Foolish Decisions Lead To More Tragedies

1 Samuel 27:1-30:6

The Story

Because David listened to his heart instead of listening to the LORD God, he led to more tragedies.......

All 600 of his men and their families, his own wives and children, and everyone around him were brought into a place of compromise and temptation.

He himself lived with a sense of false security and he literally aligned himself with the enemies.

He murdered, lied, and submitted himself to the enemy of God.

He stayed there for 16 months, yet not a psalm was attributed to him during that period of time. He virtually lost his voice and testimony.

He fell far and deep, and he was working with the enemies against the people of God.

Even the Philistines didn't want him to be around; he had become an offense to them.

David finally reaped the harvest of his wickedness (Samuel 30:1-5).

David finally reached the bottom (Samuel 30:6); his men turned against him.

David's sin had taken everything away from him.

Lessons

Smart people do make stupid decisions.

Stupid decisions lead to more tragedies.

Foolish decisions have serious repercussions; they not only affect us terribly but also others and their families.

Running away from the will of God will only bring us more disasters.

Remember...

David's foolish decisions brought more tragedies to himself and others around him.

Smart People Makes Foolish Decision

1 Samuel 27:1-12

The Story

David was on the fast track to his kingdom.

He was going to be the next king of Israel.

All this while he had been hunted, hounded, and haunted by King Saul.

And all of a sudden, he felt defeated, discouraged, and depressed.

For the first time, he felt like God might have forgotten all about him.

For the first time it looked like his enemies had prevailed......

While David was in this state of despair, he made foolish decisions that altered the course of his life, bringing him much troubles, and making him broken spiritually.

He decided to give up on God's plan for his life.

He decided to take his own life in his own hands and began to live for himself.

This poor David thought that he would be better off fleeing to the land of the Philistines, where he thought he would be safe from King Saul.

But without him realizing it, he was running to the arch enemies of God to beg for help!

Lessons

Smart people do make stupid decisions.

Instead of turning to God in prayer, sometimes we like to turn to ourselves for counsel.

When we turn to ourselves for counsel, we forget the many great promises that God had made to us.

And when we decide to have things our own way, we choose to abandon the path of God for us.

Instead of obeying the LORD God, we are running to the arch enemies of God to beg for help!

Remember...

David made foolish decisions by turning away from the Almighty God.

David Was Saved From His Fury

1 Samuel 25:2-44

The Story
When Abigail heard what her foolish husband had done, she got together the food and things that David and his men needed, and went out to David with the hope that she could change his mind.

.......She tried her best to save her husband's life.

She humbled herself at David's feet.

She admitted that David and his men had suffered wrong at the hand of Nabal.

She admitted that her husband was a wicked man and a fool.

She asked for forgiveness.

She pleaded with David to accept her gift and spared Nabal's family.

She told him that God had sent her to stop him from murdering a man in anger.

She told him that if he did what his anger told him to do, he would regret it forever.

Abigail's wisdom overcame David's anger.

He accepted her gifts and allowed her to return home with his promise that all would be well.

When Abigail returned home, she found her husband drunk.

She waited until the morning to tell him what she had done.

Nabal was overcome by anger (or fear) at what Abigail did and what David threatened to do.

He stayed in that condition for ten days and he died.

Lessons
Anger is dangerous.

We need to bring our rising anger to the LORD God and ask Him to help us to calm down.

Let's yield our feelings, our rights, and our anger to the LORD God.

Don't do anything stupid.

The LORD God will repay us for what we do.

Yeah.... sometimes He does send someone or something to help us to calm down our anger.

And if we choose to wallow in our anger or fear, we will be like Nabal.......

Remember...
David was saved from doing something stupid by Abigail, Nabal's wife, who later became his wife.

David Was Blinded By Rage

1 Samuel 25:2-44

The Story
When David's men returned to him and told him Nabal's refusal to his request (12-13), He was very angry.

And he prepared 400 men to go after him!!!

David was blinded by rage.

He had refrained from killing king Saul because he saw Saul as "the LORD's anointed" and as his superior.

But he saw Nabal as a weakling that he could beat into submission.

Lessons
Anger takes control of the mind, the heart, and the will and makes us act like raving lunatics.

Anger makes us say things that we normally wouldn't say.

Anger makes us do things that we normally wouldn't do.

Anger makes us behave and act like a fool.

Remember...
David was blinded by rage to do things that he might regret later.

David Lost Control

1 Samuel 25:2-44

The Story
When David's men returned to him and told him Nabal's refusal to his request (12-13), He was very angry.

And he prepared 400 men to go after him!!!

Nabal's response should not have surprised David.

He was hard to get along with.

He had a bad attitude.

He was a rich man but he was very selfish.

"Nabal" mean "fool". So David was meeting a man who lived up to his name.

But David responded to Nabal by going off in a blind rage to get even with him was something uncalled for.

Lessons
Anger will make us do something pretty stupid.

We may not always be able to control what others can and will do to us.

But we can control ourselves in what we can and will do to others.

Remember...
David in his haste and anger lost control.

David Got Angry

1 Samuel 25:2-44

The Story
David and his men were hiding in the wilderness.

While there, they were fighting skirmishes with the wild tribes and protecting the shepherds and their sheep.

It was customary during that time for those who received protection to reward the protectors.

It was sheering time. The shepherd were selling their wool and made their profit.

David sent some of his men to remind Nabal of the effective service they had provided.

Instead of responding in gratitude, Nabal answered David's men with harsh words (9-11).

Nabal called David a rebel and he refused to reward them.

David was angry.

Lessons
The children of God do get angry at time.

But anger must be from a righteous cause.

Remember...
David did get angry while doing good services to others.

The Grace Extended In The Cave

1 Samuel 24:1-22

The Story
David had the perfect opportunity to kill king Saul and exact his revenge, but he refused to do it.

Instead, he cut off a small piece of Saul's robe.

But as soon as he did it, he knew he had been wrong; even though he couldn't respect the man, he still had to respect his office as king.

David knew that he didn't have the right to play judge in the life of Saul.

When Saul left the cave, David followed him and confronted him.

David followed clear, biblical principles that taught us how to react when we were wronged by others.

• He took the first step.
• He humbled himself before Saul.
• He honored Saul.
• He spoke the truth about the situation.
• He declared his own guilt.
• He placed his case in the hand of God, the ultimate Judge.
  

David's moves touched the hard heart of king Saul.

God used the actions to bring about peace that day.

David got what he wanted by placing himself in the hand of the LORD God, and demonstrated grace instead of bitterness.

Lessons
Bitterness takes root and poison the rest of our life.

Let's extend grace to those who may be against us.

Let's learn to forgive and forget.

Let's also learn to confess our sins to others.

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. — Romans 12:19 (New King James Version)

Remember...
David extended grace instead of bitterness to king Saul while in the cave.

The Temptation Lying In The Cave

1 Samuel 24:1-22

The Story
David was living in a cave.

The LORD God had providentially brought king Saul into the same cave.

King Saul lay down and went to sleep.

David had the perfect opportunity to kill king Saul.

David's men even challenged him to take his sword and kill him (4, 10).

There was the temptation to get even and to protect his reputation.

David slipped over to where king Saul lay sleeping.

David had a knife in his hand.

He had the opportunity to end it all.

What to do?

Lessons
They are times when opportunities come for us to get even with our enemies.

Like David, we are tempted to take revenge.

What to do?

Should we rather wait for God's timing?

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. — Romans 12:19 (New King James Version)

Remember...
David was also tempted to take king Saul's life while in the cave.