1 SAMUEL 16-2 SAMUEL 5 SEASONS YOU EXPERIENCE WHILE PURSUING GODS HEART2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 16-2 Samuel 5 Seasons You Experience While Pursuing Gods Heart

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 2017. 1 Samuel chapter 16 is where we're going to be in kind of...

picking up a little bit on some of the things that we read last week and continuing on as we journey through the book of 1 Samuel and talking about the pursuit of God's heart. And so I want to begin this evening by reading verses 6 through 6, I'm sorry, 6 through 13, and then we'll get into what God has for us. So starting out here in 1 Samuel chapter 16 and then jumping to verse 6, it says...

So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel.

And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. Verse 11. And Samuel said to Jesse, are all the young men here? Then he said, there remains yet the youngest. And there he is keeping the sheep.

And Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy with bright eyes and good looking. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is the one. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

Here as we continue to look at 1 Samuel chapter 16, last week we looked at Samuel the prophet, and it was kind of the closeout of his ministry. We'll still see him in the chapters from time to time, but he plays a

a minor role going forward because he has anointed the next king, David, here in 1 Samuel chapter 16. And so we looked at him and looked at this from his perspective. And now as we go forward, we're shifting gears to look at David, the future king of the nation of Israel.

And as we look at David this evening, I'm going to be looking really at kind of an overview of David and his life and the things leading up to him sitting on the throne of the nation of Israel. And so we're introduced to David here, and we learn from this that David is a man who pursued God's heart. And here in this chapter, Samuel anoints David as king.

But what I really want us to consider this evening is the reality that although David is anointed as king here, he does not sit on the throne alone.

for many years to come. It's not exactly clear how many years it was. Many would say 20 to 25 years is what it looks like, because David was 30 years when he began to reign. He would have been a young boy here, and so around in that time frame, around 20 years or so, is probably what transpired, what passed while Saul continued to be king, and David being anointed as king in

doesn't actually take the throne for maybe 20 years. And so you could understand that's a long time to pass, and yet it was all part of the work of God and the plan of God. And so I've titled the message this evening, The Seasons You Experience While Pursuing God's Heart. And I think the life of David is a really good example and model for us to consider the

for the very same things that we face is, well, things that he faced. And we, I pray, that we are those who are seeking to be men and women who are pursuing the heart of God, who are seeking to please God and obey God. And David was that kind of man. He sought God's heart, and God declared of him that he was a man who pursued his heart. And yet,

What we find is that doesn't mean that his life was easy and just full of good things and roses and amazing victories and that it was just, you know, he was set. He's anointed king now. He gets to take the throne. There's no battles. And, you know, because he's God's anointed and he pursues God's heart. But the reality is, well, there was a long process that God was going to bring David through to the throne.

And there was going to be 20 years of training and preparation that God had in store for David from the time that he was anointed to the time that he sat on the throne. David Guzik says this about that. He says, it was a long time between the time David was chosen and anointed to be king and the time he was crowned.

In our lives, it is a long time for most of us between when we are chosen and anointed and the time when we receive our crowns. And so as we look at David, we can relate because there are similar promises that have been given to us, not to reign on a throne of a nation, but there are crowns that have been promised. And there's an anointing that we've been given and we've been given the Holy Spirit as the deposit, the guarantee of what is to come.

But in between now and then, there's going to be, well, some kind of time. There's going to be some experiences and seasons. And I like that word seasons. I use it a lot because I really see that there's this flow of different times that God is working in our lives in different ways according to the season that we're in and the season that he is working in.

Now, as we look at the seasons that we experience while pursuing God's heart, I'm going to be asking you to consider what is it that God is most concerned with? What is it through all these seasons and through all that David's going to experience for the next 20 years, what is it that God is most concerned about? What is it that God cares most about in regards to David in these 20 years? And I would suggest going back to verse 7 and

The Lord says, he does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance. Man looks at the experiences. He looks at the circumstances. But what does the Lord look at? The Lord looks at the heart. And what is most important to God is David's heart.

In all of these experiences, in all of these seasons, no matter what David is going through, the most important thing to God is the heart of David. That's what he's looking at. That's what he cares about. And it's a good reminder for us as we look at these various seasons and perhaps relate them to our own lives to remember and recognize that the most important thing to God is our heart. That's what he's looking at and that's what he cares most about.

Well, as we look at the seasons we experience while pursuing God's heart, there's seven points that I have for you this evening. We're going to start here in chapter 16 and work our way through, actually on into 2 Samuel, just hitting some highlights and overview of the life of David leading up to him reigning on the throne of Israel.

But the first season I want to talk about that we experience, that David experienced in pursuing God's heart, is the season of obscurity. The seasons of obscurity. In verse 11, again, it says,

Then he said, there remains yet the youngest, and there he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. We, while pursuing the heart of God, being right on with God and right where God wants us to be, we will go through some seasons that are seasons of obscurity.

And David here, we know him to be a man after God's own heart, even though he's just a young man. He's just a young boy here in chapter 16. And yet already God has spoken to his heart.

Already he's had encounters with God and he's developed a relationship with God. I like the author Alan Redpath. He wrote a book on the life of David called The Making of a Man of God, which is a fantastic book. And he points out here, there had been a moment when God found David long before Samuel came to Bethlehem and anointed him.

There had been a moment of a glad response from David to the call of God, a response which renewed his heart and caused him to write, even in his youthful days, such wonderful lines as the Shepherd Psalm, Psalm 23.

that the Psalms are a record of many of the expressions of David's heart of worship to God and his relationship with God. And some of them were, you know, while he was in his older years and in the process to becoming king. And yet some of them were also there out in the field with the sheep where he would watch the sheep and he would have this encounter with God. And

And so God has already ministered to his heart and God is attention and he's responded and he is chosen to be one who pursues the heart of God. And God has already chosen him. In fact, in verse one, it tells us, God says, I have provided myself a king from among the sons of Jesse. I've provided him. I've already chosen him. He's chosen me. I mean, it's already arranged. It's set. It's set.

And so David is right on. He's right where God wants him to be, right where God needs him to be. His heart is right. He's in the right place at the right time. And yet where we find him in verses 11 through 13 is in obscurity. Samuel the prophet comes to town.

And as Samuel the prophet comes to town, it's a big deal. The elders of the town are a little bit freaked out. They're saying, are you here in peace? Or why are you here? You know, what's going on there? They're nervous about it because, well, it's a big deal. Samuel has shown up and he's thrown a feast.

offered a sacrifice, which was not just the putting the animal on the altar, but it was then a celebration and a feast. They would partake of that animal. Part of it would be burned to the Lord, but part of it would be consumed by the people. And all of the family of Jesse are invited specifically. And yet, where do we find David? Not at the feast. And not because he was, you know, disobedient and he just didn't feel like coming or, you know,

But the understanding here as we look at this is that he was the one that it didn't really matter if David showed up as far as Jesse and his sons were concerned. It wasn't that big of a deal. Someone's got to watch the sheep. Might as well be David. I heard a pastor one time share, you know, we kind of get this picture in our mind that every young Jewish boy just dreamed about being a shepherd one day. That it was just like, you know, something they look forward to. But

That is not the case. It was not the best job. It was the job for the lowest of servants many times. That it was just, you know, something that somebody had to do, but it wasn't a choice job. It wasn't something that they would, you know, dream to do one day. It was something that they had to do. And so David is the one. He's the young boy. You just go watch the sheep. We're going to go to the feast with Samuel. He's out there on his own. And

Samuel goes through the sons and the Lord says, not that one, not that one, not that one. He gets to the end and he has to ask Jesse, is there another son? Because the Lord said it was one of your sons and here's your sons. And the Lord has said, it's not each of these. And Jesse says, oh yeah, there is the youngest. He's out there watching the sheep. Alan Redpath says this. He says, so small was David in his father's esteem

that it wasn't considered necessary to include him in the family when the prophet of God called them to sacrifice. Can you imagine that for just a moment? I mean, someone important comes to town.

And I don't know who you might think of as important, but you know, you gather the family together because someone important is in town. You know, Greg Laurie has shown up. Rick Dominguez is here. And so, man, we got to get the family together. You know, we got to have a good dinner together and feast and worship the Lord together. And yet there's the one that's like, oh, it's not such a big deal if they come. It's like, no big deal. They didn't get the notice. Oh, that's all right.

And if you're that person, oh my goodness, you're offended, right? You're so hurt, oh, so rejected. And yet here's David in this very place, right where God wants him to be, pursuing the heart of God. And yet nobody really knows what God has done in his heart. Nobody really knows what God has in store for him. He's in this season of obscurity. It's not clear what God has in store for David. And nobody else knows that.

the promises that God has given to David and the work that God has done in David's heart. What we see as it goes on, they send David and bring him in and the Lord confirms that's the one. He's the one. Anoint him. So Samuel, it says, takes the horn of oil and anoints him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. And you know what happens right after that? David goes back to the sheepfold. He goes back to the sheepfold. We'll find out that a little bit later here in chapter 16. He goes back to the sheepfold and

back into obscurity and continues to do what he was doing. For you and I as believers, as we seek to pursue the heart of God, you need to know there will be seasons of obscurity. And it's not always at the beginning like it was for David. And sometimes it's later on.

But as you look at different men and women who God used throughout the scriptures, for many of them, you can see that there was a season of, they were absent from the scene. They were disconnected. The ladies have been considering the apostle Paul in the book of Galatians. And he has that time where he was in obscurity.

It wasn't clear. God told him from the get-go how much he's going to suffer for the name of Jesus and what he's going to do. But he didn't go right into that glorious ministry of all that he was going to do for Jesus. He went into a season of obscurity where he was just off. It was just him and the Lord. God was doing a work in him. He was spending time with the Lord. And there are those seasons, even when we are right where God wants us to be in pursuing the heart of God. Because what's God most concerned about?

The heart. So God's not afraid of a season of obscurity. He's not afraid of a season where all that really matters in your life is just you and Jesus. He looks forward to that. That might be detrimental to us. That's like, you know, horrifying to us that, you know, we don't get to see all the things that we want to see and do all the things that we want to do. But as far as God is concerned, the most important thing is the heart. David's right where he needs to be.

It's the perfect thing for him to be in this season of obscurity. But it's so easy for us, isn't it, to be in that season of obscurity and be tormented by it and think, this can't be right. This can't be what God wants. This can't be. And we, well, we look at the outward. We look at the results outward.

the quote unquote results, what we think are the results. We look at, you know, how effective this season is in our lives according to our estimation. But God looks at the heart. I want to remind you and encourage you this evening. You may experience a season of obscurity. You might be in it now. You might be headed for it. And it might be exactly the right thing that you need for God to work in your heart the way that he wants to work.

That's part of the way that God works. He brings and allows these seasons in our lives for our sake and for our good. Well, moving on here in chapter 16, we're going to look at the rest of the verses here in chapter 16, which we'll just kind of touch on briefly. But point number two, as we look at this, is the seasons of simple service.

There's another kind of season. Sometimes we experience the season of obscurity, but another season that we experience is one of just simply serving and serving in simple ways and simple capacities. Here is David, a man who is after God's own heart, anointed to be king, and yet we find him doing a very simple act of service alone.

in his normal day-to-day life, not experiencing the crazy, extraordinary, miraculous works, but just serving in a very simple way. Verse 14, here in 1 Samuel 16, it says, but the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said to him, surely a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.

Let our master now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you and you shall be well. So Saul said to his servants, provide me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.

Now, as we see this shift, as this change, that David is anointed king and the Holy Spirit comes upon him, at the same time, Saul, who has now been rejected, and God said, I've regretted that I've made him king, the Holy Spirit has departed from Saul. And in place of the Holy Spirit, now there's a distressing spirit from the Lord that is troubling him.

And so Saul is headed into a season of great affliction as he is troubled by this distressing situation.

spirit. Now this verse troubles a lot of people, not just Saul, because they wonder how could God allow this or do this, and did God do it? And as you cross-reference it with Kings, you know, it says that Satan, you know, brought this, it was an evil spirit that came against him, and so then there's this, you know, troubling over what really is going on here.

I think Dave Guzik has a good perspective on this. And again, I'm not trying to cover it completely, but just to consider this. He says, Saul thought he would be more free to do his thing without the spirit of the Lord bugging him. He didn't realize he would be even more in bondage

to a distressing spirit that troubled him. Saul has been resisting and pushing God away, and so when God steps away, well, that does open you up for distressing spirits and things of that nature, and the thing that Saul thought he would be better off, you know, not obeying God and pushing God away, ended up being the thing that troubled him greatly. And so,

there's some good perspective there and you can consider that. And if that troubles you, then you can talk to Pastor Sisko after the service and he'll answer all your questions about that verse. But moving on to verse 18, it says, then one of the servants answered and said, look, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech and a handsome person. And the Lord is with him.

Now, as Saul is needing someone to come and play some music for him, his servants suggest, yeah, you should find somebody. Tell us to find someone. So he says, okay, go find someone. And then they said, I have just the guy. And he's skillful in playing. And he's a mighty man of valor. And he's prudent in speech. And he's handsome in

And so he's going to be perfect. He'll fit right here in the court, you know, in the throne room of the king, and he'll be able to fit in well and be able to provide some peace in this situation. Verse 19, then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, send me your son David. And notice where David is, who is with the sheep. Here's the anointed king, the man after God's own heart.

He's still in obscurity with the sheep. But now he's going to become known. In verse 20, And so it was.

So here's David from obscurity now thrust right into the presence of the king that he's going to replace. But he shows up on this scene not with some grand entrance.

not with announcements with trumpets. You know, now the great David is here and not with fanfare, but he ends up right where he needs to be with really the heart of a servant. And his primary job is occasionally from time to time when it's needed, when Saul is distressed, he's going to play the harp. That's his job. That's what he's there to do. It's a very simple act of service for the king. And that's the

Well, that's the life that David now lives. Again, some of the time frames, we don't know exactly how long each of these seasons are, but for some season, possibly for several years, probably for several years, David, his primary occupation is just to play the guitar once in a while and lead worship.

A simple act of service, a simple thing, not hold concerts with smoke and lights and mirrors. And I don't know what mirrors has to do with anything, but you know what I mean. Maybe the, anyways, the disco ball. Yeah, maybe that's what I was thinking. I'm not sure, but you get the point, right? That there are seasons that all that really matters is that we perform one very simple act of service.

And that might be all that God has for us and all that God wants for us and all that God is calling us to do. And again, as you consider this season of simple service for David, what is God most concerned with?

Is God most concerned that David have a huge following on Instagram because he's such an amazing heart player? Is that God's main concern? Is it God's main concern that David is known, you know, and the qualities and the future that God has in store for him is known and that everybody recognizes, you know, what David has in store for him? What's most important to God in this season? The heart of David. And David goes through this time of simple service with a servant's heart.

And you can see that, and we're not getting into, you know, all of the meat of the life and character of David here tonight. We're just doing an overview. But as we work forward in these chapters, you'll see the heart of David, and he really did love Saul, and he served him, and he was content with his role to serve, even if it was one simple act of service that he was called upon to do. He was willing and ready to do that, and okay with that, and let God do anything else that God wanted to do. But

But there was a season where he just had one responsibility, and that is occasionally once in a while, play the harp. And for you and I, that might be the case for us as well, that there will be seasons of our lives where God will say, I only need you to do one thing right now, just clean the toilets. And we might not like that. That might not be our favorite type of season, where it's just a simple act of service. But what's God most concerned with? Your heart.

He's working in our hearts. He's using these seasons to shape us, to mold us, and to develop us into the men and women that he wants us to be. Now listen, if we are pursuing God's heart, that means that we want what God wants. Sometimes God wants a season of simple service for us, and we don't want what God wants. We're not pursuing God's heart. But to pursue God's heart, to want what God wants, to want to please God, means that there will be times where

All that God is going to ask of us is something that we consider to be something very simple. And it's not going to be dramatic. We're not going to be well known for it. Nobody's going to be impressed by the fact that once in a while we play the harp. But in obedience to God and in light of where God has us, we'll just fulfill this season of simple service and do this one thing that God has set before us and do it with the right heart as we see modeled for us by David here in these chapters.

And so there's seasons of obscurity as we are pursuing the heart of God. There's seasons of simple service where we are in front of people, but it's just for a simple act of service. It's not for, you know, ruling and notoriety and all that God has in store in the future.

Well, moving on now, we're going to head into 1 Samuel 17 for point number three. And point number three is moments of victory. And I chose the word moments on purpose because you have seasons, probably long, of obscurity. Seasons, probably long, of simple service. And then there are also moments, very short, peaks, highlights, where there's some great victories that take place there.

in your life and that you get to be a part of. 1 Samuel chapter 17 is the record of David versus Goliath. And we'll get there, you know, in the coming weeks. We'll study chapter 17 in depth. But I'm going to jump down to verse 45 here of 1 Samuel chapter 17 and read through verse 49. Here is the encounter. David facing Goliath. It says in verse 45, Then David said to the Philistine,

You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air, to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel."

Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's and he will give it into your hands. Verse 48, or into our hands. So it was when the Philistines arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead so that the stone sank into his forehead and he fell on his face to the earth. Here we see the encounter with David and Goliath and his ultimate victory as he throws the stone with his sling and kills Goliath and puts an end to this great threat to the armies of Israel. A great victory.

It's one that everybody knows about, right? Even the world, unbelievers know at least the phrase David and Goliath or David versus Goliath, right? It's a picture, you know, the little David, the young man, he's not even a full-grown man yet, a teenager, he's there and he fights Goliath, you know, nine feet tall. And it's this picture that is referred to and known. It's a huge victory for Israel, for David. It's a huge victory, right?

That lasts just for a moment. This is not going to be a season of battles, of victory, you know, where David just gets every fight he gets into, he wins it. And, you know, he's just going great and nobody can stand up against him. And he leads battle after battle. That's not the season. No, it's just a moment of victory where David is bold enough to trust God. And you notice there in those verses that I read that David is very clear about

I'm coming against Goliath in the name of God. You've defied God. I'm going to defend God, but not in my strength.

And David's very clear. I want you to know, and all of Israel is going to know, that God doesn't save with sword and spear. This isn't about the battle. David here shows himself to be a man of faith. He has this great victory because he trusts God. He values the reputation of God. And he is coming against this situation in the name of God, on God's behalf, so that everyone will know that God is big. And they should trust God just like he does.

And so although he came from obscurity and his normal day-to-day, you know, ministry is one of just very simple service, because of his faith in God, because of his heart towards God, he is used to accomplish a great victory for the nation of Israel, for the armies of Israel. And similarly, I would say,

While you and I seek to be men and women who pursue the heart of God, we will have seasons of obscurity, seasons of simple service, and moments of victory. That doesn't mean that our whole life is always just filled with victory and everything we do, it succeeds. Everything we touch turns to gold, but there will be moments where we trust God and we're right where God wants us to be and we want to represent him and God will allow us to be used by him

to bring glory to his name and to demonstrate to the people around us that God is worth trusting. Again, in this situation, I would ask you to consider what is God most concerned with? He's not concerned with Goliath. God is not threatened by Goliath. Although Goliath is defying God, God is not sweating it out, wondering how on earth am I going to defeat Goliath? He could have done it a million different ways with or without anybody's help.

Nobody helped God really, but you know what I mean? Like he didn't have to, he could have just struck him with lightning. He could have thrown down fire. He could have thrown down a rock. He could have done whatever he wanted. God wasn't concerned with the threat. He wasn't concerned with the battle. He was concerned with David's heart. David, what's your heart going to be in this situation? How are you going to handle this? How are you going to rely upon me? How are you going to represent me? God wasn't worried about the Philistine.

And listen, as we face battles and these kinds of moments in our lives as well, that's what God's concerned about. That's what's most important to God. Not only how we are heading into the battle, but now, okay, you've had this great victory. Now, how's your heart? Now, where is your heart? Now, are you still pursuing the heart of God? Or are you now just so enthralled with this victory that you have changed course and

And you're going to try to live out this victory for as long as you can. Where's your heart going to be after the victory? That's what God's most concerned with. And again, David here is a great example. He is a man after God's own heart. He sets the pattern for us. And we'll see as we see this victory and study it more in depth in the coming weeks that David followed after the heart of God.

And he didn't rely upon himself and these things didn't go to his head so that he changed course, but he continued to be a man who pursued the heart of God. So there's moments of victory. They're very short, especially in comparison to the seasons of obscurity, the seasons of simple service. And now moving on to point number four, we're going to head into chapter 18. There's also seasons of apparent defeat. Now it's not actual defeat, but by all appearances,

There is a season of defeat as far as David's life and his call to the throne. Now, the next few chapters, chapters 18 through 26, record for us this persecution of Saul, the king, the one that David loves and the one that David's been playing the harp for and calming down and all of that. Well, now as we head into chapter 18, as a result of this great victory,

Saul is out to get David and he's going to attempt to take David's life multiple times. And he's going to put David on the run and David is going to be running for his life for the next few years, for the next few chapters. And so we see the challenges that David faces as we head into chapter 18. And let's just look at verses seven through 11 briefly. It says in verse seven, so the women sang as they danced.

and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Then Saul was very angry and the saying displeased him. And he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands. And to me, they have ascribed only thousands. Now, what more can he have but the kingdom? So Saul eyed David from that day forward. Verse 10. And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul.

and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand as at other times, but there was a spear in Saul's hand, and Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will pin David to the wall. But David escaped his presence twice. Here in response to this great victory, because people were celebrating this great victory, Saul's heart is turned yet more wicked.

And he sees David, oh man, that guy could take the throne. Now David was anointed in private, so Saul doesn't know that he's the one. But God had announced to Saul, I'm taking the kingdom from you and I'm going to give it to one who is more worthy of it than you are, a man after my own heart. And Saul begins to realize David's a man after God's own heart. And so he comes against David and

in a very severe way, and he threatens David and attempts to murder David time after time. He chases him through the wilderness. He's got him out greatly outnumbered, but he's unable for the next few chapters to put David to death in the way that he wants to. But it's only at God's intervention. Now again, here's what I would ask you to consider. This is David, a man after God's own heart.

A man who is pursuing God, a man who wants what God wants, who wants God's will, he wants to glorify God, he wants to please God. It would be natural, I think, for us to understand or to think that and expect that David is going to be blessed by God and have great riches and opportunity to glorify God because that's his heart. But instead, what we find is David now heads into a season of

By all accounts, as you look at from the outside, God doesn't look at the outside, but man does. From the outside, it looked like defeat. There's no way David's going to take the throne now. He's on the run. He's out in the wilderness. He's hiding in caves. He's desperate, doing everything he can just to survive, just to stay alive. And for the next few years, he's going to be on the run. It's kind of like, you know, if the Lord told you you're going to be the president of the United States, right?

But then the next few years, you're on the lam. The FBI wants you. The Secret Service wants you. The CIA wants you. The Corona PD wants you. And you're just hiding in caves and under rocks and just trying to survive. And it's like, yeah, there's no way I'm going to be president. I mean, look, they're out to kill me. They're out to get me. In a similar way, this is David now. He's the number one threat as far as Saul is concerned.

Israel's most wanted, right? They're going to take him out. And it looks like it's working. I mean, David is on the run for a long time, so much so that he runs into the area of the Philistines. He moves out of Israel. He leaves the country and begins to live amongst the Philistines.

Again, it would be reasonable, I think, that we would expect, we would think that, hey, David is the man after God's own heart. He's the one that God chose. He's the one that got anointed from very young. He's right where God wants him to be. So that's going to be this mountaintop of victory and awesomeness. And yet what God brings into the life of David is a season of apparent defeat. By whichever way you measure it, things are falling apart. Things are messed up.

Things are really difficult and life, well, his very life is at stake and in danger. Now, what's God most concerned with in this season of apparent defeat? He's concerned with David's heart. He's not worried about Saul catching up with David.

God knows exactly where Saul's at, and he intervened right when he needed to be, you know, when intervention needed to be had. He wasn't worried about how he was going to provide food for David. He wasn't worried about, you know, how David was going to survive in these circumstances. What did God care about? God cared about David's heart. Was he still going to pursue God even when he's living in a season of apparent defeat?

Is he still going to put God first and make God the most important and seek God above all else? Is he still going to trust God? Is he still going to allow God to do what he wants to do? Is he still going to be responsive as God speaks to his heart? How is David going to respond and where is his heart going to be in this season of apparent defeat? That's what was most important to God. That's what God cared about.

In regards to that, Warren Wiersbe says this, David's integrity before God was his strongest weapon during those years of persecution from Saul. You cannot control what people do to you, but you can control what you do with God. That's what David did. He couldn't control what Saul did to him and how Saul treated him. He had no control over that. But what David did was he controlled his heart.

and continued to incline his heart to God and continued to call out to God and trust in God and pursue the heart of God. For you and I, as those who would seek after the heart of God, we need to understand there will be seasons that are coming

obscurity for us. Seasons that nobody even knows how great of a work that God has done in our hearts and how rich, you know, our relationship with Him is and the things that God has spoken to us and the work that is going on. There's going to be those seasons that God is doing so much and nobody knows about it. There'll be those seasons where we're capable of so much more.

We're capable and gifted, called to lead, called to sit on the throne, and yet what God's going to have us do is just something very simple, something that most would think it's just a minor thing. It's not a big deal, and it's just occasional here and there, but it's a season of simple service.

There will be those peaks, those moments of great victory where you just trust God as you call out to him and he puts you in the right place at the right time and he uses you for his glory. But then there's also going to be the seasons of apparent defeat. And think about how there's this moment of victory.

And that moment of victory is precisely what spurs the events that as they celebrate David's victory, that's what causes Saul to persecute David. I mean, he goes right from the victory. He doesn't even really get a chance to celebrate it, to enjoy it. Again, that's why I call it a moment of victory instead of a season because he goes right from that into years of persecution, unjust, unworthy. He had done nothing wrong.

But here is this attack after attack after attack. And he's right where he's supposed to be. He's right in the center of God's will. His heart is right. God is working in his heart and doing the things that need to be done. He's exactly where he's supposed to be in a season of apparent defeat. Now, it's not real defeat because he's right where God wants him to be and his heart is right. And so he's experiencing difficulty and affliction for sure. But it's just temporary until...

God does the work that he wants to do. Well, then we head into chapters 27 through 30 for point number five, and here things change a little bit. Now we are talking about a season of bad decisions. Up to this point, David's been right on. His heart's been right. He's been pursuing God's heart. And then in chapter 27, we find that David makes a bad decision.

Now, the encouraging thing in this is that even when David makes a bad decision here, God's not done with him. But because of this bad decision, there is a season of the results and the repercussions of bad decisions in his life. Here in chapter 27, verse 1, it says, And David said in his heart, Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul.

There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines. And Saul will despair of me to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand. Then David arose and went over with the 600 men who were with him to Achish, son of Moak, king of Gath. And so here in chapter 27, we find after several years of barely escaping the threat of Saul, David says,

It says he speaks to himself. He says in his heart, man, how many times am I going to get away like this? I mean, it was just like a narrow escape. How many times is that going to happen? And I'm going to, you know, successfully get away. And as he's reasoning in his mind, he comes to the conclusion, you know what's best? You know what's a good idea? I'm going to go to the land of the Philistines because, you know, Saul's kind of a chicken.

He wouldn't face Goliath. He wouldn't face the Philistines before. If I run into the enemy's camp, he's not going to chase me there because he's too afraid of the Philistines. So I can go hide out there and be protected. And so he decides, I'm going to go into the land of the Philistines. It's kind of like when Han Solo says, they'd be crazy to follow us, right? Into the asteroid field, you know? Just got to throw a Star Wars reference in since I'm wearing the shirt. You don't go that way, right? So it's a perfect place to hide. That's what David is thinking. And so they go.

It's a bad decision. The Lord didn't lead him. He didn't seek the Lord. He's gonna head into these next few chapters of somewhat darkness. I mean, there's some victories and God's still at work. God hasn't stopped working and given up on David, but he's not where he needs to be. He's not where he should be because he began to think and trust his own thoughts rather than pursuing the heart of God. Here's what Warren Wiersbe says about the situation. He says, David won a great victory over Saul.

only to be overwhelmed by despair. Such feelings are not unusual. You cannot have mountaintops without valleys. However, when you are feeling low, it is a dangerous thing to talk to yourself and make important decisions. Here's something very important for us to consider. We will experience a variety of seasons in our relationship with God, in our pursuit of God, even as those who are men and women of God who are pursuing God's heart experience

we also will experience despair and discouragement and easily convince ourselves that we need to make a decision and go by talking to ourselves and not necessarily hearing from God what God wants for us. And so Warren Wiersbe points out, it's not unusual for us to be overwhelmed by despair, but that's not the time to start making important decisions. That's not the time to start changing our life and moving off to some other place that we,

it's normal. You got the mountaintops, and you got the valleys, and David, you know, narrowly escaped Saul's attempt, but in one sense, it was a victory, and he escaped, and great, but at the same time, how many times can I escape? The next time, I might not be able to escape, and I better come up with a better plan, and so David, talking to himself, he

He makes a bad decision and sends himself into the season of bad decisions. And we'll see that as we head into those chapters later on in the book of 1 Samuel. But we'll jump to the end of that season in chapter 30, where David, at the end of, or in chapter 30, he's come to the point where he tried to go to battle David.

joining with the Philistines against Israel, but the Philistines rejected him. And so he goes back home, but he finds that the home for him and all his men that's been raided and all of their wives have been taken, all their stuff has been taken. And David's men are now turning against him because they've just lost everything. In verse six of 1 Samuel chapter 30, it says, now David was greatly distressed and

Now is the turning point. David made the bad decision in chapter 27 and went where he shouldn't have been. He stays there for quite a long time. But now when things are desperate, when he realizes the desperateness of their situation, he's going to go to the Lord.

When he's about to be stoned by his own men, he turns to the Lord and strengthens himself in the Lord. In verse seven, then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, please bring the ephod here to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he said, pursue for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all. So now,

It seems for the first time since he's been in the Philistines' territory, David inquires of the Lord and he comes back. And this is so encouraging, I think, for us that we would recognize and realize we make a bad decision and it might take us into a season of bad decisions and the consequences for those bad decisions. But that doesn't mean that God's done.

And it's so encouraging to me that David, right here when he needed the Lord, he called out to the Lord and then the Lord's right there and he says, yes, I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna give you victory. Go, take, you know, go get your stuff back. Go get your wives back and your daughters back. Go restore. And David, the Lord is right there with David.

when he needs him. David strengthened himself in the Lord. He called out to the Lord. And so even though he had been away and gone astray in the season of bad decisions, and I think we'll all experience that to some extent, that we're people. We fall short. We make bad decisions. And yet we have that opportunity to come back to God.

Being a man or woman after God's own heart and be calling out to God and seeking God once again. Warren Wiersbe has another great insight here. He says, when you are discouraged, ask a trusted Christian friend to pray with you and seek the Lord's direction. Take time to talk about your feelings with your friend. You will gain a clearer perspective. When you're discouraged and you're wondering, I don't know how many more times I can do this. Don't make your own decisions and then run to the Philistines.

But call out to the Lord. Maybe grab someone around you. Call out to the Lord. Seek the Lord's direction. And you can see as David, when he did this here in chapter 30, the Lord answered, the Lord spoke and gave him direction and led him out of this season of bad decisions. And what's God most concerned with this whole time? Again, it's not with the Philistines. It's not with Saul. It's not with...

Anything else other than David's heart. That's what God cares about. How is David going to handle these situations and what is he going to do? Well, moving on to 1 Samuel chapter 31 now. Actually, we're going to jump to 2 Samuel chapter 2.

In 1 Samuel chapter 31, we have the death of Saul, and then that's going to lead into the time where David is going to start to reign in parts of Israel. But point number six, as we look at 2 Samuel chapter 2, is there are seasons of partially fulfilled promises. David was anointed king, but what we see take place is not him sit on the throne of all the nation of Israel, but

But he is anointed king for part of the nation of Israel. 2 Samuel 2, verse 1, it says, And David said, where shall I go up? And he said to Hebron.

So David went up there and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. Then the men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David saying, the men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul. So now the king that has been threatening him is dead.

And David, you see the pattern resume. Now he's calling out to God again. Lord, what do you want me to do? He's pursuing the heart of God again. He's come out of that season of bad decisions and he's back on track seeking the Lord. And the Lord says, yeah, go to Judah. Go to this city. And so David is there and he shows up and they anoint him as king. But this is the fulfillment of a promise, but not yet fully complete. Here's a...

map of the nation of Israel under King Saul. It was not the full extent of the land that God had promised to them. The Philistines had taken much territory and others around them as well. So it's reduced compared to the promised land, but it's the territory that Saul reigned over. But David, as he's anointed king here, he's not king over this territory. He's king over

over this territory, king over Judah. Just a little piece of the southern bit of the kingdom, that's who anoints David king. The rest of the nation, they say, no, we don't want David king. They anoint someone else as king. And they go through a couple different fights and variations. And there's a few different murders that take place before David is actually gonna reign over the whole thing. But here for seven years, it tells us. For seven years,

Finally, David is experiencing the promise that God had given that he is going to be king, but he's experiencing such a limited piece of it. And what's God concerned about in this time? How much territory David has? How many soldiers David has? How big David's palace is? No, God's concerned with David. How are you going to handle this? How are you going to handle it when I'll give you a taste of ruling a kingdom, but it's not going to be the whole kingdom.

You're going to be content with that? You're going to seek me still in the midst of that? Is your heart going to be after me? Are you going to pursue God's heart? How are you going to do with that, David? That's what God's paying attention to. Not the external, not what we would see, but he's looking at the heart of David and seeing how David is going to respond in seeking the Lord and being right where God wants him to be. And so there'll be seasons of partially fulfilled promises.

And it can be very easy in those seasons to kind of feel let down, like I thought there was going to be so much more. But are you going to be content with what God has for you right there in those seasons of partially fulfilled promises? Well, then after that came a season of fulfilled promises. In 2 Samuel 5, we find that promise.

The rest of Israel gets their act together. In verse 3 of 2 Samuel 5, it says, It tells us in verse 5, He reigned for a total of 40 years. Seven of them were in Hebron, just over that little piece of

But then for the next 33 years, he went into the season of fulfilled promises. And that anointing that took place, that God said and promised to him many years ago when he was a young boy, now is being absolutely, completely fulfilled as he reigns over the nation of Israel and does great things in bringing people back to right relationship with God and setting up, you know, the place for them to come with the Ark of the Covenant and seek God once again and make preparations for the temple and

And there's all these things that fall into line as David continues to pursue the heart of God, even while on the throne, that he maintained that pursuit of God. And that's what God is most concerned with. Now, again, as we look at this tonight, we've just seen kind of bits and pieces and some of the highlights as we look at the overview of the life of David.

But I share these highlights and this overview to ask us to consider our own hearts. As David was a man who pursued God's heart, he had some promises from God. He had some insight from the Lord about what God wanted. And yet he didn't get to experience that for many years. And it kept him in this place kind of in limbo. And he's going from season to season. And there's this great variety in his life of the things that he's facing. And yet through all of them,

He continually comes back to putting God first. Even when he wandered a little bit in his season of bad decisions, he comes back to, Lord, what do you want? What do you want me to do? He strengthens himself in the Lord. And as we look at the example of David, I don't know about you, but this is really encouraging to me and important for me to understand. Because I can be in a season of obscurity and just discouraged, man, just like,

Nobody knows it's worthless, all this stuff that God is speaking to me and all these things that God is doing and be so discouraged because of the obscurity or the simple service and think, man, there's so much more I could do and I want to do so much more for God. And yet all that's available is this just simple position of occasionally, you know, playing a song.

There can be the moments of victory that are good or sometimes take my heart in the wrong direction. There can be seasons of apparent defeat. There can be seasons of bad decisions and wanderings as I make bad choices and stop seeking the Lord and find myself in a spot where I shouldn't be and experiencing consequences I don't want and

And I can look at David and remember that God's not done with me. He's not given up. And I can come back to the place of seeking God and pursuing the heart of God. And he steps right in and he continues the work that he began. I can be in a season of partially fulfilled promises and be upset, discouraged. I thought it was going to be so much more. I thought there was, you know, so much more in store. I can be in a season of fulfilled promises and

you know many times it was when the nation of israel had everything that they needed that they stopped seeking the lord we pray you have been blessed by this bible teaching the power of god to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and bible study resources