For Those Who Are Fainting
1 Samuel 30:21-31:13
In 1 SAMUEL 30 we
see David going through some DIFFICULT and DARK days
We Saw in our Last study that
David was in a Backslidden state /
A) He has been living in the land
of the Philistines for 16 months/ Ziglag
B) Things hit an all time low
when the Philistines decide to wage war against the People of Israel
1) David
decides to fight w/ the Philistines against Israel the People of God /
2) the very
people he has been called to lead
C) But
God doesn’t let it happen – the Philistine Generals object to David’s
presence in their army –
Tell Achish their king to send
DAVID home to Ziglag
D) This was Divine Intervention
on the part of the Lord – sparing David from doing something he would
ultimately REGRET
Now you would
have thought that David would have realized this – but he is so out of touch w/
the Lord that he is only discouraged
A)He heads home to Ziglag bummed
out & depressed feeling unwanted / unneeded –
B)There the Lord is really going
to get his attention
B) See While David & His men
were gone the Lord allowed the Amalakites to attack
Ziglag –
1) the city is burned to the
ground & all their families are taken Captive –
C) SO David & his men travel
for 3 days – 25 miles a day – From Gath to Ziglag & when they get there their hearts are filled w/ Horror & Despair
1) Their
city has been burned to the ground & their families are missing /
presumably Dead
D) These mighty warriors begin
to weep & wail – they weep to the point that they have no more strength
to weep – Exhausted by grieve
But
Their Grief turns to Anger as someone says –DAVID’S FAULT
A)If it wasn’t for David
insisting we fight w/ the Philistines we would have been here to protect our
Families – Lets get David – Lets Stone him –
B) And it is at this Point that
David finally comes to the end of himself - & turns once again to
seek the Lord
v.6 David Strengthened himself in the Lord
C) It is at this time that David
hears from the Lord GO !! Pursue to go after them – You will recover all – David
somehow is able to rally the troops
C) They begin pursuing the Amalekites at an incredible pace driven by a
feeling of Desperation /
1) love for families/ The confidence of God’s Promise
c) And this is all after they
have marched 25 miles a day for 3 straight days
D) Well as they
are Charging – 200 men grow Faint – they tell David we can’t keep up –
can’t keep the Pace –
1) So David leaves them at Besor
to guard the Supplies
E) Well David & the others go
on to victory like the Lord promised & they recover all of their Families -
/ Livestock - & even more from the Amalekites
1) But
Something happens when they come back to Besor where these 200 men who were
guarding the Supplies were waiting V.21
21Now David came
to the two hundred men who had been so weary that they could not flow David,
whom they also had made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet
David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near the
people, he greeted SALUTED them. 22Then all the wicked
and worthless men of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they
did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have
recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that they may lead them
away and depart.”
What we find here is that there is tension in David’s Army
A) Some of the ones who were
Strong enough to Go on say to David concerning the one’s who stayed behind
Give them their wives
& kids & tell them to Get lost – we don’t need them anyway !!!
B) Let’s consider this scene &
David’s response and make some application to our lives
C) David had 600 men, mighty men
– Started off / In distress / Indebt / Discontent / but they have grown into
Great Army –
B) Yet at this time 1/3 of his
men could NOT go into battle...... 200 of them were simply too weak to press into battle
1) These
were men who loved David / Loyal to David – follow David anywhere – but at this
time they just can’t go on
C) Their hands were hanging down
their knees were feeble / they are just Burned out –
Covered 75 miles in 3 days - Hectic
pace
They were Burned
out & they were Bummed out – Still grieving over the loss of their Families
A)They Marched for 3 days –
expecting to see welcome home signs –
B) Instead – City has been burned to the ground
1) They had lost their wives and
kids/ Presumably dead
C) Guys What would be your Reaction if you went home this morning,
and found your home burned, and your family gone, you knew not where?
D) Sometimes – it is the family
struggles, that have a powerful impact upon your marching forth in the
Christian life.....
1)
It can cause you to fall behind your former pace/
And I would
venture to say that some of them were Bummed out because of the Change they saw
in David
A)Their leader had become a real
enigma to them/ Here was a man who had killed Goliath
B) Here was a man that had wiped
out hosts of Philistines-Here was a man that was a
worshipper of God
1) Here was a man who a few weeks before spared the life of his arch
enemy when he refused to kill Saul in that cave in Engedi
C) But 3 days earlier he was
ready to fight w/ the Philistines against Saul
1) These men probably said to themselves, “How will this end?
2) Will David really
lead us to battle against Saul?
The INCONSISTANCIES
that they saw in David caused them to be blown out / Perplexed
A)Warning: ANY time that you fix
your eyes on man you WILL be BLOWN out/
B) Because all of us have
inconsistencies
1) Eyes are on me – Howard or
whoever – You will be disappointed { Ask our wives
C) THAT is why we are told in Heb
12:2 we are to be Looking unto Jesus the
author and finisher of [our] faith
1) We change like the weather... But JESUS NEVER changes
C) He NEVER disappoints... He
NEVER disillusions you
1) We MUST
fix our eyes firmly upon Him lest we be BLOWN OUT and become fainthearted
So
They were BUMMED OUT.... BURNED OUT and BLOWN OUT
A)But they did not BACK OUT /
Even though they could NOT press on... they did NOT resign and return to their
old life
B)But As fainthearted
as they were, they stayed COMMITTED to David & SUBMITTED to David
C) They walked with him in his
SUCCESSES and they would stay with him in his SETBACKS
APPLICATION: Will
you follow Jesus no mater what turns He might take... Not only in
times of success, but also in times of difficulty.
A)These men in our text today,
though they were fainthearted, stayed LINKED to and LOYAL to and SUBMITTED to
the authority of their king.
B) I believe that in this room,
there are those who are fainthearted/ caused you to slow down in the Battle
1) But even
though you might not be pressing on into the battle, your heart is still with
the Lord....
C) You are still committed to the
Lord/ Love the Lord
D) You still have that strong
desire to serve the Lord – but Physically / emotionally / maybe even
spiritually – Feel like you can’t take another step
E) Take Courage – Note what
happens next
Consider - The
REJOICING of the fainthearted
A)When David came back from the
battle, these men were GLAD that he returned.....
AA) They went out to greet him/ I imagine it was Quite a Scene
B) A host of men in the front are
driving vast herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and singing as they march, “This is David’s spoil!”
1) Then you see armed men, arms filled w/ Stuff s, and you hear them singing yet another
song; “David recovered all! David recovered all!”
C) Then, those worn-out ones that
stayed at the brook Besor, hear the singing, & Join in
1) “This is David’s spoil! David recovered all!”
But their
rejoicing is momentarily interrupted by the Words of some of the Soldiers who
left them behind These men said: "You were to weak to go and fight.... You get ZIP"
A)It is interesting to me that the
HS chooses to refer to them as Worthless men /
KJV calls them sons of Belial or the
Devil – Why?
B) Strife division and condemnation are
all tools of the Devil -
1) the Devil
– Wants God’s people to feel useless / Condemned & Defeated
C) These "Worthless men"
had condemning words BUT Watch what David,
the man after God's heart, said.
23But David said,
“My brethren, you shall not do so with what the LORD has given us, who has
preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. 24For
who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the
battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share
alike.” 25So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and
an ordinance for Israel to this day.
C) The wicked
and worthless men looked at the spoil and said, “We fought for this spoil and it is ours.”
1) David
looked at the spoil and said, “Look at what the Lord has given us.”
D) Note The Difference: One is to
say – I did this it is mine –
1) The other says The Lord did
this – lets share !
David was the
Leader of those who were fainthearted & He was also their Advocate –
He pleads their
Unity & He pleads their Usefulness
A)First,
he pleads their unity?
B) David uses the word us 3 times in one verse when he speaks of the battle
and the spoils
Bb) David said, “. “God has given the spoil, not to you alone, but to us all.
1) Given to us / Preserved us / Delivered to us those who came
against us
C) Paul spoke of a Similar unity in 1Cor.12 The Church ONE BODY – MANY PARTS/ many members w/ different functions
1)
One part of the Body cannot say it is not needed –
not something else!!
D) So first David gives
them a reason to rejoice because he pleads their Unity –
1) They are a part of us – School Church
2nd he pleaded their USEFULNESS He said, . 24For
who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the
battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.
A)No army fights well when its
camp is unguarded. CHS It is a great
thing for a church to know that its BASES are well guarded by a praying band.
B)While some of us are teaching
or preaching in pulpits classrooms /jails / homes others are on the mission
field
1) we have
great comfort in knowing that a certain number of our friends are praying for
us.
CHS To me it is a boundless solace that I live in the prayers of
thousands. I will not say which does the better service — the man that
preaches, or the man that prays; but I know this, that we can do better without
the voice that preaches than without the heart that prays. The petitions of our
bed-ridden sisters are the wealth of the church.
C)
The kind of service which seems most commonplace among men is often the most
precious unto God.
3.) The REWARDING of
the fainthearted
A) The FAINTHEARTED got an EQUAL
SHARE with those that went into battle
B)APP. The captain of our
Salvation..... Our greater than David, the Lord Jesus Christ, would encourage
us who are fainthearted today
1) Today He
would say to those of us who are faint and faltering today:
"Do NOT listen to the CONDEMANATION and
the ACCUSATIONS of the men of Belial who say that you have no inheritance and
no reward"
C) Instead, we should listen to
the Son of David who has words of encouragement for those who are fainting
D) Besor = Good news –
I have good news for you today Jesus is coming Back !
1) He is coming back, NOT to
condemn you, but to SALUTE you – Well done -
Listen be
encouraged today Even if you are
FAINTHEARTED Jesus is NOT going to leave you or forsake you
A)You who are by the Brook of
Besor KNOW this: The Lord is coming back
B)And when He comes back He comes
with a SALUTE because you have remained with Him & been loyal to Him,
though you may have grown faint
1) The strong and the fainthearted are ONE in Christ
C) There are times when I grow
faint/ But I can rejoice in the fact that I have brothers and sisters in Christ
that are STRONG and are SURGING forward
1) I am JOINED to them/ I am inspired by them
D)We are UNITED together and are
blessed together
1) IF you are fainthearted today, REJOICE in the fact that
there are those who are strong - They will be a source of blessing to your life
Turn
to 2 Sam. 2:1-3 & What
happened to these that were fainthearted?
A)Saul is now Dead & David is
now going to be anointed first as King over Judah & then over all of Israel
– note what it says v.2
So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the
Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 3And
David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So
they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
B) NOTE: every man was brought up
KNOW this –
1) Others may condemn you in your
fainting, but NOT Jesus
C) Jesus said: "Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy
laden...."
1) And I will - Give you a speech? - NO
And I will - Give you a kick? - NO
And I will give you REST
The issue is NOT
whether or not we are on the front lines.... Or fainthearted and staying with
the stuff
A)What really matters is who
Jesus is/ THAT is our confidence- THAT is our blessed hope
B)Today, if you are BUMMED out or
BURNED out or BLOWN out... Do not BACK
OUT
C) BECAUSE everyone of us today
that KNOWS Jesus and are LOYAL to Jesus will be BROUGHT UP with Jesus into that
place in heaven that He has been preparing for us
Quickly look at Ch.31/
celebration ends on a tragic note
i. The events of this
chapter happened some 20 years after Saul first heard the announcement of
judgment against him from the prophet Samuel. Perhaps Saul thought that time
was on his side, because God’s announced judgment did not
happen immediately. But time
was against him, because in the 20 years since, his heart became more hard
against
God.
ii. At the end of his life,
Saul had become so hardened in sin that he did not want to repent. Many
people put off getting
right with God until a later
time, assuming they will still want to get right with God then. But that is a
dangerous,
dangerous assumption,
because repentance is a gift from God, and if it is here today it should be
received today.
iii. “It is a very solemn
thought! No career could begin with fairer, brighter prospects than Saul had,
and none could
close in more absolute
midnight of despair; and yet such a fate may befall us, unless we watch, and
pray, and walk
humbly with our God.”
(Meyer)
a. Saul’s tragic
death gave opportunity for the enemies of the LORD to disgrace His name. First, they
gave the ultimate insult to Saul; in that culture, to have your dead body
treated this way was considered a fate worse than death itself. Second, Saul’s
death was used to glorify pagan gods and to mock the living God (to proclaim it
in the temple of their idols and among the people).
b. They fastened
his body to the wall of Beth Shan: You can go to the ruins of Beth Shan
today, as the foundations to the city sit high on a hill overlooking the Roman
ruins destroyed in an earthquake. It was high on that hill that the Philistines
hung the decapitated corpse of King Saul in the ultimate humiliation. 3.
(11-13) The valiant men of Jabesh Gilead end the disgrace of Saul and his sons.
a. All the
valiant men arose: In a time of disgrace, loss, and tragedy like this, God
still has His valiant men to do His work. The men of Jabesh Gilead took down the
bodies of Saul and his sons from their place of humiliation and gave them a
proper burial.
i. Glory to God,
He always has His valiant men! When one servant passes the scene,
another arises to take his place. If
Saul is gone,
God raises up a David. If the army of Israel is utterly routed, God still has
His valiant men. God’s work is bigger than any man, or any group of
people.
b. The
inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead are also recognized for their gratitude.
Many years before, Saul delivered their city from the Ammonites (1 Samuel
11:1-11), and they repay the kindness God showed them from the hand of Saul.
Upon taking the throne, David rightly thanked these valiant men for their
kindness to the memory of Saul, Jonathan, and Saul’s other sons (2 Samuel
2:4-7).
c. When David
heard of Saul’s death, he did not rejoice. In fact, he mourned and composed a
song in honor of Saul and Jonathan (The Song of the Bow, 2 Samuel
1:11-27). In spite of all that Saul did against David, David spoke well of Saul
after his death.