Finding Strength in the Lord
The Original Game of Thrones

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Ok, all right, good morning church! It’s good to see all of you here this morning, as we continue our series through the book of 1 Samuel. In fact, we’re getting close to the end of our journey. We covered the first fifteen chapters last Spring and then we picked up chapter 16. We’ve been working our way steadily, verse by verse, through the book of first Samuel. It’s been a great privilege to share this journey with you.

Today, we’re in chapters 29 and 30. In these two chapters, we will see David finally hit rock bottom, where even his own men turn against him as a result of the decisions he’s been making according to his own strength and in his own wisdom. He finds himself in a spot where he’s got no place to look but up and he wisely does that. He finally looks up and he finds strength in the Lord. We’ve titled this message, “Finding Strength in the Lord.”

Does anyone here need some strength? Do you need some strength today ? Do you need some encouragement? Maybe you’ve been experiencing weakness. Maybe you’ve been experiencing discouragement. The Lord will strengthen you. He will encourage you.

The dictionary says that discouragement is defined like this: “a loss or a lack of confidence or enthusiasm, to feel dispirited, demoralized, despair, despondent or disheartened.” It comes from a lack of strength and a lack of courage. It makes us not want to go on. We get discouraged. We get down.

Rick Warren says this, there are four causes of discouragement: (1) Fatigue. When you’re physically or emotionally exhausted, you’re a prime candidate to be infected with discouragement. (As Vince Lombardi said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”) (2) Frustration. When unfinished tasks pile up, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. And and when trivial matters or the unexpected interrupt you and prevent you from accomplishing what you really need to do, your frustration can easily produce discouragement. (3) Failure. Sometimes your best laid plans fall apart, the project collapses, the deal falls through, no one shows up to the event. How do you react? Do you give in to self-pity? Do you blame others? As one man said, “Just when I think I can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends!” That’s discouraging! (4) Fear. The fear of criticism (What will they think?), the fear of responsibility (What if I can’t handle this?), and the fear of failure (What if I blow it?) can cause a major onset of the blues.

Fatigue, frustration, failure or fear. Do any of these or maybe all of them sound like you today? Then you need to hear this message. You can find strength in the Lord. You can find encouragement in the Lord. That’s where David was and he looked to the Lord and he found strength in the Lord.

In the book of First Samuel, in chapters 29-30, David was at his weakest but he found strength in the Lord, His God. We can find strength in our Lord. We can find strength like no place else. How is it possible?

As we look at the text today, I think we’ll see three ways that we can find our strength in the Lord. Are you ready? Let’s get our seatbelts on and start reading. We have two chapters to read. We’re going to break it into three parts today.

1 Samuel 29:1-30:6 (ESV) 29:1 Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel. 2 As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish, (Commentary – Pastor Gary Combs – Remember this is what we were worried about. Last week there was a cliffhanger. David had been recruited to be part of the body guard for king Achish of Gath, one of the philistine kings. And we were wondering, is David really going to do this? Well, here he is. He’s coming up in the rear guard.) 3 the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years, and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day.” 4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? 5 Is not this David, of of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” 6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been honest, (Commentary – Pastor Gary Combs – We haven’t heard the name of the Lord for a couple of chapters as it regards David. And now, ironically. we hear it in the mouth of a philistine king. That is LORD, in all caps; LORD, in the Hebrew, is the covenantal name of God, which is Yahweh. David hasn’t called on Yahweh in several chapters, but here’s this philistine king saying, “As the LORD lives.”) and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. 7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” 8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 9 And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, , ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10 Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.” 11 So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel. 30:1 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire 2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices andwept until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. (Commentary – Pastor Gary Combs – Here, we see the key to our two chapters) But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. This is God’s Word, Amen.

Can you do that? Can you strengthen yourself in the Lord, Your God? I believe that we can today. How do we do it? How do we find strength in the Lord? Here’s the first way:

How to find strength in the Lord: We can… 1. Remember God’s grace in times of weakness.

David has fled from his homeland. He’s fled from Saul and he’s moved in with the enemy, the Philistines. Outwardly speaking, it looked like he prospered for about 16 months. He was doing pretty well. He was at peace . Saul wasn’t chasing him, but the whole time he was doing it his way. We finally see how God lets him get the harvest; he gets to reap what he sowed. David finally comes to his senses and remembers.

What does it take? Well, look, here he is; he’s on the march. He’s getting ready to go fight against the Israelites. He’s supposedly the anointed future king of the Israelites. This is not going to win him any credentials. In fact, this would make it impossible for him to ever be the king of Israel if he gives up here, but there he goes, as the rear guard with king Achish. But by God’s grace, He speaks through the other four kings of the Philistines and prevents David from being able to go there.

David was going “headlong.” Now, I don’t know what that means, “headlong” , but my mom always said that when I was getting ready to do something that I shouldn’t do well. There he goes headlong into that. Does anybody say that around Eastern North Carolina? That’s what we say up in the hills of the Appalachians. You go “headlong;” you stick your head out and just keep going. Well, that’s what David did and God prevented him from harm by His grace. He’s letting David get some of what he sowed, but he’s keeping him from being completely destroyed.

We see, in chapter 30, that he comes back. It’s three days later, in chapter 30, that it says they came to Ziklag on the third day. It took three days. Now, why is that? Well, we have to look at a map to see, don’t we? Let’s look at the map.

Here’s what’s been going on. David has traveled up from Ziklag in the south, all the way up to Aphek and he’s gathered here with the five city states. There are five kings from the five city states of the Philistines, from Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath. All five kings have gathered here to do battle at Jezreel against King Saul and the Israelites. David is right there with them. bringing up the rear guard.

And so, what were they hoping to do? It seems the Philistines wanted to cut off at the midpoint and separate Israel into two halves and, therefore, weaken them. That was their desire. Saul has traveled up with the Israelites from Gambia. He’s up there at Endor right now, getting instructions from the wrong people. He’s up here with a medium.

Here goes David; he has to travel three days back to Ziklag. It’s about 75 miles; that’s 25 miles a day on foot. They show up thinking, Finally, we can go back and lay in our own bed, kick back in our own recliner and eat some food with our own families. They get there and the place is burned to the ground. David has followed his own strength and his own wisdom and look what it’s got them. They cry themselves to the point of total exhaustion. And then, the men began to get embittered. It says in the scripture that they begin to threaten to stone David. They were all for David, as long as he was providing for them but now they’re turning on him.

What’s David going to do? Where’s David going to turn? Where do you turn when even your best friends, maybe even your family says that they’re against you, that they’ve become embittered against you? Where are you going to turn now? You can turn to the Lord. David finally remembers. He finally remembers what got him in this situation and he even remembers, you know as he looks around the city there of Ziklag that there were no dead bodies. They kidnapped them all, but they didn’t kill anybody, at least not on the spot. And so, David begins to talk to the Lord. He doesn’t have anybody else to talk to. The men had gotten bitter but David decided he wanted to get better. He talked to the Lord.

David decides that he wants to make room for God’s encouragement. The ESV translates it, “but David strengthened himself in the Lord.” The KJV says, “but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” Some days, you just have to encourage yourself in the Lord. Some days no one else will do it, but you can do it.

How is it possible for you to do it? You can just say to the Lord, I need your strength. It requires an admission of something that we don’t like to admit, I’m weak. I need help. I’m in trouble. That’s when the Lord will move in your life. The minute you’ll admit, I have no strength, He will move. Ironically, it’s the Amalechites that have come up there. David had been plundering the Amalechites and so they came back up there. They have carried off their ancient enemy of Israel; it goes all the way back to the time of Moses. David is fighting the Amalechites here.

I like a couple of questions that are in the text. One is, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” the Philistines asked. That’s a good question. What were they doing there? What’s going on when we get off track and we get caught up doing things in the world’s way? What are God’s people doing over here? And then, David asked, “What have I done?” Well, that’s a good question, David; what have you done? You have gotten yourself, all your people and all your family into a “pickle;” you have gotten yourself into a fix, What have you done ?

David remembered the Lord and he prayed to Him. David wrote a lot of Psalms. He wrote most of the 150 psalms and he wrote many of them while he was in the wilderness running from King Saul. When he goes over to the philistine land, he lives for those 16 months under the Philistines. As far as I can tell, he didn’t write any psalms during that time.

You see, that’s what happens to us. We start living the way the world wants us to live. You start doing things according to your own counsel and you get dry spiritually. David was dry spiritually. There are no psalms being written, but here’s one that may have been written sometime when he strengthened himself in the Lord. It sounds like this would be the kind of prayer he would have prayed. Psalm 143:5-7 (NLT) 5 I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. 6 I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. 7 Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die.” This psalm easily could have been the prayer he prays right there when he strengthens himself in the Lord. He remembered God’s grace toward Him. God kept him from fighting against his own people. As far as we can tell, we can’t see that anybody was killed. And so there’s still hope. He begins to talk to the Lord and he turns a corner. I’m glad we’re about to get our old David back that we lost for a few chapters.

Here’s one of the things we must learn: God really can’t strengthen us until we admit our weakness. We hate to do that. We hate to admit our weakness. Here’s what Paul learned as he writes this in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (ESV) 9 “But he said to to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul learned to have less of himself and more of Him. Less of Gary and more of Jesus. Can you pray that prayer? As you get older in the Lord, ask for less than me. I must decrease and He must increase. Less of me and more of Him. When we admit our weakness, then we make room. As long as you’re full of you, there’s no room for Him. We have to empty ourselves and make room for God. Admit your weakness. Admit your inability to live life fully apart from God.

One of the earliest sentences that most little children speak is, I do it myself. We grow up and we just keep repeating that mantra over and over and we say, I got this, I got this. You don’t “got this.” Admit your weakness and trust God for strength and grace.

Let’s keep reading. Let’s pick it up at verse seven of chapter 30. 1 Samuel 30:7-15 (ESV) 7 “And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall Ipursue pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” 9 So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor. 11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, 12 and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. (Commentary – Pastor Gary Combs – Time out, just for a second, again. It seems odd that David would slow down to take care of this Egyptian. Apparently, the writer here wants us to know that, not only is David talking to God again, he going to the priest and doing things right again. He’s also obeying the Torah, which says, if you encounter an alien from another nation and they’re hungry or thirsty, you’re supposed to feed them and give them drink. David is a new man. He’s back to his old self again. He takes care of this Egyptian, which includes feeding him some “fig newtons,” cluster of raisins and some figs.) And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 13 And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. 14 We had made a raid against the the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” 15 And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band.”

How to find strength in the Lord: We can… 2. Ask God’s guidance in times of distress.

David’s weakness was profound, but it was his men’s bitterness that drove him to distress. The word, “distress,” in the Hebrew translation, has the idea of “to be bound, to be tied up, to in a terrible bind.” He’s in a tight spot. He doesn’t have anywhere to turn. He can’t even depend on his own men. Where is he going to turn?

David calls for Abiathar, the high priest. I want to show you a photo of what the high priest wore and what an ephod may have looked like. These instructions of the appearance of the High priest clothing are found in the Torah, the first five books of the bible, especially the book of Leviticus. God told Moses exactly how to design this garment, right down to the little things at the bottom that dangled down at the bottom of the colors and even the little golden plate that has the name of Yahweh on it. Right here, is of particular interest; it’s the high priest’s breastplate. It has 12 stones, representing the 12 tribes of Israel. Each stone is unique. In the breastplate, there’s a pocket behind there that contains two items called the Urim and Thummim.

The high priest was able to inquire of the Lord and ask questions. Almost every time I see them , there are questions that would be easily answered with a “yes” or “no” response.

In obedience to the Torah, the law of God, David goes to the priest and he asks him to bring the ephod so he can inquire of the Lord. Now, Saul doesn’t have the ephod; remember, Saul killed all the priests except for this one priest, who escaped with the ephod. And so, David inquires of the Lord. This is so great. David’s talking to the Lord now. He’s been encouraged.

David asks the Lord two questions, but he gets three answers. “So shall I pursue after this man?” in verse 8? “Shall I overtake them?” The next section says, “pursue.” “Will I overtake him?” “You shall surely overtake them.” God throws in a third answer; He says, “You shall surely rescue your people.” Now, I don’t know if David asked a third question and the author just didn’t note it, or if the priest threw that question in because everybody wants to know if their people are ok. God gave him three answers to the two questions that are recorded. I would say that the last one is the best. You’re going to rescue everybody. I promise you, if you obey Me and go do this, you will catch them, you will win the battle and you’ll rescue your people. That had to be the most encouraging.

Verse nine says that David set out. He didn’t even wait. He didn’t take a break. That’s the great thing about David; when he gets back on track and he hears from God, he doesn’t mess around. He obeys. He gets on it. He was in distress, but now he’s on the move.

When God gives you a promise and He gives you strength, that doesn’t mean you don’t have to put it to work. You need to get moving. David gets moving. He heads out now with his 600 men. They’re marching and they hit this ravine. I’ll just show you another map quickly so you can see. They have gone from way up here, all the way down to Ziklag. They’ve cried their eyes out and now they’ve packed up their goods again and are headed this way towards Besor. They’re chasing them and they hit this ravine. It must have been pretty treacherous to cross over. 200 of the men are worn out. David leaves them there with the baggage and heads on to pursue the Amalechites.

This reminds me of other stories in the Bible like Gideon. Remember how Gideon was in pursuit of the Medianites? He had a great army and God said that he had too many men. God told Gideon that if they are afraid to tell them to go home. Most of them went home when he said that. Then, God said that Gideon still had too many men. Tell them to go down and drink water. If they drink this way, keep them and if they drink this other way, send them home. Most of them went home. Gideon was left with 300 men. God said, Okay, I’ll win the battle now with 300 men.

He does the same thing to David here. David’s got 600 men and God says that’s too many. It reminds me of what David’s best friend, Jonathan, said earlier in 1 Samuel 14:6 (ESV) … nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” That’s when Jonathan and his armor bearer decided to go take the Philistines on by themselves that day.

Here’s David. We don’t know how big that army is, but it was so big that 400 of them escaped on camels. David is heading there. It’s a big army; much bigger. His guys are exhausted, but they fall upon these Philistines.

Here’s what I want you to think about. You might think, I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough talent. I don’t have enough education. I don’t have enough… God loves that opportunity because when we admit we’re weak and when we admit we don’t know what to do next and we ask Him for help, He gets the glory. God gets the glory; He gets the credit. God loves to move in at those times. He loves to show us that He can save by many or by few.

It seems odd that they would give so much detail about this Egyptian; what they fed him and all of that. It’s important because God is giving David help along the way. He has this Egyptian there who can give him insider information like a “spy.” Here’s where they attacked, here’s where they’ve been and here’s where they’re headed. I can tell you where they’re probably camped at right now.

If we read in the book of 1 Chronicles, it tells the same story that we see in 1st and 2nd Samuel. There’s kind of an overlap, a retelling of the story. It says this in 1 Chronicles 12:19-21 (ESV) “Some of the men of Manasseh deserted to David when he came with the Philistines … As he went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh deserted to him…They helped David against the band of raiders, for they were all mighty men of valor and were commanders in the army.” So, when David was up there in the rear guard at Achish, getting ready to travel up to attack Saul with the Philistines, some of Saul’s men from the tribe of Manasseh defected and deserted King Saul. These happen to be the mighty men that knew David and when they saw David they went with him. Now David, when he goes to chase these raiders, he’s got insider information from the Egyptian, but he’s also got commanders to help command his army when he goes into battle. This is God’s Grace. This is God’s goodness. This is God’s provision.

How’s this all opening up to David? David looked up. David said, I’m weak. David said, I’m distressed. I need help. I need you, Lord. That’s how it all opened up; admitting weakness, admitting distress and asking for God.

Are you feeling trapped today with nowhere to turn? turn to the Lord, Talk to him. Solomon, Son of David, writes this in Proverbs 1:5 (ESV) “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.” You can talk to the Lord. You can ask for guidance. We have a high priest. You don’t have to come to the preacher. You can come to me and ask questions if you want to, but I talk to the same high priest that you do. His name is Jesus. He’s ready right now to answer your questions.

Here’s what it says in Hebrews 4:14-15 (ESV) 14 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect , has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

We can talk to Jesus. He understands our weakness. He understands our distress. He understands our discouragement and our depression. Wherever you are, He’s been there, yet without sin. He loves you. You can talk to him at any hour of the day. You can say, I need help and He will answer. Do you feel trapped today? Do you need guidance? Talk to the Lord.

Let’s keep reading. We’re at verse 16 of chapter 30. 1 Samuel 30:16-31 (ESV) 16 “And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, (Commentary – Pastor Gary Combs – Twilight is that time of day when the sun hasn’t appeared, but the light is already coming across the horizon so that can be early dawn or it can be dusk. So it’s at least 12 hours up to 36 hours. That’s how long this battle takes place; a minimum of 12 hours and as many as 36 hours. So he struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day.) and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. (Commentary – Pastor Gary Combs – Now, I used to tell this story to my sons when they were little. I’d read this in their bedroom. They liked this part; they imagined that these were some really fast camels. David brought 400 men, so I wonder how big the Amalekite army was.) 18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. 20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, and and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.” 21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” 23 But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. 24 Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” 25 And he made it a a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day. 26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD.” 27 It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir, 28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, 29 in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites, 30 in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach, 31 in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.”

How to find strength in the Lord: We can… 3. Give God glory in times of struggle and success.

Give God the glory, remember His grace, look to Him for guidance. And then, give Him the glory in times of struggle and success. When I’m reading a narrative like this and I’m trying to ask, this is what I’m always asking when I’m studying, What are the timeless principles in this story? When you’re reading a narrative, not everything applies to today, but what does apply? Then, what I look for is where is God quoted? Where is God speaking in the first person? When we get to this part of the story, we now have the voice of God in the mouth of David. We haven’t had this in a long time. David’s been in trouble, but now David is God’s man again.

Some of those worthless guys say, This is David’s spoil. That’s what you do if you’re a worldly king. You take the credit and your people, who were in the army with you, give you the credit so that you’ll give out to them all the honors. They come marching back into the camp where the 200 guys were who were too tired to continue and said, This is David’s spoil and you guys don’t get any of it because you all stayed here. We fought and won it. We did this.

In verse 23, this is David speaking on behalf of the Lord. He says, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us.” David says that God gave us the victory; He kept all of our people alive. This is all God. And we’re going to give Him all the credit. We’re not going to take credit. You see, David had a choice right there of taking the credit and he chose to give God the glory.

David is a prototype. He’s a foreshadowing of Jesus. Jesus is the one Who gives, gives, gives. The worldly king takes, takes, takes. Jesus gives, gives, gives.

David, very wisely, gives to the elders of the Judean wilderness where he and his men used to roam. It says this in the final verse of chapter 30; that was the place where he and his men used to roam. It names all of those places. I’m going to surprise you by not looking at a map right now, because none of those places, with the exception of Hebron, is really a place that we can find today. These are all places that must have been local names that no one really knows about.

The author summarizes it in that final verse, saying this is all the places that David and his men used to roam. David sending gifts to them is probably appropriate, also, because it looks like the malachites stole from them and ripped it off from them. So David gave it back to them. David is thinking very wisely. David is starting to think about things like a king should think.

Very soon, Saul and his army will be defeated by the Philistines and the people of Judah, that southern kingdom there. They will say, David, come and be our king. David will be the king of Judah for eight years before he becomes the king of all of Israel. He’s already laying the groundwork for that.

David has returned; he has come back to us. He’s following God now. He remembers God’s grace, he looks for God’s direction and now here he is, giving God the glory. We read this of David in Psalm 96. He says, Psalm 96:8 (NLT) “Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! …” He says in Psalm 29:1-2 (NLT) “… honor the Lord for his glory and strength. Honor the Lord for the glory of his name…”

David is back to himself again, he’s speaking as he should. He reminds us of Jesus, who never glorified Himself but always glorified His father, even though glory is due the name of Jesus, He always glorified His Father. It says in John 8:50 (NLT) “And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge.” Jesus came to glorify the Father. He came in obedience to the Father and died in our place, for our sins and was raised again on the third day and God has glorified him.

What does that look like? This process of God glorifying Jesus? It looks like this; “Jesus emptied himself and became a man and humbled himself to die on a cross for our sins. Yet God raised Him up and exalted Him to the highest place”(Phil 2:6-11).Two. It says that He emptied Himself and He descended down from His throne and took on the form of human flesh and became a man. He humbled himself unto death, even death on a cruel cross and then, on the third day, He was raised. For this reason, because of His obedience and His humility, God has exalted Him to the highest place, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord of all.

If you will humble yourself and admit that you need God and that you give glory to God, if you will decide, I want the applause of the One rather than the many, then He will lift you up to a place you never could have attained on your own. Who do you give the credit to? Who do you desire the applause from? Do you seek glory for yourself? If you want to find strength in the Lord, remember to give Him the glory,even when things are hard. You might not know how it’s going to work out yet. Even in the middle of the battle, you have a promise. He said that I would be rescued, so I’m going to keep on. I’m going to give Him the glory.

David forgot who he was for a season. Maybe there’s someone here today and you have forgotten who you are. You have forgotten what God has told you. You have forgotten His promises. You have gotten yourself in a bad place. You’re discouraged. You’re depressed. You’re hurting. You don’t have to stay there. You can encourage yourself in the Lord. You can find strength in the Lord. It begins by admitting your weakness, admitting your distress and saying, Lord, strengthen me, I need your strength, I need your guidance and I’ll give you all the glory. Will you do it?

Let’s pray. Lord, I pray for that one right now that came today on a thin thread. Maybe they were invited. Maybe they didn’t feel like coming, but they came and You’ve spoken to them. Is it you? Would you confess your sins to the Lord right now and say, I’m a sinner. I need help. I’m weak. I’m discouraged, I’m hurting, but I believe in you, Jesus. I believe You died on the cross for my sins, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. I invite you to be my Lord and Savior. Will You come in and forgive me of my sin and make me who You’d like me to be? I want to follow You all the rest of my days. I’ll give You all the credit and all the glory. Come and live in me and make me a child of God. If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He’ll save you; He will change your life. He will strengthen you. He will give you joy where you had distress. He’ll give you strength where you had discouragement. He will change you. Those are here today and you’ve done that. You’ve received Jesus. but like David, you got off track and started doing life your own way. You’re sick of it. Lord forgive me. Just pray that right now. Lord forgive me. I turn back to You now. I turned my life back to You. I want to do it Your way. Lord, strengthen me now. I don’t want to be discouraged anymore. Lord, give me joy. Give me strength. I turn it over to You afresh. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.