Please turn with me to 1st Samuel chapter 30. 1st Samuel 30. We had the passage read in its entirety verses 1 through 31, but I'll just read here verse 6. Moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. For all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we've sung of how the King will come when morning dawns, when life's dark night is past. So we think of how this is a time where there's darkness, where it seems that wrong at times is winning the day. We long for the day when right will triumph. And we pray that you would kindle here at least a candle so that we would be encouraged, so that we would have a blessed foretaste of that morning to come. Give us your Holy Spirit to that end, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. We oftentimes use the phrase, facing the music. Facing the music when we refer to someone's receiving the unpleasant consequences of his foolish actions. For example, the golf legend Tiger Woods was discovered to have been grossly unfaithful to his wife and he's had to face the music by standing humiliated before the flashing media cameras and before the jeering fairway galleries, facing the music. Now, the origin of that phrase seems to date back to the Civil War era. when an officer who had conducted himself in a disgraceful manner would be humiliatingly court-martialed by a patch-tearing-off ceremony that concluded with his being drummed out by the percussion section of the military band, drummed out of his regiment as he would be marched away in shame. He would face the music for his foolish actions. Well, facing the music is a healthy deterrent against disgraceful behavior. In fact, our Heavenly Father, who desires that we would stay away from sin, quite frequently employs the loving rod of consequential pain in the lives of his dear children. Proverbs 3 and verse 12 tells us that the Lord disciplines those whom he loves as a father the son whom he delights. Now thankfully the Lord never drums us out of his family. He never drums us out of the regiment or out of his army. But as Spurgeon rightly says, our father has many rods and so we have many smarts because we do have many sins. So we look at 1 Samuel chapter 30 and we find here a son of God whose name is David. He's dearly loved by his Heavenly Father, but David, if we consider the account in the context, he's somewhat backslidden into a sinful lifestyle. He's gone off to intermix with the Canaanites. In 27.1, we saw that David sought refuge from Saul's hunting him down. But he didn't seek refuge in the God of Israel. Instead, he sought refuge in the ruler of the Philistines, and that's Achish of Gath. We find also in 27.8 and 9, let me just read that passage to you regarding David's somewhat backslidden state. He was living a double life, deceiving Achish, telling him he was doing one thing but really doing another. 27.8, David while mixing with the Canaanites, now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Gerzites and the Amalekites, just remember that. For they were inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to shore, even as far as the land of Egypt. And David attacked the land and did not leave a man or woman alive. And he would take away some of the sheep and the cattle and then return to Achish. He was living a deceitful life at this time. We find the next chapter following in verse 29, we see that David actually then found himself marching with his 600 men, mixed right in there with the Philistines, marching toward Israel to fight against his own people. And he was very uneasy about this, but thankfully he was set free by the Philistine commanders who said, what is this? What are these Hebrews doing here? 29.3, a reprimand that David really should have given himself. What in the world am I doing here intermixing with these Canaanites? We see at the very last verse of chapter 29, which leads into our chapter, We find there that David is greatly relieved. He's ecstatic with joy. He got his release from his trap being with the Philistines. So David arose early. He and his men depart in the morning to return from the land of the Philistines. Just put yourself in David's sandals now. He's relieved. He's ecstatic with joy. He's leading his men now back to Ziklag where they're going to enjoy a sweet reunion with their wives and with their children. But little does David know that at Ziklag his Heavenly Father is going to require him to face the music. There is a low humiliation valley for David that waits ahead. So with that background, let's go to 1 Samuel chapter 30 and consider it under four main heads. You have a little white handout with you there. Those are our four main headings. Notice the fourth is long, but it's really somewhat of an epilogue. Come with me firstly to God's discipline is faithful. We see that in verses 1 through 3. God's discipline is faithful. Again, David and his men, they make the 60-mile journey southward from Aphek, where they'd been with the Philistines. They're released and they're heading down southward to Ziklag. Just think of all the thoughts that were ricocheting through David's mind at this time. No doubt, he's basking in thankfulness. His Heavenly Father had rescued him from almost catastrophic disaster. His acting as Achish, the Philistine's bodyguard? Imagine that, appearing to his own countrymen, fighting against them? What a blemish, what a stain that would put on David forever, that would dethrone any possibilities of his being made king. So we see that he was freed like a bird from the snare, heading towards Ziklag. There's a sweet relief. Oh Lord, I had dug a pit and I myself would have fallen into it, but you spared me from it. He was relieved. But probably there was also a sense of anticipation in his mind. All this time David had hoped that he would someday get to the throne. And as he looked at the mobilizing events, he may have thought to himself, could it be that I am nearer now to the crown than I ever have been? Saul is going to fight at Mount Gilboa. Things look bad for Saul. The writing seems to be on the wall for him. The Philistines, I've been in their camp. They're poised. They're polished. They're mean. They're lean. They're ready to go. Word has come from the scouts that Saul's camp is in disarray. Saul is desperate. There is even one report that he went to consult a witch, a witch at Endor. Maybe Saul's days are numbered as king. and my days are beginning. So David and his men, they're heading southward towards Ziklag, their home, where their families are. Everything is smiles and song. There's humor, there's hilarity, maybe a good natured joking and elbowing one another as they're looking forward to getting home and embracing their wives and their children, able to have a a clean set of sheets to sleep in, a hot bath, a warm meal, things are going to be good when we get to Ziklig. But, when they come to that hill and they reach the crest of it that overlooks Ziklig, we see that instead, one commentator says, of seeing loved ones looking out their windows. Instead, the men see trails of smoke spiraling skyward and charred ruins. And they saw skeletons, frames where once were their homes. And they were greeted in the city not by glee and laughter of children and wives, but by utter silence. And their jolly faces became ashen. And they raced into their homes, as it says there in verse 3. David and his men came to the city. Behold, it was burned with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. And look at verse 1b, where it says there, the Amalekites had made a raid. The Amalekites. Now, how do they know it was the Amalekites? Well, the Amalekites, as you read about the culture, they seem to have been orc-like in their uncouth culture, the Amalekites. And it was probably a certain style of raid and ransack that they engaged in. and David and his men were able to recognize these filthy fingerprints. The Amalekite signature was on this raid. The Amalekites! It's probable this brought a great dagger of guilt to David's own soul because it made him think of his recent sin spree because we saw there earlier on in 27 in verse 8, that one of the types of cities he would attack during his double life were the cities of the Amalekites. David we find here connecting the providential dots, not only the Amalekites, but when he had attacked cities of the Amalekites, he had also killed every inhabitant including women and children. And we see here that David is reminded of his broad road backslide, and no doubt conscience alarm bells are going off in David's soul at this time. Matthew Henry says, observe in this, how David was corrected for going with the Philistines, God's hand designed to make use of the Amalekites. Let's just pause here for a moment as we think of calamity bringing to a man's soul the reminder of his own sin. David is somewhat facing the music here, isn't he? Now sometimes a storm hits an innocent Job. Every time we see a storm we shouldn't assume it's because a man has done evil or even because we have done evil. That's what Job's counselors assumed. Job 1 says, a great wind struck an innocent Job, a man who was blameless, upright, feared God, and shunned evil. We also look at another great wind in the scripture, Jonah chapter 1, that struck the ship of a man named Jonah, who was running away from God on the broad road of disobedience. The difference was that Job was not aware of any particular sin God was dealing with, where Jonah, when he got up on the deck, he was absolutely sure he knew what was going on. It is typical that when God brings a great wind into our life, a calamity, and he's arousing us regarding our sin, making us face the music, Typically, he gives us conscience cues so that there isn't doubt. I say this because we need to be careful in our viewing God's providence in our lives that we don't look to see a spanking behind the rock of every affliction. because biblically speaking that is not the case another great wind that we find in the scriptures is found in Acts chapter 27 Paul is on a ship in the Mediterranean Sea and it says a great wind comes down from the hills of Crete and it drives Paul into a shipwreck this was not because Paul had sinned the Lord is going to use this great wind this storm of an affliction to blow him toward the desired destination which is Rome. Furthermore, James 1 says that we are to consider it all joy when we encounter trials, knowing that trials are often not God's causing us to face the music of our sin, but to, James 1, to test our faith for our good and for His glory. Yet, we can't deny the fact that, as it says in Hosea 8, 7, those who sow to the wind will reap the whirlwind. And Hebrews 12, 6, which says, those the Lord loves, He disciplines. Our brother, Pastor Raines, preached to us recently about Peter having denied the Lord Jesus three times, and then there is the providence of the cock crowing, the alerting regarding what he had done, and the Lord's gazing at him, probably with those swollen eyes having been beaten, across the courtyard, making Peter aware of his sin, and he went out having faced the music of the cock crowing, and he wept bitterly. So I suggest to you that the fact that the Amalekites were the one who brought this raid on Ziklag and that the women and the children were gone caused David to have an awareness that the Lord was calling him to account and making him aware regarding his sin, desiring to bring a full restoration not merely something partial. We need to ponder this, ponder this. Take an automobile accident. As a passenger, I've watched automobile accidents taking place. And I can remember one a number of years ago where a man had his SUV roll over on the expressway. And when it did, the man came and reported to me about how thankful he was. What a mark of God's mercy! The Lord has shown me how kind He is. My family was all speared, not even a scratch to be found barely on anyone in my family. God is so good, as that rollover caused him to think of God's kindness to him. And also remember a young lady in our church many years ago whose van was the family van that rolled over as well. And she came to me the next day and said, yes I'm without a scratch but I know that the Lord was dealing with me because I was on the broad road. I was living a life that I shouldn't have been living and the Lord has called me to account for it. See the Lord does work in both ways and may God give us holy discretion to understand his dealings with us. Spurgeon says this regarding 1 Samuel, he says, "...when your trouble has been brought upon you by your own fault, when affliction is evidently a chastisement for grievous transgression, when your heavenly Father makes you smart under His rod, He's inviting you to return to Him." And God does still work that way. He works very precisely and very purposefully in our lives. Spurgeon goes on, See the fruit of David's falsehood? Ziklag is burned with fire. David had left the way of righteousness. Hence in one moment the Lord launches at him bereavement and plunder and mutiny and danger of life that he might be made to hate his way of carnality and cunning. Our Father is so gracious to us, His sons, His daughters, to draw us back to Himself. That's our first main heading. God's discipline is faithful. But now consider with me, secondly, God's servant is overwhelmed. God's servant is overwhelmed. That's in verses 4 through 6a. David and his men, you see them there, standing in the middle of the smoldering town, the rubble. Thankfully, they can't find any corpses of wives or sons or daughters, but as they pondered it may have been perceived as only a minor mercy because in whose hands were these children and wives? In the hands of the orc-like Amalekites. And in those days, those who might be taken as spoil would be used for abuse and then maybe be sold off in lifelong slavery and misery. So we see this band of 600 men as they stood there in Ziklag were in a state of shock. They were exhausted at this point. All the stress regarding what had taken place, marching with the Philistines, the tension there at Aphek, the three-day march southward, where they hoped that they would get the warm bath, the clean sheets, and the home-baked meal. Instead, we find that they're devastated and they're dazed. There's only one thing that they feel they can do and it says in verse 4 that they lift up their voices and it says that they wept, that they wept until there was no strength in them. They wept. Can you see them there, these 600 men? They wept, they wailed till their throats were hoarse, till their eyes were swollen and emptied out, till their breasts were bruised black and blue from the beating that took place. as they were striking themselves. And then we notice that their sorrow turned to anger. It mutated into bitterness and rage. They needed to find a culprit, a culprit among themselves, a scapegoat. Who would it be? David! David is the one who was cause of this. Look at 6b. They spoke of stoning him. says they were embittered because of their sons and their daughters. What kind of conversation took place? I don't know exactly, but maybe it was, what's the matter with you, David, that you didn't leave maybe a hundred of us back here to guard Ziklag? Well, the fact was they were going to be off with the Philistines and they would need every spear, every sword, every shield to fight if the Philistines had turned on them. Yeah, but you don't understand. Look what took place. What's the matter with you? Hindsight is often 20-20. They would say to him, because of you, because of you, I'll never see my curly-haired little boy again. Because of you, I'll never see my darling face little girl again. One commentator says, leadership is a very lonely place. He says, even the best are called the worst. we saw in our Sunday school class about Moses. Moses in the wilderness was called the worst of leaders. Paul in Corinth, he was called the worst of leaders. Gordon Keddy says, part of the burden of leadership, particularly in the aftermath of setback, is to face the criticism of people whose frustration has overwhelmed their rationality. People who can't balance their checkbooks become experts in the nation's economy. It's difficult. It's difficult if you are in a corporation. It's difficult if you are in a family, as a leader, in any organization. It's difficult. Pastor Beeke even mentioned there in our Sunday school class, how we, Pastor Raines says, speaks to the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary students often about dealing with criticism. As a church leader, But Paul rightly says this, the Lord's bondservant must not quarrel. He must be kind to all, patient when wrong, correcting those who oppose that God might bring them to their senses. And so we think of David, he's getting it because of his leadership. He was a bit overwhelmed, Moses himself. You look at the way Moses was overwhelmed in Numbers chapter 11. He was in the wilderness and the people were sick and tired of the manna, the manna burgers and the manna cakes and the manna flakes. Enough of this manna! We want meat to eat! And Moses had had enough. Moses lost it. He says, Lord, if this is the way that you're going to treat me, I'm going to deal with all this criticism and just put me to death right now. And it's interesting, we find that even after that, he had come to the end of his wits. The very next chapter was the 12th of Numbers, where Miriam comes after him and speaks about his pride. And likewise, we look at this then, who could blame David when it says in verse 6 of Numbers 30, David was greatly distressed. Now let's empathize with David. Try to get a feel to sympathize with him. David had been pounded with withering afflictions. Dating all the way back from Numbers chapter 18. Once he went to the valley of Elah and took off Goliath's head and aroused Saul's jealousy. David encountered wave after wave of affliction against him. He had to dodge spears. He had to find a way to get away from midnight stakeouts at his honeymoon apartment. He had gone to Nob and endured the understanding that the priests and their children had been massacred by Saul because of him, that he had tainted them. He had gone to Gath and was in danger of being killed and had to pretend to be a madman with saliva running down his beard. He had to live in caves. He was hunted like a flea in the mountains. There he had been in that stress-filled situation of Aphek. And now the men are talking of Doning him? The mighty man who so loved him? Now they want to gash his skull with boulders? You imagine the kind of condition David was in. It says he was greatly distressed. I mean, you talk about somebody who's burned out? That's David. David right here, at this stage in his life, spiritually speaking, is a worn-out shadow of what he once was. Even now, the other men, they wanted to get home to see their wives and children. Imagine how much David wanted to see Abigail. and to hold her in an embrace. Maybe there was a little red-haired, curly-haired child of his own, or two, by this time. And we see that he too, when the men wailed to the point of exhaustion, he wailed along with them. He had just been kind of on a spiritual mountaintop, having been released at Aphek, and now he's been brought to a bottomless pit, and it seems beyond bearable. You just pause here now and apply this to the 21st century and to ourselves. Does this kind of an unbearable series of calamities ever take place in people's lives now? Oh, absolutely so. Dale Davis comments on this. In fact, he entitles the whole chapter, chapter 30, when the bottom drops out. And he writes this, here is a very disturbing picture for God's people. Are there not times when you think it can't get any worse? And 1 Samuel 30 says, oh yes it can. Can't it? It's happened. The Bible doesn't give us this glossy advertisement regarding the Christian life, telling us that things will be shiny and happy and peppy. No, there's a holy realism in the Bible. There are times when you conclude that your present trouble is the last straw. You simply can't take any more. And then comes Ziklag. the last straw after the last straw. Some of us have been there. Some of us may be there even now. Davis goes on, sometimes you're tempted to add another line to Psalm 30 and verse 5 where it says, weeping may endure for a night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning. But calamity comes the next afternoon. And that's what happened here with David. And you know what? The reality the Scriptures tell us, that's what happens with us too. There's an account in a book that Faith Cook has put together, a British woman. It's called Singing in the Fire, little small biographical vignettes of Christian people's lives, not necessarily heroic and well-noted Christian people, but just normal rank-and-file Christian folks like you and like me. There's a little chapter dedicated to a woman called Catherine Boston. She is the wife of Thomas Boston. The account goes and it speaks about her, Catherine's, birthing her first child in 1701. After a nine-month pregnancy, they were so anticipating this delightful little one, again naming her Catherine after mommy, and the little baby came out and it had a double hair lip. A double cleft palate, Thomas himself wrote, my heart was struck like a bird shot and falling from a tree. Our little baby Catherine was dearly loved and grew to be six months old, old enough for Catherine and Thomas to go away for a couple of days. And while away, Catherine, mummy, had a dream that Catherine, baby, had been miraculously healed, that her face was now full and whole again. And they quickly went back by some strange thought, and they arrived to find that baby Catherine had died. In a sense, it is true that she may well, by God's grace, have been made whole. So we see that after this, the account goes on. It speaks about in 1702 then. The next year, a little baby, John, was born. But John died at 21 months. And after that, Catherine began to have these terrible and intense headaches. Maybe they were hormonally related. And this went on for months and months, even years. And then Thomas had this terrible difficulty in pastoring at a place called Simpron. He faithfully declared the Word of God, but they wanted someone to say, peace, peace, when there was no peace to them. So his ministry was a great trial. But then we find in 1707 there was a little baby named Ebenezer born. His name was Ebenezer. The Lord has helped us thus far. That's what that means. Stone of help. And they considered the birth of little Ebenezer to be a great sign for good. Ebenezer but at age four months Ebenezer died and Thomas said it was more difficult for me to bury his name than it was to bury his body because we thought that the Lord was for us again but now we experience this calamity and then in 1708 while the family was living in the stables because the manse, the pastoral house, was being rebuilt. Don't ask me the relationship with the congregation having him live in a stable. But we find that in the stables there was another boy born and in great faith they named him again Ebenezer. And the great hope was that surely the Lord will show us a kindness. It was a bold act of faith, Thomas said. But that child died at seven weeks old. And Thomas was shot through again with the heart. Now this painful era did equip Thomas. to be able to Thomas Boston to write his book, The Crook in the Lot, the way that we can survive through difficult providences. But we understand how not only for a David, but for a Thomas, and for a Mary, and for a John, and for a James, and for a Sophie, these kinds of things can happen in our day. This is a disturbing text, it is. the 30th of 1 Samuel. We see that God's special servant, even David, a very special servant, a man after God's own heart by the way, a man dear and precious to the Lord, we see that he's overwhelmed with trouble. Now this is a dose of biblical realisms. because we see that our trifle can intensify. The Lord Jesus warned us of this too in John 16 and verse 33. In this world, He said, you will have much tribulation. This is life's dark night, and we're waiting for the King to return and mourning to come. In this world, the King said, you will have much tribulation, but be of good cheer, he says. I will overcome the world, and I am coming back, and I will bring joy in the place of weeping. So, we've seen God's discipline is faithful. And God's servant is overwhelmed. Come with me thirdly now to God's strength is sufficient. God's strength is sufficient, and that's in verse 6b. But David, it says there in 6b, though overwhelmed, though greatly distressed, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. I think this is one of the mightiest and the best buts. in the whole Bible, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. What did David have to his name? He had nothing touchable that he could call his own. My city Ziklag burned to a crisp. My house burned to a skeleton. My stuff, gone, taken away by the Amalekite orcs. My Abigail, can't hold her, can't touch her. My children, they're gone. Every visible asset of David has been taken away. Had nothing he could see, nothing he could touch. But he did have one thing that was untouchable and invisible And that's what she referred to. But David strengthened himself in the one thing he had. In the Lord, his God. He didn't have a city. He didn't have stuff. He didn't have a wife. He didn't have children. But he had a God. He had an almighty God. And in this, he was really incalculably wealthy. had no strength in himself, but in his Almighty God he had a mighty river that he could tap to fill his empty tanks." And he did. He strengthened himself in the Lord his God. I read this week about in Canada, back in the 1850s in the Canadian city of Niagara, They saw the high rushing waters up in the river and the way that they surged down over the falls. And so, they hatched the idea of designing a waterwork system for the city of Niagara. And so, they wanted to bring the surge of the falls into wealthy homes. And so, they created this waterwork system. They actually used wooden pipes. I'm told, and when they actually hooked it up all together, the surge was so strong that the pipes burst. They found a way to get it together, but there was strength and there was flow. McLaren, who, Alexander McLaren, who wrote just about this season in the mid-1800s, he says this, as men might draw the waters of Niagara into their homes through pipes, let us also cry out, my Lord and my God. See our God is a mighty surging river and we may be a Death Valley drought. But the reality is that we can tap. He can bring water from a rock. And just look at the result of David's strengthening himself in the Lord his God. He who was limp and almost dead we find in verse 10. It says, David then pursued There was no strength left in them. But somehow David was able to mount up, and buckle up, and gird up, and he and four hundred men, two hundred were too exhausted, but David continued to lead them on across the Brook Bayshore, because he had strengthened himself in the Lord his God. That word strengthened is the Hebrew word kazach, which means to, like you tighten up a muscle, You expand. It means to make hard, to make firm, to make resolute. Children, I've been to some of those picnics when you've brought these little colorful round balloons. And there they are, these little plastic things. They lie limp. But I know what you have sometimes in your mind for me. And what you want to do with me with those little balloons, you want to take them over to the surge in the faucet, and you want to take those little limp balloons and they begin to swell like a big muscle. And that which was like a little noodle becomes like a hard softball. And see, this is what happened to David. David was made strong, he strengthened himself, made firm, hard, resolute in the Lord. I can remember when I was young, maybe you can too, Popeye, he would eat spinach and those forearms would get massive. Or the Incredible Hulk, he would blow up and he would just tear his shirt with his massive chest. This is the kind of thing that is being said here about David when he strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Samson would have the same thing. Samson was just a normal man, but the Spirit of God would come on Samson. He would grab a jawbone of an ass and he was able to hip and thigh slaughter thousands. Or even Saul in the 11th chapter of 1 Samuel. Saul, when he hears of Jabesh, Gilead, and the loss of one eye, Saul is given this power and this strength. The Spirit of God came upon him. You come to the New Testament. Peter, who had just recently denied the Lord Jesus Christ before a servant woman, now Peter is standing in Acts chapter 5 before the Sanhedrin, all these fierce, mighty men of first century Israel. And it says, Peter, filled with the Spirit, boldly declared, we must obey God rather than men. And Luther, standing at Worms, the terrified little monk the night before, roared like a lion because the Spirit of God came on him. You know what? God does the same thing for exhausted pastors and parents and dads and moms and spurned lovers who think they can't go on any further because they've been rejected. We can strengthen ourselves in the Lord. He does come by His Spirit and He makes us to be no longer a shadow but makes us to be a young, fresh, strong child of God. And look at David now here. Read the rest of the chapter. It's the old David again. You see, the recent David was the one who was just a shadow of who he was. He was trying to protect himself by craft and by cunning and by outsmarting other people. Let's see if I Go over to Gath to be with Achish, then I'll be away from... I know I'm compromising here. I know I shouldn't be mixing with the Canaanites, but I need to be kept safe. Is that the David who stood in the valley of Elah and looked up the nostrils of Goliath and put his hands on his hips, kind of maybe held his sling and his pinky finger and said, look, the Lord helped me to slay the lion and the bear, and I've taken your head off too. by the power of the living God. Ah, the old David, we see, is back at this point. He strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. And you know what, beloved? The Lord does that for people, not just in the Old Covenant and not just in the New Testament, but he does it for his people today. But you might say to yourself, oh yeah, that sounds really good, but my trouble is mixed with my sin. I know that part of the reason why I'm in this difficult, it's because I've sinned against the Lord, and it's part of my doing, and I'm facing the music. Well, you know what? It's true with David too. The Lord came and the Lord strengthened David. David went to God even though he felt like he was under the rod of God. This version tells of an interesting old picture that he saw given by one of his old churchmen in his membership. There's a picture of a slave master who was trying to whip one of his slaves, but the slave was trying to get away from the whip, and you know what the slave did? He ran to the master, and he embraced the master, and the master couldn't strike anymore. In fact, the master was melted and stopped whipping. And so Spurgeon says, you feel you're under the rod of God? Draw near to your Heavenly Father. Draw near to Him. James 4 says, draw near to the Lord, and He will draw near to you. Job says, though He slay me, I will yet trust in Him. Jacob says, he resolved, I will not let you go until you bless me. Beloved, guilty as we are, draw nigh unto the Lord. David did it! And look at how the Lord came and strengthened David. And how did David strengthen himself? Well, I don't know exactly, but maybe he used Jonathan's technique, because that word, chazak, strengthen, is the same word that was used back in 2316, when Jonathan came to David and says, Jonathan, strengthen David! in the Lord his God." We see Jonathan's technique was David. The Lord promised, you're going to be king! See, Jonathan brought to David pledges and promises that the Lord had brought to him. And David probably thought when Jonathan was there, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right. The Lord did send into my life Samuel. I mean, I was just minding my business out in the flock. And the Lord had Samuel pull me from the flock. And I still remember when he anointed my head with oil and the oil ran down from my head to my cheeks to my garments. and I was told that I was going to be the king. The Lord made that promise to me. Now, I don't feel like it at all. I'm on my way to the throne. I feel like I'm going in the opposite direction. But David was able to remind himself of the promises and the pledges of the Lord. The Lord didn't work in David's life to mock him. David probably thought about this, strengthening himself in the Lord and His promises. And I'll just say to you, loved one, child of God, Look, the Lord has done something wonderful in your life. He's called you out of the herd of the world. He brought you to Himself. He gave you His Holy Spirit. And He's promised that you're going to sit on a throne. You are! He's promised you're going to sit with Him at the right hand of the majesty and high. And you may feel like right now, it doesn't seem like I'm going to get there. But it seems that I've been cast out from Him. His favor is gone. It seems that He's mocking me. No, He's not mocking you. Listen to the promises. He'll never leave you, He says. He'll never forsake you. Philippians 1, He'll begin a good work in you. He'll perfect it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come on now, also. Let's read your diary. Let's pull out the tales of what the Lord has done in your past life. I mean, just like David. This is by how David strengthened himself in the Lord as well. David was able to recount in his own mind episodes of how the Lord again and again and again had helped him. Yeah, none of those spears ever hit me. They never got me that night in my honeymoon when they staked out for me. When I was at Gath and I pretended to be insane, I was set free. When I was in the cave with Saul, I was able to cut his garment. When he was almost on my tail in the mountainside, the courier came and said, the Philistines are coming. He did just set me free from Aphek. David had a diary of tales telling God's kindness in his life. And isn't that the way it is with you as well? Come on, think about it. Pull out your diary. Think about your conversion. Think about the days afterwards. Think about maybe a few of your college years. Think about those early years. He gave you an Abigail. He gave you a David. You have many a tale of being in a cave, a tale of being at Aphek and God releasing you and rescuing you. It wasn't too long ago that you were in the pyramid and telling the Lord's people about what the Lord had done for you. Come on! He hasn't abandoned you. Strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. But you may say, Again, it comes back. But you see, I have sinned against Him, and I have done wrong. Okay, that may be true, but listen, the Lord hasn't done any wrong. The Lord is a faithful God. It says in Malachi chapter 2, I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore you, O sons of Israel, are not destroyed. Let me ask you this. When the Lord first looked on you with favor and gave you kindness, was it because you were squeaky clean in your holiness? No. Ezekiel says you were kicking in the blood of your sin. like a baby tossed out to die. And the Lord said to you, live. It was all based on His grace. That's why He strengthened you and He drew you up to be a strong Christian person. Now, here you are. He looks at you and you may be in the stench of your swine, in the vomit of your own sin. Does He only bless and bestow grace and mercy when we are squeaky clean and holy? No, that's not the way of God. He is the Lord, the Lord, the gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, forgiving sin and wickedness and rebellion. You've sinned? You've sinned and you wonder if you have any access rights to the Lord? Come on! Come to Him! It's always of grace. It was grace from the beginning and it'll be grace to the end. Draw near to the Lord. He will draw near to you. You see, God's strength is sufficient. His strength is sufficient. He can take you who are weak and He can make you strong. It's a blessed account we find here. Just in closing, as I said, just somewhat quickly an epilogue. Notice how God's grace is evident in 7 through 31. God's grace is evident. Really the remainder of chapter 30 describes the high-pressure surge of God's grace in David's life. There's a wonderful outcome here. Notice first, David seeks divine guidance. The Spirit has come back into David's life now. There's no report of David's having sought revelation from the Lord by the Urim and the Thummim, those little lots that would be in the ephod of the high priest. There's no word of that since back in chapter 23 when David was at Keilah. And David hasn't even mentioned the Lord since chapter 26 and the water jug incident. But now we see, look, David calls for the ephod, meaning he wants revelation from the Lord. What about you? Maybe one of the first things the Lord's going to do in strengthening you again is going to cause you to crack open that Bible. and get revelation from the Lord. All scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching and proof of correction, training in righteousness. David also went to the high priest and maybe for you, your prayer closet has become cobwebbed because you haven't been in there. David, we have a great high priest. We can go to him and receive mercy and grace in time of need. Spurgeon has said this, backsliders begin with dusty Bibles and end with filthy garments. and prayerlessness often results in carelessness. May the Lord strengthen you to be a man of the book and a man of the closet. Secondly, we see David enjoys sweet providence in 11 through 20. We see the account there of that Egyptian they find in the wilderness. They don't know where to go. Where are our wives? Where are our children? Where is our stuff? like a needle in the haystack of the desert. They find this Egyptian and they give him some raisin cakes and they give him some water. He revives and he becomes that little needle in the haystack, a compass. That's the way that you should go. God gives them wonderful direction. And so the Lord will give to you. Go to the Lord and just look for kind providences coming your way. Maybe the man who had repented among us recently just called me the very next week and said, I have all of these things in my path that the Lord seems to be bringing to me. Also notice David displays gracious lenience in verses 21 through 25. We find that as they went to hunt after their family, 200 of their 600 were so exhausted they stayed there at the brook of Besor. while the other 400 went and slaughtered and recaptured, but all the spoil back. There were some hard-hearted men who said, those lazy 200 who were so exhausted, they shall not share in the spoil. But we see that David says there in 24b, they shall share alike. And in verse 23, for this is what the Lord has given to us. You see beloved, one of the things that will show that we have the strength of the Lord in us is that our thinking will be dominated by what the Lord has given to us, philosophy. And so a gracious spirit towards others will rule a man who is filled with the Spirit. Gracious, not hard-hearted, not stingy toward others. Gracious, merciful, sign of great strength and the presence of the Spirit of God. And then lastly, in 26-31, we see that David shows royal benevolence. David, once he gets all that spoil and all that plunder, he doesn't hoard it to himself, but he gives it. He distributes it among the various cities of Judah to those who will soon be his subjects. And is this not a shadow, a type, a foreshadowing of the Lord Jesus Christ, who it says of Him in Ephesians 4 and verse 8, who led captivity captive? and gave gifts to men. And they realize that when Jesus died and rose again and ascended, He's distributed gifts to men. And the best of the gifts is that Holy Spirit. That Holy Spirit that we have. The Holy Spirit who comes and fills us comes and encourages us, comes and strengthens us, that gives us the Abba Father, and even when we backslide, He strives in us again, making us willing to go back home and face the music. What a blessed Savior we have, the Lord Jesus. He can take our Friday tomb days with that Holy Spirit of resurrection to be made into Sunday resurrection days. And you may feel like things are a tomb, providentially now, experientially now, for you. But just trust the Holy Spirit of God who is in you. He can take that weeping that endures for a night and make you to be rejoicing in the morning. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the realism of this passage. We thank you for the way that you do discipline us, and the way that you don't tempt us beyond what we can bear, and the way that you revisit us, and the way that you strengthen us. Lord, may it be that this would be a time when you would draw near to some who are fainting, that you would enable them to be strengthened in the Lord. May this be a good day, and may we soon see signs for good. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.