Unexpected mercy

This morning's uh scripture reading comes from 1st Samuel chapter 29. 1st Samuel chapter 29. Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped by the spring that it was in Jezrael. As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on the rear with Akish, the commanders of the Philistines said, "What are these Hebrews doing here?" And Akish said to the commanders of the Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years? And since he deserted to me, I have found no fault in him to this day." But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, "Send the man back that he may return to the place which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us into battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary for us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men here? Is not this David of whom they sing to one another in dances? Saul has struck down his thousands and David his 10,00ands. Then Aish called David and said to him, "As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. So go back now and go peaceibly that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines." And David said to Akish, "But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from this day I entered into your service until now that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? And Akish answered David and said, I know that you are blameless in the sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said he shall not go up with us to the battle. Now then, rise early in the morning with the servants of your Lord, who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light." So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezrael. This is God's word. Um, we've been walking our way through 1 Samuel and um, we've been sort of looking. It's really masterful. I love this book. And one of the things that's so interesting in this text is the way that the narrator actually tells this story. And if you could almost imagine camera scenes, he pans back and forth now between Saul and David. We got back in chapter 27 a glimpse into David and what's going on. And then last week we looked at chapter 28 as the camera pans to Saul and what's going on in Saul's world. And now we jump back to David. And in a couple weeks we're going to jump back to Saul. And the story just continues to unfold as the author is tracking both of the lives of these men in a way that somewhat compares and contrasts. There's similarities and differences between the both of them. But what we find today is really the quiet mercy of God at work in this story. If you remember, David is really in the midst of a dilemma right now. He had fled to the land of the Philistines, was living among the Philistines at this point in time. really serving uh the overlord Akish, the king of Gath, and and kind of giving tribute to him. And we can we've talked about that from previous chapters about what's going on in David's life there. And then because he's in this situation, he gets invited to come into battle. All of the Philistines, the five cities and all the the regions or provinces all gather together for a massive assault that they're going to make against Israel. And so King Akish is one of those provinces as a leader and he invites David and says, "Come on, you're going to go with me into this battle." And now David has a great dilemma for what he's going to do. Because David is an Israelite and the Philistines are the archeneemy of the Israelites, and they're going to be fighting against the Israelites. And you may think, I I know what David's going to do. He's going to flip sides. But the author doesn't give us any indication of what David intends to do or what he's going to do. In fact, it's probably very hard even for David right now. There's quite a dilemma in his life. What will he do? Because if he decides to flip sides, you mind you, it's not just a small skirmish. He has the entire Philistine, tens of thousands of troops surrounding him and his 600 men. So, if he all of a sudden decides to switch in the midst of the battle, he's right on the wrong side of the battle. It would not be hard or difficult for him to get into a perilous situation where he loses his own life. So even if that plan itself has risk and danger to it, David has a dilemma. And as I read and studied this text and saw really this quiet mercy of God that is coming about, it really began to bother me. I I didn't want things to turn out so easily and so well for David because what we saw and what we're seeing in this text is that the Philistine lords look at this and they say, "This is a bad situation. This smells bad. We don't like it. Send him away." And all of a sudden, David makes an escape. He's off the hook and his dilemma is resolved. And we know through this that God, as we've seen, one of the big themes in the book is that God is at work. And God is at work sometimes directly, but also indirectly because we know he has chosen David to be the next king of Israel. And he is working to bless and protect and position David. But David hasn't been listening to God lately. David has not been inquiring of the Lord. David's kind of off doing his own thing. And these few chapters are actually darker chapters in David's life because David is like us. These are complex characters. These are not flat individuals like you and me. They existed in a real world. And there are moments where we have are capable of great good and godliness and moments where we lose our way. And David is losing his way. And there's a spiritual dryness and wandering happening in his life which we're going to look at. And yet we see that operating within this text is that God is giving mercy. It's an unexpected mercy that is coming. I think that's actually the title of the sermon today is God's unexpected mercy. Because as I looked at this text, I really didn't think that it should come this way or come so easily to David. And yet that's exactly how mercy works. Mercy is not getting what you deserved. And I don't think that David really deserved the mercy or to get so easily off the hook in this situation. We'll look at that in just a second. But nevertheless, God has decided to be merciful to David and to provide deliverance and rescue from a situation that he got himself into. So, as we kind of look through this, we're just going to sort of walk through pieces of this story and we're going to walk walk through some of the elements of how God's mercy comes and and why why it's unexpected. So, the first piece that we look at is it comes to a man who doesn't know that he needs it. David doesn't really realize in his dilemma that he needs some help, that he probably can't resolve this situation by himself. In verse three, we actually see a good question here. Says that that you know, Akish and the men there, all these armies are passing by the the warlords and the commanders of the Philistines. Verse three says, the commanders of the Philistines said, "What are these Hebrews doing here?" That's a good question. That's a very good question because they recognize, "We're going to fight Israelites. We're going to kill Israelites." And we look at our army and we see a pack of Israelites. This doesn't look right. Something looks wrong about this situation. What are they doing here? And yet Akish even seems a little bit blind or naive to sort of how this looks. And of course, Aish has it all worked out. Well, these are mercenaries. Haven't you ever heard of mercenaries? They've defected. They're against Israel. And probably one of the worst things that Akkesh could have done in this passage is he actually points out who they really are. He says, "Is this not David? You know, the giant killer, the guy that killed Goliath." And that turns they freak out even more. Are you kidding me? Like, this guy's a champion. And like, you've got him in here. This just looks like a bad situation. But, you know, it's not really their question that really struck me. It's really the question that they that David and his men should be asking. They should be looking around right now in the midst of all of these Philistines around them and saying, "What are we doing here? Why are we here? Why have we been living in the land of the Philistines? Why are we serving the Philistines? We're helping their economy. I mean, we literally, you know, rob and pillage and plunder. We get these goods. We give some of it to Akish to serve his purposes, which probably helps them buy more weapons and builds up their people. We've been serving these people for the last year and a half. And now we've been invited into battle to fight our own people. What are we doing here? They've lost and not taken inventory of just their geography and their position. And they find themselves seeking refuge from the enemy. And now it creating a system to where they are now on the side of the enemy serving the enemy's end and purposes. And just think about that just from a standpoint. Israel is the people of God. It's the chosen people of God. And you know, God has this whole missional element of how he wants to work through the land of Israel to to shape the world. And then you have the enemies of Israel, right? These other nations they're around. One of them being the Philistines. So, which side do you want to be on? Which side do David and his men find themselves on? It's the wrong side. It's against God's people and in some ways kind of against God and his purposes. And and and I, as I've pointed out before, we want to have some sympathy. It's a hard situation. But David got into this situation because he didn't inquire of the Lord. He said to himself, "Eventually Saul's going to get me." That was something that we looked at a couple weeks ago in chapter 27. So David and his men have not looked at their geography. In fact, they've gone back to the land of the Philistines, which is really one of the worst and last places they should have gone. If you recount earlier in chapter 21, David's been there before. He went into the land of the Philistines, and they said the same thing. Isn't this the guy that killed Goliath? Don't they sing songs about him? And he had to act like a crazy person and flee out of the land of the Philistines. And I have no idea why David thought, "This is a good plan. Let's go back there again. Let's return to the place that we once left that almost got me killed before." And yet, nevertheless, David does. And David's cunning, as Saul has said about him. He's good. He's real good. And somehow, he convinces Akish to take him on. He's got a good system. I'll pay you tribute. All these things that he works out, but it's really, even though it was comfortable, it's gotten David into a bad place. and he's in this loop of returning to a place he should not be. And we can do that in our lives. We can forget our history and our past. And so easily we can return to places in life that we should not be emotionally, spiritually, and you know just in a big grand way. You can kind of think about the alcoholic that says, "Think I'll take up casual drinking." One won't hurt. It's not a good plan to go back. The Bible always warns about returning to the ways of what you've been delivered from. And yet, David has decided to go back. But there's also a spiritual geography going on. David, what are you doing here? Where's God? and where are you in relationship to him? Take inventory. What are you doing here? And if David would just look and say, "I've not inquired of the Lord. I've gone my own way. I forgot some of the things that God was doing in and around my life and how he's been protecting me and how he's promised me the kingship and I came up with my own plan and it's gotten me in trouble." But we don't see David reasoning that or showing any signs of remorse or any signs of asking God for something or looking to the Lord. David's just still in his own head trying to figure things out in the midst of this. So, he's a man who doesn't know he needs it. And there's something where we need to be sober about the state of our life and our heart and our position with God. And we can't let our past experiences and our walk with God and the successes make us think that we're still geographically okay with the Lord. We need to examine our hearts at times. Years ago, I um I was working with a guy and uh I'd worked with him for quite a while and we we were um talking one day and I realized that he was a believer um or or that's what he claimed. He he mentioned well he mentioned that his mom had worked at a Christian school and and uh and so I kind of started to inquire about his past and his history and and I began to to learn that you know yeah he grew up in church and and he had grown up as a as a believer and and yet I kind of I kind of knew his life. It sort of surprised me. I knew I'd been working with him for a while and there was some sort of disconnectivity uh going on and so I I started to kind of press in a little bit more and just say well how's your faith? you know, I mean, are you part of a a church? How's your walk with God? You know, just questions to kind of, you know, peek beneath and see the spiritual state of things. And he kind of paused at one point in our conversation and just said, "Look, me and the Lord are good." And that's all he wanted to leave it at. And I knew that he wanted to kind of walk away from that conversation. He had sort of looked at his past and maybe his mom's faith and all of these other things. And yet I knew what his life was and some of the things that were going on and and yet I I kind of wondered, have you taken inventory, friend? Do you know your geography? What are you doing right now in your life? Are you and God really good? So, it's important to see that. We also see that mercy here, mercy comes to a man who doesn't deserve it. And we often think David's the good guy and Saul's the bad guy. That's just how we read. We read the text over and over with this lens. And and we can discover and develop this this sort of rosy way of looking at different people in the Bible. We can look at David and just never see the wrong and the things that he's done. We can see sort of the big things he does. But this is just a subtle slide in David's life. And we looked at this a few weeks, but I I want to review some of the events that have happened here. So, we see back in chapter 27 that uh that David had gone and said that he would he had this system where David would um live in he would live in the land of the Philistines and uh and he would go and he would take a city and he would just completely obliterate it, kill every single person there. And he would take the animals and the livestock and the riches, the plunder, and they would carry all that back. And according to sort of tribal systems of the ancient near east, he would take that and he give tribute to the king. So he gets his cut and gives it to the king. That's when Akish has, you know, sort of conversations with him. Where where did you go today? Where did you plunder today? You know, where where did this happen, David? And uh and we see that the reason isn't that it's like a holy war. It's not that that he's trying to sort of, you know, be a be be defending God or defending the borders of Israel or anything like that. You know, David did this because he had created a system that he needed to continue throughout. And so we see in uh 27:1 it says, "David said in his heart, now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul, there is nothing better for me that I should escape to the land of the Philistines." And then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand. So David flees for his life. David has looked and you know, let's just kind of stop for a second and think about the history. David has been running for his life. And we've seen over and over again that even though times are hard and things are difficult, God is always rescuing David. Sometimes it's close, but there are these moments when David's been promised the kingship and he's been reminded that even Jonathan comes to him. Saul eventually even says it in one of the instances. These reminders of the promises of God are there in his face. There's even a couple instances where David could kill Saul. He's right there and he's got the knife. He can take him out. And these moments where he doesn't. And and we can see how like in in essence, God is showing him like, I will always keep your enemies at bay. I will protect you, David. And I want to even show you these moments how I can move your enemies around like pawns before me. I will protect you. And somewhere in that, David looks out and he doesn't develop faith in what God has been doing in his life. He looks out and he forgets those Ebenezer moments in his life. He forgets these milestones of God meeting with him and God protecting him. And he begins to look and somehow through this he reasons, Saul's going to catch me. I know what's going to happen. And he begins to play a different narrative in his life. And he doesn't inquire of the Lord. He doesn't wrestle with the Lord. He doesn't say bring me the ephod like he has in times past. In fact, one of the uh commentators all this calls it a godless text that that that there's no mention of the Lord or anything about inquiring of God or seeking God or debating about things. God is absent in these texts. And so David goes his own way, gets in the land of the Philistines and winds up getting into this system where he kills entire tribes. And it says in uh in 27 uh 11 that David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath thinking lest they should tell about us and say so David has done. Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines. David would kill everyone and he did it so that nobody went back and told on him. He's covering himself. That's why he did it. That's why he killed everyone. He's got a system that he's working. And when Aisha asks about it, he lies about it. Let's just take a quick snapshot about David. Liar? Yes. Murderer? Yes. Schemer? Cunning? Yes. Seemingly cold about it? Yes. This is David. the man after God's own heart maybe, but not right now because he's lost his way. He's lost his way. And when you look at the life of David and see what he's gotten into and who he really is in this moment, you begin to ask, or I did as I looked at the text, like, does David deserve mercy? Should he get off so easy? He seems calloused to this way of life. It's not like he just did it once, but again and again and again. This is the custom of David all the time that he was in the land of Philistines and he's not trying to get out of it. He just lives in this system in such a way that he's calloused his sin. Now, I also want us to let take a look at some of Aha's words to David because they almost seem convicting. I it it almost strikes me. It doesn't tell us what David feels in this moment, but if we look at at uh at chapter 29:6, it says Aish called David and said to him, "As the Lord lives, you've been honest. You've been honest." That ought to just like that ought to just sort of rub David wrong when he hears this being attributed to him. or verse nine when it says Aish answered David and said I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God just blush with shame not honest I'm not innocent I'm not good I've lost my way and you have to wonder if these words on the tongue of this guy have a way of just sort of plunging into David's heart or if he's just still cold about But David is he's living in a way that we have to sort of wrestle with why the mercy why give mercy to this guy. The last thing I want us to look at is uh is that mercy was given to a man who hasn't asked for it. David is in the midst of this dilemma. He has gone his own way. He's reasoning his own way through this. And it never mentions that he's seeking God. When he's invited into the battle, there's no call for the for the ephod or Abiar. No gathering of counsel. David just continues on his way. Does he have a plan? Has he so lost his way and his bitterness developed in his heart that he might actually attack Saul and at least Saul's men, at least the Benjamites, because they certainly are against him. We don't know. We have no idea. But what we do know is that he has never mentioned the Lord. And what's so ironic about this is actually back in chapter sorry in verse 6 it says Aish called David and said to him as the Lord lives. If you look in your Bibles you see that's in the all caps. Anytime you see that Lord capitalized all the way through. Do you know what that is? It's the holy name of God. It's Yahweh. Aish could have used other words. He could have said L or Elohim, you know, these different sort of generalized ideas or understandings of God. He uses the holy name of as the Lord lives. The only guy in this whole text that's talking about God that mentions God in this text that mentions the name of Yahweh isn't David. It's a pagan king. Makes me wonder what's going on in his life or if I don't know, but he's the one who uses the holy name of God. And it's so ironic that that is the one who calls and uses God's name when David himself has not called upon the Lord, has not asked for help. And it's ironic as we just studied last week where we looked at Saul. If you'll remember, Saul wanted rescue. He wanted help. And he was seeking the he was seeking God for the answers. And what am I going to do? And tell me what to do and how do I get out of this situation? And did God answer him? Didn't. Did he give him mercy? He didn't. And here's David who doesn't look much better than Saul right now in the way that he's living. And he's not inquiring of the Lord even though he got himself into this mess. And is he asking for mercy? Is he asking for a way out? No, he's not. And it kind of it should mess with us a little bit. Here's one who is asking for mercy, asking for a way out, asking for help. And the answer is no. And here's another who is not asking for any not asking of mercy, not inquiring, gone his own way. And then he gets mercy. Why? And you know, we have a view that others don't have because this is scripture and we get the views into the hearts and the lives and the conversations and the thoughts of each of these individuals. But there is something about life where we can look at a level and we don't get that insight and we go why the mercy here and why not the mercy there. And there is a part of this that we have to bow before the sovereignty of God because only God knows. But what we can see and what we have studied throughout this text is is is we begin to actually see why God is doing what he does. Because we see that all the way back in chapter 15, Saul's heart and Saul's life when it came to mercy. God's been merciful to Saul over and over again. He's warned Saul in many ways. He's done things around Saul's life to warn him, "I'm getting close. Judgment's coming." And yet, even when Saul gets caught, his repentance is often a false repentance. And we see even back in chapter 15 when Samuel calls him out and says, "You've sinned." And he finally comes to terms with he says, "You're right. I've sinned. Now pardon my sin and go with me and offer sacrifices so that I may be honored before the Israel, the elders of Israel." So he's not really worried about his sin. He just wants mercy. Samuel, wave your hand over me. Proclaim some repentance and mercy over my life so that I can go be honored. And so for him, the mercy of God is something that is like a trinket. He can just sort of use God's mercy so that he can continue to live the way that he wants to live. Mercy is a means to an end for him. God, forgive me. God, give me mercy. God, give me grace. Get me out of these different situations so that I can go about my merry way. And that's the way that over and over again Saul, it reveals Saul's heart. And mercy has a way ultimately as it works its way into us. And as we realize it, it either realizes just the callousness of our heart and our ability to try to use God for our own means and our own end or it breaks us and we respond to God in worship and in devotion and obedience. And we know how David's life is going to play play out. And so we we do know that eventually David's going to get it. It's going to make sense. He's going to understand the mercy of God. He's going to return to the Lord. He's going to call on the name of the Lord again. And it will have its perfect work. And so we see also in this moment like it could go Saul could turn David could turn into a Saul, but he's going to understand how mercy works. But the thing maybe just as an aside to understand about God's mercy is that mercy is designed to lead you to repentance. Romans 2:4 reminds us of that. It says that do you presume on the riches of his kindness and the forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? That mercy should so break us in these moments where God is so good. We don't deserve it. As I said earlier, mercy is not getting what you deserved. David doesn't deserve it. But that's exactly what's so beautiful and wonderful about God's mercy. You don't deserve it. None of us deserve it. But the goal of mercy is that we might understand and and and and be delighted and and and yet unbelievably humbled by the offer of it, by its work in and around our lives, by God's goodness in even silent ways and even quiet ways working in and around our life. These graces, this mercy that should begin to create a realization and a repentance in our heart. God, I've lost my way. Because mercy ultimately should work that way and call us to a response. Romans 12:1 uh actually reminds us of a similar thing. It says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, which is in the Greek is a is an idea of offer your bodies as it's a word I always like to say it's called work worship." You know, like you obey and you worship God through this way of living. is this response to God's mercy in your life. That's what Saul doesn't seem to understand or respond to appropriately. And that's eventually what David will get to in that that God is gracious and compassionate, rich in love, slow to anger. He doesn't desire the death of the wicked. And just even though he didn't um give Saul an answer last week, God had been merciful. Saul never responded appropriately. But ironically here, David David doesn't respond. But we know that it will come and somehow I kind of wonder in his journeys back to Zlag as he's sent away if some of Aisha's words that were attributed to him bother him. something about maybe his geography and this dilemma that he was in and seeing this sort of undeserved mercy of God falling upon him and working even when he didn't ask for it. This mercy that's going to actually allow them to go find out that their city just got burned and everybody got kidnapped and they never would have known and weeks would have passed before they ever got back there. But now they are positioned to go chase down the Amalachites and seeing God operating in ways that he does not deserve. And we're going to see at some moment here in David's life next week that it begins it begins to have its work in a way that will move and return David back. And even if we don't feel like David gets it, that's part of the point is that God gives mercy as he wills. It's not random. It's not pointless. God is working. Will you trust him in his perfect way? He is working. The mercy of God through Christ rescues people who don't know they need it, who don't deserve it, who aren't asking for it oftentimes, and yet he offers it. And uh we should marvel before the mercy of God. You know, as I as I studied this text, I kind of went through this progression here because I didn't I didn't like it. I didn't like that David got off the hook. And I and I I didn't think he deserved this mercy. And I had to kind of remind myself of what mercy is. But even then, it still just bothered me. And I began to realize it was because of the state of my own heart because because sometimes you can get to this place to where you start to think that your life is tidy and clean and you're not in any big sin. And so quickly you can forget to give mercy to other people around you. You can begin to proclaim judgment over their lives. They don't they're not worthy of God's mercy. None of us is. None of us is. When we were running and far from God, when we didn't care, when we were enemies of the cross, when you were dead in your sins and trespasses, God was merciful. And as I studied this text, I just saw the judgment in my own heart. I saw the condition that forgets of how much I've been forgiven of, of how much I wasn't looking for it. I didn't deserve it. I didn't want it. I wasn't asking for it. And the same is true for all of us that God wants so much to pour mercy into our lives. He is merciful. Do we realize it? Do we recognize it? Have you forgotten your chains? Have you forgotten what God delivered you from? When we were dead in our sins, wandering, Christ died for us. And even now, we need that mercy again and again. You're not beyond it. Just because your life is cleaned up or tidy, we're still fall. We still lose our way. There's still little cracks and crevices of our heart that we've not surrendered to God. And we should take moments in our own life to see moments like I did this week of where like I've become judgmental and I've forgotten sometimes the little crevices in my own heart where there can be pride, there can be arrogance, there can be greed, unthankfulness, whatever it is for you, we need the mercy of God. His mercies are new every morning and we are called to receive them, to recognize and to respond to the depth of his mercy. Like David, God will rescue you even from yourself, even when you don't deserve it. Do you recognize the depth of your unworthiness and the riches of his mercy? If so, it will catalyze your life, change your priorities, and invite you into a way of life of service to the King. Our sins, they are many. His mercy is more. Let's pray. Lord, I just, you know, as I've said earlier this week, I just pray that you would forgive my own heart. My own heart that can be so quick to not offer mercy, to posture myself in a way as judge and jury over someone even in this text and judge their life so easily and not recognize that I'm just like that. I can I can lose my way. I can just be just like that. And the moment that I forget that, I turn into a Pharisee. Create in me, oh God, a right heart, a new spirit. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try my anxious thought. If there be iniquity, lead me in the way everlasting. Lord, I just pray that even this week you would search our hearts that we might open our hearts before you, realizing our need for you and for your mercy and for your grace over and over again. Not to presume that we are now something that we are not. We just commit this to you. We pray, Father, have your way in us, oh God, in Jesus name. Amen.