CALL TO CONFESSION

Colossians 1:9-10

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Almighty, infinite Father, as we come before you to confess our weakness and rebellion, we thank you for choosing to love desperate sinners like us. Your grace gives us courage to admit the depravity of our desires, thoughts, and actions. We confess that we often seek our own kingdom and will over yours, pursuing worldly wisdom and striving in vain to prove ourselves worthy. Father, forgive us.

Wonderful, merciful Savior, we thank you, that you have disarmed the wrath of God. Though we are slow to bear fruit and prone to run far from you, you have paid for all our rebellion and weakness. By taking our sin upon yourself and giving us your perfect obedience, you have made us worthy to stand before God, confident that his justice is satisfied. Thank you for your nail-pierced hands, and for bearing all our sin and shame. In our weakness and sin, we fall before your throne, praising and adoring you, for you alone are worthy.

Holy Spirit, our counselor and comforter, give us joy in the cross amidst our daily failures. Humble us in our inability, fill us daily with a fresh love for God, and shield us from despair when temptation comes by pointing us to Savior who stands before the throne of God interceding for us. Grant us wisdom to behold our risen Lamb, worthy of all our praise. In Christ’s name we pray, amen. 

“Take a few moments to personally confess your sins to the Lord.”

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

“Hear these words of comfort and assurance.” 

Colossians 1:11-14

[May you be] strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

• On average, a person makes over 35,000 decisions every single day. 
• The majority of those decisions are simple.
• But other decisions are heavy. Do I take this new job? Do I change my major? How do I handle betrayal from someone I trusted? How do I navigate a sudden family crisis? 
• In those life-impacting moments, we long for guidance. We want to know where to turn and what path to take.

• In 1 Samuel 23, David finds himself in an impossibly difficult situation. 
• Where does David turn when the path isn’t clear and things look bleak? He turns to the Lord. 
• Today we’ll see that in a world full of uncertainty and confusion, the Lord faithfully guides us through His Word and guards us through His King.  

1 Samuel 23:1-14

Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” 2 Therefore David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” 3 But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” 5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand. 7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” 8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9 David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 Then David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” 13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

• Keilah was a fortified border town in Judah situated near the edge of Philistine territory. 
• The Philistines attack during harvest time. They are raiding the threshing floors and stealing the grain that the people of Israel had worked hard to grow. 

• Why are they asking David for help?
• This is supposed to be the king's job. The Lord told Samuel that the job description for his anointed king would be to save his people from the hand of the Philistines (9:16). 
• That was supposed to be Saul’s job, but now it seems like Saul’s only job description is to kill David. 
• He is hunting David instead of protecting the flock of Israel. 

• But David shows the heart of a true king. Even though he has his own troubles to deal with, he cares deeply for the covenant people of God. 
• He hears of their suffering and he wants to step in and help. 

• But notice that he doesn’t make an impulsive decision to go help. 
• The first thing David does is inquire of the Lord. “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”
• How very different from Saul. 
• David could have skipped that step. His people are being attacked. Defending Keilah was the right thing to do. 
• On the other hand, was David really in a position to help anyone?
• He could easily conclude that Keilah is somebody else’s problem. It’s really Saul’s problem.
• But David seeks the Lord.  

• The phrase “inquired of the Lord” is central in 1 Samuel. 
• The Hebrew verb means to ask, inquire, to consult or seek counsel. 
• David recognizes that he cannot lead, defend, and protect Keilah without God’s command. 
• The Lord answers David clearly. “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

• How did God communicate with David and direct him? 
• In v6, we get a crucial detail that perhaps explains how David inquired of the Lord and how God communicated his will to him. 
• Abiathar, the priest who escaped the massacre at Nob, fled to David with the ephod in his hand. 
• The ephod was the priestly garment worn by the high priest, and there was a ceremonial breastplate attached to it that contained the Urim and Thummim.
• These were tools God provided for Israel’s leaders to discern his will.
• We don’t know exactly how it worked but it seems like a question was asked and the priest would cast the lot for “yes” and “no” type of answers. 
• And now, because Abiathar came to David with the ephod, David has access to the sacred means of inquiring of the Lord.

• Now, v3 is one of those verses of brutal honesty. 
• David reports the Lord’s command to his men and they are terrified.
• They’re not turning on David or rebelling. They’re just scared. 
• Humanly speaking, their fear makes complete sense. They are living in constant danger.
• If they go down to Keilah, they would be exposed and out in the open. 

• David doesn’t scold them or question their loyalty. 
• He goes back to the Lord a second time. 
• And the Lord answers him again, and he gives him more than just a command. This time, the Lord also gives him a promise. 
• “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” 
• Here’s the reason David and his men could bravely go and defend Keilah; the victory is assured. 

• Isn’t it wonderful to know that the Lord doesn’t get irritated by weak faith. 
• That there’s no limit to how many times we can ask God for the same thing and he never gets angry with us. 
• Keep asking. Be persistent in prayer. 

• Armed with the command and the promise, David acts in obedience. 
• He and his men march to Keilah and defeat the Philistines, carrying away their livestock, and saving the inhabitants of the town. 
• Two things to observe:
• First, look how God provides for David and his men.  David and his men have plenty to feed on from the spoils.
• Second, David saved the people of Keilah. 
• The text uses the word “save” to describe what David did. Save is the very root of the name Jesus, which means, “The LORD saves.”
• Scripture calls what David did salvation. David acts in accordance with his role as the Lord’s anointed. Though he himself is under threat, he was able to do the work of God’s king and save his people. 
• The crown may be on Saul’s head, but the calling is on David’s life.  

• What set David apart as God’s anointed king was his humble dependence on God’s guidance. 
• David did not step out until God spoke. 
• When his men expressed their fear, he went back to God in prayer. 

• Many of us struggle with making decisions when fear and uncertainty are present, when we’re overwhelmed by options, and don’t know which path to take. 
• Our natural instinct is often to rely on our human wisdom first. 
• We make our plans, we calculate our moves, and then as an afterthought, we ask God to rubber stamp his blessing on the choice we have made. 

• The mark of spiritual maturity is not the person who looks to themselves first for counsel in making important decisions.
• The mark of spiritual maturity is what David did here. It is seeking the Lord first.

• We don’t have an ephod and the sacred lots to discern the will of God. 
• What we have is far greater—a greater priest than Abiathar.
• We have the throne of grace that has been opened up to us by the blood of Christ.  
• We have the privilege of approaching the Lord in prayer. 
• And with prayer, God has given us the means to seek guidance from him. 
• We have the complete, written Word of God. 
• We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us as believers. 
• We have the counsel of godly people in our life. 
• When you face decisions, do you search the Scriptures? 
• Do you spend time in dependent prayer? 
• Do you seek wisdom and counsel from godly people? 
• Or do you rely on human logic and your immediate subjective feelings? 

• David’s dependence on the Lord’s guidance points us to our greater King. 
• Jesus never spoke or acted on his own authority. He said in John 5, that the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. 
• He lived a life of absolute dependence on the Father. 
• He sought the Father’s will in the garden as the cross lay directly before him. 
• And because Jesus submitted himself fully to God’s guidance, he saved us from a far greater enemy than the Philistines. He rescued us from sin, death, and Satan. 
• Receiving guidance from God begins with going to God first. 

• While David is celebrating a great victory in Keilah, news reaches Saul with David’s location.
• Look at v7 again. Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” 
• Saul’s spies tell him David is in a fortified town and he immediately jumps to a conclusion. 
• Listen to Saul’s warped theology. 
• He interprets his circumstances: “I know where my enemy is.”
• He sees an advantage/open door: “My enemy is in a walled city and trapped.” 
• And he draws a conclusion: “God is handing my enemy over to me.”

• But he is self-deceived. He has rejected God’s commands. He has murdered the priests of the Lord. Yet he thinks God is on his side because the circumstances seem favorable to him. 
• But Saul is assuming, he’s not asking God. He’s not bringing questions to God, he’s bringing conclusions about God. 

• Circumstances can be deceiving. Just because it looks like an open door that doesn’t automatically mean that God opened it for you to walk through. 
• An opportunity is not a command from the Lord. 
• A lucrative job offer may present itself, but if it forces you to compromise your integrity or abandon your church family, it is not God’s blessing. 
• Judas found an opportunity. And the circumstances seemed right. But that didn’t mean God approved. Providence is not permission.  

• David learns that Saul is coming to besiege Keilah. 
• Saul's hatred for David is so great that he mobilizes the army of Israel to lay siege to an Israelite town that was just rescued from the Philistines. 
• This is what a heart that is given over to jealousy looks like.  Saul’s one job was to protect God’s people and now he is willing to destroy God’s people to protect himself. 

• Now David was in a fortified place, but he’s not relying on those walls to keep him and his men safe. And he is not relying on the gratitude of the people he just saved to help protect him. 
• He calls for Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod. He has to inquire of the Lord. 
• David’s prayer consists of two distinct questions. 
• “Will Saul come down to destroy Keilah on account of me?”
• “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand?” 
• The Lord answers both questions directly. “Yes he will,” and “Yes they will.” 

• Think about how that second answer must have landed on David. 
• He and his men had just risked their lives to save Keilah. 
• He fought for their freedom. He recovered what was taken from them. 
• Yet, the very people David rescued were ready to hand him over to Saul to save their own skins. 
• Human gratitude and loyalty are fleeting. 

• Notice something remarkable about God’s knowledge. 
• God answers two questions about events that never come to pass. 
• God tells David what would happen if he stayed. And then it never happens because David doesn’t stay. 
• And it is God Himself who ensures those events never happen. 
• The same Lord who warned David what would happen if he stayed, also moved him to flee. 
• God, in his providence, ordains not only the ends but the means to those ends. 
• This is a glorious and profound theological truth: God’s knowledge is infinite, infallible, and in no way dependent upon the creature. 
• He knows not only what will happen, but what would happen upon any supposed condition. 
• And he knows it not by looking out upon the future to learn what would happen, but in the perfect knowledge of His own power and His own will. 
• Nothing is contingent or uncertain to Him. Because His omniscience is absolute and His decree unfailing, His counsel is entirely trustworthy.
• God had decreed that David would sit on the throne. And the way he accomplished that decree was by warning David, while he was in a walled city about to be betrayed by the people he had rescued, to get out. 
• David listens to the Lord’s warning and he acts immediately. He trusts God’s revelation.

• This is far beyond our ability to comprehend and that is precisely the point. A God small enough to be understood would be too small to be trusted with a future we cannot see. 
• It is an immense comfort to the child of God that because God knows all things, his counsel is completely trustworthy. 
• He knows the road you took and he knows the road you did not take and he knows exactly where either would have led you. 
• We all have second-guessed decisions we have made. But God knows the road exhaustively, and it isn’t hidden from him even though it’s hidden from you. 
• God gave one instruction to David for that moment, and he obeyed immediately. 
• That’s the pattern. The comfort isn’t that God will reveal everything to us, the comfort is that the One directing our life already knows everything. 
• Our responsibility is to obey the revelation we have received from God’s Word because his counsel is trustworthy. 

• How easy it would have been for David to get bitter at the people who were ready to turn him in.
• People are going to disappoint us. Friends will fail us. Circumstances can turn upside down in a moment. 
• If your joy and security are tied to human approval or easy circumstances, you will be tossed around like a wave in the sea. 

• What is your foundation built upon today? 
• Is it built on the changing tides of circumstances, or is it built on the unshakeable Word of God? 
• When trials come, when people let you down, do not retreat into bitterness.
• Turn to God’s Word and trust what God says. 

• Our final section of this passage shows us the outcome: David rested in the sovereign protection of God. 
• David and his men leave Keilah immediately.  
• Where do they go? The text says, “Wherever they could go.” 
• They become wanderers again, hiding in the wilderness, staying in the strongholds of the hill country in the Wilderness of Ziph. 

• When Saul learned David had escaped, he gave up that particular expedition. 
• But look at the second half of v14, “And Saul sought him every day…” 
• Every day Saul brings to bear every resource of the kingdom to take David out. 
• The rage-filled king is in relentless pursuit of God’s true king. 

• The second half of v14 is the theological summit of the whole passage.
• “But God did not give him into his hand.” 
• Saul sought David every single day but Saul could not touch a single hair of David’s head because God did not hand him over. 
• Saul’s power was subservient to God’s providence and protection over David.  
• Saul did not possess absolute military might. 
• God had set a boundary around David that Saul could never cross. 

• Saul said in v7 that God had given David into his hand. But God had done no such thing and God never would. 
• David spent years living in strongholds, fortresses, high rocky places that were hard to attack. 
• But it wasn’t the strongholds that kept David. It was that the Lord did not give David into Saul’s hand. 

• The verse gives us a key to understanding David’s life and the entire Christian life. 
• We have an enemy that seeks to destroy us. The world rages against the church. Our own lingering sin fights against our souls. 
• But the enemy cannot prevail because our God is sovereign and he is guarding us. 

• We know that even though God was protecting David from Saul, his life was not easy.
• But he was safe. Safer in the wilderness cave with God’s protection than Saul was in the comfort of the palace under God’s judgment. 
• David’s outlaw experience is summed up in that phrase, “God did not give him into his hand.” 

• You might feel like you are in a wilderness. 
• Walking through a difficult season or carrying a heavy load. You might feel isolated in your workplace. 
• The wilderness can feel lonely. 
• But our passage reminds us that God’s eyes are fixed on his children. 
• The enemy may seek your harm every single day, but God will not give you into his hand. 
• Nothing can touch you outside of the good, wise and sovereign hand of your heavenly Father. 

• Our Lord knew betrayal far worse than David ever experienced. 
• David was betrayed by people he rescued. Jesus was betrayed by one of his closest friends. 
• Jesus was handed over to the Romans by the very people he came to save. 
• On the surface, it looked like Satan and evil men had won. 
• It looked like God had handed Jesus over to his enemies. 
• But Acts 2 tells us that Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. 
• Jesus willingly went to the cross to bear the penalty for our sins. 
• He was handed over to death so that we would never be handed over to condemnation. 
• And God raised him up! And now our King reigns at the right hand of the Father. 
• And because he reigns, every person who trusts in him is eternally secure. 

CONCLUSION

• Where do you need God’s guidance today? 
• Are you trying to steer your own life based on what looks easiest right now? 
• Are you making decisions based on favorable circumstances or subjective feelings rather than Scripture? 
• Or are you actively inquiring of the Lord through steady prayer and meditation on his Word? 
• Don’t rely on your own wisdom. Put your complete trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

• Let me leave you with three exhortations. 
• Make it your habit to inquire of the Lord first. 
• Ask before you act! 
• H.B. Charles says, “It happens after prayer.” 
• Make daily prayer and Scripture reading your anchor, not your last resort. 
• Do not be deceived by circumstances. 
• Test every situation against the truth of God’s Word. 
• Do not mistake temporary ease for divine approval. 
• Rest in God’s sovereign preservation. 
• Whatever wilderness you are walking through today, remember, the enemy may rage, but God will not give you into his hand. 
• You are kept by the power of God for a salvation ready to be revealed. 
• Satan can seek you out every day to harm you. And God will never give you into his hand. 

• The Lord will guide you through his Word and guard you through his King! 

APPLICATION AND REFLECTION

In light of today's message....

• What did I learn about the gospel?
• How can I apply what I learned about the gospel to my life?
• With whom can I share the gospel this week?