up to his name. David is going to kill Nabal and all of his men, everyone associated with him.
Abigail intercedes and spares not just Nabal — and this is really important — but spares David as well. Look at verse 32: "David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who sent you this day. Blessed be your discernment. Blessed be you who have kept me this day from bloodshed and from avenging myself." Abigail spared David as well. Now, it was God who did it — God intervenes, and God uses people. That is the challenge we try to keep in front of you: God uses people like you and me all the time. Where will He use us this week?
Past Obedience Is No Guarantee of Future Obedience
David was about to act in a way that was absolutely contrary to his response in chapter 24. He was ready to shed blood, and Abigail was the instrument God used to restrain him. It reminds me of that popular disclaimer on the back of financial advertisements: past performance is not a guarantee of future results. The fact that David was obedient in chapter 24 does not mean he is obedient in chapter 25.
This is a reminder that you and I need grace minute by minute, day by day, week by week, month by month, for our entire lives. The grace that we proclaim so openly and so freely — the grace that saves us — is also the grace we need to sustain us. Apart from the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. But He has promised us the Spirit. He has promised us the Comforter. He is there. We can be filled with Him or we can grieve Him — the choice at this point is ours, determined by how we respond.
We are earthen vessels. That is what Paul calls us in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 — plain old clay pots that God has entrusted this powerful work to. There will be times where we are flying high in obedience, mountaintop experiences where you feel as though you are literally floating along. There will be other times when it feels so heavy, so difficult.
The Pressure Returns in Chapter 26
David has just had one of these extraordinary experiences. There was that moment two weeks ago where Saul was exposed and said in chapter 24, verse 17, "David, you are more righteous than I am," and in verse 20, "I know surely you will be king." They separate their ways, and now we are going to see them reconnect.
We also saw God deal with Nabal directly — God struck Nabal dead. David learned a valuable lesson: God wants His things done His way. He has given us principles, guidelines, and rules. He calls us to be obedient and to trust Him for the results. That is contrary to at least my way of thinking, and I would assume most of us are very results-oriented. I would rather have the final score than work through a play-by-play. God, however, is deeply concerned about the process, and He is in charge of the results. David learns that — but he has spiritual amnesia, because the pressure comes right back.
Look at chapter 26. The Ziphites came to Saul again and told him David was over there — the same report they gave in chapter 23, verse 19. So Saul arose and headed down into the wilderness of Ziph with 3,000 chosen men, in search of David. Saul camped in the hills while David remained in the wilderness. When David saw that Saul was coming after him, verse 4 tells us he sent out spies — because they needed to confirm this. After all, there had been that moment where Saul was weeping, that moment of apparent repentance.
David Refuses to Strike Saul
David sends out spies, who confirm what he has suspected. Then David goes on his own mission. He spots Saul, who is sound asleep, surrounded by his bodyguard Abner — who has taken David's former position — and three thousand guards around him.
Humanly speaking, we wonder how David could navigate his way among three thousand people without waking any of them. The answer is in verse 12, which tells us it was a sleep fallen upon them by the Lord. God had put them into a deep sleep. David finds one man willing to go with him, Abishai, and together they walk through those three thousand people to reach Saul, who is asleep with his spear stuck in the ground.
In verse 8, Abishai says to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke and I will not strike him a second time." This is very similar to what happened back in chapter 24, when David's men said that Saul had wandered into their cave and it had to be a God thing — that God brought him there for a reason, so they should take him out. This time, though, Abishai goes a step further. He says he will do it himself with one shot, and it will all be over.
No more running. No more hiding. No more going from cave to cave. No more living in the wilderness. It had been a long, long time, and God had promised David he would be king. Abishai's reasoning was that this moment must have been how it was meant to happen, and he could handle it himself.
David's Conviction About God's Timing
David says no — God can handle it. Verse 9: "David said, 'Do not destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be without guilt?'" David had learned something. Verse 10: "As the Lord lives, surely the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish." God would take care of Saul one way or another.
David knew he was to be king. Everyone knew it — Jonathan knew it, Abigail knew it, Saul knew it, the army knew it. And because of that, David refused to rush it. He wanted to do God's thing, God's way, in God's timing. "The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed."
Instead, David's strategy is simply to take Saul's spear and his water jug and leave. So David and Abishai walk right up beside the sleeping Saul, take the spear and the water jug, and head out. They were able to do it, verse 12 tells us, because the Lord had put them all into a sound sleep.
David Confronts Abner
Verse 13 tells us David crosses over to the other side — far enough away that no one can reach him, but close enough to be heard. David begins to call out to Abner, the man who had taken his former position as the king's bodyguard. Verse 14: "Will you not answer, Abner?" Abner replies, "Who are you that calls to the king?" And David answers, "Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy the king your lord."
David is publicly shaming Abner. He holds up the spear and the water jug and makes the point directly: this is what he managed to take while Abner was supposed to be on guard. He reminds Abner that if someone had killed the king, Abner would have forfeited his own life. It was not much of a performance from a bodyguard.
Saul's Confession
Saul recognizes David's voice and calls out, "Is that your voice, my son David?" — this from the very man who had been out to kill him. David answers, "It is my voice, my lord the king." Then David asks the question that strikes a direct parallel with what we saw in chapters 23 and 24: why is his lord pursuing his servant? What has David done? David points out that he has already proven he means Saul no harm, and that all of Saul's men have witnessed it. Yet here Saul is again. David presses the question: if God wants to wipe him out, that is one thing, but it seems to be Saul driving this, not God. What is it that keeps rallying these men against David?
What follows is a remarkable confession from a king. It is the kind of moment that would trap a politician — the question about what mistakes they regret. Nobody answers that question honestly. But Saul does not deflect. He does not skirt the issue or try to plea bargain. He simply says, "I have sinned." Guilty as charged. He tells David to return to him, that he will not harm him, because David's life was precious in his sight. "Behold, I have played the fool and have committed a serious error."
David's Response
David has seen this before. In essence, his reply in verse 22 is: save your breath. He holds up the spear and tells Saul to send one of his men over to retrieve it. He is not going back. He is not playing that game again.
David's Declaration of Trust
"The Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered you into my hand. But I refuse to stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. Now, behold, as your life was highly valued in my sight this day, so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord. And may He deliver me from all my distress."
Those are David's words in verse 23. Saul has just declared, in his own words, "You're right. I'm wrong. You're righteous. I'm wicked. You will be the king. You will reign. You're God's chosen one. You're the replacement. I declare it. I was wrong." You would assume that would be vindication for David. You would assume David would say those are sweet, sweet words. But he doesn't say that at all.
God is David's hope. He is not trusting Saul. Saul is not trustworthy, but God is. David valued Saul and spared him that day, but his trust belongs to God. He is essentially saying: I don't have to balance the books. I don't have to keep score. God is going to settle all of those things. All I need to do is trust in Him and be faithful.
It is striking how David, in the midst of his hurt, pain, sorrow, and suffering on the run, is encouraged by his doctrine. That sounds odd, doesn't it? When we hear the word "doctrine," we think dull, dreary, dry. But it is his understanding of the sovereignty of God and who God is that sustains him. He says, in effect, God will take care of Saul the same way He took care of Nabal.
David has almost a peace that passes all understanding as he finds comfort in knowing that Saul's life is in God's hands, David's life is in God's hands, and the whole world is in God's hands. He trusts God to make it straight. His faith and trust are in God — not Saul, not where he lives, not his army.
The Last Meeting
So they depart — David returns to the wilderness, Saul to the palace. That is the last time these two men meet. They still have an effect on one another, but they never meet again. Saul is guilty. David is vindicated.
Can you sense what this moment must have felt like for David? Imagine not just him, but all of his men — how they had witnessed his faithfulness. It has to be one of the high watermarks in David's life. Surely now he is on an ascent to the throne. Nothing can get in his way.
A Devastating Turn
Then comes verse one of chapter twenty-seven: "Then David said to himself, 'Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape to the land.'" So David arose and crossed over, and he took his six hundred men and their wives and households, and his own wives with him.
Verse four tells us it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath. Remember Gath? Who played his high school basketball in Gath? Goliath. Right in the heart of enemy territory. And Saul says, no need to follow him there. Isn't that remarkable? Can you imagine these two events sitting side by side in this man's life?
And it is not just that David goes there — he sets up house there. He goes to Achish the king and says, "If I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country. I am not worthy to be here in the royal city with you." So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
What in the world happened to our man?
Eyes Off the Lord
The secret is tucked right there in verse one: "David said to himself." His eyes are off the Lord. He has lost his focus. The circumstances have finally gotten to him. He has been on the run a long, long time.
He knows the truth. He has proclaimed it. He has heard it proclaimed — by Abigail, by Saul, by Jonathan, by his men, by Samuel. How many times do you have to hear it, David? You are going to be the king. And yet he says, no — I am going to perish. Saul is going to win.
There are moments in our lives, it seems to me, when no matter how much of a man after God's own heart you are, that focus shifts from Him to you. And when it does, you are in jeopardy. When it does, you are in trouble.
Paul talks about it in his own life. He records it in 2 Corinthians chapter four — the fact that we are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, struck down. But he adds quickly: afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not despairing. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed.
I believe this is a picture of a normal Christian life where circumstances just come at you — and they come at you, and they come at you. If my eye is not sharp and clear and focused on Him, I will get swept away in the circumstances.
Staying in Focus
I was at the eye doctor last week, and again this week. I take those tests very seriously — I am not the ideal patient. When the doctor asked, "What's better, number one or number two?" I said, "Can you do that again? Number one or number two?" He said, "If it's that close, it doesn't matter." I said, "No, I want to get it right. Number one or number two?" Finally I said, "I don't know." He moved on: "Number three or number four? Can you do it again?" He said, "All right, Tom, we're done. We are not going to take an hour and go through this. You're fine. Go away."
When Focus Shifts from God to Self
What I am trying to do is get my eyes sharper and sharper so I see clearly. But I also need to be looking clearly at the right thing — not the circumstances around me. It is not that I live in denial, but I need to understand that God is bigger than whatever is around me. Simple and true. You know it. I know it. David knows it. He is a man after God's own heart. But the fact that you know it does not mean there will not be times in your life where it just sweeps over you and you have simply had enough. That is where David is.
We used to have something called a midlife crisis. We do not have them anymore because no one is patient enough to wait until midlife to have their crisis. There are 12-year-old crises and 15-year-old crises. But there really were times in our lives where either we achieved something we had set out as a goal and realized it was empty, or we are at the awards banquet as the salesperson of the universe and realize it is not making life any better. Or we have goals and realize there is no way we are ever going to achieve them, and we begin to look at life differently.
Thoreau said most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their grave with a song still in them. Incomplete lives. Just going through the motions.
The Hamster Wheel of Existence
We used to have a hamster. His name was Mikey. Mikey had an existence that I assume is a normal hamster existence. He slept almost all day, would get up about eight or nine at night, stretch, yawn, drink a little bit, go on his wheel for just a second or two, and then go back to bed. But if you got up at two or three in the morning, he was in there going full bore — just running and running, eating and filling himself up, and then going back to bed.
Just like some of you driving to work, sitting on that freeway, asking yourself why you live here and why you are doing this work. Going home to the same old thing. Tired of the routine, tired of the job, tired of everything around you. Have you been there? Are you there? How do you get out of that? Because if you are not in it now, you will be there sometime.
Everybody handles it a little bit differently. But the way you fix it is to understand the problem. The problem David has is that his focus is off of God and onto himself. He has lost hope. He is hopeless.
Two Generations, the Same Question
I had an amazing discovery this week. I have been spending a significant amount of time with men in their twenties and thirties and a significant amount of time with men in their fifties and sixties. And I discovered that at this point in our cultural existence, both groups are doing the same thing — they are both trying to figure out what they want to do when they grow up. I test-drove that idea on three men in the fifty-five-or-so range this week, and all three said, "That's me."
More and more men are significantly underemployed. More and more men are beginning to realize they have been at this for three decades and do not want to retire, but do not know what they are going to do next. The dog has caught the car. There is no real reason to get up. It is the same old thing. And what is discouraging is that the farther they look into the future, the more it looks like it is going to stay the same.
It is not just older men. It is young people too. I have a friend in California who is in a small group, and one of the men in that group called him one day. He only knew who it was because of caller ID — the man was just weeping. When my friend got there, he found that the man had come home and his teenage son had hung himself in the garage. No hope.
The Only Real Hope
Abraham Lincoln called the United States of America the last best hope. It is a great place, a great country — to this point, the greatest country that has ever existed on the face of the earth. But the only hope for anybody, anytime, anywhere, is Jesus. That is our only hope.
When those things come over you — whatever it is — maybe you just had a high and you are coming down, and the high was not quite as long or as good as you wanted. Or you have had yet another affair. Or you just got that scholarship and it has begun to settle in. Whatever you are in life and you think, "This is not all I want" — what do you do? What do you do when it comes in wave after wave after wave?
What you do not do is look to yourself. What you do not do is concentrate on who you are in and of yourself.
Mastering the Mundane
I think you also need what I would call a realistic view of life. The term I have used over the years is this: I must learn to master the mundane — to live where God has placed me for this moment. That could be anything. It is just the way I am wired, but I could not imagine working on an assembly line, like Lucy and Ethel wrapping chocolates. I just could not imagine it.
William Wallace in Braveheart says, "Every man dies, but not every man lives." Mastering the mundane means facing the circumstances that inevitably come at you, because you are not the exception. In this church, there will be parents whose children die, children who rebel, families that divorce and split apart, and jobs that are lost — all the things you already know.
In those moments, we can run, as David does, toward a false security. He runs to the enemy.
Peace in the Midst of Turmoil
David is there and he has a sense of peace. You hear that all the time — a couple fighting and arguing, and then all of a sudden they separate, and they say, "I have such a peace." Well, of course you have a peace. Sit there and slam your hand in the door and stop it, and you are going to have a sense of relief about it. The answer is not to pull apart. The answer is to find God right in the middle of this.
Peace is not the absence of turmoil. It is the presence of God right in the midst of it. It is not looking to Him and expecting Him to fix all things and make all things right and smooth. David understood this for a moment, and he writes about it and he gets it again — that this is how God works. As Psalm 118 says, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in men; it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.
David Among the Philistines
And yet here is David. He runs, and now he is there, and he has to sustain himself and he cannot. So what does he do? In verses 8 and 9, he raids other villages, kills every man and woman, and takes their sheep and their cattle and the donkeys and their camels. Then he comes back to Achish, and Achish says, "Well, where have you been? How did you get this stuff?" And David says he was over there fighting against Judah. Achish says, "You are my kind of guy." In fact, in chapter 28, verse 2, he says, "From this day forward, you are going to be my bodyguard. I believe you, David."
From verse 3 of chapter 28 through the end of that chapter, the focus shifts away from David and to Saul. Saul begins to consult the witch who calls up the spirit of Samuel. So you have the present king of Israel and the future king of Israel, and they are both in a bad shape at this moment.
The Philistine Army Assembles
The focus returns to David in chapter 29. The Philistines gather together their armies and decide they are going to attack the Israelites. Verse 2 tells us that "the lords of the Philistines are proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were proceeding in the rear with Achish." The commanders of the Philistines ask what these Hebrews are doing there. Achish defends him, saying, "Is not David the servant of Saul, the king, who has been with him all these years? I have found no fault in him. He has deserted to me."
This is identical to what we saw in chapters 23 and 24. The men come to Achish and say you cannot trust this man — he is one of the Hebrews. Achish insists he is a proven commodity. But the commanders press the point: they have the Israelites in front of them and David behind them. They argue that when the battle starts, he is not going to attack the Israelites — he is going to attack them, and they will be wiped out.
Achish Sends David Away
So Achish calls David in verse 6 and says, "As the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is pleasing in my sight, and I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the lords." It is not his decision. David has to go.
David then reaches a point in verse 8 where he is essentially begging the enemy to keep him. "What have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I came before you until this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" He is asking Achish to name one single thing that would indicate he would betray him. Achish agrees that he does not believe David is that kind of man, but tells him it is not his call.
It is remarkable. Achish does what Abigail did — he spares David. At the end of chapter 29, verse 11, "David arose early, he and his men, to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel."
The Darkest Hour
I want to look at the next six verses and read one commentator's observation by way of introduction. He said: "Have you ever been in a situation so desperate that you felt it was impossible for things to get worse? But they did. David had known dark periods in his life. He had had to cope with loneliness, with Saul's jealousy, with deception, with a broken vow, with stress, with depression, and with betrayal. But now comes the darkest hour of all, when he is on the edge of despair itself."
In chapter 30, verses 1 and 2, we get a preview of what David is going to discover when he arrives home. "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."
Weeping Without Strength
In verse 3, David and his men come to the city and behold, it is burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters have been taken captive. "Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep." Have you ever cried like that — where you are just literally exhausted?
I was talking to someone the other day, and they used a phrase I had not really heard in a while. This person said that the night before, they had cried themselves to sleep — cried and cried and cried until they were exhausted. Desperate. Not knowing, or at least not wanting to do, what they thought needed to be done. That is where David and his men are. David's wives have been taken, and moreover, verse 6 —
Strengthening Yourself in the Lord
David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered — each one because of his sons or daughters. All the men who were with him were about to stone him, saying, "You're the one who got us here, David. You're the reason we're in this circumstance. I was faithful to you, David. You cost me my wife. You cost me my kids. You've cost me everything, David."
Now, what does the hero do? It is an amazing, incredible moment. Everything is gone. All the material resources are gone. Wives gone. Kids gone. It almost sounds gracious that they were not killed — at least they are alive — but that would merely mean they were property. They would be slaves, abused and used in every other way. Their imaginations run wild, and people are looking for somebody to blame. We are always looking for that scapegoat, someone we can point to and say, "It's your fault." And they point to David.
In that moment, the Scripture writer drops in that one little word: *but*. But David strengthened himself — this time not in himself, but in the Lord his God. David learned. David remembered. Rather than move from discouragement to despair, he moved from brokenness to repentance. He understood the process, confessed his sin yet again, and strengthened himself — not in his own efforts, not in his own intellect, not in his résumé or his background or his pedigree, not in his financial statement, not in his religion. All of that was empty. He strengthened himself in a relationship with the one true God.
What It Means — and Does Not Mean — to Find Strength in God
What does it mean to strengthen yourself in the Lord? Here is what it does not mean. It does not mean a quick fix. It does not mean that God is like a genie — that I rub the bottle, out He pops, gives me three wishes, and all my problems go away. It is not superstition, nor is it superficial. It is not something where, if I cry out honestly and confess my sin, I somehow obligate God to remedy the situation.
Tyler and I were in the back before the first service, and he was telling me about a gentleman who pastors another church in town. They have a little girl who is five. The wife is a nurse, very similar to Tyler and Haley. The wife noticed just a week ago that when the girl was eating, her hand began to tremble a little. They took her to the doctor, and by the end of that same day they had scanned her, found a tumor, operated, and confirmed it was malignant. What do you do there? You can have great faith — I have great faith — but that does not obligate God to heal her. You need to be very careful there.
The fact that David repents does not obligate God in any way, shape, or form. God is obligated by the promises He has made — in David's case, "You will be king; I am not going to renege on that." But I cannot simply believe and then obligate God to act in a particular way. He may. He may not. David turns and, in essence, remembers: the Lord is my shepherd. That is where I find my strength. I find my strength in Him.
Remembering Who He Is
Like the old hymn says, we are prone to wander — that is why we need to remember again and again and again. That is why the Lord's Supper is so important, even though it becomes risky in a place like ours where we celebrate communion every week. It can just become something you do, and that is a downside. But the upside is that at least once a week it forces us to the foot of the cross to be reminded of what God has done.
How do I strengthen myself in the Lord? I remember who He is. I remember His promises. I remember His faithfulness. If you were to sit down and have a cup of coffee with David at this moment, what would you tell him? What would be striking is that you would be pulling out the very words he wrote to comfort him — Psalms he penned. You would be saying things like: the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. He is compassionate to His children.
I would remind him of the promises of God — who He is, what He has spoken, what He has said to you and to me, how He will never leave us or forsake us. We need to grasp again His love for us, His righteousness. That is what it means to find our strength in Him. And this could be misunderstood: it does not mean I find my strength in the Bible. I find my strength in the God that the Bible points me to. It is not a dry academic exercise.
Knowing Him, Not Just Knowing About Him
We talk about relationship. We talk about knowing. That is what Paul says in Philippians 3. He talks about all the religion he had accumulated and then declares it is done — he counts all of it as loss compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Not knowing *about* Him. Not doing a Bible study. Not filling in the blanks or completing some course of study. Knowing *Him* — that I could be found righteous in Him, that I might know Him and the power of His resurrection.
What is that power? It is the power to experience the surpassing peace and understanding and love of Christ in my life, even in the midst of turmoil. That is why I should be anxious about nothing and pray about everything, and I will find a peace — not a peace I manufacture by moving in with the enemy. The peace of God is not some momentary, temporary peace I provide for myself through cleverness or scheming or strategic planning. It is a peace I find when God invades my heart, and I cannot even fully explain it.
Over the years I have learned that if you are here and you do not know Christ, this sounds like gobbledygook to you. You are saying that cannot possibly be true. All I can tell you is: it is true.
Strengthening Ourselves in the Lord
This is important — not because I say it, or even because I've experienced it. It is true because God says it and He promises it. That is what makes it true. That is how I strengthen myself in the Lord. I immerse myself in Him and in His presence. I communicate with Him. I listen to what He says. I bathe in the reality that He loves me, He cares for me, He will protect me, He will guide me, and He has a plan — even if I may not fully understand it.
I know that when a little child gets sick, or a child dies, or you lose a job, or a business fails, that is not some kind of black mark against God. It is not a blight on His reputation. God is good even if they die. God is good even if the job fails. God is good all the time. He has placed us in this life, and I believe He allows circumstances like these so that we can demonstrate the power of God, experience the power of God, and draw closer to Him.
What David's Story Reveals About Us
I find it so easy to look at this and say, "David, how foolish are you? How many times do you have to see this?" But then I realize he has been on the run since chapter 18. Things have been falling apart all around him. And I find myself saying, "How foolish are you, David?" — just as foolish as I am. God provides that story not so we get focused on David. The more I study, the less remarkable David appears. He is nothing special. He is like you or me.
We sin. God gives us grace. We confess. We sin again. God gives us grace. We confess. And the cycle begins again. Yet we grow closer to God in the midst of it. That is His call. That is His desire.
A Prayer of Gratitude and Surrender
Father, help us see these amazing truths and let them transform our hearts, our minds, and the way we live and think. God, thank You for David. Thank You for recording these words so that we, thousands of years later, can see a real-life example of what a man after Your heart looks like. That does not become a license or permission for us to sin, but it does encourage us when we realize that You use people like us — ordinary people.
God, help us master the mundane, because we find You in the midst of it. Whether at work, at home, or wherever we will be, will You use us in a way that brings honor and glory to You? We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.