A time of need

Good morning, One Hope Community Church. How you guys doing? Good. Are you enjoying the fall weather this weekend? Yeah, some of us are, some of us aren't. I talked to Barb earlier. She said she don't really like it. Uh, yeah. My name is Ronnie. For those of you who don't know me, I am an elder here at One Hope along with Derek. Happy birthday, Derek. It's his birthday today. uh and and Stephen who is our pastor. So you'll see you'll see Stephen up here most Sundays, but me and Dererick will be up here helping some. And it's a privilege to open the word of God for us today. H if you've been with us over the last several months, you know, we've been going through the book of 1 Samuel. And so we've been going through this transition of Israel from the era of the judges to the era of the kings. Uh, and today we're in chapter 21. We're jumping in to continue to see and look at David's life. But before we jump into uh, chapter 21, I have a question for us. And the question is, is there a time, have you found yourself in your life in a time of need? It might be right now that you're going through it. It might be in the past, but I would venture to say probably yes. So think about it. What was your what was your need? Were you needing encouragement? Were you needing prayer? Were you you needing wisdom, discernment, needing protection, needing money, financial assistance? What was that need? Uh because today we we will see uh in this chapter David in his time of need. And that need can come from a lot of different places. broken relationships that you've been through. It can come from uh a health crisis that you've been through or going through. It can come from uh a lot of different places. Uh can come from a job loss or a loss of a family member. Uh and so I think of those losses in my own life. I think of the the times of need in my own life when I I remember in my college age when I my parents got divorced and had to work through that and what that meant for our family and and then my girlfriend at that time we dated for many years and we broke up and trying to figure out what that looked like for my future as well. Having to process that in my time of need. Uh, also when we we were missionaries overseas for years and then when we came back to the States, having to figure out my job transition and what that looked like. Uh, out of a job for almost a year, doing Uber, trying to sell insurance, uh, teaching English online to Chinese kids. I was trying to provide for our family. But it was a great time of need for us. Uh and then several years later uh finding myself diagnosed with cancer and trying to figure out through the test and treatment what that looked like for my life and going forward. So our time of need and so David as we look at his life today in this story in 1st Samuel 21, he's in a time of need as well. A great time of need for David here. And usually when we hear stories about David, we put David up on a pedestal uh and because he was a great king. He was a great man of faith after God's own heart. And those are true. Uh but we'll also see in this chapter that David was uh a weak man as well, a sinful man, that he made uh poor decisions at times as well. and that he himself, the great King David, was in need of help in in need of God to meet him where he was. So, I entitled this chapter today in my sermon, David's time of need. And before we jump in, uh I want to pray for us and ask God to be with us. Let's pray. J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J J Jesus, we do thank you for this time together for your word that brings clarity and uh insight into who you are as a God, your character. So we pray that your Holy Spirit would come now and as I teach that you would guide and as we listen and receive that you would uh help us to hear and to see what you would have us to know today about who you are and how to respond. So be with us now as we jump into this chapter in Jesus name. Amen. So let's make a few observations. So this is 1st Samuel 21 1-9. Uh and this is again I entitled this David's time of need. And as I read these nine verses, I'm going to read all of them out. Uh but listen to the neediness of David as we go through this chapter. 1st Samuel 21 1-9. Then David came to knob to a a himc the priest. And a man a himc came to meet David trembling and said to him, "Why are you alone and no one with you?" And David said to him the priest, "The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you and with which I have charged you. I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place." Now then, why do you have on hand? Uh, what do you have on hand? Give me the five loaves of bread or whatever is here. And the priest answered David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread. If the young men have kept themselves from the women, and David answered the priest, truly women have been kept from us, as always when I go on the on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is ordinary journey. How much more today would their vessels be holy? So the priest gave the holy bread uh for there was no other bread but the bread of the presence which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day is taken away. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day detained before the Lord. His name was Doe the Edomite the chief of Saul's herdsmen. Then David said to him, "Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste. And the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you struck down in the valley of Elah." Behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but uh that here. And David said, there is none like that. Give it to me. So, we're going to make a few observations here. And it's centered around three questions that we find in the text uh in the text itself. And the first question we find in verse one. So here we are. It says then David came to knob to a himch the priest and a himch came to meet David trembling and he said this he asked David this question uh why are you alone and no one with you? So that first question reveals uh so uh David's weakness here in his time of need. We see a obvious observation. David's alone and he if you know in the last chapter he just suddenly had to leave Jonathan his dearest friend his best friend because of Saul and he's on the run from Saul but the priest knew something was up because he asked like what's going that this question in its intensity says basically what's going on? What's wrong here David? something's abnormal because David usually has an entourage because of his fame in Israel as the warrior of Israel and the next king. but he he's alone. Uh and we see and and there's some thought in this text as well as we'll see in in just a little bit uh that David uh has servants either waiting back that Jonathan sent with him uh because it does mention some other men along with David or some men that David has sent ahead of him, some soldiers to meet him in another place. But in essence, David's alone here with Aheimch, the priest, uh, and with no one else. Uh, and so he's alone and he's on the run. Like I just mentioned, David is on the run from Saul, King Saul, who was trying to kill him because of his jealousy that David's going to take his throne. Uh, but I want us uh to see also that David's on the run from Saul, but he's not on the run from God. And I think that's an important uh distinction here because we'll see in just a second. David does some things that are are bad decisions, but that doesn't mean that he's running from God. And how do I know that from this text? You see this in verse one. It says David came to Knob to A himch the priest. Knob was a priestly city. You had a city of priests here that David came to and he would be familiar with. And he also came to Aimilec, the high priest. And so David wasn't running from God. He's actually running to God, running to this place that he knew God would hopefully meet him. Uh and so and help him in his time of need. David knew his need. So again, we go back to this question and we see the intensity of it. What's wrong? What's going on? A himch says to David, "Why are you alone?" And you begin to understand that David is in this needy place, this place of need, and he needs help, alone and on the run. And then we see the answer to this question that David gives. He answers this question out of his neediness, out of his weakness. Uh because what does he say to the priest? He basically lies to the priest and says that he is on a secret mission from King Saul that King Saul has sent him and so keep the mission quiet. And that's a lie from David. He answers out of his weakness and neediness. And like I said, you know, that's what I love about scripture. It it is plain and allows it doesn't try to conceal David's sin here and his lie. It openly reveals it to us to help us to see that David is in this place of need. Uh and so we see clearly David's weakness, his loneliness and his fear. And then we also see clear uh clearly that his sinfulness in this lie. And this is no small lie as we will see. It seems small here, but in the next chapter, next week if you come back, Stephen will talk maybe about this. But this this little lie ends up costing Knob greatly and the priest, the city and the priest. Uh but it's a sobering reality for for David of where he is in this point in his story. it uh and for us because what we've heard about David in these great stories, this man of great faith, a great warrior, a great king, and we put him up on this pedestal like we are to emulate him and to imitate who he is. And some of that is right to do. But at the same time, we have to see that this is not one of those stories. This is David running from Saul, desperate and alone. And we know uh that he was also alongside of the great man of faith. He was a weak, sinful, flawed human being as well in need of help and in in need of God to meet him. So I think of that in my own life as well. is like I want to think of my myself as a man after God's own heart. Desire to be with God and to be become like him in his character. I would like to believe that you know taking our family of two at that time when we had a little baby while we were in Thailand across the world to share Jesus in a land that we had to learn the language, we had to learn the culture. We were there for 14 years. I'd like to think that, you know, I have some faith as well. Probably not as great as David's, but a man of faith. Uh, but alongside of that, I know over those years, too, that I was a man of weakness, a man who was sinful, a man who was in great need as well throughout that time that we were in Thailand. And God met us over and over again in that neediness. So, why are you alone? That's the first question. And it kind of unravels begins to unravel David's weakness and where he is in this stage of life for him on his journey and his need for help. Which leads us to the second question in verse three. Uh says this now then what do you have on hand? So David's on the run. He's in need of help. And now he's asking now when what uh now then what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread. Oh, whatever is here. Uh and so David's not only alone and on the run, he's hungry. Uh so we he needs provisions to survive. And so we see another layer of David's weakness here. Another need neediness, another need of David of David. Not only is he alone, but he's also hungry. He's in a desperate place in his journey. And imagine David's emotions. You know, the last few chapters, David comes from feasting and being famous to now alone and hungry in his journey. Imagine how he's feeling and what's going through his heart and head. And then we have a a himc's answer to David saying you know you know do you have any food here basically and the priest answered David I have no common bread on him but there is this holy bread that I have here and he goes on to say what this holy bread is it's just this bread that was placed on the altar at the tabernacle before God.  So the god uh the bread of the presence it was in God's presence offered to him for seven days and then after that seven days the priests were able to take that off put new bread on take that off and eat that bread so it was provisions for the priest uh this holy bread. So but David asked for it even though he probably knew it was just for the priest uh but it was his uh desperateness that drove David to ask for this read. And then a Himlecch, the high priest says says what to David? You can have it, but you you got to uh make sure that you have been holy in your vessels and you you and your men. And I love scripture again. It it it lays it out there plainly that they had to be separated from the women. I won't go further into that, but they had to be holy in their vessels. And so that was the requirement here in this passage for David to get the bread. And David said, "Yes, of course, even on an ordinary, uh, expedition, we we do that." So, uh, as we saw in the first question, there was this breaking of a moral law of God. David lied. So, it's like the ten commandments. Those are moral laws that God gives to us. And David broke one of those. And here this is more dealing with a ceremonial law of God where these ceremonial laws were set up to uh help uh religious life in the community of faith here in Israel. Uh and so this was set up the ceremonial law this bread is just for the priests. But how did ach respond? He agreed to give this bread to David. And my question as I was studying this this past week is why did he aim him respond this way? Why not just tell David that hey you're wrong for asking for it and he could he couldn't break this law this ceremonial law was a himch wrong and give giving it to David. And then we see uh in the New Testament Matthew 12 1-4 Jesus sheds some light on this very text in the New Testament uh he he references this text as he was going through the fields and his disciples were eating grain on the Sabbath. So let me read that for you quickly uh Matthew 12 because this is important to the text. It sheds light on the point of this text and why him was able to give this bread to David and why he did that. So listen, at this at the time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, him and his disciples were hungry and they began to pluck the heads of grain to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." Again, a ceremonial law. It's not right. So you're tell your disciples to quit doing it. He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence?" Just what we just talked about, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priest. Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priest in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And here's the point of the text. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless, for the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. So Jesus sheds light. He says, "God desires mercy, not sacrifice." He begins to help them understand that the law itself, these ceremonial laws were put in place to help serve the people, to help provide and protect as they were in rel relationship with God. And so this the law was there to point people to the lawgiver. And the lawgiver, it says in this text, is he's merciful. He desires to meet us in our time of need. God desires actually to give us mercy, not just to talk about the mercy. And so a Himlecch knew this as he was the high priest for the people. and he showed mercy to David in this time of need that this basic human need of hunger uh over uh yeah it had authority over the ceremonial ritual that was in place. So God extended mercy to David through a Himlec by providing food for him and his men. And God met David where he was in his time of need. So for us, where where are you? Where where do you need God's mercy today? Where is it in your time of need right now? Where is it that you need God to meet you and to provide for you? because God is merciful and wants to help and provide uh which leads us to our last question and uh before that it there is this one verse I wasn't going to mention it but it is verse 7 and it seems like it's just in there willy-nilly uh but it's not it says this now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day detained before the Lord His name was Doe the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsman. So, it's just thrown in there. Uh, but the reason it's there, and I I'll spend a brief amount of time on this, but it's for the next chapter, that this guy, uh, was Saul's henchman, and then this guy is going to play a prominent role in uh, the next chapter of how he deals with the priest in the city of Knob. So, that's why that's in there. But it the second question leads us to this last question as we wrap up that uh in verse eight it says this then David said to him again this third question unravels just another piece the a last layer of David's neediness before God. Uh then David said to him, "Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand, for I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste." And so this question not only reveals that David was uh on the run, he was alone, he was hungry, and now he is vulnerable. He's without protection. Can you imagine the warrior of Israel without his weapons? And so that's where you find David here, vulnerable again asking a a himc for provisions, protection. And a a himc again helps David. And by the providence of God, we have Goliath's sword here at this tabernacle provided for David in his time of need. And what do you think that sword would have reminded David of his victory? His victory. God's protection over him. If God provided and protected him in the past, he he would do that in the present. And as we have seen with a himc uh he met David, he provided for David. And we begin to see very clearly that Aim himc the high priest is being used by God as a vessel to take care of David. Just imagine this. Without Ahe's life, where would David be? You know, where would he be without this high priest helping him? And so this is God reminding David through a Himlec that he is with David, that he's going to provide for David, that he is going to protect David even in his weakness, in spite of his sin, and especially in his time of need. God is reminding David that he is with him and will take care of him. And a himc is the high priest. He foreshadows for us and represents another one who comes in the New Testament, the great high priest, right? Jesus who would sympathize with our weakness and our sin, tempted in every way but without sin himself. and one who would stand before God and fulfill all the requirements of the law, both ceremonial and moral. And because of what he did on the cross for us, we're able to approach God now with confidence to receive grace, to receive mercy in our time of need. So he's our high priest is our great high priest. He's also reminds us that uh that Jesus is our bread of life that he sustains us that he is our spiritual food. John 6 and A himch points us to the word of God that this word of God will protect us and sanctify us and be with us. So where are you on your journey with God today? What are you in need of? How do you need God to provide for you today? Protect you. provisions and where are you feeling vulnerable and weak and out of that weakness and need where has it led you to sin against God to respond out of that weakness to re do you need repentance and return to God. So listen to these verses again as I read them and may they sink deep into your heart today and I encourage you to reread them throughout the week, maybe even to memorize these verses. But again, this is a summary of this passage to us as we look to our great high priest. Since then we have a high priest, a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every as respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for your word that you revealed to us that you are our great high priest that we are able to approach with confidence because of what you have done for us. Not because of our obedience, not because of our righteousness, but because of yours. And so God, meet us in our time of need, wherever that is today, our health, our jobs, our relationships. God, we trust that as you reminded David that you would be with him, that you would protect him, that you would provide for him. We trust that you will do that for us as well because of who Jesus is on our behalf. We pray in his name. Amen.