1 Samuel 30
During my research on the 6th part of the David series, I came across this sermon by Martin Pöhler from the Chrischona congregation in Altheim.
Refuge with God (1 Samuel 30)
What do you do when you're in a bind? When there seems to be no way to get out of something unscathed? What if the whole thing gets so complicated that the lines between friend and foe blur? David, the hero of our current series, is currently in such a situation: since he had to flee from Saul and his own people, he has been hiding in the Negev desert in southern Israel. There in the Negev, on the borders of Saul's empire, live the Philistines. They are enemies of Israel. But with Achish, one of their leaders, David has become friends. In his area, in Ziklag, he is allowed to live with his men. In order to earn his living and to please Achish, David has been raiding the surrounding tribes for some time now. However, with his heart still beating for Israel and her allies, he always attacks tribes in the far south towards Egypt, claiming to Achish that he attacked Judah and her allies. This goes well until the Philistines band together to attack Israel. In the meantime, Achish had made David his bodyguard and wanted to take him with him on the campaign. – What should David do now? Ultimately, he has no choice but to bow to the "invitation" and put on a good face to the bad game. But the other Philistine leaders are not so happy to have David in their ranks. We read in 1 Samuel 29:4-5: But the Philistine rulers became angry with him [Achish] and said to him, Send the man back! Let him return to the place you have directed him, lest he go with us to battle and become our adversary in battle. For what greater favor could he do his master than the heads of our men? Isn't this the same David of which they sang in a dance: Saul slew a thousand, but David ten thousand? The Philistines are right to be suspicious. After all, David is the new anointed king of Israel - he will hardly voluntarily lend a hand to his own people! And so God gives him a way out of not having to fight. Achisch sends him back to Ziklag. Once again it is others who prevent David from doing things that would be contrary to his future office as king of Israel. Most notably, later in chapter 31 we read that Saul and his sons perish in this battle against the invading Philistines. Otherwise David might have had to lay hands on the king anointed by God. At least it would not have gone over well if he had sided with the Philistines in that battle where Saul dies. But that has nothing to do with the whole story. But back in Ziklag, things really get going for David. 1 Sam. 30:1-4 When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites invaded the south and Ziklag and took Ziklag and burned it with fire, and destroyed the women and everything that was in the city and Big, captured. But they killed no one, but led them away and withdrew. So when David came to the city with his men and saw that it was burned with fire and that its wives and sons and daughters were captives, David and those with him raised February 26, 2017 | Chrischona Altheim/Alb | 1 Samuel 30 | p. 1/4 their voice and wept until they could weep no more. … Here we are at a key moment in all of history: David and his men had no place in a campaign against their own people! Their responsibility would have been with their families in Ziklag. But to prove his loyalty, David had set out with the Philistines. He hadn't even left part of his men behind for protection. But while he's going in the wrong direction here, the Amelikites came from the other side, destroyed Ziklag and took everything with them, including the women and children. We see here that our decisions have an impact on others: When we make wrong decisions, others often have to take the blame. For example, if an entrepreneur makes wrong decisions and ruins his business, his employees lose their jobs - even though it's not their fault. If a father always helps other people out of friendship/loyalty or only pursues his own hobbies instead of being with his family more often, his children and his wife lose an important reference person - although they cannot help it. If a family man or his wife cheats and destroys their marriage, their children lose - although it is not their fault. That is why we - each of us - are responsible for our decisions and paths. We have a duty not only to ourselves, but also to God and others to make wise decisions and walk right paths. God takes this very seriously. Those affected by our decisions will also react accordingly. Maybe like David's men here in verse 6a: And David was in great distress because the people wanted to stone him; for the souls of all the people were bitter, every one because of his sons and daughters. David's men were beside themselves! They turn against David. Understandable. They had lost their wives and daughters! But how should David react now? I try to imagine coming back home one day and the meetinghouse burned down and my family kidnapped. A terrible thought - I too would look for someone to blame. Most of the time, we humans are all masters at this. Now we live in a country where, thank God, there has been external peace for over seventy years. But what could it be with us? Maybe it's a situation at work where something went terribly wrong and you are partly to blame. Or are there tensions in your marriage or family? - Who's to blame? It's always easy to find someone to blame and then beat them up. In today's story, it is David. I can hear the accusations correctly: "It was a crazy idea to team up with Achisch anyway." "We always thought it was wrong to attack our brothers and now you see what we get out of it!" "If only we were someone else Leaders followed!” “If it hadn't been for you, our families would still be with us!” But David also lost his family and property. It's no better for him. He is probably totally desperate himself and is now being approached by his closest confidants. Also something that is often the case: we ourselves are in great need, we know ourselves where we have contributed our part to the mess and, to top it all off, we are also under pressure from outside. 02/26/2017 | Chrischona Altheim/Alb | 1 Samuel 30 | p. 2/4 Not an easy situation for David. How to react in such a situation? Some withdraw into themselves and are paralyzed. Others fight back, start defending themselves and switch to counterattack. What type are you? And the second question is: How can we react spiritually well in such a situation? Let's see what David does: It's only a half-sentence at the end of verse 6, but it is the central statement of our entire text today: But David was strengthened in the LORD his God! (2x) David is at his wits end. He knows that only God can help now - he is his refuge and help. We read that again and again in his psalms: David flees to God in difficult situations and expects help and protection from there. For example in Psalm 3: When David later has to flee from his son Absalom, he writes the following lines: Ah, LORD, how many are my enemies and how many rise up against me! … But you, O LORD, are my shield, you are my glory and you lift up my head. I cry out to the LORD with my voice, and he hears me from his holy mountain. . . . I am not afraid of many thousands lying against me all around. . . . Help is found in the LORD. (Vv. 2.4-5.7.9) In the other psalms, too, it is always the same pattern – in difficult situations David clings to his God, from whom he knows that he will get help from there. It is not only so in the Psalms. It is a red thread that runs through the entire biblical story and in the apocryphal book of Jesus Sirach we read, for example, in 32:24b: whoever trusts in the Lord will lack nothing. do we do that too? Do we also run to our God first when the storms of life begin to rage? Turning to God seems to be David's first thought. Why isn't that often the case with us? I once wrote down four reasons: 1) We think we can do it ourselves. We try to get the problem under control on our own and only when nothing else helps do we come up with the idea of praying. God is a last resort for us, but we don't really walk with him in our everyday lives and don't make ourselves totally dependent on him. It could be so easy. 2) We dare not bother God with our need. Sometimes we think that God doesn't care about us at all. We read from Jesus that God even counted the hairs on our heads (Mt 10:30). If he is interested in this detail of our lives, how much more then what is currently bothering and preoccupying us. He would like to help us. 3) We don't trust God that he can really help. We may have had the experience of asking God for help and He didn't help—at least not in the way we would have liked. But that doesn't mean he can't do it. Sometimes there are good reasons, even if we don't understand them, why God doesn't intervene in the way we would like. 4) We are embarrassed and ashamed of ourselves before God. This is perhaps the biggest problem we Christians have at times: We think we can't come to God with this now that we have failed. It is our own fault and we may have even deliberately violated God's commandments. Maybe it's the third, tenth or hundredth time the same error. – But you know 02/26/2017 | Chrischona Altheim/Alb | 1 Samuel 30 | P. 3/4 what, it doesn't matter. It is important for God that we come to him. We don't need to be ashamed of him. He already knows and it hasn't changed his love for us and nothing can ever change that. I wish us the courage to do the same thing as David in all difficult situations: When you are in trouble, run to God first. And what happened in the presence of God? David had retired and poured out his whole heart to God: the sorrow at his own loss, the frustration at his own failure, and the resentment of his men toward him. And then David was strengthened. He got new strength. After this encounter, he was able to stand confidently in front of his men again and bravely lead them despite the crisis. Here with David it seemed to have been a short time that he spent before God. Time was of the essence. But sometimes we need a longer time with God so that God can work on us and strengthen us again. Then we must not lose patience. But it is important not to get stuck in one place. Refreshed by the encounter with God, David became active again. He asked God what he should do - pursue the Amalekites or not. And God gave him the promise that he would catch her. And so the men set off again - this time to free their families and get their possessions back. Read the story at home if you haven't already. It is exciting how the men "accidentally" meet a man in the desert who can lead them to the hiding place of the Amalekites and how they actually get everything and everyone back. I am sure that David would not have had the courage and the men would not have continued to let David lead them if David had not run to God and asked for his help. Let's learn this one thing from David today and take home this half-sentence from today's text: But David was strengthened in the LORD his God!
So: Strengthen yourself in the Lord your God.
Amen. 02/26/2017 |
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