We Choose Faith Over Flesh: How Trials Test Us

Going to be in First Samuel, First Samuel, Chapter 21.

We started this chapter last week looking at David as he is fleeing from Saul.

King Saul is after David here now.

And obviously we've tracked Saul's character from when he was first appointed anointed as king and where he is at now.

And obviously Saul has allowed for pride, for envy, for bitterness, anger, and then obviously hatred and ultimately murder in this whole escapade that he has with chasing after David.

And David is on the run.

And we can understand why David would be fearing.

I mean, think about pretty much the most powerful person that would have been known to David is coming after him and chasing after him and trying to kill him.

And David is overwhelmed with a sense of fear.

And obviously there's times in our life where we're going to have instances where fear is overwhelming.

Maybe it's a circumstance that we're facing in our life.

Maybe it's a person that we're dealing with, maybe it's a health concern, whatever it might be.

There's a lot of sources to the fear that we experience in our life.

And we know that the Bible tells us that we are supposed to have a healthy fear, the healthy fear of God.

But then we see David actually slipping into a place where the fear of man has allowed him to do things that he typically was not living like in his life with his character.

And he goes to Elimelech in the.

In the place there that we were talking about last week, and he.

He basically lies to Ahimelech and tells him that he's on business for the king.

And he basically gets to a place where he misrepresents what he is doing and he gets the showbread.

We talked all about that last week.

And then eventually he leaves with the sword of Goliath.

But in the time that that happened, there was an individual named Doeg, the Edomite, who witnessed all of this happening.

That's going to play a part later on.

So keep that in your mind for later and keep Ahimelech in your mind for later.

But we're going to pick up in verse number 10 of First Samuel, chapter 21 here tonight.

We're going to see what David does after he leaves Ahimelech.

Where does he go and what does he want to do?

Well, that's what we're going to study here this evening along with 1st Samuel, chapter 21.

We're also going to be looking at Psalm 56.

And so if you want to mark Psalm 56 or just get ready to turn there, here In a little bit, Psalm 56 is going to play a huge part in understanding what's going through David's mind and his heart during this time, because it doesn't tell us everything here in 1st Samuel chapter 21.

But Psalm 56 is all about what is happening in the midst of this running to Gath.

And we're going to talk about that a little bit later.

So look here with me to 1st Samuel, chapter 21, verse 10, it says, and David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath.

Now, why is this significant?

Well, because Gath was one of the major city states of the Philistine empire.

And, you know, the Philistines were the ones that were against the Israelites.

Obviously, one Philistine that you are aware of probably is Goliath.

Obviously, there was a lot of other Philistines that were causing problems for the Israelites, but Goliath is that famous one.

And believe it or not, Goliath is from Gath.

So he goes to the very place that Goliath was from, and we see that he is going to flee to actually find solace, peace, protection from the king of Gath, the king of this Philistine land.

Now, why would he do this?

Well, obviously, because his own people have turned against him.

Essentially, Saul, his leader, has turned against him, and he's looking for some type of hope.

This is not the place for him to go.

He shouldn't go to the enemy.

But he's doing something out of desperation.

Sometimes that's the.

That's what we do.

We.

We make decisions in the flesh out of desperation, because we think it's the only thing that we can do.

But David nonetheless thinks about the Gath, and he says, okay, maybe I can find some kind of protection here.

And that's a sad state of affairs, that Saul would be so against the will of God that instead of David, in the midst of fear, would turn to his own people.

He would turn to his enemies.

Verse 11, it says, and the servants of Achish said unto him, is not this David the king of the land?

So even they recognize David's rightful place as the king of Israel.

And so these Philistine people are like, hey, king, this is David.

This is the leader of the Israelites.

And they even recount some of the things that had been said about him.

Did they not sing one to another of him in dances saying, saul hath slain his thousands, and David is ten thousands?

That's the very song that was being sung that made Saul upset and angry and prideful and selfish when it came to dealing with David before.

And so they recognize who David is.

And David is going to have to make a decision here.

David is going to have to make a decision whether or not he's going to face the King of Gath or he's going to take another path.

And verse 12, it says, and David laid up these words in his heart, so he's going to think about this.

And then was sore afraid of Achish, the King of Gath.

So now he's gone from being afraid of Saul, and now he's turned to being afraid of the King of Gath that he's run to.

And I'm going to tell you that, you know, even within our own lives, if we're running from fear, eventually fear is going to catch up with us.

We can't run away from it.

The fear of man, as the Bible says, is a snare.

It's going to be something that leads us to a place of more fear.

And it's just going to be more and more a plague in our life if we continue to try to run away from the fear that we have.

And a long time ago, I heard a sermon preached, and it was a really impactful sermon.

And one of the reasons why it was so impactful is because I can remember the title of the sermon to this very day.

This guy got up and he says, okay, we're gonna.

We're gonna talk about today faithing our fears.

And I'm like, is he trying to say facing our fears?

With a lisp I couldn't understand, he says, faith in our fears.

And I'm like, faith, I'm.

And then he got to the point.

Basically, instead of facing our fear like the world tells us, you know, you gotta face our fear.

Instead, we face our fear with faith.

We come to the situations or the circumstances or the people in our lives that are causing fear, and we face it with faith.

And that's what David is going to do here.

Now, what we're going to read might seem a little bit confusing because some commentators say that David is in the wrong for what he's about to do.

And.

And even I was reading this and I was thinking, well, maybe he is wrong.

Maybe he's just doing another scheme.

Maybe he's doing another trick to try to get out of his situation.

But when we read a parallel passage in Psalm 56, he is writing this at the very same time.

And we do know that ultimately David is submitting himself to God.

And so I believe this response is, is God giving him a way out, a way of facing his fear with faith so that he can have salvation, so that he could have peace, so that he could have a confidence in the Lord.

So look at it with me here.

In verse 13, he's afraid of the king and he changed his behavior.

So a lot happens between verses 12 and 13.

He has to make a decision on what he's going to do.

Is he going to face the king and say, yes, I am David, yes, I am the leader of the Israelites and get killed?

Well, we know that God has a plan for David.

We have to understand the bigger picture.

God has a plan for David.

And what's his plan for David?

That he's going to be the next king of Israel.

God made a promise.

And when God makes a promise, he keeps his promise.

David remembered that all the way back from the very beginning, God had kept his promises.

And so now he's going to make a decision.

He changes his behavior before them and feigned himself mad in their hands.

So he basically acts crazy.

That's, that's what it's saying here.

He begins to act like a madman.

And it says, and he scrabbled on the doors of the gate.

Well, basically that means he just rubbed his nails down the door like a crazy person.

And he says it scrabble the doors of the gate and left his spittle fall down upon his beard.

So basically he's foaming at the mouth.

And I think all of us would agree that if we were seeing someone act like this, we would say, that's a, that's a madman.

That's someone who's lost their sense of who they are.

Or maybe they've, you know, gotten some issue in their life and they're acting this way.

We were, my family and I were out at a restaurant recently, and this guy, like, runs into the restaurant and he's like, excuse me, everybody.

And he's acting really strange.

And like we were thinking, this guy's going to do something.

And he was, he was upset about something that was happening at the restaurant.

And he, he was acting like.

And so David acts this way.

And, and one of the other things about this, this last part of verse 13 was the spittle falling down his beard.

That, that sounds like, yeah, that's crazy.

But that would have been a disgrace back then.

A man's beard was his was his honor.

So for him to do this was very shameful.

It was, it was humbling.

And really we see that God is Going to sometimes get us to a place in our life where we have to humble ourselves, to get to a place to follow him and understand that we can't save ourselves.

And that's really what David has to do.

He has to humble himself before the.

The king in verse 14, then said, Aish unto his servants, Lo, ye see, this man is mad.

Wherefore then have you brought him to me?

So he basically says, this isn't.

This can't be David.

This guy's crazy.

This guy, this guy is, is off his rocker here.

He says, verse 15, have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad men in my presence.

Shall this fellow come unto my house.

So essentially what we see is that if chapter 22, that David gets to leave because they don't think that this is David.

This can't be the man who's the leader.

This can't be the man who is the great warrior, because he's a madman.

And he says, I have no use for this guy.

This guy can't be here.

This is, this is not beneficial for us.

And I wish I could tell you that this is the only time that David ran to Gath in his life out of fear.

But he's going to do this again later on in First Samuel.

We're going to get to that in our study.

But I want us to understand what happens to David between verses 12 and verses 13.

And so turn with me to Psalm 56.

Psalm 56 is said to be the psalm in which David writes when the Philistines took him in Gath.

And so what we can understand here is that at some point when David arrives in Gath, these military leaders take him into captivity and bring him to the king.

And so this is a time of distress for David and he has to make a decision.

It's a decision of desperation.

And he calls out to God.

Here in Psalm 56, we see that he calls out to God.

And I think that this is a great example for us to learn from.

When it comes to times in our life where we're desperate, when it comes to times in our life where we have overwhelming fear, when we have overwhelming circumstances, where we don't really know where to turn, where, where we're, where we're fleeing and going all every which direction.

And David is really alone in this place.

Physically speaking, David is alone probably in his life at this point, the most alone he's ever been outside of having the presence of God with him.

He's running for his life on his own.

He is not with his family anymore.

He hasn't met these men that are going to help him on the battlefield.

He's lost.

He hasn't lost his friend Jonathan, but he's lost the presence of Jonathan in his life.

Someone who he looked up to in King Saul has now turned against him.

So in the eyes of man, David is alone here.

And I don't know about you, but there's times in my life that I feel alone.

And I know that that's not always just about being physically alone.

I mean, you could be around a bunch of people and still feel alone because of the situation that you're facing in your life.

And so David here is alone.

And what does he do?

Well, he.

We see in verse one that he calls out to God.

He says in verse one, be merciful unto me, oh God.

He recognizes his great need for God's mercy.

I think that's where we all have to start.

In any situation in our life, where we're facing a trial, when we're facing a fearful situation, when we're facing persecution, when we're facing something that is overwhelming, we have to recognize that it's only by God's grace that we can ever find any type of peace, comfort, or strength.

He says, be merciful unto me, oh God, for man would swallow me up.

So he recognizes that there's a difficult situation.

He says, the.

The people that are around me want to take me.

He fighting daily oppresseth me.

So.

So David's not in denial.

I mean, sometimes I. I think that some individuals think, well, for me to trust in God means I need to be in denial of my situation.

No, you're not in denial of the pain and the suffering and the fear around you.

It's recognizing that, yes, there is a trial in front of me, but I'm in need of God's mercy.

In the midst of this, he says, verse 2.

Mine enemies would daily swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me.

Oh, thou most high.

Again, he recognizes the trial before him.

But then he also recognizes that God is above them, almost high, meaning you're above them.

You're more powerful than them.

You're.

You're.

You're more wise than them.

Verse 3.

Then he says this famous verse, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.

What does David acknowledge?

He says, the only way to deal with my fear is trusting in you, is turning myself over to you and facing this fear with faith, believing that you will do what you say you will do.

Verse 4.

In God I will praise his word in God I have put my trust I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.

This is reminiscent of many of the Psalms.

I think of Psalm 118, basically, what can man do to me when God is on my side?

We see that theme over and over again in Scripture.

So he is recounting that God has given him his word.

And he's recounting and essentially preaching to himself that he will not fear what man can do because he knows that God is on his side.

Verse 5.

Every day they rest my words.

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

He.

He's.

You see this going back and forth.

It's.

It's poetic.

Obviously, this is a psalm, so it's a song.

So he's going back and forth, he's talking about what he's facing, and then he's going to go back to trusting in the Lord.

Verse 5.

Every day they rest my words, all their thoughts are against me for evil.

Verse 6.

They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul shall they escape by iniquity and thine anger cast down the people.

O God, now tell us my wanderings.

Put down my tears into thy bottle.

Are they not in thy book?

Now you might say, what in the world is he talking about there?

In verse 8, he is understanding that God hears his pain, that God understands his pain.

And he uses this analogy, essentially, that God is catching the tears in the bottle that he has there of David and recognizing how much pain that David is in.

There was actually later on in history, it wasn't at the same time, but later on in history, there was a.

A Roman custom of when someone would pass away, the family or the friends would be weeping, and they would basically catch all of their tears, and they would put it in a vial, and then they would go to the resting place of the individual who had passed, and they would show how much they're recognizing the pain and of loss.

They would.

They would show that basically this is how broken I am.

And so what he's saying here is that David is saying, lord, I'm showing you that I'm broken.

And you're recognizing that this is.

This is my offering to you to show you where I'm at in my brokenness.

And I think that.

That sometimes what we need in our life to be broken before the Lord, to be in desperation of understanding that it's only he who can fix us, only he who can change the situation.

So then he talks about his assurance that he has in what God is going to do in his protection.

He says, when I cry unto thee, when I cry out to you, then shall mine enemies turn back.

This I know, for God is for me.

I know that.

We know that God is for us.

But sometimes we need to be reminded that God is on our side.

That when he is for us, who can be against us?

When we go to Romans chapter 8 and we read all those wonderful things about God being there for us, there's no more condemnation.

That nothing can separate us from his love.

Sometimes as Christians, even though we intellectually understand that, we need to be reminded in our heart that God is there for us, that God is good.

And I know for me that there's times in my life that I. I don't necessarily doubt that God is good, but I sometimes feel this nagging feeling that, well, maybe just this time he's not gonna be good to me.

And that's exactly what David wrestles with.

Sometimes God is there for him over and over again.

But he has to remind himself that God has always been there for him in the midst of his trials.

Verse 10.

In God will I praise His Word, and the Lord will I praise His Word.

Part of faith is.

Is always tied up in our worship.

You know, if.

If we are characterized by our faith, we are always going to be pouring out to God his great mercies and his great grace and his great love.

We're going to remind him.

Not that he needs to be reminded, but we're going to remind ourselves as we are talking to him, about how wonderful and blessed he is in our life.

He says, thou.

Thou vows are upon me.

Thy vows are upon me.

Oh God, I will render praises unto thee.

He's reminding himself of the promises of God.

Verse 13.

For thou has delivered my soul from death.

Will not thou deliver my feet from falling that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

So when we read verse 50 or all, chapter 56, verses 1 through 13, we recognize that David, as we go back to 1st Samuel, chapter 21, that David recognized that the only way that he could face this fear of running from Saul and running from or facing Achish there in Gath, was to turn to God in the midst of his pain and recognize that he needed God's mercy, that he needed God's grace, that he needed God's provisions, that he needed God's power.

And ultimately he needed to trust in the promises of God.

Now, what does that mean for us?

What does that mean for us today?

Because not all of us none of us probably are being chased by a king.

Okay, none of us are probably facing a Philistine king today either.

But all of us are facing some degree of a trial in our life.

Maybe.

You know, I used to hear this all the time when I was in a Christian school setting.

There would be a preacher coming in and this.

I never wanted to hear this.

I was like.

It would give me so upset when he would.

When a pastor would say this, he would say, you know, you're either going into a trial, you're in a trial, you're coming out of a trial.

And I'm like, ah, you know, it just sounded like the Christian life was just always going to be, like, depressing and sad and, like, always painful.

And as I've gotten older, I've recognized that, yeah, our life is characterized by trials.

But at the same time, it's the perspective of what a trial is.

I think that's the bigger picture that we have to understand is what is a trial?

Well, all the world, all the word trial means is a test.

God is going to allow for tests in our life, whether they be physical, spiritual, emotional.

There's going to be these tests in our life that we're going to have to face.

And really it's how we deal with the test that reveals where our faith is.

So if I have a test in my life, if I have a trial in my life, and maybe someone's coming against me or.

Or maybe I'm just going through a time that I'm struggling with in doubt or fear, I can make a decision to say, you know what?

Maybe God isn't right.

Maybe God doesn't have what's best for me.

Maybe I know that my path is better.

And I can, instead of acting in faith, act in my flesh and I can just react, react in anger, react in bitterness, react in doubt, react in whatever it is.

And in my fleshly reaction, what I've done is I've allowed that trial or that test to lead to a place of sin.

And the book of James talks all about that.

The book of James talks about how we deal with these trials and temptations in our life.

So this is a test for David.

And we know that ultimately David is going to fail some of these tests, and ultimately David is going to succeed in some of these tests.

But he sustains through the faith that he has in God.

And that's how we're sustained.

We're sustained through our faith.

So back to the trial.

So let's see, we have a trial here before us.

We have a decision to make.

Am I going to face this in faith?

If I face it in faith, I'm not going to act out in the flesh.

I'm going to act out trusting that God is going to keep his word.

And then he's going to provide for me.

He's going to give me power, he's going to give me the provisions like he does for David here now with this victory.

Because right after, and I'm not going to tell you, take what Pastor Ethan is going to preach about in chapter 22, but we're going to see that after this happens, David is going to have some, some really interesting tests that's going to come up to him.

And again, we're going to see that David is going to have a great victory.

But then we're also going to see that David is going to come to a place in his life where he's going to forget about these things and David is going to refuse to kill Saul at one point.

David is going to claim his loyalty to Saul at one point.

And then eventually we do know that David sees the fulfillment of God's promise in becoming the king.

Now, I know that most of you, that's not a spoiler alert.

You guys know that David eventually becomes king, but just put yourself in David's shoes.

At this point in time in his life, when David is running from Saul, he knows that God has made a promise, but he doesn't know the end of the story.

All.

All he knows is that what God has promised them in that moment, now we get the benefit of seeing David become king and all the blessings that came along with that.

But think about David in that moment as he's running and he's alone.

He probably doesn't understand or see how that's all going to come together.

But it's the trust that God will do that, and it's the trust that God will allow us to weather the storms.

But eventually there's going to be a place in our life where we are going to be tested in our faith.

And I want to take just a break here from First Samuel, chapter 21.

We're going to come back here in a moment, and I want us to go to Hebrews chapter 11 again.

You guys know that Hebrews chapter 11 is that classic passage that deals with faith.

And we see the definition of faith, we see the importance of faith, we see the examples of faith.

But I just want us to look at a few different passages here when it comes to looking at faith here.

And I want us to look at the definition of faith.

Because sometimes, at least for me, I don't want to ever project what you think, okay?

Because I don't know what you think.

But let me just kind of go through what I've thought in my past as a Christian.

Sometimes I feel like faith is okay.

God, you've shown me just a little bit.

You've given me a couple steps ahead.

And so, yeah, of course I'm going to trust that, or I got to see something, give me some type of proof.

I'm going to throw out the fleece.

I. I need to see something before I take a step of faith.

But what we see here In Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1, it says now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So the reality is, is that all of us are going to have to be tested in something that we don't know how it's going to turn out, but we're trusting that God's Word and His truth and His.

His love for us and his power will be the thing that we put our object of faith on and we're going to trust in.

So he says there, it's the evidence of things not seen.

So faith is not okay, I saw this happen.

God made this promise for me, and then he showed me how it's all going to be.

And now I'm going to go, what faith is, is.

I don't know how this is going to end, but I'm going to trust that God is going to keep his word.

It's very similar to the biblical word that we use for hope.

Hope is a confident expectation that God is going to keep his word.

Now, there's times in my life where I'm tempted to doubt that.

But he goes on to say in something that I think is so very important in verse number six, because.

Because I think that oftentimes we think that faith is this thing that, like, well, maybe I can have it or maybe I don't have it, but I'm just going to do my best.

And I think that's what we should be doing.

We should be doing our best.

But I want you to see what verse six says.

It's not an optional thing.

He says, but without faith, it is impossible to please him.

If I want to please God, if I want to walk in his will, if I want to honor him by what I say and by what I do, I must live in faith.

I must trust Him.

And faith is going to take a.

So from our perspective, faith takes a risk.

I Think you understand that.

I think you understand what it means to say, okay, I'm going to take a step of faith and know that this might be a risk on my side of my perspective now for God.

It's not a risk.

Nothing surprises God.

Nothing takes him off guard.

Nothing is too powerful for him.

It's not a risk for him.

But if God is leading us to do something or to go through something in our life, he's calling us to please him through faith.

And it says, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

So the Bible tells us that God does reward those that diligently seek him.

And ultimately, as Christians, we are called to live lives of faith.

Now, what does that mean for the average everyday Christian today?

How many of us.

And I'm including myself in this.

I'm really including myself in this.

How many of us are living a life where we don't know what's going to come next?

Now, all of us know, like, mentally we don't know what's coming next.

Like, I don't know if I'm going to get in a car wreck on the way home.

I hope not that my prayer is that I don't get in a car wreck, but there was a time where I drove out of a church service one night and I'm like, I'm not thinking I'm going to get a car wreck and I got in a car wreck.

Okay, that happens.

So.

So none of us really know what tomorrow brings, but all of us kind of think, like, none of us are struggling with where our next meal is coming from.

Most of us kind of have our plans for this week.

Most of us kind of feel like we're in our comfort zone.

But the Bible does say there's going to be times and places where we have to be stretched in our life.

We're.

We're going to have to live in such a way that God is so clearly seeing that we're like, hey, this is only by faith that this was able to happen.

And I think we live in a society today that is so focused on comfort that we forget about.

There's times in our life that it's so important to be stretched in our faith.

I know for me, you know, I. I wake up, I come to church, I wake up, I go to, you know, the store.

I wake up, I go do the things that I need to do, and I really don't think about, like, where how am I Exercising my faith today.

But there's times in our life where we have to take a step that's going to go beyond our comfort zone.

There was a.

There was another sermon that I thought about not too long ago.

It was a preacher at our.

Our church in Florida.

And he preached a message about being stretched.

And he.

He was preaching about how sometimes when you're growing, it is painful.

You know, as you guys see, I didn't grow a lot when I was younger.

Okay, I did have one growth spur, but it was all at once, and it was like shoop.

And it went up and then never grew again.

But I remember in that time growing really quickly, it was painful.

Like, my legs would hurt, and there would be things like that.

And there was.

There was that sense of.

Of stretching and growing.

And I think sometimes as Christians, we don't want to necessarily go through those trials because they're.

Sometimes they're painful.

Trials are painful.

But oftentimes what happens is that in the midst of that moment of pain or difficulty comes the greatest lessons when we exercise and trust in faith.

And that's what we see with David here.

David's going to learn a lesson here in 1st Samuel, chapter 21, that God has got his back, that God preserves him with Saul on his tail, with the King of Gath right in his face.

I wish I could tell you that all the lessons that I've learned have been in a classroom, but that would be a complete lie.

Okay, I've learned a lot of lessons in the classroom.

I've learned a lot of lessons writing papers.

I've learned a lot of lessons taking tests.

But I'm going to tell you that some of the greatest lessons that I've learned have not been with a professor sitting right in front of me.

It's been in the middle of a trial with tears in my eyes, not knowing what's going to come next.

I'm going to tell you that.

I'm going to tell you that there's been trials in my life that I wasn't enjoying in the moment.

I wasn't giving glory to God in the midst of that pain.

But coming through that, we understand that that is where God teaches us some of the greatest, most impactful lessons.

I remember, like, three years ago in January, there was.

There was a test for us.

We had Silas sitting there, and we didn't know what was going to come next.

And I. I think about that time.

I think about that time.

And I wish I could tell you that every moment when I was in the ICU I was saying, God's got this.

But there were times where I was physically overwhelmed and weeping, thinking, well, I don't know what's going to happen.

And, and, but I, I remember saying very clearly, lord, whatever you do, I'm going to have to give you glory.

And, and I'm going to tell you here in that moment that there's lessons that I learned through that trial that I can take with me today and say, you know what, that's something that I'm going to grasp onto.

I don't want to forget about that reliance on God in that moment.

I don't want to forget about trusting in him no matter what the outcome was in that moment.

And I'm going to tell you here tonight that I think all of us to some degree have to go through those trials in our life to get to a place where we can go back and say, yes, I know that God is going to get me through this today because he got me through this yesterday.

But we're tempted to forget about yesterday.

We're tempted to forget about 20 years ago.

We look at the pain and suffering that we're in now and we think, well, there's no chance we're going to get through it this time.

But just as God is faithful yesterday, he's faithful today.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

And I want to tell you that there are things in my life that I would have not planned for.

There are things in my life that I would say if I was writing the script I would not have happen.

But I am thankful now that those things were able to happen because that was God's way of teaching and testing me and growing me and allowing me to get to a place in my life where I can learn a lesson.

And sometimes, maybe you're not like me, but I'm hard headed.

I need to have someone hit me over the head sometimes and let me know what's going on in my life.

And so David comes to that place here where he asked the Lord, he says, lord, I need your mercy, I need your grace.

And there's a, there's another passage of scripture and we looked a little bit in this passage last week, but Psalm 34.

So if you go to Psalm 34, we're probably not going to go through the whole chapter here this evening.

But this was a psalm of David when he changed his behavior before Himch who drove him away and then departed and or not Himlech the Achish which we see there in this case.

And so this is.

So the other one, the Psalm 56 was written in the time where he got abducted by the people there in Gap.

And this is as he departs.

And so he kind of comes to a place of like, this is the conclusion of the matter.

And I think that there's a couple of verses here that we could really take with us as a lesson here.

Verse one, he says, I will bless the Lord at all times.

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

You know, I, I think that sometimes when I hear other people praising God, I, I, I'm thankful for that.

I'm excited for that.

But there was times in my life where I would hear people thanking the Lord for something and I'd be like, instead of saying, well, you know, yeah, I can look back at something in my life, I'd be like, why isn't God doing that in my life?

Or why hasn't God showed me that yet?

And there's going to be times in our life where we are excited about continuously praising God, and we should never get upset with someone else's continually praising God.

And we should be continually praising God with what we do in our life.

And then he says in verse three, oh, magnify the Lord with me.

Let us exalt his holy name together.

So David's test and God's provision in the midst of the test allowed for David to affect others and to call others to a sense of worship.

He says, I sought the Lord, verse 4.

And he heard me and delivered me from all of my fears.

And go on a little bit further there in verse nine, he says, oh, fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no want to them that fear him.

You see that David here is allowing for God's work in his life to affect the way that he lives so that other people will see the way that God works.

So ultimately, it's a proclamation of God's blessing and the blessing of faith in our life.

You see, there's admonitions here, there's exhortations here.

He says, come.

Verse 11, Come, ye children, hearken unto me.

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

So instead of the fear of man, he says, I want to teach you the fear of the Lord.

One of the best things that we can instill in other Christians around us is understanding what the fear of the Lord is.

A healthy understanding, a healthy awe, a healthy respect for who God is.

He goes on to say in verse number 14 or 13, he says, keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile.

Depart from Evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.

He's giving them all of these things that they're supposed to do in their life, but it's all tied up together with who, what God has shown him in his own life.

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to them that cry.

The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, but to them to cut the remembrance off of them of the earth.

And so he ultimately is saying this.

These are lessons that I have learned, and I want to pass these lessons on to you.

That's what the Christian life is.

That's what discipleship is.

The Christian life should always be that, hey, I didn't go through this trial for.

For just my own pain.

I didn't go through this trial just for my own blessing.

No, it's the trial that we learn the lesson that we can teach others so that they might not have to go through another trial.

Or maybe they do go through a trial, but now we're able to tell them what to do in the midst of that trial.

I think about 2 Corinthians, chapter one, where it talks about how God comforts us not so that we can just receive that comfort and be, you know, blessed.

It is so that we're blessed, but it's also so that we can help other people find that comfort in the time of need.

So in Psalm 34, he goes on and he says in verse 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and save as such as be of a contrite spirit.

David recognizes here that God is near those who have a broken heart, a humble heart.

David had to humble himself in that situation.

He had to call out to God.

He could not figure it out himself.

He could not save himself.

And he says, God saves those that have a contrite spirit, a humbled spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

He keepeth all of his bones.

Not one of them is broken.

Evil shall slay the wicked, and they shall hate the righteous.

And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.

The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants, and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

I want you to think about that last verse that he says there, verse 22, because that is so.

So important for us to remember in our life.

The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants.

God redeems us.

He's our Redeemer.

And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

None, none of them will lack.

None of them will be hopeless.

All of us have a greater hope in something bigger than this world, something bigger than our trial, something bigger than the persecution, something bigger than all the fears that we might face in our life.

He says, no, there's something bigger because we have the redemption of the Lord in our lives.

I, I know that there's so many people that live in this world looking for hope.

Think about it.

Think about, like, all of the things that people try to do to find hope in their life.

There could be substances, it could be relationships, it could be money, it could be a job, it could be a hobby, it could be anything that people are trying to find some sort of substance and hope and satisfaction and purpose in their life.

But what we see here as Christians is it's not about what we necessarily do.

It's about who we are in and who our redeemer is.

And so if we're redeemed by Jesus Christ, we have everything that we need and there's no reason to be desolate.

I, I, I know that all of us want good things to happen.

I want good things to happen not only to me, but to you.

I want us all to be blessed.

I want us all to have abundance.

I want us all to have good health.

But the reality is, is that in our life, if, if Abraham had to go through trials, if, if Joseph had to go through trials, if David had to go through trials, if, if any of the New Testament saints had to go through trials, guess what?

We are going to have to go through trials.

And if I got up here and just said to you, love God enough and you'll never have to go through a trial, that would be very misleading.

But it is something that's being taught today that if you just have enough faith, everything will be okay.

And if you're going through a struggle right now, it's probably because you've done something wrong.

We know that that's not the case.

We know that there's individuals in Scripture that had to go through trials for a lesson to be taught.

Now, some of the trials that they're going through are because of their own sin, but some of the trials that they're going through are simply because it's a test from God in faith.

Think about, think about that big test that Abraham had.

You guys know the test?

He took his only son Isaac up to the mountaintop of Moriah, and God says, okay, how much do you love me?

Are you willing to commit to slay Your own son.

That's a. I don't know about you guys, but that's one of those ones that I don't understand.

I'm not there yet.

But Abraham takes his son up that hill, and he commits.

Now, we know in the book of Hebrews that he had so much faith that he said, even if I had to go through this and finish that sacrifice, he believed that God would raise him from the dead.

That's the type of faith that is.

Is admirable.

That's the type of faith that he believed that God had a purpose and a plan for his son, that he would be a father of a great nation, and that God would take care of all of this.

That's the type of faith that we're all supposed to strive for that.

I don't know how this is all going to work, but God is asking me to do this, and I believe that he is going to make this all right.

So David comes to that place in First Samuel, Chapter 21, where he evades there, that king in Gath.

And now he's going to be going out, and David is going to depart.

He's going to escape to a cave, and he is going to.

In this next passage of scripture, some of you have heard of the 400 men that come along with them, and that's going to be the passage of scripture that teaches us about that.

But I won't go into that because that'll be Pastor Ethan's.

But what I will say is this.

If we could take any lesson with us tonight, it's that the reality is, is that we're going to face things that are going to cause us in our own selves.

Face fear.

I don't know what makes you, like.

I don't know what scares you.

Like, you know, like, there's a spider in our house.

My family freaks out, and I'm like, guys, it's just a spider.

Just, you know, I don't like spiders.

Kill the other bugs, but I can't.

That argument doesn't work in our house.

I got to take them out.

Okay, so we take.

We take.

You know, it might be bugs, it might be.

It might be a fear of, like, speaking in front of people.

It might be the fear of isolation.

It might be the fear of the dark, Whatever the fear is.

Okay?

We.

We know that there's a lot of people that have fears, and.

And fears are a real thing as a human, that's something that we're going to have to wrestle with.

But at the same time, it's how we deal with that fear?

Do we allow that fear to be a snare in our life so that we don't do the things that God has called us to do?

Or do we allow that fear to be something that we see God's promises come in and we shine the light of faith upon it and we see that it's not going to overcome us, that we see that we can have the victory.

And so really, the true test here this evening is how do we face our fear?

Do we face it with our flesh or do we face it with our faith?

And in so doing, if we face it, face it with our flesh, well, it's just going to be manifested more and more in our lives.

But if we face it with faith, though, we might not have the situation removed from our life.

Okay, I wish I could tell you that every time you face something with faith, that problem would just go away.

But it's not always going to go away.

But we can face that fear with faith and know that God is with us through the midst of that.

Think about the.

Think about the guys who were on the boat there in the Sea of Galilee, and they're gonna go across.

Jesus makes a promise, right?

He makes a promise.

He says, like, we're gonna go to the other side.

So that's enough.

That's the word of God.

The word of God, literally.

Jesus says, we're gonna go to the other side.

If Jesus says they're gonna go to the other side, they're gonna go to the other side.

And then the storm comes and they're like, jesus, what's going on?

They're mad.

They're afraid.

They're afraid that they're going to die.

They.

They forget the promise that Jesus made.

Jesus is there in the boat sleeping.

And they get mad that Jesus is sleeping.

Why is Jesus sleeping?

He needs to wake up.

He doesn't care about us and sometimes how we are in our life.

Why isn't God talking?

Why isn't God moving?

Why isn't God answering?

He doesn't love me.

What's going on?

Well, obviously Jesus wakes up.

And then Jesus says, look, you guys don't have faith.

I told you we're going to get to the other side.

And then he says, peace, be still.

And it's over.

Jesus never promises us.

And you guys heard the statement.

Jesus never promises us that we won't go through storms in our life, but he promises us that he's going to be with us in the boat through the storm.

And at any moment that he wants, he can make it peace be still.

And we have to trust in him in the midst of that.

So I pray for you to understand that when that faith comes or that opportunity to express that faith comes, that we exercise it in trusting in the promises of God and not in the promises of man.

Not in the fear of man, but ultimately in the fear of God.

Trusting in His Word and trusting in the promises that he gives us.