1 SAMUEL 27 IT IS BETTER FOR YOU TO PURSUE GODS HEART2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 27 It Is Better For You To Pursue 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 2018.

And we are going to be here in 1 Samuel chapter 27, continuing to talk about this concept of pursuing God's heart and looking at David, the life of David, and the way that God trained him and prepared him for

to be the king of the nation of Israel. And so he's been on the run from King Saul for a while. That continues this evening as we're here in chapter 27. And we're going to begin by looking at verses 1 through 7 together. Here's what it says in 1 Samuel 27, verses 1 through 7. 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 any more 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, the son of Maok, the king of Gath.

So David dwelt at Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David and his two wives, Ahinom the Jezreelites and Abigail the Carmelites, Nabal's widow. And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he sought him no more. Verse 5. Then David said to Achish, if I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country that I may dwell there.

For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months.

Here as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 27, again we're following along with David on his journey through the wilderness on to become the king of Israel. But it's kind of a windy road that God has set for him to become the king of Israel. But God has set him on this road because he declared from the beginning that David was a man after God's heart.

David was a man who pursued God's heart. It doesn't mean that David automatically had and always had God's heart and always did everything that was good and what God wanted. But the idea of David being a man after God's own heart is that he sought to know the will of God. He sought to please God. He sought to do what God wanted to do. And when he would go on his

journeys away from God, he would return when the Lord called him. He would return to the Lord whenever it came to his attention that he was out of line. He would repent quickly and not continue in his disobedience.

And that's really important to note as we look at chapter 27 this evening of 1 Samuel, because here we get to see David in one of those moments that is not the finest. It's not the highlight of his pursuing of God's heart. It's not the peak of his obedience to God. In fact, we have here a pretty surprising, you might say, moment.

issue in David's walk here and in his decisions that he makes. I've titled the message this evening, It is Better for You to Pursue God's Heart.

And as we look at the example of David here, again, the idea here of David pursuing God's heart, that's good, but sometimes we're learning from David what not to do. And here we're learning from David's example to pursue God's heart and to recognize that's what's best. This comes from verse 1, where David says in his heart, I'm going to perish someday by the hand of Saul. He's been running from Saul for years at this point.

He's had a couple opportunities. We saw over the past several Wednesdays, he had an opportunity to kill Saul, but he respected and honored Saul as the one that God had anointed. And so he refused to take matters into his own hands and put Saul to death. And those are highlights as far as David's character are concerned, that he would honor and respect and not allow the position to cause him to behave in a way that dishonors the Lord.

But then here in this next chapter, David comes to the point where he's beginning to consider and he's wrestling with his mind about

over this long period of time that he has been running from Saul. And Saul has been trying to kill him for a long time. We've gone over this list a few times, but going back to 1 Samuel 18, when Saul first cast a spear at David. And ever since then, David has been on the run. And David has been, well, his life has been threatened. And David has been, well, his life has been threatened.

And he described it at one time as just a step between him and death. That he's been in that place of being just a step between him and death for a long time. And it's one thing to have a spear thrown at you and you dodge it. It's...

Another thing to have several spears thrown at you and you dodge those. And then it's another thing to have this happen over and over and over again for several years. We find David at this point, he is, he's been on the run for so long, he is tired. And he comes to this place now where he says, I'm definitely going to, it's just inevitable. I'm going to be killed by Saul.

There's no way around it. Saul's going to get me. I mean, I keep just barely escaping every time he comes after me. One of these days, Saul's going to catch up with me. And so David decides there is nothing better for me than I should escape to the land of the Philistines. David is now convinced there is nothing better for him. And being convinced of this is going to send him down a path that, well, it's not going to go very well. It's going to be

a wandering from the plan of God and from the path of God. This is really important for us to consider because for you and I, as we seek to pursue God's heart, we will find that it can be extremely difficult to pursue the heart of God. When we talk about pursuing the heart of God, we're not just talking about

hey, it's going to be easy, and things are going to go well for you, and you're always going to have everything that you want, and you know, you won't have any difficulties, and you're not going to get sick, and no, that's not the way that it works. When you pursue the heart of God, you're going to find that is a hard pursuit, and it can be incredibly painful, and at times agonizing, and

for an example of that, you just looked at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane pursuing the heart of God, which was to go to the cross. And

He was there agonizing in prayer, sweating drops of blood because sometimes in the pursuit of God's heart, it's going to require that. And that's not really surprising. And Jesus told us as well, you're going to have to do the same thing. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus said to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Remember that agonizing I had to do in the garden? You know, that's what you're going to have to do.

in the pursuit of God's heart. He goes on to say, for whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. If you're looking for the easiest life possible, you're gonna lose your life. That's not the pursuit of God's heart. But if you will lose your life, if you will lay yourself aside and put God's desires, God's will, and pleasing him first, he says, you will find life. It's worth it,

but it's not without cost. That's the point. It's better for you to pursue God's heart. It's hard. It's difficult. It's painful, but it's better. It can be incredibly agonizing, but it's better. I like the way that Pastor Damien Kyle says it. He says, as hard as God's will can be, we have to remember there is something harder than obeying God, and that is a life of disobedience to God.

When we pursue God's heart, we recognize it's going to be difficult. There's going to be hardships and there's going to be things that require great patience on our part, but it's going to be worth it. But also on top of that, the alternative to not pursue God's heart actually turns out to be a harder life, a harder path.

We don't feel that way in the moment when we're like David here in verse 1 thinking, I can't take this anymore, and it's not going to get any better than this. This is as much as I can take, and that's it. And at that moment, like David, we can easily be tempted to go a different route. But we need to remember that a route away from God is always going to be harder, no matter how hard it gets to follow the Lord.

It's always going to be more difficult, more painful, more agonizing to take a route that is not following the Lord. God's plan is better no matter how hard it is.

And so it is better for you to pursue God's heart. That's what we learned from David's example here in 1 Samuel chapter 27. And as we go forward in this, we'll see that more. But there's five points I'd like to walk you through this evening as we work our way through this passage. Point number one is found in verse one. And that is, it is easy to convince yourself to disobey God. Here's what you need to know.

Even though we understand the importance and we know about pursuing God's heart, even though we accept and acknowledge it's going to be painful, there's going to be some difficulties, one of the things that we have to watch out for is our own conversations within.

Who is it that we are listening to? Because when those things are tested and those decisions are tried, well, it can be very easy to talk ourselves into a different path than pursuing God's heart. Looking again at 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 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. Here we find that David is talking to himself. Now, talking to yourself isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on what you're saying. Here, David says, in his heart.

And contrast this. If you go back to like 1 Samuel 23, for instance, you see over and over and over again throughout the chapter, David inquires of the Lord. He inquires of the Lord. He inquires of the Lord. Lord, what do you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? How do you want me to handle this? But now in chapter 27, he's tired. He's been running. He's weary. His life has been threatened over and over and over again. And he comes to this point where

And he's not inquiring of the Lord. He's inquiring of himself. He's having a conversation with himself. He's thinking in his own mind, in his own heart. And he's come to the conclusion, I'm going to perish someday by the hand of Saul. Again, it's inevitable. It's going to happen. One of these days, he's going to catch up with me. David is tired of being in the wilderness here.

And I think that's something that we can all relate to. And we all have those seasons of the wilderness. And when we're in those seasons of difficulty and trial and affliction, every single one of us, we want out of the wilderness as soon as possible. I mean, that's just what we want. We want out of that uncomfortable situation. We want to be delivered from that, relieved from that.

But it's important to remember that how we get out of that situation is very important. And if we try to escape that situation without inquiring of the Lord, when it's not God's plan of escape, well, again, it can get harder and not easier. The thing that we think will deliver us will become easier.

Our captor and bring more affliction and difficulty within us. As I shared in the time of prayer, I can really relate to David in this last season. And I've been sharing it with you guys and maybe you're tired of hearing it. I know Kim's tired of hearing it, but I'm going to share it anyways, just in case there's someone who's not tired of hearing it. You know, this season for me of working as well as pastoring, it's been a little over a year and a half now.

And it has been a wilderness season for me, for sure. Very difficult. Lots of challenges, lots of stretching, lots of growing, but also at the same time, exactly where God has called me to be. And so I've been seeking to follow the example of David and pursue God's heart.

And yet, after a year and a half of this, it's been tiring, and it's been hard. For example, for the past six weeks, I haven't been paid from that outside job that just things haven't come through, and there's money that's owed, but it's not available yet.

there is no work ahead in the foreseeable future. No, no, for sure. Okay, it's okay. We got to just survive this next couple of weeks. And then in two weeks, we get the big payday. That's not there either. So there's this, well, it's been a while since I've been paid. I don't really know if I'm going to get paid again. This is called a wilderness. This is like, okay, what am I going to do? And here I am.

And it's been a challenge like that over this past time. The balance of time and trying to split the time and doing so many things up to the very last minute, whether it be for ministry or for those outside jobs. Listen, I've wanted to quit thousands of times.

Whether that's quit pastoring or quit the website work or quit both and just run away. I've wanted to do it all and I've thought about and tried to figure out and calculated paths and routes and opportunities any which way I can. But always as I do, I remember the life of David and I realize as hard as it is, there is something harder. There's something more difficult and that is to go a different way than what God has called me to.

And that is something we need to learn because it's so easy to convince ourselves to disobey God. We can easily be like David and go, here I am in this crunch and there's all this pressure and there's this wilderness and there is this difficulty. And look, there's an escape route right here. I could just get to the Philistines and Saul will stop chasing me. And I will have this

just opportunity to breathe and not feel like my life is threatened every day. And you can understand and sympathize with David at how easily that would seem like a good solution. We all have those things and we will all face those kinds of decisions. But again, how you get out of it really does matter. How you handle those things is really important. And so David here, he says, I

There's no way around this. Saul's going to get me one day. And he comes up with a plan. He's convinced himself, which is not hard to do in those situations, that this is the best route. Pastor David Guzik says, that was a word of discouragement coming from a heart that was tired of trusting God for his continued deliverance.

At this point, David looked at Saul, not at God. David listened to himself, not to God. This will always end in trouble. Can I remind you this evening? We need to be those who pursue the heart of God above our own heart, above our own comfort, above our own desires, above what we want, because anything else is going to end in trouble.

And we will be brought to this place of discouragement. And as hard as it might be to say, and as hard as it might be to recognize or to confess this, I really like what Dave Guzik says here. It comes from a heart that was tired of trusting God for his continued deliverance. I mean, we celebrate those who have lived by faith.

Many times for me as a pastor, I look back to the stories that Pastor Chuck would tell about those first 17 years of his ministry. And he would talk about those times where there were seasons where he didn't know where his dinner was coming from. But there was this season where every day in the mail...

there would just be some money there some check that they were not expecting or some blessing or some donation or something and they would have dinner that day because that day something was provided and then there would be those days that they would go to the mailbox and nothing was there and then they would pray and god would provide another way and you know hearing him tell those stories is awesome it's great and just wow yes faith and living by faith and that's great and then

God says, okay, now you live by faith. And it's, oh, you know, that's, it's a whole different thing. And there can be easily this time of, I'm tired of having to trust God and rely upon God. And he provides at the last minute, but he does provide. But you can come to this place of being tired of trusting God. When?

When am I going to be out of this season? When am I going to be out of this continual danger? And there can be great temptation. You can easily talk yourself into disobeying God, into taking a side route that God has not called you to.

Pastor Damian Kyle, in talking about this, says, David did not forget to seek the Lord. He didn't forget to pray. At this point, David is not interested in hearing any other voice that would talk him out of his plan, not even God's voice. Have you ever been in that situation? You're just not interested.

You don't want to ask for counsel because you know you don't want to hear whatever the counsel is going to be given. You want your plan. I want to be resolved of this. I want this handled. I want to, you know, go this way. This is where David's at. And in this place, it is easy to convince himself to disobey God. It's easy for him to convince himself, this is the best way. This is what I must do. And so David,

He makes his way down this path. And that brings us now to verses two through four. Here's point number two. Disobedience is wrong, even if it works. Here we get to see that, well, it looks like his plan, what he was trying to accomplish, he accomplishes it. But does that make it right? Verse two, then David arose and went over with the 600 men who are with him to Achish, son of Maok, king of Gath.

So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinom the Jezreelites and Abigail the Carmelites, Nabal's widow. And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath. Notice, so he sought him no more. David convinces himself to go down this path. When he goes down this path, what happens? Well, it tells us in verse four, Saul stopped seeking David.

David went this way because he was trying to escape from the pursuit of Saul. And now we see that Saul has stopped pursuing. In verse 1, he said, Saul will despair of me to seek me anymore. He's going to give up. If I go here with the Philistines, Saul will give up. And then in verse 4, we see Saul gives up. It works. David's plan works. He achieves this relief plan.

from the pursuit of Saul. And it's interesting to note that David had tried this once before, and it didn't work. You might remember that from back in 1 Samuel chapter 21. This was when David was first escaping from Saul's presence, when he first began this journey of being on the run. And he runs to the Philistines, trying to find safety there and to find harbor there. But

When they take him in and begin to say, oh, this is the one that they chanted and cheered about. He's the one who's slain tens of thousands. Then he realizes he's in trouble. He pretends to be crazy and he escapes that way. But this time he goes back. He has his army with him. He has all of their families with them. That's interesting to consider that David has not just his own life at stake here, but this path that he's on is affecting David.

His 600 men and their families and their children. It's affecting a lot of people as he goes down this path, as he takes this turn. But it works. Is that how we are to judge our plans? Whether or not it works? Whether or not we accomplish what it is that we were wanting to accomplish? What it is that we set out to accomplish? Now, I've been referring to this course of David as disobedience. It's easy to convince yourself to disobey disobedience.

And disobedience is wrong even if it works. I'm calling this disobedience even though it doesn't explicitly say God forbid David to go to the Philistines. But I'm calling it disobedience because of what we find in 1 Samuel 22.

Now this was back, remember, the last time David escaped the land of Judah to try to find safety from Saul's pursuit. In 1 Samuel chapter 22, David is in Moab. He's dropped off his parents there with Moab. He's asked them, hey, will you guys protect them? I don't know what's going to happen with me as Saul is out to get me.

But then he lingers there in Moab. He hangs out there in Moab. And the prophet Gad comes to him in 1 Samuel 22, 5. And the prophet Gad says to David, do not stay in the stronghold. Depart and go to the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Horeth. The last time that David was outside of the land of Judah, God sent a messenger and said, David,

Don't stay here. Go back to Judah. That's where you belong. And so now as David is in Judah, he's been chased by Saul. There's just a step between him and death, but that's exactly where God has called him to be. And as one who pursues God's heart, that's where he needs to stay until God says otherwise. And here in this situation, we see that God has not told David to go to the land of the Philistines.

He's not told David to depart from Judah. David here is acting not out of the pursuit of God's heart, but he's acting out of the pursuit of his own heart. And it's not a, I'm going to stop following God and I'm going to do everything I can against God. It's not that he's rebelling against God in that sense, but he's just relaxed in his pursuit of God's heart. And it ends up in trouble. It ends up

in difficulty, and that's important to note. As we've been talking about pursuing the heart of the Lord, I've been describing it as an all-out pursuit, you know, pedal to the metal, sirens blaring, everything you got, seeking after the will of God, to please God, to obey God. That's what it means to pursue God's heart. There's no kind of like, you know, some days I pursue and some days I don't. That's not pursuing God's heart. That's not pursuing God's heart. That's what David's doing now.

When you have direct instruction from the Lord, you need to live that no matter how hard it gets, no matter how difficult it is, no matter how painful it is. You need to persist in what the Lord has said. And if you're going to change course, it better be because the Lord has told you to change course because it's the Lord who put you there in the first place. Disobedience is wrong, even if it works. And in all of our lives, we all have different situations where we can look and we can see,

If I just take this step this way, I could be relieved of this pain, this difficulty, this hardship, this hurt, this heartache, whatever it might be that is our wilderness experience. We can see ways to sidestep shortcuts out of that wilderness, but it's wrong. Even if it works, even if we get that temporary relief, that's not what God wants and it's not what's best for you.

Moving on to verses five through seven, we have point number three. I think I skipped a couple of verses. Point number three, disobedience disconnects you from God. No, I didn't. I just went too far in my slides. Disobedience disconnects you from God. Here in verse five, it says, then David said to Achish,

If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. Verse 7. Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months. David escapes to the Philistines and

Saul stops seeking him. And then what does David do? He goes back to Judah. No, he goes back to pursuing the heart of God. No, what does he do? He settles in. This is one of the dangers of those shortcuts. Sometimes there are things in our lives that we know it's not what God wants. And we convince ourselves, but if I just step over here, if I just go this route, if I just do this, then I could catch my breath. Things will be so much easier. And then I can get back on track.

But that's not what happens. When you stop pursuing God's heart and you step out of what God has for you and what you know God has called you to, you know it, even though we don't like to admit it that much. What happens then is we settle in to that state of disobedience. David settles in here and he says to King Achish, he says,

Hey, why don't you let me have something more permanent? I've been hanging out with you, but look, this is your city. I don't want to overrun your city and compete for popularity and stuff. Why don't you give me my own city? And David here is establishing some roots. And Achish agrees. He says, oh, that's a good idea. He gives him the city Ziklag, which is down in the southern area of the land of the Philistines, which really belonged to Israel. But he gives him the city Ziklag. And David now has a city Ziklag.

He's been living on the run. He's been running behind, you know, from shrub to shrub in the wilderness for years. But now he has a city. And you could understand, wow, that is a big difference. That is incredibly appealing. That is much more secure. And he probably could tell you how many times, you know, he was not able to sleep in the wilderness because he was fearful of being caught.

And the idea of being behind the city walls, oh, it was going to be so much better. He was going to sleep better. He was going to, things were just going to turn around. And he begins to settle in. There's that saying that's been around for a long time. Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay. This is the reality. When we make those decisions to take those sidesteps, even...

Though it's not a all-out rebellion and we think, I'm turning from God. I'm going to fight against God. Even those little sidesteps where we just think, I just need to go this route to relieve this situation, to resolve this thing. It's a departure from the pursuit of God's heart. And it's going to result in things that you don't want. It's going to take you farther than you want to go. It's going to keep you there longer than you want to stay. And it's going to cost you more.

than you want to be. Even though it's not outright rebellion, it's not pursuing God's heart. And here during this time, David is out of touch with God. David's out of touch with God. And it is for a long period of time. Check out verse 7 again. It says, In previous chapters, again, we see David inquired of the Lord. He inquired of the Lord. He heard from the Lord. The

When does David inquire of the Lord again? A year and four months after moving to the land of the Philistines. A year and four months later. It's found in 1 Samuel chapter 30 verse 6. We'll get there in a few weeks. Later on as, well, a very troublesome situation has developed. It tells us that David was greatly distressed. Now, why did he go to the land of the Philistines?

to stop being greatly distressed, right? But what happens? David comes to the point where he is greatly distressed. And then it tells us that the people spoke of stoning him. His own guys, his 600 warriors, you know, David's mighty men, his guys who have fought with him, his guys, they're ready to execute him.

Oh, but I thought the land of the Philistines, it was going to be so great because Saul wasn't going to be chasing us. And, you know, it would be so much better. We would be much more comfortable and things would go better for us. No, the soul of the people is grieved and they were ready to kill David. And finally, in verse six, David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. But he takes a year and four months off from communing with God. Now think about that.

One year and four months ago from today was September of 2016. That went by fast, didn't it? I mean, that was right before the election. I mean, this, look back at 2017. I don't know about you, but for me, 2017 is just like flown by like crazy. But you know, I've gone through those seasons where that much time has passed. I didn't intend it to be that way from the start, but that much time has passed and I hadn't connected with God. I hadn't heard from the Lord. I hadn't

It doesn't mean I was rebelling against God, but I've had those seasons of my life that it was just a little detour that turned into a city, that turned into years later, in despair, finally calling out to the Lord again. I don't know if this time flew by for David, but I would imagine it didn't. I would imagine that he had more sleepless nights in the city than he did in the wilderness.

Because David was disconnected from God. I like what David Guzik says about this. He says, we have no record of any psalm that David wrote during this time. This was not a high point in his spiritual life. He wasn't writing sweet psalms unto the Lord. This wasn't a sweet time of fellowship between him and God. David was a prolific writer. The majority of the book of Psalms is, well, they're attributed to David, but we don't have any.

We have psalms that were written from his first attempt at hiding from the Philistines and his escape as he pretended to be crazy and hiding then in the cave of Adullam. And he writes some psalms from there. He writes some psalms from his close encounters with Saul. He writes some psalms from these various situations all over the wilderness and throughout the rest of his life as well. But in this year and a half, year and four months, there's no psalms.

No sweet fellowship with the Lord. No communion. No crying out to the Lord. No journey of, I was in this desperate place and I called out to the Lord and he rescued me. No psalms. No songs. No fellowship. He's disconnected from God. And it's not that God is punishing him with the silent treatment, but David is not seeking him and that's why he's not having this fellowship. This is why it's really important for us to be in pursuit of God's heart. It's better for you, but also because

When we take that side route, when we take that detour, it's easy to convince ourselves to do so. And we can relate to David and understand why he did it, but also understand and don't be deceived. You don't just, all right, God, I know you really want me here, but I'm going to go here, but I'll be right back. And we'll be just like back on track. But I just need to do this right now real quick. I just, I just need to take care of this. That, that doesn't work.

It indicates an issue of the heart, and that's what God is dealing with here in David. The prophet Isaiah says it this way in Isaiah 59 too. He says, You go that route. You take those sidesteps, and there's issues that develop as a result because you are not pursuing God's heart.

And you become separated from your God. And you don't have those sweet psalms anymore and those sweet times of fellowship. And again, it's not because God's saying, well, like, hey, you messed up. So I'm going to be silent and you're not going to hear from me. I'm going to give you the silent treatment. Now, what does God say? Call to me and I will answer you, right? When we are not hearing from God, it's because we are not calling to God. Now, as we know, he doesn't always answer the instant we want him to. But if you're not hearing from God,

you are not calling out to him. The New Testament tells it this way, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. When our iniquities separate us from God, it's not because God is running away from us. It's because we are prohibiting ourselves from drawing near to God. Disobedience disconnects you from God. It detaches you. It keeps you from the pursuit of God's heart and it breaks that fellowship. And as hard as things were for David in the wilderness, he had fellowship with God.

And here, he has the escape from Saul, but it doesn't resolve all his problems, and he doesn't have this connection with the Lord that he had before.

Moving on to verses 8 and 9, we get point number 4, and that is disobedience leads to questionable behavior. Verse 8 and 9 are interesting. It says,

So now David's is established in the city. He's in Ziklag. But David's not a man to just kind of like sit around. They need to eat. They need to survive. And so he now leads his men on these raids. And they go out raiding these territories. Right?

Now, Bible scholars are mixed on whether or not David's behavior here is good. And that's why I make the point disobedience leads to questionable behavior. He's attacking these cities and wiping them out completely so that nobody would find out. Because if anybody found out, then he would be in trouble and the Philistines would be after him. And so he has to wipe everybody out. But on the positive side, he's not actually attacking Israel directly.

Who's he attacking? Notice what it says there in verse 8. He raided the Jeshurites, the Gerizites, and the Amalekites. Now the Amalekites are probably ones that you're familiar with. Remember God said, I hate the Amalekites. I'm going to wipe them out completely. He sent Saul to do it back in chapter 15, and Saul didn't do it. And that's when God said, I'm tearing the kingdom away from you, and I'm giving it to a man who's better than you. The Amalekites are

God had declared and decreed they need to be completely wiped out. I promise that they're going to be wiped out because of what they did. And so here David is wiping them all out. And so you could look at that and say, well, David's doing the work of God. He's fulfilling the word of God. The other nations that are mentioned, they're less familiar to us, but it points out in verse 8, these nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old.

Here, the author is pointing out, these are the Canaanites who, when the children of Israel came into the promised land, God said, you're to drive them all out completely. Wipe them out. Don't offer a treaty. Don't try to go habitate with them. Men, women, and children, wipe them all out. That was God's instruction to them as they came into the promised land. Then as you go into the book of Joshua and the book of Judges, you see

Well, they went in and they didn't fully drive out all the inhabitants. And so here are some of those inhabitants of old that God said, you're to wipe them out and drive them out completely. And so what's David doing? He's wiping them out and driving them out completely. So is he doing God's work? It's questionable. It's debatable. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way. David hasn't totally turned against God and his people. For now, he only attacks the enemies of Israel. This probably gave Dave some comforts.

But it is a small consolation to know that you aren't as bad as you possibly could be. You aren't as bad as you possibly could be. It wasn't as bad as if he was attacking Israel. And I could understand it. Putting myself in David's shoes, I could totally convince myself, yes, I'm fighting the Lord's battles. But you know how it is with God, right? He doesn't really care about you fighting his battles in the sense of,

Well, I don't care how you get it done. Just get it done, right? That's not what the Lord's heart is. The Lord wants you to fight his battles from a position of fellowship with him, walking with him. That's what's important to the Lord. And if you're not walking with him, who cares about whether or not you're fighting the Lord's battles? The Lord doesn't need you to fight his battles.

The Lord invites you to fight his battles as you walk with him. The Lord invites you to participate in his work as you walk with him. And we get this wrong so many times where we just try to, you know, live what we want to live and do what we want to do. But we try to fight the Lord's battles to make up for our wanderings in the Philistines. And I would suggest this is where David's at. He's fighting the Lord's battles because his heart is unsettled. He's not ready to go back to Judah and be chased by Saul.

Not ready to be in pursuit of God's heart once again. But at the same time, he doesn't want to be running away from God. He wants to like have like, okay, well, I'm still fighting the Lord's battles. I'm still doing God's work. And he's in this in-between questionable state. He's not where God wants him to be. He's fighting these battles, not from a position of fellowship with God, but trying to be pleasing to God without pursuing God's heart.

But it also put him in this position where he had to be ruthless. He couldn't let anybody escape because he was in danger. So he would not leave anyone alive, not man, not woman, not children, because there could be no witnesses, no survivors. Now, Pastor Chuck Smith puts it this way. He says he would kill everybody so that there'd be no one to tell him what he was doing, but

He says,

Is this from the Lord? Is this what God wanted? We probably won't know until eternity. Is that what kind of legacy you want to have? Nobody really knows if that's from God or not, if that's what the Lord wants or not. You don't really know if that's what God, that's not what you want. You don't want to have that kind of activity and behavior and that you need to be in a place where you are in pursuit of God's heart. And so you're certain that

This is where God has me. This is what God wants me to do. You don't want to have the burden and the guilt of the question of, I don't know. Was I supposed to do that? I don't know. Was I not supposed to do that? What should I do? And that can pursue you even in a more ruthless way than Saul can pursue you. You know, that

That can torture the heart. It can torture the soul. And again, it leads to worse and worse things and questionable behavior when we begin to pursue our comfort and what we want ahead of God's heart. Again, Jesus said, if you want to follow me, take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me. That's what it's going to take. Well, finally, verses 10 through 12 give us point number five, and that is disobedience leads to more disobedience. In verse 10,

It says, then Achish would say, where have you made a raid today? And David would say, against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jeremelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites. David would save neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, saying, lest they should inform on us, saying, thus David did. And thus was his behavior all the time that he dwelt in the country of the Philistines.

So Achish believed David, saying, he has made his people Israel utterly abhor him. Therefore, he will be my servant forever. Disobedience brought David to this place with the Philistines in Ziklag, brought David to this place of raiding these surrounding areas, and brought David to this place where he had to lie about it every day for a year and four months. This, this

understandable. We can totally relate to what David did and the steps that he took. We could totally understand why he did it. And there's some things he could argue, well, look, David was still fighting God's battles. And there's all these kind of highlights and positive things that we could try to put into it. But in the bottom line is, David was not pursuing God's heart. And that's called disobedience. And that led to more disobedience and more disobedience and more disobedience.

And now he is deceiving the king here. He's having to lie about and be ruthless and wipe everybody out. And for the past year and a half, he's had to carry this burden of guilt, to carry the fear of being caught, the fear of being found out. He's had to live with a different kind of pursuit, not the pursuit of Saul, but you know, the scriptures say your sin will find you out.

And boy, that can be a tough pursuit and cause a lot of stress and anxiety because disobedience leads to more disobedience. It leads to more. And sometimes we get so invested in our disobedience that it's like, well, I've come this far. You know, I got to finish it now. That's not true. At any time here, David, if he would come to his senses, the best thing for him to do would be to repent and

And turn back and pursue the heart of God again and find out, Lord, what do you want? I've made a mess. I've made a wreck. And he's going to do that at the end of the year in four months. He strengthens himself in the Lord. Okay, Lord, what do you want me to do? And there we see him inquire of the Lord again. But he didn't have to wait until then. Maybe you've invested in that bitterness for a long time. And it's like, well, I've come this far. They're almost gone. I've almost killed them off with my bitterness. I, you know, got to see this through. No. No.

forgiveness is the best route pursue the heart of god i've come this far you know i gotta i gotta i'm almost there you know and we're looking for that reward that achievement unlocked you know it's like no well as soon as you recognize this is not the course the lord has for me understand disobedience will lead to more disobedience that's going to take you farther away from god don't put off it well as soon as i get this victory then i'll come back no that doesn't work

it leads to more disobedience the best thing for you to do even when there is victory and reward right there at the door of disobedience the best thing for you to do is to back away from that door and to pursue the heart of god it's better for you to pursue god's heart that's what we need the most that's what's best for us but in those times of stress and distress and difficulty

Like David, we understand how easy it is to convince ourselves to disobey God. And we can see those routes and those shortcuts, and we can see how tempting it is to go that way. But if you go that way, it's wrong. It's not the pursuit of God's heart, even if it works. And you might experience that temporary relief. As the scripture says, sin is fun for a season. But that season comes to an end pretty quickly.

And then comes the pursuit. And then comes the consequences, the aftermath. Disobedience disconnects you from God. It separates you. You're not going to hear from him. You're going to miss out on what he has for you. You're going to miss out on his blessings. Not because God's out to get you and he just wants you to suffer, but because you're not looking to him. You're not calling out to him. You're not listening for him. You're going to put yourself in a position where you are carrying out questionable behavior.

where you try to have one foot in the world and one foot in the Lord. And you're not willing to give up on church, but you're also not willing to give up on your disobedience. You're not willing to completely run away from God and go live the prodigal life, but you're also not willing to let go of those things and fully pursue in your heart the Lord, His desires and His will. I put you in this place of questionable behavior.

And there's some who would argue, oh, wow, look it, you're doing great, doing these battles for the Lord, fighting for the Lord. But your heart's far from the Lord. The Lord doesn't want you fighting his battles when your heart's far from him. The Lord wants you to get your heart right before him to pursue his heart. You continue down that path, it's gonna lead to more disobedience. That's the way that it works. And here in the life of David, the man who was a man after God's own heart, the man who pursued God's heart, we learn that,

In this case, what not to do. We can learn from his failure, his mistake, and recognize it's better for me. I can easily come to the conclusion, there's nothing better for me than to run from what the Lord wants me to do. I could run to this job. I could run to that job. I could run to this place. I could run away from here. And there's nothing better for me than just to quit and to do whatever I want to do. But as much as

As I might try to convince myself of that, I know the truth. It's better for me to pursue God's heart, to stay where God wants me to be. That's what's best for you. Pursue God's heart. The amazing thing about God, though, is David, when he does call out to the Lord a year and four months later,

God answers him. And right away, he begins to work again in his life, right away. And it's soon after that, that David is brought back into the land of Judah. It's soon after that, that David is set up and established as king. He's on the brink of the fulfillment of all the promises that God has given to him. He almost ruins it. He almost sabotages himself with this trek, but he catches it and he calls out to the Lord. And that's what we need to do as well. When you catch yourself

When you recognize, I've been in this place of disobedience. I've been in this place of ziklag, in this city. I've sought to escape the difficulty, but I've brought more difficulty and distress on myself. That's the place where you need to call out to the Lord and know that God is gracious and merciful and he answers. It's not too late for you to pursue God's heart.

It's not too late for you to experience the promises that God has given to you. It's not too late. God is still able and willing to do the work. One last quote from Pastor Chuck. He says, many times we discount ourselves from serving the Lord and being used of God because we're so conscious of our own imperfections. But God used David, and that's always an encouragement to me. Sometimes we discount ourselves out

We have times of ministry. We have times of opportunity, times of a chance to walk with God, to worship God, to commune with God, to be part of God's work. And we just discount ourselves and we just count ourselves out because we're so conscious of our imperfections. We recognize I've lived in Ziklag for way too long, but God used David because what David did was he called out to the Lord and he left Ziklag and he went back to pursuing the heart of God.

And that's the point. It's better for you to pursue God's heart from no matter where you're at, whether today you've already been pursuing God's heart or whether you haven't been pursuing God's heart for over a year. What's best for you right now, this moment, this evening, this time right now that we're in, best route for you from here is to pursue the heart of God. And so I want to invite Noah up to close us out in a couple of worship songs.

And as he does, I want to encourage you to be pursuing the heart of God. And you know your wildernesses and you know the things that you face and the troubles that you face and the pressures that you face. And I encourage you to take this time to kind of take stock and consider, have I convinced myself this easier route is the better way? And maybe it's time to come back to realize, Lord, your ways are better than my ways. And I need to follow you and to recenter your heart.

During this time, as we always do, we want to give that opportunity to minister to one another. Now again, as we have the opportunity to pray for one another and encourage each other, sometimes we count ourselves out. I can't pray for anybody. I'm a wreck. You know, my life's a mess. I can't encourage anybody. They know way more than I do. Don't discount yourself. You pursue God's heart. God speaks your heart. God moves something on your heart. You follow what the Lord says. Pursue his heart.

Follow his prompting. Let's spend this time worshiping him and seeking him for our own hearts, but also for one another. And as God leads, you feel free to go ahead and minister to one another in prayer and encouragement, however the Lord moves and prompts in your heart. We want to let God lead because it's not about us doing what we want and what we're comfortable with. It's about us doing what God wants, what pleases him, because that's what it means to pursue his heart. Let's worship the Lord together.

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.