Shaky Faith

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Promontory Community Church exists to make disciples of Jesus who know, live, and share the gospel for the glory of God. Thank you, Pastor Jonathan. And welcome this morning. I want to start off this morning by asking you a rather personal question that honestly might bring back some painful memories. Has your faith in God ever been rocked? I mean, maybe by something totally unexpected. Maybe something that was painful for you or disappointing. Maybe the death of a loved one or an ongoing illness or the loss of a job or a rebellious child. Maybe your faith was rocked because of some unanswered prayer. A prayer that you talked to God about for what seems like eons and he's not talking back. And it feels like your prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling. And now as a result, your trust in God. It's on shaky ground. It's hard for you to believe that God's actually in control, that you can trust Him with your life and your finances and your family and your marriage, and that he really cares about these things. Has your faith in God ever been rocked?

My name is Rich Koppanky. I'm the community life pastor here at Promontory, and today we're gonna talk about an aspect of the Christian life that honestly, a lot of us don't want to talk about. But probably every one of us has experienced in one form or another. What happens when our faith in God starts getting shaky. What happens when we're no longer fully confident that we can trust God and take him at his word? When doubts and fears invade your thoughts, when they overwhelm your faith, what do we do about it? And where is God in all of that?

Now to explore this reality of Christian living, we're gonna go back in time about 3000 years. We're gonna re-enter the story of a man whom we've been studying these past months. His name was David. Now if you're new here this morning but maybe went to Sunday school as a kid, or maybe you've been around here for a while, then you know something about this guy. He started out as a shepherd boy, looking after his family's sheep. The lowest kid on the totem pole. But God had bigger plans for this teen. God has this prophet Samuel, anoint David to be the next king of Israel. And then we have the story that you probably have heard of David taking on Goliath, the giant and walking away victorious. I mean, it's a great start for this guy. Be anointed to the next king, take on a giant and wipe him out.

But the king of the time, Saul, he wasn't as excited about all the acclaim that David was getting as a result. He became quite jealous, murderous. Ultimately forcing David to go on the run as public enemy number one in Israel. And even that doesn't get him out of trouble. Saul and his troops don't let up. They continued hunting him in the wilderness. And needless to say, all of this stress, all the danger, the hypervigilance. Wears on this young man. He's tired. He's discouraged. He's afraid. And he's doubting. And that's where we find them as we turn this morning to 1 Samuel chapter 27.

Now, if you're able to, please stand as we honor God's word and we read this chapter. And as we read this chapter, I'm going to encourage you to do something. I encourage you to try to put yourself into David's sandals. You try to feel the struggle that he's having inside of himself. Try to imagine the doubts that are swirling around in his mind. And look for how this struggle gets played out in David's decisions and actions. Let's start reading.

Then David said in his heart. Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand. So David arose and went over, he and the 600 men who were with him, to Akish, the son of Meoch, king of Gath, and David lived with Akish at Gath. He and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahanoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. Then David said to Akish, if I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given to me in one of the country towns that I may dwell there, for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? So that day, Akish gave him Ziklag. Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was 1 year and 4 months. Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Gesurites, the Gurzites and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur to the land of Egypt. And David would strike the land, would leave neither man or woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, the garments, and come back to Akish. Then Akish asked, Where have you made your raid today? And David would say, Against the Negeb of Judah, or against the Negeb of the Jeromeelites, or against the Negeb of the Kennites. And they 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. And Akish trusted David, thinking he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel. Therefore he shall always be my servant. In those days, the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. And Akish said to David, Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army. David said to Akish, very well, you shall know what your servant can do. And Akish said to David, Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.

Please be seated.

Then David said in his heart, Now I shall perish.

I'm gonna die. There is no hope for me. I mean, can you hear the tiredness? Can you hear the pain in his voice, the fear gripping his heart? Do you see how David's faith in his God is wavering? I mean, remember, God had promised him that he would be the next king of Israel. But David is no longer sure if he's even gonna be around when King Saul finally kicks the bucket.

I mean, biblical scholars suggest that David was around 15 years old when he was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. It was at the age of 30 that David actually becomes king. And many of these 15 years between these two events are years filled with David just trying to survive. Saul's multiple attempts to run him through with a spear or hunt him down with soldiers kept him on the run. For years he's been labeled a fugitive, a traitor. Years of sleeping in caves and under bushes, anywhere he could lay his head, and always with one eye open to keep watch for Saul. Years of wondering Is this gonna be the day that's my last.

And quite honestly, David actually handled all this injustice and stress remarkably well. And the thing that kept him going was his confidence in God. And we've seen that confidence. If you've been part of our study of this book, you've seen that confidence multiple times. As he stood before the towering giant clutching 5 stones in a slingshot, we hear him declare:

You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

In other words, you think you're gonna win because you're so big? My God is bigger, you lose.

When Saul entered the same cave that David and his men are hiding in, and his men encouraged David to end Saul's life. Go on, David, go on. I mean this is the day the Lord spoke of when the Lord told you, I will give your enemy into your hands. But David refuses. He won't strike the blow. And he explains why:

The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my Lord, the Lord's anointed, to put out my hand against them, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.

David knows God's in control. He's trusting that God's in control and he doesn't want to go against God's plan. This strong confidence in God is revealed last Sunday in our message as Pastor Jonathan spoke to us about David sneaking into Saul's encampment. And while there he was encouraged to allow his man to kill Saul and he refuses and he again explains:

Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless as the Lord lives. The Lord will strike him. Or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.

And then a little further in that same chapter. David states his trust in God to Saul himself:

As surely as I valued your life today, Saul, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all troubles.

Guys, you know what we're seeing here? We are seeing one of the greatest spiritual high points in all of David's difficult life. I mean, David understands with brilliant clarity that God could be trusted. To protect him, to deliver him out of all these troubles. I mean, this results in a huge moral and spiritual victory. Against all odds, righteousness and faithfulness are prevailing here.

But then the situation turns on a dime. As we move into chapter 27. You know, I found in my life that sometimes it's after great spiritual victories that we are most susceptible to discouragement and hopelessness and fear. The times when God is doing great things are also the times that sometimes we can crash. I mean, here we are though, moving forward for God, seeing people come to Christ, seeing prayers answered, and that's when we become targets of Satan as he seeks to beat us down.

Look again at that first verse in chapter 27.

Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul.

When you heard that, did that leave you scratching your head and maybe even shocked? Does it help you to see that even the most godly person can wrestle with shaky faith? You know, I personally would love to have a rock solid 100%, never a question, never a doubt, kind of unwavering faith in the face of every tragedy, every disappointment, every struggle that I'll ever have to face in life. Never fazed, never filled with fear, never wondering if God's gonna come through or not. I don't know about you.

But for me, I look at the story, I look at David coming off a great spiritual high. His faith in God's sovereignty and plan glowing brighter than ever before. And then seeing him crumble with doubt. And I come to realize there are gonna be times, and there have been times in my life. When I struggle with my faith. When I ask deep, heartfelt questions, when I cry out to God, when I feel depressed, when I'm unsure. But with God's help and only with God's help and only by God's help. And because I've known his faithfulness in the past. My prayer is that I would still hold on tightly to God, that I would trust him even when I don't understand what he's doing.

You know, this book here, God's word, it is deeply honest and utterly realistic. If you think the Bible's filled with all these cool stories and sentimental romantic heroism, you're gonna be disappointed. This book is about people, real people. Real people have weaknesses as well as strengths. Real people, you and me have failures as well as successes. We are defeated sometimes as well as at times are triumphant. And our real God knows that. And he works in our lives in ways to help us to grow and mature, to become more godly, to become more trusting. And that's what we're seeing here with David.

You know, what's been happening in David's life since way back when he was anointed by Samuel and even before that time. You see, godliness and faith in God, these things don't just drop into our lap fully developed when we pray the prayer inviting Jesus to come into our lives. Godliness and faith develop. They mature over time. And the experiences that God brings into our lives often has a lot to do with that.

Think back again to David. Think back to him when he was out there watching his sheep. You know, along came a lion. And then another time, along came a bear. Each of them looking for a tasty meal of mutton. And maybe even a tasty meal of little boy. And David takes each one of them on and he survives. You know what? I guarantee you that these experiences played a role in giving David the confidence to trust his faith into God's hands as he chose to stand up against Goliath.

In fact, when David first volunteered to fight Goliath, the king, who said, no way, no way:

You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he's been a man of war from his youth.

You're just a kid. David's response. Listen to this:

The Lord who delivered me from the paw of a lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.

And so Saul said:

Go, and the Lord be with you.

Guys, I don't know how many lions and bears you've been facing lately. Maybe you hike in the woods around here, you might run into at least a little bear. But I do know that your Heavenly Father is bringing experiences. And sometimes they're difficult experiences into your life. And I know that he's doing that, not because he's mean, not because he's trying to punish you. He's doing it to strengthen your faith. To teach you to trust them in each of these experiences as each of these experiences become part of your faith story. David's in one of these teaching moments right now. He's struggling.

Then David said in his heart, Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.

In other words, the only way I can put an end to Saul's pathological game of hide and seek would be for me to move to the land of the Philistines, to pass myself off as an infamous outlaw, a would-be usurper of Saul's throne, to convince them that I'm no longer for the Israelites.

So David arose and went over. He and the 600 men who were with him to Akish, the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. And David lived with Akish at Gath. He and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.

Hey, it worked. It worked. David finally got Saul off his back. The problem though David hadn't sought God's direction in all this. I mean, He had done other times. It's like, God, which way should I go? What should I do next? Now he's so desperate, he just didn't bother. The cleverness of David in this chapter is very different from the righteousness and faithfulness that we saw from him in chapter 26. You know what we see here is a man wavering in his faith, doubting God's protection, giving way to self-protective action with no reliance on God at all. And as a result, taking things into his own hands and trying to fix the problem any way he can.

Do we ever do that? Do we ever panic, get afraid, discouraged? Do you ever try to take things into our own hands and forget about prayer, forget about looking to God? Forget about reading His word, asking others to pray with us about this? You know, often when we do that, instead of helping to improve our situation, forgetting to look to God makes things even worse.

And for David here, it is like he is jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. Remember, Philistines are the mortal enemies of the Israelites. Besides that, David killed their hero, Goliath, who just happened to come from Gath. Besides, he's already tried running into them once before in chapter 21, and that time, David had to pretend that he was insane, walking around drooling and mumbling to himself in order to get out of there alive. But when we're desperate. When we have lost confidence in looking to God for help. We'll do just about anything to get by.

And for the next 16 months, that pretty well describes David and his men. David suggests Akish. That David and his men move out of the royal city into the country into a country town. I mean, honestly, that seems like a pretty considerate offer. Think about it, 600 warriors with their wives and kids. I mean, talk about a housing crunch. Yeah, yeah, nice of you, David. Go ahead. But David has some ulterior motives for making that request. Akish gives them the town of Ziklag to live in and finally, at this isolated base in the Philistine controlled area of Israel, David is out from underneath the watchful gaze of Akish.

And he uses the opportunity. He raids some of the surrounding areas plundering both those who had been plundering the Philistine as well as Israeli towns and then he deceptively reports to Akish that he raided Israel. And then I'm sure shares some of the booty with Akish as well. And then in order to avoid anyone ratting him out. David makes sure that none of those whom he raided are left alive. Something that honestly today would be a war crime. Back then it would have been considered normal.

And you know what? The king bought into it. He bought it hook, line and sinker. He thinks to himself:

He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel. Therefore he shall always be my servant.

Well, the story continues. We get into chapter 28, the first couple of verses. And things turn for the worst. Philistines decide they want to go to war against Israel. David and his men are expected to fight alongside Akish. After all, we're giving you free room and board, so you better go and do something for us. But now remember, David's supposed to be the next king of Israel. There's no way he can support the Philistines in this battle. But also he can't say no to Akish and still keep his head. All his deceptions over the past year have boxed him into the corner. You're gonna have to come back 2 weeks from now. Or maybe read ahead to find out how David gets out of this.

But as we start moving towards wrapping things up, I'd like for us to step back for a moment. To make this a little more personal. You know what David did was done out of fear and distrust. He wanted to stay alive, that's natural. He wasn't sure though if God was going to help him. So he made his plan, he went with it. He never bothered to consult God about it, and it worked. I mean, Akish is completely fooled, sees David as a trusted servant. David's troops are happy. They've got a place to stay that isn't underneath a bush or in a cave, and they're getting plenty of booty from the raids.

So what does that mean? I mean, does it mean we really don't need to depend on God that much? That we can really just take things in our own hands and do what we think is best and everything's gonna come out OK? I mean, David did it that way and man, he came out on top. Until you consider the question, what did David miss out on during the 16 months with the Philistines.

You see, God's purposes for each of our lives. Offers something far, far greater than just to get by, to survive. And maybe to have a little fun along the way. One of my favorite Bible verses and if you've heard me preach before, you've probably heard it. Is Ephesians 2:10.

That we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Friends, our father has a purpose. He has a plan for each of our lives. He has good works for which he prepared both the circumstances as well as the resources that even he prepared our abilities in advance so that we could accomplish them. The greatest thing that we can do with our lives is to be in tune with why God has placed us on this earth. To accomplish the good works that he has given us to do.

Friends, I don't want to be hiding in some backwoods town like David. You know, trying to stay safe, using deceit to stay ahead, manipulating situations for my benefit. I want God's guidance. I want his provisions so that I can be everything that he wants me to be. And friends, for that to happen, I need to listen to him. I need to trust. I need to obey. I mean, the gospel calls for us to put our trust in Jesus in whom we find truth and life. As Jesus puts it in John 14:

I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

And there will be time when we do this, when we put our trust in Him. That our faith and trust in God will be put to the test. I mean David was not the first, nor will he be the last to experience this testing. We already know that. Most or all of us have gone through that kind of testing.

You know, as we're tested. Don't be surprised when problems still come your way. As we put our trust in God, as we seek to honor Him, as we ask Him, God, guide me, help me to accomplish the good works that you prepared for me to do, don't be surprised when problems come. You know, a religion that equates God's love with problem-free living, that kind of religion is gonna crumble right in front of you. It will crash headlong with life's realities. The fact is we live in a sin scarred world. In this world there will be pain and suffering. And it is our faith in God. A God that we can turn to whatever the circumstances are. It is that faith that needs to grow and prevail and will help us to overcome.

So here's the personal question. Does that describe your faith? Is your faith in God helping you as you face the struggles of life? If not, what do you need to do? What's your next step to see your faith be strengthened? If you're wrestling with that one, I encourage you to talk to Pastor Jonathan, talk to myself, talk to maybe somebody who invited you here this morning. Explore that. Let's pray together.

Father, here we are. Your kids And we want to trust you. But sometimes, Lord, it doesn't seem like it's working out the way we thought it would. I mean, it sure wasn't for David there. And he struggled. Lord, we struggle too, but we don't want to fall. We don't want to be overwhelmed. Lord, increase our faith. Open our eyes to understand, to see your love. As we read your word, as we spend time with you in prayer, open our hearts to rely, to desperately rely upon you. To cling tightly to your promises, to cling tightly to you. Lord, increase our faith so that it can be a foundation in our family. Our children can see that faith and can be drawn to you. Increase our faith so that things of eternal worth will happen through our lives. The good works that you have prepared for us to do. Lord, we struggle sometimes, but we don't want to stay in that situation. Help us, Father. We love you, we trust you. Amen.