David Encouraged Himself In The Lord

DAVID ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN THE LORD

1 Sam. 30:1-8

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: ACTUAL ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGES

1. Most people are content to let the prerecorded voicemail lady ask their callers to leave a message, but many people like to make up their own. Here are a few actual voicemail messages:

2. “Hello. Now you say something.”

3. “Hello, I don’t need siding, windows, a hot tub, or my carpets cleaned. I give to charity at the office and I’m not voting in the next election. If you still want to leave a message, do it now.”

4. “Hi. I’m probably home. I’m just avoiding people I don’t want to talk to. Leave a message, and if I don’t call back, it’s you.”

5. “You’re growing tired. Your eyelids are getting heavy. You feel very sleepy now. You are gradually losing your willpower and your ability to resist. When you hear the tone you will feel compelled to leave your name, number, and a message.”

6. “Please leave a message. However, you have the right to remain silent. Everything you say will be recorded and will be used by us.”

B. TEXT

1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. 3 When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord. 7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest…"Bring me the ephod." 8 …and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? "Pursue them," [God] answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue."

C. THESIS

1. The unthinkable happened:

a. God’s Chosen Servant, God’s man,

b. Anointed by Samuel,

c. The Future King,

d. Forefather of Christ…

2….Was stricken by Calamity! Why? How would David recover his faith after this devastating blow?

3. Title: “David Encouraged Himself in the Lord.”

I. BAD SITUATIONS BREED DISCOURAGEMENT

A. DAVID’S SITUATION/ DESPERATION

1. After a close call with King Saul (army got close), David weakened in his faith in God's protecting power. He decided to move to the Philistine territory. It's one thing to flee King Saul but another to move into the enemy’s territory.

2. The church today, thinking we have to get along with the world, is trying to do the same thing. [Keep our mouths shut, accept their morality, etc. But I’d rather have the whole world against me than God against me!]

3. “But David thought to himself, "One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines” (1Sam. 27:1).

4. That’s a lie of Satan. You don’t use the devil’s tactics to get God’s results. “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, of power, and of a sound mind” 2 Tim. 1:7. Compromise takes you out of God’s protection.

5. JOKE. David was kind of like the lady who got her house robbed and called the police.

a. The nearest police unit was the K-9 Unit. The policeman got out of the car with a dog on a leash.

b. The lady looked at him and exclaimed, “For Pete’s sake! First I’m robbed and now they send me a blind policeman!”

c. It’s easy to sometimes make the wrong assumptions.

B. RESULTS FROM THE BAD DECISION

1. David and his men returned to find their city burnt to the ground. Their wives and children abducted and at the mercy of pillaging raiders. Their cattle and all other possessions had been stolen.

2. Satan is in the business of stealing things that don’t belong to him! Jesus said in JOHN 10:10 “The thief comes, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

3. Satan is always trying to rob God’s people – of their FAITH, of their VICTORY, of their COURAGE, of their TRUST in God. Ultimately, he wants to steal everyone’s soul and take them with him to hell.

4. But here the enemy was trying to stop God’s key witness before he could liberate the entire nation. So he found a way to turn David’s own men against him. They were talking about stoning him. It was very dangerous for David.