All right, you guys may have a seat.
It's my favorite sound. There's no more sound
appropriate for Mother's Day, I guess.
By the way, shout out to the moms, the G GS, the meemaws, all
of those surrogate mothers, mothers in waiting, mothers yet
to come. How y'all doing?
Well, last night we took a busload of teenagers up the
cranberry and I have not recovered.
But as you can imagine, since it's Mother's Day, there's only
one kind of appropriate sermon to give, and that's one that
mothers can relate to. And so this morning, we're going
to talk a little bit about settling conflicts at rest
stops. OK, But road trip season is
almost here. And Can you believe it's almost
summer already? I cannot, but I'm really looking
forward to some time on the road this summer.
But I'm also looking forward to some time going off road.
Some of you may have already planned some vacation time and
are are already nervous about how much more expensive gas is
and how it might impact your budget.
But if you are a seasoned traveler, perhaps you have your
rest stops planned out really well.
And if you are a pro traveller, not only do you have your AAA
trip ticket, but you know exactly how far it is to the
promised land of rest stops. You have even perhaps
specifically planned around the rest stop, and the joy is in the
destination, perhaps, but it is sure also about the stops along
the way, especially if you end up here.
That, my friends, is a Bucky's. Have you been?
You roll off the Interstate into a neon lit Kingdom where a
Beaver in a bow tie reigns supreme and the aroma of smoked
brisket slings you into instant euphoria.
The vibe is like a festival. Shelves are treasure maps lined
with delectable treats. Buttery kalaches, I don't even
know how to say that. And jerky that bites back with a
wicked grin each find daring you to taste it right there, sticky
fingers and all. Although you must go pay for it.
And Beaver Nuggets are the best $4.99 you've ever spent.
And the staff? They smile like they were
trained at Chick-fil-A. That's right, I love Chick-fil-A
too. It's the Lord's chicken and a
deli counter where the brisket falls apart like slow jam, and
this place turns any detour into the plot twist of your dreams.
Fill your cooler with contraband snacks, snag a Beaver branded
memento, and drive off knowing that your road trip will be
remembered forever. All of that's great, but the
thing that I care the most about is the bathroom.
If you read the blog this week, you already know that there's an
undercurrent connected in this week's message through restroom
propaganda. Angel Soft is the best.
And you know, food you can find just about anywhere but an Angel
soft stalked sanctuary on the road.
They are one in a million. And at Bucky's, the restrooms
are so pristine they feel like a cathedral of comfort, a shelter
from the storm, a refuge for the weary.
Nothing can get to you there, and for a moment everything in
the world is in its place. But if you're not near a
Bucky's, you got to hold it, and you might as well be in a
dystopian novel for the next 262 miles.
The amount of resilience to hang on is something I still need to
acquire, and there's nothing more dangerous than an unplanned
rest stop because you never know what you're going to get.
Let's just say there's a big difference between Jane Lew, WV
and GEM, West Virginia and they're so close that if you
just go by name and you don't make the right choice, you end
up in a gem of a situation in Gem, West Virginia.
Am I standing here today? Let's you know that I survived
that encounter. There's a story.
I won't get into it though, but I will forever carry with me the
scars of Gem, West Virginia. And if I ever write a book, it
will be unsure to include that gem.
But this morning we are going to see one such encounter at a rest
stop. This encounter is going to turn
out maybe differently than we might expect.
But first, let's pray. Lord, we are so fired up this
morning. Brothers Titus and Brother Sal
sharing their faith. Let us respond continually in
worship as we dive into your word and all God's people said
so this is in first Samuel 24 verse one when Saul returned
from following the Philistines, which means he was trying to I
mean, he was fighting them really.
He was told, behold, David is in the wilderness of N Getty.
Now this is a long shot from the Dead Sea and as you can tell,
it's pretty rocky and then roundabouts where the water
would be is where the green is right?
This was considered paradise level, right, considered
paradise level. And so Saul had finished up
following and fighting with the Philistines and turn back to
focus on trying to capture David.
And he gets a hot tip that David is in the wilderness of Engetti.
And then Engetti is this Canyon that runs westward from the from
the Dead Sea. And you can see how beautiful
that looks and at different spots, there's waterfalls,
right? There's Beaver Nuggets, there's
all this kind of fun stuff in Engetti, right?
And and so this is an an exceptional place, one to try to
lose somebody in, but also to sneak up on somebody because
there's caves everywhere. Verse 2 Then Saul took 3000
chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men
in front of the wild goats rocks.
This is Gem, West Virginia. And so, I mean, but, but have
you ever seen how crazy goats can be?
Like, they're nuts. They will climb just about
anything without any real sense of danger.
And in this rocky, craggy kind of area, it's well known that
the goats are just doing their thing, running around.
And so this is where the pursuit picks up and it's getting pretty
intense. And as they are pursuing David,
nature calls Saul, and you Better Call Saul verse 3.
And he came to the sheepfolds, by the way, where there was a
cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself.
The Bible is about real people with real situations.
God uses all of our lives, in case you were wondering, for His
purposes and glory. And another translation puts it
this way. Saul went in to attend to his
needs. So he had this group of people
with him. And it's highly likely what did
they do? They stayed outside and he goes
inside. Now this cave, right?
When you think of a cave, maybe your experience is in the
Highlands, right? You can just kind of spelunk
around. It is something like that.
The Cave that is being described is actually quite large and
here's why we know that continuation of verse 3.
Now David and his men we're sitting in the in the in most
parts of The Cave, David 600 men roughly pretty big cave.
So Saul went to the Bucky's of caves.
I mean, what are the odds, right, of all these caves that
are in that area? 1 David's hiding in that one,
and two, Saul decides that's where he wants to go.
But it says now David and his men were sitting in the inmost
parts of The Cave. And the men of David said to
him, Here is the day that the Lord said to you, Behold, I will
give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him, as it
shall seem good to you, lock that sentence up and put it in
your back pocket. Then David arose and stealthily
cut off a corner of Saul's robe. I can imagine those guys hiding
and David's like of all the caves and all the wildernesses
in all the desert he walks into. Mine got him.
And David's men sure think so. They're trying to talk him into
like, hey, this is it. This is our opportunity.
We can end this now if you go take him out.
And so David sneaks over and chops off some of Saul's robe.
Verse 5. And afterward David's heart
struck him because he had cut off the corner of Saul's robe.
He almost instantly regretted this.
He said to his men. So he he gets the piece and he
takes it back to the guys who were hiding.
And this is what he says. He said the Lord forbid that I
should do this to my Lord. Saul's been after him for some
time. The Lord's anointed to put out
my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord's anointed.
There's a lot going on right there.
So David persuaded his men and like, Can you imagine?
Like they're like quiet guys, We're not going to do this.
But he persuades his men with these words and they and he
says, I, I don't permit you, like, don't take it into your
own hands to go attack Saul. And then Saul rose up and left
The Cave and went on his way. So this is like perfect
scenario, right? And David doesn't cash in.
Why? Because he had a crisis in his
heart as much as he could have pursued revenge.
This is the same guy that's always talking about like we
just heard in Psalm 51, Like, hey, take my sin and get rid of
it. Like David is a conflicted man
and a lot of times he acts impulsively, right?
But then in that moment, he comes to grips with what he had
done, and you can see God working in real time in his
heart. And Saul was able to walk away
clean and alive. Verse 8.
Afterward David also rose and went out of The Cave and called
after Saul, My Lord the king. And then Saul looked behind him,
and David bowed his face to the earth and paid homage.
This was a major risk. Why?
Because Saul has been looking for David, and Saul wants to get
rid of David. And then he sees David by
himself. Opportunity knocks.
Just because David had a change of heart in that cave doesn't
mean Saul. One knows about it. 2 cares.
Three, would it impact him if he knew?
But David, and this is kind of a commentator's speculation here
is the David. He says that David is really
banking on the fact that God told him that eventually he
would be king. So that's where the boldness
comes from. And he uses this opportunity to
do something different. And here's what he says, verse
9. And David said to Saul, why do
you listen to the words of men who say, Behold, David seeks
your harm, behold this day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave
you today into my hand in this cave, and he told me to kill
you, but I spared you that. Remember that sentence I told
you to put in your pocket? It said does what seems good to
you. That's not the same thing as he
told me to kill you, right. So even in David's trying to do
the right things, he's like, I don't always get the details
right. And so you have he's appealing.
And he said I will not put my hand against my Lord, for he is
the Lord's anointed. See my father?
See the corner of your robe in my hand.
So it's one thing to say, hey, I could have got you.
It's another thing to say, hey, I got receipts.
I got receipts for by the fact that I cut off the corner of
your robe and did not kill you. You may know and see, know and
see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands.
I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take
it. And may the Lord judge between
me and you. May the Lord avenge me against
you, but my hand shall not be against you.
As the proverb of the ancients says, Out of the wicked comes
wickedness. But my hand shall not be against
you. After whom has the King of
Israel come out? After whom do you pursue after a
dead dog? A flea?
May the Lord therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and
you, and see to it, and plead my cause, and deliver me from your
hand. What a speech.
And you see in real time the best of David and maybe even
some not of the best of him on display.
He is literally learning how to be king right here.
Think about it. This is on the job training and
this is the kind of king that God would desire him to be.
The kind of king who knows what is possible, but in the end does
what is right by the Lord. David understood that he was not
to kill the king, but he most certainly understood that he
could approach him. And you also see Saul, I mean,
imagine what he's doing like maybe he maybe he's like this.
And as David is talking. Perhaps some memories are
flooding back to him. Maybe this has happened before
this cut robe. It's like God is sending a
message specifically to Saul that only Saul would get.
So this robe is a picture of Saul's authority and and through
this God said and first Samuel 15, if you go back, there's
another instance where there's talking about a robe being cut.
It says I, I am cutting away your royal authority.
And some are Samuel 15. The prophet Samuel rebukes Saul
for his hard hearted disobedience.
And in his distress, Saul tried to keep Samuel from leaving.
And he grabbed his robe and he wouldn't let it go.
And guess what happened? He kept going.
He wouldn't let go. What ends up in his hand?
A piece of robe. Saul was left holding a torn
piece of Samuel's robe. And then Samuel says to him, the
Lord has torn the Kingdom of Israel from you today and has
given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
And now when David confronts Saul with the with a torn robe,
I have to believe that's all, remembers this.
I have to believe it. And God's message to him in that
moment is loud and clear, and the heart melts.
These seeming enemies are brought face to face.
And it could have went one way. It could have went another way,
but it's going a third way. Verse 16, as soon as David had
finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, is this your
voice, my son David? That's not enemies words.
And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
He said to David, You are more righteous than I, For you have
repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.
And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me,
in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands.
For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe?
So may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to
me this day. And both David and Saul's hearts
grew 3 times that day. Verse 20 And now, behold, I know
that you surely or shall surely be king, and that the Kingdom of
Israel shall be established in your hand.
This is where the negotiation happens.
Swear to me, therefore, by the Lord, that you will not cut off
my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out
of my Father's house. And David swore this to Saul.
Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the
stronghold, which was a another way of just saying he went back
to The Cave. Saul has come to grips with the
ultimate destination of his trip in the oath swearing.
Saul simply wanted the same kind of promise from David that he
himself made to Jonathan in First Samuel 20.
I suggest you look that up at some point.
Homework. And in that day when 1 royal
house replaced another, it was common for the new royal house
to kill all the potential rulers from the old royal house.
And Saul knew that one day David and his descendants would rule
over Israel. And he wanted a promise from
David that when that happens, he won't be customary.
And David swore that oath. And Saul departed, and David
remained back. The human part of this story is
I still have a little bit of doubt about Saul.
Like, was he really, was he really that upset?
And that might be why David doesn't just go like, he goes
back to his men. Like, maybe there's still some
caution there because after all, he's been wanting to kill you
this whole time. What would you do with that?
From either character's perspective, you have a conflict
with someone and they are coming for you, and then somehow you
gain the advantage and they're dropped into your lap and you
have the moral high ground and you have the ability to just
simply end it. What would you do?
I have no doubt that we've all been in either Saul or David's
place before, and I have indeed been both, and I'm a better Saul
than I am a David. But God requires us to be both
of them. Hearts that are able to be
changed because He does all the work.
Have you noticed this? He orchestrated this in such a
way that neither man could claim ownership of the situation.
But in both of their reactions we see that God moved them both
towards His desired outcome. Not one, not two, but the three.
This is an amazing case of the destination, which is far off is
on equal footing with the journey to get there.
It was at a rest stop in and Getty this paradise in the
desert that God worked in their lives in a rather significant
way. And do not be surprised if God
decides to use Gem West Virginia in your life to help you become
more of who you need to be for who you are when you arrive.
Your unplanned rest stops and life are indeed planned.
Your job, my job is not to be the one who knows all the
details about where we're going, but it's the trust, the one
who's taking us on the trip. And as much as there might be
uncertainty on the road and you might be attempted to ask Dad,
are we there yet, his response might be now there's still 262
miles to go. You can hold it.
Let's pray, Lord, you have shown us mercy.
That is uncalculable. It is unbelievable, It is
amazing. We ask, as we continue to
worship you this morning, that we would be front and center,
bringing everything we have to your feet, that we might
understand that we are forgiven, and that while we were still
sinners, you died for us. You redeemed us, You restored
us, and you've purposed us so that we might go into all the
world sharing the good news of our great Savior.
And it's your name we pray. Amen.