Storm Clouds, Part 1

Forget the fact that you probably know the rest of this story, but for a moment or two, go back to this scene and try to put on David's sandals. You have not done anything wrong. You've obeyed orders. You began courageously for the glory of God. You're willing to play your harp whenever the king calls.

You're willing to lead men into battle without years of training, and you win victory for your nation and even greater security for the king, but then you get word that he wants to kill you. Obeying God doesn't keep you from facing difficult and stormy times. Have you found that to be true? You were living obediently, but were still facing difficulty? Certainly you've experienced pain or loss or trials, and those came when you were walking with God. David and Jonathan experienced that, and we're going to see that God sustained them and used their difficulties to teach them some important principles. This is wisdom for the heart. Stephen Davey is taking us to 1 Samuel as he continues his series on the life of David called The Singer.

The lesson you're about to hear is entitled Storm Clouds. Gary Richmond authored several devotional books. You ought to have them in your library. One's called A View from the Zoo. He also pastored along with Chuck Swindoll years ago in Fullerton and served as one of the zookeepers at the Los Angeles Zoo and wrote devotionals based on his observations and then made biblical applications to the things that he saw while working at the zoo.

I'll give you one of them. One afternoon he wrote all the staff received the exciting news that one of their female giraffes was about to deliver. It was unique to be able to observe that, so everybody on staff rushed to that area to watch the delivery.

You might have felt like that at the hospital when you delivered your baby. Everybody just kind of rushed into your room to watch it and then charged you for it, but at any rate, they were there to see it happen. It was quite a moment that would be unforgettable to Gary. He happened to be standing next to an old, experienced zookeeper who'd spent years in the wild of Africa witnessing these events firsthand. As they stood there watching, Gary wrote that, first of all, he was amazed because he learned female giraffes deliver standing up, which means the newborn giraffe has several feet to fall in this rather rude awakening. He said, we all watched with amazement as that sack of newborn legs and bones fell six feet to the ground below, just kind of lay there, wobbly headed, looking rather dazed in his new environment. He said, we stood there in sympathy for the poor little guys who looked around with those big brown eyes and wet eyelashes. The mother was watching her newborn for just a few minutes, and then to Gary's shock, she delivered a kick that literally bowled the baby over.

Gary said, hey, something's wrong. We've got to get in there and protect that newborn. The old zookeeper took him by the sleeve and said, no, wait. This is the way of the wild. That baby giraffe needs to learn how to stand up almost immediately.

It will be his only recourse against predators. So Richmond wrote, we all kind of held our breath as this baby giraffe stretched out its front legs, swaying from side to side. Then it finally pushed up off its haunches onto its back legs and stood there swaying, tottering with its head stretched out and down for balance, and we all cheered. Suddenly, the mother delivered another kick that sent the baby giraffe sprawling to the ground, rolling over several times. And Gary said, I've seen enough. We've got to get in there. And then a wizened old zookeeper caught him by the arm and said, no, no, no. I was expecting that too.

You see, this mother wants her newborn to remember how it got up. I thought of that as I researched this passage to study it with you together. In fact, I also thought of the apostle Paul and his own personal reference to his trials that never seemed to let up. In fact, I want you to begin by opening to 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, where you're given a rather transparent, emotional inside look at his personal testimony as he carries about the gospel of Christ's death and resurrection. He writes to the Corinthians there in 2 Corinthians, chapter 4 and verse 8, these rather amazing words of transparent emotion. He says, we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed. Each verb, by the way, is simply loaded with emotion. We are, he says at verse 8, the beginning again, afflicted.

The word refers to being subjected to incredible pressure. But he adds, we're not crushed. That is, we're not broken apart. We're perplexed. That word means we are at our wits end. Aren't you glad, by the way, that Paul didn't have it all figured out either?

In fact, I read that again and I can't imagine. Can you imagine getting a missionary prayer letter back from Paul as he's on his missionary journey? Hey, how's Paul? You're asked. Well, I don't know. He's saying here in his letter he's at his wits end. He can't figure out the ministry. Maybe we ought to rethink our missionary support.

Well, he's just being honest. He says, we are perplexed, but not driven to despair. That is, not given over totally to despondency. Then he writes, we are persecuted.

That word means literally we're hunted down like wild animals. But, he adds, not forsaken. That is, we're not abandoned as we flee.

We know God's with us. Then he says, we're knocked down, struck down. It's a word used in Paul's day for a wrestler being thrown to the mat. We've been thrown to the mat, he says, but not destroyed or literally not defeated. So if I could read that again just with those verbs expanded, Paul is saying we are subjected to severe pressure, but not broken apart. We're at our wits end, but not entirely despondent.

We're being hunted down like animals, but we know we haven't been abandoned in our flight and we've been thrown to the mat time and time again, but we have not been pinned in defeat. Evidently, God brought Paul and you, me, to life. He wants us to stand and it seems as if he wants us to remember how.

If you want an Old Testament testimony of every one of these verbs, you can find all of them in 1 Samuel chapters 19 and 20. So I'll just go back there as we rejoin our study in the biography of Israel's famous singer and future king. Now if you've been with us thus far, the plot has begun to thicken.

In fact, just the first sentence spells dark clouds that are gathering now more than ever before. 1 Samuel chapter 19 verse 1, and Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants, that is all of his staff, palace guard, officials, everyone, that they should kill David. Now keep in mind up to this point, Saul has been trying to manipulate it so that David dies and Saul doesn't get the blame. He's put him in charge of a small unit of soldiers hoping the Philistines would kill him. He says, look, to his servants, if you want to marry my daughter, go kill a hundred Philistines and bring me undeniable proof that you killed some Gentiles. And on another occasion or two, he throws his spear at David right in the middle of a harp concert. And people, including David, assumed that, well, he's just having one of his maniacal fits or spells. All along, Saul has been hoping to see that David gets killed, but somehow David just won't die. So now at chapter 19 verse 1, the mask comes off.

All the pretense is put away. He orders a hit on David's life and he basically says, anybody that can kill him, go for it. Anybody on my palace staff, palace guard, soldiers, servants alike, including you Jonathan, kill him.

I want him dead. Now Jonathan's response is twofold. The first thing he does in verse 2 is warn David. Look there.

Jonathan told David, Saul, my father seeks to kill you. Therefore, be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. Now stop for a moment.

Forget the fact that you probably know the rest of this story. But for a moment or two, go back to this scene and try to put on David's sandals. You have not done anything wrong. You've obeyed orders.

You've kept your nose clean. You began courageously for the glory of God. You're willing to play your harp whenever the king calls. You're willing to lead men into battle without, you know, years of training.

And you win victory one after another for your nation and even greater security for the king. But the king is, you know, acting strange. He doesn't keep his promises.

He throws spears. He's just, you know, during one of those maddening episodes. But then, if all you know is what David knows, you get word that he wants to kill you. You're not given any explanation of why, but he wants to lop off your head. In fact, the king's own son warns you to go play, hide and seek, but it's for real.

Make sure you can't be found. During this exact period in David's life, he begins scratching out the lyrics to a song. In fact, I want you to write in the margin of your Bible somewhere in chapter 19 or 20 of 1 Samuel, the text, Psalm 59.

It comes right out of this period in David's life, and it opens with David saying, deliver me from my enemies, oh my God. Protect me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men. Now, keep in mind he's being hunted by bloodthirsty men not because he's done something wrong but because he's done something right, or at least he knows he hasn't done anything wrong. He's not hiding as he will in our next study. In some damp cave, you'll find him there because he missed the will of God somewhere. No, he's hiding because he is in the center of the will and purpose of God.

This is about the time you might throw up your hands and say, somebody get in there and help him out. Life isn't fair. He's trying to do the right thing and it isn't paying off. Saul is on his throne and David is shivering in some cave, hiding for his life, and he scribbles out in Psalm 59, the powerful are against me and not because of my sin, oh God.

I haven't done anything wrong. Now, while David is having that kind of conversation with the Lord, which maybe you're having even today, you'll notice the second thing Jonathan does is confront his father, King Saul. Look at verse four. And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, let not the king sin against his servant David because he has not sinned against you because his deeds have brought good to you. For he took his life and his hand and he struck down the Philistine and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?

And again, we could stop and turn the focus of our study on the life of this young man of great courage and integrity, Jonathan. Did you notice how many times he refers to his father's actions boldly, plainly as sin? I mean, that's not a very popular word today.

This isn't a bad choice. This isn't, you know, the reflection of a low self-image. This isn't an indiscretion. This isn't some kind of moral lapse. Jonathan says, hey, dad, why in the world do you want to sin? For that kind of courage today, to call something wrong, sin. Couldn't help but think again that David fought an evil giant named Goliath one day.

Jonathan has been living with one every day and he doesn't pull any punches. Evidently, Saul feels the conviction of this bold encounter, verse 6, and Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul promised as the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. Saul has a way of forgetting his promises, but for now, David is able to come out of hiding. Now, if I can summarize the next few verses, you have the same pattern repeating itself all over again.

You have another successful military campaign led by David. You have another despairing, convicting episode that leads to violence by Saul. You've got another close shave with a spear and David, verse 10, the latter part records of him that he fled and escaped that night.

In fact, sometime you ought to just go back through this and circle every time you read the word flee or fled or escaped or ran. This time it'll be for good. If you're keeping a list, there are at least four treasures that David will lose throughout these next verses. In fact, if you notice, first of all, David just lost his position. With that, his standing before the people, his leadership over the army, his life in the king's palace, his financial future, and that's just the beginning. Secondly, let me point out that he's going to effectively lose his wife. Now, in the next paragraph, David races home.

He eludes Saul's spear. Michael, the king's daughter, now his wife, hadn't been that long, warns him, verse 11, the latter part, if you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. She knows her father well.

She's heard the promises. She's watched them broken time after time again and she knows now that her father isn't going to stop until David is dead. Now, what she does is devise a scheme where verse 13 tells us she places an idol that's there in the house in bed, puts goat's hair around like a wig and clothing on it to make it look like a man, and then says David is effectively sick and he can't get out of bed. Now, frankly, I read that and the first question I have in my mind is, what's Michael doing with an idol in the house, an image, a statue?

The Hebrew word is teraphim. It's a household idol believed to bring good luck. That just kind of made me go off on a little tangent of study, but think about the fact that David has only recently married Michael. It may have come as a surprise to find out that she isn't like him, entirely, wholeheartedly given over to the worship of the one true and living God. We're not told, but more than likely, this is a grievous surprise for David to learn that when Michael moved in, she moved her idols in with her.

So she puts one of them out on the bed and covers it up. Saul orders in verse 13 or verse 15 his messengers to go get David, and if he can't get out of bed because he's sick, just bring the bed with you and him in it so I can kill him. It's only then that they discover Michael's deception. What happens next will be more devastating to David than Michael's good luck idol.

Notice how she responds to her father. Verse 17, Saul said to Michael, why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go so that he escaped? Remember, Jonathan said, look, he's not your enemy. He didn't sin against you.

Why are you going to sin against him? Michael says, well, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you?

In other words, what choice did I have, Daddy? He said he was going to kill me if I didn't go along with his plan and give him a head start. She effectively agrees that David is the enemy and now adds public slander to the reputation and integrity of her husband. She says he was going to kill me. He could be a murderer.

I'm glad you rescued me. If you track their relationship through the Scripture, you'll learn that things never are the same between them again. David has effectively lost his role, his position, his job, and he's now lost his wife. Maybe for you, it's a different version, different names, different characters, but those same storm clouds have gathered. Maybe recently. The sky was clear and the sun was out and suddenly storm clouds rolled in out of nowhere and blotted out the sun. Maybe you've walked in here today in the dark. You can understand perhaps for you it's been a while, but you're still haunted by the unfairness, the injustice, the dishonesty, the betrayal, the lies, the sin against your reputation.

Maybe you live in this town because you have effectively fled and you're starting over. You slip into this scene long enough to recognize that for David, here his heart would have been broken and I would see frustration and anger, but I would also see tears splashing down on his duffel bag as he packs his stuff in a hurry and with no time to really give anybody a decent goodbye. He crawls out a window and he runs.

He's going to run for a dozen years for doing the right thing. Now in verses 18 through chapter 20 and verse 1, David first runs to the only person who understands him. He doesn't run home. He doesn't run to his father, his mother. He doesn't run to his brothers.

You can just imagine a lyub saying, yeah, that's what I figured. I knew you'd be back. Can't run there. He runs to Samuel and when he meets him, can you just hear the pathos and agony in these words? Verse 18.

Now David fled and escaped and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him and he and Samuel went and lived in Niah. That old prophet will understand. Isn't that great?

Isn't it true? Have you perhaps with storm clouds overhead found somebody that you could tell the blessing of another believer, a friend, how sweet a spiritual mentor is, some older battle savvy life experienced individual. I remember talking to an old saint on one occasion and asking him about the firefight that he'd been in and how he felt and he said, well, these are old holes.

It's actually a dangerous thing to open up, isn't it? Paul opened up to the Corinthians with transparency and some are going to turn around and use it against him later, but Samuel was safe. What a blessing. I can imagine that when they connected, got back together, David, as the text indicates, poured out his heart and old Samuel listened and I'm sure they talked well into the night. In fact, they decided to share an apartment. It's easy to miss, but look at verse 18. It tells us they went and lived at Niah.

One archeological dig has given us a little insight into Niah. They found ancient remnants there of what we would call condominiums, houses built back to back sharing a wall, side to side, top to bottom. Many believe that these condominiums housed a number of the prophets of God and the context here seems to indicate that, all under the leadership of Samuel. So what you have is David reuniting with a spiritual mentor, moving in together and they're living now in an area where other men who love God live.

You can just feel David begin to catch his breath and stand back up. Now if I could summarize again the next few verses, Saul finds out where Samuel and David are living and he sends his palace police guard to arrest David and bring him back. When they arrive, God's spirit puts his word into their mouths and they begin to prophesy. It's almost comical, but you have these palace guards going down there to arrest David and they cannot help the spirit of God who overwhelms them and they become prophets. Saul sends three groups out like that.

The same thing happens. He sends out the palace guard and they come back ordained into the ministry. So Saul effectively says, you know, if you want to get something done, you got to go do it yourself, right? So Saul heads down there. Verse 23 says he shows up and the spirit of God overwhelms him and he preaches a sermon that will last for 24 hours. Isn't that great? Oh, never mind, okay?

24 hours. By the way, the text tells us he takes off his royal clothing. Old Testament scholars believe that that is the spirit of God impelling him to do what is effectively a symbol that he has indeed lost his kingly role. Now while Saul is preaching away, it gives David time to run. Verse 1 of chapter 20, there you have it again, David fled from Nihoth to Ramah.

Don't miss this here. David had finally found a place to rest. He'd found the kindred spirit.

He found people that loved God like he did. He's gotten back up on his feet and then, wham, kicked to the ground again. In fact, in this instance, David loses another treasure. He's lost his job, his wife and home and now he loses his spiritual mentor and leader. Listen, if there was ever a time when David was perplexed at his wits end, it would be now because he is. Now we're not told how but he finds Jonathan and as soon as he sees Jonathan, he just gushes out with his confusion and his frustration and his pain. He says in verse 1, what have I done?

What is my guilt? What is my sin before your father that he seeks my life? Verse 2, Jonathan basically says, David, you're misreading it.

I don't think my dad would want to kill you without telling me. Let's hold up to sort of a blind optimism here and that doesn't help. In fact, the last line of verse 3, David, it's as if he says, come on, Jonathan, truly wake up as the Lord lives and as your soul lives there is but a step between me and death. I'm like a hunted animal and one wrong step and I'm dead and I'm just staying one step ahead. Thanks for joining us today here on Wisdom for the Heart. This is the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davey. This lesson is not complete, but our time is just about gone. We'll bring you the conclusion to this lesson tomorrow. How would your life be impacted if you set aside a year to study God's word, grow in discipleship, take a study trip to Israel and earn your master's degree in theological studies?

Doing all of that in one year is possible. Stephen is the president of Shepherds Theological Seminary in Cary, North Carolina. That school offers a special program called Shepherds Institute where you can experience all that I just described. This unique one-year program offers a life-changing opportunity to all believers, no matter your vocation. We've had men and women join us right out of college and before entering the workforce. They spend a year in God's word, earn their master's degree and then enter the workforce better equipped to serve God in their church and community. We've had students who were between jobs and moms after their last child was in school. We've also had men join us who believed that they were called to be a pastor. There's a link to the school at the bottom of our homepage. Visit wisdomonline.org to learn more. We'll be back tomorrow to conclude today's message here on Wisdom for the Heart.