David's Desperation and God's Divine Deliverance (1 Samuel 21) - Pastor Jonathan Williams

I invite you to turn with me in your copy of

God's Word either in the pew rack in front of

you or that you have brought to the book of First

Samuel. What we're gonna do today is we're gonna

look at First Samuel and I'm going to make reference

at the end of this sermon to two Psalms, two

Psalms that David wrote in light of his experience.

in what is happening here in 1 Samuel 21. So

we're going to read 1 Samuel and then I'm going

to refer to Psalm 34 and Psalm 56. Those were

David's lessons learned from this experience.

1 Samuel chapter 21, we're going to read the

1 Samuel 21 · chapter mention

whole chapter today, 1 Samuel 21. Then David

came to knob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech

came to meet David, trembling, and said to him,

Why are you alone and no one with you? And David

said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged

me with a matter and said to me, Let no one know

anything of the matter about which I send you

and with which I have charged you. And I have

made an appointment with the young men for such

and such a place. Now then, what do you have

on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever

is here. And the priest answered, David, I have

no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread

if the young men have kept themselves from women.

And David answered the priest, truly women have

been kept from us as always when we go on an

expedition. The vessels of the young men are

holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How

much more today will their vessels be holy? So

the priest gave him the holy bread, for there

was no bread there but the bread of the presence

which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced

by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Now

a certain man of the servants of Saul was there

that day, detained before the Lord. His name

was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.

Then David said to Ahimelech, Then have you not

here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought

neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because

the king's business required haste. And the priest

said, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, who

you have struck down in the valley of Elah, behold,

it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.

If you will take that, take it, for there is

none but that here. And David said, There is

none like that. Give it to me." And David rose

and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish

the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish

said to him, is not this David the king of the

land? Did they not sing to him, to one another

of him in dances? Saul is struck down as thousands

and David is tens of thousands. And David took

these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish

the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior

before them and pretended to be insane in their

hands and made marks on the doors of the gate

and let his spittle run down his beard. Then

Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see

this man is mad. Why have you brought him to

me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this

fellow to behave as a madman in my presence?

Shall this fellow come into my house? And then

you see in chapter 22, David departs from there

and escapes to the cave of Adullam. Well, some

people say, and it's probably some Greek or Roman

philosopher who first said that desperate times

call for desperate measures. meaning that in

difficult situations, sometimes people will take

really extreme actions that they wouldn't normally

consider, acknowledging that unusual problems

do require unconventional solutions. Well, David,

it seems to him at least, has fallen on desperate

times, and so he resorts to very desperate measures.

But what we need to see from this text today

and what we will see is that desperate times

truly call the Christian to dependence upon God.

Desperate times call the Christian to dependence

upon God. David here in this passage resorts

to all kinds of worldly strategies, lying, deception.

trusting overly so in earthly means to secure

his safety from whom? He's running from Saul.

He's afraid for his life. And we see things go

from bad to worse for David, for his lying not

only leads to death, but it almost leads to his

own death, as we will see. And there's lesson

for us here, great lesson for us, for in times

of stress, In times of desperation, when we feel

like we are in a dark place, we may be as well

tempted to trust in sinful or overly worldly

strategies of self -rescue. David would tell

you to trust in the Lord and that God is still

good to us even, even when we fail to trust in

him. Our God is so gracious and so good. And

he is that way to David, he is that to us. In

times of desperation, then, rather than leading

on our own understanding, this passage calls

us to dependence on God. And because God delivers

his people, because he does deliver his people

from their foolishness, and even the very fears

that caused them to act foolishly in the first

place, because he delivers them from that, because

he delivers us. from fear and foolishness. We

must remember his promised provision and run

to him for refuge. Big idea today because God

delivers us from our fears and foolishness. We

must remember his promised provision and run

to him for refuge. Where do we see that provision?

Well we see that in David's life if we look here

at verses one and following to verse nine. From

the outset, this passage is loaded with anxiety.

The priest here receives David. The priest of

Nob receives him. What does it say in verse one?

He's trembling. The priest is afraid because

this is highly unusual. David doesn't have his

mighty men with him. He has no provisions, no

weapons. He's all alone and this is out of the

ordinary and this is not a good situation. And

so the priest is afraid, he's trembling, and

he asks David, what are you up to? What are you

doing here, essentially? And David begins to

lie as he comes up with this story about this

secret mission. Why is David lying? Well, you

see what's going on here. We heard in verse seven

about a certain servant of Saul who is also there.

with the priest, and so David doesn't want to

betray himself. He doesn't want to betray the

priest. He doesn't want to give himself away

to this fellow named Doeg the Edomite, and so

David tries to lie. We can't dive into or know

all of David's reasons and motivations here,

but he is afraid, the priest is afraid, and he

begins to spin this lie. He's hungry. Of course

he's hungry. He doesn't have any food with him.

And so he asks the priest for some bread in verses

three through six. Now the priest essentially

says, well, I can give you this bread, long and

the short of that, about keeping themselves from

women. If they essentially were ceremonially

clean, if they were holy and ceremonially clean,

then they could have the holy bread. They could

have the consecrated bread. Now think about this,

one of the things that that bread of the presence

represented, one of the things that that holy

bread in the temple represented was God's commitment

to provide and take care of and sustain his people.

So the priest gives him the bread because, well,

they meet the requirements. Then David also asked

for a sword. His lies deepen, claiming that he

didn't have time to bring his weapons along with

him. You see there in verse Now, if you're a

Himalek, the priest at this point, you're beginning

to wonder, okay, David is here all alone without

his retinue of knights or mighty men. He doesn't

have a weapon of any kind. He doesn't have any

food. He looks like he's running from something.

This is a very suspicious situation. The priest

offers Goliath's sword, you see there in verse

eight and nine. David, seeing the sword, says

in verse nine, there is none like that. Give

it to me. This is profound. David is very excited

to have this sword because there's none like

it. He's gloating in this sword. He is boasting

in this sword. To him, this weapon represents

his best chance of success against the enemy.

This is a very different picture of David in

chapter 21 than we see in chapter 17. You remember

chapter 17. David says no to Saul's armor and

weapons. And he goes, instead of running from

danger, what is David doing? He's running to

fight the battle against Goliath. And instead

of dealing in lies, David fights Goliath's lies

and derogatory remarks against the people of

Israel and against Israel's God. David fights

those untruths and comments with the truth. This

is a. Totally different picture of David that

we see in this passage. He is resorting to his

own schemes, his own understanding. He is desperate,

and he doesn't seem to be considering who he

is or who he belongs to. Doesn't seem to be considering

the Lord at all. Now, it's somewhat debatable.

as to whether David's lies in every case were

justifiable. We're not going to go down that

trail. Suffice it to say, I think the picture

we see here in this passage is that David is

not behaving courageously. He's not the same

courageous David that is trusting in the Lord

that we see in chapter 17. He is the same David.

But he is wracked with fear and anxiety and resorts

to lying to save his skin. We'll see later, or

rather, you'll see later that Ahimelech, the

priest, is actually killed by Saul because of

David's lies here and his anxiety. A question

for us as we look at this passage might be this.

What do I do? What do you do? What do we do when

we are wracked with anxiety or fear? or nagged

by some sort of worry that just won't seem to

let go or that we can't seem to let go of. We

fear ill health and so we go through all of these

measures and protocols and we avoid this and

avoid that. and our lives may be ruled by fear

of illness. And so we do all these things that

we might normally ought to do because we're in

the grip of fear. Maybe a particular fear that

you have or that some of us struggle with is

financial fears, fears of financial insecurity.

And so there's a temptation to not be forthright

on taxes, or maybe your fear is loneliness, and

that fear of loneliness drives you to all sorts

of illicit relationships. Fears, when they come

upon us, they cloud our thinking, don't they?

They cloud our judgment, and they cause us, like

David, to make all kinds of impulsive decisions.

I mean, the impulse to run to the Philistines

for protection is a rather rash and unwise decision,

but David is in the grip of fear, yet there's

something in this text that we've already read

that should help us when our fears seem to rise

to the surface, whatever those fears are, and

that is actually in verse six. That help is in

verse six. You see there the priest giving David

his holy bread. The priest gives David this bread

here, and as David consumes this bread, this,

as Davis says, is a testimony that God still

cares about him. God has provided David With

his daily bread, God has met David's need right

where he needed it. And so in a sense, David

should be waking up at this point and realize

that as he consumes this food, this bread, this

sustenance, that God is still sustaining him.

God still cares about him. And dear ones, God

still cares about you. Maybe you know that, maybe

you're resting in that this morning, but maybe

someone in here needs to hear that today. God

still cares about you. If you woke up this morning,

if you have a roof over your head, If you'll

have food on the table at lunch today, you know

he is still keeping his promise and will continue

to keep his promise to provide for all of your

needs according to his glorious riches in Christ

Jesus just as he supplied David with his daily

bread. So he supplies you with that as well.

And so I think a practical exercise could be

for us. when we're anxious about our circumstances

or overwhelmed with worry, is to take a moment

and pause and remember the daily bread that God

does provide. David does this in a couple of

different Psalms where he recounts to himself

God's faithful provision. And so maybe someday,

maybe this afternoon, sit down and write how

God has blessed you and provided for you today.

Write a list of things he's provided for you

this week. Write a list of things he's given

you this year and blessings he's laid before

you over the last month even. Count your many

blessings, name them one by one. Count your many

blessings and you will remember what the Lord

has done. So we see God's provision for David

in the midst of his darkness. and that is a sign

of his care, and that should be something that

not only helps him, but helps us realize that

God is providing for us, even in the midst of

our fears. But God also provides for David in

the midst of his foolishness. Despite David's

foolishness, God rescues him. And despite our

foolishness, God rescues us and he restores our

reason. You see that as David moves from the

place of the priests, the place where the priest

is there at Nob, he moves from there to this

city of Gath. David flees to Gath. This is no

small thing. David is fleeing to God's enemies

for refuge. Can you believe this? They had just

chased God's enemies off the battlefield and

now he is running over to their side. This is

no neutral thing. David is committing spiritual

treason. And if the Apostle Paul had lived in

David's day and somehow passed David by on the

road on David's way to Gath, he would have said

to David, David, don't you realize, don't you

realize what you're doing? Paul would have quoted

to him, surely, 2 Corinthians 6, 14, do not be

unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership

has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship

has light with darkness. Well, of course, you

can imagine what happens when David goes to Gath.

He's recognized. Verse 11, you see there, he

is given away. And, you know, how is he given

away? How is he recognized? Well, for one thing,

what's he carrying? He's carrying the sword of

Goliath in his belt. Obvious giveaway. And everybody

knows the song about David. that Saul has slain

his thousands and David his tens of thousands.

So immediately David's fears, rather than being

answered, his fears go from bad to worse at this

point. He foolishly runs into the den of disaster,

thinking he will escape. Instead he falls into

the hands of God's enemies. And so David resorts

to further desperate and shameful behavior here.

It's hard to blame him. I mean, what else would

you do? Yet, we need not excuse this behavior.

This is coming from a heart that is lacking in

trust. And so here, he resorts to further human

strategy to save his skin. In terror, it says

verse. David takes these words to heart and because

he's afraid of the king, he changes his behavior

in front of the king in the king's court. He

pretends to be crazy. And David who had stood

tall against the indomitable Goliath now begins

to act like a lunatic. This is a sorry scene.

He's drifted into very impulsive behavior, but

it works. It works and King Akish says, there

in verse 14 and 15, get this man out of my sight.

I don't have time for crazy people. So David

is released and he flees and he's spared. A few

things that we learn negatively, a couple of

things from this passage that Phillips points

out. None of us are immune to fear and any of

us can fall prey to sin. the way David did. David

is one of these mighty men, a man after God's

own heart, and yet we see him here lying, deceiving,

and acting like a madman to save his own skin.

We need to be reminded that though we have many

great spiritual successes in life, we are still

weak and we are still dependent on the Lord.

And that's why we've got to be on our guard and

how do we remain on our guard? By keeping close

to the Lord and by keeping close to his people.

Notice David is alone. David is alone here and

Christians are not meant to live life alone.

And that's why we need one another as a church

family to encourage one another and to hold one

another accountable to pursue holiness because

none of us are immune. We need the Lord and we

need one another. to point each other to the

Lord. Another thing we learn here is that sin's

cost is far greater than we can imagine it to

be. Sin's cost is far greater than we imagine

it to be. David thought by leaning on his own

strategies he could get away from Saul. But he

ends up with lie after lie after lie and you

see later in scripture that after he is shamed

and broken, the priest of Nob, Ahimelech, is

actually killed by Saul as a result of David's

lies. His sin leads from bad to worst. Someone

has said that sin will take us further than we

want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay,

and cost us more than we want to pay. The scripture

says that When desire has conceived, it gives

birth to sin, and sin, when it's fully grown,

gives forth to death. And so we should make no

allowance or no justification for sin. But knowing

that any of us could fall to sin, and knowing

that sin, the pursuit of sin, only leads from

bad to worse, how do we deal with that? How do

we fight? What do we learn from this passage?

Well, we learned what David learned in Psalm

34 and in Psalm 56, and I wanna read some of

those lessons that David drew to encourage us

today. David learned that in the midst of all

of his struggle and despair, God is still tender

-hearted towards David. In Psalm 56, it says,

David says about this situation, about this time

when he was running from Saul and when he was

running from the priest to the Philistines, he

says, of the Lord, you have kept my tossings

and my tears in your bottle. Are they not in

your book? The Lord sees our tears. He sees our

anguish. He sees our desperation. And he sympathizes

with us in our pain and our weakness and our

struggle. And how can he do that? Because the

Lord Jesus knows what it's like to be tempted.

He knows what it's like to be tried. David's

greater son knows what it's like to struggle

to the point where he sweated drops of blood

in the garden of Gethsemane. He was made like

his brothers in every respect except without

sin so that he could sympathize with us. and

so that he could help us. And so what we see

from David's learned experience out of this passage

in Psalm 56 is that God is so tenderhearted to

us in the midst of our struggle, whatever that

despair, whatever that difficulty may be. We

also learn from Psalm 34, another set of lessons

learned from David in this experience, that the

Lord is the only lasting refuge, the only lasting

protection. When sorrows like sea billows roll,

we won't find safety in the world's ways. We

won't find safety in sin. We will only find safety

in our Savior. David says this, taste and see

that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who

takes refuge in Him. The sword of Goliath was

not going to bless David. Only the Lord, his

refuge, was going to bless him. And David realized

that after this experience. This is David's testimony

after that experience. And so what should we

do then in light of that, in light of the reality

that the Lord is the only refuge we will find

in the midst of trouble? We ought to make every

use of that refuge. We run to him when we seek

him. In his word, we run to him when we get on

our knees in prayer. We run to him when we gather

with the saints on the Lord's day. When we come

week by week, we find that refuge, that protection

in the midst of our trouble. Are you running

to the Lord for refuge? Another lesson that David

learned from this experience is that God actually

provides for our needs. Oh, we go through trials

and we doubt, don't we? We go through tribulations

and we wonder, is God going to show up or is

He going to abandon me? David learned that God

really does care and He really does show up.

Even, even when He was acting like a madman in

front of the Philistines to save His own skins,

God was there and He was meeting His needs. Psalm

34, 8 and 9. about David's experience before

the Philistines at Gath. David says, oh, fear

the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear

the Lord have no lack. The young lions suffer

want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord

lack no good thing. Dear ones, God provided for

David, God provided for David in the day of trouble,

and he's going to provide for you on Monday morning

as well. Lastly, Well, second to lastly, this

passage calls us to trust. It simply calls us

to trust. David says in Psalm 56, when I am afraid,

I will trust in you and God whose word I praise.

And God, I trust I will not be afraid. What can

flesh do to me? In other words, if David's God

is your God, you are safe, whether you are in

battle or whether you are in bed, if you're in

his hands. What can flesh do to you? This passage

calls us once again to rest on him and his protection

and provision. But you know that you have a true

refuge and protection and provision in him, not

because, well, not because of David ultimately,

but because of David's greater son, the Lord

Jesus Christ. He knows what it's like to be isolated

and desperate because he was forsaken on the

cross by his father for your sake when he paid

for our sins. He knows what it's like to bear

the full weight of temptation because he suffered

in temptation and trial and fasting for 40 days

in the wilderness and never gave in to the tempter.

He knows what it's like to be troubled because

he says, in this world you will have trouble

to his disciples. But what does he say after

that? He says, take heart, I have overcome the

world. And because Christ stood condemned, we

say with the psalmist in Psalm 34, we will never

be condemned. We will never be condemned for

every time we have lied, doubted, wandered or

worried. because Christ has paid it all. He stood

there in our place enduring the cross for our

sins so that we who receive Him by faith will

have eternal life, so that we who receive Him

by faith would have assurance that there's no

condemnation. He's redeemed our life by His blood,

obeyed God's law perfectly, and He's the bread

of life that will supply our daily bread. our

daily bread as well. And so remember, God has

provided for you His greatest gift. He will be

everything you need. You have no other refuge.

So whatever you're dealing with today, run to

Christ and you will find, as David did in Psalm

34, that when you seek Him, He will. deliver

you not only from your sins, amen, but he will

deliver you from all of your fears. Let's pray.