There are times we think, why is God doing this to me?
Well, God's not doing it to you.
Well, then, why is He letting it happen to me?
Well, I find that there's a lot of questions God does not answer. The instructions stand. It's like that in the military. You can go up to a general and say, what were you thinking? The beaches of Normandy, what was that about?
You don't even die there. I mean, you just don't do that. And these patterns and parallels, they exist and there's no way around them.
So you better find a way to work within them and make something happen to the glory of God. Yeah. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in 1 Samuel chapter 19 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. It's hard to find people that will stick with you no matter what. When I say no matter what, it doesn't mean you could just go and start slaughtering people. Don't worry, I'm still your friend.
But it does mean that there are those people in life that will stick with you. And they are loyal. They are noble. and they look for solutions, and they don't rush off and abandon someone whom they've drawn close to. And that is the story of Jonathan and David, and it is also the story of Saul and Jonathan his son.
And from this duty he never flinched. He will die atop of a mountain next to his father. Because he remained loyal to him. And yet he never lifted a finger against David or an evil word against David. He never contributed to anything that would have harmed David, not directly, indirectly.
It's okay, David. You can go back and play now. And I don't think Dad's going to throw any more spears at you.
Well, he was wrong. And so It says at the bottom of verse 2: Therefore, please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide. And so, having done nothing, David has to hide. He has to run for his life. He has nowhere to go yet, but it's not over.
Verse 3: And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. then what I observe I will tell you. And so there's the hope springing eternal. Let me talk to Dad. I think I can get through to him and point out you're actually a hero of Israel.
Not an enemy to the throne. and you know hope It combines expectations and desire, things that you want. and things that you think will happen. And this is where Jonathan was at this time. He says, Then I will observe and I will tell you.
So he's doing his best. to make things work right. to again come up with a solution. Saul will bring out the worst in everyone around him. He's just going to manipulate the situation and it won't work.
Verse 4. Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father. And said to him, Let not The king sinned against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you. and because his works have been very good toward you. Incidentally, on the subject of loyalty and duty, what good are the two if they don't work under pressure?
What good is being loyal to someone if you're going to not be loyal as soon as things get tough, when they need you to be there? It makes me turn a searchlight on myself too. Have I been disloyal? Have I been quick to abandon my station? when I should have stayed there.
and done more. I think we all should from time to time. Consider that.
Well, here Jonathan spoke well of David. You can just see the face of Saul. He could not object. He's hating it, but it's like nothing I can say to that. And so Jonathan is applying himself.
He's one of those people that is just, I'm gonna try to work this through. To lessen the hostilities between these two men that I love, and he loved his father. There's no indication he did not love his father. He just was stuck with them. It would have been nice if he was David's older brother.
That's not how it turned out. These are wonderful words, but they're wasted on a man like Saul. And Jonathan is going into naivete here that he thinks that dad is going to register.
Well, John's gospel. Chapter 18. Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why do you strike me? And so there's an example of Christ reasoning with those who are opposed to him, but they don't want to hear it either.
They're going to kill him. They've made up their mind, there's nothing he could do. He could have levitated all of them. They still would have, oh, after the levitation, tomorrow we're going to kill you. Because sin was that deeply set in them.
And it wasn't because. They were victims of sin. We're all victims of sin. They signed off on it. They turn their back.
To when God says, Come, let us reason, though your sins are red as scarlet, I will make them white as snow, they turn their back on that. And so reasoning is not Saul's problem. Sin is Saul's problem. This is internal. He's stiff necked.
And this will be temporarily effective, but it will backfire and Balloon. It will get worse. Verse 5. For He took his life, he's talking about David to Saul, for he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine. And Yahweh Brought about a great deliverance for all Israel.
You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood? to kill David without a cause.
So, I got to cause things in a few verses earlier because there's just so much to keep on, you got to kind of spread it out.
So he says, basically, he's saying it's one thing. For David to kill Goliath in defense of the nation, it's another thing for you to kill David. That's murder. And you know it. He's saying it.
He's diplomatic about how he's presenting this. He's saying, Dad, you were there. He killed the Philistine. Nobody else wanted to do that. Why would you want to hurt the hero of Israel?
You saw it and you rejoice, he says. Why hound the innocent? But then he adds: Why then will you sin against innocent blood?
Well, this goes back to Deuteronomy 19. You know, this is murder. And it's going to bring guilt. That's what he's trying to say, to kill David without a cause. It's going to bring guilt on you.
End us. Acts chapter 10. Peter preaching. He says How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth. With the Holy Spirit.
and with power. Who went about doing good in healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. whom they killed by hanging on a tree. He did all these good deeds, and what did he get in the end?
You killed him. They had such a difficult task, those apostles. To preach the deity of Christ without sounding like they were preaching idolatry, they had this task. That the Holy Spirit sort of just Carried them through. All they had to do was be witnesses of what they knew they saw in Christ, and that's what they did.
And it worked, and the church is here to this day. And wherever the church is being the church, Her message is powerful. Even if the people are not, the people have problems. All of us have one problem or another. At some point in time, we have problems.
Yet the message never has problems whenever it's preached as it is supposed to be preached. And we do well to remember that. Should we face direct persecution, we do well to remember it is the message we ought to deliver no matter what. And persecution comes in so many ways. Subtle and Indirect.
Verse 6: So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore: As Yahweh lives, he shall not be killed. When I hear Saul talk, I wonder is Is he sober? I mean, because it's just, he's so erratic. He's just so all over the place. He's mood swings, he's all messed up in his head.
And he's given into it. I mean, you can be messed up in your head and not give into it, or you can be messed up and. Just let it sort of take over your life, which is what he did.
Well, he's encouraging his son Jonathan with a false hope. Jonathan thinks, you know, he's like Neville Chamberlain. He's coming back from Germany. I've got to sign a treaty. Hitler's going to be our friend.
That ain't gonna happen. Saul, he's saying, okay, you got me. I can't give you a reason why I hate David so much, I want to kill him.
Okay, I'll behave. But his fingers are behind his back, crossed. He's a shallow man, he's a liar, and he's a heartless murderer. And soon He won't tolerate such conversations. He's just getting darker, it's the Dorian Gray kind of picture, you know, just getting darker and darker with each move he makes.
And this happens to this day in people, especially those who are. Very evil. And Saul, it says here in verse 6, swore: as the Lord lives, as Yahweh lives, he shall not be killed. He's again invoking Yahweh's name, and coming from him it means nothing. He is beyond compromised.
He is demonized. Not demon-possessed. Because Satan, I think, has a, you know, it hasn't been stated outright that David's going to be the line by which Messiah shall come. He knows he's from Judah. And he's getting the suspicions.
That the formation of this line is taking place in David. This is my take on this. And it explains to me a lot of what's going on. Because Satan doesn't want to overplay this. If Saul becomes Two.
demonic, they'll deal with him like they did with Nebuchadnezzar. and he'll be out of the picture and David will not be persecuted. And so there's this demonic balance. The strategic attempt To kill David through the king without having the king go overboard. And that's how the story works out.
You may object to that, and that's fine. That's why I'm telling you. This is as I'm looking at this, you know, I'm always asking myself, I would think you would too: why is this happening like this? Why am I given this story? What do I see here that's real to life?
And what can I do with it? And when I try to get all of those lined up. On every single verse. And then try to go do it. And say to God as the years roll by in our Christian service, no matter what, God, I just want to be useful to you.
I just want to be spent useful to you. And I cannot, I don't have it. But you do. And that's good because that means I'll never feel in possession of it. than always dependent upon The Lord.
as we are for food, shelter and clothing. which can be destroyed too. That can be twisted. Prisons give you food, shelter, and clothing and is still prison.
So the application of truth is vital. Anyway, verse 7. Then Jonathan called David and Jonathan, Told him all these things.
So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past. Jonathan's got this big smile. He's just happy. He's got his dad and his beloved friend shaking hands, and this life's going to be great. And you feel for Jonathan.
Because it's not going to happen. You can be brave on the battlefield and still a bit naive. And on the other hand, you can't blame him. You wanted Jonathan to be a peacemaker. Blessed are the peacemakers, they should be called the sons of God.
And he's doing just that.
So David is now back. They pick up where they left off.
Soothing Saul with music, which didn't work the first time. Either David was really bad at music, and Saul wanted to kill him for it, or Saul is insane with sin, and that's really what it is: the maniac king. And I have a saying, I don't know, I picked it up somewhere in life. Maybe you picked it up somewhere else. But If you want the same results, just keep doing the same things.
And they're back to doing the same thing. and they're going to get the same results.
Now, application, as I mentioned, application of truth is vital. There are times where you have to know how to apply the truths, which is the whole. Exercise from the book of Proverbs. As to how to apply the wisdom. That is being shared because it's not cookie cut.
You have to pay attention, you have to participate, and you cannot jettison truth and integrity and duty and loyalty and love. There are many tools that must go into that box to make you and me successful or more successful at serving the Lord. And so here's Jonathan, brave, loyal, hopeful. Unrealistic in this matter, but optimistic. And if you listened, You can hear a ticking noise.
coming from Saul. It's the bomb. He's a time bomb. Yeah I remember in ninth grade I had a friend Wade.
So, Wade, what did the teacher say when she talked to you about your report? She said, Wade says, You know what she said? She said it was a bit far-fetched. That was just a riot for the rest of the year. Anything that would happen, that's far-fetched.
And, well, that was Jonathan's hope for peace. It was a bit far-fetched, and it's quite comical. Anyway. Pretenders like Saul, they're always unstable on the inside. Outwardly, you know, they smile, they can be noble, sincere, until they're unmasked.
And Saul will do that. Verse 8. And there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow. And they fled from him. Yeah.
So back to normal. David resumes his tasks. He fulfills his assignments. He's faithful with the little things. He's faithful with the big things.
He's faithful. God is with David instead of with Saul. David is drawing closer to God. Saul is going further from God. And Everything David sets his hands to.
Right in front of Saul's face. God is with him and Saul hates him more for it. What would the story have been if Saul became a man of God. All history would have changed. But you can't get caught up in life like that.
With, you know, what if this and what if that, but just hounds you. You just have to work with what you have, and that's the story. For example, when Jesus took the fish and the bread and multiplied them, he worked with what he had from a divine standpoint, and then he handed them to the disciples, and they worked with what he gave them. And that's how the story went. Verse 9: Now the distressing spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul, and he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing music.
With his hand, there it is again. When I get to heaven, I'm going to ask David, could you play the harp in any other way than with your hand?
Well, I guess he could say, well, it was the flute. A moniker with the little bar, if he was also playing a drum okay. I had to do that just to take a little break because this is kind of intense. And I have to tell you, sometimes when I'm preaching in the pulpit, I can sense Satan talking to me. with a distracting thought and is usually just stupid and unnecessary.
And it's nice to just break off for a moment and then come back fresh. Anyway, verse 9, the distressing spirit is back. The consequence of disliking God. That's the key. It's not just all just, you know, I'm just going to do my own.
He disliked God. And David loved God. And so the demons are hounding him. He says, with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the music with his hand. What a contrast, right?
One has a spear in his hand, the other's trying to play a soothing note. But there's so much here. He's got a spear in his hand, he's in his own house, in his own palace. It's like he takes his pistol out and he's twirling it while David's playing music. Seriously, you're saying, why is he weaponizing himself in the safest place on earth for him?
This is the safest place in the world that Saul can be in his own house. And yet he has a spear with him. 'Cause he's paranoid. Because the evil influences are taking over his head. And they think he's enjoying it.
It's spiritual, and that means it's internal. It's deep inside, it's in the heart. And so, if you were to say to Saul, you shall love the Lord your God, as it says in Deuteronomy 6. with all your heart and soul and your strength. Saul would have none of that.
David lived for that.
So, this is similar to the events back in chapter 18. We've been here before. And verse 10: Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he slipped away from Saul's presence, And he drove the spear into the wall, so David fled and escaped that night.
Well, what do you think? When he unholstered the pistol, somebody's going to get shot at with this guy. Anybody else, you can say, don't do that. It's saying that it's not a toy. Saul's there with a spear.
Why? This is the sixth Attempt. to kill David And the time bomb just went off.
So David fled and escaped that night, thinking, man, he's just sick. No, he's sinful. I don't know that David ever really really got it either. We look back, we get it. But David loved him and knew him, and they looked for reasons for him not to be what they were looking at.
You know, sometimes you just too up close to the event to see what's going on. And again, he deserved nothing to receive this treatment. He's not being punished by God, he's being punished by Saul. And that's another thing Christians learn from this story. There are times we think, why is God doing this to me?
Well, God's not doing it to you.
Well, then, why is He letting it happen to me?
Well, I find that there's a lot of questions God does not answer. The instructions stand. It's like that in the military. You can go up to a general and say, What were you thinking? The beaches of Normandy.
What was that about? You know how many men died there? I mean, you just don't do that. And these patterns and parallels exist and there's nowhere around them.
So you better find a way to work within them and make something happen to the glory of God. That's how I approach it.
Okay, I can't do anything about this, but I can do something about this. And so I'm going to focus on this one, and that one's going to just do what it's going to do. Unless unless I'm called into action and I can help. And this is the power of praising God outside of a mood. I don't feel like praising God.
I just lost my job. Or, I just did this, this just happened, or whatever. I'm not in the mood to praise God.
Well, that's where the battlefield is. And we all have to face that. If you're going to serve the Lord, You're going to have to do that. Or you're going to not serve effectively, and in time it will take more from you than it will give to you. You'll miss opportunities, and then you'll learn those hard lessons.
So try to skip them. and just remain strong no matter what. This is the making of a man of God. That's what's going on here. He's not the only one to face such situations.
We read Romans 8: you know, God causing all things to work together for the good. We read that, but I just don't want it to be happening to me under negative circumstances. But that's largely out of my hands. Hebrews chapter 5. Though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
Now, when we discussed Hebrews, I hope I made it clear that Jesus really didn't learn anything because he was divine. But He went through them. in front of us.
So we learn. by how he endured these things. How he faced these things, how he subjected himself. Any hardship Jesus faced, he's really the only human being, well, God in human form, he's the only one that genuinely subjected himself. to maltreatment.
The rest of us were born and we have to face these things. He could have just left. He could have just said, you know what, I'm not going to have this happen today. He could walk up to a tree and say, No fruit on you?
Okay, I put fruit on you.
So when you think about it that way at least when I do I'm encouraged by it. Our sense of justice wants Saul punished. But our sense of faith wants what God wants. And we can't go around Lord, shall we call down fire on this village? Because after you smoke that village, you get to the next one, you know they didn't have milkshakes there.
Let's call fire on them with, it just gets out of hand.
So Our sense of grace wants what God wants. We want the solution. We want reconciliation. And if we can't find reconciliation, we want victory under the circumstances. This is the lesson from the life of Joseph.
It's the lesson from the life of Jeremiah. It's the lesson from Romans 5.8, it's the lesson from Paul. I know how to abound, I know how to be a base, and all things I have learned. And that's Where we are supposed to go. I have cried out to God in frustration.
Well, I'm not Paul. I don't have his courage. I don't have his faith. And then get up and go do what I'm supposed to do. Uh I find it works better that way than Staying angry, especially with God.
Who has hardened himself against God? and prospered. Job asked. No one. And Saul is a walking example of hardening one's heart against God.
Verse 11. Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michelle, David's wife, told him, saying, If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.
Okay, so here's the seventh attempt to kill David. And these are not messengers, these are assassins.
So I mean maybe they do messages on the side, but on this night they were going to kill David. And he sent messengers to watch the house.
So now he's off the rails. You know, okay, I did it, Jonathan's way, and it didn't work. I still want to kill him. It's insane. He is obsessed.
with killing David. And now Jonathan is He knows this is done. Where it says, and Michelle David's wife told him, If you do not save your life tomorrow, you will be killed. She loved what she saw, the outside things of David. She loved that.
She loved his charm, you know, the way he cut onions up while she fried the meat, you know, things like that. They just. She liked them. But she did not care for David's heart being after God.
So again, we go forward to 2 Samuel.
Now, as the ark of Yahweh came into the city of David, Michelle, Saul's daughter, looked through the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before Yahweh, and she despised him in her heart. And then verse 20, then David returned to bless his household. And Michelle, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. She couldn't wait. She came out throughout.
She just. Venomous. Uh Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel.
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