Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? David took these words to heart, and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. So he disguised his sanity before them and acted insanely in their hands and scribbled on the doors of the gate, let his saliva run down into his beard. And Achish said to his service, behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house? That's bright. Father we do thank you for your blessings we thank you for all you do for us bringing us here tonight. Pray that you would just bless us as we look into your word that you give us understanding and help us to see application for our own lives. Give us a Not only a greater understanding of your word, but a deeper love for you. And just help us to be the people you've called us to be. Thank you and praise you and ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Okay. Desperate times and desperate measures is the title tonight. And of course that comes from David going into Gath and realizing he's in trouble and then pretending to be insane so he can get out of there. desperate times and desperate measures. This comes out of Sunday night, because Sunday night I was in Psalm 34, which is a psalm that was written on this occasion. And interestingly enough, the psalm begins with, Bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. And as I said Sunday night, as I read that psalm, I thought, strange that that's the occasion for because you don't see him praising God continually there. And, you know, how do you reconcile those two pictures? David is, I mean, in terms of his behavior, this is the lowest of the low in terms of how he's acting, but he's terrified. He's not praising God. He's not trusting God, it seems. And so I want to look at this passage a little bit more, and I just kind of, hit on it briefly Sunday night with sort of a conclusion that Psalm 34 was written after David had gone through this situation. And so perhaps it was a lesson that he had learned. He had put himself in a bad situation. The Lord delivered him out of it. And his response to that, kind of what he learned through that was, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise will continually be in my mouth. And then, you know, the rest of the Psalm. And so sometimes God allows trials like that, or ordains them, would be even a better word, trials like that for a purpose that we may or may not understand at the time. But quite often after the fact, we do see to a certain extent what God was doing, that he was teaching us something, or he was using circumstances to draw us closer to him. So just in a general sense, first of all, why the trials? Why does David have to go through what he's going through? And then we'll get more specifically into David. When you look at the trials, for example, in David's life, just kind of an overview background quickly here. Anointed King, all right, is kind of in Saul, King Saul's Kind of his family a little bit. He hasn't married the daughter yet, but he's already, he plays music for Saul and this sort of thing. So he's got a loose connection to King Saul, but he's a nobody. David's a nobody from Bethlehem. His family is nobody. And so what David, what launches him onto the national scene, of course, is the fight with Goliath. He kills Goliath. And from that point on, David's the equivalent of a, a superstar today. Everybody in Israel knows who he is now, and he's greatly admired, and girls are writing songs about him. And so, I mean, when you've made it there, you've done something impressive. And yet, the trials are just never-ending, it seems, early on, because Saul's not going along with this whole David's gonna be the future king thing. He's not on board. In fact, he grows to hate David and wants him dead. And so that begins kind of a lengthy time in David's life in which he's running for his life. And Saul is pursuing him. And there's several near misses, a couple of near misses, where David had the opportunity to kill Saul, and he didn't do it. He would not do it. It wasn't because he was afraid to kill someone, obviously, but he would say, I will not raise my hand against the Lord's anointed. And David just had this fear of the Lord, if you will, a respect, a reverence for God. And even though Saul is not worthy of such respect, he's still the Lord's anointed. And if God anointed him, who am I to strike him down? And David would not do it. And so what does God do with these trials in our life? And why do they come? Why does David have to run for his life and then go to the enemy and then have to feign madness just to get out of there alive? You say, well, why does God just prevent all these things from happening? You know, we ask that ourselves in our own lives quite frequently. Well, I see that maybe God's doing something here, but couldn't he have done it by doing it this way and making things easier on me and just sent me a letter and tell me what he wanted me to learn? instead of me going through it. Well, God does things His way, and you know, you don't want to admit it, but usually when you go through the hard times and learn a lesson on the other side of that, you learn a lesson a whole lot better than if He just sent you a letter. And so that's usually how He does it, is circumstances. And so, you know, they teach us, we learn from them. There was a situation once when the Apostle Paul, you remember in Acts 27, he was on a ship, and they run into some bad weather, and Paul told them not to you know, not to leave Crete or somewhere that they were, and they ignored him, and they did. And then they get out in the ocean, and they're in real trouble. And it's winter's coming on, the sea is angry, and Paul tells them, you all should listen to me. If you'd listen to me and not left Crete, this wouldn't be happening. And so there's a hard time, something to be learned. And Paul's teaching it to them, whether they want to hear it or not. But a little bit later on that same story, of course, they, I mean, it looks like they're gonna die. These are seasoned sailors, and they're terrified, and it looks like they're gonna die. And Paul starts encouraging them in Acts 27. He starts encouraging them to eat, and he tells them, which would have been just totally foreign to them, but Paul said, the Lord has revealed to me that I will appear before Caesar, and nobody on this ship is gonna lose their life. I mean, they're in a perilous situation. I mean, they could lose their life at any moment. And Paul says, nope, it's not going to happen. My God told me that I will appear before Caesar. Nobody on this ship is going to lose their life. And so not only do trials teach us, but they draw us closer. And Paul, obviously, was drawn closer to the Lord. But he's even, in an evangelistic way, perhaps drawing these sailors, these hardened sailors, closer to the Lord and saying, look, God's going to protect you. I think you got to be careful making promises like that. Like if that's me on that ship, I can't say to them, hey, I guarantee you God's going to protect you. And then they all drown. And it's like, whoops, sorry. I guess I got that one wrong. Paul, God told Paul they were going to live. All right, so this is a different situation really than what it would be for you or I. I mean, sometimes we get a strong indication of what God's doing, but I would never say it with the certainty that Paul does here. And yet he's clearly witnessing to them, and even more so, let me read this. in terms of equipping them for the future here. Acts 27 verse 33, this is them on the ship. Until that day, until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them to take food, saying, today is the 14th day you've been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. Therefore, I encourage you, take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair of your head will perish. Where have you heard that before? Oh, idea of the hair on the head and some Jesus it said. Therefore, I encourage you to take some food for this is for your preservation. Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all. And he broke it and began to eat. Now, imagine that scene, by the way. Not only are these hardened sailors, they're hardened sailors that think they're pretty close to dying. This is a tense moment. And Paul's in the midst of it doing what? ministering, evangelizing, praising God, tells them to eat. You haven't eaten in 14 days, man. Look, you're going to live. You need to eat. And so he gets ready to present them with food. And what does it say that he does? It says, in the presence of all, he gave thanks to God. What kind of testimony is that? What kind of effect? I mean, under normal circumstances, if their life's not on the line, they may be mocking Paul or throwing things at him or making fun of him or making fun of his God. But under these circumstances, it says all of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food. Sometimes God puts you in a very precarious situation in order to work in your life and get your attention. and do something that just never would have happened under normal circumstances. These sailors, I would venture to say, heard the gospel. I mean, they're with the Apostle Paul on a ship for a long time in a potentially fatal situation. I bet they heard the gospel a lot. They wouldn't have heard it at all had it not been for these perilous circumstances. And so God uses these trials, and Paul, God uses Paul. He ministers to him, he's a bold witness, and he would see this all as providential, and it's all going to turn out okay because God's told me I'm going to go to Rome, and none of you are going to die, and that's what happened. All right, so back to David. And this whole situation with David going into Gath, this is one of those interesting aspects of David's life that you really scratch your head as to what on earth he was thinking. I mean, if you really study it, it just looks like a cut and dry story. Okay, David was running from Saul, he's scared, he goes to the enemy. And he thinks, okay, well, maybe that's what I'll do. And he finds out real fast, that's not what you better do. And so he, you know, gets creative and gets out of there with his life. And that's the end of that. But I wanna dig a little deeper into it tonight in terms of what was motivating David and, you know, what perhaps was God up to in the midst of this, what was his plan? And so if you'll notice verse 10, David's run, It says, then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. Now you gotta know a little bit of background as to how David ends up going to the king of Gath. As I said Sunday, Gath is the hometown of Goliath, who David just killed. It's not the town to go to. And would you believe David even goes there with Goliath's sword. Because if you read just a little bit earlier, he goes to the priest of Nob and says, you know what? I fled so quickly on the king's mission. Actually, he's running from the king, King Saul. He says, yeah, the king sent me off on a mission. I didn't even bring a sword with me. Do you have one? And the priest says, yeah, I've got Goliath's sword. You're welcome to it. I mean, you know, it's kind of yours in a sense. And David says, there's not another one like it in the world. Let me have it. And so now he has Goliath's sword, which when you're talking about a guy the size of Goliath, that's got to be some sword. And David goes carrying that thing into Gath. And he thinks he's not going to be noticed by anyone. So I'm saying, I mean, what level of fear must be driving him or just exhaustion or just not thinking clearly? Or he has a, you know, one of those, he's playing chess and we're all playing checkers. He's got something beyond us. but it sure doesn't look like it. And so David ends up in this situation, the reason being, I mean, he had just pretty recently killed Goliath, and he had kind of come in, came into Saul's household, and David and Jonathan, Saul's son, had become very close friends, the Bible tells us, as though their hearts were knit together, or some, there's some, several ways it describes it. They were very close. And David knows that Saul wants him dead. He tries to tell Jonathan. Jonathan says, no way. My dad shares everything with me. Well, I'm telling you, he wants me dead. And he finds out the hard way. He said, well, you know, I'm not going to come to dinner for a couple of nights. And you look at what your dad's reaction is. And sure enough, Saul loses it. In fact, tries to kill Jonathan in just a rage. And of course, David, through a signal that they had, he warns Jonathan warns David, yeah, you're right. He wants you dead. You better flee. And so that's what he's doing. These are the early days of David's flight from Saul. And as I said, he ends up with Goliath's spear on his next stop. And he's between a rock and a hard place. I mentioned this Sunday night. He's got on one hand Saul, who desperately wants him dead. And David is feigning madness here. David's pretending to be crazy. Saul was crazy. Saul didn't have to pretend. And so Saul is chasing David, wanting him dead. His army is trying to find him everywhere. And now David flees to Gath, and what's the king of Gath? What's his reaction going to be to David if he finds out that's David? He's probably going to want him dead, too. And so David is kind of at his wits' end here as to where to go, because wherever he goes, people want him dead. And the strange thing about it is he's the most popular guy in Israel. It's just the people in power want him dead. I mean, the commoners love him. The girls are singing songs about him. But this king and this king want him dead. And guess who he's stuck between? Those two kings. And so he runs. And he runs to Gath. And you know, it's one of those things of perception versus reality. Sometimes what you perceive to be true isn't really true. You ever been in a situation where you thought somebody thought something of you and you just had it all worked up in your mind and come to find out it was all just worked up in your mind? Reality wasn't what you were perceiving at all. And, you know, when you look at Saul wanting David dead and Achish the king of Gath wanting David dead, their perception would be David's a dangerous man to me. I need to kill him. In Saul's case, he's a threat to my throne. I need to kill him. In Achish's case, this is the top enemy the Philistines have. We need to kill him. He killed Goliath. And so they have this perception that David is a threat to them, a harm to them, when here's the reality. David doesn't want to do anything to either one of those guys. He has no desire to kill either one of them. He just wants to live. I mean, he's running for his life. He's not coming in to geth to size the place up because he's gonna take it over. He's not gonna go to Saul and kick him out of the throne and say, nope, I'm the new king. He is completely patient to let God work things out in God's time as it pertains to Saul. He's not a threat to Saul in terms of his personal conduct toward him. Now, one thing that's interesting is when you look at a guy like Saul, And you look at a guy like Achish the king of Gath, why do they assume the worst about David, who's actually a good guy? Any ideas on that? Why do they assume that he's out to get them, both of them? They're not theologians, they don't understand total depravity, so. Reputation, what do you mean? Killed a big man. So that could be that they, well, yeah, he's. Yeah, which he doesn't have a kingdom yet, and so that's the issue, yeah. All right. Yeah, and that happened a couple of times in the New Testament too, didn't it? With Jesus and John the Baptist, where the people, they were popular with the people, but the powers that be saw them as a threat. But they were hesitant at times to go after them because they knew the people liked them. That could have been part of it as well. Anything else? Yes, Sam? Right, right. Yeah, I mean, that could be. I mean, they wrongly assumed he was already king of Israel. And so they would see killing him as being a feather in their cap, so to speak, certainly. We don't want to forget that Saul was under the influence of an unclean spirit at this time. So yeah, you know, my Sam mentioned it was almost like he had paranoia. Yeah, definitely. Most definitely, because when you look at Saul's reactions to all of this, he's very distrustful of David. From our perspective, because we don't have evil spirits, we just look at it and say, well, David's the best soldier you have. Why would you want to kill him? And he doesn't want to take the throne from you. And so I think one of the things here, when you see Saul assuming the worst of David and Achish assuming the worst of David, I think one of the things is this, Saul and Achish are both wicked. And so they say, well, if I was in David's place, this is what I would do. When in fact, David's not wicked like they are. And so it's interesting to consider, they both assume the worst of David because they assume he's just like them. Sometimes we fall in that trap as well. We assume someone else's is, you know, because we think, what would I do in that situation? Well, I would stick it to that person. Therefore, he's going to stick it to me. Well, maybe that person is not as mean as you are. So, you know, you never know. All right. So David's run. David's reasons. Verse 10. What is David thinking? I mean, that's that's basically what I'm getting at with this one. What is David thinking? Is this Is he just pure desperation that he would go into Gath with Goliath's sword in tow, that he would go into Gath? Or is David calculating? Is there something here? If you give David the benefit of the doubt and you say, he's a smart guy, you know, I mean, he knew how to kill lions and bears and he took care of his sheep and he knew how to kill Goliath and he had the courage to do it. And I mean, you would have thought David, mad for going out and fighting Goliath one on one like that. I mean, everyone would have thought he's crazy. There's no way he's going to beat this guy. And he did. And so David going into Goliath's hometown with Goliath's sword, was David, did, does anyone think he had a plan here? Or was he just desperate? And that's just, he just does it. Any thoughts? Right. There's no way Saul's going to chase him into Gath, because Saul's not going into Gath. And so what's the old expression they say in warfare? My enemy's enemy is my friend. And so Saul is the enemy of Achish. And so David says, well, if I become friends with Achish, well, then maybe he'll side with me against Saul. I don't know if he thought it through that deeply, if it was, you know, that calculated, but certainly If he's running from Saul, that would have been a good place to go to stay away from Saul, because Saul wouldn't go there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he may have just, that was the next city, and so in he went. It's possible. Well, what's interesting is for him to go to Gath, okay, In one sense, he might be thinking, well, this will buy me some time. Saul's not going to chase me into Gath. At least I can come in here, and I won't have to worry about Saul for a few days, and I can figure out my next step. Clearly, there's fear driving this. There's no question about that at all. And then when he gets there and he gets found out, even more fear drives it. Here's what I think David thought. and I think he was completely wrong on this, and I don't know if you want to blame this on him being humble or him being naive, but I think David thought he would not be recognized in Gath, and that just wasn't going to happen. I don't think David realized how well known he was after he killed Goliath, that the people in Gath know exactly who he is by appearance as soon as he shows up and I can't help but think carrying Goliath's sword would have even been a bigger clue as to who he was and so it just seems on the surface to be just a really bonehead move on his part that he would go there and I don't you know I don't think he had anything great plan calculating you know this anything like that At times he did in life, I mean in warfare, he would do some pretty sly things at times, but not here. I think he's just running for his life and he figures, well I'll go to Gath, Saul won't recognize me, they won't recognize me. They're wrong, David, you are the most famous guy around now. And you know how when someone gets famous real fast and they don't realize it and they go out in public and they have no idea they're gonna be mobbed? Wow, I didn't know this was gonna happen. Yeah, because you're famous now. the fact that, yeah, it's Goliath's sword. He didn't think highly of himself to think that, oh, they're going to know who I am. I'm going to go in there with this sword. He probably didn't realize just how, you know, some people have a higher opinion of themselves in some cases. But then it also said once he got there and he recognized him, he changed his behavior before them. So he had to go to plan B, I guess. I mean, they did recognize him, and now, you know, I'm not gonna tell him, yeah, I'm David, look, I killed a lion. Even though he has his sword, I think he's like, plays like he's a crazy man. Right. Yeah, he gets himself in quite a pickle. And then, to me, that's another one of the interesting things to consider, is what do you do once you realize you've been found out? At that point, do you do, you know, the first thing you can do is say, yeah, I'm David, and who wants a piece of me now? You know, which one of you wants to take me on? I've got Goliath's sword right here. I mean, that's one thing he could do. And, you know, you never know. Sometimes bluster actually works. You know, you can intimidate enough people and they back off. But it didn't seem like that was going to happen here. He didn't take it that way. And so he goes, you know, or he could have played David the nice guy and say, look, guys, I'm running from Saul. Why don't you guys cut me some slack when I become king? Maybe I'll, you know, give you some gold or something. Doesn't do that. In his mind, the only viable option is to pretend he's not David. And he can't just play it off as, oh, no, I'm not David. I just kind of look like David. He has to go extreme here to really sell this. And it works. It works. You've got to give him that. It was such an outlandish thing that he does. that the king's like, there's no way David would do this. He wouldn't act like this. Clearly it's not David. When it was, who would have thought he was that desperate? But he was. And so, which is number three on our list, David's recognition. He gets recognized And it's interesting how he's recognized. Verse 11 tells us, the servants of Achish said to him, is this not David, king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying Saul has slain his thousands and David his 10,000? So they asked two questions, kind of rhetorical questions, but you know, isn't this David, the king of the land? Which that has been mentioned already. That tells us something. They assumed that David was already king. You know, the spoils of killing Goliath and all, and the immediate fame that came from that, they assume David's the king of the land, or it could be a case where even if he's not officially the king, they say, well, yeah, right, he's not officially, but he runs that place because he killed Goliath. And one thing that I think's interesting in this is you wouldn't think, okay, if you're looking for divine truth, you're not going to look to the Philistines for it. But in the providence of God, there's truth in what they say, isn't there? Isn't this David, the king of the land? Yeah, he's the anointed king. He's going to be the king. You're on to something, Philistines. He's not officially king yet, but yes, he is going to be the king of the land, and they already recognized him as such. And then they say, did they not sing and dance? Saul is slain as thousands and David as ten thousands. Clearly, his reputation has preceded him into Gath. Everybody knows he killed Goliath. I mean, that's big news real fast. But this is something a little more obscure that you wouldn't think had reached all the way to Gath, that they knew the songs that they were singing about David. They knew them. And so, I mean, those are the two questions there. Is this not David, king of the land? And isn't he the same one they sang the songs about? Now, what are they implying there to Achish? I mean, these Achish servants who said this, they're implying to him, if this is really David, and he's really the king of the land, and he's really a guy that they sing these songs about, he's a threat to us. Because if he can kill 10,000 people, and we already know he killed Goliath, we may be in trouble. to which David hears that and says, uh-oh, they see me as a threat. They're going to try to kill me. And, you know, when your life's at stake, you can be quite terrified, and David was. All right, his renown, David's renown, verse 11, where it talks about him singing. I want to go back a couple of chapters to 1 Samuel 18, where they actually sing those songs, where it mentions it happening. And it's interesting the way it happens. I mean, this is all right on the heels of Goliath. Now, you'll remember that after David killed Goliath, that was not the end of the day. You know, that wasn't the end of the battle. That was the beginning. Now Israel had courage and they pursued the Philistines and they, you know, they killed some of them. And it was a rout from that point on. David probably didn't kill 10,000 of them that day. but at the same time, Saul certainly didn't kill 1,000. And so they're singing songs that aren't accurate, but the songs are really telling you what the people think. All right, here it is, 1 Samuel 18, verse 6. It says, it happened as they were coming back. Okay, it says after the battle, David's already killed Goliath, they've killed a bunch of the Philistines, and David and Saul, and all of them's coming back. Happened as they were coming back when David returned from killing the Philistine that the women came out of all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. They're celebrating. And the women sang as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Now, when you consider that, a couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, David's fame is just sudden and new, and it's amazing how news travels so fast and sometimes, you know, sometimes it gets exaggerated even. David's killed his ten thousands, he's killed one. Granted, it was a big one. He's killed one and he probably killed a few more along the way that day but I mean for the most part the song is probably a bit of an exaggeration. Secondly, if you notice this, it specifically says that the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul. So they're singing this song to Saul. Now my question for you is this, is that a compliment to Saul or is that an insult to Saul? It says insult. It definitely, the scripture tells us from that point on he looked on David Yeah. Sam? Right. Right. And where was Saul? Yeah. Yeah, it's it's interesting now. If they had just stopped the song after the first verse, it would have been perfect, right? Saul has slain his thousands. Okay, now come up with a chorus for us, boys. It wasn't what he did. It wasn't what they did. Saul is slain as thousands, and David as ten thousands. I mean, that's kind of a slap in the face. I mean, now, had Saul been a more gracious king, perhaps he wouldn't have taken it that way. I mean, you know, ego's getting away pretty fast in any type of, you know, organization. And so, I mean, if he had been gracious about it, he could have said, fine with me. David's my best soldier. Let him kill 10,000 and I don't have to kill any. I'm more than happy to sit on the throne and let David go out there and fight my battles for me." But he wasn't gracious at all. And to be honest, you could see how that might be taken as an insult. And here's what it tells us Saul's reaction was. Ed's already said 1 Samuel 18 verse 8, and Saul became very angry for this saying, displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. Alright, again, when you think of this, perception versus reality. Saul's spitting mad over them songs and who's he mad at, the girls that wrote them? No. He's mad at David. David didn't write those songs. David didn't ask them to sing those songs. David had nothing to do with it other than here was David's crime. He killed Saul's biggest enemy because Saul was too big a wimp to do it. And so when you look at that, that's what David had done. David had led a tremendous victory for Saul's nation against their biggest enemy. And when they came back, David was getting some credit for it. And Saul was livid. His perception was that he was angry at David over what had happened. You know, some of this is driven by exaggeration. Exaggerations can be very powerful. David hadn't killed 10,000 and really there's all kinds of exaggerating going on. The girls are exaggerating David's feats. David's killed his 10,000. Saul is exaggerating David's threat. He's not out to kill him. David's not out to harm Saul at all. We get hit with exaggerations sometimes. That's why you always got to have a clear head and say, you know, what's the old Joe Friday line? Just give me the facts, ma'am. I'll make my own. I'll do. I'll come up with my own exaggerations if you'll just give me the facts. Let me do the exaggerating. Because exaggerations are everywhere. And a lot of times when you look at the facts, you're like, well, wait a second. This is not how it was presented to me. And had Saul not been tormented by an evil spirit, not been a madman, not had all these things working against him here. If he was rational and clear-headed, he could have looked at this situation and said, okay, so he's also, David's probably a lot younger and better looking than Saul, which would be another reason why the girls are writing songs about him. Why are you jealous about that? So exaggerations are powerful, but yet again, You don't expect biblical truth from the Philistines, you don't expect biblical truth from Saul either, and yet there's a kernel of truth. A lot of times, even in people like that, sometimes in what they say, there's a kernel of truth because Saul says, well, what else can he have but the kingdom? And was Saul right? He was right. He was going to get the kingdom, yeah. when you do something for somebody, which in my case, I'm thinking, David helped Saul save face by killing Goliath, but instead of him being appreciative because he was too scared to go out there and do it, he should have been happy and thankful, but yet he gets jealous when David gets some credit. He ought to be, what would you call it, just gracious to him, and he wasn't. Right, yeah, no, he definitely should have. I mean, when you look at the fear they had of Goliath for 40 days and nights and whatever it was when Goliath went out there and just railed at him, he terrified those people. And David makes quick work of him. And I mean, that's, like I say, that's Saul's biggest enemy. Biggest threat to his throne was Goliath, not David, at least from his perspective in terms of how he should have viewed it. But David's his threat. Now here's a question. David's anointed as the future king. That's already happened. Does Saul know about that? Does he know David is the future king? Right, right, right, right. And so, you know, when you look at Saul's even paranoia, as the word was used earlier, over losing the kingdom and, oh, what more does he have now but the kingdom? I can't, you know, they're writing these songs about him and then he almost kills Jonathan because he wants David. And that was related to the kingdom too, by the way. Back when Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan because he was defending David, Saul said to Jonathan, He's going to take your kingdom. In other words, you're my son, you should be the king, but it's going to be him instead of you, which Jonathan was fine with that. And so, in terms of what Saul knew, he knew that he was not going to be king and it wasn't going to be just, yeah. David's, or Jacob's son, the kingdom was supposed to be through Judah, not through Benjamin. So do you think that Saul knew enough of the Torah to know that? I don't think Saul, I'm trying to think of a nice non-farming way of saying this. I don't think Saul knew much at this point, for sure. Some of the things Saul did know he didn't even know. Like, for example, he prophesied and he probably didn't even know what he was saying. But remember when they said it's all among the prophets. And by this point, I think Saul is pretty far gone. He's just eaten up with irrational anger and jealousy. But what he does know is he does know that he's not going to remain king because Samuel told him that. First Samuel 15, let me read it. Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe and it tore. And Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. Now, he doesn't know who the next king is, but he's got a profile, doesn't he? He knows, first of all, it's not going to be you, Saul, because the kingdom is being ripped from you. Second of all, it's not going to be your son, because he specifically mentions neighbor. The Lord is giving the kingdom to your neighbor. And third of all, somebody who's better than you. And Saul probably figured out pretty quick David was better than him. And so while he didn't know for sure, he knew he wasn't going to be king anymore, at least he was told. He didn't know David was the one who was going to do it, but he probably started figuring it out. And that's why he's got this irrational hatred for David. And he's got an ego. And egos get in the way. I mean, if you don't look at everything from the divine perspective, if you just look at it from a human perspective, like you're you know, a foot soldier in the army of Israel and you know all this information, you're like, man, why doesn't Saul just relax? He's the king. David's a great warrior. He's a great general. He's, you know, we could have a wonderful nation here if Saul would just relax and quit trying to kill our best soldier. Obviously, from a divine perspective, we know that something's up here. Saul's on the way out, David's on the way in, and God's working that out. And sometimes when God works things out from our perspective, it's ugly. I mean, we're seeing things happening and we're like, why is this happening? Why is Saul acting like this? Why is David having to run for his life? But what's happening is God's perfect plan is happening. He's getting rid of Saul in his way, and he's bringing David to the throne in his way. And to be honest, he's preparing David for what he's going to need to do as king. I mean I think a lot of that time was preparation when he's running. It tells us shortly after this that basically every disgruntled person in Israel came out to David and joined him. Those who were in debt and those who were disgruntled with the king or whatever, his family had come out and so he had this little kind of ragtag army that had joined him that he was leading. For better or worse, you know, he's gaining experience as a leader of men, as a leader of an army. And it'll serve him later in time. All right, we're almost done here. David's realization in verse 12, it said, David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. Now, you know what's interesting about that is, took these words to heart. He's scared. I mean, he's found out. He knows they found him out. And he's scared because he knows Akish could kill him, could have him killed. And what's so amazing about this to me is how quickly life can change. How quickly. Because David just stood in that valley as the only guy with enough nerve to even fight Goliath. He defeats him. And I mean, the faith was just oozing out of David. The Lord will deliver you into my hands. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should taunt the armies of the living God? God, God, God is just coming out of David. And I mean, David is just impressive in his trust and his faith and his courage, supernatural even. when he faces down Goliath. And just shortly thereafter, he's terrified of Achish, who couldn't have been as scary as Goliath. And so it's amazing how quickly things can turn on you. It's like, what happened here? And it happens to us sometimes. It's like you're on top one minute, and then your whole world falls apart. And three days later, it's like, what happened? I think for us, the lesson is, That's how life is, so you better be ready for that. And don't think you're going to be at the top of the mountain all the time, because you're not. But also, when things are going bad, don't think you're going to be down in the gutter all the time, because you're not. Life's just full of those changes. It's very similar to Elijah and Jezebel. You remember, he had just, with the prophets of Baal, and he had just won that showdown. And then just shortly after that, Jezebel threatens his life, and Elijah's terrified. Like, how could he be terrified? Look what he just did. And that's life, and that's human nature, you know? Yeah. There's Peter. He takes the sword and cuts this guy out of the ear. And a little while later, a girl says, and he's in fear. He's worried about losing his life. And here is, you know, it just shows you just how quickly, when we think we're brave, and then all of a sudden, we start maybe thinking about ourselves, and we don't think about God. That's when the fear sets in. That's what happens. Yeah, that's exactly. I mean, when you look at, I mean, Peter's a perfect example. He was willing to stare down, you know, a whole group of Roman soldiers, or probably temple guard. Whatever they were, he was willing to draw the sword and take them on when there was no way he was going to win that fight. No way. And then just shortly thereafter, a girl makes him melt because she thought she had information on him. And so, yeah, life's fickle. Yeah. He had Christ at his side, and then he was watching what they were doing to Christ. Right. And his courage failed. Yeah, I mean, that's a good point. He did have Jesus there with him. in the garden. So maybe he had a greater courage because of that. All right. Finally, of course, David's ruse, verse 13, he disguised his sanity before them, acted insane in their hands, scribbled on the doors of the gate, let his saliva run into his beard. Akish said, behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? Do I lack madman that you brought this one to act the madman in my presence? So shall this one come into my house? How scared must David have been to have acted like that? And what I was reading was, of course, the greatest indignity is spit, when you think about it. If you spit in someone's face, that's And in that culture, for you to have spit running down your beard was just degrading. I mean, nobody would do that. And so David had to really degrade himself, which tells you how scared was he that he thought that was the only way he's going to get out of this alive. And you know, I mean, if ever you needed a lesson that you never know when your fears are going to get the better of you, David was not a chicken by nature, you know. He was a brave man. And he was in such a situation that he thought this was the only way out. Another thing I'll say, and this will be it. He was quick thinking. He was, yeah. See, that was another thing. Once you get in that situation, okay, how am I going to get out of this, you know? That's what he goes with, and you're right, it worked. At the end of the day, it worked. And here's the final thought I would have, and this is something that to me is another one of those passages that tells me the Bible's true. It's not made up, it's not mythologized, and this is why. If I wanted to write a mythology of David and try to make him more than he was, I would leave this part out. I just would not put that in there, you know? If it was phony, because a lot of people say, oh, the Bible's made up stories, you know, all these superheroes, it just tells all their great things. This is not great, this is embarrassing. And for the Bible to include that, what that tells me is, first of all, David's a man with feet of clay like the rest of us, and he proves that over and over again, though he is a godly man and loves the Lord clearly throughout his life. And, you know, if it could happen to him, it could happen to any of us, and the Bible doesn't leave it out. The Bible leaves it in there and says, here he is. This is who he is. This is what happens when your fears overcome you and you're not trusting in the Lord. And then, of course, if you keep reading, the end result, he leaves Gath and he writes Psalm 34, which we talked about Sunday night, praising God. And so I'm thinking, when David went into Gath, if he had a plan at all, it was not, I know what I'll do, I'll go into town, they'll recognize me, I'll act like I'm crazy, I'll put spit in my beard and scribble on the wall, and then I'll leave town. And then write a song about it when I'm done. Sounds like a country song, actually. And so that wasn't the plan, but you know, God got him out of it. And when God gets you out of those jams, maybe writing a song praising him is not such a bad thing to do. So, all right, there we'll stop. Questions or comments? Yeah, Sam? Yeah. Right, right. Yeah, no, he's not done with Gath. Right. Yeah. Yeah. That one was maybe a little more thought through this one just desperation. It seems.