There are a lot of movies and T.V. shows that deal with the subject of time travel. There’s the “Terminator” series, which starts off with A.I. becoming self-aware, attacking humanity, and then creating a time machine to kill humanity’s greatest warrior before he’s born. There’s one called “Edge of Tomorrow” where every time the main protagonist dies, he’s sent back in time to learn more so he can defeat the bad guys. There’s “Ground Hogs Day” where the man is stuck in a time loop, living the same day, again, and again. Some of these movies make sense, like Terminator with its closed cause and effect concept, but then there’s others that when you begin to think through them, make you go “What?”
One of these is the “Back to the Future” Series. This type of time travel creates multiple timelines. Where in Terminator, there is only one timeline that may be shifted a bit, but will always have certain inevitable things happen, “Back to the Future” plays fast and loose with what happens.
In the first movie, Marty goes back, and changes his parent’s future. Where the family was lower middle class, and had lost their love for life, in the new timeline, the family is upper middle class, have really good jobs, romantic prospects, and disposable income. In the second movie, Marty creates a whole new horrible timeline where his dad is dead, Doc is put into an insane asylum, and the antagonist of the series, Biff, is rich and married to Marty’s mom.
Then once this is fixed, the third movie, adds that Doc had gone back to the old west and was murdered. So Marty goes back, they save a woman who, in the original timeline died by falling into a canyon, but also change that canyon’s name to Eastwood, even though that name wasn’t known until the actor came on the scene in the 1950s.
This type of time travel makes the timeline malleable. It can be changed, there are not set points in history that can’t be effected. This is the type of idea that leads to the many worlds/universes theory. Where, due to every individual’s choices throughout all of history, there are an infinite number of timelines. This morning, I had a choice between wearing brown shoes or black, I chose brown, but there’s another world where I chose black. It looks identical other than I would be wearing black shoes today. This is the concept of how many comic books deal with time travel. And tt is this many world’s theory that some naturalists argue is real, and that’s why our universe appears designed for life, because there are infinite other universes where life can’t happen, and we just got lucky to live in this one.
It’s this possible choice universes that brings us back to our study in the book of First Samuel, where we’ll be picking it back up in Chapter 23, verse 1. And as we open up to First Samuel 23:1, let’s look back on where we are in the book.
We were introduced to David as God’s anointed king because David had an eagerness to follow God. This led him to carry God’s peace to people around him, exercise confident faith, and love those that were not loving towards him. We walked away from David’s introduction with the understanding that God calls us to eagerly follow him, carrying his peace, exercising confident faith, and loving everyone.
Following this, we saw in the life of Saul, how easily it is to descend into sin, and so we must recognize when we start to step in the direction of sin, and we need to surround ourselves with people who will help us recognize when were headed into sin.
Finally, last week, we saw how even David can stumble in his faith, and yet, he took reasonability for what he did, even though his part was minimal in the outcome. Because of that, we talked about how God calls us to judge situations rightly, seeing our fault in them, and being humble about it.
Now with the last six week refreshed in our minds, we can now dive into First Samuel 23:1-14. Let’s read it together.
1 Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” 2 Therefore David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” 3 But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” 5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand. 7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” 8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9 David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 Then David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.” 13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
v.1-5
The first five verses of the passage show us David acting in his proper position as king. Though he is yet to be crowned, David acts kingly. First, he hears of a town in that is being attacked by the Philistines, and he wants to go and defend it. However, instead of just heading out, David seeks God, and God tells him to go.
But when David announces this to the men, the men are scared that they will not be able to overcome the Philistine army and they will be exposed to Saul’s forces. This is understandable, because learn later that there were only about six hundred of them. So the odds were not in their favor. Yet, instead of ordering his men to go and just follow him, David again seeks God on behalf of his men. God then confirms that he will defeat the army through David and those that were with him. So David’s men go and beat the Philistines.
Contrast this with what we have seen with Saul. Saul should be the one going down to the city to help out, yet he doesn’t. The reason why he doesn’t, is because his focus is fixated on David and not protecting his own people, which we see in verses 7-8. Also, Saul only seeks God when it pleases him and not any other time. Saul has acted brashly without seeking the Lord, and has been defeated because of it. So David is acting kingly, while the king is acting childishly.
v.6-14
It’s then, after Saul hears of David’s whereabouts, and David knows Saul is out to get him, that we get a deep theological insight about God that the Scriptures do not state explicitly, but rather takes for granted.
Here’s the set up: David asks God about a possible scenario: If Saul comes down to get David and he threatens the city with destruction, will the people of the city turn him over? God’s response to David’s hypothetical scenario, is that the outcome with be that the people of the city will turn David over to Saul if Saul does come down to get David.
David then makes a decision to leave the city. However, since David left, Saul did not go down to the city, and the people were not given the opportunity to turn David over to Saul. So David’s hypothetical scenario never came to pass, because David chose not to stay in the situation.
The theological insight is that God not only sees what will happen, but understands who people are so well that he knows what we would do if we were given different options. God knew that if David stayed in the city, Saul would come down, and the people would turn against David to save their own skins, even though, David just saved them. However, given knew information, David left the city, so Saul did not come down, and therefore the people did not turn over David.
When we talk about God’s ability to know all things, we use the word omniscient. Which, theologically means: “The attribute that denotes God’s knowing all things … that all events are present to the divine mind; that is, God has direct cognition of everything in creation.” However, when we think of God being all knowing, we tend to think of God knowing things like the future, or the secret things of people’s lives. But God knows all things so well, that he knows us not only in what we will do, but what we would do given different situations.
This puts into perspective Jesus’ words in Luke 12:6-7, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” God knows all things about us, as our hair grows in, he knows where each strand will pop out of, and he knows when each one will recede.
God’s understanding of all things that will be or could possibly be, is seen in places like the Psalm 44, where the Psalmist recognizes God’s ability to know all things. “If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. (v.20-21)”
God knows us so well that he knows what we will and won’t do, and possibly what we would have done in any given situation given the opportunity. So the people of Keilah can go on thinking that they were saved by David and would do anything for him, but God, and now David, knows that they would have turned their backs on their rescuer in a heartbeat if it meant to save their own skins. This puts into perspective the old adage, “There but for the grace of God go I.” Because given different circumstances, without the guidance of God, we might end up in situations that would have appalled us otherwise.
However, there’s another theological insight here that follows. God reveals what will possibly happen, so what does David do? Does he resign himself to be given over to Saul by the people he just rescued? No, he leaves. David leaves the city. This event shows us that we have the ability to choose to do things, and yet, at the same time, not affect the overall will of God.
God’s overall will was to install David as king. Through the turmoil of Saul’s life, God has a plan to bring about the Davidic dynasty, which would eventually lead to the coming of Jesus. If David would have stayed in the city, Saul would have come down, and the people would have turned David over. Would God’s plan been thwarted? Wasn’t God the one who sent David down to the city in the first place? Would his capture by Saul end God’s plan to use David to bring about Jesus? Of course not, and yet David’s choice to leave the city, though God foresaw what would happen if he stayed, also did not change God’s plan to bring about Jesus.
Our choices are important, they can actually effect how events come about, and yet, those choices are not outside the understanding and knowledge of God.
And this is what we need to see throughout this whole passage. As we seek the Lord, we will be given many insights into how we should make choices in our lives. Seeking God’s will brings about the greatest possible situation for our lives. It is the life that God calls us to, a life where we seek to love him with our whole being, and love others as ourselves.
So no matter the situation we find ourselves in, if we are following the will of God to love him and people, our path will be directed in the best possible way, God’s way. Yes, we might experience horrible situations. Sometimes those situations lead to death. The great story of Jim Elliott and his colleges is one where they felt God’s call to reach out to a hostel tribe in the Amazon. Their deaths led the wives of the men to continue reaching out. Not only was that tribe saved, but now they reach out to other unreached tribes.
God is calling us to a place where no matter the pressures that surround us, we are to follow him. The reason why is, because God knows what will and won’t happen, and he knows all possible outcomes we could possibly choose. There is nothing that God doesn’t perceive and so we can trust that when we follow him, he will work things out for our good and his glory.
My challenge then is this, first seek the Lord in making your decisions. Don’t be like Saul who just does whatever he wants, be like David seeking the Lord for yourself and on the behalf of others. As you do, recognize that as you walk in obedience to his will, he will provide the best outcomes that will bring him glory and you fulfillment. So everyday should be opened with, “God I trust that you know what today will bring, help me walk in your will.”
Let us be a people who are will walkers, that God may be glorified in our lives. Amen.
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