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David's Desperation and God's Divine Deliverance (1 Samuel 21) - Pastor Jonathan Williams · Fairview Presbyterian Church (PCA) Sermons

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I invite you to turn with me in your copy of
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God's Word either in the pew rack in front of
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you or that you have brought to the book of First
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Samuel. What we're gonna do today is we're gonna
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look at First Samuel and I'm going to make reference
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at the end of this sermon to two Psalms, two
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Psalms that David wrote in light of his experience.
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in what is happening here in 1 Samuel 21. So
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we're going to read 1 Samuel and then I'm going
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to refer to Psalm 34 and Psalm 56. Those were
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David's lessons learned from this experience.
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1 Samuel chapter 21, we're going to read the
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whole chapter today, 1 Samuel 21. Then David
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came to knob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech
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came to meet David, trembling, and said to him,
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Why are you alone and no one with you? And David
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said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged
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me with a matter and said to me, Let no one know
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anything of the matter about which I send you
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and with which I have charged you. And I have
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made an appointment with the young men for such
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and such a place. Now then, what do you have
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on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever
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is here. And the priest answered, David, I have
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no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread
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if the young men have kept themselves from women.
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And David answered the priest, truly women have
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been kept from us as always when we go on an
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expedition. The vessels of the young men are
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holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How
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much more today will their vessels be holy? So
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the priest gave him the holy bread, for there
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was no bread there but the bread of the presence
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which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced
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by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Now
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a certain man of the servants of Saul was there
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that day, detained before the Lord. His name
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was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
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Then David said to Ahimelech, Then have you not
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here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought
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neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because
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the king's business required haste. And the priest
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said, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, who
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you have struck down in the valley of Elah, behold,
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it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
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If you will take that, take it, for there is
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none but that here. And David said, There is
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none like that. Give it to me." And David rose
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and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish
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the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish
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said to him, is not this David the king of the
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land? Did they not sing to him, to one another
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of him in dances? Saul is struck down as thousands
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and David is tens of thousands. And David took
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these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish
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the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior
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before them and pretended to be insane in their
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hands and made marks on the doors of the gate
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and let his spittle run down his beard. Then
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Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see
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this man is mad. Why have you brought him to
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me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this
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fellow to behave as a madman in my presence?
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Shall this fellow come into my house? And then
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you see in chapter 22, David departs from there
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and escapes to the cave of Adullam. Well, some
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people say, and it's probably some Greek or Roman
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philosopher who first said that desperate times
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call for desperate measures. meaning that in
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difficult situations, sometimes people will take
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really extreme actions that they wouldn't normally
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consider, acknowledging that unusual problems
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do require unconventional solutions. Well, David,
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it seems to him at least, has fallen on desperate
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times, and so he resorts to very desperate measures.
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But what we need to see from this text today
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and what we will see is that desperate times
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truly call the Christian to dependence upon God.
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Desperate times call the Christian to dependence
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upon God. David here in this passage resorts
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to all kinds of worldly strategies, lying, deception.
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trusting overly so in earthly means to secure
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his safety from whom? He's running from Saul.
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He's afraid for his life. And we see things go
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from bad to worse for David, for his lying not
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only leads to death, but it almost leads to his
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own death, as we will see. And there's lesson
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for us here, great lesson for us, for in times
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of stress, In times of desperation, when we feel
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like we are in a dark place, we may be as well
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tempted to trust in sinful or overly worldly
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strategies of self -rescue. David would tell
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you to trust in the Lord and that God is still
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good to us even, even when we fail to trust in
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him. Our God is so gracious and so good. And
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he is that way to David, he is that to us. In
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times of desperation, then, rather than leading
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on our own understanding, this passage calls
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us to dependence on God. And because God delivers
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his people, because he does deliver his people
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from their foolishness, and even the very fears
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that caused them to act foolishly in the first
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place, because he delivers them from that, because
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he delivers us. from fear and foolishness. We
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must remember his promised provision and run
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to him for refuge. Big idea today because God
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delivers us from our fears and foolishness. We
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must remember his promised provision and run
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to him for refuge. Where do we see that provision?
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Well we see that in David's life if we look here
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at verses one and following to verse nine. From
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the outset, this passage is loaded with anxiety.
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The priest here receives David. The priest of
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Nob receives him. What does it say in verse one?
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He's trembling. The priest is afraid because
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this is highly unusual. David doesn't have his
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mighty men with him. He has no provisions, no
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weapons. He's all alone and this is out of the
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ordinary and this is not a good situation. And
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so the priest is afraid, he's trembling, and
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he asks David, what are you up to? What are you
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doing here, essentially? And David begins to
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lie as he comes up with this story about this
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secret mission. Why is David lying? Well, you
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see what's going on here. We heard in verse seven
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about a certain servant of Saul who is also there.
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with the priest, and so David doesn't want to
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betray himself. He doesn't want to betray the
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priest. He doesn't want to give himself away
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to this fellow named Doeg the Edomite, and so
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David tries to lie. We can't dive into or know
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all of David's reasons and motivations here,
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but he is afraid, the priest is afraid, and he
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begins to spin this lie. He's hungry. Of course
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he's hungry. He doesn't have any food with him.
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And so he asks the priest for some bread in verses
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three through six. Now the priest essentially
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says, well, I can give you this bread, long and
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the short of that, about keeping themselves from
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women. If they essentially were ceremonially
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clean, if they were holy and ceremonially clean,
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then they could have the holy bread. They could
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have the consecrated bread. Now think about this,
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one of the things that that bread of the presence
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represented, one of the things that that holy
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bread in the temple represented was God's commitment
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to provide and take care of and sustain his people.
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So the priest gives him the bread because, well,
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they meet the requirements. Then David also asked
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for a sword. His lies deepen, claiming that he
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didn't have time to bring his weapons along with
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him. You see there in verse Now, if you're a
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Himalek, the priest at this point, you're beginning
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to wonder, okay, David is here all alone without
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his retinue of knights or mighty men. He doesn't
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have a weapon of any kind. He doesn't have any
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food. He looks like he's running from something.
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This is a very suspicious situation. The priest
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offers Goliath's sword, you see there in verse
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eight and nine. David, seeing the sword, says
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in verse nine, there is none like that. Give
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it to me. This is profound. David is very excited
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to have this sword because there's none like
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it. He's gloating in this sword. He is boasting
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in this sword. To him, this weapon represents
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his best chance of success against the enemy.
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This is a very different picture of David in
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chapter 21 than we see in chapter 17. You remember
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chapter 17. David says no to Saul's armor and
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weapons. And he goes, instead of running from
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danger, what is David doing? He's running to
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fight the battle against Goliath. And instead
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of dealing in lies, David fights Goliath's lies
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and derogatory remarks against the people of
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Israel and against Israel's God. David fights
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those untruths and comments with the truth. This
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is a. Totally different picture of David that
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we see in this passage. He is resorting to his
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own schemes, his own understanding. He is desperate,
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and he doesn't seem to be considering who he
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is or who he belongs to. Doesn't seem to be considering
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the Lord at all. Now, it's somewhat debatable.
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as to whether David's lies in every case were
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justifiable. We're not going to go down that
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trail. Suffice it to say, I think the picture
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we see here in this passage is that David is
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not behaving courageously. He's not the same
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courageous David that is trusting in the Lord
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that we see in chapter 17. He is the same David.
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But he is wracked with fear and anxiety and resorts
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to lying to save his skin. We'll see later, or
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rather, you'll see later that Ahimelech, the
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priest, is actually killed by Saul because of
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David's lies here and his anxiety. A question
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for us as we look at this passage might be this.
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What do I do? What do you do? What do we do when
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we are wracked with anxiety or fear? or nagged
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by some sort of worry that just won't seem to
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let go or that we can't seem to let go of. We
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fear ill health and so we go through all of these
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measures and protocols and we avoid this and
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avoid that. and our lives may be ruled by fear
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of illness. And so we do all these things that
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we might normally ought to do because we're in
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the grip of fear. Maybe a particular fear that
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you have or that some of us struggle with is
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financial fears, fears of financial insecurity.
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And so there's a temptation to not be forthright
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on taxes, or maybe your fear is loneliness, and
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that fear of loneliness drives you to all sorts
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of illicit relationships. Fears, when they come
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upon us, they cloud our thinking, don't they?
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They cloud our judgment, and they cause us, like
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David, to make all kinds of impulsive decisions.
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I mean, the impulse to run to the Philistines
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for protection is a rather rash and unwise decision,
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but David is in the grip of fear, yet there's
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something in this text that we've already read
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that should help us when our fears seem to rise
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to the surface, whatever those fears are, and
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that is actually in verse six. That help is in
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verse six. You see there the priest giving David
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his holy bread. The priest gives David this bread
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here, and as David consumes this bread, this,
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as Davis says, is a testimony that God still
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cares about him. God has provided David With
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his daily bread, God has met David's need right
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where he needed it. And so in a sense, David
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should be waking up at this point and realize
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that as he consumes this food, this bread, this
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sustenance, that God is still sustaining him.
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God still cares about him. And dear ones, God
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still cares about you. Maybe you know that, maybe
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you're resting in that this morning, but maybe
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someone in here needs to hear that today. God
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still cares about you. If you woke up this morning,
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if you have a roof over your head, If you'll
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have food on the table at lunch today, you know
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he is still keeping his promise and will continue
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to keep his promise to provide for all of your
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needs according to his glorious riches in Christ
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Jesus just as he supplied David with his daily
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bread. So he supplies you with that as well.
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And so I think a practical exercise could be
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for us. when we're anxious about our circumstances
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or overwhelmed with worry, is to take a moment
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and pause and remember the daily bread that God
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does provide. David does this in a couple of
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different Psalms where he recounts to himself
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God's faithful provision. And so maybe someday,
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maybe this afternoon, sit down and write how
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God has blessed you and provided for you today.
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Write a list of things he's provided for you
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this week. Write a list of things he's given
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you this year and blessings he's laid before
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you over the last month even. Count your many
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blessings, name them one by one. Count your many
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blessings and you will remember what the Lord
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has done. So we see God's provision for David
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in the midst of his darkness. and that is a sign
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of his care, and that should be something that
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not only helps him, but helps us realize that
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God is providing for us, even in the midst of
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our fears. But God also provides for David in
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the midst of his foolishness. Despite David's
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foolishness, God rescues him. And despite our
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foolishness, God rescues us and he restores our
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reason. You see that as David moves from the
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place of the priests, the place where the priest
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is there at Nob, he moves from there to this
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city of Gath. David flees to Gath. This is no
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small thing. David is fleeing to God's enemies
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for refuge. Can you believe this? They had just
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chased God's enemies off the battlefield and
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now he is running over to their side. This is
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no neutral thing. David is committing spiritual
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treason. And if the Apostle Paul had lived in
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David's day and somehow passed David by on the
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road on David's way to Gath, he would have said
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to David, David, don't you realize, don't you
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realize what you're doing? Paul would have quoted
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to him, surely, 2 Corinthians 6, 14, do not be
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unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership
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has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship
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has light with darkness. Well, of course, you
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can imagine what happens when David goes to Gath.
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He's recognized. Verse 11, you see there, he
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is given away. And, you know, how is he given
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away? How is he recognized? Well, for one thing,
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what's he carrying? He's carrying the sword of
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Goliath in his belt. Obvious giveaway. And everybody
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knows the song about David. that Saul has slain
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his thousands and David his tens of thousands.
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So immediately David's fears, rather than being
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answered, his fears go from bad to worse at this
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point. He foolishly runs into the den of disaster,
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thinking he will escape. Instead he falls into
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the hands of God's enemies. And so David resorts
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to further desperate and shameful behavior here.
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It's hard to blame him. I mean, what else would
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you do? Yet, we need not excuse this behavior.
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This is coming from a heart that is lacking in
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trust. And so here, he resorts to further human
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strategy to save his skin. In terror, it says
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verse. David takes these words to heart and because
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he's afraid of the king, he changes his behavior
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in front of the king in the king's court. He
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pretends to be crazy. And David who had stood
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tall against the indomitable Goliath now begins
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to act like a lunatic. This is a sorry scene.
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He's drifted into very impulsive behavior, but
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it works. It works and King Akish says, there
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in verse 14 and 15, get this man out of my sight.
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I don't have time for crazy people. So David
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is released and he flees and he's spared. A few
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things that we learn negatively, a couple of
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things from this passage that Phillips points
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out. None of us are immune to fear and any of
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us can fall prey to sin. the way David did. David
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is one of these mighty men, a man after God's
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own heart, and yet we see him here lying, deceiving,
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and acting like a madman to save his own skin.
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We need to be reminded that though we have many
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great spiritual successes in life, we are still
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weak and we are still dependent on the Lord.
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And that's why we've got to be on our guard and
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how do we remain on our guard? By keeping close
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to the Lord and by keeping close to his people.
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Notice David is alone. David is alone here and
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Christians are not meant to live life alone.
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And that's why we need one another as a church
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family to encourage one another and to hold one
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another accountable to pursue holiness because
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none of us are immune. We need the Lord and we
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need one another. to point each other to the
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Lord. Another thing we learn here is that sin's
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cost is far greater than we can imagine it to
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be. Sin's cost is far greater than we imagine
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it to be. David thought by leaning on his own
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strategies he could get away from Saul. But he
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ends up with lie after lie after lie and you
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see later in scripture that after he is shamed
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and broken, the priest of Nob, Ahimelech, is
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actually killed by Saul as a result of David's
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lies. His sin leads from bad to worst. Someone
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has said that sin will take us further than we
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want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay,
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and cost us more than we want to pay. The scripture
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says that When desire has conceived, it gives
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birth to sin, and sin, when it's fully grown,
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gives forth to death. And so we should make no
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allowance or no justification for sin. But knowing
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that any of us could fall to sin, and knowing
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that sin, the pursuit of sin, only leads from
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bad to worse, how do we deal with that? How do
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we fight? What do we learn from this passage?
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Well, we learned what David learned in Psalm
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34 and in Psalm 56, and I wanna read some of
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those lessons that David drew to encourage us
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today. David learned that in the midst of all
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of his struggle and despair, God is still tender
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-hearted towards David. In Psalm 56, it says,
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David says about this situation, about this time
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when he was running from Saul and when he was
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running from the priest to the Philistines, he
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says, of the Lord, you have kept my tossings
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and my tears in your bottle. Are they not in
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your book? The Lord sees our tears. He sees our
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anguish. He sees our desperation. And he sympathizes
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with us in our pain and our weakness and our
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struggle. And how can he do that? Because the
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Lord Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted.
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He knows what it's like to be tried. David's
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greater son knows what it's like to struggle
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to the point where he sweated drops of blood
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in the garden of Gethsemane. He was made like
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his brothers in every respect except without
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sin so that he could sympathize with us. and
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so that he could help us. And so what we see
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from David's learned experience out of this passage
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in Psalm 56 is that God is so tenderhearted to
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us in the midst of our struggle, whatever that
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despair, whatever that difficulty may be. We
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also learn from Psalm 34, another set of lessons
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learned from David in this experience, that the
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Lord is the only lasting refuge, the only lasting
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protection. When sorrows like sea billows roll,
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we won't find safety in the world's ways. We
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won't find safety in sin. We will only find safety
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in our Savior. David says this, taste and see
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that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who
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takes refuge in Him. The sword of Goliath was
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not going to bless David. Only the Lord, his
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refuge, was going to bless him. And David realized
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that after this experience. This is David's testimony
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after that experience. And so what should we
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do then in light of that, in light of the reality
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that the Lord is the only refuge we will find
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in the midst of trouble? We ought to make every
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use of that refuge. We run to him when we seek
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him. In his word, we run to him when we get on
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our knees in prayer. We run to him when we gather
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with the saints on the Lord's day. When we come
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week by week, we find that refuge, that protection
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in the midst of our trouble. Are you running
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to the Lord for refuge? Another lesson that David
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learned from this experience is that God actually
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provides for our needs. Oh, we go through trials
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and we doubt, don't we? We go through tribulations
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and we wonder, is God going to show up or is
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He going to abandon me? David learned that God
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really does care and He really does show up.
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Even, even when He was acting like a madman in
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front of the Philistines to save His own skins,
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God was there and He was meeting His needs. Psalm
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34, 8 and 9. about David's experience before
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the Philistines at Gath. David says, oh, fear
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the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear
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the Lord have no lack. The young lions suffer
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want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord
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lack no good thing. Dear ones, God provided for
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David, God provided for David in the day of trouble,
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and he's going to provide for you on Monday morning
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as well. Lastly, Well, second to lastly, this
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passage calls us to trust. It simply calls us
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to trust. David says in Psalm 56, when I am afraid,
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I will trust in you and God whose word I praise.
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And God, I trust I will not be afraid. What can
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flesh do to me? In other words, if David's God
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is your God, you are safe, whether you are in
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battle or whether you are in bed, if you're in
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his hands. What can flesh do to you? This passage
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calls us once again to rest on him and his protection
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and provision. But you know that you have a true
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refuge and protection and provision in him, not
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because, well, not because of David ultimately,
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but because of David's greater son, the Lord
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Jesus Christ. He knows what it's like to be isolated
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and desperate because he was forsaken on the
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cross by his father for your sake when he paid
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for our sins. He knows what it's like to bear
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the full weight of temptation because he suffered
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in temptation and trial and fasting for 40 days
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in the wilderness and never gave in to the tempter.
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He knows what it's like to be troubled because
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he says, in this world you will have trouble
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to his disciples. But what does he say after
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that? He says, take heart, I have overcome the
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world. And because Christ stood condemned, we
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say with the psalmist in Psalm 34, we will never
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be condemned. We will never be condemned for
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every time we have lied, doubted, wandered or
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worried. because Christ has paid it all. He stood
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there in our place enduring the cross for our
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sins so that we who receive Him by faith will
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have eternal life, so that we who receive Him
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by faith would have assurance that there's no
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condemnation. He's redeemed our life by His blood,
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obeyed God's law perfectly, and He's the bread
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of life that will supply our daily bread. our
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daily bread as well. And so remember, God has
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provided for you His greatest gift. He will be
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everything you need. You have no other refuge.
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So whatever you're dealing with today, run to
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Christ and you will find, as David did in Psalm
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34, that when you seek Him, He will. deliver
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you not only from your sins, amen, but he will
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deliver you from all of your fears. Let's pray.