In this episode of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack Hibbs delves into the intricacies of faith and fear through the story of David from 1 Samuel. Discover how David’s fear-based decisions led him away from God’s perfect will and what it took for him to rediscover the path to righteousness. The narrative takes us through David’s interactions with the Philistines, showcasing how God’s grace ensured his eventual return to Ziklag and away from fighting his own people.
Now listen, the permissive will of God is a dangerous place to be, but a lot of Christians are content with living in that permissive will of God. They live right near the world. David is in the camp of the enemy. God hasn’t forsaken him, but you can’t expect blessings to come either.
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible.
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Hey, everybody, have you ever thought about what’s afterlife? Do you know that the Bible teaches life is afterlife? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, my good friend Philip DeCourcy has written a great book, and that’s the title, Life After Life, Exploring the Bible’s Wonderful Promises About Heaven and Eternity, published by Harrah’s House Publishers. Get a copy for yourself.
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Life After Life by Philip DeCourcy. Exploring the Bible’s promises about heaven and eternity. It’s available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com.
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On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues his series called 1 Samuel with the message titled, A Lapse of Faith. Now, Samuel of the Old Testament was the last judge of Israel and the first of her prophets. So here in chapter 29, we’ll consider how David’s fear-based choice led to a lapse of trusting God for protection and provision. David made the decision to live with Israel’s enemy, the Philistines. But God steps in, and David is sent back to Ziklag, preventing him from having to fight against his own people. So today, Pastor Jack teaches us that poor choices often stem from fear and not from faith. It can place us in difficult, even dangerous positions. God’s grace, though, can still deliver and redirect us. Still, it really is better not to allow our faith to falter in the first place. Now, with his message called, David, a Lapse of Faith, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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And verse 1 says, Then the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. They’re getting ready for battle. And church, listen, God is in it. I know some of you pacifists don’t want to hear this, but God is in it. He’s bringing two nations together for war. And there’s a reason. Verse 2, and the lords of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands. You know what that means? Some of you who are in the service, they are, as we would see in earlier days, Red Square. Or maybe in Beijing where they bring the army through and all the rockets and all this stuff. They’re passing their military might by and they’re bolstering themselves for war. They’re going to go to war against Israel. So they’re all going by. But look what the Bible says, verse 2. But David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. Remember this, David seeking shelter with the camp of the enemy. And he’s agreed. This is how much this poor man has gotten away with. And yet God hasn’t given up on David. David is going to fight with the enemies of Israel. He’s with the camp of the Philistines. He’s under the covering of Achish, the leader. And David’s passing in the rear, him and his guys, the Hebrew guys. And apparently they stick out like sore thumbs. I mean, I don’t think milk cartons, you know, David had been missing for 10 years. I don’t think there was a milk carton with his face on it. But they knew they were Hebrews. Plus David, according to the scripture, was light colored in skin and reddish color hair. That’s kind of an interesting looking guy, huh? And so look what happens. Then the princes of the Philistines says, what are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me these days? Remember, David had been with them, been no problem. In fact, it had been a blessing to them, or these years. And to this day, I have found no fault in him since he defected to me, or frankly, defected to our side. But the princes or the rulers, the leaders, how about generals, of the Philistines were angry with him. So the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle. Here’s the reason why. Smart thinking. Lest in the battle he become our adversary. I can understand that. For with what could he reconcile for himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men? Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands? Remember that song? We’ve been hearing it for a long time. Boy, that little… single CD release got out everywhere, didn’t it? I mean, the whole Middle East knew that song. Look at verse 6. Then Achish called David and said to him, Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright. Now, so Achish is going to speak to David. David, listen, these guys aren’t going for it. I’m sorry about it. Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright and you’re going out and you’re coming in with me and the army is good in my sight. For to this day, I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless… Or, I’m sorry, but the lords do not favor you. Therefore, verse 7, return now and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines. So this man’s watching out for him, though he be an enemy. Stop right there before we go on. David is not walking in the will of God. Church, listen. Is David one of God’s children? No. Absolutely. Does God have a plan for David’s life? Absolutely. Is God positioning two nations for battle? Yes. The outcome, as we shall see, will be certainly on the perimeter for many, many countless reasons, but one of them, in fact, if not the most preeminent reason, will be to establish David as king. And are you willing to believe God that much in your life? That he will move? Listen, this is a challenge to my faith. God will move nations to bring about one man’s life closer to the throne of God. And I don’t know if we believe that. This book challenges our faith. It’s all about David and his ascendance to the throne. Why? God’s got a long-term plan. And for that, I would say, what’s wrong with us? Why do we think such small thoughts regarding our lives? God wants to do something with our lives collectively. As a church, we can come together. Though we may be small people, we can accomplish big things. Why? Because we have a huge God, number one. Number two, this is quite hilarious in my book, he wants us to get involved, right? Will he bend our arm? No. Will he move us in our spirit? Yeah, he’ll challenge us. Sometimes difficult things will happen in life to get us thinking a different way, a new way. You know, there’s a lot of talk in business and corporate advancement to think outside the box. We’ve been hearing about this for, you know, five or ten years now. You’ve got to think outside the box. And there’s books you can buy about thinking outside the box. Don’t be stuck in your paradigm. Get outside the box. And that one book, I told you to read this book. It’s hilarious. I think it’s a great, well, it’s not a Christian book. I almost call it a Christian book. That’s how much it ministers to me. It’s called Who Stole My Cheese? Have you read that book? Or no, Who Moved My Cheese? See, there you go. Who moved my cheese? Who stole my cheese? It’s about that big. Get the book, Who Moved My Cheese? And it’s fantastic because if you look at it as a Christian and you read it, do you know what God is saying? Hey, everybody down there, the world’s bigger than you think. Get out of the rut you’re in. explore you’ll find me there find out where I’m at David is so far from the perfect will of God yet he’s in the permissive will of God now listen the permissive will of God is a dangerous place to be but a lot of Christians are content with living in that permissive will of God they live right near the world David is in the camp of the enemy God hasn’t forsaken him, but you can’t expect blessings to come either. You know what David’s doing? Listen, he’s existing. He’s existing. He gets up on Monday. He’s safe. How do we know? Because Saul is not around. Neither is the Israeli army under Saul’s control. He’s safe. The Philistines aren’t gonna mess with them because there’s not enough of David and his men to be a problem to the Philistines. So they got him in a manageable place. They got him busy. What was he doing? In between the lines of these chapter verses, what was David doing all that time? Was he cutting wood, sharpening his arrow? What was he doing? Was he writing some Psalms? What was he doing? Then comes Monday. Then comes Tuesday. Then comes Wednesday. If you would stop David at any given day of the month and ask him, do you believe in the holy God of Israel? What would David have said? Absolutely. What do you think, I’m a pagan heathen? I’m the giant killer. I’m the kid. I’m the guy. I did it. It’s me. Well, that’s great. That’s great. Yeah, it was a long time ago, huh? Yeah, it was a long time ago, but yeah, anyway. Oh, well. What are we doing tomorrow? Well, I don’t know. I guess we’re just going to sit around and, you know, whatever we do. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, until you get in a place as a Christian that we just exist. This is what we do. You say, well, Pastor, you don’t know where I work. You don’t know who I live with. Is it difficult? Is it difficult? Let me tell you how difficult it is. Now watch out. Because, see, if you write this letter, you know, Pastor, I want to take you up on that offer. You said Wednesday night to write you a letter about how difficult it is. And so here it is. Once upon a time. And you start writing. Just know this. The end of your letter… The end of it, there may be a response that says, the horrific story you just told is an awesome opportunity for God to be glorified in your life. You are so privileged and honored because God has placed you in this difficult situation as a Christian to change that scope of the world that you live in. You say, I don’t know if I want to believe that. And that’s the issue. Who’s going to change it? Well, I was hoping Mr. Wonderful would come by and change it for me. No. Well, I was hoping, you know, Miss Babe USA would come by and change it. No. And this is where we err as Christians. We start dabbling in other things. to find direction, meaning, purpose, empowerment to make it better. I’m going to go to a self-help program on how to tolerate my fill in the blank. Kids, husbands, wives, dogs and cats. I’m gonna go to this thing and then when they do what they do, I’m gonna just chant this little thing. I’m not upset, I am not upset. I am not, that does not work. It works great if you’re the person taking the check from them, but it doesn’t work. There’s no power in it. Your life, my life needs to be changed, and God does that by the power of the Word.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. To learn more about this ministry or to catch up on some previous episodes, go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And now, let’s get back to today’s message. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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But listen, we take in the Word of God and we go, yeah, bring it on. I go to Calvary. We study the Bible. So bring it on. Come on. And we carry our Bibles. We have them right here. We carry them and we go back and forth to our car. We got our Bibles. And you know what? We can get so knowledgeable that there’s so much weight up in our head that we better be careful the wind doesn’t blow because we could fall over and can’t get back up because there’s no application. It’s all in our head. God is saying, David, I’m moving nations. I’m touching the lives of generals and kings and leaders because what you have forgotten is that I have ordained you for the throne. I am not giving you a life to just sit around in the camp of the enemy, or in our case, the Philistines or the flesh, to just sit around in the flesh and make no difference. Your life, David, will make a difference. That’s why, listen, this is for all of us, that’s why if you look back, David, Jack, Betty, Carol, to the past, I had you kill giants when you were younger. That’s why I had you step out. Do you remember when you were at that camp or you went to that retreat and you were just in high school or you were in college or when you went to that certain thing and that moment when you stepped and you actually did this for my kingdom? Do you remember what you felt like? God would say, do you remember? Do you remember? Do you remember? Do you remember? It was uncomfortable for the moment. Things were going on. It might have been an outreach. It might have been a day trip down to Mexico for us or maybe campus by the sea there in Catalina. I don’t know, some kind of thing where you’re at the camp and you step forward and kumbaya. And you make the, I’m going to give you my life. And you’re, you know, sophomore or junior or senior in high school. That’s it. I’m giving you all of it, God. I’m laying it down. And you write the little letter to yourself and you mail it back. And it comes in a year. And it’s, you know, how far am I now from when that day I made that commitment? What if David would have gotten a thing in the mail? Hey, David, look at this. Funny thing. It’s a date here. And it’s postmarked, the Valley of Elah. And after you cut off Goliath’s head and drug it around for a few days, you sat down and you wrote yourself a little note. You put a little stamp on it because you want to make sure you’re growing with the Lord. And you put it in a mailbox and it’s come back around. And you wrote that day that the Lord in our weakness, he made us valiant and strong. That the Lord who inhabits the praises of Israel cannot be moved. Though the mountains shake and tremble, I will trust in him. And though evil come my way, I know that with his right hand he will uphold me. He will be my strength. David writes this and it comes back. And now he’s sitting in this place. He’s a lover of God. You’re a lover of God. I’m a lover of God. But am I in that place of God’s perfect will? Well, how am I going to know? How am I going to know? Well, in every situation since we’ve started this wonderful book… Frankly, it’s been pretty tough going for David. He’s been misunderstood. He’s been ripped off. He’s been made fun of. He’s had spears thrown at him. He’s had arrows shot at him. He’s been lied about. And no doubt, at this chapter, he would, with us, throw our hands up and say, nobody understands me. To know me? is to love me. Because that’s how you think when we’re not walking with God. It’s warm. It’s pretty fuzzy. It feels good. But David, I want to ask you this question. What are you going to do tomorrow? David, what are you doing next Tuesday? Just existing, I guess I am. Look at verse 8. Then David said to Achish, but what have I done? Well, the answer is nothing. And to this day, what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of the Lord my King? David, he’s talking about the enemy. But Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are as good as… are as good in my sight as an angel of God. That’s a beautiful witness, no doubt about it. Nevertheless, the princes of the Philistines have said, you shall not go up with us to battle. Now therefore arise early in the morning with your master’s servants. who have come with you, and as soon as you are up early in the morning and have the light, depart. So David, verse 11, and his men rose early to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel. Chapter 30, verse 1. Now it happened. When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire. So David’s en route going back to the Philistine stronghold. En route, they come to Ziklag, they see it destroyed, attacked. Verse 2, and listen to this. and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire, and their wives, their sons and their daughters, had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him, listen, lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David’s two wives, Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, remember her? The widow of Nabal, the Carmelite. had been taken captive. Then David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people were grieved, every man for his son and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Mark it, please. Circle. Please, underline that. You need that verse at the end of verse 6. Mark that down. This is tremendous. Everything’s gone. How’d this happen? If we were going to do a forensic study on this, let’s back up. How did this happen? It all happened because David, in his lapse of faith, thought for a moment, God will not fulfill his promise toward me. I’ve got to seek shelter under the protection of the Philistines because Saul’s going to kill me. How does that apply to our lives? Man, when you and I feel like we’re backed into a corner, church, listen, when you feel backed into a corner, the temptation is so strong to do something. When I was in high school during the summer, I used to work for a contractor, and he said a lot of things that I’m still trying to get out of my head. But one of them was, he would pull up in his car, look around, and he’d say, what’s going on? And maybe at that moment we didn’t know what to do or maybe the stuff didn’t arrive. You know, we’re waiting. And he would say, what are you doing? Well, we’re waiting. You’re waiting. Now this is bad counsel, but listen. He would say, don’t stand around. The meter’s running. The clock is going. You’re being paid. Listen, do something even if it’s wrong. He would always say that. So guess what I used to say, because then I wound up being a supervisor of a couple of those trucks. Hey, what’s going on? We don’t know. Don’t stand there and umming and ahhing. Do something, even if it’s wrong. And it’s like, what did I say? Well, I don’t know. Let’s just start something on fire then. Let’s just knock the place. Do something, even if it’s wrong. When you get pressured into a corner, you say stupid things. You do stupid things. I don’t know, honey. You know what? We should get it. The guy said it’s the last one on the lot. And you know what? Right now, with zero APR, and listen, 60 months… You know, no charge, the rate, interest rate, the resale, and all of a sudden, you know, we get genius on the resale. The resale value of this vehicle’s fantastic. Like you feel I can think and you’re gonna sell it soon, you know. No, you’re thinking, I’m taking this car to the grave. It’s black or it’s orange or it’s hot pink. Well, it’s not a guy car, but you know, oh, look at this. And the guy said it’s the last one on the lot. Corner, corner, corner. Hey, don’t do that. Don’t get into that place. Well, you know, buddy, you better buy this house because I got 25 people that are lined up to buy this house right now. And there’s people that they’re just offering. They’re just throwing out the offering price right then and there. So you better don’t. Don’t you bargain with these people. You better take it. Listen, if God’s in it, that guy might give you the house. Could such a thing happen? Watch out. Such a thing could happen.
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pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs here on Real Life Radio and his message called David, A Lapse of Faith. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called First Samuel, a series highlighting the prophet Samuel, who was called by God during one of Israel’s darkest times to bring the people back to a heart of true worship. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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Hey, everybody, have you ever thought about what’s afterlife? Do you know that the Bible teaches life is afterlife? If you know the Lord Jesus Christ, my good friend Philip DeCourcy has written a great book, and that’s the title, Life After Life, Exploring the Bible’s Wonderful Promises About Heaven and Eternity, published by Harrah’s House Publishers. Get a copy for yourself.
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Life After Life by Philip DeCourcy, Exploring the Bible’s Promises About Heaven and Eternity. It’s available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com.
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Hey, thank you again so much for listening. And if you’d like to hear or see more of what we do here, you can always go to jackhibbs.com for all the latest on what’s going on with this ministry. And please, if you’re ever in the Southern California area, come see us at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills. We’d love to see you there in person. It has been so good to be with you today, and I pray you find yourself in the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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See you on the next episode. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
