I Samuel 20:1-21:15

David Navigating Severe Trials

In this message from 1 Samuel 20?21, we see how fear shaped David?s choices as he fled from Saul. Yet even in uncertainty and hardship, God was at work. As Pastor Lloyd explains, the trials David faced were not wasted?they were part of God?s refining process. Be encouraged: the same God who walked with David is using your trials to shape you into who He?s called you to be.

  1. And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
  2. And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will show it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
  3. And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
  4. Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.
  5. And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.
  6. If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
  7. If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
  8. Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?
  9. And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?
  10. Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly?
  11. And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.
  12. And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and show it thee;
  13. The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will show it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father.
  14. And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not:
  15. But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.
  16. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
  17. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
  18. Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
  19. And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel.
  20. And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark.
  21. And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the LORD liveth.
  22. But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.
  23. And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.
  24. So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat.
  25. And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.
  26. Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean.
  27. And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day?
  28. And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
  29. And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.
  30. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?
  31. For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.
  32. And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
  33. And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
  34. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
  35. And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.
  36. And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
  37. And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
  38. And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
  39. But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
  40. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city.
  41. And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
  42. And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
  1. Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
  2. And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
  3. Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.
  4. And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
  5. And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.
  6. So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
  7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
  8. And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.
  9. And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.
  10. And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
  11. And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
  12. And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
  13. And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
  14. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me?
  15. Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?