Keep On Fighting

Keep on Fighting

1 Samuel 30

November 6, 2005

Veteran’s Day Message

Morning Service

Introduction

On November 11, 1918, a treaty was signed by the Allies and the Germans to end the hostilities of World War I. In 1938, congress passed a bill to declare November 11 Armistice Day to honor the veterans of World War I.

In the 1940’s, there was a movement to change the day to include honoring the soldiers who fought in World War II and the name Armistice Day was eventually changed to Veteran’s Day to honor all of America’s soldiers from all of the wars.

The purpose of Veteran’s Day is to remember those who have given their lives to protect the freedoms that our country enjoys, to pay tribute to those who have selflessly served our country and defended our freedom and to honor those who currently serve in our armed forces.

From the birth of our nation we have realized that freedom is never free. Our freedoms have been paid for with the blood of those who answered the call to stand when our country needed them the most. Our history is filled with battle after battle in our fight for freedom. We have too easily forgotten that our freedoms are never free.

In our quest for freedom there have been some battles that have shaped the soul of our nation.

• Washington’s crossing the Delaware to attack the Hessian camp at Trenton

• The Union Army’s stand at a small Pennsylvania town called Gettysburg

• The Allies storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day

• Operation Desert Storm that freed Kuwait from the Iraqi invasion

• Our current world wide efforts to rid civilized society of the threat of terrorism

This morning as we remember the battles fought and the victories won for our nation, I want to look at an important battle fought by David as a reminder of the battle we are called to fight daily as Christians. Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 30:1

I. David fought a battle with despair (1-6)

Imagine returning home to find your home burned to the ground, virtually every possession you owned stolen and your family kidnaped. This was exactly what David and his men found that day when they returned to their settlement at Ziklag.

The raid occurred while the men were away and the settlement was relatively defenseless. The Amalekites were well known for their ability to strike quickly and seemingly disappear. The Amalekites are remembered most for their attack against Israel just as they were entering the region of the Middle East and Joshua led a victorious assault against them.

The men with David may have begun to blame themselves for the incident. They adopted an “If only” attitude. If only we had been here this would not have happened. If only we had not left our families here. If only we had not come to support David.

These men had returned to Ziklag to find their homes in smoldering ruins. They found every possession snatched away and their families taken as prisoners. They did not know where the Amalekites went, what they had done with their families or even if they could catch them. In short, they had just come home to find that they had lost everything.

David was not immune to the effects of the raid and he too suffered a great personal loss. David lost his home and all of his possessions. At the end of David’s life we know that he had trophies from various victories including his battle with Goliath. Some of these things may have been taken from him.

David’s wives were taken from him. Ahinoam was the mother of David’s first son Amnon and Abigail was the wife of Nabal who stopped David from destroying Nabal’s household. She became David’s wife following Nabal’s death and bore his second son Chileab.

David suffers an additional loss, the support of his men. Look again at verse 6: David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him

These men who had fought at David’s were now talking of killing him. Despair will cause people to turn on their best friend. David is in good company of leaders who were threatened with stoning. The Israelites threatened to stone Moses and the Jews threatened to stone Jesus. The same kind of thing happens in churches today. People get frustrated, upset, flustered or fearful and they will put a target on the leaders of the church.

When you come into the church and you complain, blame others for problems and criticize, who are you acting like? Not Jesus, that’s for sure. The only one who benefits from those kinds of behaviors in a church is Satan.

David overcame the despair

But David found strength in the LORD his God