If you would take your Bibles, please, and turn to the book of 1st Samuel, chapter 23. 1st Samuel 23, I'm going to be beginning the reading at verse 14, which is where we left off a couple of weeks ago. All right, 1st Samuel 23, beginning of verse 14, if you are able to stand for the reading of God's holy word, please do so. We'll read down to the end of the chapter. And David remained in the strongholds of the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand. David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, do not fear for the hand of Saul, my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. Saul, my father also knows this. And the two of them made a covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh and Jonathan went home. Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, in the hill of Hakila, which is south of Jeshimon? Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand. And Saul said, May you be blessed by Yahweh, for you have had compassion on me. Go, make yet more sure, know, and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning. See therefore, and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah. And they arose and went to Ziph, a head of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma'on in the Aravah to the south of Jeshumon. And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told. So he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Ma'on. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Ma'on. Saul went on one side of the mountain and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them. A messenger came to Saul saying, hurry and come for the Philistines have made a raid against the land. So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi. God adds blessing to the reading and hearing of his word. Please be seated. So have you ever heard of the term apophenia? Have you ever heard of apophenia? Well, it's a psychological term coined around 1958 or so to refer to the human tendency to perceive a connection or a meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things, particularly as an effort to try to bring order out of chaos. It shows up in everything from seeing images in the clouds or on walls. This is kind of interesting. So we've been in this building how long? 12 years? Something like that. Yeah. And in the entire time, I've never seen this before. But after a meeting recently, somebody came up to me really excited because he'd seen an image of Jesus on our wall. And I was like, what? So if you're in the middle, right out here, look up to my right and look where the spotlight hits on the wall. Do you see a shadow there? If you're up here, you may not see it. You kind of got to be in the back in the middle. Now the rest of you are going to, for the rest of the day, you're going to be looking up trying to see this image. You're going to be wandering around after church going, I think it's, ah, yeah. I did see it, and I was like, I've never seen that at all. And I don't believe it's actually Jesus. I just want that to be known. But that's an example of what people do. They look at things like that, and whether it's connect the dots, or images on walls, or signs, or superstitiously believing that things, usually bad things, always happen in groups of three. That's what this term is trying to describe. Now, before you run out of the sanctuary thinking that I'm about to deliver a psychological sermon, let me assure you that I am not. Nevertheless, it is true that we do not like disorder, and I'm pretty sure that David didn't like it either. And this account here is kind of in the category of bad things happening in groups of three or whatever. In this passage you see the fearful chaos of David's experience played out as he runs from one mountain to another. First in the hills of Ziph, at the hill of Hakila, second at the rock or the mountain in Ma'on, and third at the very last sentence he retreats to the mountain strongholds of and Gedi. And all of this was on the other side of the Judean mountains from Cala where he had delivered that town from the Philistines but then had to flee. So now he's deep in southern Judea. He is in southern Judah. He's south of Hebron and trying to avoid Saul once again. You might well imagine that David was beginning to see a pattern. And it wasn't a pattern of life that was desirable. If you were in the situation, I think you would probably begin to wonder, is this a pattern? Is this what's going to happen? Is this what reality is all about? That I'm going to be going from one mountain to the other just to try to get away and put this mountain between me and Saul. And you and your life might see troubles coming your way certainly in threes, or maybe sixes, or nines, or you just lose count after a while. But something else is revealed in this passage, and that makes all the difference. While we might imagine patterns based upon what we can see, the real pattern is that God, our God Yahweh, upholds our lives again and again. despite the appearances of the afflictions around us. So let's see how that works out in David's heart and life and in ours as well. There are three sections. Speaking of threes, there are three sections in this particular passage. The first one is verses 14 through 18, where David retreats to the wilderness of Ziph and Jonathan comes to meet him there. As I thought about Yahweh's sovereignly upholding David and how he upholds us, there's some interesting lessons that can be gleaned from this. First of all, I guess it's an encompassing thought here would be that Yahweh upholds your life by reminding you of his promises. In verses 14 and 15, as David has retreated there, he heads off to the wilderness. But as he does, I love this sentence that Saul sought David every day, but God did not give him into his hand. The first thing that God reminds David of and something that he has talked to David about before is that David is going to be preserved. He's going to sit on the throne and his children are going to continue to sit on the throne as he has promised David an everlasting kingdom. And so here we see evidence of the Lord making good on that promise to faithfully preserve his servant. Now, David and his army had crossed over the Judean mountains to find a refuge, as I said before, in this wilderness that's south of Hebron. And besides, despite, I should say, Saul's best efforts, David continues to elude him. The Lord is not going to give him give David into Saul's hands. There's a bit of the shades, I think, shades of the pursuit of the wandering Israelites by the Egyptians are seen here. The odds were overwhelming, both in terms of military might and resources and all of that, in favor of the Egyptians being victorious, and yet God kept himself between the enemy and his people. And you have a kind of a sense of that here. Yahweh did not allow David's capture. And you and I can take comfort from that and that as we are his, he will not allow you to be captured by the enemy either. He will not allow you to fall completely away into your sins. He will not allow you to be attacked to destruction of your soul and your ministry and all that he has called you to do by human adversaries either. He preserves his people faithfully. He will not allow us to fall. So David is reminded of that. And then when you look at verses 16 through 18, here we have Jonathan come. And this is rather remarkable. If you look at the map, just from the distance standpoint, Saul was having trouble, had to depend upon all kinds of people telling him wherever David was. And perhaps Jonathan had his own network of folks out there that were letting him know what was going on. How Jonathan knew where to find David isn't known, not told here. But that he did find him is a testament to Jonathan's love for David and his determination to come alongside David in support. As the Lord upholds your life, part of His promises, part of His goodness to us is not only that He comes with us, but that He blesses us with friends, faithful friends, to come alongside us as well. And here in verse 16, though this aspect isn't emphasized, It's very true. Jonathan was a friend who was willing to risk everything for David. The danger to Jonathan to go find David in spite of his father was enormous. And not only that, he had to recognize that he had to be extremely careful as he went. Because if people saw him, they might follow him to where David and his company were as well. Jonathan went about this very carefully, recognizing the danger that was there. Jonathan's actions bring to my mind those of another who meets you in the wilderness of your soul. One who sticks closer than a brother. One who seeks you out and finds you. and brings restoration and encouragement to your soul, and that is our Lord Jesus Christ. He risked all for us, just as Jonathan did for David. But of course, Christ did it so infinitely more. That's part of God's upholding our life and reminding us that we are not alone. Even more significant is that when Jonathan comes, he doesn't just say, hang in there, buddy. It's going to be fine. Which is, for many of us, when we are trying to come alongside and comfort those who are struggling and troubled, it's often difficult to know what to say. Sometimes in my work in the chaplaincy, There are times when you sit next to someone who's just gone through some horrific tragedy and there is absolutely nothing to say. There's not a single thing that you can say. Sometimes it's just being there at that moment so that they know they're not alone. But then as things settle down and you do some follow up, then you can start to Talk to them about some solutions and some other things. And Lord willing, get an opportunity to talk to them about this one who sticks closer than a brother. But Jonathan does as he comes. It says that he encouraged David in God. And I take by that that he is reminding David, as we see here, of the promises that Yahweh has made to him. He says, you're going to be king. That is what God has promised. God has anointed David to be the king, set him apart unto that office. And Jonathan reminds him of that. Perhaps you can think about times in your own life when you have been struggling over things, great or small. And I would say, perhaps, that it's safe to say that those friends who came alongside you were the most helpful when they brought God's Word with them. Certainly, Jonathan does that. But Jonathan goes beyond even that and renews his own commitment to David. Now, they've made a covenant together before, remember? a solemn covenant. But here they make another. Now, I'm taking this as a renewal. There's a couple of ways you can take what Jonathan says here. You shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. And at first you can look at this and think, well, maybe this covenant is about, maybe it's a little self-serving on Jonathan's part. like he was trying to secure a position for himself in David's administration. And so the covenant could be taken that David was promising that Jonathan would be number two in the administration. But I don't really think that that, in light of what we know about Jonathan, what we've seen about him before and what we'll continue to see about him, that that's really in his mind. The text literally reads, I will be a second, or it could be, I will be double towards you. So it's not that what we have here in the ESV is an incorrect translation. It could be translated, I will be next to you. But taken in a little different way, I think it's more in keeping of all that we've seen of him so far. Essentially, I believe, Jonathan is saying something along the lines of, I've got your back and my dad knows it. I believe that what Jonathan is saying here is that nothing will pry him away from David's side. And this covenant, this renewal of the covenant between them is that promise. I am for you. I am as close or closer than your shadow, essentially. I'm that close and that will not be broken. Think of friends whom the Lord has sent your way to say and do just the same with you from time to time in your life, and you'll understand how much this had to mean to David. So David's reminded of the promises of God. And our Lord's promises are wonderful. But the danger remains, at least to our limited sight. David, it's great that Jonathan's come. That's awesome. But Saul's still coming as well. But it's against that backdrop of such dire threats that our soul's safety, and that of our bodies as well, when we see that backdrop, Yahweh's loving deliverance, is seen the most gloriously. And so Yahweh not only upholds your life by reminding you of His promises both from His word and through your fellow saints but also upholds your life in spite of the threats that are against it. And in verses 19 through 26, the threats are significant. First of all, there's the threat of betrayal. Again, we looked at that in the prior section, verses 19 and 20. The Ziphites run to Saul and tell him where he is. I think it's interesting. Ziphites are cowardly. How many Ziphites were there? I don't know, but there had to be quite a few, I would expect. Why didn't they just go fight against David and his men and capture him and then haul him up to Saul? No, they don't want to do that. They just prefer to go tattle. So that's what they did. David had never done them any harm. He'd never done Saul any harm. So this can only be motivated by desire for personal advancement. And when that painful betrayal hits, as we talked about before. It's no fun. It's no fun. And the enemy that they go to, Saul, is pretty clever. He's also pretty sanctimonious. You look at verses 21-24. They come up and boy, he's really quick to invoke God's name, isn't he? Oh, I praise Yahweh. Oh, you've had compassion on me. And God's given him into my hand. He tried that one before and of course that didn't work either. Wonderful little book by Walter Chantry on David. And he made this comment and certainly this I thought this was most appropriate for thinking about Saul. How often are we met with flippant comments like the Lord showed me or I was led of the Lord. Often by these slogans, men and women mean, I have glanced at providence, I have read circumstances through the lenses of my personal optimism or pessimism, and with my personal wishes near at hand. Basically, as long as it goes by, I expect certainly this must be of God. It's a common thing to look at our providences only, just the external things that are happening, and go, oh, this must be God's will, without giving thought to God's word. And Saul wasn't paying attention to God's word. He'd already been told he was going to be removed. He'd been told who the anointed was, and yet he persists in his wickedness and uses God's name in vain as he attributes sin to God. The Chantry says, it is possible to use those above phrases, the Lord showed me, or I was led of the Lord. If by them we mean I have prayed for God's guidance and I have found these principles in his word which give light to my path. Good thoughts to keep us grounded in the word of God. But Saul certainly wasn't. But he does in his cleverness and in his cunning. We see a pattern of evil that is not something that's unique to Saul. He encourages his neighbors to tattle on neighbors. He wants to know where you are, who you're with, where you like to go. Sounds like Google. All to justify depriving you of your liberties. Sounds like our government. But it's no laughing matter. It's pervasive. It's a net that seems impossible to escape. And that is why this passage is here. The threat is very real. Just like our adversary. goes about seeking whom he may devour. Just like our sins, which are a constant threat to our communion with our Lord, to our peace, and to our eternity. Left to our own devices, apart from the sovereign act of our God, we would be caught in the nets. of those things that would bind us. Because these clever enemies are also very persistent. We see that in verse 23 and 25. Verse 23, if he's in the land, I'll search him out among all the thousands of Judah. And then 25, Saul and his men went to seek him. So they're after him. They're after him. Sins that way. Temptation is persistent. The weaknesses of our flesh constantly plague us. These are persistent enemies. And the danger is very real. Verse 26, as we come to the climax of this account here, it's Saul's on one side of the mountain, David's on the other side of the mountain. The danger is imminent. The net is being drawn up tight. Defeat seems certain despite all the efforts that David and his men were putting forward. What's he going to do? Saul and his men are just about to capture David. It's that close. What can David do at this point as he's trying to get away? All he can do is pray. And we read in Psalm 54 a little bit of that prayer. Psalm 54 is entitled to the choir master with stringed instruments, a masquille of David when the Ziphites went and told Saul, is not David hiding among us? And in the first three verses we read, oh God, Save me by your name and vindicate me by your might. Oh God, hear my prayer and give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me. Ruthless men seek my life. They do not set God before themselves. Similar to when Jerusalem was being attacked by the Assyrians and Sennacherib's armies and Hezekiah lays out the letter. that was sent the threatening letter. The 185,000 men camped outside Jerusalem. It's hopeless. All Hezekiah could do was pray, and the Lord did a mighty work. Perhaps you can see in your mind's eye a weary David after days of running. sitting beside a little campfire in the stillness of the night before the anticipated capture of the next day, pouring out his heart before Yahweh. Then the morning dawns and suddenly, the situation has changed. And that brings us to the last portion of our text today. In that the Lord upholds your life by promise, in spite of the threats, and he often does it by very unexpected means. This really was a close thing. But God's sovereign providence is at work. He has positioned David on the other side of the mountain from his enemies. But more than that, Yahweh ordains this surprising reversal of events. Remember back at Calah? Saul wasn't doing his duty by his own people. The Philistines were attacking Calah and David goes down and takes care of that raiding party from the Philistines. There, the Philistines were the enemies and David was the deliverer. Here, Saul is the enemy, and surprisingly, the Philistines are the deliverers, after a fashion, when Saul remembers what the duties of a king included. He gets the report that the Philistines had invaded the land, and so he has to give up his fight with David and go take care of the Philistines. I often think here, or I think here, that it's remarkable that in all likelihood, why were the Philistines attacking the land, which the terminology would suggest it's more than just a border raid? Why are they attacking more in force? Probably because they were mad because their raiding party got trounced by David and Caleb. So the Lord used that sovereignly to set things up so that here the Philistines would do their thing and Saul would have to leave. You know, Yahweh works in mysterious ways that you and I cannot anticipate. He does it in the everyday affairs of our lives. He does it in our salvation. Perhaps your thoughts, like mine, are turning to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered himself to be taken into the hands of enemies so that he could deliver us. That's a plan that no man could ever devise, much less carry out. That's why the wisdom of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. It doesn't make any sense. And yet the Lord sovereignly brings about his salvation. You know, as the reality of deliverance sinks in to David and his men, and as they prepare to move to yet another mountainside, thereby the Dead Sea, David's heart leaps for joy, I'm sure. And perhaps it's in the light of the new day. that he finishes his psalm. Perhaps you noticed in Psalm 54 that after verse 3 there's an instruction to pause, very probably, the word selah there. And what a difference of tone between verses 1-3 and 4-7. As he finishes his psalm, he cries out in worship, behold God is my helper. The Lord is the upholder of my life. He will return the evil to my enemies. In your faithfulness, put an end to them. With a freewill offering, I will sacrifice to you. I will give thanks to your name, O Yahweh, for it is good. For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. It is from this passage, verse four especially, that I took the theme that developed here of Yahweh upholding your life. David saw the Lord sovereignly undertaking for him and preserving him, upholding him, and began to worship. Where many would see a hopeless pattern of hide and seek ending in disaster, David sees what you and I need to see, a holy God's sovereign providence that will sustain his servant and bring about his plan. Yahweh upholds your life many times over, beginning with your salvation and on into eternity. So let us worship him as David did and give thanks that he upholds. our lives. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for this most interesting passage. It reminds us that you sovereignly undertake for us, regardless of what appearances might be. Lord, let us rest in your promises to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter what the threats are, internal or external, let us rest in you and trust in you to deliver us in your good time and in your way Whether we anticipated or not, Lord, help us to be stirred up to thanksgiving and praise as we meditate upon what you do for us, particularly through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.