1 Sam 27-29 Out From Under God’s Protection CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

David took matters into his own hands when he decided to go to Achish in Gath of the Philistines to get away from Saul.  He no longer trusted that the Lord could protect him from Saul.  In so doing he:

Quit living by faith – 26:23-24, 27:1-4 – he was weary, discouraged and worn out – when you take matters into your own hands and quit trusting God to take care of you, you will quit living by faith also.

Relied upon self-provision – 27:5-9 – instead of trusting God to provide through all of his friends in the regions that had been taking care of him [1 Sam 31:26-31], he started killing everybody that lived in the regions around Ziklag – he had to kill all the men and women so that no one could report him to Achish – certainly Achish would have been required to stop David if he had known what David was doing – you will find that when you are out from under the hand of the Lord, you are going to have to work harder for the same provisions that the Lord used to bless.

Covered his tracks with lies – 27:10-11 – it was so uncharacteristic of David to lie about what he was doing – but he had to in order to keep feeding his family and the families of the men who were with him – you will also lie about how things are going in your life when you quit trusting God to take care of you.

Made an unholy alliance – 27:12 – he left the impression that he would be Achish’s servant for ever, even though he wasn’t planning on doing that – likewise, when you start controlling your own life, you will have to rely on some folks whom the Lord would rather you not use.

Became an enemy to God’s people – 28:1-2 – in his alliance with Achish, David became the king’s body guard – he could easily have been in the battle against Israel under the command of Saul and Jonathan, the man with whom David made a covenant – if Achish’s men had not run David off [ch 29] David would have fought against his own people – and when you get out from under the Lord’s protection you can easily turn against your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Suffered greater damage – 30:1-6 – David was trying to save his own neck and ended up losing the families of all of his men, all of their possessions, and his own family – he encouraged himself in the Lord and thankfully the Lord allowed him to recover all – why don’t you encourage yourself in the Lord and recover what you have lost or are about to lose – you can never do better than the Lord at taking care of yourself.