Thank you Pastor Eric.
Today's Focus Scripture: 1
Samuel 27:1-12
The promise of our dream is from the Lord - do not abandon the dream He
gives you.
Do not wander away from your dream.
There are times when the dream seems crystal clear, and sometimes it
seems the dream just kind of fades. We guard each other in times when the dream
seems to be fading.
1 Samuel 27:1-12
1 Then David said to
himself, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing
better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will
despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will
escape from his hand.”
2 So David arose and crossed
over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch,
king of Gath.
3 And David lived with
Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his
two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s
widow.
4 Now it was told Saul that
David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.
5 Then David said to Achish,
“If now I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of
the cities in the country, that I may live there; for why should your servant
live in the royal city with you?”
6 So Achish gave him Ziklag
that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
7 The number of days that
David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
8 Now David and his men went
up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were
the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far
as the land of Egypt.
9 David attacked the land
and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took away the sheep, the
cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to
Achish.
10 Now Achish said, “Where
have you made a raid today?” And David said, “Against the Negev of Judah and
against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites.”
11 David did not leave a man
or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying, “Otherwise they will tell about us,
saying, ‘So has David done and so has been his practice all the time he has
lived in the country of the Philistines.’”
12 So Achish believed David,
saying, “He has surely made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore
he will become my servant forever.”
Summary:
David gave up on his dream of being king. This chapter is a model of bad leadership.
Six observations by Pastor Eric:
1. David said something to
himself in verse 1 where he convinced himself it would be better to go live
with the Philistines.
When it comes to the pitfall of surrendering to the thought that the
dream has died, or failed, we must really watch our self-talk is not driven by
the opponents of our dreams instead of our dreams being driven by the promise
from the Lord of the dream.
There are all kinds of "voices" that would set themselves
against the dream that we have in our heart.
We must be on guard to not repeat what the opponents of the dream are
saying and end up convincing ourselves away from something God has promised.
2. Good leadership is not
defined by whether other people follow, but by whether the followers are the
better for having followed.
(verses 2 and 3 speak of all those who followed David - but David was
not leading well)
By and large most folks are willing to follow somebody. The test for us
in pursuing our dreams is not whether or not we can say "Hey look at all
these folks that are following after me, so this must be the right thing."
We have to ask ourselves "Am I really leading them in a way that
is for their good." A good leader helps the followers to be better people.
The onus is on us as men to be sure we are leading people in a
direction that makes them better.
3. The absence of resistance
is not a confirmation of wisdom. (verse 4 -Saul gave up pursuing David, which
at this point David no longer had any kind of resistance from Saul. This did
not indicate that everything was fine or OK.)
Jell-O does not sharpen iron, iron sharpens iron.
Things may seem to be going well, but the reality is the pressure, the
resistance, and the tension needs to be in place for productivity.
Our best friends are often not the ones to "glad hand" us,
but are the ones who provoke us to stay on track when we start wandering off
the track. (This is what a true best friend is like, not just someone who is a
"yes" man.)
4. David's running away from
his dream shows us that we need to beware of welcoming the wrong people. (verses
5 - 7)
The wrong people can give us favor, remember - "Beware of Greeks
bearing gifts."
We must be alert when others are asking us to cast in our lot with
them.
"Compromise accommodates detour so often in the pursuit of our
dreams."
Hold true to integrity, to truth,
stay and do not get detoured because someone seems to be saying all the right
things.
5. Natural success in someone else's cause does
not rationalize the abandoning of our own dream. (verses 8 - 10 - David seemed
to be doing well in battle, but was actually fulfilling the Philistine's cause,
not his dream.)
We need to be honest with ourselves when we are at a vulnerable place
regarding our dream, and not just rely on what seems to be working, i.e.
"Well it all seems to be OK. I mean I am making money." Or even something to the effect of "Well
we must be doing something right, because we are growing or successful,
etc." This could be a danger point
that we can sometimes use the wrong basis of measurement as to whether or not
we are in fact doing what we know God has given us to do.
In these times there are
questions we can ask ourselves:
- Is what I am doing right now truly satisfying me?
- Do I have a true sense of accomplishment of what is going on?
- Am I giving my energies to unrighteousness?
- Am I giving my energies to somebody else's cause, something that God has not really asked me to do?
- Am I injuring those that I should be protecting?
Masking your failures cannot prevent a negative legacy. People see and know even when they don't see
and know. Trying to cover up your failures, or running away from your dreams,
this will not prevent a negative legacy.
Only stepping out and going forth and pursuing and staying true to the
dream God has given us will inspire good legacy.
****************************************************
The lesson for today concerning the dream God has given us (whatever
that dream is), we need to guard ourselves and each other. Guarding each other is being a true friend,
keeping each other on track with what God has called us to do, and ultimately
getting to the end of that particular dream, event, or race.
God will help us to not wander away from our dream and not surrender to
failure. God has not called us to failure, but He has called us to true success
and true victory.
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