WAITING BY THE
ROCK
One of the big topics of debate for the
Triangle area is whether some form of mass transit, a train service, would work
around here. Among fiercely independent
people, will a system of transportation work which asks them to give up their
individual freedom and depend upon someone else to get them where they want to
go?
For the most
part, ours is a culture which resists relying on anyone else. Most of us are so used to being in control
of our own lives that we have a hard time handling situations which require us
to wait for someone else in order to do what we want to do.
Whether it is as
simple as having to wait for someone to give us a ride, or as complicated as
having to wait to hear from the planning commission about the approval of a
project, we frankly would prefer not to be at the mercy of someone else.
David finds
himself in just that situation in this passage. For some time, he had seen a degenerating relationship with King
Saul become more and more threatening.
Now, not knowing where else to turn, he agrees to trust his dear friend
Jonathan to let him know if the coast is clear for him to return to the good
graces of Saul. The plan is to wait for
three days and then Jonathan would let David know if it was safe to return, or
if he needed to run for his life.
His entire
future depended on what Jonathan found out and so he waited at the “stone Ezel”
in anticipation of the signal they had agreed upon. Imagine…God had called
and anointed him to the lofty task of being king and he could do no better than
hide behind a rock awaiting word of his destiny. Did everything depend on Jonathan? On Saul? Even on
David? No…in fact, the future depended
on the promises and faithfulness of God Himself.
THESIS: Even when the circumstances of life do not give any indication that God will be able to keep His promises, He can and will do everything He has said He would do!
I. A TEST OF
TRUST IN GOD’S PROMISES
--In spite of having promises from God, difficult
circumstances can become tests of our willingness to trust the Lord.
--The test for David came when a conflict arose between what
God had said and what Saul had threatened—what would he believe and how would
he respond?
A. GOD’S ANOINTING AND PROMISE SECURE DAVID’S FUTURE.
1 Samuel 16:12-13 …And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for
this is he.” 13 Then Samuel
took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the
Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward...
--After informing Samuel that Saul would no longer be an
acceptable king for Israel, the Lord had him anoint David and declared that “this is he,” the one who would become
king in Saul’s place.
--Had there been any question about what David would do with
his life, this declaration of the Lord settled it once and for all…his future
would find him on the throne of Israel!
--Once God had spoken and made this promise, the security of
David’s life rested in the faithfulness of God to keep His Word…no threats of
Saul, no uprisings by the surrounding nations, not even the lack of any
supportive evidence to confirm what God had said.
When God has spoken and given His Word, nothing can prevent His will
from coming to pass. And yet, with a
Bible full of promises, how many of us as Christians live insecure, fearful
lives…just as if God had never spoken, or if His Word did not apply to us!
B. SAUL’S
ANGER AND PURSUIT STIR UP DAVID’S FEARS.
--After his initial love for David, Saul allowed his
jealousy and anger to get the best of him and do all that he could to take
David’s life.
--From grateful love to murderous hatred, Saul turned
against David and in a perverse way attempted to over-rule the will of God—even
to the point of becoming angry with his son Jonathan for not helping him keep
God from keeping His promise.
1 Samuel 20:31
“For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your
kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for he
must surely die.”
--Jonathan then understood first hand what had driven David
to despair for his life and fear the worst:
1 Samuel 20:3
…But truly as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step
between me and death.”
--Were David’s fears grounded in reality? Yes, for Saul intended to kill him—but the
true test here was whether the will of God or the will of Saul would determine
David’s level of trust.
Lots of Christians find themselves in this dilemma often. They have heard and understood what God has
said, but they cannot bring themselves to believe that He can overcome the
kinds of harsh realities facing them.
Why else do so many Christians
bail out of their marriages? They know
that God can heal their relationships if two who are seeking Him will stop
trying to run things and surrender their wills to Him.
Why else do so many Christians ignore God’s commands about forgiving
others, loving each other, sowing seeds of discord against each other, and
other relational problems? Because we
face people who are hard to deal with, instead of doing things God’s way and
trusting that He knows best, we insist on trying to do it our way and mess
everything up—and instead of admitting our mess, we refuse to give up and do
things His way.
His promises make no difference to
us when we think that our problems are bigger than His ability!!
II. A TRIAL
OF ENDURANCE FOR DAVID’S FAITH
--So here we find David in a situation he did not ask for,
suffering for something he did not do, scrambling to understand what to do
next, and wondering if he were going to die.
--Talk about a conflicted heart! God said…but did He know about Saul and what he was going to
do? Has God called me and then
abandoned me? Has He set me up and then
forgotten me?
--In order for David’s faith to overcome the trials posed by
the attack by Saul, four factors had
to come into play.
A. PATIENCE: Nothing to do but wait by the rock.
--After all the anxiety created by the attempts on his life,
David still was hoping that the storm had passed by and that Saul could
possibly have come to his senses.
--In his discussions with Jonathan, he had expressed his
fear that he stood “hardly a step” away from death at the hand of Saul.
--All he could do now was wait.
--The plan was for David to take his place by the “stone
Ezel” (20:19), a rock behind which he would be hidden from view, and wait for
word of what his future would hold:
· A return to
the palace and what he hoped would be a normal life,
OR
· A flight into
exile and an uncertain future on the run
--The toughest part for David was that there was absolutely
nothing he could do to determine what would happen next…everything depended
upon circumstances out of his control.
Those long nights in the waiting room at the
hospital have proven to be like David’s wait by the rock. Missed curfews by your teenager leading from
your initial anger to overwhelming worry help us understand what it is to be at
the mercy of actions beyond our control.
Watching to see which way the hurricane would go left many waiting
anxiously for something they could only accept, not influence.
Can there be a heart filled with
trust in the face of such circumstances over which we have no control? Only if we have learned to wait on the Lord
with patience, knowing that when there is nothing to do but wait, that is OK.
Psalm 27:14
Wait for the LORD; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for
the LORD.
Our
Alternatives? Look for someone to blame for causing the
trouble…turn away from the Lord out of frustration…try to force our way back
into control…or decide that waiting on what God has promised is the best course
and then do so with patience!
B. PRUDENCE: No choice to make but survive until another
day.
--Prudence is wisdom applied with caution, careful
deliberation of the available options and the selection of a course of action
that demonstrates the ability to discern what is best under the circumstances.
--David reviews his choices now that Jonathan has concluded
that Saul is possessed with an evil determination to have David killed.
1 Samuel 20:33
Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; so Jonathan knew that his
father had decided to put David to death.
--According to their prearranged signal, Jonathan shot the
arrows beyond the rock where David hid, sending the message that God has closed
the door for David in Saul’s court and to survive he must go away.
1 Samuel 20:22
“But if I say to the youth, ‘Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the
LORD has sent you away.
--God has made the promise that David will be king, but now
He shows David that the course he must follow to the throne will not be
direct—he must act with prudence and make the right choice, in this case to go
away until God’s time for him has come.
Webster: “Prudence implies
caution in deliberating and consulting on the most suitable means to accomplish
valuable purposes…”
--In the face of the threat posed by an irrational Saul,
David and Jonathan agreed together that the Lord would not have him die trying
to prove his trust in God’s promises, but that a prudent course of action would
be to flee rather than fight.
Sometimes God has to lead us in a direction that
appears to go away from His calling in order to prepare us for that
calling. Measuring and considering the
factors involved requires that we be ready to follow Him even when it does not
seem consistent with where He eventually wants us to be.
When I was ready to graduate from
seminary, I knew that God had called me to be a pastor. After several years in student ministries, I
knew that He wanted me to pastor a church but as I was waiting “by the rock” to
see which way the arrows went, I was confused when the only positions that came
were to continue in youth ministry.
After using several Jonathans in my
life, and what must have been a quiver full of arrows, I finally realized that
the prudent course would be to go where He was sending me. How that was going to work to get me into a
pastor’s role, I could not tell. God
knew, so in the final analysis I did not need to know!
Just as David needed to move in the
direction God sent him to survive and learn what he needed to be king, I needed
to move to Raleigh to a youth ministry position to be where He wanted me when a
group of folks sensed His calling to start a new church in North Raleigh. He had to move me in a direction that
appeared to be a departure from His calling to enable me to fulfill His
calling. That is what David needed to
do!
C. PERSEVERANCE: Nowhere
to go but out into the wilderness
--The road ahead of David offered no comfort as he was sent
into the wilderness, both literally and figuratively.
--The years ahead promised to push and stretch him to the
limits as he had to hide in caves, live on the run and endure the abuse and
humiliation of a fugitive’s lifestyle.
--When we talked about learning to trust God in the storms
in our last study, the lessons come from the testing and trials of troubled
times, not from the comfort and ease of prosperous times.
Psalm 119:66-67
Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Thy
commandments. 67 Before I
was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Thy word.
--David could not know it at the time he was forced to go
away, but the education he was about to receive from the Lord would never be
possible in the palace of a delusional king.
James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you
encounter various trials, 3 knowing
that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, that you
may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Although we know this is true, we still have a hard time trusting that
God knows best. When we have waited on
Him, and walked with prudence with Him, why can we not persevere through with
Him without grumbling and complaining each step of the way?
If only we could learn to have
20/20 vision in the midst of our wilderness times instead of in later years
looking back, how great would our peace and our contentment be to trust in Him
even when dark surrounds us?
The word “endure” and “persevere”
are both translations of a Greek word whose roots mean “to abide under.” When we are sent away to the wilderness and
have to endure hardship, suffer distress and hold up under agonizing
conditions, we do so best when we remain under the protective hand of the Lord,
not when we rebel and try to go our own way.
In Him there is a way, apart from Him there is no way.
David needed to know that Saul was
not in control—God was—and therefore, whatever the wilderness would require of
him, the sufficiency of the Lord would be His strength.
D. PROMISES: No one to
depend on but the Lord of the promise
--In all of his waiting, deliberating and anticipating,
David had this as his consolation and hope—God had promised to make him king,
not to set him up to be killed!
--Therefore, with no one to depend on but the Lord, David
would be able to do what Jonathan told him to do:
1 Samuel 20:42
And Jonathan said to David, “Go in safety, (peace—shalom) inasmuch as we
have sworn to each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will be
between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’”
Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.
--Our peace comes from our confidence in the promises of
God!
--By the same token, our anxiety and frustration come from
our lack of trust in what God has promised.
--If you are facing days in the wilderness, that is to be
expected—but it is not good to face them with fear and distrust when God has
given you His word.
--The specific promises related to your calling from God and
the overall promises He has given you simply because of who you are in Christ
should be enough to give you PEACE and CONTENTMENT regardless of how uncertain
your future may appear.
III. A TIME
FOR DEPENDENCE ON GOD’S SUFFICIENCY
--As the arrows flew over his head, David’s heart must have
sunk as his worst nightmares were confirmed.
--But later on as he pondered the providence of God and the
way the Lord was both protecting him and preserving him, he realized what an
all-sufficient God he served.
--From the time he left the hillsides as a shepherd until
this latest sequence of bizarre twists in his life, David had come to depend on
certain factors which gave him a sense that his life was in control.
--Now all the props are knocked out from under him, except
the only one that mattered!
A. LEANING ON PROPS GIVES A
FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY
--Depending on his recent triumphs, relying on his string of
successes, trusting in his own leadership skills and enjoying the pleasure of
good friendships and personal popularity could turn anyone’s head.
--There is no indication that David had become arrogant or
prideful, but God made sure to keep that from happening by making sure all
props which had given him a false sense of security were knocked out from under
him.
B. RESTING ON THE ROCK
ESTABLISHES AN UNSHAKEABLE SOURCE OF ASSURANCE.
--The only acceptable place to lean and the only reliable
foundation to build is found not in the rock by which he waited but on the Rock
in whom he trusted!
--Only the Lord is sufficient, in spite of how much we would
like to think that the props with which we surround ourselves will do.
--David had to learn valuable lessons of trust that he could
never learn in the cushy environment of a royal palace—they could only be
taught in the crucible of hard times when nothing else but depending on the
Lord is available, and nothing else but trusting in the Lord will do!
The problem for many of us is that we
get restless waiting on the Lord and rush ahead of Him to try to make things
happen. Because we are not patient, we
are not prudent in the course of action we pursue and often miss out on all
that the Lord has in store for us.
David did not
ask to be the target of a crazed king.
He did not even ask to be anointed as God’s choice to be the new
king. But the calling of God on his
life included this period of unanticipated grief and unbearable agony in his
heart.
How hard is it
for you when life and its players do not cooperate with your efforts to keep
everything under your own control? What
is it like for you when you have to depend on someone else, and circumstances
arise over which you have no control?
For a nation full of “control freaks” perhaps we can better understand
why the Lord would have to strip us of all of our props, all of our controls
and all of our self-sufficiency to make us realize that we must rely on Him—and
on Him alone!
David waited by
the rock to find out what life would throw at him next. What are you waiting on…and are you waiting
with a trusting heart? When God calls,
He calls you to trust Him even when it means waiting in the darkness to see
where He wants you to follow. With His
calling on your life and promises written in your heart, you will never be
disappointed when you trust Him.
Providence Baptist Church
© David Horner 2004
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