Conflict With Doubt Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. During a long flight from King Saul, David often doubted that God knew what he was doing. In the race of life, there is an answer for the doubt that robs us of the power to keep running. Today, how to face doubt and win.

From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, Paul said that now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. I'll bet David wished he could see God more clearly while on the run. Dave, you're absolutely right, and I've often thought of the verses of scripture that you referenced. We see through a glass darkly, but thank God we do see. We don't see as well as we wish we could. David didn't.

We don't either. And yet we find at the end of the day, God is there. Now at the end of this broadcast, I'm going to be sharing with you a verse of scripture that David wrote when he was running from Saul.

The reason that this passage of scripture is so important to me is that I quote it every single morning, and it's words that David wrote when he was running from King Saul. Let me ask you this question. Would you consider helping us in this ministry of running to win? Would you consider becoming what we call endurance partners?

These are people who stand with us regularly with their prayers and their gifts. Now here's what you do for more info. You go to rtwoffer.com. When you're there, you click on the endurance partner button.

That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Now keep asking yourself this question. What can we learn in the race of life during those dark times when we are running in fear, unable to see God? Conflict with doubt. Have you ever noticed how easy it is for us to slide into despair? And when we are in despair, it's very easy for us to make a mistake, a wrong decision in a panic, and we end up doing all kinds of things that we never dreamed we would do.

Happens all the time. Here's a man who is in debt, as many people are. You know what it's like to get those notices from credit card companies. So what he does is begin to gamble and he begins to gamble on small sports and small amounts, but that begins to increase and the more he gambles, the more money he loses, and the more he loses, the greater he must gamble to try to make up what he loses. And of course he makes a promise that all that he wants is his money back and then he'll quit. Tell me the old, old story. And pretty soon he's in a web of deceit and all kinds even of crimes.

Yep. And when he's arrested, everybody is shocked and he is too. He can't believe he'd have done such a thing and it began with one of those small steps in a moment of despair when there was no faith but manipulation to get himself out of the mess. Or here's a young woman who perhaps has decided that time seems to be passing her by, opportunities for marriage seem to be limited, and she begins to date a man which in her heart she knows she should not do. But after all, times are hard.

There's been a crop failure. What does she do? She goes against her better judgment and pretty soon she's involved in a relationship much more deeply than she ever dreamed and all kinds of problems in her life begin to snowball. It's an old story. But you know what happened to David too. One of the things about the Bible is that it is very honest regarding its characters. In fact, sometimes when we preach on David, we like to sanitize him. We like to make sure that he comes out the way we would like to see him and not the way he was. But in the Old Testament, David is painted very realistically.

We do not have a man that we can always look up to. In fact, there are lessons that we have to learn from his life because of his failures and because of his backslidings and that's the kind of message I'm going to preach to you today in this fourth message in the series on the life of David. So take your Bibles if you would please and turn to 1 Samuel chapter 21. 1 Samuel chapter 21 and I need to remind you that there's so much in his life that we are leaving out. It would be wonderful if we had time to look at his friendship with Jonathan for example and here was Jonathan who was a son of King Saul theoretically next in line to the king and yet being willing to give all that up for a friendship with David and being willing to stand against his father in defense of David.

It is truly one of the most beautiful examples of friendship in all the Bible. Now if you were here last time you know that we emphasize the difference that there was between Saul and David regarding their understanding of the kingdom. David knew that the kingdom belonged to God and that's why he would not kill Saul though he had two opportunities to do so.

If the kingdom is God's he can give it to whomsoever he wishes and what we need to do is to wait until God's will becomes plain. Even though David was anointed he did not usurp Saul's authority. Saul meanwhile thought that the kingdom was his. He hung on to that kingdom and because he believed that the kingdom was his he was willing to kill David to make sure that he would keep the kingdom and even more than that try to kill his own son Jonathan when he began to see that Jonathan became a friend of David's. You have to understand that the struggle was not just political it was also a family struggle because David had married Michael, Saul's daughter and therefore he was being hunted and hounded by his father-in-law Saul who six times tried to pin him against a wall and tried to kill him. And David discovers that it's one thing to take care of Goliath that's very easy. All that he needed to do is to get that sling and put a stone in the sling and Goliath fell but God very wisely and interestingly substituted Saul for Goliath and Saul would not go away.

We're talking about 10 long years of being hunted like a partridge hunting a mouse in the desert. And that's why David began to get weary of it. He was hungry. He looked at his environment and he began to see that there was no hope that he would ever be united with his family.

It didn't look like it. And so in a panic he began to do some desperate things and today all that we're going to do is to paint two pictures of David. Two pictures. One picture is David in panic and as we shall see another one is David in prayer and then we shall give the lessons that are explosive and life-changing for us today. First of all David in panic first Samuel chapter 21 your Bibles are open. He comes to Nob which is north of Jerusalem to Ahimelech the priest and he comes trembling to meet David and said to him why are you alone and no one with you? And the first thing that David does now as he begins to slide into unbelief and spiritual darknesses number one David tells a lie. He tells a lie. David said to Ahimelech the priest the king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you with which I have commissioned you and I have directed the young men to a certain place. All lies. He did not have other men with him.

He was not on special assignment. All of that was made up because of the pressure of the situation and he said to the priest would you give me some of the bread that has been consecrated. It was bread that was replaced. It was the bread on the table of showbread within the sanctuary. It was like the bread that we have at communion special bread.

Consecrated bread. And what happens is the priest gives him five loaves of bread and David takes it and at last he has something to eat. Now let me ask you a question did David do what was right?

In the 12th chapter of Matthew Jesus Christ's disciples are going through the fields you remember and they are eating grains of corn and the Pharisees say you're not supposed to thrash on the Sabbath day. And Jesus said wait a moment you remember David when he was hungry he went into the tabernacle area and it is there that he took five loaves of bread from the table of showbread and Jesus was approvingly speaking of David's actions. Of course what Jesus was referring to is the fact that the bread itself though it was sanctified it was much more important to use that bread to save a life than it would be to keep it from David and so he's saying David did not sin by eating the bread. But I don't believe that Jesus Christ approved of the lie that David told within that context.

Christ would not approve of that. You see it was not the bread that David ate that is the problem that was okay it was the lie that he told and the way in which in a panic he did what was wrong and as a result it did not help him at all as a matter of fact this began to lead to other kinds of sins. Now if you have read the book the day America told the truth you know that America seldom tells the truth. You know that lying is simply a part of the human race. Time magazine had an article about speech and lying and it pointed out that most people lie every day. I hope that's not true of you and me but most people lie every day. People lie on applications because they need to get the job. People lie when they are discovered when they steal something and they are being exposed when they're involved in an immoral relationship. They lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie to cover their sins and God hates lying. Says that the liars are outside of the kingdom and the liars are outside of the city of Jerusalem. David told a lie but it doesn't stop there. Secondly he believes a lie.

He believes it. Now I might say that when all this was going on and the discussion was happening between David and the priest that someone was listening other than God. It says in verse 7 now one of the servants of Saul was there that day detained before the Lord and his name was Doeg the Edomite the chief of Saul's shepherds.

Some people think that he was really the head of Saul's secret service and in a few moments we're going to discover that the fact that this man overheard the conversation had an incredible an incredible negative consequence when he told Saul about this but just hang on to that for a moment. David has told a lie now he begins to believe one. He says to the priest verse 8 now is there not a spear or a sword on hand for I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's matter was urgent and the priest said well the sword of Goliath of Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah behold it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod if you would take it for yourself take it for there is no other except it here and David said there is none like it give it to me.

Now you have to understand that after David killed the giant they took the sword of the giant and they put it there in the temple area as kind of a museum piece to remind people of the greatness of the victory that God had accomplished and now David asks for Goliath's sword. Maybe that wasn't so wrong but a man who had lied is now going to depend upon a weapon to keep him from King Saul and it seems to me that David is far away from 1st Samuel 17 where he said to Goliath I come to you in the name of the Lord God of hosts whose armies you have defied. Now David's going to depend upon the sword.

He depended upon a lie and now he depends upon a sword. Now notice what happens next is quite terrifying to us who have such an image of David as being above reproach except of course for the incident with Bathsheba. Normally people know only that about David's failures but notice it says in verse 10 then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. He told a lie he believed a lie now he's going to live a lie. David what in the world are you doing in Philistine territory? What are you doing at the headquarters of where Goliath used to hang out? He goes to Achish king of Gath and the servants of Achish they recognize him as David and they say isn't this the one about whom people dance saying Saul has slain his thousands and David's his tens of thousands and David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath so he disguised his sanity before them and acted insanely in their presence in their hands and scribbled on the door and or the gate rather and let his saliva run down onto his beard and Achish said to his servants behold you see the man behaving like a madman why do you bring him to me do I lack mad men that you have brought this one to act this way in my presence shall this one come to my house? You see you have to understand as David was playing on the fact that the ancients sometimes did not they did not deal with madmen in honor of the gods they believed that such a person was perhaps under the control of some deranged god and they didn't want to have anything to do with him so Achish said don't bring him to me just just let him scrawl on the gate and let him spit on his beard but you and I look at this and we say David how could this be anointed of the lord king in waiting the one who gave us so many of the psalms David what are you doing with that wild look in your face with that disheveled appearance and with the spit running onto your beard David why are you scrolling on those walls surely a man of god surely a man of god should not be doing this listen to me carefully David lost his integrity and when he lost his integrity he lost his dignity he lost his dignity wasn't it sir Walter Scott who said oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive well after this David goes into the cave of a dolom and many people have somewhat facetiously suggested that the cave of a dolom reminds them of some independent churches you'll notice it says in verse two and everyone who was in distress everyone who was in debt everyone who was discontented gathered to him and he became captain over them now there were about 400 men with him thankfully by the way this is not true of of moody church and most churches it's just that there are some times when there are those who are discontented who gather elsewhere and David then stayed there in the stronghold of ingedi in the cave of a dolom and there he was i want you to know that when he was acting out and when he was having this experience David wrote three songs he wrote three songs psalm 34 which we shall look at in a moment psalm 52 when he received the terrible news that el himalek who had helped him and 85 a total of 85 priests were wiped out by Saul remember i told you doeg was there waiting in the wings and he overheard this conversation between David and the priest and later on Saul becomes angry and he says nobody's on my side where is everybody when i need them why don't people cooperate with me in my attempt to destroy David and he went on and on and doeg who was a politician who cared not for truth or integrity doeg told Saul what he overheard and Saul becomes angry this is chapter 22 verse 17 and the king said to the guards who were attending him turn around and put the priests of the lord to death because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and they did not reveal it to me but the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the lord and the king said to doeg the one who had squealed on David turn around and attack the priests and that day he killed 85 men and now notice david's grief abiathar is the only one who escapes and comes and tells david while david is in the cave verse 21 abiathar told david that Saul had killed the priests of the lord and david said to abiathar i knew that on that day when doeg the edomite was there that he would surely tell soul i have brought about the death of every person in your father's household david of course did not do the killing but he felt a sense of responsibility because of what had happened david in panic we've painted the picture for you doing all the wrong things turning all the wrong directions but now let us look very briefly at david in prayer david in prayer turn to psalm 34 and you'll notice in psalm 34 it says in the superscription of the psalm a psalm of david when he feigned madness before abimelech who drove him away and he departed i want you to notice that a person who loves god is crying to god even when he is going through times of distress even when he's doing some things wrong he still desires the approval of god he's still crying up to god and i believe that this is the prayer that david prayed after he left and he went to the cave of adalem once he was there in the cave and he began to reflect upon what he had done and he knew he had done wrong notice david begins by saying i will bless the lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul shall make its boast in the lord the humble shall hear it and rejoice all magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together we've used this psalm often in worship and probably have forgotten its context verse 8 oh taste and see that the lord is good how blessed is the man who takes refuge in him oh fear the lord you his saints for to those who fear him there is no want the young lions do lack and suffer hunger but they who seek the lord shall not be in want of any good thing let's skip to verse 19 many are the afflictions of the righteous but the lord delivers him out of them all he keeps all of his bones not one of them is broken evil shall slay the wicked and those who hate the righteous will be condemned the lord redeems the soul of his servants and none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned praise god david's back where he belongs he's back in fellowship with god well at the beginning of this broadcast i mentioned to you that i was going to reference some verses of scripture that i quote every single morning and now you already know what those verses are psalm 34 i will bless the lord at all times his praise shall continually be in my mouth my soul shall make its boast in the lord the humble shall hear it and rejoice oh magnify the lord with me and let us exalt his name together i quoted those verses this morning i plan to quote them once again tomorrow morning before i begin my other scriptures god was teaching david some lessons that he needed to learn even as he was running from an enemy you know i'm so thankful for the ministry of running to win actually we say that it is in 20 different countries in radio but because of the internet it goes around the world and you my friend have a part in this ministry i'm holding in my hands a letter from someone listening in peru he says i'm 24 years old and i thank the lord for allowing me to find your ministry your teaching has given me a different perspective and now i can see this life with different eyes lies that i believed and fears that i had have been replaced by the truth of the word of god you my friend have a share in such testimonies would you consider becoming an endurance partner that's someone who stands with us regularly with their prayers and with their gifts of course the amount that you give is entirely your decision and you need more info you can go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or you can call us at 1-888-218-9337 in my mind i like to think of endurance partners as those who join the running to win family it's because of people like you we can receive testimonies from peru and other countries around the world well let me give you that contact info again go to rtwoffer.com of course as you might guess rtwoffer is all one word rtwoffer.com when you're there click on the endurance partner button or if you wish call us at 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 north LaSalle boulevard Chicago illinois 60614 running to win is all about helping you find god's roadmap for your race of life far from god david is a prisoner of doubt pastor erwin lutzer has brought part one of conflict with doubt the fourth message in a series on growing through conflict a study in the life of king david next time we learn more about david's dark time of doubt this is dave mccallister running to win is sponsored by the moody church