First Samuel chapter 29, we're going to read both chapter 29 and chapter 30. We sang in Psalm 119 that God's wisdom is declared in His Word, and one of the wonderful things about this story is how God's wisdom is often highlighted, if you will, by the backdrop of human folly. In this case, the folly of David, the man who was supposed to be wise, the man who was supposed to be the man with a heart like that of the Lord. 1 Samuel chapter 29, Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel. As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish, the commanders of the Philistines said, what are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years? And since he deserted to me, I have found no fault in him to this day. But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his Lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances? Saul struck down his thousands, and David his 10,000? Then Achish called David and said to him, as the Lord lives, you have been honest. And to me, it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong with you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you, so go back now and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.' And David said to Achish, but what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now that I may not go out and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?' And Achish answered David and said, I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, he shall not go up with us to the battle. Now then, rise early in the morning with the servants of your Lord who came with you and start early in the morning and depart as soon as you have light. So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel. Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negev and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire, and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives had also been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, bring me the ephod. So Abiathar brought the ephod to David, and David inquired of the Lord, "'Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?' He answered him, "'Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.' So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor. They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him bread, and he ate. They gave him water to drink, and they gave him a piece of cake, of figs, and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. David said to him, to whom do you belong, and where are you from? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. We had made a raid against the Negev of the Caratites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, will you take me down to this band? And he said, swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will take you down to this band. And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man escaped, except 400 young men who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken, David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil. Then David came to the 200 men who'd been too exhausted to follow David and who had been left at the Baruch Bezor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people, he greeted them. And all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children and depart. But David said, you shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day. When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord. It was for those in Bethel, and Ramoth of the Negev, and Jatir, and Arur, and Sifmoth, and Eshdomoah, and Raqqal, and the cities of the Jerachmelites, and the cities of the Kenites, and Hormah, and Borashan, and Atak, and Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed. Thanks be to God for His Word. One of the first things you'll notice, having read this passage, chapters 29 and 30, is that where David ends is certainly not where David began. David began in what might be considered the most miserable spot he had ever been in his entire career. Sure, it had been bad when he was chased by Saul, but at least he knew who was out to get It had been bad when David, in desperation, had had to flee to the Philistines, but there, at least, he knew he was more or less safe. At the beginning of chapter 29, David finds himself in the prickliest position he has seen to this point. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place, between the Philistines on the one hand and the Israelites on the other hand, and a battle is about to be joined between Philistia and Israel. And David is caught between two armies. But David's external circumstances are nothing compared to what's going on inside of his heart. Two weeks ago, we saw…no, a week ago, rather, in chapter 27, we saw that David had fled from Judah, from the wilderness where God had told him to be. He had fled to Philistia, aiming to find refuge from one enemy of God in the presence of another enemy of God. And this seemed to work out for him for the time being, for chapter 27, for a year and four months. David was allowed to live in this city of Ziklag in relative security. Saul was no longer chasing him. Saul gave up the chase once David moved into a different country. But David was putting himself in a position of tremendous spiritual vulnerability. If we go back one more chapter, David equates being pursued into a foreign land with being forced to worship foreign gods. And we see that reflected in chapter 27, as was pointed out two weeks ago, rather. In chapter 27, the name of God is not mentioned once. The name of God is not mentioned once. And the vocabulary that the author chooses reflects the state of David's heart. He has become I don't quite want to say it, but he has become a godless man, a man who does not take God into account. It was because David forgot God that he was driven into Philistia, and in Philistia, that godless land where God was neither called upon nor worshiped, there would have been no encouragement from brothers and sisters for David to return to the Lord and to strengthen himself in the Lord. David is in An awful fix. And this is not the David that we've grown accustomed to seeing. David, we might almost say, David is not himself in this chapter because he is far from God. He is not himself because he is far from God. See, the world has this idea, the world back then, the world now as well, has this idea that the more you serve yourself, The more you do what your own heart and your own soul and your own mind drives you to do, the more self-actualized you will become, the more yourself you will become. You will only become yourself, the self you were meant to be, if you march to the beat of your own drum. David seems to have swallowed that lie. When David is far from God and far from the truth, he's only half a man. We saw in chapter 20, 27, and we see it again here in chapter 29, that when David is far from God, he's a liar. When David is far from God, he's fearful, he's unsettled. When David is far from God, he's undependable. When David is far from God, he's in the wrong spot, not just spiritually, but geographically. When David is far from God, he begins to make the wrong friends. When David is far from God, he's endangering his life, he's endangering his kingship, he's endangering his men, and he's endangering the reputation of his God. The old proverb or the old rhyme, whatever you want to call it, is quite correct. What a tangled web we weave when once we set out to deceive. David has left God behind, he has left the truth behind, and his life has become quite a mess. And now here he is between a rock and a hard place, between Philistia and Israel. David is a man in desperate need of salvation. And it's not a salvation he can provide for himself. David is between the full forces of these two nations, Philistia and Israel, with a scant six hundred men. He is in a place of absolute vulnerability. The schemes that must have been running through his mind, do I side with Philistia? Do I side with Israel? Swap sides perhaps? No, then I'll be in danger by King Saul. Do I side with Philistia? No, then I'll be fighting against my own brothers and sisters. Do I run? I could not run. Then I'd have two nations running after me instead of just one. David is in a horrible bind. But what do we see? What do we see? It's not stated outright, but if you've read the Scripture at all, if you've read any, if you know anything about the character of God, you know what happens here. The Lord steps in. The Lord saves His King. David is not saved by the strength of his own hand, by the cleverness of his own mind, by the will of his own heart, but David is saved by the mercy of God. But he is saved, we see, in the most remarkable way. David is saved, it seems, from the Philistines by the Philistines. Achish is not the only Philistine lord in the army. The Philistine area just west of Israel was actually called a pentapolis, a kingdom made up of five cities, each ruled by a separate tribal chief and a separate lord. Achish was only one of the five. But they went to battle as a single nation. But Achesh shows up with his forces, with David's men all around him. David had been set aside as Achesh's bodyguard. And the other lords of the Philistines, seeing David perhaps for the first time, wonder what on earth is going on? What on earth is going on? You can't go to war with your enemy if your enemy's on your side. Achesh is doing the strangest thing in the world in their sight. And they remind Akish, Akish, don't you remember David? David has committed mass slaughter of our nation. He's struck down tens of thousands of our men. David has been the most prolific Israelite warrior in the battles against Philistia. He's a danger. He's a danger to us, and we will not trust him. And so Akish, now in a desperate situation, caught between David and the other Philistine commanders, chooses the Philistine commanders and says to David, well, David, this is it for you and me, at least for this campaign. You've been honest with me. You've never lied to me. I've got no reason to distrust you. You have always told me the truth. But alas, alas, you and your men will have to go back It's as though the author of 1 Samuel is actually trying as hard as possible not to say, well, David's been a horrible liar as long as he's lived in Philistia, and he's totally pulled the wool over Akish's eyes, because Akish says again and again and again, I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, you've never lied to me, you've been like an angel of God in my sight. When, of course, we know that David's been doing nothing but lying since he came into Philistine territory. Even as he is being saved, David continues the charade. David says to Akish, what have I done? What have you found against me? What have you found against me? Why won't you trust me? Why can't I go and fight those Israelites? But Akish sends him back. We've seen why He needed to be saved, because of His own folly. We've seen who saves Him, the Lord saves. And we've seen how He saves Him. Well, the Lord saves however He chooses. And this is really the pattern that exists in every salvation that God works. We get ourselves into trouble. Oh, we get ourselves into trouble. We're in a mess of our own making. desperately trapped, perhaps by lies that we have told, perhaps by patterns that we have set into our lives, perhaps by allegiances or friendships that we've made, we are trapped. But God saves us from the traps that we have made for ourselves. We're about to reap the results of our actions, but God swoops in, unlooked for so often, and saves us. And most of us have experienced this, I think, again and again and again. And this is what David experiences. He does not cry to the Lord, he does not pray to God in his desperation, at least we're not told that he does. The Lord saves him nevertheless. This is the pattern that God sets for salvation. It's not because of anything that we have done, no. No, it's contrary to everything that we have done. God, out of His sheer grace, saves us, not because of works that we have done, but because of His grace. And we might think, well, this is what God does. He saves. He finds people in desperate situations and He saves them. But it's not…this is the pattern of God when He works salvation, but God is never obliged to work salvation. And I think sometimes we step into sin knowing that it's sin, knowing that it's wrong, thinking, well, if I get into some kind of mess, God will save me. That's His job. That's His nature. That's what He does. But Scripture warns us against this. It says, do not presume on the mercy of God. No, rather Scripture says, watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation because, you know, David's not the only king in a desperate situation. He's not the only king in a fix. God saves David, yes, but He doesn't save Saul. God saves David, but He doesn't save Saul. And this also is the way that God often works in salvation. He saves some, but not others, because He sovereignly decides to save these ones and to leave these ones in the mess they have made for themselves, and God has no obligation to save both of them. And we've seen this throughout Scripture. God favors Jacob, but He leaves Esau. God favors Isaac, but He leaves Ishmael. God favors Israel, but He leaves Egypt. You remember when Christ was hanging on the cross, two men in desperate situations were on either side of Him. One thief on this side, one thief on this side. Both of them reaping the results of their actions, reaping the results of their choices. God is obliged to save neither of them, but He sends His Spirit into one of their hearts. And that one cries for mercy while the other one is still railing against the Son of God. God saves one that none might despair. but only one that none might presume. And so David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And there's this contrast that the author's really working with. He mentions early in the morning, early in the morning, early in the morning, as soon as it's light, between David, a man walking into the light, and Saul, a man who is left in darkness at the end of chapter 28. David went out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistines went up to Jezreel, where the armies of Israel were. And we'll leave the Philistines for now. We'll come to them again next Lord's Day. We'll follow David as he goes south, back to Ziklag. He's escaped the frying pan. He's escaped this desperate situation, caught between two armies. But is his situation getting any better? Well, it sure doesn't look like it. He's fallen straight out of the frying pan into the fire. Now, the prophet Amos has a similar saying. He says, just to end up in the clutches of the other, it's as though a man should run from a lion and run into a bear, and then run from that bear and escape into his house, lean up against the wall, and be bitten by a snake. David has successfully run away from Saul, He has successfully now escaped the battle, but he makes it home to Ziklag, and what does he find? He finds ashes. Ashes. The Amalekites have made a raid against the Negev and against Ziklag. They had come out of the wilderness, and they had swept over the southern part of Judah and over the southern part of Philistia, and had even laid siege or stormed the city of Ziklag. overcoming it, burning it with fire and taking everyone in it captive. It killed no one, but you know what happens to captives, to prisoners of war in these ancient times. They were being taken away to be sold or worse. David and his men come to the city, perhaps they see it in the distance, and begin running full tilt toward the city, and they find the city burned with fire. Their house is a mess of charred sticks. The cries of their wives and sons and daughters, the laughter, the songs in the streets are gone. And they're replaced here by weeping. David and the people who were with him raised their voices. They wept until they had no more strength to weep. They may have been wiping their brow. Phew, we escaped the battle. But they come home to find everything they held dear gone. So they raise their voices and they weep. And they go around to find a scapegoat. And David, it says, was greatly distressed for the people spoke. because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters." If David was in a desperate situation at the beginning of chapter 29, it seems it has only gotten more desperate here at the beginning of chapter 30. David, David is in a place of desperate weakness. He's been brought down to nothing. He has no resources left. His family is gone. His possessions are gone. Philistia cannot protect him. The Amalekites have taken everything he has. Israel will not take him because Saul is their king. And this little ragged band around him is now intent on killing him. David has been brought to nothing. And in his distress, he calls on God. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. As the psalmist says, I sought the Lord and He saved and delivered me out of all my fear. Those who look to Him are radiant. Even young men will stumble, will fall, will grow weary. But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength." And how does David strengthen himself in God? Well, he goes to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech. He finally remembers, hey, I've got a line to God. I can cry out to God and actually have Him respond to me. You see, the priests, if you're not familiar with the concept of the Urim and the Thummim, the priests had what was likely a pouch in their uniform that had these two stones. One was called the Urim, one was called the Thummim. They would reach their hand in and pull a stone out. likely either white or black. And that would give kings that inquire to the Lord either a yes answer or a no answer. And David remembers that Abiathar was with him. He remembers that he has a faithful high priest. And he says, bring me the ephod and bring me near to God. And so David inquires of the Lord, shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake this Amlekite horde? And the Lord answers him, yes, go after them, pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue. God goes to David, a man running on fumes, a man whose resources are exhausted, a man with nothing at all. A man who is now as weak as weak can be. And the Lord says to him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue. You see how little the Lord thinks of the strength of men, and how little the Lord needs the strength of men. But you also see, don't you, how the Lord is not just interested in pulling David's fat from the fire, in pulling us out of our messes, the Lord is also intent on changing our hearts. and shaping and forming our hearts in and through the messes that we make, but especially as we are cast on Him. I'm sure you've heard this. Spurgeon, I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me against the rock of ages. There's a hymn in our hymn book by John Newton. It's called, I Ask the Lord That I Might Grow, and I'm going to read that for you just briefly. It's number 519. I ask the Lord that I might grow in faith and love and every grace. Might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face. A good prayer, good requests. Yes, give me faith, give me love, give me your graces. I need them. I need them poured out on me. I need them so desperately. "'Twas He who taught me thus to pray, "'and He, I trust, has answered prayer, "'but it has been in such a way "'as almost drove me to despair. "'I hoped that in some favored hour at once, "'He'd answer my request, "'and by His love's constraining power, "'subdue my sins and give me rest.'" Right, we pray for humility. And we expect, okay, God's going to flip a switch in our heart and He's going to make us humble. We pray for faith and we think, okay, God's going to pour some more faith into our hearts and make us more faithful, will make us depend on Him more. But that's not the way that God works. God shows us our weakness before He gives us His strength. I hope that in some favored hour, at once he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, with his own hand, he seemed intent to aggravate my woe, crossed all the fair designs I schemed, humbled my heart, and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling cried. Will thou pursue thy worm to death? Tis in this way. The Lord replied, I answer prayer for grace and faith. These inward trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free and break thy schemes of earthly joy that thou mayst find thine all in me." God brings David down to nothing. David's schemes we could say, have brought him here. Saul, we could say, has brought him here. The Philistines, we could say, has brought David here to this desperate place. The Amalekites, we could say, have brought David here to this desperate place. But really, behind it all and above it all, it's been the providence of God. God has been shaping his king, humbling his king, bringing his king down to nothing so that he might exalt him. This is how God works. And God takes this man who's running on nothing, who's got nothing left in the tank, whose men want to kill him, who's been cast out of two nations now, and he says, go, you'll overtake them, you shall surely rescue. So David sets out. With his 600 men, he somehow convinces them to follow him again, and they come to the Brook Base, or that's the first major waterway south of Gath, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and 400 men. He leaves a third of whatever strength he's got left behind. And now, like Gideon with his force whittled down, now like Abraham with his 318, David pursues this Amalekite horde, and we'll find out very quickly that this Amalekite force is so large that 400 is just the dregs of their army, the chaff of their host. But David has the Word of God, and David has been told, "'Pursue, and you shall overtake and shall surely rescue.'" And David, who's got no resources of his own, is now equipped by God with the strength, with the willingness, with the faith, and now also with the information. They found an Egyptian in the open country. David is in the wilderness now, the real wilderness, a trackless waste, no roads going this way and that, no directions saying, well, this city's that way, this city's that way, and if you go that way, you'll find the Amalekite army. Nothing of the sort. David can't track him down. It's been several days that the Sands have gone over their path. But he just so happens to find an Egyptian in the open country. And his men bring him to David, and they give him food to revive him and drink to revive him. David says, who do you belong to? Well, I just so happen to come from that Amalekite army. That Amalekite army that just so happened to be the one that burned Ziklag with fire. This chance encounter, of course, is no chance encounter. God has brought David the means, and He's brought David the guidance so that he can pursue not only his enemies but God's enemies. And so the young man, the young Egyptian slave, tells David exactly where to find the Amlekites. He can say to him, well, I saw them going that way, not that way, that way, and that's where you'll find them. And when he had taken them down, behold, the Amalekites were spread abroad all over the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines, from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight, that is from early morning until the evening of the next day. And not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all the Amalekites who had taken, and David rescued his two wives. You can see what God's man can do when armed with God's promises. Not because of his strength, of course. No, of course not. Of course not, but because God's providence always brings God's promises to pass. Nothing was missing. Whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken, David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him and said, this is David's spoil. It's almost an ironic point the author is making. He repeats David's name again and again and again. David brought them all back. David captured all the flocks and herds. David's spoil. David brought them all back. David struck them all down. David rescued his two wives. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken. David came to the 200 men, and so on, and so on, and so on. He's almost saying, yeah, David did all these great things, as though to force us to say, now hold on, it wasn't David. It wasn't David. It was the Lord. You know, David himself realizes this. Because when they come back to the Brook Basin, when they come back to the 200 men they left behind, and the scoundrels in David's army say, well, hey, you don't fight, you don't get the spoils, you don't work, you don't eat. David says, that's utter nonsense. You think we won this? You think our exhausted band of men, demoralized, malnourished, exhausted, psychologically, emotionally wrung out. You think we won this great victory? No. No. Do not say that it's my spoil. Do not say that it's your spoil. You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us. And He has given into our hand the band that came against us. Nobody's going to listen to you. For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall all share alike. And David comes back to Ziklag. The most remarkable thing, he doesn't just share the spoil from the Amalekite camp with his 600 men, including the 200 that had stayed by the brook, but he takes that spoil and he sends it abroad. He sends it to Bethel, to Ramoth, to Jatir, to Arur, to Sifmoth, to Eshdomoah, to Rakhal, to the cities of the Jerachmulites, the cities of the Kenites, Hormah, Bor, Ashan, Atak, Hebron, all these places, most of which you couldn't find in a Bible atlas. And you see David here ending the story in just about the most opposite way the manner in which he had begun this story. He had begun this story at the beginning of chapter 29, surrounded by God's enemies, Saul on the one hand, and Philistia on the other hand. And how does he end up at the end of chapter 30? Sharing with God's friends, sharing with God's people. You find David at the beginning of 29, desperate, about to perish, And at the end of 30, victorious in a battle he never saw coming, he never could have fought, he never could have planned. You find David at the beginning of 29, a scoundrel, a liar, a traitor. But at the end of 30, a king. A king. And not just a king. This scoundrel, by the wonderful shaping hand of God, who knows how to knock off the edges, who knows how to shape a man, how to mold a man, David has not just become a king, but a Christ-like king, almost a Christ in miniature, with His flesh mortified and His Spirit vivified. All those fleshly things, that fleshly strength, that fleshly wisdom has been killed And this spiritual wisdom, that is, wisdom that seeks after God, and this spiritual strength, that is, strength that is given directly from God, has been made alive. And the fruits of the Spirit are almost coming to life, coming into bloom in David's character. In the earlier chapters, the earlier verses of this passage, he was just out to save his skin. He was just out for his survival, looking out for number one. doing things according to his own plans and not the wisdom of God. At the end of 30, we see David a remarkably, remarkably, miraculously, I would say, changed man. A man who, like Christ, goes into his kingdom, finds that his enemy has come and has wreaked havoc, strengthens himself in the Lord even as his brothers want to kill him, rescues his bride, gives gifts to men. We're reminded, I think, of Psalm 68, 18, which is quoted in Ephesians 4 verse 8. The Lord ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and He gave gifts to men. David has been transformed from a scoundrel into an exceptionally Christlike king by the providence, by the power, by the miraculous power of God. David has gone through the ringer, and he's been brought through by the preservation of God. I know this is often the case in the Christian life. Many of us go through The ringer. Many of us, I think, are currently going through the ringer, whether emotionally, financially, socially, familially. Many others of us have just come out of a season of sorrow and intense difficulty. And what we can learn from David here, well, really, what we can learn from the Lord here, is that God does not waste the suffering of His children. He does not waste the suffering of His people. If you belong to Him, then He is going to turn your suffering on its head. Maybe in a way that you would never have guessed. Maybe in a way that might seem foolish and unnecessary to you until you are translated into glory and you see the wisdom behind it. You must remember the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and the weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men. You can trust that He who made a victory of the cross can take whatever situation you are currently in and bring it about so that you are blessed and He is glorified, because this is what God does. He does not save us because we are wise. He saves us because we are foolish. The points of this sermon I listed this way, 1 David's salvation, 2 David's strength, The third, David's spoil, but really it's all wrong, isn't it? It's the Lord's salvation. It couldn't be David's salvation. It's the Lord's strength. It couldn't be David's strength. And so it's the Lord's spoil, the Lord's glory, because it couldn't possibly be David's. Well, let's pray.