Category: 1 Samuel (Page 1 of 3)

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?

As we dive into the passage before us today, I think it is important to see David as a servant as he serves a city who is under attack from the enemy, and as he subsequently serves that same city by leaving when he learns that his enemy, Saul, is about to attack the city because David is there. Serving God’s people is not for the faint of heart. It requires grit and grace.

As we jump back into our study of 1 Samuel today, we find David still running from King Saul as well as the Philistines whom he had tried to find shelter with, in the last chapter. God’s chosen king is running for his life; he is suffering in ways that seem foreign to our modern understanding of Christianity which treats Jesus like a gene in a bottle and treats the church like a gumball machine.

I must admit that I felt really puzzled, the first time I read this passage in preparation to preach it to all of you. It struck me as a really weird passage of Scripture. I honestly could not get past David’s seeming stupidity as he sought refuge with Israel’s greatest enemies.

In our passage today, we find David, running for his life from king Saul. He has just learned in Chapter 20, that Saul is in fact, still on the warpath, ready to murder David at the first chance he gets. I imagine that David had held onto a small shred of hope that king Saul would have come to his senses and relented from his evil, hate-filled, mindset towards him, but his best friend, Jonathan had just confirmed that nothing had changed and that he better run for his life.

Rejecting evil and choosing Christ is the general theme I want to work with today as we study this passage of Scripture. In our passage, Jonathan executes a plan to discern his father’s true intentions towards David and then he ultimately chooses to embrace David to keep him safe as he rejects his own father’s evil plans.

How often do you stop to think about your struggle with Satan, Sin, and Death against the backdrop of the finished work of Christ at the cross, the empty tomb, and His promise of heaven? How quickly are you able to identify the slimy, condemning words of Satan whispered in your ear? Have you trained your ears to pick up the tantalizing, tempting lure of Sin before it takes control of your heart? How are you doing in your resistance against the intimidating, terrorizing promises of Death’s taunting jabs?

Our passage today continues to describe the hatred that Saul had for David which we examined in our study last week. Even though Jonathan and all Israel loved David deeply, Saul could not stand him. Saul hated David so much, because the demonic presence that had overtaken Saul was violently opposed to the Spirit of God that was on David, that Saul tried to murder David twice with a spear (1 Sam. 18:10 – 11).

This passage is a description of the contrast between love and hate. The author wants us to see the difference between Jonathan’s love for David, Israel’s love for David, and Saul’s hatred of David. Love and hate are two very powerful emotions.

As we come to our final message in this four – part series on the story of David and Goliath, I am struck by the fact that many professing believers today do not experience victory over Satan, Sin, and Death on a progressive basis. I think this happens simply because we do not fully experience or as one commentator says fully appreciate the victorious work of Jesus at the bloody cross, and the empty tomb, in light of the promise of eternity.²