Mike Bickle discusses David's time in Ziklag, emphasizing how David, despite experiencing God's miraculous interventions, succumbed to despair and compromise by fleeing to the Philistines. He highlights the importance of trusting God's leadership over our circumstances, as David learned valuable lessons during his 16 months of compromise. Ultimately, David's reliance on God's mercy led to his recovery and restoration, showcasing the profound nature of God's grace even in our failures. Bickle encourages believers to strengthen themselves in God, recognizing that His gentleness and mercy are available to all who seek Him.

Amen. If in the other chapters it was his confidence that the Lord would intervene, this one it's his confidence in the Lord's mercy to give him a new beginning. Romans number one, after the miracle of 1st Samuel 26, what we just read, I mean this tremendous miracle of the entire company being put to sleep, 3,000 men, David is now overcome with despair. So much so that he leaves the land of Israel. Let's read the verse. Verse 1, chapter 27, David said in his heart, I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. I mean David, after the miracle you just experienced, how could you possibly conclude this? You prophesied with your own mouth in chapter 26, verse 10. Saul will one day be set aside by the Lord. Saul said it with his own mouth in chapter 26, verse 25. The next verse, David said there's nothing better for me than I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines. Now David had lost a clear hold, I mean a hold on that clear prophetic insight that he just had just weeks ago. Because that's how it really is. I mean we have it so clear and then we don't have it so clear. Then we have it clear, then we don't have it so clear. And the story of David's life, I like to say it over and over, isn't this unbroken ascent to glory of no setbacks. But it's the perseverance. He kept signing up. He kept saying yes. He kept coming back. He kept deciding to believe. Kept deciding to go for it with all of his heart. And that's the miracle of David's life. Now I have here at the end of paragraph A, this big statement here I want you to catch. David had been delivered 12 times before this time here. 12 different times. I have the verses. You look at the verse and go read the story. Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. I mean from the Holy Spirit falling on King Saul in Rhema in chapter 20 to God putting Saul to sleep. All the different situations here. There's 12 of them in a row. And yet David, the man of faith, is caving in right now. He's 28 years old. He doesn't know that in 16 months, we know because you read the story and we know it, 16 months later this whole season's over. But he doesn't know it. He's giving up and he's on the last lap of the race. But the problem is you never know where you are in the timetable of the breakthrough. And that's how the Lord wants it. And I say, Lord if you just tell me, and the Lord says, I don't want you to have confidence in the information. I want you to have confidence in my leadership. Not confidence in the information. I don't want to give you all the information. I want you to trust my leadership. That's what I want. Paragraph B. There are times when everything seemed lost to David. His circumstances were totally contradicting God's promises over him. I mean his circumstances were saying the exact opposite of what the promises were. There are times like that. There are seasons and a lot of you in the room you're going, yeah I've experienced that. But the thing that was happening, he was learning lessons he could not have learned in any other environment, in any other context. Let's look at paragraph E. Earlier this is the backdrop of what's happening in Ziklag. Because in Ziklag he has a 16 months, the final 16 months, before Saul dies in battle. And the Bible says God killed Saul. That's what the Bible says in Chronicles. And I have the verses in the notes there. God removed Saul. Though it was in the context of a military battle, but it was God's plan. It's now over. David you're now in that next season. But in that final 16 months David was living in a dimension of compromise throughout that last 16 months. He was moved by fear. He was deceptive using deception. He was lying on purpose and covering himself up. And it came back to cause him trouble. So he had fear. He had compromise. And he had deception going on. I don't mean that's all he did for 16 months. But he had these elements in his life. And that's clear. Now we know when he went to the city of Nob in chapter 21, he had that moment when he lied. Caused 80 priests to be killed. But it was a momentary lie. It was a one or two hours. It was that afternoon. He had a relapse and he caved in and lied. And then when he went before Achish, he acted like a madman. That wasn't so cool. But here it's not a moment or an afternoon. It's for 16 months. And the reason this part of David's life is so important, it's how he responds as the crisis mounts up. How he responds to the mercy of God in that season is one of the great chapters of David's life that he draws on. Not only for his own life personally, but as a king and as a leader. He gives that mercy to other people that he received. He has a profound revelation of mercy. I would put that right up there next to his confidence that God would intervene. Those were two of his great defining characteristics. It's this unrelenting confidence in mercy after he failed. I've read the story of David over the years. I thought, David, how could you say this? This boldness with God after he just blew it bad. I go, at least you ought to be on a little probation, spiritual probation. Suffer for a little while or something. I thought back in my early days. But that's not God's way. He wants us to operate in confidence in the relationship with Him. When we are sincere and we let go of our compromise, He wants us to receive His mercy and to move in confidence right then. Not to kind of wallow around for three or four months, kind of paying back the Lord by making sure He knows you're sad. None of that helps out. As a matter of fact, it's undermining to the grace of God. Here in paragraph E, it says here, here's the backdrop back in chapter 22, the prophet Gad. Now remember, he has three prophets that are prominent. Prophet Gad's a peer to David. He's his general age. He's with him through the wilderness years. Samuel has already gone on to be with the Lord in chapter 25. But here, Gad says to him, because David had left the land of Judah, he went off into one of those wildernesses outside of the land of Judah. The word of the Lord says, don't stay outside the land. Go back inside the land. God will protect you in the land. You're the Lord's choice and that's the land of your anointing. Go in there. But David says, it's riskier because in the land of Judah, there's all wildernesses and there's no place for me to rest. I mean, I can't get food and covering very easily. Saul's chasing me from cave to cave. I'm going to go somewhere else. And the word of the Lord was, no. Go to Judah with the implications. Stay in the land and let the King of Israel, the Lord, protect you and don't trust an alliance with a heathen king outside the land to protect you from Saul. Because what happened is that David, he was, he left the land here in chapter 27. He went back to Gath. He went back to Achish king of Gath back from chapter 21. This is his second time in Gath when he was overcome with fear. He ran to Gath in chapter 21 with Achish and now it's some years later. He's overcome with fear again or is really being overwhelmed with it. Let's put it that way. And he runs back to Achish, the king of Gath because he knows Saul won't cross the national boundary line to go to the Philistine territory. So he's saying, I'd rather take my chances with a heathen king and have that king protect me than have God protect me in the land of Israel from a demonized king. And this is a bad move. The Lord doesn't want him doing this. He wants him in the land of Judah the entire time learning to develop his history in the Lord more and more. Okay, let's go to page 2. Page 2. So let's now look at the story. Verse 1, David said in his heart, now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. We've already read this but I'm going to read it again. So I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines and Saul I know, he will despair of me and he won't seek me there because he doesn't want to get into conflict with the Philistines. He's not really a warrior king. He's really into fear right now and self-protection. He's not taking his role as the champion of Israel. So verse 2, David went over with 600 men and his team was 400. Now it's grown to 600 but now the families are all gathering together with David. So it's 600 with families. So what is this? Two or three thousand and he's moving around in the wilderness. I mean there's not like a quick shop that you go buy some food for the kids. I mean this is a really difficult place to maintain 600 men and their families. Probably a couple thousand, three or four thousand people totally. So he went over back to Achish, king of Gath. Again it's his second time to Achish and I don't know why there and how he knew Achish would receive him but obviously he's done some groundwork ahead of time to know that this was going to be at least in the natural a safe situation. Verse 3, so David dwelt with Achish. He and his 600 men and these men had their households with him. Verse 4, it was told to Saul that David fled over the national boundary line over to the Philistines. So Saul didn't pursue him no more. David it worked. It seemed to work. Although great trouble is going to come down the road. You know sometimes we get ourselves in a real panic situation and we make a decision to get an immediate relief and it's out of the will of God but it's immediate relief. This story of David plus a hundred other stories in the Bible tell us that's a bad move. That's a bad move. Immediate relief outside of the will of God always ends up bad. Always. Always ends up bad. Living in tension and even risk in the will of God always we go further in God and in the purpose of God in our life. Even though we have that tension and that dimension of risk and some of the unsettledness that goes with staying in the will of God in that place where there's some tension in it. Paragraph C, so David's verse 5 says to Achish, if I have found favor in your sight, in your eyes. Now some way again he has knowledge prior knowledge before he goes there. He knows Achish is going to receive him and we don't have that information as to why. He says if I found favor in your eyes, give me a place. Give me some town somewhere. I mean I got three or four thousand people. Just give me a town. I'll build it out and I'll make it work and organize the whole thing. Why should three or four thousand of us dwell in the royal city? We don't have jobs. We need food. We need supplies. I mean you don't really want this whole gang here. And Achish goes yeah, good point. Because my Philistine leaders with me, they don't really like David. They don't buy the David narrative. Because see Achish, here's what Achish is thinking. Undoubtedly he's thinking a number of things, but one of them is David is defecting. I mean when you cross a national boundary line and you leave your nation and you are AWOL, you know, away without leave, you've left the military. Of course the head of the military is chasing you, but still you've left the country. You've joined another enemy army. You are a deserter. It is treason. You can't go back to your former army. So Achish is saying I have this, I have this gold medalist military guy who hates Saul because Saul hates him and Saul is my enemy. And this guy is an amazing warrior and he's defected so he can't go back. He's super gifted. He likes me. I treat him good. Guess what? I have the champion to take Saul down like this kid took down our champion Goliath some years earlier. So he's thinking this is not a bad deal here because David can't go back to Israel from Achish's point of view. So somewhere again they've had some conversation and all of that seems clear or David wouldn't have gone there in the presupposition he had favor from a Philistine king. Something has already been understood. So verse 6, Achish goes you're right. I don't really, can't really support 3-4 thousand of you here in my royal city and the Philistine leaders, the lords, they don't really like you guys anyway. They don't really buy my story line with you. Verse 7, so they gave David a town Ziklag and he was there for 16 months, a year and 4 months. But the reason it's compromised, he lies. He's supposed to be in Judah. He's not supposed to be leaving the land of Judah to get safe. He's supposed to stay in Judah and trust God. And he knows it too. And he's in fear. And now he kicks into deception and that deception becomes a long term. He begins to lie, to spin these lies to Achish but then he has to cover up his lies and it gets more and more dangerous the further it goes and he's lying. Hey David, sooner or later this is bad. This is going to go bad for you. But number one, before the Lord this is not the will of God. Get out of this situation. Get back to Judah and get right with the Lord. It's not like he's in some deep, entrenched scandal of sin but he's living in compromise, undoubtedly in Ziklag. So what happens, verse 8, he's got to have food. So he's got this little town, Ziklag, that's been given to him. It's 3, 4,000 people, something like that of his whole entourage is with him. Verse 8, David and his men, they begin to raid some of the tribes that have been living there for generations. The Gershurites and the Gerzites and the Amalekites and on and on. There's a handful of long term tribal peoples that have been there. Verse 9, now these tribal people, they were arch enemies of Israel as well. And they were enemies of the Philistines. In those days, you know, a little nation, maybe 20 miles by 20 miles, nations, many of them were small and they just had all of these feudal kind of exchanges with these little pieces of territory, these little fiefdoms, you know, these little pieces of geography. They would fight each other and kill each other all through history. Verse 9, here's what happened though. David would attack the land and he did it, number one, because they were enemies of Israel and number two, he needed the supplies for his own survival. He'd attack them, but he would kill everyone. And in one sense you say, well they're the enemies of Israel and that's what David's anointed to do was actually to cleanse the land of the enemies of Israel. That's what part of his mandate was, was to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. But at the other hand, he's doing it because he needs the supplies, etc., etc. And he would take the sheep and the goats and the oxen, the donkeys and all the supplies and the clothing, it goes on to say in one of the verses. Then Achish would ask him, he says, now David, you seem to have larger and larger flocks. Your people seem to be eating well and now you're kind of down in a semi-desert area. Like how are you doing this? And David, he tells a lie, nearly a lie, it's a lie, kind of a lie, not totally a lie. He said, well, I'm going against the southern area of Judah. He goes, you're fighting the people of Judah? And David's saying to himself, yes, the Amalekites, when they're in the land of Judah, yes, yes, I'm fighting the people in Judah. And Achish goes, really? You're fighting Israelites? He goes, wow, that's intense. That's what Achish is understanding. David didn't exactly say, I'm fighting Israelites. He just said, I'm fighting people in Judah. But Achish, I mean, it's deception, no question. Verse 11, David wouldn't spare anybody alive because he didn't want the news to get back. He wanted to cover his tracks. He didn't want anybody to live. David said to his 600 men, make sure there isn't one person survives because if the word gets back to Achish, I'm lying to him. This isn't good. I mean, we only have 600 men and they got a whole mighty army. This is not good. I'm lying to the king and I'm going to humiliate him in front of all of his captains and leaders in his community because he trusts me and they don't. This was David's behavior all the time. The whole 16 months that he was in Ziklag, he is operating in this kind of double game. Verse 12, it worked, sort of. Achish believed him. It wasn't totally true. He was fighting the enemies of Israel, not fighting Israel. He was garnering more goodwill with Israel, not offending Israel. But he was spinning it like he was offending Israel, not garnishing favor with them by fighting their enemies because David would go through in south Judah where the Israelites were, the Jewish people, and he would say, hey, are they raiding you? They go, yeah, David, yeah, you're a captain, you know, kind of like the, you know, the Robin Hood or whatever. I don't even know what Robin Hood really did. But anyway, he was running through the area delivering all of the people of Israel from these other tribes. And so he was becoming a hero to his own people. But Achish, verse 12, said he's making himself utterly abhorrent to them. They hate him. He's killing his people. And he goes, this is so good. He's burned the bridge so bad. He will be my servant, this champion, soldier that nobody can seem to defeat that wants to get rid of Saul. I mean, Achish assumed David did. He goes, I'm going to get David on my team. And man, I'm going to take out everybody. This is too good to be true. Roman numeral three. Well, is this coincidence or how does this work? No, the Lord's orchestrating kind of the big picture behind the scenes. Roman numeral three, chapter 28. Now it happened, the Philistines determined this was the premier time to go to war against Israel. I mean, because Saul is more and more demonized. He's doing more irrational things, paralyzed with fear. There's all kinds of signs of discontentment of Saul in the land. More and more people are joining David. David's helping Achish. David says, this is my time. Achish is thinking, to use David's people, use the lack of goodwill in the land of Israel and this paranoid king that's lost his way. This is our time to wipe him out. Completely wipe him out. Says, David, verse one, I got good news. We're going to go fight Israel. I mean, you've been doing that for the last 16 months, but hey, let's do it together now. I mean, we're a team. I'm the king. You're my main guy. Let's do it. He goes, Achish said to David, you know that you'll go out with me to battle. He goes, you know for sure what's on my mind. I mean, you're my main soldier. Hey, we're going to show Saul, we're going to show him what it's like to be on the wrong side. We're going to teach him a lesson. David's going, I'm going to go to battle against Israel and kill the people of God. And he lies again to Achish, and you can read the whole story, because I'm only giving a little edited version here. David goes, sure. I mean, you know how good I am at war. I mean, this is all fake. I mean, he's going, I love war, and you know, you've seen me. Remember Goliath. Oh, don't bring up Goliath, David. That's a little too sensitive. Well, you know how good I am. And Achish says, hey, you know what? We'll be such a team. I'll make you my top bodyguard. Here he says in verse 2, forever, rest your life. I'm in a bodyguard to the king. You are in a high privileged position of prestige and power in the royal court. You're in the inner court. If you're the head of the bodyguards, you're the most trusted guy to the king, because in most king's courts, there's so much intrigue that, you know, the generals are killing each other, and they're trying to kill the king. And I mean, there's very few positions higher in honor than that. David's saying, gosh, this guy really likes me. I mean, he really believes my story, but my story's a lie. I haven't been doing any of the things he thinks I've been doing. This is not good. Top of page 3. Well, the Philistines gather together all their armies at Aphek. That's up in the north, because the Philistines' gath is down in the south, and the Ziklag's down in the south. So they go up to the north, about 40 or 50 miles. They go up there to this staging area at Aphek. And the Israelites, they're in a staging area, a military staging area in Jezreel. They're about 20 miles apart, but they're getting organized. Thousands of soldiers are getting there. They're about 20 miles apart. They're getting their camps in order, and then they go from their bases, and then they have the big military conflict at the appointed time, somewhere in the Jezreel Valley. So they're all gone up north, about 40, 50 miles up to the camp. Verse 2, the lords of the Philistines, that means all the captains of the army, I mean the political leaders and all of the military leaders, that's the lords, they pass in review. There's the captains of hundreds and captains of thousands, and all of their soldiers, thousands under this group, and hundreds under that, they're all marching for the review, the official review of the top leadership of the nation. And David and his men, they're 600 men, they're marching, you know, in the procession. And they're at the rear with Achish, because the king is always at the rear, because that's the place of protection. And the lords of the Philistines, you know, the kind of the top leadership of the military, they go to Achish, they go, what's with the Hebrews in the military procession? Verse 3, paragraph B, what are the Hebrews doing here? What? We're fighting the Hebrews. Achish says, yeah, yeah, but this is different. David's been with me these years. It's been 16 months, a little exaggeration, but he goes, in all the years he's been with me, he's not had one negative, not one, total loyalty. Achish, David's been lying to you for 16 months. He's been conning you the whole time. But the princes of the Philistines, verse 4, they go, we don't buy it, this David story. We don't buy it at all. They said, uh, they were angry with the king. Now, the king had authority over them ultimately, but that's not good to have your whole military against you when you're going to the one of your biggest battles of your life. They said, we insist, the whole group got together, send that guy home. We don't want him anywhere near this battle, because if you go ahead and read the rest of the text in your Bible, it says he'll turn on us, then he'll win favor with Israel, kill us. We will be his trophy and his entrance back into honor, back in his land. Are you kidding? Achish goes, no, no, he's been killing Jewish people all the time down in the south. No, he's already burned the bridge. And they said, well, we don't know that. No, get rid of him. Paragraph C. Verse 6, so Achish called David, says, David, I got bad news for you. David's in a jam, because David's 600 men, when they're around the campfire at night, the 600 men are going, we're really going to kill our cousins and family members? Are you kidding? David goes, I don't know, we're going to get out of this somehow. David, this isn't good. You've been like doing this double story thing with the king, now we're bound? We're going to kill Jews? Jews against Jews in battle? Are you kidding? The Hebrews. Achish called up and said, the Lord, this was a great deliverance of David from the Lord, the fact that the Philistine lords were so upset. Achish comes in and goes, I got bad news, David. Don't take it personal. Don't take your feelings, don't let your feelings get hurt. Come on, please don't take it personal. They won't let you be a part of the battle. David's going, you're kidding. What did I do? I mean, when you read the whole thing, again, I just have a part of it here on the notes. David goes, well, I didn't do nothing wrong. Like, David, dial down. Don't overdo this thing. He's like acting defensive and a little hurt. Like, I've done nothing but good for you. Why are they against me? What have I done? I mean, I've proven myself. It's like, I'm going to picture a couple of David's friends, guys saying, dial this thing down a little bit. You're way overdoing this. And Achish, verse 12, he says, no, no, you've got to depart. You've got to go back to Ziklag. It's 50 miles away. You've got to walk three full days. Go back home. Do it early in the morning. The Philistine lords, they want you guys out, like, right now. They'll sleep through the night and early at daylight, take off. He goes, OK. Now the paragraph, Romans number 5, the interesting thing is chapter 30. I mean, chapter 30 and 31, it all comes together. I mean, chapter 30 and 31 is a theological statement about how God's leadership works. I mean, it's quite remarkable. David has tremendous blessings happening in chapter 30 and 31. Number one, he gets released from the conflict. He didn't have to go to battle against Israel. That's huge. But more than that, he's going to have some great victory. But he's going to have tragedy as well. Because as most of you know, you've read the story ahead of time. When they walk the 50 miles from the north of Benaphic, where they're at, down to Ziklag, 50 mile walk, three days, three good days of walking. I mean, they were good and tired when they got home. They came to Ziklag and the city was burned to the ground. All their families were taken as slaves. And the reason their city was burned to the ground and all their family was taken as slaves, because the Amalekites were paying David back for David raiding on them and killing their people. So this is revenge. But David, all 600 men were up with Achish. Nobody was there to protect him because the king wanted all of David's men and David was keeping the king happy. So the tragedy of a burned city, not only just a burned city, all the family members enslaved. Another tragedy, the 600 men, as we'll get there in a moment, they all turn on David. And they're so overwhelmed with grief, they said, David, we're going to kill you. And in a moment you'll read it, they were going to stone David. They said, we're just tired of your leadership. I mean, you brought tragedy to us. Your lies have gone on and on. Why are we even over here? The prophet Gad is right here in our team. He's been saying the whole time we should be over in Judah. Why are we over here in the Philistine area to start with? And now our families are all taken as slaves and our cities burned to the ground and they pick up stones to stone David. I mean, talking about a rough couple days. But at the same time, in the battle of the Philistines and Israel, Saul dies. So David's number one enemy's gone and David's going to be king. So what is it? Is he in blessing? Is he in tragedy? Is this how it works? It all converges together. It's like a perfect storm of, I don't even know of what, of blessing, tragedy, of just consequences of his sin. Everything is coming to a head. I think it was the saddest, most grievous day of David's life. I just assume, I can't picture a day, knowing his life story a bit, that's worse than chapter 30 right here of 1 Samuel. Paragraph C. Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day. Three days of walking. Have you ever walked three full days? I mean, 15, 20 miles a day for three days? I haven't. I don't want to. I walked like 20 miles one day, or maybe it was only like 5 miles, but it felt like 20. I was so tired, I don't know how long it was. I remember that. Three days of that, they got to Ziklag, and as they're coming over the hill, I can just imagine this. They're coming over the hill. There's smoke, these billows of smoke, and they're going, what is that over the horizon? They go, oh, this isn't good. They get closer and closer, and yes, what they feared is right. It's their own city. So they come running in the city, and the Amalekites are paying them back. Paying back David's, because of David's raids on the Amalekites. Verse 2, and they had taken captive all the women, and all the children, and all the people, because they were slave trade. I mean, having wars and then getting slaves was actually worth more money than taking their livestock. But the opposite of David. See, David killed everyone when he raided. They didn't kill anybody, because they assumed, I assume they wanted the slave money, and all the bartering and all that goes with that. So none of them were killed. But even the Lord's got his hand in that. So there is blessing in the midst of the negativity. Paragraph D. Verse 3, so David comes to the city. It's burned with fire. Their families are taken captive. Verse 4, here's where it really gets bad. David and all the 600 men, they lift up their voices and weep, until they have no more power to weep. Can you imagine? These men are utterly exhausted, walking for three days, 50 miles. Probably not real good diet in that journey. Probably exhausted, and they're weeping, and they have no more strength to weep. Verse 6, David was in great distress. I don't know of another time in his life more distressed than this hour. For the 600 men, they were talking and getting a plan to stone David. So not only is Saul against David, and the nation, the military, the Israel military, the Philistine military says, no, we don't trust you. His city is burned, his family is in slavery, and the implications of that are horrific beyond what we even want to think, the details of that. And his 600 men, the only friends he has, they said, we're going to kill you now. That is a seriously bad day. And I'm not trying to be cute with that. I mean, that is a seriously bad day, all piled up at one. Look at this. David strengthened himself in God. Beloved, that's the hour when you want a history in God before that hour. That's the hour, totally fatigued, emotionally spent because of the tragedy of your family, but also the other families you know and love. I mean, he loved the other families intensely. And he draws back and he goes, God, I'm in compromise anyway. I should not be. I've been deceiving and telling these lies and playing a double game. You love me. I love you. Let's do this thing. I know how this works. Beloved, in a crisis hour, that's when his past history in God, what I mean by his past history in God, those years when him and God interacted and God showed himself and touched his heart and David gave his heart, all of us have a personal secret history in God. You have a history in God, the way you and God interact that nobody knows or can read or define. But over the years, you think you're not growing so much, you're not getting very far, but that history is growing in God. And in a crisis moment, right here, David said, I really need to take hold of what I know is true. I don't feel it right now, but I got a history that says it is. And he strengthened himself in God. Here's what this means. Lord, I'm repenting of compromising. I'm going to be 100% under your leadership, no matter what it costs. Number two, I'm not putting myself on any probation. I'm going to believe you. You are the God of extravagant mercy. And I know it. And I know you'll take me. Here I am. You've given me promises. I don't deserve them. But you're the God that gives promises that men don't deserve and women don't deserve. I know who you are. And all the men around me are fatigued, emotionally spent, and they're very angry. But I love you. You love me. And I can't feel any of it right now, but I know the truth of our history. Verse eight, he inquired of the Lord. He goes, okay. Lord, I'm tired. Again, 50 miles. Crying for hours. Shall we attack? Shall we go get them back? Another man would come and say, David, you have no right to be asking God for help right now. With all that you've done, you've been in compromise already. Again, it's not scandalous deep sin in this, in the sense that some people get in that. But it's compromise for how David knew God. To even be there in this spirit of this lying and all that's going on. David said, God, let's put all that behind us. I know you. Should I attack? And the Lord surprises everyone. The Lord says, attack. I'm with you, David. This is how we go relate together. And the Lord answered, pursue. You'll recover everything. David comes to his men. Their eyes are swollen. I mean, they're fatigued. They're so mad at him. Their eyes are swollen with grief. He goes, we're attacking. Like, David, they might not go with you this time. I mean, they're really upset and they're really spent. A couple of guys over here saying, you know what? We know that guy. That's the guy we know from a year or two. That's the guy we know. We're going with you. Another guy goes, nah, nah. He's telling us, spinning the story like he's done with it. A couple of guys goes, nah, nah. We've been with David seven or eight years out here or whatever the number is, five, six, seven years. That's the guy we know. He's back in that full-hearted way with God. Let's go. And the six hundred said, okay. They put their stones down. They said, one more shot at it. David, we'll give you one more try. I'm throwing that into the narrative. He didn't say it anywhere, but I know men. Top of page four. Verse 10. David pursues. They get to the brook Besor. Now the brook Besor is only 10 or 12 miles away. They've already walked 50. They've cried for five or six hours. They're utterly exhausted. Six hundred men. They're walking. Two hundred get to the brook, 10 or 12 miles away. And they go, David, we have not rested in four days. We are so exhausted. Why don't we stay here and watch the bags? And it's not a wimpy deal. These guys were like utterly spent. And they have, and that is a legitimate thing to do, to guard this while you go to battle 10 miles further down the road. And so David said, okay. You two hundred. He goes, I get that. You guys stay here and guard our stuff. We'll go attack. The other four hundred said, are you guys ready? I'm, you're hungry. You haven't rested for three, four days. You're completely emotionally spent. Let's go. The Lord's with us. So as another guy says, where are the Amalekites? Because I don't know. I actually don't know if we should go right or left and we can kind of do the tracking thing. But it's out in the wilderness. I don't know exactly where they are. Lord, you said you would help us. Verse 11. There's this Egyptian guy laying on the ground. He goes, that's a funny place to be taking a nap. What are you doing here? Where are you from? I'm from Egypt. What are you doing out here laying down? He goes, well, I was with the Amalekites. Really? And what did the Amalekites do? He goes, oh, they went to the city called Ziklag and burned it to the ground. I was there. He was horrible. He goes, really? He goes, why are you laying down here? He goes, well, I got sick. And my Amalekite captain didn't want to bother with me. He left me here to die. He goes, I'm really mad at him. I got issues with him. They just left me here to die. David says, I tell you what, we'll take care of you. We'll give you food. Will you tell us where it's, where, where, where they're at? He goes, I know exactly where they're going. David looks up and says, thank you, Lord. Lord, it's happening. He tells the guys, it's happening. They go, okay, David, let's, Egyptian guy that's hungry and sick. It's not that big a deal. No, it's happening. Paragraph G. Well, the young Egyptian slave, he was a servant, showed them exactly where the plan was. And there were, they were spread out, here, paragraph G, 16, all over the land, eating, drinking, feasting, great spoil. All the women and children, the, the, the, the Jewish women and children are all in the slave court. They're all over there, undoubtedly watched and probably got ropes around them and kept secure over there. These men, man, they are so carefree because the Philistines went up north, Israel's up north. Nobody's down here. We got this great spoil. They're drunk. They're partying. David looks at his 400 and there's a whole lot more of the Malachites, I'm assuming. David attacked them. Now catch this, from twilight till evening the next day. I mean, now here they've been four days. Now it's the fifth day. David goes, guys, let's, let's get them all. Well, David, we are a little tired right now. He goes, come on, this is the moment. Verse 18, one of the great statements, I mean, one of the great gospel statements, 18. David recovered all. Beloved, that's what God's about. That's what it's about. David recovered all. He's, it's a trophy of the grace of God. He had no business deserving to recover all. But this is not about deserving. Paragraph H. They come back, all the women, children, they're all free. They killed all the Malachites. They got all the spoil more than they can carry. I mean, so much. They got it all back, plus all the other stuff the Malachites had. Verse 21, they come back about, they're about 10 miles back to the brook. Those 200 guys have been there for the whole day. And they're rested up a little bit. They were guarding some of the, the luggage, etc., and some of the, of the military stuff there. Verse 22, and say, David greeted the 200. Hey guys, the Lord is with us. Incredible breakthrough. Come on, everybody is going to receive. Verse 22. A couple of the wicked guys on David's team. You know, on the team sometimes there's a couple of wicked guys. There's that one guy and his friends. Now why are these wicked guys on David's team anyway? That's another story for another day. They said to David, verse 22, we don't want to give those 200 slackers any of the spoil. David goes, what are you talking about? He goes, they gave up 10 miles short. I mean, give them their wife and children and leave it there cold even. Verse 23, David said, what? He goes, my brethren, he confronts them, you shall not do this with what God gave us. He goes, you think that victory was how amazing you are? He goes, I'm, I don't even want anything to do with that mindset. He goes, we're physically spent. We have no strength of our own. We find this young Egyptian, leads us to the place right when they're drunk. This is the Lord's. He told us back in Ziklag, he'd give us a victory. He goes, God did this. God delivered this in our hands. He goes, this isn't you. God gave it to us and you think you own this? He goes, this is the Lord's and everybody gets a share in it because it's the mercy of God. Verse 24, one of the great principles of leadership here. David says, but as is his part, is the guy who goes down to battle has the same part as the guy that stays with the supplies. That's how God views the kingdom. The one guy's group, they're doing the great outreach. The other group's on the platform. The other group is doing this and that. And there's all the other folks working the supplies, organizing the supplies, keeping it all going. And in God's kingdom, according to David, everybody's equal. There are no big guys and little guys. This is all together. Verse 25, and David made that a statue in Israel. Became one of his primary principles of his government. Whenever we go to war, everybody gets blessed in the increase. Let's end with this. Roman numeral 11. I mean, sorry, six. It's late. Roman numeral six. Psalm 18. Now look at this paragraph eight. Psalm 18 tells us what? This is the Psalm that David wrote on the day God delivered him from Saul. Because on this very day, where he has this great victory with the Amalekites, this very day, Saul's up north, 50 miles up north to the Philistines. Saul gets killed. So now David, I mean, what a bizarre seven-day period. His city's burned. I mean, go through the whole thing. Achish doesn't let him go to battle. That's a big relief. City's burned. Family's taken. Men are going to stone me. The prophetic word says you're going to have victory. Tremendous breakthrough. Saul gets killed. I'm going to be king in a minute. Like, what? What? I mean, more happened in that seven-day period than you can hardly imagine. David writes Psalm 18. Look at this. He starts off. This is the only time in the Bible where a Bible writer, I mean, a person writing, says, I love you to God. It's the only time. Paul doesn't say it. Peter, James, and John, nowhere. Moses, Elijah. No one says directly to God, I love you. Except for here. Now in this translation, it says, I will love you. But I've looked at 50 translations, or 40, or I mean, some 40 or 50. I don't know the number. But many of them, the Hebrew translation of these other Bible translations, are direct. I love you. Not I will love you. I do love you. So, the Hebrew can go either direction. But he starts off the day, now 16 months of compromise. Remember that. City got burned. Men are going to kill him. Family got delivered. Saul got killed. The emotions. He goes, I love you. And you love me. I know 16 months. I know I shouldn't have been there. I know I shouldn't have lied. I know I shouldn't. I love you. And you love me. You're my strength. Verse 19. Oh, this Psalm 18 is amazing. Look at, you've brought me to a broad place. That's an understatement. Because he's got to be made king very soon in Hebron. Very soon. Matter of fact, in the next chapter or two, he's going to be made king. You've brought me to a broad place. I'm set free from Saul now. I'm done with the Philistines. Oh, I'm in a broad place. My family's back. Everything's turned. I'm in a broad place. And somebody says, I always like to say this. The news reporter is interviewing David. David, why did God have such a remarkable turn of events? I mean, here you are, a fugitive outlaw. You've been in some compromise, I hear. But spinning some stories, some bit of deception. Your men are pretty upset at you at one time. Like two days ago. Really upset with you. Wives are pretty mad at you too. Why did the sudden turnaround? God says, I know why. God likes me. That's it. I didn't deserve it. Look at it. He delights in me. Come on up, worship team. He delights in me. That's why God did this. He likes me. Well, David, what about probation for a while? Don't you, after your compromise, no, I love him and he likes me. That's where we start. Verse 35, he declares to the Lord, Lord, your gentleness, you've dealt with me with so much gentleness. You could have been far more severe with what I deserve right now. Your gentleness has given me courage that in the days to come, the greatness of your plan in my life will come to pass because you didn't write me off. You treated me with gentleness. And then in paragraph B, the same thing, he writes Psalm 56, Wally's with Achish, it says. Just read it to you. He says to the Lord, Lord, you numbered my wonderings. You took note of these last 16 months. You knew what I was doing. You saw my tears. I cried many times in that 16 months. People wrote me off. David, you're just in compromise. He goes, I was crying. He goes, and they said, oh, stop your crying and start repenting. He goes, but I know that every tear I shed was in your book. You didn't throw any of my tears. You stored them all up. Verse nine, I cried out to you. I knew my enemies would turn back. I know I was in fear 16 months ago, but this I know. God is for me. That's what he wrote in that season as well. Amen. Let's stand. Lord, you number our wonderings. Lord, you put our tears in your bottle. Beloved, the Lord doesn't write your tears off. He doesn't mock them. He writes them in his book. He cherishes the tears of your own struggle. And this I know, the Lord is for me. I want to just declare that to the Lord. So we just go into worship for a few moments, and then we'll have some folks come up in a minute, but just all over the room. Lord, you deliver me because you like me. Your gentleness has made me great. This I know, you are for me. Lord, you can speak these words against the enemy. The devil comes and says, you're finished. Say, no, he delivers me because he delights me. The devil says, you're a hypocrite. Say, no, he put my tears in his bottle. He writes my tears in his book. He cherishes what I've gone through, my sincerity, even in my difficulty. The devil says, you're finished. And you say his gentleness will make me great. I mean great in your commitment. I don't mean you'll be famous, but his gentleness is what gives us a future. I want to invite anybody up for prayer that would like it. You're saying, I think the Lord is troubling my sick leg. I don't know if it's God or the devil, but it seems like it's on fire. The Lord says, I want you to strengthen yourself in God. I want you to remember that I love you. I'm with you like David did. Some of you feel like you're in a situation where nothing is going to turn around. But I tell you, it wasn't as bad as what David thought. This is a night to strengthen yourself in God when everything might look opposite. When my hope is lost, I'll call you safe. Lord, I ask you to release your glory right now. When dread surrounds, I'll call you to my aid. Say what David said, Lord, I love you. I love you. I love you. I don't deserve deliverance, but I love you. And you delighted me, that's why you'll deliver me. You're gentle with me. You put my tears in your bottle. You write them in your book. You cherish the way I love you, even in my weakness. I'm going to invite a bunch of you to come down if you want, just to pray for folks. We're just going to ask the Lord to renew them. Give them a new beginning today. Whatever way that they want with God. Just strengthen them in the Lord. I will praise you. When the tears fall. Still I will sing to you. I will praise you. Jesus praised you. Through the suffering. Still I will sing to you. And I will praise you. And I will praise you. When the tears fall. Still I will sing to you. And I will praise you. Jesus praised you. Through the suffering. Still I will sing. I will sing to you. Still I will sing. I will sing to you. Still I will sing to you. Still I will sing. Be gentleness. This may be grace.