1 SAMUEL 23:1-17 PEOPLE NEED HELP2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 23:1-17 People Need Help

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

This morning as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 23, we're looking at a really awesome chapter where you get to see David really seeking the Lord and hearing some specific things back from God about what he desires and the direction for David's life. And as we look at this, I see David as a really good example for us. Although we will be talking about, you know, the inquiring of the Lord portion, which you see prominently throughout these verses. But we're going to be talking about the inquiring of the Lord portion.

I have a different aspect of this that the Lord wants us to consider, and that is the help that David provides. This morning, I want to remind you that people need help.

There are people in your lives who need help in your workplace, within your family, within your neighborhoods, within the church, all around us in our community. There are people that need help. And I think the Lord wants to stir us up and remind us this morning that many times he wants to involve us

in the work of providing and administering the help that people need. And so we're going to look at four points this morning on the subject of the help that God wants to provide to people around us. We'll begin by looking at verses 1 and 2. And the first point is to ask God if you should help people in need. And

And again, as we see David inquiring of the Lord throughout this chapter, he provides for us a really good example as he is not just doing whatever he thinks is best, but he is seeking the Lord on his will for his life. Let's look again at verse one. It says,

Word comes to David. Now, remember, in this situation, David is kind of on the lam. He's hiding and fleeing for his life because Saul, the king, has been pursuing David. Saul knows that David is God's chosen man to be king next. And so Saul is trying to thwart the plan of God and maintain his own kingdom and pass on the kingdom to his son, Jonathan. And so Saul is trying to thwart the plan of God

And so he's been out to get David for a while. He's thrown spears at him. He's chased him around. And so David has a group of men that have gathered together with him and they're hiding in the wilderness. Now, as they're hiding there in the wilderness, this word comes to David.

News of this town named Keilah that is nearby, and the news is that they are in need of help. They're being attacked. The Philistines are coming and they're robbing them. They're robbing the threshing floors, which is where they would store the grain that they had harvested. And so they were stealing their food supplies. They were taking from them and attacking and harassing the city of Keilah.

Now, this is nearby where David is. They're in the southern area of the nation of Israel. And so David's around in the wilderness and he gets word. We don't know how he gets word. It's perhaps messengers from the city that reach out to David and say, hey, we need some help. Or it also could be that as David and his men were hiding out, that from their position, they were able to see the town of Keilah and see what was happening in the

the Philistines come in. And so David's men perhaps saw and observed what was going on and came to David with the word and said, hey, we're watching this town and there's this attack that's going on.

And David, as he hears about this situation, his brethren, you know, the fellow Israelites that are there being attacked and robbed and they're being harassed by the Philistines, David shows great wisdom because he doesn't give an immediate answer as this need is presented to him.

But he says, okay, let's ask God what he wants. And we see that in verse two. It says, therefore, David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah. Again, David here provides us a very good example, an example, a model that we can follow to inquire of the Lord.

What is it that you should do when you have someone right in front of you who has a need? We all experience this, right? You have people who come up to you, maybe at the gas station or different places, and they have a need. Maybe they have a sign that says, I have this need. Can you provide this for me?

It might be, you know, someone that you've never met before, or maybe you have a friend, or you have some family members, or someone around you that you're familiar with, and they have some type of difficult situation that they're experiencing, and some type of need that they have. Now, it might be a financial need, or it might be a need for some, you know, actual help for some labor. It might be some need for counsel, or for some support of some kind. There's all types of needs that are around us.

Or maybe you attend a church that needs help fixing the floor. You know, there's a need that is right there before you. And what is it that you should do when you have those experiences, when you are in those kinds of situations? And I think it's important for us to consider these things because in my experience, it's common for us to develop some defaults.

You know, you see that person approaching you at the gas station. You kind of see them out of the corner of your eye. Maybe you're trying not to make eye contact, but you're preparing your default response. You know the question that's coming, and so you're preparing for, okay, you know, you're not really thinking about it. It's just you're trying to resolve the situation as quickly and as painlessly as possible, right?

As Pastor George approaches you at church, you know he's going to ask you to help in children's ministry. And so you're preparing your default response. No, I can't help. I've told you a thousand times I can't be involved. Or, you know, we often have these defaults, these automatic answers whenever we're faced with these situations where help is needed. And sometimes we develop this automatic yes response. There's a need. There's some type of situation. I want to be involved. I'm going to, you know, get engaged in that.

Also many times though we develop the automatic no. It's our default. No, I can't help. No, I'm not going to be involved. No, I can't contribute. I cannot be part of that. And we develop these defaults, these automatic answers. And I want to encourage you this morning to maybe present those to the Lord and let the Lord maybe develop some new defaults for you. That instead of the default being yes or no, the default should be

Let me see what God has to say and be like David to inquire of the Lord. Now we can see throughout all of David's life that he spent time alone with God.

This wasn't, you know, a brand new thing for David for him to inquire of the Lord. He knew how to inquire of the Lord because he had spent time with God throughout his life. Although he's still fairly young here in this passage, he's still a very young man and, you know, has much life ahead of him. For the life that he has lived, he spent a considerable amount of time with God. As he was

Taking care of his family's sheep out in the pastures, David would reflect on the creation of God and the character of God, the nature of God. And we have as a result,

Many of the Psalms that we have in the scriptures from that time where David was spending time with God and just worshiping God and expressing, you know, different emotions and things that he was going through as he would be out there in the fields taking care of the sheep. And so he had this experience. It wasn't the first time, but he had a pattern. We refer to David as a man after God's own heart because that's how the Bible describes him.

But sometimes we think that David being a man after God's own heart, that was just the way he was born. You know, he was born with a heart that's after God. And so that's how he was. But what we really see actually in the scriptures is that David was a man who pursued the heart of God. It's not that he automatically had God's heart and he never, you know, did anything otherwise. We actually see David disobeyed God and he failed and messed up. But that he was always turning back to God and drawing near to God.

And so he was a man after God's own heart who spent time with God, who inquired of the Lord, not just here, but this is a small example of how he lived his life. And I'd like to remind you this morning that as David inquired of the Lord, you and I can inquire of the Lord. And in fact, I would say that we have a greater access to God than David did.

Because we live on this side of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. And as Jesus died upon the cross and paid the full price for sin, he opened the way for you and I to have full access to God in forgiveness of our sins, but also in fellowship with God.

Not only that, but we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Now, David experienced the work of the Holy Spirit, but we have a unique work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our hearts because of the work of Jesus Christ and what he accomplished for us on the cross. And so we have access to God and we can inquire of the Lord just as David did and perhaps even to a greater degree.

Now, I would suggest to you that the primary way that God speaks to us today is through his word. And in order for us to inquire of the Lord, we need to have, like David, that pattern of spending time alone with God, that we have that alone time with the Lord in his word. And as we do, he speaks to us and he prepares us for, well, those needs that he knows we're going to be facing.

talks about how God has set before us good works. He's prepared us for good works and he's set them before us ahead of time. And so God knows what's coming up. He knows the needs that we're going to get to see and that he wants us to be a part of and he's preparing us for those needs as we spend time with him.

And so I would encourage you to be faithful in spending time with God in his word. And God will prepare you. And sometimes he's going to speak to you about needs before you know fully what it means and before you realize what it is that he's asking of you. But then when you see the need and it's there presented before you, it's not so much brand new, but it's confirmation of what God's already been speaking to your heart.

But God doesn't always work that way. In fact, God loves to use great variety in the ways that he works. And so there will be times like this where you're faced with a situation, there's a need in front of you, and you don't know whether or not God wants you to be involved. And so it's the opportunity at that moment to inquire of the Lord.

And in that moment, God will speak. He will give his insight and his counsel to your heart as you learn to hear his voice. It's something that we learn, again, through the practice of spending time with God to hear the voice of God. And I'm not talking about, you know, an audible voice or anything like that. But as you, well, you perhaps sense that God is speaking something to you. And so you attempt it.

And you learn as you do that, as you succeed, as you fail, as you try different things, you develop an understanding for the voice of God and when God is speaking to your heart. Now, we don't really have this practice developed any longer. But remember the good old days when you had to recognize who was on the phone by the voice and not by the ID that was displayed on the phone? But you would call and, oh, I know this voice. And

And I used to hate it when I was young, when people would call my house and I would answer and they'd say, hi, Cheryl, how are you? You know, because I didn't sound like a man, you know, I was a kid. And you would learn to hear their voice and you would learn to recognize their voice and know who it was who was calling you, right?

it's similar to the way that God works in our lives. That as we communicate with him and we hear from him and we try as he puts things on our hearts and we go forward and we discover, oh, that really was God. He was speaking to me and we learn to recognize that voice. And so we develop that pattern of walking with the Lord. And so when we inquire of the Lord and he's speaking to us,

We have that history. We've learned. And so we can recognize as God is speaking to us about the need that is there in front of us. And so there is there that situation in front of you. Someone in front of you needs help. And my exhortation is to ask God if you should help. Now, this is really important also because a lot of times people can have the attitude and the idea that, well, if I can help, then I should help.

Like that's the good Christian thing to do, right? If you can help, then you should help. And if you don't help when you can help, then that's wrong. And that, I would say, is not really accurate to what God would have us to know and to understand about his will for us and in the way that we help the people around us. And I would suggest to you that God does not always help people.

But then I would add on to that and say, in the way that they want to be helped, right? How many times do you pray, you know, for help in some situation? And God is always faithful to provide help, but very often it's not in the way that we would want to be helped, right? We would want Lord, Lord, just resolve this situation without me having to do anything at all.

And most often, God doesn't help that way, does he? He involves us in this situation. Lord, pay my bills and make it so that I don't even have to go to work. Well, God doesn't usually help that way, right? So God does help, but he doesn't help the way that we ask or want to be helped. And I would suggest many times, too, in the situations that we face where there are people who need help around us,

that the help that they're requesting for is not necessarily the help that God wants us to provide. Think about the Apostle Paul. He had, as he described in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, this thorn in the flesh. There was something, we don't know if it was a physical affliction or some type of other situation, but he had this difficulty that he faced. And it

it bothered him. He felt that it affected his ministry. He was less effective. He was not able to do as much. And it really messed up, you know, what he wanted to do with his life. And Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. And in verse 8, he says, "...concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in weakness."

Paul's pleading with God, please God, take this away from me. I think we can all relate to that. There are those times of need that we have and we're pleading with God, please resolve this, take it away. And God responds, I will help, but not in the way that you're asking. Instead of helping by removing the pain, God says, I'll help you endure the pain. And I'm going to give you grace so that you can endure the difficulty. And that's

Something that I believe God wants us to be involved with as well. That sometimes there is the situation where help is requested, where help is needed, but the help that God wants us to provide is not necessarily the help that the people would ask for.

As an example of this, I was considering a meeting that took place earlier this week. The Corona Police Department, every once in a while, have a meeting, and they invite the local pastors of churches here in the area of Corona. And so this last week, they put together a meeting, and I was able to attend. And one of the main topics of the meeting was ministering to or dealing with homeless that are within the city of Corona.

And there's a couple of police officers who are devoted to this task. And it's called HOPE. It's Homeless Outreach and Psychological Evaluation. And so their objective, as they were expressing it, they spent a lot of time sharing what their objective is. And what they're seeking to do is to break the pattern of trauma.

just perpetual homelessness, so that they're helping people get out of their situation as much as possible instead of just, you know, resolving any criminal issues or, you know, dealing with any areas where they're causing problems, but then to connect with that homeless person and to help them change and not to continue in that pattern. And so as they were explaining that, they gave the example of the park over at 6th Street.

And I'm sure you're familiar if you've ever been around that park. There's always homeless people there in the park on 6th Street. And so they were talking about this situation where there's, you know, just this ongoing, you know, situation where there's homeless people there. And it's not a crime and it's not, you know, something that is, you know, they're seeking to enforce. But they're trying to connect with those people and help them survive.

help them change their life and do something different to not continue in that situation. But they were expressing one of the difficulties of that. And it was appropriate that they had the churches gathered together there because what happens is churches go and feed the homeless there in the park. And we would see that as like, oh, that's a good ministry, right? To go and feed the homeless, that's something important.

But it was interesting to hear it from the police officer's perspective. So here's how they were expressing it. They said, so these people who are homeless there in the park, they wake up in the morning and breakfast is catered. It's brought to them. It's just delivered to them. And a church will come and bring them breakfast and minister to them in that way.

And so then a few hours go by and they start getting hungry for lunch and then lunch is catered. Another church actually usually brings lunch to the homeless, you know, in the park. And so then they have lunch delivered and then a few hours go by and then dinner comes, dinner time comes and dinner's catered. And they were expressing that actually a lot of times there's multiple churches involved in that. And so they get their choice really, you know, selection of what kind of meal they want for dinner. And so, you know, they get to pick and choose and

and then they get to go to sleep, and they wake up the next day, and it happens all over again. They get catered meals all day long, and the police officer was describing maid service that they get because the city workers come and clean up the park around them and take care of the restrooms for them, and so that gets all taken care of for them, and then their drugs are delivered as well, so they panhandle and get some money, and then their drug dealer comes to them, and so it's just...

you know, really convenient, really comfortable for them to just stay there and continue that. And every day, you know, they get new food, they get new drugs, they get new clean stuff. And, you know, it just continues to happen. And so what they were encouraging the churches is not to, you know, stop caring about the homeless or feeding the homeless. But they were asking the churches, let's work together to see how we can, you know, better help and not just continue this cycle because there's no incentive, you know, for them to

There's no incentive for them to do something different.

And that is, I see that as a really good example of a biblical pattern, that God does that, that he wants to break cycles where we continue in sin. And sometimes when we help people, we're just helping them continue to not deal with things in their lives that God wants to deal with. And sometimes we rescue them when God wants them to learn his grace that is sufficient. And

We rescue them when God wants to help them learn how to endure the pain, and we want to just remove the pain. We kind of step in ahead of time and don't allow that growth and that development that needs to happen. And so to just automatically say yes and provide help and rescue whenever a situation is presented to us may not be the best thing. And that's why I'm suggesting to you we need to ask God if we should help. Not that we shouldn't help, but not that we shouldn't care.

but that we need to ask God, what does he want us to do? Again, some people think if I can help, I should help. If I have the resources, I should give the money. But that may not be the best use. It may not be actually what God desires to do. And you may feel good, you know, well, I gave money, so I feel better. Their immediate need is met, but they have the same problem tomorrow.

And so it's not actually that helpful if we're helping in that way. And so we need to be careful to seek the Lord and ask God if we should help when those situations are in front of us. Now, there is a tendency, and sometimes it happens, where people kind of get caught up in that. And it does feel good to help. And so sometimes people say yes to everything. There's a need,

you know, whether it be, you know, giving to some person in need or, you know, serving in some capacity at church. Hey, there's a need. And so they're the first to sign up. I'll sign up for everything. You know, whatever it is, I want to help. I want to be helpful. And it comes from a good heart. But also I would encourage you and challenge you. If you say yes to everything, if your automatic response to that need is yes, I'll help.

then what will happen, I would guarantee it, is that you will begin to neglect your own responsibilities. You have responsibilities, things that God has entrusted to you, your own specific ministry, your own family, and you will neglect those things

If you're running around meeting every need that is presented to you and saying yes to that, you have limited resources of time, energy, finances, whatever it might be, and you need to make sure that your priorities are in line with what God says, you know, so that your family doesn't starve while you, you know, give out, you know, all the money that God gives you for something else and meeting other people's needs. You can't just say yes to everything. You need to ask God,

If he wants you to be involved in meeting the need of that situation. So there's someone in front of you. They need help. Ask God if you should help. Now, let me just deal with the other side briefly before we move on. Now, that is the automatic no. So the automatic yes, that's not necessarily a good thing. And you need to seek the Lord. But also the automatic no is not a good thing either. And it's not really what God wants. There needs to be an inquiring of the Lord.

So someone's coming up to you and asking for money. Don't let it be an automatic no, but inquire, seek the Lord and see if maybe God does want you to be involved. Now, many times when our attitude, when our default answer is no, we're not going to

we're thinking things like, you know, somebody else should help. You know, somebody else will have money and I'm broke and so they should help and I can't help because I'm broke. Or someone else has experience, someone else who enjoys helping someone else and there's always, you know, the someone else. But let me just remind you, when we think, yeah, they should do something to help, many times they is you.

That is, we say they should help, but we're part of that group of those who should help. And I would ask you to consider that when you're faced with a need. So here's David hiding in a cave and this need is brought to him. I would say that's enough for you to say, okay, maybe this is from God.

There's lots of needs in our community that you never see. There's lots of needs around you that you never come in contact with. But there are needs that you do come in contact with. And those needs that you become aware of, where word is brought to you, or perhaps you observe it and you notice that there is this need. I would say it's worth considering, perhaps God has brought me in contact with this need. And I would not take that lightly.

Because maybe he's brought you in contact with it so that you would get involved. Consider the parable that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 25. There, he was talking about a king who is talking to a group of people. And he says, oh, you guys, you're blessed. Because when I was hungry, you fed me. And when I was naked, you clothed me. And when I was sick, you came and visited me. And the people are saying, no.

Well, when did we ever, I never saw you naked. I never clothed you. When did we do these things that you're saying? And the king in that parable responded and said, well, when you did it to one of these, the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me. It's a picture for us of we get to serve Jesus as we minister to the needs of people around us. And as we do it unto them, we do it unto Jesus. It's a ministry to Jesus.

And so don't let it be just an automatic no, because perhaps you're missing out then an opportunity to minister to Jesus, to be part of the work that he wants for you. Consider also the words of Paul to Titus in Titus chapter 3 verse 14. He says, "'Let our people learn to maintain good works "'to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.'" Let our people learn to maintain good works."

Not just do them occasionally, but to maintain good works. It's an ongoing doing good things. And it's important, Paul says, for our people, for us,

to learn to maintain good works, to ongoing, to be involved in doing good things and helping and ministering and providing help and aid to people around us. And then on top of that, above and beyond the maintaining the good works, to meet urgent needs. And so above and beyond the normal, you know, help that goes on, the normal ministry that is taking place, then there's also the emergencies.

There is the unpredicted, you know, just unforeseeable situations, and now suddenly is thrust into, you know, something more urgent. There's a more, a greater desperation. And he says, we need to learn to meet those kinds of needs too. The ones that are ongoing, the ones that are urgent, that we would be fruitful, that we would bear fruit for the kingdom of God.

And so it's important for us to be involved and engaged, to learn to maintain good works and to meet urgent needs. There are people around you who need help. And as you become aware, as you observe it, or word is brought to you, ask God if you should be involved in providing help. Like David inquired of the Lord, when the need comes to your attention, see if God wants you to be part of the solution. Maintain those good works and meet the urgent needs.

Well, going on now to verses three through five, we see point number two, and I promise we won't spend as much time on the following points, but we've developed the foundation now, the importance of seeking the Lord and meeting the needs. But now I want to encourage you in verses three through five to trust God to help you help people. Many times when God tells you to help, you're going to be fearful about it, and it's going to be challenging, and it's going to require faith to

for you to help the people that God wants you to help. Check out verse 3. It says, David's men said to him, look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? So the word comes to David. He seeks the Lord. God says, go. So he tells his men, all right, guys, we're going to go save the city. And the men of David are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold your horses here. We're afraid right now hiding in a cave.

And now you want us to go attack the Philistines? I mean, there's a couple of problems with this. Number one, how can we fight the Philistines? These are fierce warriors and we're not really warriors. Secondly, hey, we're hiding from Saul. If we go out there, we're going to have two enemies. We'll have the Philistines and then we'll have Saul. And Saul's going to see us out in the open. We're going to be an easy target. And so his men were not very excited about this attack.

help that they were going to provide. It's interesting as you look at David's men. So far, all we know about David's men is that they were good hiders. They were good at hiding. They hadn't been caught by Saul yet.

We don't actually know if they're good warriors. We haven't seen them fight yet. In the previous chapter, in chapter 22, that's when these guys gathered to him. 400 men gathered to him. But it describes them as being distressed and in debt and discontented. And those were the guys that came to David. And so it wasn't the, you know, supreme awesome soldiers. It wasn't David's mighty men. They would be developed into that later on. But

But at this point, it's just a ragtag bunch of guys who, you know, were in debt and were fleeing for their lives and hooked up with David. And so now, you know, they've just been hiding. They've just been avoiding Saul. And that's all that they've been doing. But now God's calling them to fight. And so they say, wait a minute. I don't know about this. This is, we're already afraid here. How can we go into battle?

And so verse 4 tells us that David inquired of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered him and said, arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. So David hears their counsel and again shows great wisdom. He goes back to the Lord and gets confirmation. He inquires of the Lord once again. When you hear from the Lord and then the counsel of those around you is different than what you heard from the Lord, it's appropriate.

Go back, check with God, make sure. Lord, did I hear this right? Is this what you want us to do? And as David did this, God said, yep, I was right. I told you the first time you got it right. You're to go to Keilah, you're to fight the Philistines and I will deliver them into your hands. But it's going to require faith. They're going to go forward now and fight the Philistines, but understand the situation hasn't changed.

The Philistines are still there. Saul's still after them. Nothing's changed except for they've got the confirmation. God wants them to do this. And so now as they go forward, they're going to have to trust God to help them. They're going to still face the same dangers. Nothing has changed, but they're going to have to trust God. And when you are going to be involved in helping people as God leads you, it's going to require faith. And there's going to be some difficult situations. There's going to be some challenging things. There's going to be some fearful tasks.

And you're going to have to trust God to help you to help people, to help you do what he's called you to do. Think about it this way. Does God only want wealthy people to help with giving?

Is that God's plan? Only wealthy people, only people who have a basement full of money and they can roll around in it and toss it around and burn it if they want to. Those kinds of people, that's the people God uses to say, all right, okay, well, you better give some money because you got so much, you don't know what to do with it. Is that the way that God works? No, of course not. And so sometimes God's going to ask us to give money and we're going to say from where? We don't have any that we're rolling around in. We don't have money to give. Where? Where?

And we're going to have to give, as God calls us to give, trusting that God will also provide for us. Now, I'm not saying be foolish. And I'm saying inquire of the Lord and understand, make sure that you know God's called you to give. But then you have to still trust God and give, even if perhaps you don't know where that money is coming from or how then you're going to make your own responsibilities and meet those needs.

Does God only want bored people to help? You know, people who just lay around all day. They don't have anything to do. They just maybe watch TV all day. And when they get tired of that, then they'll roll over and fall asleep for the rest of the day. And they'll wake up, maybe watch some more TV. And it's only those people that God wants to involve their time and get involved and engage personally in helping people. Maybe you think, well, maybe there's someone retired who can handle this. Let's call up Harvey, see if he can go help.

Get involved in that situation. No, no, no. That's not the only people that God wants to use. God's going to want to use you to help people. It's going to require time. And you're going to say, but I'm busy. How am I going to get done what I need to get done? How am I going to get done what's on my to-do list and my schedule when I've got all these things? But there's this help that is needed. And it's going to take some time. How can I do that? And we're going to have to trust God to help us help people.

Does God only want professional people to help? Those who have the education, those who have the experience, those who would see the situation that we're seeing and say, oh yes, I've seen this a thousand times. I can tell you exactly what to do. Is that the only kinds of people that God uses to help resolve and work in people's lives? Absolutely not. Most of the times we're going to feel like we're in over our head. I don't have any idea.

and it's going to require a dependence on the Lord. And we're going to have to call out to him and ask him for wisdom and how to help with, well, that counseling situation or that emotional situation or that difficulty that someone is facing. The point is, it's going to require faith. We have to trust God to help us in helping people that he has set before us. When he calls you to the work, he's also going to equip you, but you got to trust him.

Yeah, you might not be experienced. You might not feel like you're equipped. And yes, you're going to be fearful. But if God's told you to go, then trust him and go. And check out what happens in verse 5. And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. They trusted God. Again, nothing had changed in the situation.

It was still the Philistines that they were fighting. It was still Saul who is pursuing them. They were still fearful, but they went in obedience to God and they had victory. Not only did they have victory, but it says that they struck them with a mighty blow. They had a great victory, even though they lacked experience, even though they were fearful. And many times that is the way that God will work in your life as well.

When we are fearful, we don't have the experience, we don't have what we think that we need in order to help, but God says, I'm going to use you to help anyways, and I'm going to help provide and supply the need. Think about the disciples in Matthew chapter 14.

Remember, there was the great multitude that was there with Jesus. They'd been with Jesus for a couple days, and the disciples see a need. They say, hey, Jesus, there's a problem because these guys are hungry. They've been with you for a couple days. They're not going to make it back to town. You know, if we wait too much longer, they're going to, you know, faint on the way. And so you should send them away right now so that they have time to go get food from the surrounding communities.

And so the disciples had this need in front of them. It was brought to their attention. They observed it. And their solution was send the people away. But Jesus had a different solution, right? He says, you give them something to eat. And the disciples looked at each other and said, with what? We have five loaves and two fish. That's all we have. How can we feed all these people? And Jesus, what did Jesus do? He told them, okay, you guys go tell the people to sit down.

And the disciples went and told him to sit down. And Jesus prayed for and blessed the meal. He began to break the bread. He distributed it to the disciples. And then the disciples gave it to the people. They didn't have the resources, but Jesus gave them the resources to meet the need. That's the way that God works. When God calls you, when God shows you to help, you may feel overwhelmed. You may feel unequipped. You may feel fearful, all kinds of things like that. But as God works,

prompts your heart. As God leads you in that, trust him. He's going to fill your basket with bread to give to them. He's going to do that. He will help you to do the things that he's called you to do. Well, going on as we look at verses 6 through 13, here we see that people may not appreciate the help. In verse 6, it says, now it happened when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David at Keilah that he went down with the ephod in his hand.

And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars. Verse 8. Then Saul called all the people together for war to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

Saul hears about David being there. He thinks, all right, he's trapped. He's convinced that God has, you know, trapped David for him. So he's going to go and take him out. The things that David's men feared before they went in to the situation, they had to face. They actually had to encounter the Philistines and fight them. They also came out in the open and made themselves known to Saul. And now Saul is after them. And they're going to go and take him out.

They faced the things that they feared, the dangers that they were thinking about. They were real, but they did what God told them to do, and God is still at work in protecting them. You can see that as we go on in verses 9 through 12. It says,

Then David said, O Lord God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell your servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. Then David said, will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said, yes, they will deliver you.

Here again, we see David inquiring of the Lord. He inquired of the Lord earlier before going into battle. And now after the battle, as he faces a new situation, David inquires of the Lord again. Let me just say again, this is a great pattern for us. Inquire of the Lord. We have a greater access to God than even David did. And so ask God, invite God, seek God's counsel. Even if it's, you know, multiple times during the day.

Even if it's very specific things, like David says, is Saul coming for me? And God says, yes. Okay, Saul's coming for me. Okay, will the men of Keilah turn me over to Saul? Are they going to surrender us to Saul? And God says, yes. Inquire of the Lord. Now, think about these people here in this city. What a great way to show their gratitude, right? Here they are rescued by David. And now, moments later, ready to turn him over to Saul.

Now, you could argue it was Saul's responsibility to defend this city. He was the king. He was supposed to defend them from the Philistines, but Saul didn't defend them from the Philistines. He wasn't willing to go to Keilah until David rescued them. And now because of his hatred of David, now he's willing to go fight against Keilah and to come to this city. And they're willing to turn him over. They're willing to say, here's David, you know, you can take him, put him to death. They were not very appreciative of the work that David did for them.

Does that mean that David should not have helped them? I think we would wrestle with that, wouldn't we? If we help someone and then they don't show the gratitude that we think is appropriate, how easy is it for us to be like, I'll never help you again. See, if you don't come crawling back to me, you know, if you have this situation, yeah, I'm not going to help you. You didn't even appreciate what I did for you. Be easy for us to go that way. But we see that David doesn't do that.

In verse 13, it says, So David and his men, about 600, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, so he halted the expedition. So what does David do? He packs up and he leaves the city. That's what it says. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say David spit on them and rebuked them harshly and tore down their walls as he left and said, Don't come crawling back to me when the Philistines come back. There was none of that from David.

He just packed up his things and left. As you provide help, even when God leads you, even when God does a great work in miraculously helping you to provide help to people around you, understand that it will not always be appreciated or well-received. In Luke chapter 6, Jesus challenged us, hey, if you only love people that love you, there's no credit in that.

He says, unbelievers, sinners can do that. They love the people that love them. If you do good only to those who do good to you, that's not a big deal. Unbelievers, anybody can do that. But instead, what he calls us to do in Luke chapter 6, verse 35, he says, love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. Do you ever lend like that? I hope I don't get this back.

No, I write my name on it. Like, hey, make sure to put my address, my phone number. If I have a GPS chip, I'll attach it on there. Like, make sure I get this back. But Jesus says, love your enemies. Do good. Lend hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great. And you will be sons of the Most High. But notice what it says there at the end. For he is kind to the unfaithful and evil. You see, what God's asking us to do is to be like him. And he shows mercy and kindness and grace to those who are unthankful.

even to those who are evil. And God says, I want you to be like that too. It's no big deal if you love people who love you and you're good to those who are good to you. No, but be like me. Be different than everybody else. Be different than the world. Love your enemies. Do good, even if people don't appreciate it, even if people are not grateful for what you do. People may not appreciate the help, but that doesn't mean that God hasn't called us to give it.

We're to demonstrate his character and his goodness to those who are in need. Well, finally, point number four found in verses 14 through 17. Changing it up a slight bit.

Let people help you. In verse 14 and 15, it says, Saul continued to pursue David. He's working hard to get David. Now, God is protecting David.

It says, God did not deliver him into his hands, but Saul was seeking him every day. And throughout this process, David is becoming exhausted. Physically, emotionally, it's daily, it's nonstop. He's running, he's hiding, he's going from place to place. And he carries the stress.

of the constant, you know, being on alert and trying not to get caught. Also, he's carrying the stress of the men that are with him. He started out with 400, but as he leaves Keilah, he's got 600 guys with him, and he bears the responsibility. And so there's this stress, there's this burden physically, emotionally, he's worn out. And then it tells us in verse 16, then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, do not fear. Do not fear.

And here we have Jonathan comes on the scene. Isn't it interesting? Saul's trying hard to get David every day. He can't find him. But Jonathan's able to go right to where David's at because God's protecting David. God's at work in this. But at the same time, even though God is at work,

Again, like everything else, it doesn't mean that David just sits there and doesn't have to do anything and, you know, God just keeps Saul away. David's involved in the work that God's doing and he's moving from place to place and he's hiding and he's exhausted, he's tired, he's weak. And Jonathan comes and it says that he strengthened his hand in God. What did Jonathan do? Jonathan helped strengthen David in trusting God. And he tells David, David,

Remember what God said. Remember the promises of God. You are going to be king. Even my dad knows that. You're going to be king. And I'm not going to fight against you. I'll be by your side, David. I support, I recognize God's called you to be king. So he's not going to get you. Trust God. He's encouraging him. He's strengthening him in the Lord, which as we seek to help people, that's our ultimate goal. That's our ultimate desire is to strengthen them in the Lord. But just focus your attention on David here.

The one who has provided all this help that we've been looking at is also one who needed help. He needed to be strengthened. He needed for Jonathan to come and strengthen him in the Lord. People need help, and that includes you. Now, this is important because sometimes we can get caught up in this idea of, well, I'm supposed to help people, and so I can't let people know

that I need help, that I struggle. I can't let people know that I have difficulties. But listen, the body of Christ is designed, designed by God so that we would minister to one another. It's never supposed to be, all right, I'm up here and I minister to all of you and I keep on ministering and I keep on ministering and I keep on ministering and nobody ever ministers to me. I need to be ministered to by you and you need to be ministered to by me.

We all need to minister to one another. There are needs that we have. Again, physical, emotional, spiritual. There are needs that we have. And these needs are meant, they're designed by God to be met by one another. That it's not that you're to be always giving, but also you need to let people help you, to help strengthen you. It's meant to be back and forth and not one way. Jesus was ministered to.

As Jesus was there on the cross, it described a group of ladies that were there watching what was happening as he was dying there on the cross, but it describes them as those women who had ministered to Jesus. Jesus needed help. It's hard to imagine, but Jesus humbled himself when he became a man, and he had to let people help him. We also see a couple times where angels came and ministered to Jesus and strengthened him. He was not above receiving help.

and none of us should be either. And so if you're struggling, if you're going through great difficulty, like David, you're worn out physically, emotionally, whatever might be the case, don't be so proud and don't be so stubborn to think that you don't need help or that you won't let people help you in what you're going through. Listen, that's why we're here together. That's one of the reasons why God calls us together, not just to go through, you know, from this time to this time we have service.

That's why we encourage you. Hey, stick around after service. Minister to one another because, well, we need help. We need to be strengthened in the Lord. And that doesn't just happen in the worship and in the teaching and the stuff that happens from the stage. That happens as we interact with one another and are open and are real with one another. You're one of the people that needs help. So let people help you. Ask for prayer. Invite people to encourage you and strengthen you in the Lord. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word. And Lord, the important reminder about the help that is needed and the help that you can provide. And I pray, God, that you would help us to be faithful and to be diligent in seeking you and inquiring of you that we would be engaged and involved in expressing your love and grace and mercy to people around us by helping and meeting those needs that are there.

And I pray, God, that as we do, we would represent you well and that you would be glorified. And I pray, Lord, for any who are struggling themselves, those who need help. God, I pray that you would help them to look to you first and foremost, but also to allow the people that you've placed around them to be involved and engaged in helping them and providing the strength that is necessary for them to continue what you've called them to do. So, Lord, use us to minister to one another, I pray. In Jesus' name.

Amen.