1 Samuel 26-27
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab a Bible and go to First Samuel. We're in chapters 26, 27, and just a little bit of 28 this morning. We are working our way through the book of First Samuel. We are studying it together and trying to learn together what this book has to teach us as we follow this Jesus.
The section that we're looking at today, we're going to look at this story, this saga in the life of David and how he, the Lord, is obviously at work, and then some decisions that David makes following a situation that he has with Saul and kind of what flows out of that. My hope this morning is that we can be instructed by it to see that what David does is something that we are prone to do, so that we might see David's example, learn from it, and not repeat it. So that's the hope for us this morning as we study this text together.
We're going to be in chapter 26, verse 1. If you grab one of the blue Bibles, it'll be on page 142. If you don't own a Bible, take this one home with you. I mean, not the one I'm holding, the one you're holding. You can take that one home with you. We want you to own a Bible. We want you to have it, we want you to read it.
Chapter 26 says this.
> Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hakalah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?"
This is almost word for word what happened in chapter 23, verse 19. The Ziphites have come to Saul again and said, "Hey, he's in the same area again." Not exactly in the south, it's in the east. But he's here and he's hiding again. When I was growing up, if you tattled, my dad was prone to call someone who told on somebody a rat fink. The more I've talked to people about this, the more I may be the only person who's ever heard that phrase. I don't know. But that's what I think when I read about the Ziphites. They're rat finks. They keep narcing on David every time he tries to hide. They're supposed to be from his tribe. They're from the tribe of Judah. They shouldn't be telling on him, but that's what they're doing. And so they tell Saul again, "Hey, David's here. He's hiding."
Verse 2 says,
> So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with 3,000 chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
Saul has 3,000 chosen men. David has 600 random people who owed people debts and were unhappy that have shown up with him. So Saul's got a better force here. The text says Saul encamped on the hill of Hakalah, which is beside the road on the east of Jeshimon. He goes right where they told him.
It says, but David remained in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. He sees some sort of sign that Saul has come. He sends out spies to lay eyes on him. And indeed he has come.
Then it says,
> Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay with Abner, the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him.
It seems that he sneaks over there in the evening, looks at them, sees how they're set up. 3,000 men camping. Saul's in the middle. Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Joab's brother Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, who will go down with me into the camp of Saul? Abishai said, "I will go down with you."
David seems to take these two guys with him to go spy this out, or a handful of guys with him to go spy this out. He looks at these two specific guys and says, who wants to sneak with me into that camp of 3,000 guys who came here to murder us? Abishai says, "I'll go." We don't know what David's plan is. We just know Abishai, he's ready to go. Ahimelech was like, no thank you, stay here. I'll watch this stuff.
David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; Abner and the army lay around him. So they go all the way through. They make it there. They see Saul sleeping. Now, Saul always has his spear with him to the point that I half expected him to hug it while he slept. But he doesn't. He has it right next to his head.
Then Abishai said to David,
> "God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear. I will not strike him twice."
It'll be very easy.
David said to Abishai,
> "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."
At this moment, I always remember, and I want to remind you, as David gives three different ways that Saul might possibly die. They're somehow whispering this to each other while Saul's asleep somewhere close enough to them. This conversation isn't just the conversation they're having. It's like Abishai is like, "Kill me." And David's going, "So I don't know exactly how David is telling him three different ways, because David's like, look, God will kill him, or he'll just die somehow, or he'll go into battle and die." It feels like it was covered in the second one. Like his day will come. And then maybe a little bit of distance. They're whispering. Maybe they're very close to each other, but somehow they're having this hushed conversation about what they're going to do with Saul. I wonder if Abishai is like, "Then why did we come here? What are we doing?" But David says, don't do this.
Verse 11 says,
> "The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go."
David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.
That makes a little more sense. God helps David in what David is going to do. It doesn't tell us whether or not David, like, we don't know anything about God telling him to go do this or David asking about it. It just seems like David says, "Hey, let's go do this," and then God backs him up and helps him. But there's no one on guard, no one watching. This is terrible. You don't take 3,000 men to go fight someone and be like, "All right, everybody get a good night's sleep. We'll get up in the morning." Like, you have people guard and watch and pay attention, but not here, not in Saul's camp. They sneak in and do this.
One of the things that's happening in the book of First Samuel here is that we're being shown very clearly — and the people who were the original hearers of this, readers of this, are being shown very clearly — that David was not out to get Saul. He could have killed him in the cave when it was just David and Saul. His men were there, but David's the one who snuck up. David's not going to kill him. But David's also not going to have one of his men kill him. David could have let Abishai kill him, and then Abishai could take the guilt. But David says, "I don't want you to have the guilt for killing him. He's the Lord's anointed. We're going to trust the Lord in this." So David at no point is trying to overthrow Saul. He's not trying to kill him. And it's very clear.
Verse 13:
> Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill with a great space between them. And David called to the army and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, 'Will you not answer, Abner?' Then Abner answered, 'Who are you who calls to the king?'
David said to Abner:
> "Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your Lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king, your Lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your Lord, the Lord's anointed."
David's shouting at the encampment at night. He's very far away on another hill. Abner is woken up out of sleep in a kind of dangerous place. Someone's shouting, trying to figure out what's going on. Like, okay, not immediately in battle. They're trying to listen. Who's yelling? What is this about? He starts kind of running his mouth. "Abner, I thought you were a man," that's his opening line.
Then David says this:
> "And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head."
I think that felt braggy or not connected to anything until he says, "Where's his spear?" At that moment, they had cold chills. "Oh, he was here in the middle of us. Who was on guard? Who was watching what happened?" He had the opportunity. He's telling the truth.
Verse 17:
> Saul recognized David's voice and said, "Is this your voice, my son David?"
David said,
> "It is my voice, my lord, O king."
Saul said,
> "Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands now? Therefore, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the Lord who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. But if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the Lord, saying, 'Go serve other gods.'"
David says, "What have I done?" The answer is nothing. He's done nothing to Saul. He's had the opportunity to do things after Saul started trying to kill him, but he's done nothing. He hasn't tried to overthrow him. He hasn't plotted against him. He hasn't tried to become king. He was just going to serve him. He is his servant. He says, "What is this?" And he says, "If the Lord stirred you up, then let me make a sacrifice. Let some peace be made between me and the Lord. But if it's men, let them be cursed, because I've done nothing, and they're running me out of my homeland and telling me to just go belong to someone else."
Verse 20:
> "Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains."
He says, "You've done all this for someone who doesn't matter, like a massive hunt for one bird." He says, "Don't let me die away from the presence of the Lord." He wants to stay.
Verse 21:
> Then Saul said, "I have sinned. Return my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly and have made a great mistake."
It would be nice if Saul meant this. He is not genuinely repenting. It's very similar to stuff he said before, and as the story goes on, he's just going to take right back up with what he's doing.
David answered and said,
> "Here is the spear, O king. Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord's anointed."
David earlier yells, "What have I done? What wrong have I done? What evil is on my hands?" And here he says:
> "The Lord rewards faithfulness and righteousness."
When you're reading the Psalms, there are times where David says, "Judge me, Lord. Try me. What have I done?" I don't think David means he has never sinned. I think David is talking about these kinds of things where he's on the run, and he's saying, Lord, what did I do to deserve the situation that I'm in? And I found that helpful as I was studying this, to think about David in this mindset when he's writing some of those Psalms because he doesn't mean to articulate, "I'm perfect in all things," but he's saying, "My hands are clean. I haven't done what I'm being accused of."
Verse 16:
> "Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation."
Then Saul said to David,
> "Blessed be you, my son David. You will do many things and will succeed in them."
David went his way and Saul returned to his place. So David has another chance to kill Saul; he doesn't take it. Saul leaves. David goes his way.
Chapter 27, verse 1:
> 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."
After this situation where the Lord protects David again, David's able to walk into an encampment of 3,000 soldiers. They're all asleep. David considers this, and it says he said in his heart, "Saul's going to kill me." That's the conclusion that he draws as he's been on the run. Saul doesn't seem to ever be going to let up. He just decides, Saul's going to kill me. Then he says, there's nothing better for me to do than to go live with the Philistines, which is the very first thing he tried, if you remember.
He went and he got Goliath's sword, and he went to Achish, the king of Gath. Then they were like, "Hey, isn't that David?" He pretended to be insane. Achish said to his guards,
> "Why have you brought me an insane person? What use is he to me?"
David escaped. But now, some time later, David decides that's his best option. Now, I have a question: when we're reading this text, when David says that, when it says that David said in his heart, "There's nothing better for me to do than to go to the Philistines." Did we all go, "Finally he figured it out"? No, I don't think so. I don't read that and think, "What a great plan." You go, "Hold on a second. Did you pray about this? God's with you? Did you ask him? He's a prophet of the Lord. Did you ask him? The Ephod's with you? You've inquired of the Lord before. Did you talk to the priest? Did you work?" It's just something that he comes to a conclusion in and of himself. He just considers it, says this in his heart, locks it in.
What we're going to see in chapter 27 is David locks this decision in his heart, and then he just starts doing stuff. All the things he does make some sense if this is true — if the best thing for him is to just go to the Philistines — then everything else he does just kind of starts making sense. The problem is, I don't think that's the best thing for him. And I don't think if he'd have consulted the Lord, that's what he would have been told to do. But he just decides this in his heart, and he just goes. Then he's going to start making some logical conclusions as he goes ahead.
It says:
> So David arose and went over, he and the 600 men who were with him, to Achish, the son of Maacah, king of Gath. David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. When it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
Some interesting things happen here. First, David gets some confirmation. Saul quits looking for him, which means that Saul wasn't repentant. He just decides, "Well, now he's in the land of the Philistines. I'm not going to chase him anymore." He didn't actually mean, "You're safe with me. Come be my friend again." He didn't mean that. He only stops when he goes to the Philistines.
It also means that David immediately probably was like, "I knew I was right." So he makes this decision, "This is the best thing for me," and then he gets some confirmation. Almost immediately, Saul quits looking for him. He goes, "Yes, I did it. I knew I was right. I knew that was the best thing to do."
Also, it means that David and 600 men and all of their families go to live with Achish and Gath. That's a pile of people. David goes back to the exact same guy that he went to last time. The text doesn't tell us anything about that. But I wonder if Achish was like, "Have we met before?" And David was like, "Nope, don't think so." But then he knew where stuff was around the city, and it got real suspicious. His phone automatically connected to the Wi-Fi. There were some things that were like, "Wait a second."
David goes to Achish, and Achish lets him be there. It makes some sense too because David is Saul's enemy, prime enemy of a Kish. The Philistines hate the Israelites, and David's a great warrior. If he'll join our team, that sounds great. Similar to us having a bunch of German scientists come to the US during World War II. "Yeah, if you'll come be on our team, that'd be great." That's what he does. He just lets them come in.
David said to Achish,
> "If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there, for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?"
It's quite possible that David's working an angle and he's trying to accomplish something, trying to get away from Achish. But it's also very problematic that David, the anointed of the Lord who's going to be king of the people of Israel, is having to seek favor with Achish, the enemy of the Israelites. But it makes sense, as long as we follow the train, that it's the best thing for him to do; then going to Achish makes sense. Asking for the favor of Achish makes sense. It kind of follows along with what he's going to keep doing. All line up with this original assumption that David made certain in his heart.
He apparently has found favor. It says:
> So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
David makes this decision, and it affects at least the next year and four months of how he's going to live life. Also, Achish just gives him a city. I don't know if that city was sitting empty, but I doubt it. That was probably surprising for the people who lived in Ziklag when a bunch of Jewish people showed up and were like, "We're in charge now." That's what happens, and they keep it forever.
Verse 8:
> Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old as far as Shur to the land of Egypt.
David starts making raids. Before, David would go out with the army, and it would talk about him basically defending against the Philistines. But now he's not going to war like normal. He's making raids. It's a different word. He's doing what you think of as pillaging and plundering. That's what he starts doing. He starts doing it with the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites.
The Amalekites we've heard of; that’s the people Saul was supposed to get rid of and didn't. The Geshurites are listed as people who were supposed to be pushed out of the land and weren't. The Girzites are only ever mentioned right here in this verse. That's all we know about them.
David starts making raids against these people.
Verse 9:
> David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments and come back to Achish. When Achish asked, "Where have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negeb of Judah," or "against the Negeb of the Jerahemites," or "against the Negeb of the Kenites."
Negeb is like a southern dry area. David is saying, "I'm kind of working my way along against these groups of people." He picked people that were either people of Israel or their allies. He goes and attacks this one group and then comes back, gives Achish stuff and lies about who he's been attacking.
It says he kills all the men and women. Some want to read this and say, "Okay, well, David's just fulfilling what they were supposed to fulfill from when Joshua was taking the land. He's driving these people out. He's committing holy war." There are a couple of problems with that. It's called raids, not war. If it's holy war and he's supposed to perform a ban on them, he's not supposed to take the stuff, but he takes the stuff. So he's committing raids.
Verse 11:
> David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking lest they should tell about us.
David has done so strategically. It doesn't say he's doing it to fulfill promises or to do what God called him to. It says he's strategically not letting anyone live so that no one tells on them.
David decides the best thing for him to do is go live with the Philistines, and then he just starts making decisions downline on what makes sense, what makes sense. It's clever, cunning, strategic. He absolutely tricks Achish, the king of Gath. But it's hard to say that it's faithful and honest, that he has integrity. It’s hard to read this and make it virtuous.
Verse 12:
> Achish trusted David, thinking he has made himself an utter stench to the people of Israel. Therefore he shall always be my servant.
Achish believes him. He doesn't double-check any of that. Nobody comes and gives any report of anything. Otherwise, he would see all the stuff. He thinks, "David has made everybody there absolutely hate him."
Chapter 28 says:
> In those days, the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, "Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army."
David said to Achish,
> "Very well, you shall know what your servant can do."
Achish said,
> "Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life."
Then the story just changes subjects and starts talking about Saul and what he's up to. So we're going to stop right here.
David has worked himself into a knot. Achish looks at him and says, "We're going to war with the Israelites, and we know how much you hate them and how much they hate you." The text says that David says, "Good, you'll see what I'm capable of." We're all like, "What does that mean? What I'm capable of killing? Who is he going to kill? Israelites? Is he going to turn against his own people?" That's some cryptic, clever way to say, "You about to find out." Achish says, "Good, I'll make you my bodyguard for life." If David means he's going to attack him, I bet David thought, "Well, that'll be short. I won't be your bodyguard for very long." We don't know. We don't know what David is about to do.
The text will change and tell another story on purpose. The Bible is well written. It gets us right here and goes, "What's going on with that?" Then it goes over here and starts talking about something else.
I think it is helpful for us to consider how David got himself from standing over Saul absolutely seeing God at work to marching out with the Philistines, how he worked himself over here. I'll go back to chapter 27, verse 1:
> 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."
It says David said it in his heart. He didn't talk it out. It doesn't even say he really reasoned it. He just hearted it out. He felt it just became real. It was very concrete. It would be hard to shake him off of this position.
What I think is helpful is for us to understand that we do that, too. There are some conclusions that you've drawn, and you've got some external circumstances that help back you up. You're not crazy. You didn't just come up with something, but you've got some external circumstances that help you back up.
But all that's really happened is you've just reasoned this out in your heart, and it's real, real, real, real, real, real for you. You believe it almost unshakably, and then it just begins to show up. It makes a lot of sense if this is true.
I've been pastoring this church for 12 years, and I want to share a few of these. I want to give some examples to help you picture what we're talking about, what we're capable of doing, what you're capable of as life plays out settling in your heart:
"I'm unlovable." You can point to this relationship, this friendship, this marriage, this stuff. It's obvious. You don't really think it out, you don't really write it out. You just settle it in your heart, and then it begins to show up in how you relate to people.
So what happens is that somebody in your community group who's trying to follow Jesus, studying the Bible, but you've got this as a set reality for you. Someone in your group who loves you dearly is trying to talk to you over here on this situation. They're making good points, and you listen, and you know that what they're saying is true for everybody but you. You know that's fine. What they're saying is good, but they don't know this about you. If they knew this, they would know that it doesn't really apply to you.
So you begin to undercut the way they're relating to you. They're coming to you and saying, "Hey, we really like our group. You were around, and things were going well. Now you're kind of gone. We want to follow up with you because we care. We miss you. We wish you were back around. We want you back around."
They say it's helpful, healthy for you to belong and be here. We're not us without you. They're trying to talk to you about this.
You're going, "Yeah, that's just what you're supposed to say. It's good that you're saying that. But I know this, and nobody really loves me." Or they're saying, "We love you," and you're going, "Hmm. No." If you knew the real me, you wouldn't. If I really belonged, if I really told you everything, you wouldn't.
You've got some sort of settled position that you've already locked in.
"I ruin everything I touch." You've got some evidence. You've really messed some things up, but you've settled in your heart at some point that "I ruin everything." It begins to show up. Something gets difficult at work, and your energy level to try to fix it just drops because, you know, if I pour energy into this, it's just going to fail. Something gets difficult in a relationship, marriage, friendship, church family. You start going, "Yeah, but people are going, hey, we can work this out. We can figure this out."
You're thinking, "I'm actually doing you a favor by backing out now because if I step in, I'll just make it worse." You don't necessarily word it that way, but that's so true in your heart that it undoes the ability for people to address you.
"I can only trust myself. Can't trust anybody else. Can't have real relationships. I'm the only person who's trustworthy. I can only take counsel with myself. I can't do it." You just repeat over and over, "I can't do it. It."
"I have to be the one in control. If my hands are not on the steering wheel, this ain't gonna work out." You've decided, locked it in, and it's real. You start doing stuff that makes sense if that's true.
"I just don't have enough. Just don't have enough money. Don't have enough power, wisdom, control," whatever you want to put there, "I just don't have enough of it. If I could get it, I'd be okay."
"Things will never get better. The sooner I realize that, the better off I am. The sooner I realize that when I get in a situation, the better off I am."
It helps me to know that nothing will ever get better. This applies to how you relate to people, how you take correction, how you correct other people, how you walk in life, live, serve, work — everything.
Some of your actions make perfect sense as long as that's true.
I want to show you the list. These are things that I know I've interacted with in people, could be anything.
Now, I'll make a few comments on the list. You may have a completely different one. Some might be true if you don't belong to Jesus. Even when you feel these things, none of you as you walk in church family, in community group, say these things to other people. You would not counsel somebody this way.
You've never looked at someone who's struggling and said, "Hey, look at me. I know you're hurting. Things will never get better, but one day you'll die." You've never done that. You might say that to yourself a thousand times a week, but you don't say it to other people because you know what it sounds like. You don't believe it for others but 100% believe it for yourself.
"Hey, you haven't been around group for a while. I just want you to know you're unlovable. Nobody cares. If we really got to know you, it would just get worse."
You don't do that.
The reason we're laughing is that it sounds insane. That's why we work these things out in our heart. We don't work them out out loud. You just talk to yourself about it. You say, "Yeah, but I heard it a thousand times." It's like mispronouncing a word and saying, "That's the way I hear it." It's because you're saying it that way. Stop it. Say it the right way, and you won't hear it that way anymore because no one else says it that way.
Some of these might be true if you don't belong to Jesus, if you haven't trusted in him, if he hasn't saved you from your sin, if his death doesn't apply to you, if his resurrection doesn't apply to you so that your sin's paid for, life is given to you. If you aren't found in Christ, then you can't do it. You're not going to earn it. You're not going to save yourself. You're not going to be good enough, smart enough, moral enough, strong enough.
One of the proclamations of the gospel is you can't do it, but Jesus can. So some of these might apply.
If you belong to Jesus and you've accepted one of these heart-level things or some new one that you came up with, that you've settled in your heart, can I tell you something? You believe it because you think it's true about you, but actually, if you belong to Jesus, it is a lie about him. It's only true if he's not there.
"I'm unlovable." You think that says something about you, but it's actually a declaration about Christ that he doesn't love you, that he can't love you, that he can't overcome your wickedness, that he can't overcome your sin, that you've done too much, that you aren't enough, and somehow you think it's about you, but if you belong to Jesus, it's a lie about him, and it's not true.
I love where Paul says,
> "Christ died for me."
Paul writes "me." He's saying no, no, no, me. We get to read that and go, "Yeah, if I belong to Jesus, me." He loved me and gave himself up for me.
"I ruin everything I touch." Sure, without Jesus, maybe, probably not everything. But without Jesus? No.
"I can only trust myself." We get to trust Jesus. You actually don't factor that in. That's beautiful about belonging to Christ. It's not about me. That's why we show up and sing about Jesus and what he's done and accomplished. We don't have blanks where you get to insert your own name about how you've saved the day. We don't do that because that's not what this is about. That's not where our hope is.
"I can't do it." That's a declaration that everything is going to fall apart. Like Jesus won't empower you, won't give you strength, mercy tomorrow. You won't wake up with renewed ability through the empowerment of the Spirit.
"I have to be the one in control." It's a declaration that Jesus isn't trustworthy, that he's not good enough, and that you can't trust yourself with him.
"I don't have enough." Even though we've been seated with him above all things, and we've been given every spiritual gift in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
"Things will never get better" is only true if you don't belong to Jesus. If you belong to Jesus, he's already working. He's already redeeming, and the promises — it ultimately gets better.
> Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
> — 2 Corinthians 5:17
He has gone to work in us and made us new.
These things aren't true. They don't stick to you. They don't hold you. They don't have claim over you if you belong to Jesus and have trusted him. If you haven't, you can. You can go to Christ and say, "I need help. I need salvation. I need rescue. I need forgiveness," and he will.
Here's what I want us to do.
> We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
> — 2 Corinthians 10:5
I want you to actively take this heart-level decision and introduce it to Jesus. I want you to make those two in your mind. I want you to make it obedient to Christ. How is this real if I belong to Jesus? Bring it to him and say, "I want to look at this in light of who you are. I want to look at this in light of what your word says. I want to look at this in light of what your word says about me."
In just a moment, I'm going to pray. The band's going to come back up. I want you to take a second to ask the Spirit, "Is there something that I've settled in my heart that's guiding the decisions I'm making but isn't true? Is there something that I only believe for me that I wouldn't believe for somebody else? I would never counsel somebody else this way. I would never accuse Jesus of this out loud. I'm just doing it in my heart."
Then I want you to make it obedient to Christ. We'll take a moment to do that. Then I want you to do that this week with your community group. I want you to try to walk out, "What have I settled? That only makes sense because I don't say it out loud. I just repeat it over and over again in my heart. How does Jesus rescue and redeem and conquer?"
Let's pray.
Father, I pray that right now you'd give us a moment of stillness and clarity. We ask in the name of Jesus that your Spirit would work to reveal deep, heart-level things that we've put in concrete that aren't true, lies that we believe, that we think are true about us, but are just lies about you. Lord, we ask you to help us to listen. Amen.