Go Where God Leads
1 Chronicles 14:8-11
8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them. 9 Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley of Rephaim; 10 so David inquired of God: "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, I will hand them over to you." 11 So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, "As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand." So that place was called Baal Perazim.
The problem that David was facing was very real and very old. The Philistines chose to attack Israel just after David had been anointed as king of Israel. They came when David may not have had the complete strength of the country at his disposal. The goal of the Philistines was to find David and to defeat him. David had shamed the Philistines in battle and now they were determined to attack him.
David did not sit and wait for the problem to just go away. He took quick action to deal with the situation. David approached the crisis with courage, confidence and clarity. He knew what needed to be done and how he would get it done
Since we are a spiritual people we will always face spiritual attacks because the one thing that Satan fears most is a Christian who is effective for the Kingdom of God. Life can just get to us from time to time as we face the grind of daily living. Daily living can be enough to rob us of spiritual strength and effectiveness
The difficulties we have will not just simply vanish. We need to identify the problems we have and take positive action to find powerful solutions. As we face our difficulties, we need to have courage, confidence and clarity. All of these things are provided for us by the Holy Spirit.
David understood that he needed God’s direction before he went into battle.
David had won his fair share of battles including his great victory over Goliath. David could have easily relied on his own personal military experience, confidence and skill as a warrior to handle the situation
Before David attacked the Philistines he stopped and asked for God’s direction and was seeking guidance in two critical areas.
· Shall I attack?
· Will you hand them to me?
David waited for God’s answer before he attacked
David depended on God so greatly that when the Philistines attacked a second time, he sought God again before he attacked
We have just as many reasons to be confident like David. We have seen God work in mighty ways. We have experienced His presence in ways that we may not be able to describe. We have been saved by the grace of Jesus. Just because we have experienced God’s power, grace and presence in the past does not guarantee that we will continue to experience it in the future
The only way to experience God’s power in fresh ways is to seek Him and the only way to know His direction is to ask for it
We should approach life the same way that David approached that battle and we need to be asking similar questions.
· Should we take this course of action?
· Will you be with me in a powerful way if I obey?
I think that far too often we just do what we think is right and what we think is best without really seeking the direction of God. One of the greatest problems in the lives of Christians today is that we fail to seek God’s guidance and wait for His direction
