Have You Made A Road Today?

1 Samuel 27:10 KJV And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.

I. INTRODUCTION -- THE SMALL THINGS OF LIFE

-It has been said that the greatest things of life are accomplished by the smallest but daily feats of bravery, honor, and commitment that go on day-in and day-out in our lives.

An enemy I had, whose face I stoutly strove to know,

For hard he dogged my steps unseen, wherever I did go.

My plans he balked, my aims he foiled, he blocked my onward way.

When for some lofty goal I toiled, he grimly said to me, “Nay.”

One night I seized him and held him fast, from him the veil did draw,

I looked upon his face at last and lo. . . . myself I saw.

-When we are foolish, we want to conquer the world. When we become wise, we want to conquer ourselves.

-When one has the desire to do the small details of his life, the great events will take care of themselves. Because of what you did when no one was watching, supervising, or demanding that you complete the job, great rewards will come.

Louis L’Amour was asked one time about his writing style. He told them that he would start writing no matter what. The water will not flow until the faucet is turned on. With that thought in mind, nearly 230 million of his books are in print worldwide and every one of his more than 100 books are still in print.

-It really is a matter of doing the small things in life to help us to master the large things. Have you made a road today?

II. THE SURROUNDINGS OF THE TEXT

-1 Samuel 27 opens up with a very dark cry of despair. David is on the low limb of life.

1 Samuel 27:1 KJV And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

A. Dangerous and Despairing Times For David

-He is fleeing for his life. Saul has chased him from one end of the country-side to the other. Cush, Doeg, and Abner have filled the ears of Saul with so many lies about David that Saul’s hate and hunger for revenge is stirred to a boiling point. Saul’s consuming jealousy of David after his giant-killing victory has simmered for years.

-David has run from one cave hideout to another cave hideout. It would not have been so complicated if David would have been alone in it all, but he has the welfare of 600 men and their families to worry with also. So now David has to leave his own home land and retreat to the land of some of Israel’s fiercest enemies.

-There will be times in life when our faith will be so weary from the battle and wounded from the fray that we cannot see things from God’s point of view. This is where David is at and yet the days are about to get even darker when Ziklag will be taken from him.

Charles Spurgeon -- You must consider the David had been exposed to a very long trial; not for one week, but for month after month, he had been hunted like a partridge on the mountains. . . . The martyrdom of an hour is sudden glory, but the martyrdom of a life—there needs something more than human to endure this. . . . . (From the sermon: The Danger of Doubting)

-If we aren’t careful there are times in our lives when we can utter those ill-gotten words, “I shall now perish. . .” We instead say things like. . .

• I shall now give up.

• I shall now let down my guard.

• I shall now give up on God’s purpose for my life.

• I shall now leave the church and play in the world.

• I shall now take this failure as the will of God for my life.

• I shall now let this burden finally do me in.

B. A Principle From A Dark King

-We can say things like that when we are looking at the circumstances of life and agreeing with the vagrant voices of defeat in our world. Yet while David was in the land of the Lord’s enemies, a voice of a king, would strike him with a principle of life that one might even trace as working throughout his whole life.