So 1 Samuel chapter 26 and 27, we'll start in 26 verse 1. And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hekla, which is before Jeshimon? Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having 3,000 chosen men of Israel with him to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul pitched in the hill of Hekleah, which is before Jeshamon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him in the wilderness. David therefore sent out spies and understood that Saul was come in very deed. And David arose and came to the place where Saul had pitched, and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Nurn, the captain of his host, and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him. Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zuriah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. So David and Abishai came to the people by night. Behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster. But Abner and the people, lay round about Him. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we do thank You for many blessings. Thank You, Lord, for a book that has so many teachings and thoughts and understandings in it. Lord, we just pray that we could draw these things out in order to help us in our day-to-day walk with Thee. Lord, these are not just stories to be read or enjoyed, but principles to be applied to our lives. I just pray, Lord, You'd work this out for each and every one of us. In Jesus' name and for His sake, Amen. Alright, as we look at... and we're now in 1 Samuel pretty much finishing up. But we see that Saul has been in the grasp of David in that cave and he let him go. We're going to have another story today where Saul again is in the grasp of David and he's going to let him go. When we get to chapter 27, which is the next chapter, we're going to see David is a man of like passions. David is just like us. He has fears and failures. David wasn't a man after God's own heart because he never failed. In fact, that is the greatest indicator why David was a man after God's own heart. When he failed, he said, I have sinned. When he erred, he admitted his error, and God dealt with him about that, and he moved on, and he didn't really dwell on those things. So as we look at this thing, let's go back to verse 1. The Zipfites came to Saul. They also came to him in chapter 23. They're informants. Now, you need to be careful when someone else's enemy becomes your focus. I mean, why do the Ziphites care where David is? Well, because they want to get an inroad into Saul and they want to be on the right side. They want to pick the winning side. Man, Saul's got all that army and all those people that can destroy David easily, but David's got God. So when you pick the wrong side, be careful because just because he's got mighty men of power and he's got the kingdom, it doesn't mean that he's the one that's of God. So be careful. Here the Ziphites are, they're probably hedging their bet, but in verse 3 it said he slept by the way. He probably thought, well, I don't need to go in the caves. I'm no better protected in a cave than I am out here by the highway. And, you know, think about that. The funny thing is he's safe nowhere if he doesn't have God's protection. So verse 4, David sent out spies. Listen, it's always good to confirm the information you get. Too many times we believe everything we hear. People have said for a long time, if it's on the internet, you can believe it. That is a joke. Antioch, that's a joke. Thank you. Just let me know you're there. When you look at this thing, he sent out spies. He's tired of always being on guard, though. When you look at this story throughout here, you see David. He's tiring. In chapter 27, he's basically going to give up. He's going to say, look, I'm being chased by Saul all over the country. I'm going to get out of the country. But he was told where to go. He was told by the prophet of Gath, I think it was, to go to Go to Judah. And that's where he was supposed to stay. Look at verse 6, "...then answered David to Ahimelech the Hittite." Now Ahimelech did not volunteer to go. And this is the last time you ever hear of Ahimelech. Maybe he was unwilling to go. Maybe he missed his opportunity to serve and an opportunity to be support to David because he feared. We don't know what the situation is. All we know is he is one of two men that were asked to go with David and he didn't go, but Abishai did. Abishai said, I'll go down with thee. Man, he's ready. He's Joab's brother. Joab's a mighty fighter and Abishai is too, as you'll see here in a moment. He volunteers to serve. It's good to volunteer. One of the things we need at church are volunteers. There's many things to do. Too many people think, well, the pastor gets paid to do that. No, that's not the way it works. In fact, the pastor's not supposed to leave the study of the Word of God and the ministering of the Word of God to serve tables, but many a pastor cleans the whole and does all those things. And yes, we've got people that are cleaning the church. Don't think I'm talking about and trying to apply something necessarily here. It's just in general. Many times they put it on the pastor, on his staff, and say, well, you guys are getting paid to do this. That's not the way it's supposed to be. We're all supposed to volunteer. We're all supposed to be ready to pitch in and to help and to go when needed. So let's look at what it says in verse 7. So David and Abishai came to the pew by night. Behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster. Now, bolster is just a pillow. It's something to cushion or lay the head on. So, where's his spear? Man, it's right next to his ear. You think, well, if you pull that out of the ground, it's going to make enough noise right next to the ear that that's going to wake Saul up, and that's why they would put it next to the bolster there. Menabner and the people lay round about him. You wonder, why were they all asleep? Shouldn't they have had a guard? Well, that's because God put them in a deep sleep. It doesn't matter if you have all the guards in the world around you to protect you. If you don't have God, you've got no protection whatsoever. Verse 8, Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with a spear even to the earth at once. I will not smite him the second time. But I tell you what, those who love to fight generally misread the circumstances. You know, I'm telling you what, I got some emails this morning, some texts this morning about people wanting to fight. Not with me this time. That was good. I was glad to see that it wasn't me. But it was a good friend of mine who had something on Twitter that was supposedly liked by him and probably pornographic. He didn't use those words. And now some of the brethren are taking it upon themselves to send it out to all the churches. This is what this man liked on Twitter. Now it is inconceivable. that this man would click like on something like that. Whatever it is. I don't know. I just know it was probably pornographic. That's usually what it is. But I mean that people would think that. And then the guy that sent out the email on my friend said, I gotta let all the churches know about you. Really? Really? I told Brother Ray this morning, he said, well, if he liked it, that's all the more proof that he didn't say it. I mean, how dumb are you? But this is what goes on. People want to fight. They want to attack one another. Listen, this is what's going on here. They look at the circumstances. They say, look, Saul is helpless. Let's kill him. I'll smite him to the ground and I won't smite him twice. That's like saying, look, you know, it's going to take one shot for me. Be careful when you surround yourself with people that all they want to do is fight. It's a dangerous situation to be in. Verse 9, David said to Abishai, destroy him not. for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless." Notice it says, "...destroy him not." So that should give you some idea that when you kill somebody, in the Old Testament at least, it's destroying him. So, you know, read that in context. Realize that's a definition of killing someone, destroying them. Even though you know you don't destroy the soul, but it's destroying their life. Look at verse 10, David said, furthermore, so he continues, as the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him. Now watch this insight of David. The Lord shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish. Now that's good insight, David. David knew that God could take care of his enemies. Maybe he learned that from Nabal. Remember Nabal a couple chapters ago? And he berated David's men and David was going to take it into his own hands. And Nabal's wife saved him out of the hand of David so he wouldn't take innocent blood. Maybe David... What you see is David's learning from life. That's what life's about. You know, I'm almost 60. I'll be 60 next month. And I look at my life and I think about the things that I learned and how I've grown and hopefully still growing. You say, at 60 you're still growing and learning? My goodness, yes. And I hope it never stops. And that's what you see here with David. He says, listen, the Lord's going to take care of my enemies. He's going to take care of them. Look at verse 11. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointing, but I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the crews of water, and let us go." So he's going to take these two things. Remember, before he cut off Saul's skirt, and the Bible says that his heart smote him. And that's probably because David probably had two different Mindsets in this. I mean, one of them was convicting. This one evidently was not. What's the difference? The difference is what David was thinking, most likely. Why do you do what you do? What is the purpose for what you do? That tells you whether what you're doing is right or wrong. It's what your heart's intent is. David's heart's intent probably was one thing back there. His heart smote him. And then it was another thing here. He says, look, I've got to have proof that I was here, proof that I could have destroyed him. So here it is. Take these two things, let's go. Verse 12. So David took the spear and the crews of water from Saul's bolster, and they got them away. No man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked. for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them." Hey, God put a deep sleep on the enemies of God. You go through the Bible and there's a couple of different times, I think I've listed six different times where it talks about a deep sleep. This is the first one, maybe you would say protection from an enemy. God puts a deep sleep upon the enemies in order to protect you. Sometimes there are things that'll happen. You just want to understand how you escaped a certain situation. Maybe it's because God put a deep sleep upon your enemies. The second one you'll find in Genesis chapter 2 with Adam. It says he was in a deep sleep. Maybe protection from pain, you might say. You read about some of those martyrs of the past, God gave them a heavenly anesthesia, you know, where there are flames of fire burning them up at the stake, and yet they felt nothing. You say, well, I can't believe those stories. Well, can you believe that God can put Adam in a deep sleep, cut him open, take a rib out of him, cut him up and wake him up, and he enjoys to see his new wife? I mean, listen, nothing's impossible with God. God can protect you. The third one is satanic warfare. When you look at Abram, there was a deep sleep there in Genesis chapter 15, but it talked about great horror that was happening. So maybe there was some satanic warfare going on. The fourth one is so God can speak unhindered with man. In Job 33 it talks about that. Remember Pilate's wife? She said, oh, I was much disturbed in this dream that I had about Jesus Christ. God uses those things. Number five, judgment upon those who will not work. Proverbs 19 talks about the slothfulness or the idleness of a person. And then the sixth one is rejection of the Word in Isaiah chapter 29. The spirit of deep sleep upon those that are learned. You've got to realize, listen, education is not what's going to teach you the Bible. What teaches you the Bible is when you go to this Bible and you believe what it says, and even when you have questions about what it says and whether there may be an error or whether you can't understand something, you've got to believe it anyway. You go to it by faith, believing it. And then if God wants to show you the answer, He can. But if He doesn't, you still believe it by faith. When your faith becomes sight, It makes a big difference in your life. The Bible says in Proverbs 21, 31, the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. Here's Saul with his 300 men. Man, he's protected. Can you imagine? He's got Joab right next to him, and then he's got 300 men surrounding him, and he says, hey, I can go to sleep. So he goes to sleep. And Dave and Abishai walk in between those 300 men, walk right up to Saul, take that spear and that cruse of water right next to his bolster, which is his pillow. I mean, listen, I don't care how much you protect yourself. You are not protected without God. God's your protection. Look at verse 13. Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill afar off. Now what does afar off mean? Well, the Bible says a great space being between them. Brother Ray teaches on this all the time. The Bible defines itself. You know what a far off means? There was a great space between them. You say, well, I already knew that. No. A child might not know that. So a child goes to the Bible and says, what's the far off mean? And you say, well, keep reading and it'll tell you. And it says, a great space being between them. Listen, the Bible defines itself. You don't need... Listen, Webster's 1828 Dictionary's fine, but he's just a fallible man too. The thing is, the Bible defines Bible terminology best. So verse 14, David cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that cryest to the king? Now, Abner probably... recognized David's voice. He probably recognized David's voice, and so he brings the king into the thing, because why are you yelling to me when the king's here? There's somebody greater than me here. You ought to be speaking to him, not me. So look at what he says. So verse 16, this thing is not good that thou hast done. Well, I'm sorry, this is verse 15. David said to Abner, Aren't not thou a valiant man? And who is like thee in Israel? Wherefore then hast thou not kept the Lord the King? For there came one of the people in to destroy the King thy Lord." That's probably why he liked to have an Abishai with him too because, listen, that's true. Only one of them came in to destroy him, and that was Abishai. David wasn't coming in to destroy him, but one came in to destroy him, so it's true what he's saying. Verse 16, this thing is not good that thou hast done. As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die. He strikes at his pride. Because ye have not kept your master the Lord's anointed, and now see where the king's spear is, and the cruise of water that was at his bolster. And Saul knew David's voice and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. He always showed respect for the position. He always showed respect for the position of king no matter how he felt about King Saul and what he was doing. Verse 18, he said, Wherefore doth my Lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in mine hand? It's legitimate to question his guilt, to point out his true intent. He's saying, why are you chasing after me? Verse 19, Now therefore I pray thee, let my Lord the King hear the words of his servant. He's saying, hey, just listen up for a minute. Now here is a crucial truth in life. If the Lord hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. But if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord. Now that's crucial right there to understand that. We've been studying in Lamentations and it's sort of given me a new reflection on how you ought to pray for your enemies. You know, I looked it up this morning and it... Let's see if I can figure out where the verse is. Yeah, Romans 12, 14, "...bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not." Well, I have no business cursing anybody. But notice what the verse says. If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering. He's saying, listen, if this is of the Lord, let me do an offering to the Lord in order for this thing to be rectified. But if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord. He's saying the Lord's going to curse them. David's not cursing them. Look at what he says, "...for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods." You've got to understand, God chose a land to serve in. God chose that land, and if He couldn't be in the land, He couldn't serve God the way that He was commanded to do so. But look at the two choices there. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 16. I read this one again this morning on Shimei. I love studying David. Shimei comes and curses David. in verse 5 of 2 Samuel 16. Shimei, the son of Gerah, he came forth and cursed still as he came. Look at verse 9. You've got Abishai again. Then said Abishai, the son of Zuriah, unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. I sort of like that guy. And look at verse 12. It may be that the Lord will look on mine... This is David. "...on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day." You know what? David's learning. David's growing. He's saying, look, this guy's cursing me. Let him go. Maybe God will bless me because of it. Listen, you look at 1 and 2 Peter and you go through there and you see that principle over and over again. Sometimes you just need to take it. Sometimes you just need to let it go and pray about it and say, all right, if this is of God, you shouldn't want to stop it anyway. If it's of men, what does he say? Curses be they before the Lord. That's a good answer. For they have driven me out this day, verse 19 back to 1 Samuel chapter 26, from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods. Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flee. as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." I was trying to figure out. Brother Ray was looking at ostrich and I was thinking of ostrich as I was reading partridge. But the point is something extremely insignificant. You know, the partridges lay their eggs and have somebody else raise them. They lay them in somebody else's nest. It's just amazing when you study some of these things out how neat it really is. But in chapter 24 he said, how come you're coming after a dead dog or flea? Now a flea has two eyes, six feet, and it's remarkably agile. It can jump. You know, when you think about how small a flea is, how far it can jump is pretty amazing. The leaping ability is surprising. But it has a troublesome bite. A flea does. So he says, look, you're seeking a flea, a partridge, earlier a dead dog. Verse 21, "...then said Saul, I have sinned." And that's generally the way it is. When you're faced with something, you go, I've sinned. I've seen people caught in sin and they'll say, well, you know, I repented of that. And all it is is a smoke screen many times. You know, in the Bible you have people that said, I have sinned. Saul's one of them right here. You have Pharaoh that said it. You have Balaam, Achan, Judas Iscariot. Then you have two people that sinned and said more, and that was David and the prodigal son. David said, I have sinned against thee. And the prodigal son said, I have sinned against heaven. So there is a difference. You can't just, you know... I mean, this is... Many times, you'll have... Somebody will do something, you go to them and they say, I have sinned. You know, I'm thinking, and you're just looking at them going, well, yeah. But what are you going to do about it? How is it going to change you? Where is your direction for the future? How will this affect you in a way that you're going to take the right path now? You don't see that with Saul. Saul can say, I have sinned, I have sinned. Oh, my son David, you're right, I'm wrong. You're holy, you're righteous, I'm not. So what? Unless it changes you. Look at verse 21. I have sinned. Return my son David, so I can take a spear and stick you to the wall. That's what he's saying. For I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Now notice, you can't kill the soul, so when you're looking at the soul here, he's saying, you didn't destroy me. I mean, I wasn't destroyed, meaning his life. My soul was precious, meaning his life. I have played the fool and have erred exceedingly. And David answered and said, Behold, the king's spear, and let one of the young men come over and fetch it." That's southern talk. That's why it's the Bible belt because sometimes you use a lot of Bible terminology and you don't even know it. Look at verse 21, "...the Lord rendered to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord delivered thee into mine hand today, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the Lord's anointed." Listen, you never let the circumstances Determine your actions. Saul was delivered into his hand. And from all natural, carnal viewpoint, it's, well, if the Lord... And listen, the Bible says the Lord delivered him. But the Lord delivered him to see what was in David. Many times in your life, you'll have situations come to you that will help you determine who you are. God already knows, but you and I don't know what we are. When we look in the mirror, many times we have a rosy picture of ourselves. But when you're faced with a situation that makes you determine, am I going to do A or am I going to do B, A is good, B is bad, and you choose A, it shows you who you are. You choose B, it shows you who you are. So don't let the circumstances determine always what you're going to do because sometimes God will use those circumstances just to bring out what we are. Verse 24, And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord. Now look at what it says there. It says, Behold, as thy life was much... Hold on a second. Behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. He says, I spared you by choice, but God will spare me. Psalm 37, if we read the whole Psalm, it says, "...fret not thyself because of evildoers." It says, "...trust in the Lord, delight in the Lord, commit thyself, rest in Him." You ought to read Psalm 37 in the midst of this thing and you'll see how it helped David. But he's told to fret not thyself because of evildoers. Now in the next chapter we're going to see he does go against what he says right there in Psalm 37. Verse 25, Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David! Thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place. Now we go into chapter 27. You look at 26 and you say, man, look at David. What an example! Look at the first verse of chapter 27. David said in his heart, now that's a crucial thing there, he said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul shall despair of me to seek me any more in any coast of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand. Really? That's what's going to help you escape out of his hand? So you wonder now, how can this happen? I really think this is one of the most important chapters for a preacher that you can ever read. Because you see how David had strength from God and now all of a sudden David gets his focus on himself and away from the Lord. And he fears the thing. And he says, he says, what am I going to do? Well, listen, there's many a preacher, you know, he's gone through life and he's seen God deliver him, God deliver him, God deliver him. And then he starts, you know, pondering in his own heart. Well, God delivered me because I am Or, you know, oh, I can rest on my laurels. I can look back and think, well, you know what? God did this and this and this and He'll continue to do it. Listen, there's no momentum in Christianity. In other words, you don't build up momentum. Pray without ceasing. Why? Because you've got to keep going back to God every day. Pray for your daily bread, the Bible says. It doesn't say pray for a week's worth of groceries. Things used to be different when it said pray for your daily bread. It's when you went out into the garden and you picked your own stuff and you brought it in. Or you went out hunting and you shot it and you brought it in. Now we go to the grocery store and we've got more choices than you can imagine. And we can go to Sam's and stock up for three months. But David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There's nothing better for me. The prophet Gad told him to go to Judah, but he's going somewhere else. So he's going to escape out of the coast of Israel, verse 2, and David arose and he passed over with the 600 men that were with him unto Achish the son of Mao, king of Gath. Remember Gath, where was Samson from? Verse 3, and David dwelt with Achish at Gath, Goliath's hometown. He and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Hinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. Now this is interesting. Michael is no longer his wife. Why? Because Saul took her and gave her away. Only two wives are mentioned for David. That, I think, is an important point to make. Verse 4, and it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more again for him. And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? Then Achish gave him Ziglag, that day. Wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day." And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. All he had to do was wait 16 more months. But he couldn't wait. David got impatient. He got weary in well-doing. He trusted in himself rather than continuing to trust in the Lord. And he thought, well, I'm tired of... I want a place that I can dwell, and I got a family, and I got to put my family first, and I got to have a house, and I got to have some place where I can go back to, and we keep moving, and I just can't trust God anymore. Basically, that's what he's saying. So he gives them Ziklag, verse 7. The time that David dwelt in the country was a full year and four months. David and his men went up and invaded the Gershurites and the Gezrites and the Amalekites. For those nations were of old, the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to shore, even in the land of Egypt. Saul was commanded to take care of those people, but he didn't. David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, the asses, the camels, the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road today? David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jeremelites, and against the south of the Kenites. David's living a double life right here. He's not in communion with God anymore. Verse 11, David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him, therefore he shall be my servant forever. By the way, whenever the world accepts you, you're on dangerous ground. Even if you do it deceptively. Broad is the way that leads to destruction. There's a narrow way that's the right way. And few there be that find it, the Bible says. And of course, you may just simply refer that to salvation. But here's the principle in chapter 27. David goes in chapter 26 again. He has Saul delivered to him by God. God puts a deep sleep on him. You think, well, how can we get to chapter 27 after chapter 26? Well, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 12, "...Wherefore, let him that thinketh, he standeth, take heed, lest he fall." If you start communing with your own heart, and you stop trusting in God, and you start thinking that it was you that enabled you to escape your enemies, you're going to fall. Take heed. If you think you're standing on your own power, God will have to show you you're not. Galatians 6.3 says, For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Anybody that thinks somehow they deserve the good and not the bad, listen, that's not true. We are all sinners, all deserving of hell, all deserving of nothing good in our life, and all the blessings we get from God, we need to give Him the glory and thank Him for those things. And then another one is Hebrews 12 verses 1 and 2 says, "...lay aside the weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us." Listen, besetting sin is easy. You've got to lay that weight aside. Nobody ever ran in a race with weights on and won the race. You might practice with the weights and all that, but when you run that race, you put those weights aside and you run for the prize. The Bible talks about that over and over again. What about David? Think about a couple of others. When Noah got off the ark, what happened to him? He ended up getting drunk, right? I mean, he has the whole world to himself, and look at what happens. Elijah, with the prophets of Baal, 450 of the prophets of Baal were killed, and then Jezebel says, I'm going to kill you, and he flees and runs from her, scared as can be. Why? Because he was a man of like passions. We cannot look at the examples in the Bible and think that these were not but mere men. David's a great example of what to do. David's a great example of what not to do. David's a great example of a man that loved God, served God, lived for God. But David's also a man that looked at himself, and because of that, he feared. He feared Saul in ways that he never should have had to fear, except that he probably wasn't praying without ceasing. You've got Peter. He sees Jesus walking on the water. He gets out there and he walks on the water himself, and then he sinks. And he also curses in order to deny the Lord three times when the Lord is being taken to crucify after he said, I'll serve you, I'll die for you, I'll... Listen, these are but mere mortals when we look at them. And then the last one is David. He's delivered from Saul twice, could have taken out his life, and yet he goes and he hides out with the enemies of God. How in the world can that happen? Because it can happen to anybody if you get your eyes off of God, and especially if you get them on your enemies, and think somehow God protected you in the past, but this is too much now. It is never too much for God. But you've got to let God take care of it. You're dismissed.