Victory Over the Amalekites

And we thank you, Lord Jesus, for the beauty of music. We thank you, Father, for the greatness of your word. We thank you, Lord, that we can gather together and study it and learn about you. Tonight, Father, may our hearts be driven upward to your throne, that we might behold the beauty of our God and learn to worship you in the beauty of your holiness, that we might live a life that glorifies your great and wonderful name. I pray for those who are here tonight, whatever it is they're going through, whatever hardship they might be facing, whatever difficulty that might be on the horizon, we ask, Lord, that you would use your word to calm their fears and to turn them toward their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We pray in your name. Amen. Turn with me in your Bible, if you would, to 1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel chapter 30. I love the study that we're engaged in with David. I hope you love it too. And if you don't, well, you can indulge my joy for the next several weeks and months as we continue this story of David and understanding that really it's a story about God in the life of David and how God operates in and through a man and how God orchestrates all the events of his life. One thing you can learn about David is that through all the mistakes he made, all the bad decisions he made, all the sins he committed, God was actively involved in his life, bringing about David's ultimate good and God's ultimate glory.

One thing you learn about David's life is that God is intricately involved in every aspect of his life. So much so that God, you know, as the psalmist said in Psalm 31, verse number 15, my times are in thy hands. Every time of David was in the hand of God, like your time is in the hand of God. Nothing happens without his notice.

He's never caught by surprise. He's never caught off guard by a decision that you make or a place that you go or some sin that you commit. God knows everything. There's nothing he had to learn. There's nothing that someone would counsel him on to give him more wisdom. God knows everything. And in David's life, we see this in first Samuel 30, it begins this way.

Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day. I'm going to stop right there for a moment. Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day.

What has happened in the life of David that would take him to the city? Well, as you recall, way back in first Samuel chapter 27, David said these words in verse number one, he said to himself, now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul.

David had come to this erroneous conclusion. He was going to die at the hand of Saul. The previous chapter, he has spared Saul's life. He had the opportunity to kill him. He did not. He said to Saul that the Lord would deliver him out of every one of his distresses that God was in charge. But between chapter 26 and chapter 27, in that little white area there between the two chapters, something happens in David's brain. Something causes him to distrust the Lord. And he becomes very discouraged, almost, if you will, depressed.

I'm going to die. I'm not going to make it. And here was a man whose perspective was all wrong. His perspective was all wrong because his patience had been worn. It's been over a decade and Saul has pursued David relentlessly. And David's tired. He's worn out. Is it ever going to end? When will I ever gain relief? And so he comes to the conclusion that he's not going to gain relief. He's going to die. And therefore his prayers were wanting because he never sought counsel from God. You ever notice that when you get discouraged and you get depressed, you begin to lean on your own understanding.

You look for a way out. We always want a way out of the pain. We always want a way out of the stress. If we could just get some kind of relief so that I can relax, be comforted. And that was David. Long time Saul had pursued him. His conclusion was, I'm going to die. This man was discouraged. And so because he was discouraged, he became delusional. I must take matters into my own hands. I must do something else. Evidently, God's not having me ascend the throne. Evidently God's not removing Saul. So I must take matters into my own hands.

And you ever notice that sometimes God allows your trial to drag on just to get you to a place where you don't lean on your own understanding.

But we get there and we think, you know what? I got to figure it out. I know what I can do. I can make things happen. And so he flees the land of Judah and he goes to the land of Philistia. He goes to the land of the Philistines. So because he was discouraged, because he now became delusional, he now became disobedient. He disobeyed the plan and purposes of God. The prophet Gad had told him earlier in first Samuel, go to the land of Judah.

This is where God wants you. So he goes, he's there. But in the land of Judah, there's this relentless pursuit by Saul. He's tired of it. God never gave him the permission to move. You ever moved without God's permission? You ever uprooted your family and moved without God's permission? Because you thought it was time to get a different job. It was time to go a different direction. You got tired of the earthquakes in California. So you moved to a place in the East Coast so you could experience hurricanes.

Right? And then you got tired of the hurricanes. So you moved to the Midwest so you could experience tornadoes. You know, we just, we just think, you know what? I gotta move. I gotta go someplace else. So you uproot your family and you move on, but you never sought the counsel of the Lord. That's what David did. He was disobedient to the plans of God. And he went to the land of Philistia. He was there 16 months living in disobedience, deceiving, deceiving Achish, the king of Gath, deceiving him into thinking that he was killing Hebrew people.

When in reality, David was killing his own enemies. And you will note that he killed every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl in those villages, because word couldn't get back to the king of Gath that David wasn't really killing Hebrew people. And so he wiped them all out, which is very important to the story of first Samuel chapter 30.

And one of those cities he would raid would be the Amalekites. And the Amalekites would raid the city of Ziklag in first Samuel chapter 30.

And so David in his disobedience led him to more disobedience, that is to deception, so that the king of Gath would not understand who David really was. And then he found himself in a huge dilemma at the end of those 16 months, for now the Philistines were going to fight against Israel and Saul, the Hebrew people. What was David going to do? He found himself in a huge dilemma. Does he go to battle? Does he fight against his own people? What about the 600 men that were with him? You see, when David became discouraged, he was the leader, right?

You know, and like priests, like people, if you're the leader and you get discouraged, guess what? Those around you, they're going to get a little down as well, right? They're going to get discouraged. And David in his discouragement and all of his disillusionment disobeyed God and led 600 men and their families to disobey God. He led them not closer to God, he led them further away from God. And as a leader, you've got to drive people toward God, not away from God. And David was moving his men and moving their wives and their children into the land of Philistia and further from God, leading them into disobedience.

But David never thought about that because David was thinking about his own welfare. He was thinking about his own life. He was thinking about, I'm going to die. If I don't do something quick, I'm going to die. I got to do something. I'm leaving this land. And he did. And he prospered, which made his disobedience all the worse because in the midst of his sin, there was prosperity. The King of Gath accepted him. The King of Gath gave him a city called Ziklag. And that's where he and his families of the 600 soldiers would settle in for those 16 months.

And there David found himself now in a dilemma as they get ready to go to war against Israel. And so he joins King Achash because the King wants him there. The King knows of David's warriorship. He knows that he's a great man of war. And so he wants David at his side. And so when the other Philistine commanders come, this is in chapter 29, they're saying, wait, who is this Hebrew guy? What is he doing here? What's he doing here? I love my little girl, Avery. She came home on Sunday. And whenever she's asked the question, what are you doing here?

She's supposed to say, I'm standing on the promises of God. And so she said, go ahead, daddy. Ask me, ask me what I'm doing here. I said, okay, what are you doing here? I'm standing on the promises of God. And then she began to sing that Well, David wasn't standing on the promises of God because he was in disobedience to God. And the Hebrew people want, I mean, and the Philistines want to know what these Hebrews are doing, siding with them. And they know the song and they recite the song, the same old song, Saul has laid his thousands, David has laid his ten thousands.

Everybody knew the song. It was number one on the billboard charts for months. They all knew the song. And they said, we don't want this guy here because if he turns against us and he's at the back and the Israelites are at the front, we're caught in between. We don't want that kind of battle. David and his men, they got to go. And Achish went to David and said, I'm sorry, but you got to go. And David pled with King Achish. Why? What have I done wrong? I haven't done anything wrong. I've always been by your side.

You've trusted me. I'm a trusted warrior of yours. And King says, I know that, but David, you got to go. And God delivered David out of his dilemma. God did it. And David didn't even know that God was doing it. But that's how involved God is in our lives. God was orchestrating the events of David's life and he didn't even know it. And so God, because he is never inactive and never indifferent to man's plight, but always involved in all that's happening in your life, would extract David out of his dilemma and enable David to go back to Ziklag, his city, where his wives are, where his men's wives and children are, just in time to experience devastation.

And that's where we pick up the story in 1 Samuel 30. Give you that little bit of background so you're all caught up to speed as to where we're at, what's going on, because if you weren't here two weeks ago, you missed that. And that's where David was. And now David and his men, and you can imagine their emotion. I mean, what are these 600 men thinking? They're all Hebrew people. I don't know if I should fight against my own countrymen or not. Is this the right thing to do? Or what am I doing? I'm following my leader.

And now God moves them out of there. And Achish sends them back to a city. And the men are thinking, man, this is great. We get to go home to our wives. We get to go home to our kids. We're out of the huge dilemma of having to fight in a battle. We really don't want to fight our own people. And what happens when they get there? Devastation, 1 Samuel 30. Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag 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. Stop right there. Notice, none of the women or the children were killed.

But when David raided the cities, he killed all the women and all the children, because word could not get back what David was doing to King Achish. But God intervened and spared all the women, all the children. God is in control. And God was so good to them. Now, they don't know that the women are spared. They do not know that the children are spared. All they know is that they smell the smoke and they see the fire. And when they get to the city, it's been plundered and destroyed. And everything and everyone is gone.

It's gone. It says, verse 3, 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. And David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now, David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jesuitus and Abigail, the widow of Nabal, the Carmelite. Now, stop right there. Why is it, ask yourself this question, that God names both wives of David?

And then again in the story, does the exact same thing. Why? Think about this for a moment. Remember we told you when he took his second wife, that was the beginning of David's downfall?

A.W. Pink in his commentary on David says that the reason he named, God names his two wives is because God keeps going back to the same spot that David made the huge error in disobeying the command given to the king, he cannot have more than one wife. And David did. And that was David's downfall. And so why didn't it say they took David's wives? Why do you got to name the wives? And then name them again. And then name them again and just keep naming them because God just keeps bringing back the same old thing, the same thing that David did, which really was the impetus for his downfall.

He disobeyed the command of God for his own purposes. And when you come to the second Samuel, he's going to take more wives, more wives.

I mean, come on, how many wives do you need, right? But evidently David needed a whole bunch of them, which made him lust after Bathsheba. And that's the second Samuel chapter 11.

And we know about that story, but do we really know that story? I'm afraid we've seen too many movies and read too many novels about David and Bathsheba and have missed the whole crux of that story. And we'll talk about it at great length about what took place in David's life that led him to make that huge, sinful mistake. But back to the story. Names the wives. Verse six, moreover, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him. For all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters.

But David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God. Then David said to Abiathar, the priest, the son of Ahimelech, please bring me the ephod. So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord saying, shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them? He said to him, pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and you shall surely rescue all. So David went, he and the 600 men who were with him and came to the brook Basor where those left behind remained. But David pursued he and 400 men for 200 who were too exhausted to cross the brook Basor remained behind.

Now they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread. And he ate and they provided him water to drink. And they gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins that he ate. Then his spirit revived for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, to whom do you belong? And where are you from? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite. And my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago, we made a raid on the Negev of the Ketherites and on that which belongs to Judah and on the Negev of Caleb.

And we burned Ziklag with fire. Then David said to him, will you bring me down to this band? He said, swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master. And I will bring you down to this band. And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David slaughtered them from the twilight until the evening of the next day.

And not a man of them escaped except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and rescued his two wives, but nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken for themselves. David brought it all back. So David had captured all the sheep and the cattle, which the people drove ahead of the other livestock. And they said, this is David's spoil. When David came to the 200 men who were too exhausted to follow David and who had been left at the Brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him.

Then David approached the people and greeted them. Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David answered and said, because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man, his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart. Then David said, you must not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, who has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. And who would listen to you in this matter?

For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage they shall share alike. And so it has been from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. Now, when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends saying, behold, a gift for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord, to those who were in Bethel, to those who were in Ramoth of the Negev, and to those who were in Jetir, and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Sifmoth, and to those who were in Eshtimoah, and to those who were in Rakal, to those who were in the cities of the Jeremelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Canaanites, to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Boreshan, to those who were in Athica, and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to go.

Several things I want you to see. The first one is the raid of the Amalekites. Why is this so significant? The story of the Amalekites goes way back to Exodus chapter 17. It's a story where God said that he was going to destroy the Amalekites from the face of the earth. Back in Exodus chapter 17, God said this. Remember the story when Moses was up on the mountain, and Joshua was down in the battlefield fighting the Amalekites, and Moses' hands had to be held up, and as he held them up, Joshua would prevail, but as they fell, he would begin to succumb to defeat.

So he held his hands up, and as he held his hands up, they began to gain the victory over the Amalekites, and the Lord God said this in Exodus chapter 17. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this in a book as a memorial, and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and named it, The Lord is My Banner, and he said, The Lord has sworn the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation. And then over in Deuteronomy chapter 25, it says this in verse number 17.

Remember what Amalek did to you along the way when you came out from Egypt, how he met you along the way and attacked among you all the stragglers at your rear when you were faint and weary, and he did not fear God. Therefore it shall come about when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your surrounding enemies in the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. You must not forget. God said you got to kill them.

You got to kill every single one of them. They did to you what they should never have done. Therefore I will blot out their memory from the face of the earth. So Saul becomes king, king of Israel. And over in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel, Samuel said to Saul, verse 1, The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.

Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. God says I want everything there dead.

Kill them all. This was Saul's orders through Samuel from God. So Saul goes to battle. He goes to battle. But verse 8 says he captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good and were not willing to destroy them utterly. But everything despised and worthless that they utterly destroyed. And that was the situation that God said, I regret that Saul was ever king of Israel.

I've made a command. Amalek must die. He must go. I gave the command to Samuel. Samuel gave it to Saul. Saul do what I say. And Saul decided to partially fulfill the command of God. Partial obedience is full disobedience. And Saul didn't do that. And this is how Saul lost his kingship. He was unable to obey everything that God said. And if you go through 1 Samuel 15, it's all about how Saul loses his kingship because he will not do what God said. And Samuel said to him, it's better to obey than to sacrifice for your disobedience as a sin of witchcraft.

It's evil. You did not obey the voice of the Lord. And Saul tried to pass it over and try to get Samuel to cover for him before the people. But he admitted it was the people that wanted it this way. That's not leadership. And Saul didn't exemplify it. And so he lost his kingdom. And now it's the Amalekites who come and destroy David's city in Philistia. That David now has to raid and go after because they raided his city, which is good because God wants them dead. And so God orchestrates the events to happen.

But you'll know that in 1 Samuel 30, when Saul tries to commit suicide and can't do it, and he asked his armor bearer to slay him, his armor bearer does not slay him. There is an Amalekite that does slay him. We find that out in 2 Samuel 1. That's next week's sermon. And isn't it ironic that because Saul did not fully obey the Lord, it would be by the hand of an Amalekite that Saul was finally put to death.

What you don't destroy will destroy you. And that's the lesson of King Saul's life. And so David now has this raid on a city and they spare the women. They spare the children. They don't know that at first.

They don't know where they're at. They're gone. And so they begin to weep and they cry and they cry with all of their hearts so much so that they can't weep anymore. They are so bitter. They are so angry. And David comes and has lost his family, right? David has lost his city, but none of that drives David to his knees. What drives David to his knees is that the men, the 600 men, are so embittered against him, they want to stone him. Now that his life's at stake, he's driven to his knees. And God does whatever it takes to drive a man to his knees, whatever it takes.

God has let him flounder for 16 months, living in disobedience. Never once has David called upon the name of the Lord. Never once has God, that David ever seek counsel from the Lord. And God says, enough is enough.

I'm going to deliver him from his dilemma because he's going to be in a big, big pickle. He can't get out of it unless I extract him from that dilemma. I'm going to extract him. I'm going to enable him to get back to Ziklag just in time to see the ruins of his devastation. Not let him back to protect his people, but let him see the ruins of his devastation and let his men come against him and want to kill him. And then it will drive him to his knees. And then he would call upon the Lord. And when he calls upon me, I listened to him.

But he had to call. And he wasn't about to call until his life was at stake. So the reign of the Amalekites comes upon the city of Ziklag, upon David's people, and God in divine intervention protects all the women, all the children, and God is at work. David just doesn't know how he's at work yet. And God's been at work the whole time. God's never left him. God's always been there. And God is using all the circumstances to bring about his ultimate glory. And even though David sins and David makes bad choices, God overrides all that stuff because God is God.

And that's good news for us because we make some bad choices, don't we? And we make some stupid decisions. But God can override those things because he is sovereign and he's ruling over all. And that's exactly what's happening in David's life. And yet he had to be chastised. The Lord God said in Revelation 3, as many as I love, I rebuke and I chase it. And no discipline seems to be joyous at the moment, does it? Of course not. But David had enjoyed the passing pleasures of sin, hadn't he? Hebrews 11.25, they are called the passing pleasures of sin.

But that season is a very short lived season. For David, it was 16 months. That's how long it was. It was a short season. But soon it would come to an end and God had to discipline him, bring him to a point where he's on the brink of being killed by his own men. And yet the Bible says, but David, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

What a beautiful verse. That's what God wants you to do. He wants to strengthen you, but you can only be strengthened through the Lord. That's it. There is no other mechanism. There is no other way. And God wants you on your knees and God wants you before him. And David strengthened himself in the Lord. How? How? Like anybody would strengthen himself in the Lord. You got to go back and you got to, you got to recall all of God's provisions. You got to remember all of God's power and how it was put on display.

You've got to, you've got to rely on God's person and you have got to remember all of God's promises. And that's what David began to do. He began to strengthen himself in the Lord. He began to rely upon the Lord. So you go from the rate of the Amalekites to David's reliance upon the Lord. Finally, he calls upon the name of the Lord.

Finally, he inquires of the Lord. Finally, he drops to his knees. Finally, he cries out to God. Finally, he is at the place he needs to be to be the King of Israel.

And believe it or not, he's in zig lag three days max. He goes back to Judah. He ascends the throne. He didn't know that yet. That's what's going to happen. Because see why he, while he is rating the, the Amalekites, Saul is a battle with the Philistines and Saul dies. David didn't know it until someone comes and tells him. So David is, is about three, maybe four days away from ascending the throne. Doesn't even know it yet. See, we know the story. We got the whole book. We can read from the beginning to the end.

We know how it's all going to turn out, but when you're going right through it, you don't know how it's going to turn out. You're thinking, oh man, I guess I'm going to die. I guess Saul is going to kill me. For 10 years, I've been fleeing Saul. I don't see any throne in my horizon. I know God promised me the throne. I don't see the throne. In fact, I'm not even in Judah to claim the throne. I'm in the land of the Philistines. So what am I going to do? I'm just going to get away from Saul. He doesn't know that just right around the corner, he's going to ascend the throne.

You see, you never know when God is going to deliver you from your dilemma and, and start to exalt you to the place he wants you to be. You don't know that. It's a good thing we don't know those things because we never trust the Lord. He wants us to trust in him daily. And David now is going to rely upon the Lord, his God. He's going to cry out to his God. Remember Psalm 119, 67, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. For 16 months, I went astray. For 16 months, I did my own thing, but now I'm going to rely upon the Lord.

Now I'm going to keep your word. Why? Because my men are about to stone me. I'm going to die. I'm going to flee to the land of the Philistines from Saul, who's been wanting to kill me for 10 years to die at the hands of my own men. I mean, is that what it's all about? And David relies upon the Lord. He strengthens himself in his God. And he begins to inquire of the Lord. Look what it says. This is so good. Then David said to Abiathar, the priest, instead of Ahimelech. Remember Abiathar? Remember he was the only priest from Nod that was spared.

85 priests were killed. He's the only one that escaped. He's been with David the whole time. He could have called upon the name of the Lord whenever he wanted to. Bring the ephod, he says. He could have done that anytime over the last 16 months. He could have done this back in chapter 27 when he said, you know, I guess I'm going to die at the hand of Saul. But he could have called Abiathar and said, hey, you know what? Come on in here. Let's beseech the Lord. Let's see what God wants for us. But he was so discouraged and so depressed, he wasn't going to do that.

But now he does. It's never too late to get right with the Lord. Never too late to get right with the Lord. And David says, Abiathar, bring the ephod. We've got to ask the Lord what to do. He had the advantage. He had the advantage. He had the priest with him. He had the ephod with him. And that's what they used to figure out what God's will was. He had an advantage. Folks, we have an advantage too. We've got the Word of God. We know what God's Word says. And we can go to God's Word and we can read about His will for our lives.

We have an advantage. We just don't take advantage of it. We just let it sit there. Maybe we'll open up on Sundays. Maybe we'll open up on Wednesday nights. But in between time, it just kind of just sits there. And God wants us to seek His Word, to rely upon Him, to follow Him. And David does. He says, shall I pursue this band? And if I do, will I win? That's always a good question, right? Am I going to win? I don't want to pursue them and die. But Lord, so let me know, should I go after the Amalekites?

And if I'm going to go after them, can you let me know if I'm going to win? Wouldn't you like to pray a prayer like that? Lord, I need to do this. Am I going to win? Because if I'm going to lose, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it, you know? And God is so good. God says, pursue them.

Pursue them. You shall surely overtake them and you shall surely rescue all. Wow, Dave was on fire now.

I'm going to win. I know I'm going to win. I'm going to rescue everybody. That means everybody's alive. Nobody's died. Well, that's going to lift up the spirits of all of us men, right? Now they know their wives are alive. They know their kids are alive. There's hope. Let's go to war. And you know, whenever you rely upon the Lord and go to God for strength, you're able to rally the troops around you. You don't do that, you can't rally them, can't motivate them, can't encourage them, can't stimulate them, can't inspire them.

Now they're inspired again. Their leader is back on track. Their leader's doing what the leader needs to do, right? He's leading his men. And that's what we, you know, when you think about it as a father, I'm not sure how much time I got left yet, so make sure you give me the little numbers back there so I know where I'm at. But you know, as a father, you know, we got to rally the troops. We got to rally the troops around us and we got to make sure they're inspired, they're motivated, they want to serve the Lord, they want to be used of God.

And so it's our responsibility as fathers to lead them in that direction. So if we were to begin our series, Faith Driven Fathers, that would be the topic of our discussion this evening, 830. If tonight was the night we were beginning, that would be the topic of our discussion, how do we as fathers do that? David did it by relying upon the Lord, turning to the Lord, praying to Him, inquiring to the Lord, Lord, what do I do? Do I pursue Him? Will I win? God says, go get Him, David.

Go get Him. Sick of David, you're going to win. And David's like, oh man, I'm going to win again, baby. I'm going to war, you know? And so he's a warrior. These men, they rally around him and they go to war. And that leads us to the report of the Egyptian. But before that, notice, David went, he and 600 men who were with him, and came to the brook Basor.

Okay? But there were some left behind. There were 200 that were so exhausted, 200 of them, so exhausted they couldn't go any further. Isn't this good? David's all fired up. He's all excited about going to war. God says, go get Him.

David says, okay, let's go. Come on, fellas. Okay, let's go, man. And there they go. And two of them said, I can't go any further, I'm dead. I'm worn out. David said, wait a minute, you're tired? Come on, guys. God's already given us a victory. You're too tired to go to war? And David could have gotten easily discouraged again. But that's not happened all the time. You seek the Lord's will. He gives you an answer. You begin to pursue it. All of a sudden an obstacle rises up. Now I had 600 men. Now I've only got 400 men.

I'm outnumbered already. And now I got even less than I started with. They're too tired. They can't go on. But David doesn't ridicule them and say, you know what? You guys are weak, man. You guys are weak. Drink some water. Get up, suck it up. You got to get tougher. No, he just leaves them there. Stay right here. We're going on because he knows he's got the victory. He knows he's going to win. So he goes off to battle. And you know what happens? There's a report of an Egyptian. They find this Egyptian guy.

This was the divine providence, because how is David going to find their camp? Where's he going to go? God institutes this Egyptian who fell sick and was left behind, went without food and without water for three days. He's about dead. They find him. They give him food. They give him water. And David says, who are you? What have you been doing? God had everything worked out perfectly because this Egyptian would lead them to the camp of the Amalekites. And God knew that. And he brought him in and said, yeah, that's what we did.

We raided here. We raided there. We raided Ziklag. He didn't know who David is. Okay. David could have said, you raided my city? Whack. You're done. You know, but David didn't do that. David was kind, compassionate, graceful, and merciful. He says, I want you to take me to your band. Will you do that? He says, I will. You let me live and don't turn me over to those guys.

I'll take you. David says, you got a deal. So he took him. And sure enough, it leads us to the results of the battle. They destroyed everybody. They killed everybody. Just wiped them all out at the days of old, except for 400 who escaped by camel. They went and they rescued everybody. Everybody was alive. They saved those people that had been taken captive. They slaughtered all of the enemy and they were able to gain the victory. And this is David's victory over the Amalekites. This was his last victory before he ascends the throne.

He doesn't know it. Doesn't know what's going to happen next. We know because we got second Samuel. He didn't have second Samuel.

He didn't even have first Samuel. Okay. But we know what happens next. Right? And so they, they, they gained the victory and, and they move on. Psalm 37, five says, commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in him and he will bring it to pass. David had committed his way to the Lord. He trusted in the Lord and God was bringing everything to pass perfectly in his life. Can you imagine the celebration of these 600 men? This was great. Got the wives back, got the kids back. Let's go back to Ziklag. Let's go back and let's get things in order again.

So they, they, they go back. Which leads to the next point. David has to rebuke his men because once they get back, they come across the 200 men who guarded the baggage and didn't leave Besor, the broken Besor. And notice what it says in verse 22, then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David, that's the other 400 guys.

That's how they're characterized, wicked and worthless. Those were David's men, the wicked and the worthless. What do you call the 200 who didn't do anything? It's the 400 who went with them and won the battle were wicked men and worthless men. What do you call the 200 who were left behind? Right? And they said, we're not giving anything to these guys. They didn't go to war. They stayed behind. Do you think we're going to reward them with the spoils of the Malachi? Are you kidding me? We're not giving them anything.

David says, Oh no, not so fast, my friend. Not so fast. That's not what we're going to do. Listen to what David says. You must not do so my brothers with what the Lord has given us. You didn't get this. God gave it to us. That's the first mistake we make sometimes when we, we live our Christian lives and we gain a victory.

We think we did it right. And David says, perspective, fellas, God gave us this. God won the victory. God won the battle. God's in charge. God gave us the goods. They're not ours. They're God's. He has kept us and delivered into our hand the band that came against us. God won the victory. He drew their perspective upward again. That's what Godly leaders do, right? They keep people looking upward. Don't get the wrong idea here, fellas. This is what God did for us. God's in charge. God delivered us.

God gave us the spoils. God protected us throughout the whole process. He protected us for 16 months when we were in the wrong land. He delivered us from a huge dilemma so we didn't have to fight against our own countrymen. God brought us to this point. God gets the glory. God gets the victory. Folks, that is so important. Got to keep perspective. And that's why when we read the scriptures, we must see God in everything. It's God who did it. And David said, look, the victory goes to God. All these gifts are equal.

We give them to everyone, no matter what they did. They're all part of our family. They're all part of the army. They all get a part of what's going on here. We'll see this to the third point, or the last point, and that is David's reward to his colleagues.

David rewards all of his friends who protected him for those 16 months. He gives them all gifts. He says, behold the gift for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord, verse 26. Doesn't say my enemies. These Amalekites are the enemies of the Lord. And the Lord won the victory. And we want you to be a part of that victory with us, because you watched over us while we were fugitives, while we ran from place to place. We want you to reap the benefits of what God has given us. David was a kind, giving, compassionate man.

David's life was turned around, all because he strengthened himself in the Lord, all because he fell to his knees, all because he said, you know what, I'm going the wrong direction, Lord help me. And God did. God did. And in first Samuel chapter 31, while all this is happening, Saul dies, and Jonathan dies, and Israel is defeated by the Philistines.

And David in second Samuel 1 will find out what took place and how it all went down. And you will be absolutely astonished by what David does for Saul, his arch enemy. And the song he writes in honor of the King, because he wants to honor the King. And then he'll ascend his throne. And once he ascends his throne, he'll be King over Judah for seven and a half years. And then he'll become King over all of Israel after that. And then his problems really begin. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight and a chance to be together. Thank you, Lord, for demonstrating your faithfulness to us through your word. You were so good to David, so kind, so generous. Yes, you disciplined him. Yes, he had the experience of devastating aspects with what took place in his city. And yet, Father, you drove him to his knees to rely upon you and to follow you. God, please help us as your servants today to be those who rely upon you, serve you, and follow you. May we learn from David's mistakes.

May we learn to depend daily upon you for everything. May we not get discouraged and think of things from a wrong perspective, but always keep you uppermost in our minds and hearts, that we might follow you in complete obedience. I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our soon coming King. Amen.