Rev. David Holwick E The Life of David, #5
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 2, 2014
1 Samuel 21:10 - 22:5
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I. What is the lowest you have been?
A. It has been a tough year for many of our families.
1) Bonnie Lepre's house burned down.
a) "I must have done some pretty bad sins when I was young."
2) The Berstlers have multiple health problems that affects
their jobs.
3) Others have financial meltdown, terminal illness, and
psychological turmoil.
B. The extremes of life serve a useful purpose.
1) They show us who we really are.
2) They sharpen us and humble us at the same time.
a) You don't look at yourself, or others, the same way.
b) Hopefully, you gain some knowledge of how to live
better.
C. David had several low points in his life.
1) In today's passage, he goes from being the Golden Boy to
a desperate fugitive.
2) But used his ruin to shape him into a king.
3) Perhaps God can use your low points to do something similar.
II. David has nowhere good to go.
A. He flees to Israel's enemies. 21:10
1) It is interesting that he goes to Gath.
a) Gath's most famous citizen was Goliath.
b) And here is David, showing up with Goliath's sword.
c) Gath is a Philistine city and Israel's sworn enemy.
d) He is probably hoping to be a mercenary.
2) Unfortunately for him, David's reputation follows him.
a) A little ditty was making the rounds that honored David
as a warrior.
1> It had started in Israel and gave David some
problems with the paranoid Saul, who resented
being upstaged by David's prowess.
2> Here in Gath they would have noted that the tens of
thousands the song says he had slain - those
were Philistines.
b) Instead of hiring out as a top-dollar mercenary,
it now looks like they might put a price on David's
head.
3) Out of fear, he fakes insanity.
a) Scratching doors like a dog and drooling through your
beard are pretty low for anyone.
b) Even 3,000 years ago, mental illness was a punchline.
1> "Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring
this guy to me?"
2> David's hope is that they would despise him as
harmless and send him away. It worked.
B. He flees to a cave. 22:1
1) This is safer than a Philistine citadel, but much more
threadbare.
a) No one will bother you.
b) But no one will feed you, either.
2) Malcontents flock to him.
a) Note their description - in distress, debt, discontented.
b) All of them are in low spots just like David.
3) The experience taught David many lessons.
a) He would have to use all his skill to lead this rabble.
b) Years later, he would use the same skills to lead Israel,
which had always been something of a rabble.
C. When David loses everything, he still has something.
1) He still has his family and friends.
a) His family, who had always belittled him, came to
support him.
1> David sends his parents to another enemy of Israel,
Moab.
2> But this made sense because David's great-grandmother
had been from Moab - Ruth.
b) His friend Jonathan found him and helped him find
strength in God. 23:16
2) He still has his God.
a) 1 Samuel 22:3 says David is not sure what God's plan
is for him, but he is confident it will be revealed.
b) God gave him direction through the prophet Gad. 22:5
III. From his despair, David praised his God.
A. Psalm 34 was written about his experience in Gath.
34:4 >
I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
34:18-19 >
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves
those who are crushed in spirit.
A righteous man may have many troubles, but the
LORD delivers him from them all.
B. Psalm 142 was written in the cave of Adullam.
142:2 >
I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell
my trouble.
142:4 >
Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.
142:7 >
Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me because of your
goodness to me.
IV. All of us will have low points.
A. Everything David experienced, we can experience.
1) We don't have to fake mental illness - it comes on its
own easily enough.
a) Mental illness is devastating, not a punchline.
1> It is not a laughing matter.
2> My own family has been affected by it.
b) But, then again, David wasn't laughing. He just wanted
to survive.
2) Many of his followers were fleeing debt.
a) We can relate to that.
b) One of the most humiliating experiences is going
through bankruptcy.
c) But when you are down to nothing, you still have
something if you have Jesus.
1> And no court can take that away from you.
3) Loneliness and discontentment.
a) One of the worst emotions is feeling that no one cares.
b) Even worse - they hate you.
1> But very few people are totally alone.
2> Almost everyone has someone they can turn to.
3> Seek their help and encouragement.
A> God put them in your life for a reason.
B. God won't give up on you.
1) It may seem like it when some of our solutions fall flat.
2) He will give you caves to recoup in.
3) He will give you strength from unexpected places.
4) And, in the end, he will deliver you.
V. Your lowest thing can become your greatest thing.
It has become known as "The Catch."
ESPN Sportscenter designated it the greatest play in Super Bowl
history.
Eli Manning had eluded a sack and threw 32 yards downfield toward
David Tyree.
Tyree leaped and caught the ball fully extended, bringing it down
against his helmet with his right hand.
Meanwhile, New England Patriots' Rodney Harrison pulled violently
downward on that arm, simultaneously wrenching Tyree arching
backwards towards the turf.
Tyree managed to get a second hand on the ball during the descent,
and kept the ball only inches from the turf.
Harrison struggled to steal the ball away from him on the ground
but Tyree kept possession.
It was a pivotal moment in the Giants' victory over the New
England Patriots.
But it was not the most pivotal moment in young David Tyree's
life.
That would be when Tyree found himself behind bars in a New Jersey
jail cell.
Tyree had had an inauspicious start in football.
He was a second-round draft pick.
He had some bad habits, too.
Tyree drank until he passed out, smoked pot from an early age,
and continued doing these things in his football career.
He chased a lot of women, too.
In 2004 he was fined $10,000 for being late to a team meeting.
Tyree's solution was to sell some marijuana to raise the money.
Apparently he wasn't very good at it, because he was arrested.
That is when his wife issued an ultimatum: "my lifestyle or
yours."
He began reading a Bible he spotted on his wife's bed.
Tyree said "for the first time, the words on the page made sense"
to him.
He had never been religious.
His mom was not a Christian and they didn't attend church.
A month after his arrest, Tyree went to church and listened to a
woman singing with joy.
He realized he had none.
He hung his head and sobbed.
"I had no joy. I had no peace," said Tyree.
"My life was in disarray."
He committed himself to Jesus Christ.
Not only that, but after David Tyree became a Christian, his
sister did too.
And after his mom saw the changes in the life of her son, she got
saved, too, not long before she died from a heart attack.
Tyree says his conversion is "bigger than his Super Bowl catch."
"It is about destiny and purpose."
He has given up the booze, drugs and women.
He is a regular speaker at Christian youth rallies in our area.
He is more concerned with "changing lives," which he and his wife
do through a ministry that counsels teens.
Tyree told the New York Times, "What looked to be the lowest point
in my life ended up being the greatest thing that ever happened
to me."
#35161
Learn from your lowest points.
They can point you to God.
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#35161 “Caught: Where Transformation Can Lead,” Mark Earley, BreakPoint
Commentary, March 7, 2008.
This and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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