David: Depressed and Discouraged

He's up just a little bit, but they didn't and so after a decade of Saul's relentless pursuits of this man, you would think that he would come to a place where he would say, he would say, you know, Lord are you gonna allow me to ascend the throne? Are you gonna allow me to rule over Israel? When is this ever going to end? And maybe that's where you are today. You find yourself burdened under all kinds of distress, all kinds of hardship, and you wonder if it's ever gonna come to an end? Are things ever gonna get better?

Is there truly a light at the end of the tunnel? And here was David facing the tension, the hardship, the difficulty every single day. Let me read to you 1st Samuel 27, first couple of verses of 1st Samuel 28 and 1st Samuel 29.

It's not as long as it seems to be, but then we'll come and we'll look at David being depressed and discouraged.

Verse 1 of chapter 27, then David said to himself, now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand. So David arose and crossed over he and 600 men who were with him to Achish the son of Maok, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men each with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow.

Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him. Then David said to Achish, if now I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you? So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. Now David and his men went up and raided the Gesherites and the Gerzites and the Amalekites.

For they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times as you come to sure even as far as the land of Egypt. And David attacked the land and did not leave a woman or excuse me a man or woman alive. And he took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing that he returned and came to Achish. Now Achish said, where have you made a raid today? Then David said against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of Jeremelites and against the Negev of the Kenites. And David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying lest they should tell about us, saying so as David done and so has been his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines.

So Achish believed David, saying he has surely made himself odious among the people of Israel. Therefore he will become my servant forever. Chapter 28, Now it came about in those days the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, know assuredly that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men. And David said to Achish, very well you shall know what your servant can do. So Achish said to David, very well I will make you my bodyguard for life.

Chapter 29 verse number 1, Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines were proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands. And David and his men were proceeding on in the rear with Achish. Then 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, the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years?

And I have found no fault in him from the day he deserted me to this day. The commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, make the man go back, that he may return to his place where you have assigned him. And do not let him go down to battle with us, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what could this man make himself acceptable to his Lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men? Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

Then Achish called David and said to him, as the Lord lives, you have been upright, and you're going out, and you're coming with me, and the army are pleasing in my sight. For I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the Lord's. Now therefore return and go in peace, that you may not displease the Lords of the Philistines. And David said to Achish, but what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King?

But Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are pleasing in my sight, like an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, he must not go up with us to the battle. Now then arise early in the morning with the servants of your Lord, who have come with you. And as soon as you have arisen early in the morning, and have light, depart. So David arose early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Now I don't know if you understand all that's happening in the story. It's quite amazing to see David's deceit, David's continuous lies, even to call himself a servant of Achish, here is the anointed King of Israel, calling himself a servant of Achish, calling Achish his King and his Lord. How did he get there? How did this great singer of Israel, this great warrior for God, get to this place? I want to begin by looking at the cause of his discouragement, his depression, look then at the consequences of it, and then its conclusion, because its conclusion is all about God and God's delivering power.

And then we'll conclude by looking at some of the principles that will help you through your times of discouragement. This truly is a great lesson as we begin to understand David and why he was discouraged and why he was depressed. First of all, the cause, verse 1, then David said to himself, now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul.

What happened? How did he get here to this place? From saying to Saul, the Lord, I pray that I'm highly valued before the Lord and he will deliver me from all my distress to get to the place where he says, I'm distressed, I'm not going to make it, I'm going to die. How did he get to that place? Three reasons, three reasons that help us understand how we get to that place, that place of discouragement, that place of despondency, where all of a sudden I'm distraught and I don't know what to do David began to take matters into his own hands.

And you will know with David that he does this on a regular basis. One day he's communing with God, one day he's praying to God, one day he's trusting in God, the next day he's not, he's not. In fact, he would write in Psalm 13, how long the Lord wilt thou forget me forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? David would write that. Sometimes we feel that way. How long the Lord, how long is it going to be?

How long will I continue down this path? When will I triumph over my enemy? Why does my enemy always triumph over me? How long is this going to continue on? We asked that question, David asked that question. What was the cause? Three things. Number one, David's perspective was wrong.

Number two, David's patience was worn. And number three, David's prayers were wanting. This is very important. Number one, David's perspective was wrong.

It was wrong. It was negative and not positive. Folks, your perspective means everything. How you see what's happening around about you. And how you see God in those things or not see God in those things. He thought his end was near. He thought he was going to die at the hand of Saul. He gave up. His focus was wrong. And you can understand why his focus would have been negative. For instance, there was the repetition of Saul's attacks. For a decade, this has been happening. First Samuel 23 says that Saul pursued him every day continually.

You can begin to imagine how that would wear on you after a while. You're running from forest to forest, from cave to cave, always trying to hide. And then you get all these guys around you, 600 of them and their families, and you got to take them with you wherever you go. It's not easy to hide 600 different men, okay? It's easy if you're by yourself. But if you got to hide 600 men with you, it makes it a little bit more difficult. So you're always on the run. You're always on the go. You have sleepless nights.

You have long days. Saul's pursuit was relentless. If you go back and remember how many times Saul said that he was sorry, that he repented. But he didn't. You're right, David. I'm sorry. I was wrong. You will be king. And then he turns against them again. It happened all the time. It's like us. We are dealing with people that have wronged us, and they come and they repent, or they say they repented. They have remorse over their wrongdoings, but they do the same thing again and then again. And they come back and say, you know, I'm so sorry.

I was wrong. Please forgive me. And then the next day, boom, they do the same thing again. Gets a little old after a while. But the problem with David is that Saul wanted him dead. So Saul was always looking to kill him. And that happened all the time. And then there was the soldiers of Saul. There were 3,000 of them. 3,000 chosen men, right? So they were always pursuing David. It wasn't like they were a bunch of farm boys, got together and said, hey, let's go after David. These were trained warriors.

And so he had 600 men that were husbands and farmers and, you know, just nice guys, but they weren't warriors. And so when you have 3,000 choice men chasing you, these men were experts in warfare. And David had to flee them. And then there was the fact that as he would move these 600 men and their families around with him, he always had to provide for them. He had to make sure they were fed. He had to make sure that they were clothed. He had to make sure that they were taken care of. He had a responsibility.

And these men came to him. He didn't go looking for them. They came to him. Remember that? He was in the cave. They came and they came to him in a dulem and they gathered around him. And it wasn't like he was saying, come on, come all, come join me. No, they came to him. And so he adopted all these men as his responsibility. And now he's got to feed him. Now he's got to watch over him. And that gets a little old after a while, you know, a little tiresome after a while, always making sure that they're fed and clothed.

And then the Ziphites, twice, people from his own land of Judah turned against him. They came against him and told Saul where he was. So it wasn't like he had even friends from his own tribe. And so you can begin to see the negativity weighing down on David. So he comes to the point, says, you know what? I guess I'm going to die. I guess this is it. I mean, Saul's never going to stop pursuing me. He's been doing it for 10 years. He's going to keep doing it. I guess I'm going to die at the end of Saul.

But his perspective was all wrong. He had lost focus. Why do you get discouraged? You lose focus. Your vision's distorted. You begin to see things horizontally and forget about the sovereign God who rules over all. And David had so many positive things in his life. He had the promise of royalty by God himself. He was promised the kingship of Israel. And that had been reiterated by Abigail, his wife. Before she was his wife, she reiterated the fact that he would be king of Israel. It was reiterated by Jonathan.

It was reiterated by Samuel before he died. It was reiterated even by Saul in our last story in 1 Samuel 26. So it wasn't like he was wondering, well, I wonder if I'm ever going to be king. Everybody keeps telling him, God is going to fulfill his purpose in your life. You will ascend the throne. You will be the king, David. Everybody believed it except for David. He was the one who needed to believe it. But because his focus, his perspective was wrong, all he could see was the negatives. I guess I'm going to die.

And then there was the constant protection of his life. I mean, to be able to look back on these last 10 years and see how God protected him and all the ways that he was able to flee from Saul, even in the nick of time in the supernatural working of God to protect him, you would think he would say, you know, God's been so good to me. Every time Saul comes after me, God intervenes. God is so good. He protects me. He even writes about the deliverance of God. But somehow he forgot about that. Somehow he forgot about what God was doing on a regular basis in his life.

All he could see was the negative. All he could see was the turmoil. All he could see was the relentless pursuit of Saul. All he could see was that he didn't have a home. All he could see is that things were just getting worse and worse and worse. And that began to just overwhelm him. And then there was the fact that he did have people following him. That was a good thing. God gave him a ministry amidst his misery. And then there was his provisions. God always provided for David. He wasn't rich, didn't have a lot, but God always provided for him.

And yet none of that mattered at this time. The only thing that mattered was his own perspective. I'm going to die. I guess Saul is finally going to get his way.

He's going to kill me. His perspective was all wrong because his patience was worn. He lacked the patience. He lacked the long suffering. His trial was long. It drained him. It made him weary. David would write Psalm 37, these words, rest in the Lord, wait patiently for him. David would write that. Except after 10 years, the patience kind of runs low thin. At least it did for David. And sometimes we get to that point where our patience is running out. We're tired of waiting upon God. Come on, God.

It's about time you stepped in and did something. And God's not doing anything. And you think, you know, after a while, sooner or later, he's got to step in and do something. But he's not. Because God wasn't done with David yet. Training him and molding him and making him into the man he needed to be. Victory seemed such a long way off for him. But in all reality, it's right around the corner. But he doesn't know it. We know it because we got the Bible. We can read it. He didn't know it. His patience was wearing thin.

Listen, to overcome discouragement, you must have a proper perspective on God as work. And you must be patient to wait upon God to do what he says he's going to do. Or you will be discouraged. Is it easy? No, it's not easy. But that's what God wants us to do. And that's why the Bible says, book of Hebrews, 10th chapter, 36 verse, you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

The writer of Hebrews says there's a need for endurance. There's a need for perseverance. There's a need to continue on. You must be able to endure because having done the will of God, you will receive the promise. See, David wouldn't do the will of God. And because he was so up and down, that promise for him was delayed over time. The Bible says, book of Galatians, you know, these verses, Galatians six, verse number nine, and let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time, we shall reap if we do not grow weary.

You need that patience. That's why over in the book of Colossians, the apostle would pray these words for those that Colossae, verse number nine, Colossians one, for this reason, also since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Verse 11, strengthen with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience. Paul says, I'm praying that you're steadfast.

I'm praying that you're patient because for an order for you to come to the place where God wants you to be, you're going to need to endure patiently until you get there. And we're just not by nature patient people. We are so impatient. And with our modern technology, we become even more impatient, but the plan of God is not calculated by our clocks and by our calendars. It's all calculated by God himself, the sovereign ruler of the universe who operates outside of time, doing what he wants, when he wants to do it.

And David, his patience had worn thin. His perspective was all wrong. But the worst thing about David's life was that his prayers were wanting. He didn't go to the Lord. He didn't ask the Lord for wisdom. He should have done that. He has done that before, right? Remember way back in chapter 22, I'm sorry, 23, verse number two, it says this, first Samuel 23, verse number two, so David inquired of the Lord, shall I go and attack these Philistines?

He asked the Lord for direction, what to do. Verse four, then David inquired of the Lord once more. Verse 10, then David said, Oh Lord God of Israel, thy servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Kelah to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Kelah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as thy servant has heard? Oh Lord God of Israel, I pray tell thy servant. He went to the Lord and asked him what to do. But this time, he didn't do that. He didn't seek the Lord.

He doesn't pray at all. Oh, by the way, he will. Before this story is all over, he will go to the Lord in prayer and everything will change like that. It'll all change. God just wants him on his knees. God wants him on his knees, crying out to him, asking him for wisdom, pleading with God to intervene and to intercede. But he doesn't do that. He has done it in the past. He has done it on a regular basis in the past. But sometimes when the patience wears thin and my perspective was all wrong, I decide, you know what, I'm going to take matters into my own hand.

I got an idea. I'm going to go to Philistia. I'm going to go to the land of the Philistines and there I'll be able to escape Saul and he won't pursue me anymore. That was his idea. That was his plan. He didn't ask the Lord for that. He said, Lord, what should I do now? Didn't do that. He just decided to take matters into his own hands. That's why the Bible says, and you know the verse, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding.

Don't do that. But we do. In all your ways, acknowledge him. He will direct your paths. But David leaned on his own understanding. I got a plan. I got an idea. I got a way to get out of the turmoil, to get relief from the tension, to really get relief from all the pressure. I can find it by going to another, another land, the land of Philistia. And Saul won't pursue me there. I can sleep at night. I can rest easily. It'll be okay. But it won't be okay. See, that's the problem with that. It won't be okay.

If we do not pray in our hour of trouble, we will multiply our trouble. Mark that down. If we don't pray in our hour of trouble, we will multiply our trouble. Lack of prayer deepens discouragement. It does not diminish discouragement. It sounds so simple. Well, have you prayed about it? But in all reality, it's the, it's, it's the basis for moving from discouragement to understanding God's plan and resting in his will. So the cause of David's discouragement begins when he takes matters into his own hands.

He doesn't pray. He's lost perspective, right? Not only has he lost perspective, he lacks the patience he needs to wait upon the Lord. And although he has recorded all those psalms about trusting the Lord, wait patiently for him, you're not doing it now.

This is not happening. He gets discouraged. So there is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Really? That's the best thing. That's your best plan, David? That the way you're going to come about this? Yep. That's it. That's the only plan I got. So what does he do? Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel. And I will escape from this, from his hand. That's his path of escape. So David arose, crossed over, he and 600 men who were with him to Achish, the son of Maok, king of Gath.

And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his two wives. He lived there 16 months. Now what's the problem with that? Back in 1 Samuel 22, 5, the prophet Gad said, go to the land of Judah. Lead the stronghold here in the Dulem and go to the land of Judah. God told David where to go. God did not tell David to leave that place. But he left it anyway. He had clear direction from the prophet of God, 1 Samuel 22, verse number 5. Go, leave a Dulem, leave this stronghold and go to your land, the land of Judah and stay right there.

That's what David did. But now that he's there and Saul is there, he says, I got to go to another land. I got to go someplace else. But because he didn't seek the Lord, didn't ask the Lord, just did what he thought was the best thing to do. He disobeyed the Lord. He disobeyed the Lord. Discouragement will always lead you to disobedience. You got to be careful. He disobeyed the Lord, took matters into his own hands and did what he wanted to do. God had never rescinded the order for David to go to Judah.

So he left on his own volition. David was to dwell in Israel, not in Philistia. But that's what he decided to do. Discouragement can cause us to leave the place we're at without ever asking God. Sometimes we leave our job and get a new job because we're discouraged in our present job. You ever been there? I'm in pastoral ministry. Most pastors last in churches about four to five years. That's about it. You know why? They get discouraged. They get discouraged and depressed. So they think if they go to another church that looks a little bit better than the one they're at, things are going to get better.

They're not. That's why they're there only four or five years and they move on again. Very rarely do you find someone at a church 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 and 35 years never leaving because they get discouraged. Somehow the other church will be better. Same thing is true in our marriages, right? We change partners. We get out of our marriage because somehow there's another marriage that's going to be better than this one. We never seek the will of the Lord. We just make a plan. We're discouraged with this partner this partner will make me happy.

They'll get me out of my doldrums and my sadness and my depression and my discouragement and things will be better. We make a decision based on our discouragement and most of those decisions are decisions of disobedience. That's what David did. I'm going to go to Philistia and Saul will stop searching for me in Philistia. You know what happens? That's exactly what happens. See, that's the problem with disobedience. You disobey and everything seems to work out for you. Isn't that true? This is good.

He's not looking for me anymore. My disobedience worked for me. I'm going to keep disobeying. See, Satan says, you know what? This following God thing, it ain't working. Just do your own thing. Just do your own thing. See, we forget. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. David's battle was not with Saul. David's battle was with the spiritual forces of darkness. David's battle were with those lusts which wage war in his own soul. That's what his battle was. It wasn't, Saul wasn't his enemy. Saul hated him.

Saul wanted him dead. Saul was not his arch enemy. It was the satanic forces of darkness that ruled against him. And he fled based on a wrong perspective, based on a lack of patience, based on an unwillingness to go to God, pray and seek His will, seek His face and ask Him what to do. He disobeyed. His disobedience was so influential he caused 600 men and their families to disobey God. We don't necessarily get that in the story, but he takes them with him. You see, we forget that when you're a leader and you make a bad decision to disobey God, it affects your family, right?

It affects your children. It affects your wife. It affects your grandchildren. You make the wrong decision, it's going to affect everybody close to you. And that's exactly what happened with David. It affected his wives. It affected his 600 men. It affected their wives, their children. It affected everybody. It affected him so much. Oh man, I can't wait to get to 1 Samuel 30. We'll get there at the end of the day. Before this day is up, we'll get to 1 Samuel 30. It affects his family and his men's families.

See, he thinks everything's going to turn out okay because Saul stops searching for him. It worked. This disobedience thing is a great thing. And that's why Satan is so deceptive. You begin to take matters into your own hands and it works. What do you do again? Take matters into your own hand again. And David, not only did he receive protection from Saul, he didn't need protection from Saul, by the way. He needed protection from his sin, not from Saul. He forgot that. He sinned anyway. But he also became popular.

He lived in the royal city of Gath. He became a very popular figure. Now, how did he get there? Remember the last time he went there? Remember he went there earlier. And he went there when he was fleeing from Saul. And he took Goliath's sword with him. Remember that story? He took Goliath's sword with him. And he went right into the city with Goliath's sword. And everybody said, hey, hey, that's David. We know this guy. This is the guy in which they sing, Saul has sinned his thousands. David has ten thousands.

And he recognized that they all recognized who he was. So he began to act like a fool and began to slobber and dribble and beat his head against the wall. And the king said, this guy's a wild man. Get him out of here. Remember that story? Well, he's going back again. See, don't underestimate, listen carefully, the potential to sin, the plurality of sin, and the power of sin. Never underestimate the potential of sin, because we all have that potential, right? And once you sin right, now you multiply that sin and the plurality that sin begins to go on and on and on.

Because if it works for me once, it will work for me again, because we've underestimated the power of sin to control our lives. And that's what happened to David. He underestimated the power of sin. He turned away from the Lord and he influenced 600 men, their families to disobey the Lord. I don't think he thought about that. He should have, but he didn't. It's that whole adage that we forget that when we sin, it affects everybody close to us. It does. And they reap the negative consequences because we've led them the wrong way.

Leadership is so important. If you seek to be a leader, realize the responsibility of those you lead and how it affects their lives spiritually. Sometimes we forget that as fathers, as husbands, but our wives and our children are affected by our decision-making, just like these people were with David. And David went to Achish, the king of Gath, and evidently he was well-received. Father didn't tell us how the reception went, but evidently Achish thought, well, man, David's fleeing Saul. He must be tired of serving Saul.

Maybe he wants to serve a new king. And after all, if David's going to be on my side, I mean, he's already killed Goliath. I'll take this warrior. I'll take his men. I'll take him on my side. And David calls himself the servant of Achish. Wow. Man, this sinner's taking him down the wrong road. He's going the wrong way. And God is allowing him to do this. God could have stopped him. God will stop him. God will deliver him because God is gracious and God is good because it's a story about God. It's not a story about David.

It's a story about David's God. Forget about this being a story about David. Everything, his fleeing of Goliath, his fleeing of Saul, everything is about God and how God operates in the life of David. It's not the life of David. It's the life of God operating in the life of David. We forget that. And God is allowing him to do this. And God will deliver David from this huge dilemma he's going to face. And so he goes and it's amazing. He associates with an idolater. He associates with the ungodly and he's comfortable doing it.

Isn't that bad for you? How does this sweet singer of Israel, this future king of Israel associate with an idolater, an ungodly man and call himself the servant of that ungodly king and be at ease and rest while he's doing so? That's what happens when you get discouraged and lead you to disobedience. And that disobedience looks to you to be successful because he was accepted. He was in the royal city. He had provisions now.

No longer does he have to go out and get all these provisions. He's got them. But he does go to battle. He does. And he deceives the king of Achish. He goes up against the Gershites and the Gerzites and the Amalekites. He goes and fights those people. But he goes back, he kills everybody. He goes to battle, he kills all the men, he kills all the women, he kills all the children. Why? Because he can't leave any witnesses. Because you see, he's going and killing the enemy, his enemy. Convincing Achish he's killing Israelites.

See that? So he does. He wants the king to believe he is doing the king's service. In reality, he is killing the enemy. He's not killing his own people. He is killing the enemy. And he's coming back making sure they're all destroyed so nobody can come back and be a witness and say, this is David killing us here. It would blow his cover. So the king asks him where he's been. And David tells him, I have been in the south country. I have been in the south. And David says, David, you will become my servant forever.

Not Achish's enemy. I mean, not his enemy, but Achish's enemy. And so you see, he tries to deceive the king. And the king is pleased. The king says, David, you will become my servant forever. Really? Forever? You're going to be a servant of an ungodly man forever? David could have said, wait a minute, I'm not going to do it. He didn't say anything. Because you know why? The pressure is off. No more Saul pursuing him. He's free from that trial and tribulation. So he's going to accept ungodly praise.

The King says, Now it came about in those days, verse 28, the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war to fight against who? Israel. So what's David going to do now? And Achish said to David, Noah, surely that you will go out with me in the camp and you and your men. And David said to Achish, very well, you shall know what your servant can do. You're going to see your servant at work. So Achish said to David, very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. And David was going to say, we're not doing that.

David didn't say anything. Come to chapter 29, Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel. David finds himself in a huge dilemma, huge dilemma. Listen carefully. The cause for David's discouragement was that he was unwilling to wait upon the Lord and ask Him and seek His face. His patience had worn so thin that his perspective had gone delusional. He took matters into his own hands. He leaned on his own understanding.

He did not seek the face of the Lord. The consequences were disobedience. He disobeyed the God, his God. And that disobedience caused others to disobey God. It influenced others to turn away from the God of Israel. And David was successful in his disobedience per se. And now comes the conclusion. Now they're going to battle against the Israelites. David finds himself in a huge dilemma. What's he going to do? For 16 months he has been in the land of Philistia, 16 months, not days, not weeks, 16 months.

He's at home there. And now, and now he has to pay the bill. He's got to fight his own people. What's he going to do? Well, text tells us he's going to war. How is he going to get out of this? Now listen carefully. Here's a problem. And the problem is very unique. Because he has to ask himself this question, whose side am I on? Israel's side or Achish's side, the Philistines? He's already killed Goliath. He's already fought against the Philistines and won. Now he's with the Philistines. Whose side am I on?

Okay, listen carefully. Now he asks that question, what stand will he take? Because you see, if he goes against Israel, he fights against Saul. And he's already said, you can't lay your hand against the Lord's anointed. That would violate the scripture. But if he goes to battle against Saul, he's going to have to lay his hand against the Lord's anointed. He is going to have to violate his own conviction based on what scripture says.

You see, whenever you get discouraged and then you disobey the Lord, you find yourself in a huge dilemma. What stand will I take? And whose side am I on? I'm sure David thought it would never come to this. But he's in line. He's going to battle. He's going to war. Oh, by the way, this is the battle where King Saul dies, just in case you wanted to know that. This is the battle in which King Saul dies. And so he's in line. He's going to battle. And the lords of the Philistines of other groups of men come and they want to say, who's this guy?

What's David doing here? We know this guy, yes? What are these Hebrew people doing here? Why are they here? That's a great question. That's a great question. David, what are you doing here? Now, you didn't register with him, but that's a great question because we need to ask that question of ourselves. When you blow off church on Sunday and you do something else, ask yourself, what am I doing here? Why am I blowing off church? What am I doing? When you find yourself in a situation in the den of iniquity, what are you doing there?

What are you doing there? Because that's where David was. He was with an ungodly king and idolatrous people. What are you doing there? When I was coaching baseball years ago on college level, one of my players loved to flirt with sin. And I would ask him, what are you doing? What are you doing hanging out with those individuals? What are you doing hanging out at those places? What is wrong with you? He used to tell me, coach, coach, relax. It's okay. I'm going to be okay. I said, no, you're not. You can't continue to hang out with the ungodly and it not affect your life.

You keep going to places you shouldn't be. You keep attending parties you should not attend. You keep going out with people you should not be going out with. It's going to end up killing you. What are you doing that for? I always come to coach. It's okay. I can take care of myself. I'm a big boy. I'm a college student. He was a college senior at the time. I'm a senior. I can handle these things. I said, no, you can't. This would happen over the course of his final semester in school and I would continually confront him on the places he went, the people he hung out with, the things he did.

He graduated at 22. At the age of 24, he was dead. I'm not a prophet nor son of a prophet. But he hung out with the wrong people, doing the wrong things. And God took him home. You see, you got to be careful about what you do, where you're going. As parents, what are your kids doing? Where are they going? Do you know where they're doing? Are they in places that honor the Lord or dishonor the Lord? Are they involved in activities that honor the Lord or dishonor the Lord? What are you doing here? That's a question every one of us needs to ask ourselves, our children, our families.

What are you doing? What are you doing? And that's what these men from Philistia asked. What are, what is David, what are the Hebrews doing here? And Achish said, well, I mean, he's been serving me for 16 months. He's my right-hand man. David's a good guy. He's going to go to battle with us. We want him on our side. He killed Goliath. We want him on our side. And all the Lords of Philistia said, no, no, no, no, no. You know, you put him in the back. What if he decides to turn on us? We've got Israel in the front, David in the back, we're caught between.

You know what? He's got to go. He's got to go. So Achish says, David, you got to go. This is David's out, right? David, you got to go. Listen to what David says. This is unbelievable. David says, or Achish verse 6, called David said to him, as the Lord lives, you've been upright and you're going out and you're coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight. For I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the Lords.

Now therefore, return and go in peace, that you may not displease the Lords of the Philistines and David said to Achish, what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King? Are you kidding me? What are you saying, David? Here's your out. Here's your way to leave. You find yourself in this dilemma and God's giving you out and his question is, I haven't done anything wrong, King, my Lord, my servant.

I'm going to fight your enemies. You're going to fight Israel? Really? Have you sunk that low, David? Yes, he has. He has. And Achish says, you got to go. So he goes, he leaves and God delivers him. This is how God delivers his people. God steps in and protects David from losing his throne. He lost the throne. He had gone against his people Israel. He would have never had the chance to ascend the throne. God protected him. God said to him, God let him go down this path and God protected him and delivered him from the situation.

But you've got to notice this because did anything really happen? Oh, yeah, it did. Look at chapter 30.

Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag. Remember, he left Ziklag. He went to join the armies of Achish to fight against Israel. And David intervened, and God intervened at the right time for David to get back to Ziklag to find the ruins of Ziklag and all the wives and children gone. It says, on the third day that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire.

And they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone and carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire. And their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jesuit and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

Moreover, David was in great distress because the people spoke of stoning him for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. David, we're going to kill you. Look what you did to us. See that? Took 16 months for the ugliness of sin to unveil itself to David. He had taken these men, he had taken their families to an ungodly nation to serve an ungodly king. And now the Amalekites came in and they plundered the city. They took away the women, took away the children, everyone there.

And when the soldiers came back, nothing was left. They were so enraged and so bitter. They wanted to stone David. Last part of the verse, but David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. See that? Took 16 months for David to get on his knees and seek the face of God. It took tragedy to unveil itself for him to seek the face of God. It took his own men willing to kill him for him to seek the face of God. If he had done it in chapter 27, verse number 1, he wouldn't be where he is in chapter 30.

See that? Let me give you some principles that will help you. They'll draw this together for you. David was a man who was discouraged. That discouragement led to his delusion. Somehow he could take matters into his own hands. He did. That led to his disobedience. That disobedience led him to a huge dilemma. Whose side was he on and what stand would he take? That dilemma led him to a supernatural deliverance by God himself. But that was not without great disaster happening. He went to his knees. Listen carefully what I'm going to tell you.

Depression comes with a misplaced dependency. David was depressed because he misplaced his dependency on someone else and something else other than God himself. Why are people depressed? Because they're dependent upon someone else or something else to come through for them. And when it doesn't come through, they can't handle it. But a person who depends upon the Lord who always comes through for you in this time will be able to withstand the emotion of depression and discouragement. And David did not do that.

Until the tragedy was so great, it drew him to God. He had to strengthen himself in the Lord God of Israel. But David strengthened himself in the Lord God. It took him 16 months to get there. But once he did, he cried out to God and the Lord God said, David said to Abiathar the priest instead of Abimelech, please bring me the ephod. So Abimelech, I'm sorry, so Abiathar brought the ephod to David and David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them? And God said, David, where have you been?

David, where have you been, man? How come it took you so long to get here? Do you think I'm going to help you now? Uh-uh, I'm not going to help you now, David. You should have come 16 months ago. That's not what he said. He said, pursue for you shall surely overtake them and you shall surely rescue all. Isn't that good? God is so gracious because I'd have said, where you been, David? And God said, you pursue, you go get him because he had a broken heart. He had a crushed spirit. So here's the point.

When you find yourself discouraged, when you find yourself depressed, number one, cast your burden on the Lord.

Cast your burden on the Lord. Psalm 55, 22, he will sustain you. He will sustain you. But if you don't cast your burden upon the Lord, he's not going to sustain you. It's as simple as that. First Peter 5, verse number 7, cast your burden upon the Lord because he cares for you.

He does. Oh, by the way, nobody else does, but he does. That's why you get so depressed. That's why depression is defined by misplaced dependency. Nobody else cares. Just God. He's the only one. He's the one who truly cares. He's the one who can truly sustain you. Cast your burden upon the Lord. He will sustain you. That's where you begin. And then consider Christ and not your circumstances. Consider Christ. Look at the Christ.

Consider Him, not your circumstances. David looked at all the circumstances. They were all negative for the most part. But he wasn't looking to the Messiah of Israel. He wasn't looking to the Lord God of Israel. And the writer of Hebrews, Hebrews 12, says it very simply, these words, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. By the way, the sin there in Hebrews 12 is a sin of unbelief. He says, And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. Consider the Christ, not your circumstances. Cast your burdens on the Lord. Comfort yourself only in His promises. Comfort yourself only in His promises. See, our problem is we want to comfort ourself in something else, the arms of another individual, the bottle, some kind of medication. Comfort yourself only in the promises of God, for the promises of God are true. Psalm 16.1, Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in Thee.

Psalm 145, verse number 17, The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and kind in all His deeds. The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desires of those who fear Him. He will also hear their cry and save them. The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. God will save you. God will protect you. You've got to comfort yourself in the promises of God. Having cast your burden upon the Lord, having considered Christ and not your circumstances, comfort yourself in His promises.

Number four, commit yourself to doing that which is right. Commit yourself to doing that which is right. 1 Peter 4, 19, says, After you suffered unjustly, entrust yourself, commit yourself to a faithful creator in doing what is right. Number five, continue looking up and never out. Continue looking up and never out, and you'll see Christ, the sovereign God, the ruler of all, who will protect you, watch over you, and sustain you. May we learn from David's life. Next week when we go to 1 Samuel 30, you'll see his victory over the Amalekites and what God does to sustain him and his men.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for tonight, our chance to be together. Trust, Lord, that the lessons we've learned would enable us to live for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.