FAITH ON THE
REBOUND
For the past 26 years, I have watched
up close as people have come and gone here at Providence. Some have grown to become men and women with
a great faith, while others have struggled—some even walking away from the
faith.
Few people I
know have lived pain-free lives, some more publicly painful and others more
privately wounded, but the measure of a new life in Christ is found in the way they
have either endured and grown or given up and collapsed.
Hard times do
not determine how you live. They only
serve to reveal what is underneath the surface. I have watched different people experience the same exact
tragedy—one emerged radiant and the other bitter. The difference?
Trust! How great was their trust
in the power and goodness of the Lord?
That made the difference.
David suffered
greatly—unjustly and profoundly at the hands of Saul. At first he did not fare well…his faith weakened, his will
crumbled and he panicked and ran from the Lord.
Sometimes we do
not run…we just quietly give up and stop caring. Staying away comes easier than facing life with a loss of
confidence that God will enable us to prevail.
Whether we run,
or whether we drift—the only place for those who belong to the Lord is back
home with Him, trusting and walking with Him through the storms instead of
trying to hide from them and Him!
THESIS: When you know that you belong to the Lord, no matter
how far you have wandered away, or how bad things get, you know that the only
right thing to do is come back home to him.
As we saw last
week, David panicked and lost his heart for God for a while. Today we see him rebounding, returning to a
life of faith.
I.
OVERCOMING THE PANIC, HE RETURNED TO HIS PURPOSE.
--Something finally clicked in David’s mind that restored
his ability to think and make a rational decision regarding his situation.
--Whether it was the ridiculous extremes to which he had
gone to “save himself” or just a wake up call from the Lord reminding him of
His faithfulness and the certainty of His calling on David’s life, he departed
from his exile among the enemies of God and went back to Judah, the land of
promise.
A. ESCAPING THE
GRIP OF PANIC
1Sam. 22:1 So David departed from there
and escaped to the cave of Adullam…
--The madness of operating from sheer panic finally gave way
and David escaped its grip and made his first move back to a life of faith—even
if it meant faith on the run for a while!
Panic leads to foolish and irrational choices in the face of
threatening circumstances. Faced with
those same circumstances (nothing had changed for the better!), David made a
move based on faith to go back to his homeland and see what the Lord had in
store.
He was still forced to keep moving,
but now instead of panic, he was motivated by confidence that the Lord was his
protector and would show him the way.
1 Samuel 22:3
“…Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I know
what God will do for me.”
This statement reveals the state of his
mind—he had now escaped the grip of madness and was ready to take action as
soon as the will of the Lord was clear.
“Until I know…” indicates that he was confident that the Lord would not
fail him! These are no longer the acts
of wild-eyed panic, but show that David had been freed to get back to the
pursuit of God’s plans and purposes.
B. ACCEPTING
THE CALL TO LEADERSHIP
--Word traveled fast and soon there were many ready to rally
around David and follow his leadership, even if it meant facing life on the run
for a while.
--Obviously they saw that David was God’s man and that this
temporary exile would eventually end with their man on the throne of Israel.
1Sam. 22:1-2
…and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went
down there to him. 2 And
everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who
was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there
were about four hundred men with him.
--From the time God had anointed David to be king, he had
demonstrated an ability and power that could not be explained in mere human
terms…”the Spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon David from that day forward” 1
Sam 16:13).
--After his initial rise to the top place in Israel (just
under Saul), David had abdicated his leadership role and had acted as if there
were no power from on high in his life, no hand of the Lord upon him.
--His flight into panic now over, David resumes his place as
God’s man who once again stepped up to the leadership role for which God’s
power had equipped him.
When you came to Christ, you were baptized by the Holy Spirit into the
body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) and clothed with power from on high (Luke
24:49). With the power of God dwelling
mightily within us, and the power of the resurrection transforming our lowly
state to one of dynamic vitality, why are so many Christians hiding in Gath instead
of stepping up to take the lead in reclaiming the kingdom for the King?
Cowering before the vain threats of
those with temporary dominance over the direction of our world, we have ignored
God’s call to leadership. We have
preferred to remain in the background and to live inconspicuously in order to
draw no unwanted attention to ourselves.
All the while, God has empowered us
to take the lead, to offer hope to those who have tried to make it through life
on the terms dictated by those presently calling the shots. All around us, they are drowning in a sea of
unfulfilled promises, suffering from the injustices of a system operating
without truth, and begging for someone to step up and show them the way!
We must become what God has called
us to be—leaders in the way back to truth, freedom and godliness in Christ
Jesus!
--As David came to his senses and recalled the promises of
God and realized the power of God, he came back to his calling to lead for the
glory of God and the good of his people.
1. He
Provided Protection for His Family
--When they heard David had come back, they all came to him
knowing that they could not survive without him.
--From a position of leadership instead of lunacy, David brokers
a deal with the king of Moab to let his father’s household stay with him until
the matter with Saul was resolved and God’s will was finally put in place
(22:3).
2. He
Restored Hope for the Lost
--Saul had disturbed life not just for David, but for many
who were being victimized by his tyranny and ruined by his madness.
--It is interesting to see the description of those who
sought out the company of David, those who chose to follow him through their
struggles to restore the hope they had lost.
1Sam. 22:2 …
2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt,
and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over
them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.
--These were people who needed no one to tell them how lost
they were in a kingdom dominated by a ruler who cared nothing about them—he
cared only about what he hated (David) and about grabbing as much power as
possible before God’s decree became final and David became king.
--Everyone who came was either…
…in distress …in debt …or
discontented!
Does this entire scenario have a familiar sound to it? Not just because you know the story of
David’s life but because God has shown you this same situation in a more
magnificent setting.
The ruler of this world, for the
present, threatens to destroy all that is dear to the Truly Anointed King, the
Lord Jesus Christ. While the prince of
darkness terrorizes, the Prince of Peace waits patiently, gathering around Him
all who are in distress because they
are constrained, restricted, held back from gaining what is necessary for a
life of distinction and value; in debt
through their sin; discontented
because this world’s goods can never satisfy.
For those who come to the true
King, there is the assurance that they will prevail in the end, regardless of
how difficult the immediate future may be, how great the hardships of the
present moment. They align themselves
with the One who will reign in the end and they know that He will equip them to
gain victories along the way.
Whose side are we on these
days? Are we attempting to go along
with the schemes and designs of the prince of darkness in an effort to get
along? Or are we willing to take our
place alongside the Prince of Peace, even if it means forsaking the advantages of our comforts for the caves of our Adullams?
--David found his way back from the panic to a life of
faith, trusting that what God had called him to do, He would equip him to do.
II. ENDURING THE DISAPPOINTMENTS, HE STUCK TO HIS CALLING.
--One might have thought that when David
rebounded from his fall into a state of panic that his new journey in faith
would be rewarded by a time to sail on smoother waters.
--That was not to be the case as the next chapters tell
us…opposition would continue to build, allies would become traitors, and the
past would prove to be daunting as his failures resulted in disaster for
others.
A. STRUCK BY THE TRAGIC CONSEQUENCES OF HIS FAILURE
--David was hit right between the eyes with
the devastating reality that his choice to give in to his panic instead of
trust the Lord when Abiathar arrived as the lone survivor of the annihilation
of all the priests of Nob.
1 Samuel 22:21-23 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests
of the LORD. 22 Then David
said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he
would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your
father’s household. 23 “Stay
with me, do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life; for you
are safe with me.”
--His obligation weighed heavily on his heart
as he realized that whatever he did as Israel’s leader, whether he wanted it to
or not, would have an impact on those under his leadership.
B. SOBERED BY THE TREACHEROUS MUTINY OF HIS ALLIES
--David came to the aid of city Keilah when
Saul would not (he was too busy with his own agenda of catching David to
concern himself with the good of the nation he ruled!).
--He could have said, “After all I have done
for you, and then you treat me this way!
See if I trust the Lord and do anything like that again!”
--Instead he chose to press on in following
the Lord, even when he felt abused and abandoned by those he had done so much
to help—from Saul to Keilah, to the citizens of Ziph, David could not get a
break from those he had tried to help.
1 Samuel 23:12
Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand
of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”
--Instead of turning on them, David just departed once again
to stay away from Saul—he sought no revenge, he just left…but what ingratitude
and cold-heartedness among the people of Keilah!
--Then without provocation, the people of Ziph took it upon
themselves to approach Saul and offer to give David up to him.
1Sam. 23:20
“Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to do so;
and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.”
--Making the decision to come back to a life of faith rather
than running in panic does not guarantee an easy ride.
--Yet David did nothing to suggest that his trust wavered or
that his understanding of his calling weakened.
--He prayed instead of panicked and God settled his heart
and sustained his commitment to trust the Lord regardless of the circumstances
Psalm 54:2-4 Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words
of my mouth. 3 For strangers
have risen against me, And violent men have sought my life; They have not set
God before them. Selah. 4
Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
Seeing David’s heart and watching his determination to trust the Lord
in all things, the Lord allowed David to find encouragement in the midst of all
the discouragement:
1.
Not only did his men follow him in spite of their fears (23:3), the
number increased by 50% from 400 to 600 during extremely challenging times.
2.
What could have been a low point was helped greatly by the arrival of
Jonathan who came to him at Horesh “and encouraged him in God.”
The Lord knew when to encourage
David when he needed it the most and when his faith could use a boost!
The most miserable person in the world is one who has once
known the nearness of the Lord and lost it!
With that loss goes any sense of purpose, any way to keep life in
perspective and any chance of knowing God’s peace.
David panicked and ran away from the
Lord. The results of that leap from faith instead of a leap of faith were far-reaching in his life,
impacting everything about him.
Until he resolved to return to a life of
faith, David could do nothing but squander his days and waste his life. Only when he returned, hard as it was in so many
ways, did he see the hand of the Lord begin to move him back to a life with
meaning and an opportunity to experience the power of God again.
Perhaps you have panicked and run from
the Lord lately. He calls you to come
back and trust Him again. He does not
promise that all will be easy, but He does promise to always be with you…and
that in the end you will prevail.
So, would you rather have it easy now and
lose in the end, or endure tough times for a while and come out on top with Christ
in the end? David still has many miles
to go which will test his resolve to trust—sometimes he will succeed and often
he will fail.
But why not risk failing at what is right while trusting in Him who will see that you overcome in the end? Don’t let panic rob you of the lessons in trust that God can teach you in the middle of stormy days in your life. When the storms come, be ready to say with David, “I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good!” (Psalm 54:6b). Habakkuk said it another way that sums up what it means to come back to the Lord even when the going is tough: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior!” (Habakkuk 3:18)
It is time for us to stop living life in
a panic and return to follow Christ with joy!
Providence
Baptist Church
© David Horner 2004
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