How do you endure suffering? How do you resist the urge to tap out, give up, and throw in the towel? How do you resist the urge to lash out or fall into sin when you face suffering of different kinds?

I think, that to be human is to face suffering of different kinds. The Bible is chock full of people who suffered greatly. Moses suffered under Pharoah. Abraham suffered as he experienced the conflict between the two mothers of his two sons. Israel suffered under unrighteous leadership throughout the book of Judges, not to mention all of their suffering as exiles under persecution from foreign enemies.

Who can forget Job’s suffering or Noah’s suffering? The prophets suffered for preaching the truth. The disciples suffered for following Jesus. Jesus obviously suffered on our behalf. History is replete with stories of martyrs who suffered because of their faith. Oftentimes, our suffering, while not always tied to explicit persecution, can be traced to suffering from the effects of our enemies – Satan, Sin, and Death.

In our study, David is obviously suffering as he runs from King Saul’s murderous rampage. One commentator notes, that “from chapter 18 through the end of the book [13 chapters], we see David suffering and others suffering on account of David” not to mention the fact that “many of the Psalms [of David] are linked to this [specific] narrative” or time in David’s life.2 David is literally suffering the deep betrayal and murderous rampage of someone who was once like a father to him.

If my calculations are correct, David has evaded Saul’s attempts to murder him, nine different times so far and this episode marks at least the tenth time since chapter 18. Can you imagine, evading ten different attempted assassinations on your life? What kind of emotional and spiritual shape would you be in if you had evaded ten different attempted murders against you from someone you once called a family member?

By God’s grace, I would say, that while I would be an emotional and spiritual wreck, as the Psalms of David attributed to this season of his life would attest, I would also have to say that after each miraculously failed attempt, I would imagine that I would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was holding me in his hand and bringing me through that suffering.

You see, it is not that we muster up the endurance to make it through suffering. It is that suffering itself builds the endurance for the next round, because true spiritual endurance is woven together with the experience of God’s faithfulness. God’s promises never fail, because he who makes the promise never fails, because he alone is completely faithful.

God has never promised that we would get through this life without suffering. On the contrary, he promises over and over again, that he will bring us through that suffering into eternity where there is no more suffering. Notice the theme of God’s comforting promise as Jonathan meets with David amidst his suffering in our first few verses.

15David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. 16And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 17And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” 18And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

19Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon? 20Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” 21And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, for you have had compassion on me. 22Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. 23See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.” 24And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul.

Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon. 25And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. 26Saul went on one side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. 29And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.

#1: DAVID AND JONATHAN (VV. 15 – 18)

In verses 15 – 18, David sees with his own eyes, that Saul is still on his murderous rampage to take his life. He is hiding out in the dessert when Jonathan, Saul’s biological son and rightful heir to the throne of Israel, comes to visit his friend David so that he can encourage and strengthen him. The way that Jonathan encourages and strengthens David is by reminding him of God’s promise that he will sit on the throne someday soon.

Can you imagine how fearful it must have been for David to see that Saul would stop at nothing to murder him – even to the extent that he would wipe out an entire city of God’s priests? One writer says that every fear we face is typically tied to some kind of suffering we physically see or imagine in our mind.3

The only thing that will bring true peace to our fear of suffering is God’s irreversible promises.4 God’s promises are meant to bring comfort to the fear that results from what we see. Now if David felt fearful because of what he saw as Saul continued his murderous rampage against him, imagine how those fears would be compounded by the knowledge that those within your own family were willing to turn on you and give you up to your enemy.

#2: SAUL AND THE ZIPHITES (VV. 19 – 24)

In our previous study of verses 1 – 14 of this chapter, we touched on the fact that the city whom David had just saved from the Philistines was willing to turn him over to Saul. Being betrayed by the very people you just sacrificially served and rescued is one thing – a terrible thing for sure.

But now in verses 19 – 24, a totally different group of people are willing to just hand David over to his executioner. These new turncoats – dirty rats as we call them on the streets – are known as the Ziphites from Judah. Judah was a large tribe of Israelites with tribes inside the tribe – broadly based on the region they occupied. David is also from the tribe – or family – of Judah from the region of Bethlehem, known as the Bethlehemites. Summary: the Ziphites are a sister family to the family of the Bethlehemites; they would be considered brothers to David.

These rat-faced brothers of David come to Saul in verses 19 – 24 and offer to turn David over to him, probably to save their own skin since they presumably heard about the city of priests who were recently massacred by Saul as he was hunting David. Saul is so delusional at this point that he actually believes that God is on his side and that God will bless the Ziphites for their betrayal of David (v. 21).

Now, Saul wants some reassurances because David has evaded him one too many times (9 times already if my count is right) so he instructs the Ziphites to make certain of David’s whereabouts and then he proceeds to continue his ruthless escapade against David (vv. 22 – 24). The bottom line here is that David’s enemy will stop at nothing to take him out of the picture completely.

David is suffering greatly. His once upon a time father figure is hunting him relentlessly and now his own territorial brothers have turned on him and are planning to turn him over to the enemy. The reality is that the enemy is innumerable, determined, ruthless, and self-deceived.

David’s enemy will not stop and will not let up, and it seems like his enemy is growing in number while also believing that God is on their side. At this point it may seem like there is no way for David to escape his enemy. It would be far too easy to overestimate the power of the enemy that is coming against him.

#3: DAVID ESCAPES FROM SAUL (VV. 24 – 29)

But we know from verses 24 – 29 that something miraculous happens just as Saul closes in on David for the death blow. Saul gets David in his sights and gets him trapped on one side of a mountain as Saul and his forces are prepared to come around the side of that mountain and take David out for good. But just in the nick of time, someone informs Saul that the Philistines are attacking the home base. So, Saul is forced to call off the manhunt and he redirect his forces back to the home front.

It should be obvious to us that the invisible hand of God that really has not been named in our verses today, has come through in a powerful display of salvation, allowing David and his men to escape. We even learn that David names that specific spot “the Rock of Escape”in honor of God, who provided the way of escape and salvation from his enemy (v. 28).

No matter what kind of suffering David faces and no matter how many people his enemy recruits to betray David, Saul cannot compete with the invisible hand of God. Saul’s hand might be able to throw spears, and his hand might be able to direct his troops, and his hand is responsible for the mass murder of God’s priests, but Saul’s hand is no match for the Red Right Hand of God! The invisible right hand of God is always faithful to rescue and to position his chosen people smack dab on the Rock of Ages – the true Rock of Escape!

KEY TAKE AWAYS…

This story of David’s suffering should encourage our hearts in many ways. In one way we should be reminded that just as David suffered on his way to the throne of Israel, so too, we have a King in Christ Jesus, who suffered on our behalf on his way back to his eternal throne through the cross.

When we suffer, we can rest assured that we have a Savior and a King who has suffered and has promised to be with us in our suffering. As beautiful as this truth is, there is still more we can glean from this story today. Here are a few take aways concerning suffering that I hope will be helpful to you.

  1. When you suffer, submit your fear to the promises of God.

What fear have you been struggling with that is attempting to drown out the promises of God? Fear is a very powerful thing. Israel was terrified standing in front of the Red Sea with the Egyptians breathing down their necks. I imagine Noah felt some level of terror when the flood began. What kind of fear do you think Job felt when he learned that his children were all murdered?

I bet Daniel was terrified when he got tossed into a den of lions. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had to be overwhelmed with fear as they were thrown into the fiery furnace. The disciples were terrified as they watched Jesus being crucified. Jesus was filled with fear when he sweat blood the night before his death.

The things we see in the physical world we live in can cause absolute terror to overtake our hearts. Our minds can imagine very real threats against our lives and livelihoods in realistic ways. But fear has a pattern of trying to drown out the victory that took place three days after the crucifixion.

The promise of everlasting life – free from suffering – is the anchor we need for weathering every storm of suffering this life brings upon us. God’s promises bring comfort to the fear that results from what we see. Whenever suffering comes knocking on the door of your life, you can either submit to that fear, or you can submit that fear to the promises of God – especially the promise of eternity!

  • When you suffer, do not overestimate your enemy.

How often do you feel like your enemy is far too powerful, far too smart, far too relentless, for you to endure their attacks? While we might fall into the trap of underestimating our enemy sometimes, I think we all too often overestimate our enemy; we cower in fear or we tap out when we overestimate the power of our enemy.

The enemy may be innumerable, and it may be determined, and it may be ruthless, and it may be self-deceived; but when we overestimate our enemy, we underestimate the power and faithfulness of our God. When suffering shows up on the doorstep of your heart and life, you have to remember that we have been saved by and therefore serve a crucified, risen, and returning King who suffered in our place.

That bloody cross, and that empty tomb, and that promise of heaven is more than enough ammo to fight back against the temptation to overestimate the power of your enemies. When your enemy speaks words of condemnation and accusation that seems too powerful to stand against, remember the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven.

When your enemy comes against you with temptation, enticement, and hunger for sin, remember the power of that bloody cross, that empty tomb, and that promise of heaven. When death looms around the corner, taunting you with suffering, stand firm on the power of the bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven. By doing this, you will not overestimate the power of your enemy!

  • When you suffer, find safety on the Rock of Ages.

Where do you run for safety when suffering comes knocking on the doorstep of your life? Do you phone a friend, check out, tap out, or self medicate? One preacher said that when suffering showed up on the doorstep of his life that he had learned to say: “Welcome my slave! Come and do what you were designed to do!”

That posture is a posture of full surrender and trust in the invisible and sovereign hand of the God who loves us enough to allow and even to direct suffering into our lives for the sake of our sanctification so that we become more like our suffering Savior.

When suffering shows up on the doorstep of your heart and life, you have to remember that the invisible hand of God rescues and positions his chosen people smack dab on the Rock of Ages – the true Rock of Escape! Find safety on the Rock of ages my friends!

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, when suffering looms large in your eyesight, submit your fear to the promises of God, do not overestimate your enemy, and find safety in the Rock of Ages – the true Rock of Escape. By doing this, you will effectively endure suffering from one season to the next until you are brought into the everlasting arms of our Savior who suffered in your place on the hill of Calvary two thousand years ago.

He alone reigns supreme as the One who defeated Satan, Sin, and Death at that bloody cross and that empty tomb and who now has promised eternity to those who have trusted in him. He endured and he overcame so that we may endure and overcome with him throughout eternity! – Amen!!!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 John, Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 454.

3 Ibid., 455 – 456.

4 Ibid.