1st Samuel 23 INQUIRE OF THE LORD In the world in which we live there is need on every hand. Billions of people need to hear the Gospel and it is impossible for us to reach them all. Hungry men, women and children in many parts of the world are calling out for food. The medical needs of millions is well documented as well as the plight of refugees from many countries. How can we know where to go and what to do to meet such needs? We can learn a basic lesson from David when he was informed that the Philistines had taken the harvested grain right from the threshing floors of Keilah. Before taking any action, we need to get our guidance from God first.
In spite of the fact that it was Saul's responsibility to come and defend even a distant village on the far edge of Israel, the call for help came to David. He was the one with the heart of a shepherd who truly cared for the people of God. We may be distressed ourselves, and things are not going the way we had hoped, but when we are in touch with God, He enables us to meet the needs of others through divine intervention. Even though others with us may say, "We have enough trouble of our own without getting involved in anything else!" we still need to be ready to act under the guidance of God. Not all believers have the insight of faith to rise above what they see around them. There are times when we need to remember, "My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."
When God gives us the directions we need and the encouragement to act in faith, we need to go forward at get at the work. Twice God assured David of the fact that he should deliver Keilah. "I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand" was all the guidance David needed. When we know God's will through His word, the counsel of others and the assuring guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can move forward in confidence and do what normally we would not do. The presence and power of God is all we need to defeat the enemy.
"Faith is the victory" that will keep us from being overcome by the pressures of religious systems that want us to accommodate to the desire of the natural man. The enemy would take away the spiritual food we need in order to grow and be strong in the Lord. There are some who would take away what God has given us by His divine provision and leave us with only chaff. When we act in faith and true dependence on God, He will give us the deliverance from the enemy that we need, and will give us power to serve Him as He chooses.
God did give David and his men the victory, and they brought back to the people of Keilah more than they lost. They brought cattle and the Philistines lost many people. God gave the victory, but it is a sad commentary on some unnamed person or persons that they told Saul that David was in the walled city of Keilah. Saul would have been willing to ruin the city and kill its inhabitants like he did in Nob, just to get
David. The bitterness and hatred of jealousy has no limits and is not satisfied with peace. Its demands are so great that nothing less than total vengeance is acceptable.
The implacable enemy of God will stop at nothing to bring down God's people. But God is faithful to His people. David did what we all should do in crisis situations. He talked the matter over with the Lord and submitted as a servant should to the word of the Lord. He placed himself into the keeping of the Lord, trusting Him for deliverance, and gave his praise to God.
Psalm 31 expresses the confidence David had in the Lord and we can expect the same results when we put our trust in Him. He will lead and guide us even as He did David. He will keep us out of the net which the enemy spreads as he seeks to trap us. How important it is that we commit our spirit to Him! The place into which we have been brought is a "large room!" even though we may be "a reproach" to those around who seem to be opposed to us because of our commitment to a literal interpretation of the word of God, and have it only as our source of information as to our conduct and practice.
When our trust is in the Lord our God, we are assured of the fact that our "times are in Thy hand" and He will deliver us from the enemies and persecution that people want to inflict on those who call upon the Lord alone. Saul, on the other hand, didn't know God. He acted first and claimed anything he thought was good as evidence of the blessing of God. Not everything we think is good really is. There are favorable people, things and circumstances that seem good to us at the time, which may be the very thing to stumble us and bring us down. Money has that tendency. So does popular opinion and words of praise from people. it is the Lord we love who preserves the faithful and deserves all the praise and glory. He is the One who gives us courage and strength of heart. Our hope is in Him, not other people nor ourselves.
While Saul was seeking David, Jonathan knew where to find him. True friends know how each other thinks. Jonathan knew where David was in the wilderness of Ziph and went to him to encourage him by "strengthening his hand in God." Jonathan knew God and he could see the future. His comment to David, "Fear not," would be an assurance to David of God's promises and purpose for him in relation to the kingdom. However, Jonathan's confidence and spiritual intelligence was not equal to his devotion to David. It is possible to know what is right and what we should do, but not do it because of the cost of previous relationships and ties to the religious and social world. We are called to "come out from among them and be separate."
The people of Ziph wanted the favor of the sitting king instead of the coming king. According to Psalm 54, "the strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul." When the darkness of Saul's heart cast its shadow, others were fearful, deceived and defiled. Treachery knows no limit when it appeals to the flesh. David found relief in "Thy name" when he was pursued by Saul and his army. He sensed God was his Helper and in God's own way and time, he was delivered. It is always well for us to remember "If God be for us, who can be against us." At those times we should do as David, "I will freely sacrifice unto Thee: I will praise Thy name, O Lord: for it is good."
1Samuel.23:16, 18. “And Jonathan Saul’s son arose and went to David in the wood, and strengthened his hand in God…and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.”
OH, JONATHAN! Into the wood Jonathan went, in strength and stealth, to one who was as dear as his life; The place that he left, the home he that knew, filled with tension and fear and with strife; And unhappiness, bitterness, intrigue and woe, with hatred and loss and with grief Into the wood the best friend, to meet and to find, through God there to find sweet relief.
Their talk was of God, the Beginning and End, whose kingdom is sure to endure. For their God had made known, to them both on their own; that for sure, Saul’s kingship he marred; he forfeited, flaunted and lost by sin’s blur When he inserted himself, nor fully obeyed, directives from God’s holy throne.
So, they talked of the past, the future, the hopes, the promises sure from God’s word. They talked of the kingdom, the roles they would fill, the work they would share for the Lord. Deep in the dark wood, a covenant made with God as a witness that stood, Their intention to see, that each one to be, all before God that he knew that he could.
But what’s happening here; this surely cannot be, he’s turning and walking away. No Jonathan, No! Do not do this dread thing; be wise, with David do stay. Surely Jonathan knows, that to turn from his friend, there will be a high price to pay.
As he looks at his back as he’s walking away, David maybe to God then did pray.
“O Lord God, he’s my friend, on him I depend; can it be that never again; Will I look on his face, and in fellowship trace a kingdom that never shall end. For it’s from Thy own word, and its truth that I heard; that if I from Thy way will not bend. Then in blessing, you’ll bless from this kingdom you gave, with a kingdom that never shall end.”
“A King on His throne, far greater than mine, and a King far greater than I; In righteousness reigns, and in holiness true, a kingdom with blood He did buy. His throne is forever, His scepter is right; this King from Thy home in the sky; Will finally bring peace to the earth, and with grace, this King will God’s fullness supply.”
But Jonathan; O, to his home he did go, and there in his home to abide; Until Saul in his shame, in his sin and his blame, on Gilboa there he did die. And Jonathan too, Abinadab and Malchishua, died sword in their hands at his side. Earth’s ties are so strong, that even when wrong, we find them so hard to untie.
So, Jonathan’s name, we approve just the same as we too, to our children will give. For his friend’s love for him, was so strong that it seemed, that for him there’s no end to his grief. “Jonathan went to his house”, peace, hope and love to espouse, to the family to bring he believed; But when he turned away, from God’s chosen that day, a line crossed that has no reprieve.
“O Lord God, whose eternal friendship and joy we shall share: Help me to look beyond today and tomorrow to the time all those who loved Thee and Thy name here, will share in the kingdom glories that are yet in the future. “Our God reigns” is the assurance we have that everything is under control by Thee, and Thy plans will be accomplished. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."