I. David Sought Refuge In The Wrong Place 29:1-11

A. David’s Backstory Of Good

1. David lived a life of faith as a young boy. He faithfully served his father as a shepherd.

2. He demonstrated tremendous faith and courage when he fought and killed Goliath.

3. David was recruited into Saul’s service and gained great successes in the military.

4. David ministered to Saul through the playing of music. The music drove demons away.

5. God chose David to succeed Saul as king, due to Saul’s disobedience.

6. Because of Saul’s jealousy, David was forced to leave home and run for his life.

7. As Saul hunted David, David had two opportunities to kill Saul but didn’t.

8. Up to this point, David had trusted God to take care of him.

B. David’s Wrong Choices

1. David faltered when he joined the Philistines for protection and for relief from having to run. (See 1 Samuel 27:1, 2)

2. He forgot about God’s protection and began trusting in man.

3. His alliance with the enemy caused him to be willing to fight against God’s people.

4. He sought the approval of an enemy of God. He was calling God’s people “the enemy”.

5. Vs. 4, 5 David had a reputation as a Philistine killer.

a. The Philistines reasoned that David could easily restore his position in Israel if he turned against the Philistines in the heat of the battle.

b. Now he is vowing to fight for them but is rejected by most of them.

c. He is, for the moment, a man without a country, and without a people.

d. NOTE- This is a picture of a compromised Christian life.

e. Not fully being in either the camp of the believers, or of the unbelievers.

6. Vs. 7, 8 How sad that David is seeking the approval of an ungodly man.

7. Vs. 9-11 God intervened and kept David from committing this great sin.

a. If David would have fought against Israel, he could have never been king over them.

b. David would have been seen as a traitor. He would have forfeited his calling.

C. Application For Us

1. NOTE- This speaks of our need to be careful throughout our entire life.

2. It also speaks to the fact that fear and unfair circumstances can lead us astray.

3. None of the events that led to David’s bad decisions were his fault.

4. Nevertheless, he allowed those unfair events to lead him away from the Lord.

II. Bad Consequences & A Return To God

A. David In Ziklag 30:1-5

1. David had been living in Ziklag; it had been awarded to him by Achish, a Philistine king.

2. Ziklag– a border town, in between Israel and the region of the Philistines.

3. The Ziklags in our lives- Border towns where we can do great good, or great harm.

a. Good- we need to reach out to people who don’t know Jesus.

b. Bad-Border towns can be places where we compromise and find wrong support.

4. David made Ziklag a place of compromise, not a place of furthering God’s kingdom.

5. While David has been out aligning himself with the enemy, he put his own family and the other families at risk. We are not properly taking care of our families if we are aligning ourselves with the enemy and trusting man instead of God.

B. David Pivoted Back To God 30:6-8

1. V. 6 This is the key verse, the pivotal verse in this passage.

a. While David was in danger from Saul, he could at least have the comfort of knowing that that danger wasn’t a result of his own decisions.

b. Not only is he suffering the pain of all these families being in danger…

c. But he realizes that it has been his fault because he did not trust the Lord.

d. This is a lower point for David than he ever had when he was being chased by Saul.

2. This is where David finally shows that he is a man after God’s heart.

a. It took much pain and sorrow to bring him to this point of realization and repentance.

b. But David finally returned to the Lord. He strengthened himself in the Lord.

c. He began once again to seek the Lord.

3. Guzik- Observation: in a very short time, David will become king as Saul dies in battle. Do you see that the last five minutes (or five hours, or five days, or five months) of waiting for God’s promise are the most dangerous? It is then that you will be most severely tempted to compromise. Satan makes his biggest play right before God will bring us into what He has for us. Satan was planning to destroy David before he could become king, and the father of the Messiah.

a. Satan temped Jesus at the end of his fasting, when he was most vulnerable, and right before the trial for Jesus would end. (Luke 4:1-3)

4. Vs. 7, 8 Notice how quickly God speaks to David.

a. When we return to the Lord, He is ready to speak to us. No period of punishing.

b. He had punished himself. God was ready to get back to His plan for David’s life.

c. God is quick to forgive us and bring us back to that place where He wants us to be.

d. We must turn back to the Lord and quit depending upon ourselves or upon others.

5. We go back to reading His word and allowing it to cleanse our thinking and values.

a. We go back to a life of prayer. Devotional prayer; daily prayer; constant prayer.

b. We re-join God’s people. To fellowship with them, to talk, pray, share, listen.

c. Most importantly…We choose to do God’s will no matter what.

d. Revelation 2:4, 5a Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works…

C. David’s Return Brings God’s Blessings 30:9-

1. Vs. 9-15 This Egyptian servant had become ill, and in his master’s mind, wasn’t worth the trouble of taking care of. He had been left in the wilderness to die.

a. That is often the mindset of the world: when you are no longer useful, you are left behind. We see David and his men taking care of this man before they realized he was any help to them. We see the changed heart of David.

b. It turned out to be a benefit for David and his men. It pleases God when we help others.

2. Vs. 16-19 God protected all that David and his men had.

a. God led them to the Amalekites quickly, so that they recovered their families and goods.

3. Vs. 20-23 David properly gave glory to God in this matter. David’s godly thinking brought godly perspective and godly leadership and counsel to all involved.

4. Vs. 24, 25 This is true of all of God’s work, and among all his people.

a. Missions, evangelism, teaching, building, outreach, etc.

5. Vs. 26-31 David is ingratiating himself with God’s people once again.

a. Just earlier, he was ready to fight against them.

b. He has been humbled by his sin, and has turned back to God, and to God’s people.

c. David had been treated very unfairly, and it finally got to him.

d. He backslid and joined the people of this world.

e. He found emotional and physical protection with unbelievers, but it corrupted him and endangered his family.

f. After suffering the consequences of his sinful choices, he turned back to God and God quickly forgave him and began the restoration process. David would be king!