1 Samuel Chapter 27

1 Samuel 27
The Enemy Within
Many of us have heard the phrase, "I am in the bottom of the valley of the shadow of death," or "I am having a mountain top experience with God." It seems that David is going from one valley to a mountain top and then down to the valley again. Up and down, up and down. Sound familiar? In chapter 23, David saved the city of Keilah from the Philistines, but they were planning to turn him in to Saul. He had to run for his life. He was in the valley. In chapter 24, David showed mercy on Saul even though he had a chance to eliminate his enemy once for all. He was riding high on a mountain top. In chapter 25, even though David displayed tremendous patience and self-control in the previous chapter, he went off in his revenge mode at a fool’s insult. Yet, God was gracious to stop him from achieving revenge in his own hands through a quick-thinking, beautiful woman named Abigail. David was at the mouth of the valley. In chapter 26, we found David showing courage, humility and self-control against Saul and sparing his life again. Yes, he was at the top of the mountain. With all these up-and-downs, he was in constant communion with his God. God protected him and kept him from doing anything wrong. But we find David is listening to himself. A. THE ENEMY WITHIN
	1 Sam 27:1. And David 1. said in his heart, "Now 2. I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. 3. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand."
Problem 1. David’s problem starts at "said in his heart." As we notice in the beginning of chapter 27, we find him talking to himself. Does it mean that we cannot talk to ourselves? Is it unbiblical? No, I mean that instead of asking for guidance from God, he was acting upon his own decision. We can all relate with his behavior. You see, David was in this wilderness being chased by Saul for quite some time. He is tired and weary. That is the precise time when the devil comes after us. It is important for us to be refreshed through the Word of God and be in close fellowship with godly people on a regular basis. Problem 2. Forgetting God’s promises and faithfulness If relying on his own wits was not bad enough, David completely ignored the promise of God for him in chapter 16, that he would be a king of Israel after Saul someday. Seeing his situation from his own limited and human point of view, David missed God’s perspective and lost his trust in Him. All of sudden, Saul loomed larger than Goliath and became twice as menacing. That is how the devil operates. He wants us to ignore God’s promises and faithfulness. God promises us that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. God promises us that He will provide all of our needs according to His riches in the glory. God promises us that no one can snatch us out of His strong and mighty hands. God promises us that He would give us lives more abundantly. And God’s promises go on. But the devil wants us to forget all of those wonderful promises, and turn our eyes upon the circumstances and our own strength. It doesn’t take a whole lot for us to get depressed and suicidal, if we listen to the devil. Problem 3. Moving in with the enemy of God. David not only followed his own wits and ignored the promises of God, but he also decided that it would be safer for him to go into enemy territory than stay with God. Can we come up with the same kind of dumb logic? Yes, we can and we’ve done it before. There was a born-again Christian woman with whom I used to work at the office. She was a single mom with children. Instead of depending on God for her provisions, she thought it would be better for her to get involved with a nonbelieving man with money to take care of them. What happened to her? Eventually they got married – which is rare in many cases, because people often just live together – but she had a terrible marriage and got divorced. Did you notice the progression? 1) Beginning subtly, almost innocently, with a simple thought of consulting his own wits, 2) Ignoring God’s promises and faithfulness 3) Making a decision to move into the enemy’s territory to be with them. This happened to disciple Peter at the courtyard of the high priest while Jesus was going through the kangaroo courts, and it happened to Abraham’s nephew Lot in the city of Sodom and it can happen to any of us. Let’s be aware! B. THE EXTENT
	1 Sam 27:2-3. Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.
None of us lives only to ourselves, nor dies to ourselves, nor sins to ourselves. Carried along in the wake of David’s choice were the people, over two thousand of them, those most dear to him. Gath was Goliath’s hometown, a center of pagan idolatry. Here, among some of God’s vilest enemies, David and his followers made their home. Previously, Achish despised David, but now he respected him as the commander of an impressive guerrilla army. He probably thought that any enemy of Saul’s was a friend of his. Friendship with Achish, however, came with a price. C. GIVING A REASON TO OUR ENEMY TO BLASPHEME GOD’S NAME
	1 Sam 27:4. And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more.
Even Saul knew that he was not supposed to be in the land of the Philistines. When we do something wrong, it gives others a reason to make a fun or to blaspheme our God’s name. As a matter of fact, that is the most fearful thing I see. I am not afraid of death or sickness or poverty. But I am terribly afraid of what I can do to bring down my God’s name. I don’t want my God’s name to end up in mud because of my stupidity. May the Lord help me stay close to Him! D. THE DARK TIME OF DAVID
	1 Sam 27:5-7. Then David said to Achish, "If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months.
Did you catch it? David, the anointed future king of Israel, called himself the "servant" of Achish. He began a period of compromise. Achish gave Ziklag to David, a city to the south that had been a part of Judah until it was taken over by the Philistines. The sixteen long months David lived there would mark one of the darkest periods in his life. He would plunge himself and his followers into an unseemly career of violence and deception. Spiritually, this time offers no psalms pouring from David’s heart. We don’t find any psalm or prayer from the lips of David during this period. E. LIVING DOUBLE LIFE
	1 Sam 27:8-9. And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish.
To demonstrate his loyalty to the Hebrews, David and his men raided Judah’s enemies in the south, "the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites." He took anything of value, "the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel." The people of Judah were pleased, but what would he say to Achish when it came time to make his report? F. NOWHERE, NOTHING OF VAGUENESS
	1 Sam 27:10. Then Achish would say, "Where have you made a raid today?" And David would say, "Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites."
To protect himself, David skirted the truth. He told the king that he was raiding in the Negev (south country) of Judah, which led Achish to believe that he was actually fighting his own people. Even though he is attacking the enemies of Israel, David is nothing more than an armed robber and a murderer. He kills all the people of the village or encampment he attacks, takes all the spoil, and does all of this without the approval or guidance of God. He now fights wars for profit, instead of for God’s honor. G. LIAR, LIAR
	1 Sam 27:11-12. David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring news to Gath, saying, "Lest they should inform on us, saying, ‘Thus David did.’" And thus was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. So Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever."
David was lying to Achish. I am sure that David had to tell his men to either keep their mouths shut for his lies or play along with him. In other words, he was making others sin with him and for him. I. APPLICATIONS 1) When the devil reminds us about the current circumstances that surround us and scares us, let’s remember God’s faithfulness.
	Phil 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will be complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
2) Let’s remember that we have enemies within ourselves, our sinful nature. Our sinful natures demand obedience from our spirits. It is a major battle. The devil cannot make us do wrong things. He can encourage us to do so. We need to listen to what God says through His Word, not ourselves. 3) We need to remember that our sins don’t just affect us. The damage of our sins reaches to the people around us. It is one thing for us to pay for our own consequences. But why do we want to hurt those whom we love because of our own sins? 4) We must deal with the roots of sin now, or they come back with greater strength. Much later in his life, David will have a far more notorious season of sin with Bathsheba, and end up killing Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, to cover his sin of adultery. Though that later event is far more famous, the root of sin that nourished it began way back in here 1 Samuel 27. Many years before David killed Uriah to cover his sin, he killed these men and women in his raids to cover his sin.
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