God Will Take Care of You

Father, we thank you for tonight, a chance to spend time in the word of the Lord. What a joy it is to be able to dive into the scriptures and to be able to see how it is you deal with those people you have called by your name. And through from that Lord, we get great encouragement as to how it is you deal with us. And we pray that tonight you would open our eyes to the great truth of your word, that we might learn to trust you all the more. We pray in Jesus amen. First Samuel chapter 23, God will take care of you.

That is the theme of this chapter, how God takes care of his own. We all need that reassurance that God is going to provide for us, watch over us and take care of us. David needed that assurance. He would get that. God was always protecting David. Sometimes he didn't always recognize it, but God was doing a great work in David's life. For the time he was on the backside of Bethlehem, tending sheep, and he had to protect the sheep from the lion and the bear, God protected David. For the time he went to the Valley of Elah and fought against Goliath, God protected David.

For the time he took up residence in the palace to be the chief musician for Saul and to lead Saul's armies, God would take care of David and protect him. And all through those fugitive years, where we are right now in our study, God is protecting David. He's watching over him. He's taking care of him. He's making sure that this one man who is going to be the king of Israel through whom the Messiah of Israel will come, God is protecting him. God had plans for David and God's got plans for you and for me as well.

God doesn't leave us hanging. God's got marvelous plans for us. And so because of that, he's going to protect us. He's going to watch over us because he wants to use us in a great mighty, mighty way. That's why Paul said in Philippians one, verse number six, being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. God has a plan for your life. He's going to bring that plan to fruition. He's going to complete that plan in you, and God is going to protect you all the way through.

And we need to have that assurance. And this chapter is designed to give us that assurance. Let me read it to you, and then we'll look at what it says for us this evening.

First Samuel 23, verse number one, then they told David saying, behold, the Philistines are fighting against Gila and are plundering the threshing floors.

So David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, go and attack the Philistines. And deliver Gila. But David's men said to him, behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Gila against the ranks of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord once more. And the Lord answered him and said, arise, go down to Gila, and I will give you the Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Gila and fought with the Philistines.

And he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Gila. Now it came about when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David at Gila, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. When it was told Saul that David had come to Gila, Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand. For he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars. So Saul summoned all the people for war to go down to Gila to besiege David and his men. Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him.

So he said to Abiathar, the priest, bring the ephod here. Then David said, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Gila to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Gila surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as thy servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. Then David said, will the men of Gila surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, they will surrender you.

Then David and his men, about 600, arose and departed from Gila and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Gila, he gave up the pursuit. And David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. Now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horash. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David at Horash and encouraged him in God.

Thus he said to him, do not be afraid because the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you. And you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you. And Saul, my father, knows that also. So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord and David stayed at Horash while Jonathan went to his house. Then Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah saying, is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horash on the hill of Hakala, which is on the south of Yeshimon? Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to do so.

And our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand. And Saul said, may you be blessed of the Lord for you have had compassion on me. Go now, make more sure and investigate and see his place where his haunt is and who has seen him there. For I am told that he is very cunning. So look and learn about all the hiding places where he hides himself and return to me with certainty and I will go with you and it shall come about if he is in the land that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.

Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Moan in the Ereba to the south of Yeshimon. When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Moan. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Moan. And Saul went on one side of the mountain and David on his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul for Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men seized them.

But a messenger came to Saul saying, hurry and come for the Philistines that made a raid on the land. So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines. Therefore they called that place the rock of escape. And David went up from there and stayed in strongholds of Engedi. God took care of David just like God wants to take care of you and me. That's, that's good news. And David was a man truly after God's own heart. There's no doubt about that. Sure. He made some big blunders in his life, but he truly was a man that would seek after God.

David was in the land of Judah. He was back in his land. We know that because back in verse five of chapter 22, it says the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the stronghold, depart and go into the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Hareth. That's where he is in chapter 23. He followed the news of the prophet. The prophet said, you've been in the cave long enough. Last time we saw David, he was in the cave of Adullam and he had 400 men with him. Chapter 23, he now has 600 men.

He was in that cave, that dark, dismal, damp place where it's more of a condition than it is a location in people's lives. And that's where David was. And we learned a lot about David and his men there in that cave of Adullam. But in that cave, he, he developed courage and that courage would give him confidence in the crisis he would face in chapter 23. He followed the word of the Lord. The prophet came to him and said, you need to go to Judah. So that's what he did. Now there is some discrepancy about which Psalms David wrote while he was in the process of chapter 23.

Some believe it was three different Psalms, Psalm 27, Psalm 31 and Psalm number 54. Uh, all commentators believe Psalm 54 is that one Psalm he did write during these circumstances. Uh, but whether it's Psalm 31 and 27, not everybody's agreed with that, but we'll look at them and see exactly what David says concerning his time in Kelah and his time in the wilderness of Ziph and what God does to, to protect him.

But we're going to see three or four different ways God protected David. First, it is seen in the encounter with the Philistines, his encounter with the Philistines.

It says in verse number one, then they told David saying, behold, the Philistines are fighting against Kelah and are plundering the threshing floors.

Now the threshing floors were the place where they would, um, um, separate the wheat for the chaff and put all the wheat together and bag it up. And because Kelah was on the border of the Philistines, they would come in and they would raid the, these people and take their food. And so David had a choice. What's he going to do? The Bible says in verse number two, he inquired of the Lord.

David went to the Lord. This is very important. David inquired of the Lord three times in chapter 23, David goes to the Lord in prayer. This is going to become a habit pattern for David up to this point. He hasn't necessarily done that, but because he was in the cave and because God had used that cave like experience to deepen his walk with him, David was learning slowly, but surely he needed to go and ask God what to do next. Folks, that's a lesson we all got to learn because most of the time we don't do that.

When a problem arises, we usually panic. After we panic, we make a plan and then we pray to ask God to bless our plans based on our panic. That's how we work, right? That's how all of us do it. That's not the best way to do it. It is a way. It's not the best way. And instead of panicking, instead of making a plan based on how I'm feeling on the inside, I should drop to my knees and talk to the Lord about it. David inquired of the Lord. Notice if you will, in the second Samuel chapter two, second Samuel chapter two, verse number one, it says these words about David.

Then it came about afterwards that David inquired of the Lord. This is after the death of Saul, after the death of Jonathan, he goes to the Lord. He's made king over Judah. In chapter five, verse number 19, then David inquired of the Lord. Verse 23, and when David inquired of the Lord. Folks, to be a man after God's own heart, you must set your heart at inquiring of the Lord, that which he'd have you to do. It says over in Psalm 50, verse number 15, call upon me in the day of trouble. I shall rescue you and you will honor me.

Call upon me in the day of trouble. God says, and I'll rescue you. And when I rescue you, you'll honor me. Why will you honor me? Because you called upon my name, you came to me. And in doing so, you honored me. And way back in the first Samuel two 30, God says, if you honor me, I will honor you.

So you're going to honor me by calling upon my name. When you call upon my name, I'm going to rescue you. And when I rescue you, you're going to honor me because you've already honored. I'm going to honor you because you've already honored me. And so we need to call upon the name of the Lord. Remember back in Isaiah chapter 55, the Lord says this in verse number six, seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man, his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord.

And he will have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways. My ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Why do you have to inquire the Lord? Because God has a different plan than you do. His ways are so far removed from your ways. They're as high as the heavens. God just does everything differently than we do it. So you need to go to him.

And that's what David does. Now notice this. Whenever you want to discern the will of the Lord, you must first recognize the providence of God in your life.

God already moved David to Judah. God moved him from the cave to where he is now. So he would receive word about what was happening in his land with his people. Whenever you want to discern the will of the Lord, you must recognize the providence of God. God never moves you indiscriminately. He always moves you with a purpose. God is always going to be involved in your life. Part of God's protecting you and watching over you is that he's going to move you from place to place. He's not necessarily going to keep you in the same spot.

And so David is moved because he listens to the prophet Gad and he moves so that God would then put him in a strategic position to protect people who needed to be protected. And David had a deep concern for other people. He had a deep concern for his people. That's one of the ways that he was a man after God's own heart, because he cared for God's people. And so he was, he was deeply moved over the fact that, that his own people were being plundered by the Philistines. So he inquired of the Lord saying, shall I go and attack these Philistines?

Shall I do this? Now, this is good for David because David's a man of war. David's a soldier. This is what David does best. And because he's a soldier, he can say, you know what? Let's go to war guys. We can, we can do this thing. We can make it happen. Let's do it now.

But instead he does go to the Lord and inquire of him first, because he wants to make sure that God wants him to go to war.

He's already a soldier. He's the greatest warrior in the history of Israel, but he inquires of the Lord what to do next. You see, just because you're an expert in some area, doesn't mean you can stop asking God what to do. We tend to do that because we're experts in our field and in what we do. We just stop praying about what it is we do next. Not David. He inquired of the Lord and God said, go and attack the Philistines and deliver Gila. So David inquired of the Lord. He sought the Lord. He goes to his men.

They say, hold on a second. We don't want to do that. We're afraid. We don't want to go to war. Remember these guys are, are the riffraff. These guys are the guys in debt. These guys are the ones who are discontented. These guys are the ones who are distressed based on chapter 22. They were in the cave with David. They went to him because they had, they had a similar emotional experience that David had. They were drawn to him and they're, they're saying, you know what? We don't want to go. You might be a soldier.

You might be a warrior. We're not. We're farmers. We're husbands. You know, we're, we're just the low life of society. You don't want to take us into battle, David. And we're afraid. We're afraid we're going to die. So what do you do next? You're the leader, right? What do you do? You cowards. What's wrong with you? You guys got a man up. You want to follow me. You've got a man up and you've got to go to war. That's not what David did. What did he do? He went back to the Lord again. Inquired of the Lord.

See, this is good for me because that's not what I would do. I would do the other thing. I'd say, man up, put on your gear. We're going to battle. Not David. Not David. He went back and inquired of the Lord again. This is important. Why? Let's say you're a father. Okay. And you're asking God what to do. And God leads you and you go back to your wife and your family and say, okay, this is what I believe God wants us to do. And they say, hold on a second.

We don't I'm the father. I'm the husband. You got to follow my lead. Really? Maybe to go back and inquire of the Lord again. And that's what David did. That's what David did. It's so easy as the leader to tell people, this is what you got to do. And you need to do it now.

And David wouldn't have been wrong if he did that because God had already given him the okay. Right? But he wanted to make sure he knew what God wanted for him. So he went back and inquired of the Lord a second time, seized the tenderness of his heart.

He wants to lead properly. He wants to do the right thing. He's not some dictator trying to Lord it over his men. He wants to make sure he can bring them along. After all, these guys are not soldiers. They're not warriors. They're not the guys you want to go to war with against the Philistines. So David goes back and inquires of the Lord again, one more time. And God said, arise, for I will give the Philistines into your hand. They're yours, David. And David has to be able to go back to his men by modeling to them exactly what they need to do as men who lead in their families.

We're going to inquire of the Lord. We're going to ask the Lord what to do. He goes back to his men and tells them, guys, we're good to go. They go to war and they win. They win. And because they win, they get food. They get livestock. They're able to beef up their own resources, their own spoils. This is good news. And the Bible says that they struck them with a great slaughter, not just a slaughter.

It was a great slaughter. There's a difference, you know, you can slaughter somebody or you can greatly slaughter somebody. Okay. I want to be the guy who greatly slaughtered somebody. And that's what David did. I mean, they were, they just went and God blessed them because they sought the Lord and God protected David. God protected the men that David oversaw. See, God was so good to him. God protected him because he went and inquired of the Lord. He sought the Lord's will. The Bible says in Ephesians five, that we are to walk circumspectly, not, not as fools, but as wise men, understanding the will of the Lord.

You need to know the will of the Lord. When David received from God the answer, he acted promptly. Did he not? He acted immediately. He, he wanted to show his men that when God speaks, you obey, you follow. Once you know the will of God, you must do the will of God. That's what David did. You can know what the will of God is and then not do it, right? You can delay your obedience. That's basically just disobedience. But David promptly obeyed, led his men down the same path because you see, he has to gain, listen very carefully, he has to gain their trust.

They have to know that he is seeking their welfare and that he's going to lead them properly because when you get to the next chapter, they all wanted to kill Saul and he has to keep them from killing Saul. And he's the leader. How's he going to do that? He's building credibility. See, he's building credibility with his men. This man can be trusted. He goes to the Lord in prayer. He seeks the will of the Lord. He wants to do the will of the Lord. Fathers, husbands, that's the way we need to be, right?

We need to gain the respect and the trust of our children, of our wives. They have to be able to look at you and say, you know what?

I know you have our best interest at heart. You want to honor the Lord and we will follow you. You got to earn that. Doesn't happen overnight. You got to earn it. That's what David was doing. So we see how God protected him in his encounter with the Philistines. Number two, we're going to see how God protects him in his escape from Gila.

Now this is good because what awaited David was something he didn't expect. Did he expect Saul to pursue him? Yes. But did he expect the people he just saved to betray him? No, not in your life. Did he expect the people he just saved to be willing to surrender David to Saul? No, because he saved them, right? You would think they would be loyal to David. They would want to protect David, but you can't depend on anybody else to protect you. Only God. You see, we can, we can tend to fall into that trap, looking toward others to protect us.

But all that does is cause us to be man-centered and not God-centered. And so David is going to learn a very valuable lesson as he now is in this walled city, okay, barricaded in. Saul hears about it. And the circumstances facing David are in verses six to eight. Saul finds out where David is. And listen to Saul's response. He says, God has delivered him into my hand. Wait a minute. This man, the spirit of God has been removed from Saul. But see, he wants everybody to think that he's a spiritual man, that God has done this marvelous work.

In the providence of God, he is in this walled city. And now I'm going to able to, I'm able to go and God has delivered him into my hand. He misinterpreted the providence of God. But when you don't walk with God, that's easy to do. And so the circumstances facing David are that Saul's coming. So notice what David does.

He calls upon God. Abiathar is there. Remember him? He's the only guy to escape from Nob. Everybody in the city died because of Doeg. He killed everybody. All the priests, all the children, all the wives, all the husbands, he killed them all. One escaped. This priest escaped. Only one. He brought the ephod with him. The ephod is what the priest would wear when he would go in and seek the will of the Lord. The ephod would have 12 different stones on it, all represented in the 12 strides of Israel.

In there were the Urim and the Thummim, which helped decipher the will of God. Now, the remarkable thing about that is that none of us know how that happened. There's nothing in the script that shows us exactly the outlay of that and how it takes place. So we're kind of in the dark as to how they were able to decipher the word of God based on the Urim and the Thummim, which some say, well, the stone would glow brighter than the other one, so there'd be a yes. If it didn't glow as brightly, then it was a no.

We don't know. The Bible didn't say. But he would go to Abiathar. He would go to him, grab the ephod, and say, look, we've got to seek the will of the Lord here. We've got to know what God wants us to do. No matter what happens, we must know what God wants us to do. You see, you need to understand that God is going to protect you, but you've got to seek the face of God. You've got to ask Him what to do next. And that's what David does. He calls upon the Lord. Listen to what he says. He says, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant has heard for certain that Saul is coming.

He called himself a servant. When was the last time you went to God and said, Lord, your servant wants to follow your directions? We don't want to be called servants. We don't want to be called slaves. That's what David did. He saw himself as a servant of God, listening to the call of God, willing to follow whatever God said, willing to do whatever God said, because he saw himself as one who was subject to the ultimate king. He didn't say, O Lord God of Israel, I am the next king of Israel, and because I'm the next king, I need you to give me direction.

No, he went to him as a servant, very humbly, very broken, asking God to give clarity as to what he should do next. He calls upon the name of the Lord, and God cared for him. He says, God, is Saul coming? He's coming. Let me ask you another question.

Will the people of this city surrender me to Saul? And God says, yep, that's exactly what they're going to do.

So what do you do? You got to go, right? So David and his men, they leave. They leave. Saul gets there. They're not there, right? God protects him. Look what it says. And David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. This is very important. The wilderness of Ziph. Ziph, in the mountains there in the western part of Judea, there on the western side of the Dead Sea, was a refinery, okay, for minerals. And Ziph became a symbol for how God refines his people.

You are best refined, where? In the wilderness, when it's just you and God. So there's much symbolism here in David's life as he goes into the wilderness of Ziph to be refined, to be fine-tuned, to be purified, to be the kind of man God wants him to be. God's a lot of work to do in David's life. But that's where he goes. It says, and Saul sought him every day but God. But God did not deliver him into his hand. God protected him. Saul sought him. Saul wanted him. Saul's whole life's passion was to kill David.

He would round up his men. He would take them to Kelah, risk losing men just to get David. He didn't care. That was his passion. He sought David daily. It consumed him but God. God protected David. God did not deliver David into Saul's hands. And so we see where God again wants to protect us, watch over us, care for us. We see it in his encounter with the Philistines. We see it in his escape from Kelah. And we see it in his encouragement from Jonathan. Verse 15, now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David at Horesh and encouraged him in God. Thus he said to him, do not be afraid because the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you. And you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you. And Saul, my father, knows it. Wow. How did God protect David? He protected him through the encouragement of Jonathan. Jonathan came and strengthened the hand of David. And how did he do that? He took David back to the promise that God had given. David, you will be king.

God said so. And how do you strengthen somebody? By taking them back to understand the promise of God in their lives. David, you're going to be the king. My father knows you're going to be the king. I know it. My dad knows it. You need to know it, David. You're the next king of Israel. And I will be under you. I will be right next to you as you are king of Israel. This is the last encounter of David with Jonathan. Last one. This is the last time together. It's all centered around the promises of God.

He needed encouragement. Now listen, this wasn't easy for Jonathan. Do you think the 400 men, now 600 men, who were with David thought that Jonathan was David's best friend? Jonathan was the son of Saul, the enemy of David. Jonathan would have to risk his life to go to find David. Once he got there, he'd have to risk his life to get through the men to get to David. They don't know they're the best friends. They have no idea. But he risked his life because he loved David dearly. He was loyal to David.

And we told you those are the two marks of a great friend. He loves unconditionally and he's loyal to the end. And that was David and Jonathan. They loved each other. They were loyal to one another. So we saw him, went after him, encouraged him by helping him remember what God had promised David. You know, God wants to encourage us. How'd he do that? Through his word, through the promises he's given. Encouragement does come from other believers, other saints. We know that from 2 Corinthians 7, 6, 2 Corinthians 1, 3-11, 1 Thessalonians 5, 11.

We know that God uses people in our lives. And when those people come to us and they use scripture, okay, the spirit of God uses that person and the word of God to instill courage in our lives. That's what God does. God uses people who bring the word to you, to strengthen your hand. And that's exactly what Jonathan did with David. Remember way back in 2 Timothy chapter 1, that man named Onesiphorus, 2 Timothy chapter 1, it says in verse number 16, the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus.

For he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. The Lord grant to him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well what services he rendered at Ephesus. When everybody had forsaken Paul, there was one man by the name of Onesiphorus who sought him out. His name means bringer of profit. Onesiphorus name means bringer of profit. He was going to bring profit into the life of Paul. And he would risk his life, risk the life of his family to find Paul to refresh his soul.

That's what Jonathan did. He was a bringer of profit. And how do you bring profit to somebody? You bring to them the promises of God that cause their heart and their hands to be strengthened once again in the Lord. And that's what Jonathan did for David. And God would once again demonstrate how it is He is going to protect David. Listen, David, I got a plan. You're the king. I'm going to make sure you ascend the throne. I'm going to make sure you get to where I want you to be. I am going to protect you.

I find it interesting that Jonathan says, David, fear not. There's nothing to be afraid of. You are going to be the king. And my father knows it. My dad knows. You're the next king. Which leads us to our fourth point. And that's this. The encircling of Saul around David's hiding place. God demonstrates once again how it is He's going to protect him. It begins with the deceit of the Zephites. The Zephites are people who were unjust, unloyal, untruthful, and unbelieving. They were unjust because David was completely innocent.

And they wanted to gain Saul's favor. They were unloyal because they were from the same tribe as David was, the tribe of Judah. And they were unloyal to David. They were untruthful because David felt safe hiding among the Zephites. But they would betray him. And they were unbelieving because they absolutely had no faith in God. But David did. They go to Saul and they say, we know where David is. He's with us. Saul says, really? Oh, you're so kind to me. You're so good to me. Oh, may God bless you for your kindness toward me.

Thank you. Listen, David's a very cunning man. He's very, very sneaky. So I want you to go and search every single crevice, every single place so I can know every hiding place he is so I can find him and I can take him. I said, okay, we'll do that for you. And that's exactly what they did. And Saul then would go into the wilderness of Zeph, where the Zephites were. And he would find David. He would know where he was. It got to a point where David was hurrying to get away from Saul because Saul was breathing down his neck.

He was on one side of the rock, the mountain, Saul was on the other side, and Saul was beginning to surround him. And he was coming quick. David had no place to go. He was trapped. What's he going to do? But God, but God, God had it all under control. He had it all under control. It says, when Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, they came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Mahon. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Mahon. And Saul went on one side of the mountain, David and his men on the other side of the mountain.

And David was hurrying to get away from Saul for Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to seize them. This was so close that it says, but, but a messenger came to Saul saying, hurry and come for the Philistines have made a raid on the land. The Philistines are going to take our land. King, you got to go back. He has to leave. He has to leave. He has to, he has to go because he can't allow his land to be taken by the Philistines. He can't allow that to happen. He has to fulfill his kingly duty.

David is just about to be caught, but God protects him by encouraging the Philistines, the enemy to go after Saul's land. His leave. It says, so Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines. Therefore they call that place, the rock of escape. And David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En Gedi, the rock of escape all throughout the scriptures. There's a prayer to God who is my rock in my fortress. It's based off the rock of escape that God had protected him.

That God who is that rock always protects his own. He found himself in the strongholds of En Gedi. That's what we'll be next week. Lord willing, if you've been to Israel with me, you've been to En Gedi. You've seen the place where this beautiful oasis in the desert is. It's a gorgeous place. If you travel up through the, the, the, uh, uh, the mountain side, you go to where the water is and where the waterfall is. And, you know, water is very precious in the land of Israel. And there are all kinds of caves that are there.

And we've had the opportunity in years past to go down to where the water is and to observe all these different caves. Which cave was it that David would hide in and Saul would go in to relieve himself? We don't know, but that is the place. That's where he was. But it was a rock of escape that caused David to write the Psalms that would speak about God as the rock of my salvation, my fortress. He hides me in the cleft of the rock, protects me. And God did that. God would use the enemy, the Philistines to protect David.

The people he defeated, he would use them to protect David. God is so good. God watched out for David. And David would write a Psalm, Psalm 54. If you got your Bible, turn there with me, if you would, please. Psalm 54. If you, if you read the subtitle to Psalm 54, it talks about when the Zephyrites came and said to Saul, is not David hiding himself among us? This is the Psalm written with all that of chapter 23 in mind. This is one of those mass skill Psalms. Those ones given for our instruction, because there's a lesson to learn.

And what's the lesson we learn? We learn that God wants to protect us and God will do that. That's what chapter 23 is all about. It says in verse number one, save me, O God, by thy name and vindicate me by thy power.

Listen, David wants to be vindicated. He asked God to vindicate him. Next chapter, he gets the opportunity to be vindicated. God answers his prayer. Hear my prayer, O God, give ear to the words of my mouth. This is his first reaction.

Lord, I need you. I need you. I need you to save me. I need you to watch out for me. I need you to protect me. I need you to vindicate me. I can't do it myself. Well, I need you to do this for me. For strangers have risen against me. Wait a minute. The Zephyrites weren't strangers. Yeah, they were. They were strangers to the grace of God. They were strangers to the power of God. And they were strangers to God himself because they would go against the man of God. The strangers have risen against me and violent men have sought my life.

They have not set God before them. Saul didn't set God before him. The Zephyrites didn't set God before them, right? So he prays, he cries out to God. And then that little, that little, the word Selah. You know, you never read that when you read the Psalms because all it is is a pause, right? It's not when you're playing an instrument or playing the piano and it's got a pause there. You don't play the pause because there's no note for pause, right? But you pause. David pauses. God save me. God vindicate me.

These men are strangers. They don't know you. It's like he takes a deep breath. Ah, behold, God is my helper. The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. God, you are so reliable. You are so trustworthy. You are so faithful. You're my helper. He will recompense the evil to my foes, destroy them in thy faithfulness. God, you are reliable. God, you are righteous. Willingly, I will sacrifice to thee. I will give thanks to thy name, O Lord, for it is good. The name of God is good. He says earlier, he says, save me, O God, by thy name.

The name is a character, the nature of God himself. All that he is, it describes who he is. God, by all that you are and all that you have, I need you to save me. I need you to vindicate me. Then he says at the end, God, your name is so good. It's so good because it's the goodness of God that preserves me. Verse seven, for he has delivered me from all trouble and my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies. When friends let you down, God lifts you up. And that's exactly what happened with David.

God protected him. God preserved him. God watched over him in a miraculous kind of way. Now, did David know about the Philistines attacking the land? No, he had no idea. He didn't know. He just said, Lord, save me. Lord, do something. Whatever you can do by thy name, do it because I don't know what to do. I'm surrounded here. He was encircled. Saul was coming. He was coming around both sides of the mountain. He was going to capture David. He was on the threshold of his life. He was going to die. So what did he do?

It's the only thing he could do. He could have gone to war. He had 600 men. Saul had 3,000 men. He could have done that. He would have had to have done something to protect himself, but he called out to God. And God in its own way had a plan to protect David. That just gives me such great comfort because I don't know what God's plan is to protect me, and I don't know what his plan is to protect you. I don't have to know that plan. I don't have to know that plan. All I have to do is pray that God will do what he says he's going to do.

And look to him. Ask him to preserve me, to watch over me, and that's what God does. Turn with me to Psalm 31 just from home.

We got a few minutes left. Psalm 31, verse number one. In thee, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be ashamed.

In thy righteousness deliver me. Incline thine ear to me. Rescue me quickly. Be thou to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. For thy name's sake thou wilt lead me and guide me. Thou wilt pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me. For thou art my strength. God, you're everything to me. You are everything to me, God. You are my strength. You are my power. You are my rock. God is our rock. He is so strong. That's why we run to him. He says, I have taken refuge.

Verse number one. Verse six, I trust in the Lord. Verse seven, I will rejoice and be glad in thy loving kindness. Verse nine, I am in distress. Verse 11, I have become a reproach. Verse 12, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. Verse 13, for I have heard the slander of many. Verse 14, but I trust in thee. And then verse 19. Oh, I'm sorry. Verse 14, but as for me, I trust in thee, O Lord. I say thou art my God. My times are in thy hand. Isn't that true? Aren't our times in God's hands?

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Save me in thy loving kindness. Let me not be put to shame, O Lord, for I call upon thee.

Let the wicked be put to shame. Let them be silent and see all. Let the lying lips be dumb, which speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt. How great is thy goodness, which thou has stored up for those who fear thee, which thou has wrought for those who take refuge in thee before the sons of men. Oh God, you are the one who is so good. And those who experience your goodness are those who have taken refuge with thee. And that's why in Psalm 54, David said, thy name is good. It's so good.

It says in the verse number 21, blessed be the Lord for he has made marvelous his loving kindness to me in a besieged city. Which city was that? That's Kelah. In a besieged city, a city that would be besieged by Saul because he would come and surround him, but David escaped. As for me, I said in my alarm, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless, thou didst hear the voice of my supplications when I cried to thee. I thought for sure I was going to die, but I cried to thee. Oh, love the Lord, all you as godly ones.

The Lord preserves the faithful and fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong and let your heart take courage. All you who hope in the Lord. Those are David's final words of counsel from 1 Samuel 23. That God owes those of you who, who trust in him, put your hope in him because he'll take care of you. He did for me what he wants to do for you. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for tonight and a chance to be reminded of your protective care of your loved ones. Truly, Lord, you are a great God and worthy to be praised.

We are so grateful, Lord, for David's life. Thank you for what you did. You preserved him. When it looked like it was all over, you intervened at the right moment for his times were in your hands as our times are in your hands. I pray for every person here this evening. They would be greatly encouraged by your word. Father, they would know the comfort of your truth and they would find in you the only rock of security. Believe in you, trust you, follow you, serve you, and honor your glorious name.

Pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our coming King. Amen.