1 Samuel 23 - David Inquired of the Lord

okay we're in First Samuel chapter 23 today next week I'm gonna my wife and I are going to be on vacation next week and the week after we're gonna be heading out the main here for about ten days so you're in good hands and Paul is going to be preaching huh you preach yeah oh yeah Paul's preaching next week Rael with the following week so look forward to that anyhow today we're going to talk about David in chapter 23 and if you remember the last chapter you know David was in the cave of a Dolan and it was a like a turning point for him where he began to take responsibility again he was running in fear kind of motivated by fear of Saul you know losing his life and he began to almost like backtrack on some things he thought he would have had down like he was taking the Goliath sword for his defense instead of the Lord and he was looking for food and he kind of lied about the food that he needed he was lying to the priest Nabi yeah Abiathar so he could get this show bread and eat it and he was just he was just kind of running but he came to the cave of a Dolan and we saw there were certain things he did we were like turning points in his life and one of them was I believe he began to inquire the Lord seek the Lord because he said he said I want to give my parents over to the king of Moab to take care of them until I find out what the Lord will do for me and that's such an important principle if all of us in our life could just say until I find out what the Lord wants and you were to find as we go through the life of David there's probably I didn't write the number down but I would guess 8 to 10 times in the Bible where this phrase is used and David inquired of the Lord and it's in there because it shows a man who was seeking God in this chapter we'll see we'll see that begin to come to life in Dave I don't I'm not trying to say in any way that he wasn't seeking the Lord prior to this but at least there's there's a certain spotlight on this aspect and I think sometimes in our lives you know our prayer life becomes maybe we just say certain words or maybe it's requests of the Lord and those are all okay nothing wrong with that or maybe our prayer life is you know reading the Bible and having a devotion maybe even praying through the Scriptures at times but there's times that we need to just inquire of the Lord about my life we're going to see hither the Lord is gonna give David very clear instructions about his life now how many of you know there's lots of things we don't have to seek the Lord about like I just got my electric bill Lord should I pay this or not we all know the Desa that's a no-brainer right there right so there are certain things we don't inquire the Lord about I mean they're biblical principles and so what I want to just do today I hope is to stir up your heart about wanting to inquire the Lord to seek the Lord about your life there's no better place to be than in the center of God's will you know it's kind of like goes along with days whole theme in the worship today we got to stand back and let the Lord do what he wants so many times we get in the way and we we live out our will we live out our purpose but God has a purpose for every one of our lives it's amazing to me the scripture in Jeremiah where it says before you were in your mother's womb I knew you and they were a danger to be a prophet to the nation so before I was ever born before you were ever born I believe that God has a purpose and a reason that you're here on this planet I still remember talking to Josiah and I thought it was such a mature response when I was asking him what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said I want to be an engineer unless the Lord has something else for my life I said that's awesome keep that heart always it's not saying you don't go in a direction but your heart is always saying Lord what is it that you want and I'm inquiring of the Lord so let's read this together and just pull out some some points father I just want to pray now through the time of the study of your word that you would just stir our hearts about seeking you about being people of Prayer who pull aside from the busyness of our life to inquire of you teach us from the life of David Mann after your heart and show us more of Jesus show us what you're like Lord through the things you revealed to us in the scripture in the name of Jesus I pray so first Samuel 23 verse 1 when David was told look the Philistines are fighting against Kela and are looting the threshing floors he inquired of the Lord see David heard things I I believe that God has a way of making us hear things we need to hear David was told this thing and his first thought was Lord what should i do should I go attack these Philistines that's a good question to ask because you're putting your life and your men's lives on the line by going into this attack and so rather than just jumping the gun and doing what is maybe this knee-jerk reaction would be he said let's stop for a minute and inquire of the Lord Lord shall we go and attack these people that see the Philistines were looting the threshing floors that was the people's harvest that was there that was kind of like their mo of the Philistines he would go into these towns and they would attack all the harvests of the people well obviously they starved the next year if the food is gone so David I believe because he had a heart of a shepherd he was the heart of a king he rose up and said this is it right these guys are attacking these people he's taken their food Lord should we attack them and the Lord answered go attacked the Philistines and saved Kela so first point why should I inquire the Lord because number one I think it's the most important one as that is a first step to put my heart into submission to God's will sometimes we're afraid to inquire the Lord because we're afraid he's gonna send us to be a missionary to Zimbabwe and we feel like we have a better plan so I got a I got a manipulate my own life navigate my own life but if we'll just let go of it and say Lord is this what you want shall I go and attack and he said go and attack the Philistines save this town Jesus did that in a guard against M&E remember that father of hers anyway let this cup pass but nevertheless it's not my will it's yours that I'm here to do what if we all had that kind of a heart what if every one of us could say nevertheless Lord not my will but yours be done and so this idea of inquiring of the Lord I believe is a first step toward us humbling ourselves as saying Lord I want to be submitted to your will first samuel 23 verse 3 david's men said to him here in judah were afraid now if you remember last week we talked about how the brought the prophet spoke to David said the Lord doesn't want you to stay in this cave go out into the land of Judah and so his men left that security of the cave and now they're out somewhat exposed in this land where you know the enemy could see them and attack and so on so they said here we are in Judah and we're afraid how much more then if we go to Kela against the Philistine forces so these guys are saying Lord you're telling us to go down and attack these people but we're afraid there's a second point I want you to write down if you're taking notes about why should we inquire the Lord is God will minister to the resistance that we have whatever it is see in this case fear was the thing that was motivating these men the Lord spoke clearly I want you to go attack them and save this town and they said David man we're afraid we can't go there look at this we were out here in Judah were afraid how much more if we go against the Philistine forces and once again David inquired of the Lord I love that because he didn't let the fear of these men be the deciding factor and neither should we you know if we understand God's will and whether it's fear or rebellion or whatever it may be that causes us to resist it let's go back again and seek him until he deals with the thing that's becoming the roadblock why would I want fear to stand in the way of God's will for my life or why would I want pride or why would I want rebellion or why would I want just having a lackadaisical spirit I mean if God is moving upon your heart to do something in his will and you find resistance for whatever reason go back and inquire of him again and say Lord break down this resistance I don't want anything to stand in the way of doing your will because how many of you have found out in your time walking with the Lord just sometimes his will does make us afraid go over there and witness to that person how many of ever had the Lord tell you that you know and you get like a little bit nervous about it or I want you to go up there and prophesy today I mean I've had the Lord ever tell you that and you just were shaking in your boots whatever it is we want the Lord to help break down that resistance because again the will of God for our life is the best thing for us whatever that is thank you okay so once again David inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him go down see he didn't he didn't change his mind even though there was fear stirring in the hearts of the people who are lured in to say well if you're that afraid forget about it he didn't say that he said go down I'm telling you go I am going to give the Philistines into your hand so the Lord was trying to build their confidence to overcome the fear the thing that was holding them back and so David it has been when tequila they fought the Philistines and they carried off their livestock amen praise God for that these guys were going to go take all the grain from from the key lights or whatever they were called and David and his men took the livestock off the Philistines he inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and he saved the people of Kela which is what the Lord's mission was for him he said go down attack the Philistines save Kela and so I like this idea of seeking the Lord to break down resistance ok let's go to the next point First Samuel 23 verse 6 now a by afar some of the hymn elec had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to daiva David at Keela I'm not going to talk about the ephod today much I will in a later chapter but it was a very interesting way that God used to lead people back then Saul was told that David had gone tequila and he said this is Saul now Saul was the enemy of David somehow news came into Saul's ears that David is down in this town called Keela and Saul said God has handed him over to me now how many believe that God has handed over David to Saul I don't believe that at all but see this is what Saul's perspective was because Keela was a town that was like a walled city and it says here God has handed him over to me for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bar and Saul called up all his forces for battle to go down to Kela and besieged David and his men so solace thinking man what an ideal situation here David is now down here in this town he's put himself in his side inside this walled city all we have to do is march down there with our men and create a siege other words that surround the city and we'll starve him out and we'll kill him well how many even know if that was true that was not a very good direction the Lord gave him was it the reason why we need to inquire the Lord number three is because God's wisdom is greater than ours see Saul thought that he had David and not at all God had a different plan remember another story that was like this is when Pharaoh chased the children of Israel when he came out of Egypt and the Bible says they were going around and they ended up by the Red Sea it says that Pharaoh thought they were confused and I go to get my men and chase this guy down and catch him again and so Pharaoh began to come after the children of Israel thinking they had a bad strategy a bad tactic but how many of you know it was exactly the will of God it was the will of God to lead them right to the edge of the Red Sea because in a few moments he spoke to Moses said stretched forth your staff and the sea split in two they walked across on dry land and now their enemy the Egyptians follow them through the Red Sea and the Lord closed up the sea on top of the Egyptians and he was glorified because of it see if we were choosing our own path we would never lead the people down to the Red Sea if we're running away from the Egyptians we say don't go toward the Red Sea because we're gonna box ourselves in we'll have the Red Sea in front of us and then we'll have the enemy behind us we'll be like a rock and a hard place here but how many of you know that's exactly God's wisdom we sometimes try to strategize our own way we will run around the Red Sea the Lord says no I want you to go stand up against Red Sea because then you're gonna see my power then you're gonna see my glory you're gonna see me move on your behalf and I'm telling you if you read through the Old Testament you'll see over and over and over again how often the children of Israel and the prophets and different writers David in the Psalms refer back to the Red Sea it was an amazing picture of God's glory and God's power and God's might and God's wisdom because we in our own mind would never march to the Red Sea and probably like David here we in our own mind would not have got ourselves stuck inside a walled city thinking that Saul or somebody is going to build a siege around here and we'll be trapped and yet it was the Lord's purpose to take them there so that's the reason why I need to seek the Lord because I know my wisdom isn't much I need God's wisdom when things look kind of stupid to me like oh I would never go to the Red Sea that's a time to inquire Lord is this the direction you want us to go it doesn't seem logical let me give you an example one time in our church just it just popped in my mind here but in our church back it was like in the early age they think like 1983 somewhere around that time there was a we had a recession in our town our country had a recession and for the first time because most of us were young younger youngish we were younger then we're still young some guys were losing their jobs for the very first time they've had jobs all their life all no I am out of I'm out of work and you could almost sense a fear gripped the church you know what's gonna happen where's the future where are we gonna go and it was just an almost a palpable fear we had this guy in our church at the time that did our books and he was kind of a he's a good brother and he was very detailed and very particular but he was a numbers kind of a guy you know I'm more of a faith kind of a guy but anyhow we have always done this in our church we've always given 10% or more of the tithe that comes here we give out wheat in other words we tithe to missions and other other organizations like that and so at the time there was a sphere like all know where's our where's the income coming from and all this and that and people were afraid for their own livelihood and we came into an elders meeting one time and I just really felt like the Lord said we need to double our giving and it sounds like a stupid like counterproductive you know it's like the opposite of what you might want to do you might want to say why don't we stop giving to missions for a while and see if things settle down but I just felt like the Lord was saying listen I am your resource I am your provider it's not these jobs it's not the American economy it's not the tithes of these people it is I am your I am your provider and so I came into that the elders meeting the next time and I shared with the brothers I think that we need to double or double our mission giving and this brother who did the book is like because it seemed like an impossible thing but I believe from that day something of a peace settled in the congregation and it was it was awesome and the Lord provided the Lord made a way but again it was just one of those things where the decision the wisdom at that point seems so opposite of what you might think is the right thing to do and that's why we must inquire the Lord because our wisdom will not always lead us in the right path and David did it here let's go on to the next verse verse 23 when David learned that Saul was plotting against him he said to abiathar the priest bring the ephod and David said O Lord God of Israel your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans that come to Kela and destroy the town on account of me here's this question will the citizens of Keela surrender me to him that's kind of a weird question to ask what you just saved them you just came down there and you saved these people it looks like they're about ready to turn him over because they don't want to be killed and so David asked this question will the key people of Keela surrender me to Saul will Saul come down as your servant has heard Oh Lord God of Israel tell your servant and the Lord said he will Saul is coming and again David asked will the citizens of Keela surrender me and my men to Saul and the Lord said they will how many Vinoth ats a good piece of information to have and you would think you would think I have just come and I've saved these people look they still have their grain they their lives are saved I should be the hero they should be marching me down through the streets on a parade but they're so fearful of Saul coming that they say hey we're gonna turn David over we don't want this conflict but but David seeing his own natural thinking probably never would have would have thought that he must have fought something he's asking the question but the Lord said yeah Saul's coming and they're gonna turn you over now the fourth thing I want to share with you about why do we inquire the Lord is because his direction is a journey it's not a destination what I what I mean by that we have to always come to the Lord and seek it's not a destination I end up here all I'm in the will of God like for example a few a few chat or a few verses ago the Lord said go to Selah that was his will but that wasn't a destination see he wasn't going to stay there forever because if he would have stayed there forever what would it happen they would have turned him over David and his men would have been killed and so he had to continually seek the Lord you might say David must have missed the will of God the first time because he ended up in Selah and they're gonna turn him over or end up in Kela or whatever that name that I can't pronounce Hebrew I'm sorry he ended up in this town of Kela and now they're gonna kill him so he must have missed the will of God on that first time he didn't miss the will of God it was the will of God to go there and deliver those people but now it's the will of God to leave there because situations have changed and that's what I mean the direction of the Lord is a journey it's not a destination you might say lord have you called me to be a missionary to Zimbabwe and the Lord says yes go to Zimbabwe and so you moved a Zimbabwe but he might move you there for one reason maybe it's to see one person get saved and then he says now I want you to go back to your home the Lord sent Philip to speak to one man it was the will of God so we got to remember the direction of the Lord is a journey not a destination and so David there inquired of the Lord got his understanding of what was about to happen and made a decision to leave you might ask the question why did God even take him there I have a guess and it's only a guess because the Bible doesn't say but I'm thinking he sent him down there to get some food David by this time had 600 men if you remember what they got when they they attacked they got the livestock and how many of you know if you have 600 men you need some livestock David and those guys were coming out of a cave they were they were low on resources when he came out himself the first time he just got some showbread 12 loaves but now got 600 men I need some livestock so maybe the whole reason the Lord took him down there to have this battle was not to camp out and be a citizen of Kela but to simply get the livestock and move on now I have men I can feed and I'll tell you if you're gonna have an army you got to feed him and so we'll go to the next verse verse namely 23 verse 13 David and his men about 600 in number left Kela and kept moving from place to place when Saul was told that David had escaped from Kela he did not go there David stayed in the desert strongholds in the fields of the desert of Ziff remember that word the desert of Ziff day after day Saul search for him I like this but God did not give David into his hands so my next point is why should we inquire the Lord it's because God intervenes God intervenes for us we may not know it but God is at work now I don't I don't pretend to understand exactly how the sovereignty of God and the will of man work but I know they both exist that God is sovereign and God's purposes were carried out and yet in some way he never infringes upon the free will of man the Bible says here that God did not give David into his hands you see that God was there God intervenes somehow God stepped into history and protected David he did not deliver him in other words God had an option here to deliver or not to deliver and he said God did not deliver David into his hands and I praise God for that I wanted to share two scriptures off of this page with you to talk about how the sovereignty of God and the will of me kind of work together because sometimes you'll find teaching that will either uphold one or the other that it's all the sovereignty of God and God does everything and the will of man is not involved and you have some that would teach well it's just man and God God's kind of a spectator watching to see what's going to happen even he doesn't know but I believe the Scriptures show there's there's a beautiful marriage of these two and an example was Acts chapter 2 verse 23 and it's talking about when Jesus was turned over to be crucified and it says here this man Jesus was handed over to you by what gods set purpose see God had a purpose it is sending Jesus that he would die that was God's purpose that would never change and so this man was handed over to you by God set purpose and foreknowledge and you with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross can you see there that somehow there's this marriage between God's purpose God's sovereignty the fact that he reigns over the his purposes for this world at the same time here was the free will of wicked men that were used to crucify Jesus and it's not one or the other it's both somehow God's great enough to use even the the wrath of man it's oppressive and so we see that in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ another scripture along this line is acts 4:27 and 28 it says indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of the city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed see these guys came together Pilate all this his counsel and they conspired against Jesus God wasn't making them do that that was out of their own heart that was their own hatred toward whatever Jesus was doing and they conspired put him to death but verse 28 says this they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen so there you see again this this beautiful marriage somehow the sovereignty of God doesn't infringe upon the will of man but the will of man sometimes puts us right in the center of God's purposes and that's what happened at the death of Jesus Christ and so I like the idea that there are probably things that happen in our life that we don't know that God has intervened for us God did not give David into his hands it didn't say that David was sly enough to avoid him it didn't say that Saul was smart enough to track him down it just said the Lord did not give David into his hands and I'm a I I imagine that one day when we die and we stand with the Lord and he tells us all about our life it gives us that little white stone with a name on another no one knows but you he might he might show us all the times that he intervened in our lives and we just weren't aware of it how else did he intervene here in verse fifteen while David was that in the desert as if I talked about Ziff a little bit ago he learned that Saul had come to take his life and Saul's son Jonathan went to David at Horus and helped him find strength in the Lord with another way God intervenes he sometimes sends people to help us out there out there when Dave was running from Saul the Lord sent Jonathan to David to help him find strength in God all of us need friends like this find a friend a friend a brother a sister somebody who will help you find strength in the Lord Jonathan couldn't do anything for David he could not save his life he couldn't call his father off all he could do was say David you had to find strength in the Lord now this man this covenant brother of his came and spoke those words and spent time with him to help David find his strength and God we all need people like this in our life and that's how God intervened here he protected him he did not give him into Saul's hands and he sent someone to help him find strength don't be afraid he said my father saw will not lay a hand on you you will be king over Israel and I will be second to you Jonathan was right about one thing and wrong about one thing David did become the king but unfortunately Jonathan was killed and never became part of David's Kingdom even my father Saul knows this the two of them made a covenant before the Lord and Jonathan went home but David remained at Haresh I like this word in the Bible of the word strength here's a Hebrew definition it means to fasten on or to cease to be strong it's almost like hang on to the Lord David you know grab ahold of this thing don't let go that's what that word means find strength in God verse 19 to zip fights remember David was in the zip the zip is one up - saw a gibbous that is not David hiding among us in the strongholds that what are these guys called here tattletales how many even know we've seen a lot of tattletales in this story haven't we and so here the zip fights are saying hey I know where Dave is hiding it's not David hiding among us and the strongholds at whoreish on the hill of hakalo south of Jesse ma say that ten times as fast as you can now Your Majesty come down whenever it pleases you to do so and we will be responsible for giving him into your hands now how many of you know that even if these people have their hearts set on turning David over God is not going to get him into their hands and that's the thing we must always remember even if people come against us they'll never afford the Lord's purpose everybody's going to have people come against you how many here have never has somebody come against you I mean it's unanimous we all have had this happen but I'm telling you the Lord's purpose will still be worked why do we get all upset and fretting if somebody comes again somebody wrote me a bad letter somebody said something about me on face so what that's their problem the Lord's purpose will still carry on and so here were these if fights scheming and planning trying to turn David over Saul replied the Lord bless you for your concern for me go and get more information find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there they tell me he's very crafty find out about all the hiding places he uses come back to me with definite information then I will go with you if he's in the area I will track him down among all the clans of Judah so they set out and went to zip ahead of Saul and now David and his men were in the desert of may on in the arriba south of Jessamine and so finally how did the Lord intervene this final thing Saul and his men began the search and David was told about it how does that happen I don't know I mean maybe there was a spy maybe maybe the Prophet came and says something but I believe with all my heart that God lets us hear what we need to hear we don't have to be those arrests Duplin around trying to get all the latest heat to God we'll let you hear what you need to hear and so David was told about it so he went down to the rock and he stayed in the desert of man I miss all heard this he went into the desert of man in pursuit of David I love this next verse Saul was going along one side of the mountain and David and his men were on the other side who helped who helped here I think it was the Lord hurrying to get away from Saul as Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them listen you can just see it building up there they're like they can just see each other they're on one side they're on the other and they're passing each other in Saul's in hot pursuit and he's getting down and he's just full of vengeance and wrath and revenge and it says as as his forces were closing in on David and his men were ready to capture them a messenger came to Saul who do you think sent that messenger a messenger came to Saul saying come quickly the Philistines are raiding the land praise God for that God was intervening here God was using the Philistines and their hatred of Israel to save David I love this story it's a man who has a heart for the will of God and God intervenes for him he protects him he makes the way and the Bible says it's all broke off his pursuit of David and he went to meet the Philistines and that's why they called this place Selah gesundheit alright David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi that word means a rock of division and I loved that that it's kind of like there as a memory remember what the Lord did on that day he put a rock of division here Saul was in pursuit they were just about upon us and a message comes the Philistines are raiding us we can't go after David we have to go fight the Philistines it was God gob was intervening so we see in this chapter a man whose heart is set to inquire of the Lord I see God really intervening in our lives in the same way if we'll be those people who sent our heart to know the will of God and to walk in it the last Scripture I'll share with you is in acts 13:22 it talks about David and it says after removing Saul this is God after God removed Saul he made David their King and it says God testified concerning him I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart what a testimony that God would say that about about this man I have found David a man after my heart and then he I think his next phrase is God explaining exactly what that means he will do everything I want him to do see I want to be a man after God's own heart and so when the Lord says come I want to come and when the Lord says go I want to go and when the Lord says forgive I want to forgive and when the Lord says show grace I want to show grace see I'm gonna be a man after God's own heart I don't want it to be just a a fluff thing that all of us come and sing some songs on Sunday morning no I want to I want to be a man after God's own heart I want to do what he wants me to do and the only way that can happen is if we inquire of him what do you want what do you want from me lord I don't think the Lord is is one who wants to hide his will from us I mean Rayo is gonna be teaching in the Bible school here in September about hearing from God and you you'll see as you go through the Bible how there's immense numbers of scriptures about God speaking to people Christians the heathen I mean God wants to make his will known he's not playing hide-and-go-seek he wants to know he wants us to know so we can walk in it so I my prayer as we stand if you pray with me and stand together is that we would all say I want to be a man after God's heart or I want to be a woman after God's heart and I want to do what he wants me to do and that we would be willing to submit ourselves to him to inquire of the Lord to seek his will whatever it is to seek Him even to fight against the resistance we have and watch the Lord intervene on our behalf so father I pray you would help us to recognize how much you want to speak to us Lord you want us to know your purpose you created us for a reason for a purpose why would you hide that from us so lord I pray that we wouldn't become silly with this like should I pay my electric bill but we would come to you frequently and ask Lord is this what I should do is that what I should do and trust that you will guide us step by step on a journey of learning to hear your voice and respond to you but make us like David a man or a woman after your heart I ask you for this in the name of Jesus Christ and everybody said amen well

Channel: Alliance Christian Center

Views: 1,334

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Keywords: Kirk Martin, Inquiring of the Lord, 1 Samuel 23

Id: KaEsk_1CjcI

Length: 41min 52sec (2512 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 05 2016