How God Protects Us

How God Protects Us Even When We Don’t Know It

A messenger came…

I Samuel 23:22 but there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.

Introduction:

David had been anointed as a very young man to be the future king of Israel. Saul knew that God had rejected him as king and was insanely jealous of David and tried to kill him despite the fact that David had been loyal to him. Saul, instead of concentrating on ruling Israel, spend about a decade trying to kill David on multiple occasions. David hid in multiple locations. When he was in the wilderness of Ziph, the local people told Saul, apparently wanting to ingratiate themselves to the king. Saul asked for information and went there, and found that David had gone to the wilderness of Maon .

Saul pursued David and his small army of 600 men, who went on one side of the mountain while Saul was on the other side. Saul and his crack army of 3000 men surrounded David, cutting off any way of escape. When it appeared that David was about to die, suddenly a messenger came to Saul urging him to come immediately to defend Israel against the invading Philistine army. Saul’s army left to go against the Philistines, and David’s life was spared.

Psalm 54 is written when the Ziphites had betrayed David’s location to Saul. He prayed: 1. Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength. 2. Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth. 3. For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah. 4. Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul. 5 He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth…

What had David done?

David had done nothing wrong. He had been loyal to the king. Later we will see him sparing the life of Saul on two occasions. David had protected Israel. Then if God is in control of all things, why would He permit David to suffer such a situation?

Does God care for us at all times?

God wants us to know that we can trust Him and not simply trust our own abilities. David was a warrior from his youth, and now was at least 10 years older than when he killed Goliath. God put him an impossible situation. Saul was a very experienced warrior and had 5 times the number of his rag-tag army. He had been out-maneuvered and was surrounded. From a human point of view, he could not save himself, but God saved him by arranging for messenger to come at the precise moment that was needed. If you consider all the things that would be required to have this occur, you can see that God is in control. The Philistines must decide to attack, Israel must become aware of their plans, a messenger must be sent to Ziph, and then someone send the messenger to Maon where now David was hiding. All must be coordinated, and David did recognize that this was from the hands of God Himself.

We need to remember how powerful God is. He is the almighty creator and sustainer of the entire universe. We need to remember God’s perspective. He lives outside of the boundaries of time, but comes to work on earth inside the confines of time. His goals are not just temporary goals. His goals are eternal, to conform us into the image of His Son. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed into the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

A personal illustration:?

I have seen God work this way on multiple occasions in my own life. One example began when I was completing my medical training. I was completing my 8th year of post-doctoral training and already had my specialty boards in Internal Medicine and a FACP (special recognition academically beyond that). I was completing the second year of a two year fellowship in Cardiology. I had wanted to teach medicine in an academic institution in Africa and wrote to 20 different locations. I heard only one positive letter offering me a position in cardiology in Lagos, Nigeria although the pay was borderline and the catheterization laboratory was just beginning to be purchased and set up. Then I suddenly had exquisite back pain radiating to my toe and I could not tolerate wearing the lead aprons that were necessary for doing my cardiac catheterizations. I was confined to bed for several weeks when the phone rang. I was called by a representative of the US Public Health Service offering me a position as chief of Internal Medicine and Professor of Internal Medicine at a new hospital, the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia, Liberia. I discovered later that my letter to Liberia had been strangely delayed for several months. The day it arrived, the US government had just offered to provide one doctor, one nurse, one administrator, etc. from the Public Health Service, and the US representative was returning to the USA that day. The director of the hospital, Dr. Togba, read my letter, wrote on the envelop “I want this man; call him” and sent the letter by private courier to the representative as he was boarding the plane to return to the USA. Thus we had a five year stay in Liberia, in many ways the high point of my professional medical career, and the location where I was saved, accepting Jesus Christ as personal savior 2 ? years later.

What lessons can we learn?

1.???? Sometimes bad things happen to us which are not the results of sinful or foolish behavior. We live in a fallen world where Satan often attacks believers.

2.???? God is still in control of all things. He is never late, never impotent, and never unjust

3.???? God may permit circumstances which are beyond our control to teach us to trust Him and depend on Him, and not on our own talents, our ideas, our power and our cleverness.