Rev. David Holwick Y
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 13, 2006
1 Samuel 30:1-6
|
I. Your world in ruins.
A. Familiar scene.
A strong, rugged man stands beside a pile of burnt-out rubble
that was once his home.
He is in tears.
He does not know where his family is, or even if they are
alive.
He has nowhere to turn for food or help.
We find him pitiful and pathetic, but we are glad we are not
in his shoes.
Where is this scene? Tel Aviv? Beirut? Baghdad?
No - we are in Ziklag, a small Philistine town forty miles
from Jerusalem, around the year 1015 B.C.
The man is David, who later will be Israel's king.
But here he is in his twenties - a refugee, an outlaw,
and a failed leader who seems doomed. #16853
B. The background.
David fled for his life from King Saul, who seems to have
been schizophrenic.
David and the 600 men who followed him had offered their
services to King Achish, a Philistine ruler.
Achish had given them the village of Ziklag for their home
and they and their families had settled there.
David was in a ticklish situation - he was a hired gun for
Israel's enemies, but he was really stabbing them in the
back.
It would be like an Israeli going up to Lebanon and saying
he wanted to join Hezbollah.
David had gotten away with it for a while, but now he and
his men had to join the Philistines for a big campaign.
Low and behold, when he got there, the other Philistines
sent him packing.
They didn't trust him, no matter what Achish said.
So David and his men returned to Ziklag.
Only now it was a smoking ruin.
Desert raiders called Amalakites had attacked it when the
Jews were with the Philistines.
All the families were gone, taken captive.
So the soldiers weep until they could weep no more.
#16853
C. David's despair.
1) Loss of home; two wives gone.
2) He had failed his men and their families.
a) They were looking for a scapegoat and he fit the bill.
b) The men literally wanted to stone him.
3) David was totally isolated.
a) Cut off from Saul, Philistines, and his own men.
b) His situation was hopeless.
II. David's despair.
A. Emotional devastation.
1) Shock of disaster.
2) Grief at his loss.
3) Collapse of his life-strategy.
4) Sense of God's judgment.
a) "Heartache crushes the spirit" - Proverbs 15:13.
b) It was a perfectly natural reaction.
B. Disaster isn't limited to the ancient world.
This week I received an email from a young woman who
dedicated her son here a few years ago.
She had intended to be faithful in attendance, but her
son became sick and doctors suspected leukemia.
His temperature went to 105 and stayed there for 26 hours.
The little boy went into seizures.
It turns out he has an auto-immune disease and cannot fight
infections.
He also cannot go out in public.
During one of his hospital tests, her mother had a heart attack.
She couldn't be there for her.
Then her favorite cousin died.
Then a few months later she started experiencing numbness.
She developed double vision.
Her own father had died of a brain aneurysm.
Tests showed that she had lesions on her brain.
Since then she has been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
Want to hear more? She is pregnant.
They still don't know how all these medicines she is taking
will affect her baby.
C. Crisis can crush us.
1) Many people in crisis come to a standstill.
2) David couldn't afford to do this.
3) Fortunately, he had some special resources.
III. David found strength in his God.
A. David had a strong relationship with his Lord.
1) He wasn't a perfect man, but his faith was real.
2) From the beginning - his confrontation with Goliath -
David relied on God.
1 Samuel 17:45-47 --
David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword
and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name
of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel,
whom you have defied.
This day the LORD will hand you over to me... and the whole
world will know that there is a God in Israel.
... it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the
battle is the LORD'S, and he will give all of you into
our hands."
B. Pre-crisis faith is best.
1) We often hear of foxhole faith or deathbed conversions.
A young soldier fighting in Italy during World War II managed to
jump into a foxhole just ahead of a spray of bullets.
He immediately attempted to deepen it for more protection.
As he was frantically scraping the dirt with his hands, he
unearthed a silver crucifix, obviously left by a previous
occupant of the foxhole.
A moment later, a leaping figure landed beside him as more shells
screamed overhead.
The first soldier turned to see that his new friend was an army
chaplain.
Holding up the crucifix, the soldier cried, "Am I glad to see you!
How do you work this thing?"
On a more serious note, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker wrote about his
World War II experience.
While flying on a special mission to the Pacific Islands, his plane
crashed.
He and his crew were lost at sea for 21 days before being rescued.
He said, "In the beginning many of the men were atheists or
agnostics.
But at the end of the terrible ordeal each, in his own way, had
discovered God.
Each man found salvation and strength in prayer, and a community
of feeling developed which created a liveliness of human
fellowship and worship, and a sense of gentle peace."
#30418
2) God can certainly reach people this way --
just think of the thief on the cross.
3) But a faith that is grounded and mature and tested by time
will stand up better during crisis.
IV. The essence of faith.
A. My God reigns.
1) David knew that God is sovereign.
a) He is in total control over what happens on
earth.
b) God had brought David into this extreme
situation, and God could get him out.
2) God is not just in control in the good times.
B. My God saves.
1) God has the ultimate moral standards, which we have
violated.
2) But God has provided a way for us to be made clean --
he sent Jesus to pay our price.
3) We must make a commitment to God to receive this.
a) Turn our hearts toward God.
b) Turn our actions away from sin.
c) The change is so radical, Jesus called it being
born again.
C. My God cares.
1) David's God was a personal God.
2) He created the universe, yet he knows the intimate
details of your life.
3) God loves you and wants to do good for you.
4) Even devastating crises can be worked out for your good.
V. How David went on to cope with crisis.
A. David sought God's direction. 30:8
1) Through priest Abiathar and use of the ephod.
2) During crises, we often want to know what to do.
a) God can give such answers.
b) We may not have ephods anymore, but we have our Bibles.
B. David followed "the best angels" of his character.
1) He was compassionate to a slave. 30:11
a) This gave him vital information about the families.
2) He was generous in spirit. 30:24
a) He shared the spoils equally.
C. David pursued his goal relentlessly. 30:17
1) He was worn out, but kept charging till he had victory.
2) David's didn't settle for halfway measures.
D. David gave God the credit. 30:23
1) He sent presents of thanksgiving to his allies.
2) Their victory became everyone's victory.
VI. David's strength can become your strength.
A. He was not a super-hero but an ordinary man.
1) The victory that others have had, you can have, too.
2) God can give you the capacity to do and to endure.
B. God's power is not limited.
Ephesians 3:20 --
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we
ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work
within us."
C. Do you have this divine power?
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#16853 "Seeing God In The Dark," by J. I. Packer, Discipleship Journal,
#69, May-June 1992. Much of this sermon is adapted from this
article.
#30418 "No Atheists In Foxholes," God's Little Devotional Book, p. 71;
quoted by Chapnotes, ChapnotesMail@aol.com; quoted by the
Wit And Wisdom email newsletter, http://www.witandwisdom.org
by Richard G. Wimer, February 1, 2006.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Free CHM Help documentation generator