Read 1 Samuel 29

The saying “God moves in mysterious ways” is an often repeated phrase, but it is often repeated because it is true. God does indeed move in ways which surprise us, even when we do not expect it. While God certainly works directly through miracle or other direct intervention, God also works through ordaining circumstances or even through the hands of unbelievers.

Unbelievers were certainly the surprise saviour for David. Stuck in a situation of his own making due to listening to his heart instead of trusting in God’s promises, David found himself appointed as the personal bodyguard to King Achish, as the Philistines launched an invasion of Israel. Despite David’s sinful predicament, God still delivered David from his circumstances.

The author of Samuel appeared to be setting up a final grudge match between David and Saul, lined up against each other. David, forced onto the Philistine side by his recent choices. Saul, about to face the hour of his final judgement due to his own past choices. This, despite the many situations in the past when David could have killed Saul, but refused to.

In chapter 29 the apparent setup is unwound. David will escape the consequences of his understandable but unfaithful acts of sixteen months previous.

The Philistines gathered their forces together for battle at Aphek (v.1). The place was the site of the fateful battle in the beginning of 1 Samuel (ch.4) which ultimately led to the Israelite desire for a king like the rest of the nations. Now another fateful battle will see that same king defeated and discarded, so that a king after God’s own heart could arise.

As the Philistine kings paraded their armies into camp, David and his band joined in the rearguard with Achish (v.2). As they passed across the parade ground, the other Philistine commanders noticed David and his detachment and loudly cried out “What are these Hebrews doing here?” (v.3).

Achish immediately jumped to David’s defence, announcing that it was David who was now well acknowledged as an enemy of Saul, “and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day” (v.3). David’s deceit was well hidden; Achish was thoroughly snookered.

Sadly for Achish, the Philistine commanders were not as easily convinced. They were angry at Achish for bringing David along like any other mercenary, as they feared that David could seek to redeem himself in Saul’s eyes by turning on them (v.4). They feared David’s men were really a fifth column.

The Philistine commanders had not forgotten the old folk tune “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” and demanded Achish send David away (vv.4-5).

Poor Achish must break the bad (good) news to David. Acknowledging that as God exists, he believed David had been a faithful servant, Achish must send David and team home since the Philistine commanders object (vv.6-7)!

David, who had found himself in terrible strife, is now delivered from having to cross the Rubicon and fight Israel on their enemies’ side. What relief must have washed over him. But appearances must be kept, and so ironically David challenged the decision (v.8). Nevertheless Achish’s hands are tied, and David must go (v.9). 

When morning comes, as soon as it is light, David and his band must depart from the camp and return to their home (v.10). While light meant only impending doom for Saul (28:19), for David it meant redemption.

Sure enough, morning came, and David and his men departed the Philistine camp for their base in the Philistine lands (v.11). Meanwhile, the Philistines themselves broke camp and departed for Jezreel, where Saul and the Israelites nervously awaited the hour of battle (v.11).

Nowhere in this passage is God described as directing or acting. The only mention of God comes, ironically, from the pagan mouth of King Achish, commending David before God for his faithfulness to him (a faithfulness which was not real) and the injustice of David being unable to fight at his side. Yet, just like in the Book of Esther, God’s hand clearly lies over the circumstances and situations.

Yet God indeed acted to save his servant. Through the Philistine commanders objecting to David’s presence, David is delivered from a situation which would have made his kingship untenable. There is no way that Israel would have accepted as king a man who fought against them, even if he later turned on the Philistines mid-battle.

God works in the same way in our lives. Sometimes, God works through the most surprising of events or people to set us apart from God’s enemies. Like when we read this deliverance of David, we should not respond with indifference and muteness but with praise to God for his goodness and greatness towards us.

That goodness and greatness which God showed to David, and to us despite our own unfaithfulness, was only because of Jesus, the true king after God’s own heart. It was not David’s wit that saved him. It was God, through a surprise saviour.

Read 1 Samuel 28:3-25

Many of us go through seasons of despair, when it seems like all is lost, or everything is going wrong. As believers, we might wonder whether God has abandoned us. But we still turn to God for comfort. But for unbelievers, they may seek support and comfort from any of many other places, where they will not find it.

Saul had reached his season of despair, as the realities of God’s judgement finally caught up with him. Unable to receive God’s guidance and direction, Saul turned to witchcraft and divination, explicitly forbidden under God’s Law. Through that medium, God gave one last message to Saul which left him without hope or comfort. This reminds us of the peril of unbelief, and the blessing that Jesus underwent his own season of despair so we would not.

In chapter 27 and the beginning of chapter 28, David’s sinfulness led him into a terrible dilemma, as he found himself volunteered as bodyguard for one of the Philistine Kings as they launched a full-scale invasion of Israel. But David was not the only one to enter a season of despair. Saul also faced an apparent moment of reckoning for his sinful deeds.

To set the scene, our text reminds us that the prophet Samuel had died (v.3), as mentioned in chapter 25. Further, Saul had made a point of expelling mediums and necromancers out of Israel, as commanded by Deuteronomy 18 (v.3). Saul was always good at public displays of righteousness.

The Philistines had invaded Israel, and the two sides gathered their forces and encamped near each other (v.4). Saul could see he was in big trouble (v.5).

Very big trouble. He sought God, but God was done talking to unbelieving Saul (v.6). Prayer, prophets, and Urim, it did not matter. God would not respond. Saul wanted life advice, not a saviour (Hebrews 6:4-6).

So Saul turned to “alternative approaches.” If God would not speak to Saul by the appointed means, he would try seeking divine counsel by other means. “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her” Saul told his servants, who found one in Endor (v.7).

Off Saul went disguised to Endor, though not on a mission to destroy a Death Star but to consult a dead star (v.8). The woman was understandably cagey, thinking this was “the Feds” entrapping her, but Saul convinced her no harm would come (vv.9-10).

So the woman asked who this man wanted to see – none other than Samuel, the late prophet (v.11). He always gave good advice! Terror came to the woman when God permitted Samuel to appear (rather than presumably, a demonic Elvis impersonator or whatever her mind conjured up) and she realised it was King Saul in front of her (v.12).

After the woman told Saul that Samuel was coming, Saul bowed down to pay homage to the wise sage (vv.13-14). But Samuel was not amused at Saul’s calling him in his hour of crisis (v.15). Saul was God’s enemy, why call God’s servant? (v.16).

Bad news. God had sent the Philistines to bring down Saul, just as promised (vv.17-18). It was time for David to become king. Moreover, Saul and his sons were about to die and meet their Maker, and face the due judgement or reward depending on their trust (or otherwise) in him (v.19).

Saul was left empty, fainting at the message (v.20). With no comfort from God, the woman provided a meal for him and his servants as a distraction from the news (vv.21-5). Saul and his servants went away to meet what was coming at them. A final meal, a last supper, before the axe of judgement fell.

Here is the peril of unbelief laid bare. Saul rejected God’s commands, and God rejected Saul. Now the moment of his judgement had finally arrived, and God was not there to comfort him. Only the cold reality of what was coming.

For some, this “Dark Night of the Soul” or “Divine Despair” is the road by which unbelievers come to Christ. For many unbelievers though, hardened by many years of rejecting Christ and suppressing the truth of God’s existence in unrighteousness, there is no comfort that comes from God. Only the knowledge of coming judgement. Lord save us from this terrible fate!

Thankfully, for all who believe in Christ, the terror of God’s displeasure, the despair that comes from swiftly appearing Divine judgement, is not what we face. Because Jesus ate a Last Supper, and endured Divine Despair at the hands of God, when he bore the terrible judgement of God for our sins and unbelief on the Cross.

The axe of judgement fell on Christ. For six hours, Christ felt God’s anger and silence as he cried out “why have you forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1). 

All this, so we may be spared the judgement due to us, and find comfort and counsel from God in our seasons of despair.

Read 1 Samuel 27:1-28:2

Some of the worst advice I think you can give someone is to “follow your heart”. The reason? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Not popular advice for our culture today, but unfortunately following your heart instead of following the wisdom of God’s Word leads to folly and sin. But we all do it anyway.

Even the best of us follow our heart. David certainly did. Despite all the external evidence of God’s provision for David, the internal strain became too much. He did not listen to God. He followed his heart. He ultimately landed in a sticky situation. One that God, much like he has done for us in Christ, would have to pull him out from.

The truth is that we can sympathise with how David felt. He had fled from Saul’s presence to the wilderness, gathered a band of followers, but had to constantly move to keep all safe. Saul kept finding out where he was. The stress and strain was too much.

Or so David thought in his heart. “David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand” (v.1)

So that is what he did, together with his six hundred men, plus their many hundreds families (v.2). David returned to Gath, where he had fled previously. This time, as a known fugitive from Saul instead of his chief enforcer. This time, King Achish welcomed him and his family (v.3). This time, finally, Saul stopped pursuing David (v.4).

Yet where was God in this? Elsewhere, David had sought God’s counsel. This time, David followed his heart. God never entered the picture. Nor was Biblical wisdom and prudence at play. No doubt David thought he was being wise and prudent, but he was forgetting God’s gracious provision and protection many times before. David walked out of the Promised Land, the place of God’s blessing for his people, and into the hands of a foreign protector.

That said, David immediately took steps to distance himself from King Achish. He asked to set up camp in one of the country towns, rather than remain in Gath (v.5). Achish, probably concerned about a powerful mercenary force living close and living off his own funds, agreed and gave him Ziklag (v.6).

Ironically, Ziklag was part of the inheritance of Israel (Joshua 15), but had never been conquered. So God still used David’s sinfulness to bless Israel by bringing this part of the inheritance into their hands (v.6).

With the benefit of distance, David could manage the relationship with Achish. Enough that David and his band settled in the Philistine lands for a year and four months (v.7).

From Ziklag, David raided Israel’s enemies (v.8) but lied about it to earn favour with his new master, suggesting he was attacking Israel (v.10). Of course, survivors would spoil this line, so every living person was wiped out (vv. 9,11) to keep up the ruse.

So while David was fulfilling God’s commands in wiping out those enemies of Israel specifically marked for judgement (much as this makes us uneasy today), he had left his principles in Israel for lying and ruthlessness.

All seemed well. Achish trusted David, thinking he had cut all ties with Israel by his actions (v.12). So much so that when the Philistines decided to invade Israel again, Achish called David and his men together as part of his armed forces (v.1) Gulp. David muttered out an ambiguous answer, and found himself Achish’s bodyguard (v.2). Now what would David do?

David listened to his heart and found himself in a bind. He did not remember God’s promises, or seek Godly counsel. He followed his heart into sin, backed it up with lies and ruthlessness, and found himself in a dilemma.

Sounds familiar.

We can look down our noses at David and his pickle, looking back with an air of “I hate to say I told you so…” or we can stop for a minute and reflect. This sounds familiar, because it is sadly familiar. To all of us.

We listen to our heart. We stumble into sin. We keep digging. Then we find our principles compromised or lost. We all do it. Even “the greats” like David did it. The Disciples did it, when they fled at Jesus’ arrest. Peter listened to his heart, and denied Jesus three times.

The answer to life’s problems is not to listen to your heart. But to listen to God’s Word. To seek godly counsel and support. To trust in God’s promises.

And when we fail, to seek forgiveness through the only one who did not follow his heart into sin, Jesus. There is no salvation found anywhere else. Following God’s grace, not our hearts.

Read 1 Samuel 26

The daily struggle with sin can make us wonder if we are making any progress at all towards trust in God and holiness. Are we becoming more like Christ, relying on him and depending on God to make things right? Or are we continuing in our own strength, and our own creaturely and fallen wisdom. 

While hard to see in the moment, the truth is we do make progress in life. It was true of David too. In 1 Samuel 26, David again faced a decision – to spear the King’s life, or spare the King’s life. His response demonstrated that he was learning to trust God’s plans and providence, as he waited to inherit the promised kingship.

At some point David moved back to the region near Ziph (hard to keep 600 men plus families in one desolate spot permanently), and the Ziphites again dobbed in David to Saul (v.1) Saul came down with 3000 men, again (vv.2-3).

When David found out Saul was near, he sent out spies who confirmed Saul’s presence, then saw Saul and camp himself, with all fast asleep (vv.3-5).

David asked for volunteers to enter the camp, and was joined by Abishai (v.6). They made it all the way to Saul’s sleeping frame, with Saul’s spear close to hand (v.7).

For Abishai, this was clearly God’s providence (again) giving David the opportunity to strike down Saul and assume the throne (v.8). But David knew better, he had learnt restraint (ch. 25). Abishai was not to strike the Lord’s Anointed (Saul), because neither would walk away blameless (v.9).

Instead, David trusted in God. ““As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish” (v.10). Instead of spearing Saul, David spared Saul, taking his spear and a water jug for later (v.11).

All this occurred because God had caused a deep sleep to fall on Saul and the Israelites (v.12). God was, again, entirely in control of Saul’s fate.

David then climbed to high ground and called out to Saul’s bodyguard, Abner, mocking him for falling asleep on the job (vv.13-16). Some bodyguard! For all Saul’s forces, he was defenceless before David … before God. The spear and the water jug, little tokens as they were, demonstrating God’s promises to David and his judgement on Saul.

No doubt Saul felt very naked and defenceless as he stumbled awake, hearing David crow across the valley holding his weapon and water supply (v.17). Saul tried the “son” treatment on David, but did not get far. David focused on Saul’s continued injustice to him (v.18).

Rather politely, David declared that if God had sent Saul to punish him for wrongdoing, then David would offer sacrifice to God for his sin. But if Saul was being badly advised (unspoken: by Saul’s sinful heart), then may they be cursed for driving David to the point of leaving the Promised Land and the ability to worship God as he then appointed (vv.19-20).

Saul responded by confessing his sin toward David, and inviting David to come back with a promise of safety (v.21). David was no fool; Saul could have his spear back, but David was not coming near him (v.22).

David would stay with, and trust in, God. He asked God to bless him for not killing Saul when he again had the chance (v.23), and proclaimed God as the only one in whom he hoped for salvation and deliverance: “may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation” (v.24).

With those words, Saul and David parted ways, David on his ways and Saul to his place (v.25). Neither saw each other again.

David’s act, or inaction, to spare King Saul’s life rather than spear Saul, was a great act of faith. David had been hounded and chased from pillar to post, yet had learnt in his struggles to trust in God and God’s timing.

David had come to understand that God’s plan required him to wait, and to go through present troubles, before he fully inherited the promises God had made to him.

How familiar that is to us. We too go through present troubles, awaiting the promises God has made to us of eternal presence with him in a perfectly holy place, no longer struggling against sin.

In the meantime, we can take some heart that God is working in us through life events, as he worked in David, to increase our trust in God and decrease our reliance on self. Through the Spirit’s work, he is making us more like Christ, the truly sinless, anointed king.

All this can happen because God did not allow his anointed one, Jesus, to be spared, but to be speared (pierced). Not for his transgressions, for he was sinless, but for ours.

Because of the Cross, we can trust God for salvation and deliverance, and know he will provide.

Read 1 Samuel 25

When things do not go our way, we often see red. We want to lash out and repay the hurt, rather than trust in God to put right what was wrong. While our desire for justice is sometimes well placed (sometimes our desire for justice is more like selfishness), our desire for personal vengeance is not.

While David showed great restraint in not killing Saul in 1 Samuel 24, his rush of blood to the head at the slight of a rich fool shows he still had learning to do. Thankfully, God restrained David from sinful overreach, and ensured he and his men were provided for through the hands of Abigail, the rich fool’s wife (and a wise servant). This example reminds us to wait on God for justice when we are slighted, for God will surely bless his people.

Our passage begins with momentous news that passes as a footnote: the death of Samuel (v.1). The prominent character of the early part of 1 Samuel has passed from view, and now from death to life. All Israel mourned his passing, though David likely mourned remotely.

David and his men moved to the wilderness of Paran in Sinai (v.1). There David and his men became neighbours of a rich, money-obsessed fool whose “harsh and badly behaved” nature was contrasted by Abigail, his wife’s discernment and beauty (vv.2-3). Oh, and his name was Nabal.

David politely requested from Nabal’s great abundance of riches provisions for his men, considering they had not done the usual parcel of rogues thing and seized for themselves (vv.4-9). In fact, they had protected Nabal’s workers and helped enrich Nabal in the process (vv.14-16).

Sadly Nabal was too busy counting his coins to see it that way, and rudely dismissed David’s request with a slight, suggesting he was some lowly runaway deserving nothing (vv.10-11). Bad call! David’s men reported it to David, who decided it was time to sort Nabal out permanently (vv.13-14).

Yet God had other ideas. David could not show restraint to the king, and happily wipe out a commoner. So God ensured word reached Abigail’s ears via a sensible servant, who could see the trouble Nabal had made himself (vv.15-17).

Abigail herself sought to put things right in a hurry. She threw together a feast for David and his men, not telling her foolish husband, and raced to meet the growling David approaching to wipe out Nabal and his men for slighting his goodwill (vv.18-22).

Once there, Abigail appropriately acknowledged the future king, took Nabal’s guilt on herself, and argued for leniency for her worthless fool husband (vv.23-5). Importantly, she spoke as God’s instrument to point out to David he would regret taking vengeance into his own hands, instead of trusting God to punish Nabal (vv.26-31). After all, David was acting out of wounded pride, not as a wise judge.

David confessed that God had sent her in good time to restrain him from a terrible wrong (vv.32-4). After the two parted amicably, Abigail returned to her foolish husband drunk as a skunk (vv.35-6).

The next morning, Abigail told Nabal how she had saved his skin (v.37). His heart failed him, and ten days later God struck him down (vv.37-8).

David might not fully understand restraint, but he was not entirely a fool. As soon as he heard Abigail was newly widowed, he sent his men to propose marriage (vv.39-42). Thus two were blessed by God. David, by God-imposed restraint and a godly wife to replace Michal, whom Saul had remarried off (v.44). Abigail, by marriage to a future king who appreciated her beauty and discretion, and listened to her!

That said, David’s restraint did not extend to monogamy: he also married Ahinoam of Jezreel (v.43). But that would be a problem for another day.

God providentially acted to restrain David from unjust vengeance on a fool, something that would have been a terrible sinful overreach. Like David, we too need to wait on God to dispense justice, not take it on ourselves just because we can. Like David, we can rest in God’s assurance of his justice, but also that he has and will fulfil his promises to us which are far greater than any earthly gain we might lose, or lose out on.

God’s providential hand stretches further in this chapter, though. David would happily have killed Nabal and carried the stench of vindictive revenge to the throne, if not restrained. Samuel, whose death in verse one gained passing mention, was too prone to picking “electable” kingly candidates (chapter 16).

Thank God that in his providence, he sent Jesus to secure our salvation for us. Even godly servants fall short, but not Jesus. Jesus understood that the road to the Kingdom meant suffering his own injustices and hostility despite his perfect life. Even now, Jesus patiently awaits the hour of final judgement that more sinners will be saved.

Through considering Jesus, we will not grow weary or fainthearted (Heb. 12:3), and learn restraint.

Read 1 Samuel 24

When we know or believe something is our due, it is tempting to seize it when the opportunity arises. A young man called to the Ministry may bypass formal training and a call to a congregation, and strike out on their own, for example. Or we are unfairly treated, and an opportunity comes to enact revenge at our own hand, instead of leaving vengeance to God. Surely God would not give the opportunity and desire if he did not expect us to seize it?

Well, actually, God does exactly that. We must wait on God’s timing for taking on responsibilities, or seeing injustices answered. In 1 Samuel 24, David understood that fact. Leaving aside an opportunity to seize the throne by killing Saul in his moment of weakness, David demonstrated his fitness for the kingship and as God’s servant. This fitness looked forward to Jesus, who also demonstrated his fitness by waiting on God’s timing, and encourages us to do the same.

God foiled Saul’s plans by sending the Philistines to attack, drawing away Saul from his pursuit of David. After Saul chased off the Philistines, he learned of David’s new hiding place and set out again on the hunt (vv.1-2). Arriving at a cave, Saul went inside to use the conveniences… but surprise! It was David’s hiding spot (vv.3-4).

This left David in a particular dilemma. Was this God putting Saul into his hands, to end the royal rivalry once and for all? David’s men certainly thought so (v.4). They nudged David to action, who on the way had second thoughts and instead only cut off a piece of Saul’s robe (vv.4-5). 

Even that seemed to affect David’s conscience, and he strongly argued with his followers who sought to finish what David could not (vv.6-7). David understood that Saul was God’s anointed, and that it was for God to arrange Saul’s demise, not for David.

No doubt Saul was shocked and horrified as he headed away from his loo stop to find David poking his head out of the cave shouting “My lord the king!” (v.8). David defended himself and pointed out his innocence, even when opportunity arose (vv.9-11) and asked for God to dispense justice toward him (vv.12-15).

Clearly David felt he was subject to injustice. He was willing to publicly call Saul out for that injustice which Saul had attempted to deal to him. But David was not willing to be his own instrument of vengeance. David relied and trusted on God alone to be the one to vindicate him and bring justice upon Saul’s head, in God’s time.

Hearing this, Saul was overcome by the whole situation and wept (v.16). After recovering himself from the shock and the situation, Saul spoke in response to David. Saul admitted that David was better than him “for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil” and piously hoped that God would bless David for his goodness to him (vv.17-19).

Secondly, Saul acknowledged publicly what he did not desire, and what his own son Jonathan had publicly recognised and acknowledged: that David would be king after him (v.20).

Finally, Saul sought from David a promise that David would not wipe out his family line to settle any contenders to David’s kingship (v.21). Saul worried that, much like former Soviet despots today and the contemporaries of his day, David would ensure that nobody descended from the former leader was around to challenge his claim to the throne. David gave his word that no “mishap” would befall Saul’s family at his hand (v.22).

With that, Saul left off chasing David and went home. However, David knew better than to trust that things were now solved, and returned with his men to their hiding place (v.22).

David could have taken the opportunity to seize the throne using his powers and what seemed providentially plated before him, but he chose to wait on God’s timing. 

One day, a son of David also faced the temptation to take the throne without walking the path of suffering, when Satan offered Jesus all of the world if Jesus would bow down and worship him (Matthew 4:7-10). Jesus could have seized the opportunity to reign over Creation, he also knew that this was not part of God’s plan. Jesus’ path to the throne ran through the Cross, dying for our sins.

Because Jesus, just as David did, waited on God’s timing, he now reigns on high as God’s Anointed eternal king. Because Jesus waited on God’s timing, he has paid the penalty for our sins and freed us to serve him. 

Jesus has also freed us to lay aside our claims to vengeance, and to trust in God to bring justice to those who hurt us. While that is not an easy thing to do, Jesus’ death satisfied God’s justice on our behalf. God’s justice will come to those who do not repent.

God knows what is best. Like David and Christ, we should wait on God’s timing in life.

Read 1 Samuel 23:19-29

Sometimes God sends encouragement just at the right time. A shot in the arm, so to speak, before we face another trouble. Words of encouragement that build us up, when doubts have started creeping in. Timed so well, because they allow us to look to God and his provision in the difficulties that then come.

For David, Jonathan’s words of encouragement had just that effect. Because as soon as Jonathan left, trouble descended upon David once again. Yet despite that, God’s providential hand continued to watch over David, rescuing him again. While locals sought to betray David to Saul, God sent the Philistines against Israel to divert Saul once more. The location of David’s salvation, the Rock of Escape, reminds us of our own escape through God’s provision of Jesus, our deliverer.

We do not know how close David was to despair. After saving the inhabitants of Keilah from the Philistines, he was forced to flee because they would have betrayed him to Saul. At the right time, Jonathan’s visit encouraged him to put his trust in God, and the plans that God had laid out before David.

Just as well, because it was not just the residents of Keilah who could not be trusted. Even some of his own kinsmen, living in the area, saw an opportunity to get themselves on-side with Saul. Whereas Keilah could at least be excused for acting out of fear, there was no threat hanging over Ziph. Only the main chance.

A group of Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, telling Saul that his Public Enemy #1 was hiding in the area (v.19). They promised that if Saul came down, they would betray David into his hand (v.20).

Understandably, Saul was happy at the news. Speaking with the twisted spirituality which by now was quite a common part of Saul’s speech, like a shonky televangelist with a mansion and personal jet, Saul commended and blessed these Ziphites. “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me” (v.21). Saul saw increased gain for himself, so thought God ought to bless these men for looking out for the Real #1.

Drawing them into the plot, Saul encouraged the Ziphites to make enquiries as to David’s precise location, marking out all his hiding spots (vv.22-3). Once they had this intelligence, Saul would come down and pounce (v.24).

David’s own spies brought news of Saul’s coming, so David went once more into hiding (vv.24-5). Saul heard he was hiding in the wilderness of Maon, so pursued him there (v.25). A game of cat and mouse.

The tension builds. Saul went to one side of the mountain, David to the other. David and his men tried to get away, Saul and his men started to close in (v.26). Would David finally fall prey?

Just as the net seemed to be closing, news from the West! “A messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land’” (v.27). Foiled again!

Ironically, where Philistines were the enemy in the beginning of chapter 23, they unwittingly (except in God’s eyes) became the rescuers at the end. Saul was forced to leave the pursuit, and head cross-country to defend against the Philistine attack (v.28). That place became the Rock of Escape.

God provided once more. David escaped Saul’s hands, and moved to the wilderness of Engedi (v.29). In God’s providence, he led David through another time of trial, another time of difficulty and reliance on God, to the other side.

Once again, despite the efforts of men – of Saul, who sought his death, and of the Ziphites, who sought to feather their nests – God preserved his anointed king, David.

Yet David was not the only anointed king betrayed by kinsmen and those close to him. Jesus also was betrayed into his enemies’ hands by one of his disciples, Judas. 

Unlike David, in God’s wisdom and providence, Jesus did not escape the wrath of his enemies. Their hatred for Jesus, and ultimately for God, was poured out on Jesus when they sentenced him to death. Yet in the mystery of God’s providence, that same event saw the wrath of God against our sins poured out on Jesus instead of us.

Jesus suffered the penalty for sin, being given over into the hands of the Jewish leadership, let alone the hands of death and the devil, that we might instead escape its hand falling upon us.

Much like the irony of the Philistines being David’s saviour, there is plenty of irony that the triumph of the Jewish leadership and the Devil over Jesus, our anointed king, was also the moment of their decisive defeat.

As we go through the troubles and difficulties of life, this is a truth that we can hold onto and also share with each other as an encouragement. Jesus has suffered on our behalf, so that we are delivered into God’s presence, by God’s providence.

Jesus is, in a sense, our very own Rock of Escape.

Read 1 Samuel 14:14-18

When times are tough, faithful friends to encourage are a God-send. Literally! Friends help us bear our burdens, support and encourage us, and provide an outside perspective that we sometimes lack or start to fail to see. Friends are one way in which God provides and supports us in times of trial and difficulty.

David experienced God’s goodness continually, but he still needed a faithful friend to encourage him. While Saul was providentially hindered from finding David, the same did not extend to Jonathan. Jonathan came to David, encouraging him to remember and trust in God’s divine plan. In the same way, we have the opportunity to encourage each other to look to Jesus, our ultimate faithful friend, who secured our salvation through laying down his own life for us.

After rescuing Keilah from Philistine hands, David escaped Saul’s murderous intent when he discovered David’s location (vv.1-13). David was still on the run, but God was watching over him and protecting him.

This theme of God’s protection is summarised in verse 14, which tells us “David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.”

David fled deep into the lands of the tribe of Judah, his tribe. There, he sheltered in caves and other hiding places in the wilderness. While Saul knew he was somewhere, he did not know where Saul was. God hindered Saul in his murderous quest to track down and eliminate the dynastic rival to the throne.

While God was clearly protecting David, David was aware that Saul was actively seeking his life (v.15). As David hid in the wilderness of Ziph, he would have dealt with the same fears, worries, and doubts that we all deal with in times of difficulty and trial. Would God truly preserve him? Would God keep his promises to David as he had in the past, or would Saul finally catch up with him? 

David was faithful to God, but even the most faithful servant of God still suffers the doubts that come from the sin that resides in our bodies.

Thankfully God was not just a faithful protector, but also a faithful provider. While Saul could not find David, his own son Jonathan did not seem to have trouble!

“Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God” (v.16). Jonathan, David’s faithful friend, sought out David and encouraged him to keep trusting in God’s plans and purposes. Unlike his unfaithful father, Jonathan trusted God above his own self and desires, and encouraged David in a time of spiritual need.

Jonathan reminded David of God’s goodness. He told him not to fear “for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you” (v.17). This was not based on a view of Saul’s incompetence at spycraft, but God’s protection of David.

Jonathan confidently proclaimed that “You shall be king over Israel” (v.17), not himself. He declared that he would support David in assuming the kingly role, when his day came, not fight him for it (v.17). 

Finally, Jonathan pointed out that even Saul knew and understood this reality, even if in his sinfulness and unbelief he sought to overturn God’s Will (v.17).

Jonathan confirmed his encouragement and support to David by making a further covenant with him there in the wilderness (v.18). But ultimately, Jonathan was the encouragement David needed, but the encouragement David needed to keep looking to God. 

Jonathan did not stay with David, but went home, while David remained in the wilderness (v.18). Jonathan’s support was not to be constantly present, but to remind David that God was constantly present.

In the same way as God provided a faithful friend to encourage David, so too God places friends in our lives to support and encourage us in tough times. As believers we have the privilege of encouraging and strengthening each other’s hand in God.

Like Jonathan, our encouragement should point people to God’s constant presence. As important as it is to support each other, we support best when we point each other to Christ.

After all, Christ was the ultimate faithful friend to us all. Jesus showed us all the greatest love that a person can show by laying down his life for our sins on the Cross.

Through Jesus’ death for us, we are secured from our great foe, sin, and the death that comes with it. The promises that God made for us are fulfilled in Jesus, and Jesus’ resurrection is the demonstration of the hope that we share in God completing what he has begun.

In Jesus, God rescues and preserves us from our sins. While we still go through difficult times, he protects us and encourages us through faithful friends and fellow believers to strengthen our hand in God.

Even though trials and difficulties leave us troubled, we are not left alone. Faithful friends point us to God and to Jesus, our most faithful friend.

Read 1 Samuel 23:1-14

Life offers up difficult situations where we are unsure of what to do. We may struggle with questions of relationships, jobs, where to live, and wonder how to glorify God. When these situations arise, as believers one of our natural inclinations is to seek God’s guidance in what to do. But where do we go to seek God’s guidance? And does God offer guidance?

The answer is yes! God does offer guidance in how to live. We see this demonstrated in God’s guidance to David in 1 Samuel 23. David, faced with his own questions about what to do, sought God’s guidance. God provided that guidance to David through his priest. God provides that guidance to us through our Great High Priest, Jesus, and the Scriptures which both point us to him and come from him.

Chapter 23 begins by again highlighting the dramatic difference between Saul and David. Saul had destroyed an Israelite town and killed all (but one) of the Levitical priests as revenge for helping David. 

David, on the other hand, heard that the Philistines were attacking another Israelite town, Keilah, and stealing their food (v.1). Instead of leaving them to their fate given his own situation, David was moved to help God’s People. He inquired whether he should attack the Philistines and God told him “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah” (v.2).

While David trusted God, his followers were less sure in the circumstances (v.3). So David asked for direction from God, and God confirmed his leading to David: “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand” (v.4).

David and his men went down to Keilah, and just as God said would happen, they defeated the Philistines and took away their cattle (v.5). “So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah” (v.5) while Saul destroys townships.

Abiathar, the remaining priest, was with David at Keilah, along with the Levitical ephod that symbolised priestly office (v.6). Saul meanwhile had heard David was there, conveniently locked up behind walls! (v.7). So Saul raised the army to attack Keilah, and rid himself of David (v.8).

When David heard that Saul knew he was in Keilah, he went to Abiathar, and had him bring the ephod which held the Urim and Thummim (v.9, the Urim and Thummim were some sort of object provided to discern God’s Will).

David knelt down before God and prayed, seeking God’s guidance. David wanted to know if Saul would come down to kill him and if the inhabitants of Keilah would hand him over (vv.10-11).

Through the Urim and Thummim, God gave two answers. Firstly, yes, Saul would come down against David at Keilah (v.11). Secondly, yes, Keilah would hand him over to save their skin (v.12).

David knew what to do from there. David and his 600 men left Keilah, and scattered (v.13). Saul gave up his expedition (v.13). David and company returned to their stronghold base, and evaded Saul’s soldiers in the wilderness (v.14).

David was particularly privileged. He asked direct questions of God, and received answers through the Urim and Thummim. We do not have the same objects today. We do not have the same direct privilege; we are not David. But we do have something David looked forward to. We have something better.

David relied on a sinful priest and physical objects as the mediator between him and God. We have the Great High Priest, Jesus, to mediate on our behalf. And we have God’s Word, which reveals Jesus to us but also reveals God’s Will through the words on the pages, rather than a physical object.

Since we have Jesus to forever mediate and intercede for us, we can come boldly to the throne of grace and seek God’s ear, and seek God’s leading (Heb 4:14-16). Jesus will provide us with the help we require in time of need.

He has done that through his Word, which reveals to us how to act when we face difficult decisions. It reminds us, firstly, to act in a way which is obedient to God’s Will, as David did when he sought God’s guidance on where to go and what to do. He heard God’s Word, and obeyed it. Not what God forbade, but what God approved.

Secondly, it reminds us that the decisions we make should glorify God, rather than ourselves. David led his men to save Keilah because it brought glory to God, not to himself.

Thirdly, he acted in a way which was wise and godly. He could have remained where he was, but acted in a way which benefited God’s People and his own company, demonstrating God’s goodness and provision to both.

David glorified God because he trusted in God’s leading. He trusted in God to save. That same God has saved us through Jesus, our Great High Priest, who intercedes and mediates for us. By seeking God’s guidance through God’s Word, we too can glorify God and submit to his will in thankful obedience.

Read 1 Samuel 22:7-23

The Bible is not a collection of tales and sayings but a grand story that spans all of human history. From Creation to Christ’s imminent return, the Bible tells the story of God saving a people for himself. It also repeatedly shows the attempt of the Devil to frustrate that plan, by attacking God’s People and attempting to destroy them.

While we usually think of this enemy as one without, all too often this enemy operates within. Many antichrists have already come, and they have come throughout history. Bringing false teaching which destroys churches, or destroying to preserve power. Saul in this passage adds his name to the ignoble list of destroyers of God’s People, in his attack on the Priests at Nob. Yet despite this, we still see that this is all part of God’s plan, and that God still preserves his people.

After David fled Saul’s reach, and ensured the safety of his family, Saul’s frustration could only have increased. His own heir has aided his enemy, as have plenty of his subjects. Nobody seems to care about poor Saul! So Saul sulked underneath a tree at Gibeah (vv.7-8).

Thankfully for Saul, at least somebody cared. Doeg the Edomite, who was ominously mentioned in the previous chapter, mentioned that he “saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech” and that Ahimelech gave him weapons and provisions (vv.9-10).

Treason! Saul called for Ahimelech along with all the priests to come and explain themselves (v.11). After they arrived, Saul demanded an explanation for why they had helped David (vv.12-13).

Given the circumstances, Ahimelech gave a decent answer. While he no doubt knew that David was not exactly on Saul’s Christmas Card list, he still pointed to the “official” reality. That David was highly placed in Saul’s Court, he was Saul’s son-in-law, a key military figure (v.14). Besides which, David regularly sought God’s guidance through Ahimelech, what was different? (v.15) What conspiracy against Saul’s reign is there, really?

Unfortunately, the official response and any cautious misgivings Ahimelech had were not enough to save him. Like any good autocrat, Saul expected his subjects to know the party line all the time. Therefore, a sentence of death for Ahimelech and his house (v.16). Executed immediately!

Except, Saul’s guards were more pious than Saul was. When Saul told them to put the priests to death, Saul’s guards refused (v.17). Foiled again!

Except there was good old Doeg the Edomite, ready to help. Saul turned to Doeg, who happily killed the defenceless Ahimelech and priests, “and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod” (v.18). Then he turned his attention to Nob, wiping out their families and livestock (v.19). The destruction due for Canaanite unbelievers, visited on priests by an unbelieving, pre-Christ antichrist named Saul.

Yet even as Saul struck down God’s Anointed priests, he fulfilled God’s Word to Eli back in 1 Samuel 2:30-36. The curse on Eli’s house finally found its fulfilment, decades later. Even an unbeliever is powerless to resist God’s salvation plan. Even an unbeliever is used to fulfil God’s salvation plan.

Saul’s plan was not completely successful though. One of Ahimelech’s sons, Abiathar, escaped the slaughter and fled to David (v.20). Abiathar told David the bad news about the persecution and slaughter of the priests, and David confessed that his desperate, sinful actions were the cause of this event (vv.21-2).

While true, this was also in contrast to Saul’s reception of the priests. Faithful David confessed, unfaithful Saul persecuted. David offered protection (v.23), while Saul offered only destruction.

Just as the Devil seeks to destroy the Church today, so too in the past he has sought to try and snuff out God’s People. Here, the Devil worked through the hand of Saul and Doeg the Edomite to attack God’s very representatives and mediators, the priests.

No surprise then that the Devil sought to have Jesus killed, to try and frustrate God’s salvation plan. Removing the one true mediator between God and man that those priests pointed forward to, by having him put to death on a Cross.

And yet, surprise! This was all part of God’s plan. What the Devil and men meant for evil, God meant for good. The good of our salvation. Our ultimate rescue and preservation for all eternity, through sinless Jesus paying sin’s penalty for us. Not even the Devil can resist God’s salvation plan. Even the Devil was used to help fulfil God’s salvation plan.

Because we are saved through Jesus’ blood, the worst this world can offer is only that; what this world can offer. It is not the worst that there is. They may kill our bodies, but they cannot destroy our souls. We are hidden in Christ with God. We are ultimately preserved.

All who oppose God will never wipe out the Church. God will preserve his remnant on earth. Jesus, the anointed King, will protect. God will preserve us from every antichrist’s persecution. It is all part of God’s salvation plan.