Lessons from the Life of David. We're in 1 Samuel chapter 27 now. Lessons from the Life of David. We've been working our way slowly through David's life. He's still being pursued by Saul in the wilderness. Saul seems to have given up his pursuit in this chapter. David's life is really a biography. It's the most complete biography of any individual, I believe we have in scripture. But human biographies, biographies that you'd purchase in the bookstore, secular biographies always overemphasize the positive. I mean, who wants to write a biography and give negative things? They'll minimize the negative and emphasize the positive in general, but not so this biography of David in 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Samuel. David, a man after God's own heart, but his warts and wrinkles and his flaws are shown just as prominently as his noble and honorable features. His faults are recorded, not for our imitation. but for admonition. In today's lesson, just by preview, to David's honor, he safeguards his men and his wives and their wives, his men's wives. He finds a place of safety for them, to his honor. He valiantly fights some of Israel's battles against the Amalekites, the Canaanites of that land, to his honor. But to his dishonor, he is unbelief. is front and center, as he despairs of ever being delivered from Saul. And he deserts Israel. He deserts the land. He flees into the land of God's enemies. And then he deceives Achish. It's not an out-and-out lie, but it's certainly a deception to Achish. David's language here in chapter 27 is in a minor key, if you're a musical person. It sounds sad. It's not out of tune, but there's a minor key of desperation and sadness. David says in chapter 27, verse 1, he says, I shall now perish by the hands of Saul. I shall perish, now perish, one day by by the hand of Saul. That's the tone that's repeated actually in at least three of the psalms that David may have written at this time. Three psalms. Psalm 10, verse 1, David wrote, Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest thyself in times of trouble? There's David despairing of his relationship with the Lord. The Lord has hidden his face from him, as it were. Psalm 13, verse 1, David wrote, How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long wilt thou forget me, Lord, forever? I mean, that's the tone of David's voice in chapter 27. And then Psalm 22, verse 1, David wrote, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? Now, it's not clear when David wrote these psalms. He may not have written them while he was at Ziklag. Perhaps in his desperation, he did not write these psalms then, but he wrote them at a later time. Anyway, they echo his mood, his thoughts. David, it would seem by way of introduction, is a man at his breaking point. His man at his breaking point. Saul's hatred, after all, was deep-rooted. Saul had been pursuing him for some years now. David had been at the mercy of treacherous men who were at Saul's disposal, like Doeg, the Edomite, who had who told Saul about what David had, misled Saul about what David had said to the priests of Bimelech. And then there was the Zephites who had ratted David out twice. The pressures were relentless. Saul had said, had sought David day after day after day. David and his 600 men that he had to feed, and he had to lead, and he had to protect, and there was no intermission. No intermission. In a show, oftentimes, there's an intermission. And the intermission is a chance to get a drink of water, stretch your legs, use the restroom. I mean, it's a nice break. And then the lights flick, and you come back, and you sit down in your seat. But there's no intermission. The devil never takes a vacation. Think about that. The devil never takes a vacation. He's like 24-7. He's always looking for an opportunity to mislead and to harass. Enemies that we thought were slain rise up with fresh power. Satan gathers reinforcements and renews the onslaught. This is life. This is life, not just David's life, but it's our life as well, our life as well. There's a reason for depression and discouragement. And as we'll be talking a little bit about unbelief, its causes and its consequences, there's a reason for depression, discouragement. The battle is indeed too much. for any of us to fight in our own strength. The battle's too much for any of us to fight in our own strength. We need, may I say, we need the Lord. We need the Lord each and every day, each and every hour. The causes of unbelief, first of all, and then we'll look at the consequences of unbelief. The causes of unbelief are all in this first verse, chapter 27, 1 Samuel 27, verse one. And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines. And Saul shall despair of me to seek me no more in any coast of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand of the causes of unbelief. I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There it is, right there, the cause of unbelief. It came after a moment of triumph in chapter 26. David had refrained from killing Saul. David had gone down and addressed Saul most honorably, notably, and Saul had called David, my son, my son. And it seemed like there had been a repentance on Saul's part, seemingly, and seemed like there might have been some reconciliation, but there had not been after that great, it was a moral victory for David, a great moral victory, but the circumstances were still the same. David was still in the wilderness. He still had his 600 men to feed. Saul had retreated to Gibeah, his palatial palace. But who knows what Saul was plotting now? I mean, Saul had called David his son other times, and Saul had then turned back and was pursuing him again and again. And perhaps Saul would have been after David again in the future. The hour of triumph of David was now followed by one of undue depression, disappointment. Hours of triumph. We just need to be on our guard because when we're on a mountaintop experience, you kind of know what's coming ahead. You can't stay on the mountain forever. You're going to be plunging down into a valley. There's going to be some disappointments ahead. We just got that whatever we wanted, whatever we've been praying for, it's just been granted. But there's going to be some disappointments ahead of us. Be prepared. It was self-confidence on David's part. Perhaps it was pride that had sprung up out of that victory. We don't know. I mean, all those things are kind of knocking at the door, waiting. Or perhaps the adrenaline had just worn off. You know, that extra burst of energy you have, and then it's worn off, and now it's the day after. And you're whipped, questioning the faithfulness and goodness to God, that's what David is doing. And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. Questioning the goodness, faithfulness to God is a sin. Doubting his promises, questioning God's care, God's concern, it's a sin. David's conclusion was erroneous. There was no evidence. David, where is the evidence that I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul? After all, God had never deserted David before, had he? God's been there, David, for you. God had always made a way of escape for him again and again and again. Each time David was in trouble, each time Saul had been pursuing him or he had been up against a wall, there had been a way of escape. There was no evidence. So David's conclusion here is contrary to all the evidence. I mean, just look back at David's life. David had slain the lion, the bear, by faith in God. He'd slain Goliath. He'd escaped. to Javelin, Saul's Javelin, a number of times. He'd escaped the treachery of Doeg, the Edomite, the Ziphites. Again and again, the evidence. David, look at the evidence. There is no evidence that God has deserted you. As contrary to the evidence, David's rash conclusion, it was a rash conclusion. I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. It was contrary to promise. God had given David promises. After all, Samuel had anointed him with that holy oil of God's earnest vow that one day, David would be king. How could Saul slay you if you haven't been king yet? I mean, David, you're okay. Contrary to promise, contrary to the evidence, David's situation, that's David's sin, David's situation, point one B in your outline, how did David get to this point. We need to consider that because perhaps David has taken some wrong turns. And perhaps we can learn from those and not take the same wrong turns ourself. David had taken some wrong turns. Well, first of all, David's situation, David, may I say, was a man. And it's been said, the best of men are at their best, but men. The best of men or I'll rephrase it, are but men at their best. The best of men are but men at their best. It wasn't David, after all, who had achieved all those past victories over the lion, the bear, the giant, the Edomites, not the Edomites, but the Ziphites and Doeg the Edomite. It was God's grace. If it's God who had won those victories, the best of men are but men at their best. If that grace, God's grace, is but lifted, if God lifts his hand just for but a moment, his grace, unbelief, will burst out. Unbelief is just waiting there at the door, unbelief. So that's the first reason that explains David's situation. After all, David's just a man. David's second reason is his trials had lasted a long time. You know, a man or woman can bear a trial or two, especially when you know there's an end. Especially when you know there's an end. You know, I've got some new eye drops I'm taking, and they said you have to take these day and night for six weeks. I said, well, I could do that six weeks. I could do it. I mean, I could see the end six weeks, but now the eye doctor says, no, no, you got to do 12 weeks. But I can do it, 12 weeks. It's a little routine I have to go through. But you can bear the trial when you know there's an end in sight. The doctor says, it'll be three months for recovery, or a year. But anyway, after it's been three months, he said, oh no, it's going to be a year. But anyway, you can, OK, near. I can bear it for a year, a trial or two. But a perpetuity of tribulation is hard to bear. It just goes on. And on, and on, and on. You know, when I used to be in my jogging days, I'd go on a new course, and if it's a brand new course I hadn't run before, it just seemed so long. I mean, I'd look at my watch, have I been running long enough, am I there? But the next time I'd go out, it was shorter. And the next time, it was even shorter. By then, I started to see some landmarks. I knew this yard. I knew the gas station was halfway. I knew some landmarks. I said, OK, I'm almost there. It got shorter and shorter. And that's the same thing with trials. But a trial that just goes out for infinity is hard to bear. So we shouldn't judge David more harshly. then we would judge ourselves in similar circumstances. Thirdly, David not only had his trials last a long time, David was just a man, but David had been on an emotional rollercoaster, a rollercoaster, you know, ups and downs. I mean, a great moral victory and then a defeat, and then pursued by Saul again, and then another successful victory, a rollercoaster. And after strong excitement, there are always reactions. I'm thinking of Elijah and his triumph over the prophets of Baal. And then after that great victory, Elijah fled. It's just a threat. Jezebel had only sent a messenger who came and knocked on the door and said, hey, Mr. Elijah, tomorrow Jezebel's going to kill you. Tomorrow. And she could have sent an assassin. She just sent a messenger, and Elijah flees. I mean, he killed 800 prophets of Baal, and now he flees at one messenger. And he despairs of his life and says, let me die. Let me die. You see, after a strong emotion, there's going to be a reaction. But there's a third, a fourth reason that explains David's situation. David had restrained his prayers. He's restrained his prayers. He has failed to seek God's counsel, God's comfort. You won't find that in here. David inquires. I mean, after all, he had the ephod with the little stones that perhaps lit up to yes or no questions. Should I leave Israel and go to King, what's his name? The little stones would have said, no. David had a means of inquiring of the Lord, but he'd failed to seek God's counsel, God's comfort. Instead, he foolishly turns to his own heart. You see, it's in verse one, David said, in his heart. in his heart. That's who he's consulting, his deceitful heart. He forgot God. He left God out of the equation, out of his calculations. He looked only at the enemy, Saul, and deceitful Saul, and he said, I shall now perish. one day by the hand of Saul. I mean, Saul has lied to me again and again and again. Saul's just going to go back and regroup, and he's going to be after me again. I mean, David's having to send out scouts. He's having to guard. He's having to watch for Saul. Spurgeon wrote the following. This is a paraphrase. Charles Spurgeon said, Brothers and sisters, would you wish to hatch the egg of unbelief until it turns into a scorpion? Ooh. Restrained prayer is what Spurgeon said. Restrained prayer. Would you see evils magnified and mercies diminished? Restrained prayer. Would you find your tribulations increased sevenfold and your faith diminished in like proportion? Restrained prayer, restrained prayer. David had restrained his prayers. David's situation, that was the causes of his unbelief. Let's look at the consequences of his unbelief. First of all, it was a very foolish move he made. Verse two. And David arose, and he passed over with the 600 men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maath, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish of Gath. He and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Hinnohem, the Jezreelites, and Abigail, the Carmelites, Nabal's wife. And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more again. for him. A foolish, a foolish move. David's unbelief, he has consequences. His first consequence, he's out of touch with God, he's not asking God's direction, and he makes his foolish choice to go to Achish. Once burnt, goes the same, once burnt. But David goes right back. He's been once burnt by Achish already. He's already been to Achish. He fled them after he left Nob with Goliath's sword strapped to his side. He fled to Achish, and he was spotted immediately and carried before Achish. And David feigns himself mad and lets Spittle dribble down his beard. Now we know David has a beard. And he looks like a madman. Now he's going back and he escapes. Just by whisker, he escapes from Achish. Achish drives him away instead of killing him. I mean, this was a man who killed Goliath. Goliath, after all, was from Achish's land of Gath. And he's carrying Goliath's sword. But he lets David go. Escaped by that. By the hair of his chinny, chinny, chin, David escapes, and now he goes back. It's like, what are you doing, David? Right back where he'd been made a fool, a place that he had regretted with sorrow, back to Achish again, falling right back into the same sin because of unbelief, unbelief. So here's a note, just a lesson from the life of David. Unbelief is dangerous. to yourself. Unbelief is dangerous. It might cause you to make some foolish moves that you're going to regret later. Unbelief is dangerous to self. David also went over to the Lord's enemies. This was Goliath's homeland, and Israel's champion here is now going to become a servant of Achish, and later his bodyguard, a bodyguard of the enemy of God. A second note here, unbelief is not only dangerous to yourself, unbelief is dangerous to others. Unbelief is dangerous to others. David was put into jeopardy. All of Israel, because he was going to fight as bodyguard for Achish, for the Philistines. David had given in to the devil. And at first, it seemed to pay off. At first, it seemed to pay off. Akish appears to receive him warmly here, not warily. That's curious. Akish, why is Akish, come on, David, come on. It appears that Akish, in fact, invited David to come. David was perhaps camped out there in the hills of the Ziphites, and Akish sends a message and says, David, hey, why don't you come over and join us? We heard that Saul is your enemy. Achish appears to have solicited David's help, maybe to secure his own position. You know, Canaanite kings are always fighting against one another and trying to gain a little bit of an advantage. And if Achish had David and his 600 well-trained, well-disciplined men, a formidable force with him, he would be top king. Achish is looking out for himself. He says, David, come over and help me. Apparently that old adage was applied again. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The enemy of my enemy, figure that out logically, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So if David is the enemy of Saul, who is Achish's enemy, then David must be my friend. And Saul, it appears things are working out pretty well, because not only does David get some relief, because Achish later gives him a city to dwell in with his 600 men, and he's got some safety and security, but Saul gives up his pursuit. Verse four, it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath and he sought no more again for him. So it appears perhaps Saul. was gonna go back on his word again. We don't know for sure, but Saul here is clearly afraid of the Philistines. Incidentally, he's supposed to be fighting the Philistines. I mean, but he hasn't been doing a whole lot of that recently. And so here's just a note. This is an admonition, not an instruction. An admonition, if you want Satan off your neck, move into his territory. Move into enemy occupied territory. If you move into enemy occupied territory, there'll be three cheers in hell and you will have freedom for a time. Three cheers in hell and you'll have a freedom for your time. David's unbelief here led him to the edge of even worse sins, overt actions and warfare against his own people, fighting on the Philistine side against Israel. David had no reason to trust Saul for anything. Saul was deceitful above all measure, but he had every reason to trust God, every reason to trust God. And so we're talking about the causes of unbelief, the causes of unbelief and the consequences. You see, unbelief is inherent in our very nature. It's in our DNA. Unbelief is in our DNA. It's inherent in our nature. It's a sin that most easily besets us again and again. Unbelief, inherent in our nature. It's a sin nearly impossible to route out by your own exertions. Unbelief. And so we need to cry out daily, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. I believe, help my unbelief. That's Mark 9, 24. Realize that in our very best moments, our best moments, we can never trust ourselves too little. Get that? In our best moments, we can't trust ourselves too little, and we cannot trust God too much. in our best moments, we can't trust God too little, we can't trust God too much. How do we explain David's sad lapse, his foolish move? Well, there are several causative and contributing factors that I've already given. David was only human, he was just a man, and he was under great trials, he'd neglected prayer. But the Holy Spirit here, I believe, has provided an additional explanation in verse three. It says, and David dwelt with Achishagath, he and his men, every man with his household. And then it says, even David, even David with his two wives, with his two wives. The Holy Spirit here has provided an additional explanation. David and his two wives, His two wives keep getting mentioned again and again and again in scripture. I believe there's a reason why David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, Michael had been, Michelle, Michael had been, Michelle had been given away to another man. So David had been divorced from Michelle, his first wife, and David has married two additional wives. And regardless of what you think about divorce and remarriage, David's in the wrong here with his two wives. And the Holy Spirit keeps bringing that to our attention. Two wives, David's two wives, I believe, displeased the Lord. And the Holy Spirit here is shining the spotlight. There's no other reason in scripture I can see why David's two wives are mentioned again and again and again. Here very distinctly, Ahinoahim, the Jesualitis, and Abigail, the Carmelitis, Nabal's wife. I mean, we get some details on here. It's actually a good thing we do because Ahinoahim is also the name of Saul's wife. But this was not Saul's wife. This is Ahinoam the Jezreelitus. It's a different Ahinoam. But David has married two wives, and the Holy Spirit is shining the spotlight here. He is not pleased. And when what we have done displeases the Lord, divine chastening may take place. It may continue. The Holy Spirit was grieved over David's sin, I believe. It was not only a foolish move, it was a fateful move. Verse five, David said unto Achish, if I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, please, that I may dwell there. For why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? David here is asking for someplace outside the royal city, like away from attention. He doesn't want to, I mean, after all, David is here under false pretenses. So he wants to lay low. It's probably a wise move there. And Achish gives him Ziklag. Then Achish, verse 6, gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore, Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day." Interestingly, that's the city that was given by Joshua to Judah. So Ziklag belonged to Judah, then Simeon, and it was now in possession of the Philistines. So Ziklag has changed hands. It appears to be a deserted city. I mean, everybody's killing each other in those days. But David moves into this deserted city. It's a fixer-upper, I suppose. Fixes up Ziklag. 16 months, he and his men are there, making use of his time, David does, to fix the Amalekites. and not incidentally, provide some plunder for his old men. It says, verse seven, at that time, and that time, the time that David was in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. And David and his men went up and invaded the Gershwites and the Gezerites and the Malachites, for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as Algoas to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive and took away the sheep, the ox, the assens, and the camels and the apparel and return it came to acres. David's success appears to be complete. David's actions here, killing all the inhabitants, men, women, doesn't say so, but we'll assume children, were not acts of cruelty. These people, the Malachites, and presumably the other two tribes were descendants or offshoots of the Malachites, were divinely sentenced by God to destruction. The Malachites and their descendants were to be completely destroyed. Saul, in fact, had been rejected as king for sparing the Malachite king. These Malachites, just by way of an aside, very briefly, the Malachites were descendants of Esau. They were descendants of Esau, and they were not willing to let Israel pass through the land. When Israel came out of Egypt and tried to go through the land, the Malachites came out and resisted them, and Joshua fought against the Malachites. But the Amalekites did worse. If you look in scripture at the Amalekites, you can start to scratch grounds back. They harassed Israel when they're in the wilderness. They harassed them by attacking the end of their line. As you're traveling through the wilderness, you know people have these spread out. And you got the ark and the cloud, the peddler cloud going in the front. And you got the people are spread out. And in the back are the weak and the feeble. And the Malachites preyed on the weak and the feeble, attacking them again and again and again. And the Lord was just really ticked off with the Malachites. He said, they shall all be destroyed. And so Joshua and his men and Israel was commanded to destroy the Malachites. Now you might ask yourself, couldn't a Malachite be saved? I mean, God's going to destroy them. And the answer is yes. Yes. But then they wouldn't be an Amalekite anymore. Of course, this is the Old Testament, but they would be a Christian. All right. All of us, you and I, all of us were citizens of the city of destruction, to use the language from a Pilgrim's Progress. We were inhabitants of the city of destruction. We were destined for destruction. All of us were to be destroyed, but we turned to the Lord Jesus Christ and we were rescued out of that city and taken. Yes, the Amalekites could be saved, but when they continued to resist in their unbelief, Israel was commanded to destroy them. And David is going out and destroying the Amalekites. His success was complete, it says. He destroyed them all. But just another side note here, we shouldn't, I already said that David was in the right to be destroying the Amalekites. But let me also say that we should not judge rightness and wrongness by success. Don't judge what's right and wrong by success. You know, there's many things that are successful in our society today that are not right. Right and wrong is judged by the scriptures, not by success. I've heard people say, well, that church over there, you know, I mean. People are getting saved, so it must be OK. I mean, they're growing, so it must be OK. I don't know if they're getting saved or not, but they're growing, and people are supposedly getting saved, so it's OK. No, it's not OK if they're not preaching what's in the Word of God. They're preaching contrary to the Word of God. Success is judged not by results, It's judged by the word of God. Judging by visible results is simply walking by sight. But David, David, David, verse 10, verse nine, David smote the land, his total success, left neither man or woman alive, took away the sheep, the oxes, the asses, the camels, the apparel, and returned. and came to Achish. Ah, David, what are you doing? A fateful blunder, a blunder. David returned and came to Achish. David came to Achish with loads of plunder. It shows again that David was careless. Unbelief will make you careless, or perhaps puffed up with pride. Let's show Achish what we can do here. We've got all this loot. That may have been one of David's motivations. He may not have, probably was not motivated entirely by, let's destroy the Malachites, but let's also get some plunder for our own needs. And, wow. Anyway, David carelessly comes to Akers. He should have returned quietly to Ziklag, slipped back to Ziklag with his plunder. And Akers says, where'd you get all that stuff? Oops. Oops, David's lie. Technically, it's an equivocation. I'll explain that in a second. Achish said, whither have you made a road today? Where'd you get all that booty, that booty, David? And David said, against the south of Judah, against the south of the Jehoramalites, and against the south of the Kenites, Wow. And David, it says, just to give us some additional information, saved either man or woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, saying, lest they should tell on us, saying, so did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. David technically did not tell a lie. He gave an equivocation. He avoided giving a definite answer. or position. He let Achish draw the conclusions. He just told him where he had gone to, the south of Judah. And Achish said, aha, he's destroying the Hebrew cities. Great, he's on my side. He didn't say that he was destroying the Hebrew cities. Neither did he say he was destroying the Amalekites. The Amalekites were perhaps allied with Achish. At the very least, Achish was not immediately opposed to the Malachites because he wasn't fighting against them. They were in his territory. But David was destroying the Malachite. David was afraid to say what he was really doing. So he gave this equivocation. Equivocation, you can hear that all the time. Just turn on the news, listen to almost any politician, and they will give you some equivocation. They'll say something without really saying anything at all. Wow. And they'll let you draw your own conclusions. Yeah, I'd support them. I like that. Listen carefully to what they're saying. Technically, it's equivocation, but it's a lie. It's a lie. It worked, because they just assumed David is reading Hebrew sentiments. Now, before we start to judge David's actions, we say, well, what else could he do? I mean, was he going to tell the truth? Let's remember, first of all, that David got himself into this mess. It was David, after all, through his unbelief, had left the land of Israel and had gone over to the Philistines. It was David who had allied himself with Achish. It was David who was now destroying the Amalekites and collecting all their plunder. It was David who had wandered into Achish on his way back with all his booty. David, forgetting God, Forgetting the past examples of his divine protection, David dissembles. There's another word for lying. That's presenting a false appearance. Dissembles again. David lies again. He's already lied a bunch of times. He lied to Jonathan, dissembled. Equivocation, he didn't tell Jonathan the entire truth. To Himelech, the priest. To Achish earlier, when he feigned himself mad. Reflecting on this later, I believe David wrote Psalm 119, Psalm 119. It's not attributed to David, but I believe that the sayings are David's sayings in Psalm 119 that have been rearranged by a later writer and put into the current format. But in Psalm 119, verse 29, the writer, which I believe is David, wrote, remove from me the way of lying. Remove from me the way of lying. You know, lying, we have so many different ways of lying that we have a lot of different words for it. We lie by exaggeration. We lie by gestures. We lie by actions. We lie by promises we make that we don't intend to keep. We lie by false appearances. Indeed, lying might also be said to be in our DNA, just like unbelief. Unbelief. line. They're all in our DNA. You know, I use a phrase from the past, Houston, we've got a problem. Now, that was an understatement in Apollo 13, because the spacecraft had just blown up. Houston, we have a problem. Like, help, get us out of here. We've got a problem, because unbelief and lying are in our DNA. They're so much a part of our fallen nature that only God himself can remove them from us. Hence David's prayer, remove from me the way of lying. Let me just say in conclusion, David's life is indeed here in a minor key. A blight had descended upon his soul. The tragedy of unbelief, unbelief. David had exchanged God's smile for Satan's grin. That's a poor exchange. Exchange God's smile for Satan's grin. That's what unbelief will do to you. He had exchanged God's protection for the flimsy walls of Ziklag. in exchange for God's protection for this little city called Ziklag, which is about ready to be burned with fire by the Amalekites, who David has been trying to destroy, and his two wives are gonna be carried off, not raped or killed, by the Amalekites. Wow. The root of his failure was back in verse one. David said in his heart, David said in his heart, he acted in a panic. David did, like, I gotta do something quick. There's no reference to God. He left God out of the calculations. He failed to wait on God. Failed to wait. He failed to remember these three simple basic truths. I'll conclude with these. These are all truths that David has quoted in Psalms. All truths that David has learned later, but he failed to apply them. Three simple basic truths. First of all, God's promises can be counted on. God's promises can be counted on. David wrote in Psalm 34, verse 22, the Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants. and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Desolute. None of them that trust in him shall be desolate. Psalm 34, 22. God's promises can be counted on him. God's promises cannot only be counted on. God's promises, David learned, are conditional. God's promises are conditional. He said, wait, wait, wait, wait a minute. I'm gonna clarify that. They're for believers. God's promises are for believers. If you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's hardly a promise in scripture that belongs to you. Hardly a promise that belongs to you if you're not a believer. If you are a believer, they all belong to you. In the eyes of the Lord, Psalm 34, verse 15, David wrote in 16, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, the righteous. His ears are open. unto their cry, the righteous. God's promises are conditional. They're for believers. God's promises can be counted on. God's promises are corrective. His promises are corrective. When we wait upon the Lord for guidance and direction, we prove to ourselves and to others. that all things work together for good to them that love God. David wrote in Psalm 34, verse 18, the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart. David, David, he should have sought the Lord and not spent 16 months of his life in Ziklag serving acres. And that's what unbelief will do to you. And next week, we'll look at David's dilemma He's about ready to get himself into with Achish. And how he gets himself out is only by the Lord's grace. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious heavenly Father, we are thankful, Lord, for these lessons from the life of David, Lord, especially this lesson on unbelief, Lord, the causes and consequences of unbelief, Lord. We've seen the consequences are indeed a serious, disastrous even, Lord, keep us from unbelief. Lord, help us to keep our faith strong, Lord. Help us to rely upon you in prayer, not to go prayerless as David did for some months on end, Lord, but to seek you constantly, to seek you for guidance and grace, to seek your empowerment, Lord, not to rely upon ourselves, not to think that we've done anything. worthy of ourselves, but our worthiness is all in you, Lord. I pray that you might enable us to be a people of God that serve you willingly, that serve you fervently, and that serve you effectively in this, our community that we live in, Lord. Now we pray for the service that follows, for the preaching and teaching of your word, that be with power and conviction, Lord, we pray that you might. Make our hearts attentive and keep our thoughts focused, Lord, on the word. Pray that you might lift up our voices and our hearts and our minds in song and worship this day. For we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.