with Mr. Schwartz and the rest of us can open up our Bibles please to 1 Samuel chapter 26 and we're back to our study in the life of David so 1 Samuel 26 and we're in the middle of a story and if you remember Saul has once again come into the wilderness and the Ziphites have tattled on David and said, you know, David's here nearing Gedi in the wilderness. And if you come, you can find him. You know, so David or Saul comes out with 3000 chosen men. David's aware that Saul has come out. And so he takes his men, he goes on a spy mission. and takes Abishai, and they go down, remember, into Saul's camp, and there's a deep sleep from God upon Saul and his group of 3,000, right? And if you remember, Saul's laying in the middle of the trench, this guy's men around him, but David and Abishai go in there. So if you look at verse 7, so again, we're in 1 Samuel 26 and verse 7, It says, so David and Abishai came to the people by night. Behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster. That's his pillow. But Abner and the people lay round about him, okay? And Saul is sleeping securely, he thinks, right? I mean, he thinks everything's fine, but his watch, his guards, are also sleeping. I don't think he would have slept as well if he would have been aware of what's going on. And so as that takes place, Abishai looks at that and says, ah, this is the time for David to avenge himself of his great adversary Saul that's been seeking his life and that he could take his life. And so verse eight, Abishai said to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear, even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. So I mean, he says, I'll take care of this right now. This will be over. I mean, all that fear of Saul, and I mean, you can imagine kind of wheels turning in the heart of David a little bit as he hears that, but David believed God would not want them to take matters into their own hands, okay? And he's got reasons for that. So reason one, he says, wait a second, King Saul is God's anointed. And so verse nine, David said to Abishai, destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the lords of anointed? and be guiltless okay so he said wait a second that's God's kingdom God appointed him he's our authority given to us by God he wasn't going to take matters into his own hand but then reason two God had authority over Saul's death and God providentially would take care of it in his timing and so verse 10 David said furthermore as the Lord liveth in other words as surely as God is alive and the Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish." And so he gives three possibilities, A, B, and C. A, God could hasten his demise, you know, he could get ill, because God goes, that's enough of that, and take his life early. Saul's appointed time could come, it's appointed until he wants to die, but after that the judgment, and each of us has that day in the future, that God knows is the termination of our life and maybe that would come for Saul or Saul could be destroyed by God's enemies. Okay, so David again suggests A, B, or C. The answer is time. It's going to be C. It's going to come very soon after this, and God is indeed gonna take care of it, though David doesn't know that, he believes in that, he believes in a God that's watching over him, and will continue to do so. And so, we continue our story tonight, and there's more to it, it's not over, they're in the camp, and Saul is there, and his army, and so we'll find out what happens here after we pray, let's go to Lord in prayer, and ask God's blessing on our time. Father, we're grateful for your grace for your power and David, I love David. I love the study of David. I'm glad that we're back to the study of David. David is a man after God's own heart. The way David responds most times is the way that we ought to respond and certainly the way we ought to trust. and we gotta be valiant for our God and faithful to do what you've called us to do, even if it's tough, just like David. And so I pray tonight for our men here that are in the house of God, that say, you know, I pray, Spirit of God, strengthen our hands, strengthen our hearts, give us grace to let the word of God work deeply in our hearts and lives. Thank you to the children that are here tonight. We pray, Spirit of God, that you bless Mrs. Schor in the kids' class, and they have a great time around the word of God. and that these halls would be blessed of God with your presence this evening, and certainly we commit this time to you, to your good cares, in Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, and so just continuing on with our story. So David now implements his plan of attack, okay? So he's not come down into the, you know, the heart of King Saul's army for no purpose. Even though he's not going to take the life of King Saul, he still has a reason that he's there. But as we begin, he swears off the idea of killing Saul completely. He says in verse 11, he says, Again, Saul is a He could have been a great man for God. He's the first king of Israel, and he's had a good start. He was sought out by Samuel, the prophet. God sent Samuel to find him. Saul was a humble man. He's like, who am I, you know, as a son of Kish, that I should be able to have this about it, a little afraid of it, even though he's a big man, he's a tall man, taller in stature than other men, the Bible says, and so, I mean, he's got a keenly figure, he is a humble man as he starts, but then, of course, his downfall comes because of crime, okay? So, and Samuel came to him and said, when thou was little in thine own eyes, right? And when he was taken, as it were, out of the place of God's blessing, that really troubled Samuel. And God had to say to Samuel, how long are you gonna work for Saul, seeing I have rejected him, okay? And so God, he was God's anointed, God had rejected him, but he's not rejected until he ceases to be king, but he's got that hanging over his head and he knows it. Now Saul was king because Almighty God chose him to be a king. God did not make a mistake. For his purposes, Saul was there. And so we don't look at the story and say, well, that's an error on the part of God. No, God knew, God understood exactly what would take place, but he had appointed him for his purposes. Like marriage, a king was the authority until his reign ended in his death. And so that was the thing that would cause him to cease to be king. So for better or for worse, he was king and David would not hasten his death. And so as he comes down into King Saul's army, his purpose is not what it was just previously, the chapter before this, as he comes to take out Nabal and be done with Nabal, praise God, God intervenes with Abigail, we know the story there. but his purpose now is totally different. He hasn't come to take Saul's life, but he does have a plan. And so he's not gonna take his life, but he was not opposed to strategically demoralizing the enemy on the battlefield, okay? So he has a plan to wreck the morale in the army. And so he says this, but I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at its bolster in the cruise of water and let us go. Okay, so Abishak's there. Okay, we're not gonna take his life. What are we gonna do? Let's take a spear in the cruise of water and then we're gonna depart and get out of here. Now, if we can go back to David's childhood, I suspect that we might find some practical jokes, right? Eliab, his proud older brother then, said to him when he came to fight, he wanted to fight Goliath. Who are you? I know that pride and the naughtiness of that heart. I can imagine maybe Eliab had a grudge against David. Maybe, you know, David was a young man and had stolen his sword in the night or his spear in the night or things like that. And, you know, or kind of a lighthearted prank and that sort of thing. We look at this story, you go, what is David doing? I mean, is this funny? You know, you take the king's spear. I mean, it's kind of funny, but David, is that where you're doing that? Just to go, na-na-na-na-na-na, look what we did, or something like that. Well, David is strategically seeking to get into the head of his enemy, all right? So he wants, again, to demoralize his enemy. Modern Israel. is in the middle of an intense battle against Hamas, and there's ongoing fighting in Gaza for the last several months because of the attack that took place on October 7th. And so, one of the things that the enemy is doing, you might look at it and say, what does this have to do with warfare? They've got distribution of playing cards with faces of the most wanted people of Hamas on them. They distribute them to the soldiers so the soldiers can easily identify these targets when they see them. mean guys and they put a low bounty on them. They called the leader of Hamas a walking dead man. They've called many of them walking dead men. You know, and in that, they've done other things recently that are more warfare type things that we expect, like Lebanon yesterday in Beirut in a strategic strike against the leaders of Hamas, taking out a very high person in the leadership of Hamas. We expect that, but the other side, we kind of look at it and say, what's going on there? Well, it's called psychological warfare, right? They're trying to get into the heads of their enemies and impact the way that they think. You know, God's word is a great resource for those in military. The Bible is a great book. If anybody wants to study, you know, that's in military, they ought to consider, let's look at the word of God and let's consider some of the strategies involved because what you find is that although David didn't go to You know, an elite military training school or anything like that, his strategy is led by somebody that's very great, he's dependent upon God, he's a very wise soldier. We see that he puts some psychological warfare in place. But then God was working with David on the accomplishment of this mission. And so, verse 12, so David took the spear, and the crews of water from Saul's bolster, again that's his pillow, and they gave them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither waked, for they were all asleep. And then it says this, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. You know, I wonder what was in David's heart as he looked at his father-in-law. You know, David's a human. David respected the king. David honored the king. I would say, you know, I think at different times, David had loved the king. David had served the king. David had never been against the king. King Saul was only ever against David. Saul's son, Jonathan, was closer than a brother to David. And so all those things I think are going on as hard as he's looking at his father-in-law laying there on the ground, But then he executes his mission, the spheres on the ground, the waters, again, somehow connected to Saul's pillow. How could David do this without awakening the king? Well, they do it because God had helped them. We add this to the list of the great things that David had done. David and Abishai. king in the middle of the night and surrounded by the enemy and did what seemingly was impossible. In similar ways, he had killed the great Goliath with a stone from a brook. He killed a bear and a lion in a similar fashion. He killed many Philistines, right? They said about King Saul, he had slain his thousands, but David his what? 10,000, right? And so he was a shepherd. He's gonna be the king of Judah and Israel. And so we look at David and say, wow, David, you did valiant things, but David's own testimony would be this, God did it. I know that as we study the life of David, that David would absolutely not say glory to me, he would say glory to God. God did it, and God did do it. You know, if you saw what David did, you'd likely look at that and say, I could never do that. I mean, we'd look at that and say, I could never do what Abishai did. Hey, I'll go with you, David. I can never do what David did as he faced life or other situations. And I think David would stand here tonight and say, hey, I can't either. God did. And so it's just a reminder to us that, you know what, we can do valiant things as well with God's help. We gotta look at that and say, you know, by God's grace, not because I'm great or anything, I'm no David, I'm no Abishai, I'm no George Mueller, I'm no D.L. Goody or anything like that, but we gotta look at that and say, they didn't do those things because they're great men, they did those things because they served a great God. David knew that and praise God because of that he did valiant things for him and with him and so David then awaked the sleeping lion but he went to a safe distance as he does that and so verse 13 it says then David went over to the other side he stood on the top of a hill far off a great space being between them and David cried to the people to Abner the son of Ner saying Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that cries to the king? All right, now I want to point out, David's courageous, but David wasn't foolish. He didn't wake up the king when he's in the camp, right? That would have been suicidal for him and Abishai. Their lives would have been taken in an instant if he had done that. Our family, again, and I'm probably gonna refer to it more times, because we're only about two-thirds of the way through the book. It's a big book. We're on page like 360 or something like that. But John Patton's biography. John Patton in the New Hebrides. You know, for four years, he's on the island of Tana. And I mean, just incredible stories of the natives wanting to kill him. And I mean, these are cannibalistic people. There's warring tribes, and his life is in jeopardy so many times. And at the end, he has to cross the island with warfare taking place. His life is being sought by multiple tribes. He gets to another missionary's house and gets there and they set the forest on fire in a way that's gonna burn their house. He goes out of the house, stops the fire so they don't get burned out. But then right after that, as the ship comes, it's gonna rescue them. The other missionary decides that he's gonna stay and wants his wife and Patton to get to safety. And John Patton has to stop and rescue this man, saying to him, look, you're going to take your own life if you stay. It is time to go. God has made a way for us to be rescued and he rightly departs. Some people criticize Patton for leaving. But when it's time to flee, it's time to flee. When it's time to get to safety, you don't say, well, I'm trusting in God when you're putting yourself in a place of jeopardy instead of a place of safety. Now, there are men that have hazarded the lives of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is a time to take risks for God, but not to the point of folly. And David certainly was not a foolish man. Remember in our Christmas story, as we've just read that, Joseph was led by the angel to flee. King Herod's coming, and so he says to Joseph, take Mary, take the young child, go to Egypt until I tell you what to do after that. And again, it's just a reminder to us, it's good for us to take a position of faith, but it's also wise for us to not take a position of folly. And so it wasn't, David wasn't foolish, but he was a man of faith. And then David begins the psychological warfare, okay? So we talked about, He took the spear, he took the water, and the psychological warfare is his plan. And so David begins it. He makes Abner and the army aware of their failure. And so David said to Abner, art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? And he's not lying or flattering as he says that. He's speaking very clearly and truly about Abner. And then he says, wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? And so he begins truthfully by saying, Abner, you're the best that Israel has to offer. You're chief among the mighty men of King Saul, and rightly he is. He's valiant, he's incomparable to all of others, but their best just wasn't good enough. It's kind of like David saying, what happened, Abner? two months to eat last night before you went to bed or what is it after you fell asleep on your post of duty? You know it's again it's demoralizing when your best fails. If you're in a battle and I mean your chief and your best isn't good enough that's demoralizing. I've mentioned already the battle with Goliath and Goliath 40 days he comes out boasting and 40 nights comes out boasting against Israel the Philistines I mean as their champions out there they're all strong and bold to battle but what happens as soon as the the man Goliath falls what happens to the Philistines their hearts melt in fear and they flee away why because it's demoralizing we what you thought was men that's our best when your best And so Abner, the chief soldier, has failed the basic rules of warfare, not sleeping on duty. And so then David turns, he makes Saul tremble in fear for his life, and he says this, for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. Remember, Abishai had stood right next to King Saul. What did he suggest? He said, why don't I just take his life? I'll smite him right now, and that'll be it. And if you were here when we were studying this before, you might remember that there had been another time where King Saul goes into the cave, and David and his men are hiding in the cave, and King Saul decides to take a nap, and David cuts off a part of King Saul's robe. And again, I had that opportunity to take the life of King Saul. We spoke then about that saying, stepped on your own grave, right? It's like, wow, is that close to death? That's a little, that kind of wakes you up. That saying came from Newgate Prison. When the prisoners were taken out of Newgate Prison to be hanged, they had to walk over their own burial site en route to the gallows. Somewhere along the line, this became part of common parlance. Just that recognition of death. And surely, there's gotta be a sense of vulnerability in the heart of the king. The king might have felt indomitable. You know, I've got my 3,000 guys, I'm out here seeking him. Now all of a sudden, the hunter becomes a hunted and he realizes, oh wow, okay. Then David reminds Abner that his failure was punishable by execution. Verse 16, he goes, this thing is not good that thou hast done. because you have not kept your master the Lord's anointed." All right, David knew the penalty for sleeping on duty, and it was execution, it was death. In Britain here, that was the case. I don't know when that stopped, but British military law in 1876 had crimes for which the death penalty could be given. These included mutiny, sedition, desertion, cowardice, sleeping at or leaving a post. Striking or using violence towards a superior officer and disobedience, you know? And just to isolate the one we're talking about, why could you be executed for sleeping on duty? Because other people could have been killed because you were derelict and opposed. And in that way, you hazarded the lives of others because of your negligence. And so David sets up a court of justice in front of the whole army. He says, Abner, I call you to account because you're the leader. What were you doing? A slave. Somebody came in to kill the king. You are worthy of death. That he caused fear to come upon Saul and his army. He says, and now see where the king's spear is and the cruise of water that was at his pillow, his bolster. I think it's beyond doubt now that David's not making up the story. Okay. If they thought that you're making it up, there's no way that you could possibly have come in here. David has the evidence to prove it. They look down at Saul's the hole in the ground by where he was laying, where the spirit was stuck into the ground. They look at his pillow, and sure enough, it's exactly as David said. And as you look at this again, how can you rest when your enemy is so skilled as to do what seems unimaginable? If you're gonna stay out in the wilderness, you're not gonna sleep very long. Because you already understand that the enemy did something incredible, you're gonna feel incredibly vulnerable. And so without firing a shot, as it were, David routes the king's army and is sending them packing. Jane's not here tonight, and so I think I could say this. There's a saying, there's more than one way to skin a cat. She's got a kitten. All right, more than one way to skin a cat. So what does that mean? It means that you don't have to do the obvious thing. You can do something else, and it could be just as effective. David didn't bring his men down and fight a battle against the king, and David has his conscience and reasons why he wouldn't do that, because he honored God, but instead, there was a powerful and dynamic way that David could indeed fight back against King Saul without, again, as it were, firing a shot. And so I remind us tonight, we don't have to do the obvious strategy. A lot of people would say, if somebody's mean to you, be mean to them. If they're unkind to you, be unkind to them. And somebody could attack us as Christians or as believers or things like that. And a lot of people say, well, just fire back. Well, look, we can let God fight our battles, right? We can wait on God. We can step back from that and say, hey, God's got it. God's good, God's more than capable, God's more than able. There could be many other things like that, where we might be tempted to, in the flesh, hey, do it this way, because that's the obvious way, but it might be better to just step back and say, you know what, let's just think about them, and let's pray about that, and let's see if there's not a better way that it could be done. And so we may wanna strike out, take matters into our own hand, but if we wait on God, God can rout the enemy without anything questionable, as far as us and our walk with him. And so praise God, be part of this for you. Now we'll move on. Now, David demonstrates how to deal with an ungodly authority. David uses the tactics that he uses in the psychological warfare, but now David demonstrates how to deal with an ungodly authority. And so verse 17, and Saul knew David's voice and he said, is this thy voice, my son, David? You know, Saul seems a little foggy after the wake-up call. You know, he's still kind of processing everything. And he recognizes David's voice, and now David has an opportunity to address the king directly. And as David does that, again, he teaches us how do we respond to an ungodly authority? We're gonna have those in our life, in our day. First of all, David demonstrates loyalty. It says, and David said, it is my voice, my Lord. King okay immediately David shows his submission he calls him my Lord he shows his respect he says O King you know we're told by our news that we live in a very polarized society. And I think, you know, I think the news is very accurate. In fact, the news is very polarized and the bias and things like that, right? And they speak very disparagingly about authorities. Have you noticed that on the news? If you've got a liberal news media, then conservative people, I mean, they just trash talk against those authorities. Or if you've got a conservative news outlet and you've got liberal authorities and they trash talk against that authority. As Christians, we can be pulled into the polarization and forget about the loyalty that God intends for us to have and the respect God intends us to have for government. Someone in Scotland could say, that's not my king. You know, and I'm sure that we'll hear that about King Charles or, you know, that's not my king. That's not my monarch or things like that. But, you know, as a believer, that is our king. because we're a part of Great Britain, and God has allowed for the monarchy to be a part of British society, and it still is. Someone in Scotland could say, that's not my prime minister. Right? That's not my government. Westminster is not my government. But the fact is, yes, for the last 300 and, what is it, 50 years, that has been the case, that Scotland has been a part of Britain, and that the government at Westminster is our representatives, and that we are obligated to them. And so again, as believers, we ought to model loyalty, we ought to model respect. We may disagree with policies, we may disagree with people, but still, like David said, my Lord, O King, there ought to be that sense of submission and respect in our lives. But then David entreats the king to consider the matter impartially. Verse 18, and he said, wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after a servant? For what have I done? Or what evil? is in my hand. Now King Saul has a conscience. It's callous, it's hard because of his sin, but it's there. And David's trying to awaken it by probing questions. And so he asked three things. Why is the king pursuing a servant to kill him? Why king are you so bent on destroying your servant? Then he says, name one thing that I did against you. Just one. Name one bit of evil in my hand. Is there anything that I've done? Silence is the only answer to David's question. And I suspect it's an unusually quiet night. God had put them into a deep sleep. I don't think it was a windy night or a stormy night or anything like that. This conference is taking place across a valley or something like that, but I think the sound was carrying incredibly well, and I think there was a deep silence. I think there's a great quiet among the 3,000 men that surround King Saul as they listen to this tribunal. And so very graciously, David defends himself against the injustice of the king. Well, again, there could be a time where we have to give an account to a earthly authority and we might be in the right, but just because we're in the right doesn't mean we can be belligerent or unkind or anything like that. And David models that, again, that graciousness that is gonna look so beautiful upon him. As the king, that ability to speak well in a difficult situation and to defend himself very accurately. And then David shows his submission to the righteousness of God. Verse 19. He says, now therefore, I pray thee, let my Lord, the King, hear the words of his servant. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. In other words, David's saying, if I have disobeyed God and there's sin in my life, and because of that, God has stirred you up, O King, against me, then I want to get right with God. King Saul ought to be listening to this. Why? Because David is right with God, King Saul is not right with God, and King Saul ought to take that top tack and say, you know what, I want to get right with God, let God accept an offering, but he doesn't want to do that. But David is willing. David is saying, if I'm in the wrong, and if this is because of my ungodliness, then look, I'll just tell you straight up, I want to get right with God. Again, there's boldness in what David is saying because he knows he's standing in truth. Proverbs 28.1, the wicked flee, but no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion. King Saul will turn tail and leave, but David has that fierce boldness because he's walking with God. One of the greatest things that we could have to help us in time of trial like that, when we've got an authority that's an ungodly authority, and there's a difficult situation, but one of the best things that we could possibly have in a situation like that is be able to say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, by the grace of God, I am right with God, and I stand in truth. And so David has that confidence about his walk with God, and he's willing to get right with God if he's not right with God. And then David exposes the truth behind his banishment, He says, but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord. And so, if God has stirred you up against me, I accept that, I humble that in my heart, I bow before God, I say, dear God, I wanna get right with you. But he says, but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord. For they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods. David had to flee, David had to live with the Philistines, the enemy of God, and in that sense, David was put out of the place of worshipping God, and it's like somebody pushed somebody away from God. seeking after God. The last thing anybody should do, that's a God-fought word, the last thing anybody should do that truly has a heart for God is to isolate somebody and put them in a place where it's as if they can no longer worship God. Now, David obviously was worshiping God in the wilderness. David obviously was keeping his heart right with God, but they were pushing him away, and in that sense, the people of other gods, instead of allowing him to remain with the people of God and worship God. And then David brings Saul to a point of conviction. Verse 20, he says, now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flee, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains. In other words, he's just, why are you even bothering to go out and search for this insignificant little thing in this big open area? Then says Saul, I have sinned. Now, if we could trust King Saul, we'd think, wow, he got right with God. But no, he didn't get right with God, but he expressed some things. First of all, he invites David back to his court. He promises to spare his life as his life was spared. He admits that he has played the fool. Again, we look at that and think, well, that would be good if Saul was repentant. It'd be good if he's gonna get out of his face before a holy God and say, dear God, please forgive me, right? But you don't see that true repentance in Saul. You see Saul reacting to the problems in his life. Again, I met a man this past week. What he wanted was not to get right with God. What he wanted was to get relief from the consequences of his sin. He recognized that the sleeplessness in his life was due to the ungodliness of his heart, but rather than being willing to deal with the ungodliness, he wanted to reprieve from the circumstances of his life. And if anything, that's what you see in Saul. Saul doesn't like the circumstances at times, so it seems like he wants to change things, but there's no real repentance. And then David. Lastly, tonight, chose his innocence by returning all he had taken. It's in verse 22. And David answered and said, behold the king's spear, and let one of the young men come over and fetch it. Lest anyone wrongly accused David of stealing from the king or treating the king indecently, he says, all right, here's your stuff. Send somebody over to come and get it. David didn't trust in Saul. But David continued to trust in the Lord. Verse 23, the Lord rendered to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord delivered thee into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, So let my life be much set by in, notice he's not gonna say in your eyes, in the eyes of the Lord. And let him deliver me out of all tribulation. Then Saul said to David, blessed be thou my son David, thou shalt both do great things and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place. And so David just looks up and says, all right, God deliver me. David realizes he's done a very dangerous thing. He's gone and he could've killed the king, but now he's let the king live. And we'll find out next week, if we get back to this Bible study next Wednesday night, we'll find out that David is gonna struggle now a little bit because he had the opportunity to kill the king. But now he wonders what's gonna happen. And again, he's expressing great confidence in God. But understand, David's just a man. David's no different than you or I. I mean, there's times where we'll feel really strongly and God's got it, and there's other times where it's like, ah, you know, it's a little bit tough. But as we lay our story tonight, are you willing to let God help you fight your battles instead of taking matters into your own hands, you know? We may not need to use psychological warfare. I'm not encouraging us tonight to begin the psychological warfare against somebody unless God has that, that we could rightly say things that would rightly work in their hearts in a way that would deal in a situation like this as we should. Defending the righteousness of God or things like that. But we can either take matters into our own hands sometimes or we can just step back and say, you know what? I'm not gonna defend myself. If I'm attacked, that's okay. If God's attacked, I'll stand up for that. I'll stand up for the Lord. And then, are you responding correctly to authorities, even if they're wrong? You know, we've got authorities, Hema Yusuf and the SMP. And they're not gonna have policies that, as Christians, that we respect as far as policies, but we respect the people. They're gonna do things contrary to the Word of God, and they indeed have already done many things contrary to the Word of God. There may be difficulties for us as believers because of that, but you know, we still ought to pray for them, and even tonight. And we ought to pray for God's help for them. We ought to pray that God would give them wisdom to make right decisions, that God would defend this nation. We ought to be proud of the things that other people would speak disparagingly about and give honor to whom honor is due. And so are we submissive and respectful to authority? Are we, do we treat them with an entreating manner instead of an accusatory manner? And then are we trusting in God saying, God's got it. God will take care of it. God gave us these authorities and he'll work things out. So a lot of great, great truths. And again, I love this story of the life of David and trust tonight. It's been a blessing to you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for the word of God and the power that it has to speak to our hearts. And I pray tonight that the spirit of God gives grace to just let, Him have his way, or if anything has stepped on our toes a little bit tonight to help us to see, well, you know, that could be something that you could change, whether dependence upon God or submission to an ungodly authority, then I pray, Father, that we look at David and say, wow, I mean, God's given us this in his word to help us understand, though David wasn't perfect, he was a good man, and he honored God, he trusted God, and that's a good role model for us. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would apply these truths to our life, even this week, that it be a help to us. It's in Christ and we pray, amen.