Recognizing Grace, Giving Generously

1 Sam 30

Merry Christmas. Next week, Christmas Sunday

Invite friends for Christmas service

Kids will join us at for the first part of our worship service.

The last time we looked at David in 1 Sam 27, David in fear had fled to the Philistines. He got himself into a tight spot when the Philistines were gathering to fight Israel. But the other Philistine commanders recognized David and didn’t trust him. They insisted that he not fight with them, and so David and his men return to Ziklag. They must have been enormously relieved and happy to go back home.

1-6a But David and his men come home to decimation: no town, no families. The town had been burned to the ground and all the women and children were taken captive, David’s wives as well.

All the men wail, until they had no strength

Then they blamed David wanting to kill him. David is greatly distressed.

As P. Charles mentioned recently, troubles/weakness are normal. There is suffering in this life. Such is the life of David, filled with many troubles, hardships, pain. This is not a clean and comfortable life in the least. This is so apparent in the Psalms—David understood trouble and heartache.

6b “David found strength in the Lord his God.”

It may help to look at 23:15. David was again fleeing from Saul, Jonathan sought him and “helped him find strength in God.” Jonathan reassures/reminds David of God’s promise to him: he will become king of Israel, Saul will not defeat him.

When we read the Psalms, we see a David who puts his trust in God, that God will protect and deliver him, that God does is our fortress, strong tower, refuge.

It is good to meditate on God’s faithfulness, God’s steadfast love, God’s grace.

Meditating on God’s promises.

God has used music (Selah, “Hiding Place”)

to minister to me. They’d sing about how God raises us up in the storms of life, about how God uses all things (good and bad) for our good, about the deep, deep love of Christ

I have a God who is good to me. Such songs & promises helped me find comfort, hope, strength, peace in God.

7 David inquires about whether he should try to pursue the raiders, and God replies that he should and that he’d be successful.

9 So David and his men take off. But they had just returned from traveling back from the Philistine-Israel battle line, they had wailed until they had no strength, and so 200/600 were too exhausted. 400 went on.

11 These men are out there, but where do they go? It’s just a rural wilderness. Who know where these raiders might be.

They find a Egyptian, alone and exhausted. We find out that he hadn’t eaten or drank for 3 days. They give him water and food.

They find out that he was the slave of an Amalekite, abandoned because he had become sick. He says that his group had been raiding the Negev, which is the region of Ziklag, where David’s town was.

The slave agrees to show David where the Amalekite raiding party was, as long as they promised not to kill him or hand him over to his master.

There is lesson on providence here and throughout 1 Samuel. God works through miracles and “ordinary means.” We see miraculous deliverance stories, of David over Goliath. But we also see very natural means. David is much protected through Jonathan’s friendship. Last time, David was spared because the Philistine commanders refused to let David go to battle with them. Here, David and his men find an abandoned slave.

God may use circumstances, God may use a special friendship, God may use what seems to be a “coincidental acquaintance.”

(Implied) The only reason why David found the Amalekite raiders was because God directed David to them through this abandoned Egyptian.

David finds, attacks, and defeats the Amalekite raiders

It was a massive victory: none escaped (except 400 on camels), recovered everything, nothing was missing (young or old, boy or girl, any plunder), everything was brought back, he took “all” the flocks and herd.

It was a massive victory and a full recovery. They got everything back.

The subtext is that this was God’s victory for David and his men. This was God’s hand.

The 400 return with all the wives, children and plunder. They rejoin the 200 who had been left behind because they were too exhausted

Some of the men felt that since they were the ones who marched all the way and fought the Amalekites, they had risked their lives, they alone should keep the plunder. The 200 who had stayed behind didn’t fight the battle and were not entitled to the plunder. They may take their wives and children, but not the plunder.

I think we all understand this mindset. “I earned it, I should keep it.” You get what you earn, and you don’t get what you don’t earn. We’re not socialists. We’re pretty protective of what we perceive to be our earnings. It’s my money.

But there’s a problem. The narrator calls these “evil men and troublemakers” (22).

They don’t seem to remember that just a couple days ago they were exhausted from wailing and ready to kill David. They seemed to think they were the ones who decided to pursue the raiders, and they found them on their own (without the providential provision of the Egyptian slave), and these 400 defeated the Amalekites on their own strength.

David takes a very different position. He shifts the focus and re-writes the story. This is not about how we fought and won, this is about how God protected and delivered.

“what the Lord has given us”—this is from God

“He protected us and handed [them] over to us”—God won the battle

This is not what we’ve earned for ourselves. This is God’s victory and provision for us.

So David says, “The share of the man who stayed behind is to be the same as that of him who went down to battle. All will share alike.”

David’s theology determines his viewpoint. This is a story about what God does for us. And this viewpoint determines his actions.

This is not ours to keep for ourselves. This is God’s provision and to be shared.

We notice that after David gets back to Ziklag, he share the plunder with others in Judah and in that whole region (30:26-31). David gives and gives.

Compare these two attitudes:

I earned	God has given
Works	Grace
Self-reliance, self-effort	God’s provision, power, generosity
Keep for self	Not mine to keep; share
Tend to complain	Tend to be thankful

This “It’s not about what I earn, but about what God has given”--it is a faith-perspective, a Gospel-perspective.

This is not just about our salvation, this is about how we live our lives, how we see our blessings and provisions, our possessions and jobs, our health and money. It’s a Gospel-perspective on life.

This is how we’re to see Christmas. Christmas is not about us giving and receiving gifts. It’s not about family and friends. Christmas is the story of God giving His Son to us. God has given. It is the story of an infinitely loving and good God giving an infinitely precious gift to an infinitely unworthy people.

Christmas is a time for us to recognize God’s mind-boggling generosity, and in experiencing such lavish generosity, like David, we are happy to share what we have with others.

Application:

Recognize areas where God has been generous (providentially so), don’t take credit for it, and share with others. See that is wasn’t “we earned, we won the battle, we achieved,” but that “God has given us, God has protected and provided.”

Be generous

That leads to generosity, overflow giving

I know people who have been so blessed by a book or mp3 or song, and they buy copies for others, wanting to share the treasure they’ve received. God had given, and they feel happy to share what they had received.

Maybe you have a real talent: cooking, music—freely you’ve received and now you’re happy to share. This talent isn’t something I earned, it was a gift God gave me so I could share it with others. So share!

Maybe you feel like your car, your house was a gift from God. Share it. Offer rides, be willing to let people borrow it. Open up your home, maybe even offer people a place to stay. Don’t treat it like its yours.

Money is the most obvious. Think about your jobs. Of course, we think, we worked, we earned, this pay belongs to me. But perhaps we might recognize, as David, that God provided that “abandoned Egyptian slave,” God provided you resources and opportunities, talents and connections. We think it was all us, feeling so entitled, but from the outside, maybe you can recognize, it really was God’s gift. Can you recognize your paycheck not as a “I earned,” but a “God gracious has given.” If so, it shouldn’t be that hard to be generous. And in these economically troubled times, there are so many needs.

Where do you genuinely recognize God’s generosity for you? How can you share that gift received?

You have to have the first application before you can have the second application.

The point is not just to be a generous person. The main point is to recognize how God has been so generous to us. This is not about us being generous but about how God is generous.

And because recognize God’s generosity, it is easy, it is natural to be generous with what we’ve been graciously given.

There is a kind of giving that appeals to and celebrates us: we’re good, generous, giving, kind people.

And there is a kind of giving that celebrates God: God is good, generous, giving, and kind.

First, find strength in the Lord

I think that is part of what enabled David to see things different, and so, to have a generous heart.

I think what helped David have the “God gives” perspective was back in v. 6, when David found strength in God.

I’d encourage us to develop the disciplines and practices that help us find strength in the Lord everyday. Everyday we find comfort, hope, security, joy as we remind ourselves of His promises, His faithfulness, His steadfast love, His forgiving grace.

Communion

We have a Christ who came to give.

Christmas is a story about how God became a man, to give us far beyond our wildest imagination.

Here at this table, we are reminded of how much God gives, of the extent to which He went to secure for us a place in His family and a home in glory.

We are reminded of how the “I earned” approach was leading us to death. We’d never be good enough, never be generous enough, never by loving enough. We didn’t need our earned wage. We needed mercy. And in Jesus, we found mercy, a God who delights to give.