Safe and Sound in a Dangerous World
2-20-2005
1 Sam. 19
Most young children can tell you that the most dangerous place in the world is in your own home, in your own bed sometime after dad has turned off the light and you are all alone in your room in the dark. That is when the monsters come out. No, I have never actually seen them, but I can distinctly remember hearing the small subtle noises they made as I lay there eyes wide open with covers over my head. I always knew that if I ever did see them, it was all over Monsters do not leave witnesses. I remember explaining to my father about the monsters, and he would tell me how nightmares could make me imagine I heard and saw things that weren’t there. One night he took me outside, walking around the dark house, assuring me there were no monsters. I did not have the heart to tell him that these were not stupid monsters- they knew better than to let him see them. They were hiding, waiting for him to go to his room, and then they would resume toying with me. So I would lie there in my bed, in the dark hiding under the covers. For some reason, the covers served as an impenetrable barrier for these child-eating monsters. They made me feel safe and sound in a dangerous world.
It is only when you grow older that you learn that your room is not all that dangerous. Instead you discover that the whole world is a dangerous place. You find out there are real monsters that fly airplanes into buildings, who kidnap kids from their families, who use and abuse people of all ages. Diseases and death strike when you least expect them, threatening to take away even the people we love the most. Whether it’s drunk driver, or an unseen germ, life is full of dangers, and hiding beneath the covers will not make them go away.
So how do you deal with it? How can you and I honestly face the very real dangers, and yet know that we are safe and sound in a dangerous world? I think I know someone who can help us: a man who once wrote these words:
Ps 59:16 But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble.
When David wrote these words he knew what it was to live in a dangerous world. He was facing a dangerous man named Saul who had made up his mind to kill David. 1 Sam. 19 tells us how David was delivered from danger and gives you and I some clues about how God delivers us safe and sound in a dangerous world.
I. INNOCENCE WILL NOT ALWAYS DELIVER YOU FROM DANGER. (v. 1-7)
Many of us think that just being a good person makes us immune from the trials and tragedies of life. Play by the rules, live and let live, try to treat everybody right, and everything will turn out OK. I know we all think that because the first thing we say when anything really bad happens is what did I do to deserve this? Many times the answer is nothing.
King Saul had it out for David, even though David had never done anything to Saul. It took Saul’s son, Prince Jonathan, to speak up for his friend. Notice what he says in vs. 4-5 (read).
David hasn’t done anything wrong! Why do you want to kill him? Jonathan’s speech seems to change his dad’s mind. Saul and David reconcile and all seems well, until Saul has another of his fits, and once again David has to run for his life. David’s innocence does not deliver him from danger. Innocence will not deliver you from danger, either.
Many of us have the idea that really bad things only happen to really bad people. Ordinary folks like us steer clear of danger as much as possible. We figure the farther away from trouble we live, the harder it is for danger to find us We play by the rules, try to treat other people right, live and let live, and by doing all of this, we hope to stay safe and sound in a dangerous world
Does that really work? Well, yes and no. Nobody would deny that living a good moral life will keep you out of trouble. Living right keeps you away from many dangers that come with doing wrong. At the same time, doing right does not guarantee deliverance from all danger. The Bible tells us that even the righteous can expect this world to be a dangerous place:
Ps 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous…
John 16:33…in the world, you will have tribulation…
2 Ti 3:12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.
David was a man after God’s own heart, a man God Himself chose to be King of His own people, and yet for a long time, David was a hunted man, a man on the run, a man who knew what it was to live in a dangerous world. You and I must understand and accept the fact that even though being a Christian and doing what is right will always pay off in the end, innocence will not always keep you safe and sound in a dangerous world.
In the May 28, 1998, edition of USA Today, the following appeared among the letters to the editor:
Will somebody help me save my son? My son is two years old and is a reflection of complete innocence. His vulnerability to this harsh, violent, ignorant and uncaring world just rips my heart apart. He knows nothing of the killing within the schools that are supposed to prepare children for the world. He knows nothing of the abuse that happens within the homes of children just his age. As he plays with his toys, he is oblivious to the tragedies that occur every day across the country. And as he clutches his blanket, sleeping soundly, dreaming of the mommy and daddy who love him, he has no idea of the complete social and moral decay of our country. Does anyone care anymore? Will someone please, please help me save my son?—Edward Moats, Belle air Beach, Florida*
This man understands that innocence will not keep even those we love the most in a dangerous world. Like David, we are all threatened by dangers even when we try to do right. But not only will innocence not always deliver you from danger
II. LOVE WILL NOT ALWAYS DELIVER YOU FROM DANGER. (v.8-17)
Sometime during the decade of the 1960s a band of boys from Liverpool England called the Beatles sang a song that said over and over again all you need is love…love is all you need. Those were nice words everyone wants to believe, but is love all you need to make you safe and sound in a dangerous world?
David flees from the murderous Saul home to the loving arms of his wife Michal. But Michal knows her dad is not the kind to give up so easily.
She finds out about Saul’s sending assassins to lie in wait and kill David at dawn. You’re a dead man if you stay here tonight she tells her beloved husband. So she devises a scheme to save David: first, she lets him down from a back window. Then she dresses up a statue (which may or may not have been one of her household idols) places it in David’s bed, and waits for morning. She buys David a little more running time by pretending he is sick when the soldiers come for him, but finally Saul orders them to bring David back even on his bed. Before Saul can vent his rage on his daughter she lies to save her own skin. Michal is not exactly a saint in her actions- keeping idols in her home, probably without her husband David’s knowledge- deceiving and lying to her father. She would probably defend herself by saying she would do almost anything to save the man she loved. Her love delivered David from danger.
Is love all you need? Is love all you need to make you safe and sound in a dangerous world? Again, the answer is yes, and no.
Love is a one of the most powerful forces in the universe. The love of a parent will move them to do almost anything to provide and protect their kids. You’ve heard stories of lovers and friends who willingly sacrifice for the sake of the one they love. Even Jesus once told us:
Jn 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination but when the blizzard subsided her body was found by searchers, who discovered that before her death, she had taken off all her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found he was alive and well. She had wrapped her body around her son’s given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later that child, David Lloyd George, became prime minister of Great Britain, and, without a doubt, one of England’s greatest statesmen.
I have no doubt that every mother and father in this room would do the same thing for their own child t save their lives But at the same time, let’s be honest: love does not always make us safe and sound in this dangerous world.
Even after David escapes, Saul continues to pursue him, continues to try and kill him. Michal’s love for her husband saved him from death that night, but not from the danger in the coming days.
Your love for your family and friends will not always deliver them from danger. Every year, children vanish without a trace from homes where mom and dad love their kids as much as you love your children. Every day people say their last goodbyes to those they love very much, and yet love cannot stay the hand of death. You can love somebody with every fiber of your being, but you cannot force them to do what is right, instead of doing what will end up hurting them. I am not trying to be cruel or unfeeling, but love will not always deliver you nor the ones you love from danger, any more than love ultimately delivered David from danger.
You and I must understand and accept the fact that even though love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, it is not always powerful enough to keep us safe and sound in a dangerous world. Like David, there will be times when love will only postpone the danger- not eliminate it.
So if innocence does not deliver from danger, and love cannot deliver us from danger, what can make us safe and sound in a dangerous world? Do we have to always live in fear, or is there another option? David discovers the answer when he finds that
III. ONLY THE LORD DELIVERS YOU FROM EVERY DANGER (v 18-24)
You probably knew this is where we would end up- at least something or another to do with God. But before you tune out, listen to the rest of David’s story.
As he is running for his life from his own home he has to be thinking where am I going to go? Where can I run and find safety from Saul? The only place he can think of is the city of Ramah- hometown of Samuel the prophet. Maybe Samuel can help him find a way out of this. So David flees to Ramah, and in Ramah he finds Samuel in Naioth- probably a section of the city set aside for Samuel and the other prophets of Israel. David tells Samuel everything that has happened and Samuel gives David refuge there.
But somebody tells Saul where David is, so he sends a group of thugs there to get him. That’s when things get weird.
V. 20 tells us that when Saul’s men arrive at Naioth, Samuel and the other prophets are prophesying. The Hebrew word is very ambiguous here: in some contexts it describes a true prophet of God who declares God’s message. But in other contexts, it describes the ecstatic babbling of a false prophet, under the control of a demon (cf. Jer. 23:21; Ezek. 13:2-3; 1 Kings 22:10). However you look at it, one thing is very clear: God causes Saul and his men to be unable to control themselves. Saul ends up throwing off his royal robes, which is meant to remind us that God has rejected him as king of His people.
The main point here is that when David is cornered, with no way out, it is not his innocence nor the love of someone else who delivers him- it is God. When there is no way out, God delivers David and keeps him safe and sound from danger.
You might be way ahead of me here. You might be saying, “Bro. Mike, do you mean to tell me that God will always do some miracle to keep me and my loved ones safe from danger?” And my answer will again be yes- and no.
Yes God very often does deliver His children from danger. That’s why David can sing such words as these:
Ps 34:6-7 6This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
Jesus Himself commanded us to include in our prayers …deliver us from the evil one… It is not wrong to ask God to keep you and your loved ones safe and sound in a dangerous world. You can trust Him to care about you and protect you.
At the same time, you must also remember that God does not always protect us from danger, but also through danger. Nowhere in the Bible does the Lord promise that you and I will be exempt from pain, suffering, or heartache. Nowhere does He promise that danger will never touch our lives. What He does promise is that even when danger comes, He will not leaves us to face it alone. He will be with us, and if you will trust Him, He will get you through it. Let me illustrate with a story you are probably familiar with from Mark 4:35-41 (read). Let me ask you a few questions about this story:
Did Jesus know they would encounter a storm on that lake? Of course He did; the Bible tells us that Jesus knew all things. And yet He allowed his men to get on that boat, and come face to face with the danger of drowning. They were so scared they woke Him up, and asked Him the same question you or I might ask in a dangerous situation: don’t you care that I’m about to die? But Jesus was concerned about His men, and after He calmed the storm, He calmed His children: Where is your faith in Me? Did you think I would abandon you to danger? Don’t you realize that the safest place to be in this dangerous world is with Me?
God hath not promised skies ever blue,
Flower-strewn pathways always for you.
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
But He hath promised strength from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
My friends, God will not always deliver you from danger, but you can rest assured that when danger comes, if you belong to Him, He will deliver you through danger.
David discovered this to be true. He will still be a man on the run from the wrath of King Saul, but David knows that he is in the hands of God. He knows what you and I must always remember: only as you trust in the Lord, will you be able to rest safe and sound in the midst of a dangerous world.
The story is told of a monastery in Portugal, perched high on a 3,000 foot cliff which is only accessible by a terrifying ride in a swaying basket. The basket is pulled with a single rope by several strong men, sweating and straining to pull the fully loaded basket up the mountain. One American tourist who visited the site got nervous halfway up the cliff when he noticed that the rope looked old and frayed. When he finally made it to the top he asked the man in charge, “How often do you change the rope?” The monk replied with a smile “Whenever it breaks!”-
Friends there are times in life when you wonder if the things you trust are strong enough to keep you safe. Let me remind you that One, and only One Person is able to keep you and the ones you love safe and sound in a dangerous world: that Person is the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you trusting Him today?
