October 4

1 Samuel 21

David at Nob

21 ^[a]David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

² David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

⁴ But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever^[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

⁷ Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.

⁸ David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”

⁹ The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”

David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

Transcript

(Transcribed by TurboScribe)

So number three in the series on giant busters is about desperate days the stories of runaways now now Here's the thing last sunday You sang that second song That we did this morning and I sat up there with gerald and he said boy What a beautiful song and I came down and I said to carrie. Can we sing that next week? She said it's a little difficult. I said it's fine But if you listen to the words and you see that word runaways I haven't seen that sermon yet before that day That's the first part of today's story So already god planned a little song that was going to connect see what we're doing It's another piece that comes a little later And you're thinking why do we call crazy south africans and then you do it again? Something wrong with you Lord Lord Oh lord It's so exciting to be in your presence.

It's so exciting to be in your words And to know lord that you speak into the lives of your people And when you speak lord, it's not just empty words the words that you give As your servant sits in an office and waits For the spirit to speak of your words May that be true today That these are your words may we see Maybe hear Jesus And only jesus The desperate man sits In the last few in the back row of the church His mouth is dry Palms are sweaty He wonders if he even fits In a place filled with disciples believing But where else could he go He violated every belief that he valued He hurt the people that he loved the most There he sits guilty alone struggling Who is this person? well Is any of a number of people He or she could be any of a number of people that come to god's people Struggling with the same thing Hopeless helpless hapless Question is what is the church's reaction? What will these people find? Rejection Or acceptance Criticism Or compassion Same thing david wondered Because david was a man on the run He was not welcome in soul's court anymore. He was a wanted man In soul's court after the sixth attempt On his life david at last got the message Soul really doesn't like you So he kissed his wife mijo Goodbye And got out of dodge a desperate running man Where could he go Where did he go He did a sinead o'connor thing Take me to church He went to church 1st samuel chapter 21 verse 1 David went to the town of nob to see a himalek the priest interesting name for a man running away from the king A himalek in hebrew is actually achi melech Achi means my brother And melech means king My brother is the king I'm scaring you run from the king and this priest has the name of my brother as the king David went to the town of nob to see a himalek the priest himalek trembled when he saw him Why are you alone? He asked Why is no one with you? You stop there for one second you're thinking why is the priest scared remember who david was David didn't take many prisoners and david usually travelled with his private armies Of mercenaries in in the bible. They're called the crete and the plebeian his private army For david to show up at the sanctuary alone It's kind of strange So no wonder himalek is kind of a little hesitant.

What are you doing here, dude david Gives him a little assurance by telling him a lie Let's see The king has sent me on a private matter david said He told me not to tell anyone why why i'm here he's lying through his teeth The king didn't send him on a private matter. He's running for his life So i've told my men where to meet me later Now see how he changes the subject. What is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have david David's a desperate man And what desperate people sometimes do is exactly what david does He lies to stone mission, but he needs help Now Now the the assurance Kind of seems to be okay with the priest And he kind of accepts it so he says We don't have any regular bread At least in quiet You see david is fine, but he's in a little conundrum when david asks for the bread Because here's the thing.

The only bread he has in that place is the shoe bread not s-h-o-e s-h-e-w Shoe bread or the holy bread or the bread of the presence or the bread that is in the presence of the lord Uh in in the hebrew, it's lehem le panayim lehem is bread like in bet lehem house of bread Lehem is bread and panayim is face the bread that is in the face of the lord It stood in the holy place the room just before the holy of holies in the tabernacle It was put there for a whole week There were 12 pieces of bread for each of the tribes of israel Stood in the presence of the lord to remind the lord of his Provision for them and to take care of them six on the one six on the other side They stood for a week Only after a week when the new bread has been baked and ready and placed on the table were they allowed to take the old bread Off and then the priests were allowed to eat that bread only the priests in a holy ceremony They would eat that priests in a little bit of a conundrum All he has is the holy bread David's not a priest. So what does he do? Does he follow the letter of the law and send david away hungry Does he break the law? And give david to go So he does a little bit of a theological two-step We don't have any regular bread the priest replied and there's your but But there is the holy bread which you can have if If your young men have not slept with any women recently David responds with another lie Don't worry david replied. I never allow my men to be with women when we're on a campaign.

He's not on a campaign He's on a runaway trail Oh boy And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips how much more on this one? Which one david? The lie works the lie works Priest says well since there was no other food available. The priest gave him the holy bread The bread of the presence that was placed before the lord in the tabernacle It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread What a what a moment instead of dotting the i's And crossing the t's of god's code The priest decides that there is a higher calling And decides to take care of the need of god's child I hope the church remembers me Now higher calling is not dotting i's and crossing t's Her calling Is to take care of the desperate And the broken even if they lie Even if they're messy David's response Again a little bit of a lie david asked him like do you have a spear or a sword the king's business was so urgent That That I didn't even have time to grab a weapon David david david I only have the sword of goliath the philistine whom you killed in the valley of elah the priest replied It's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod ephod was the the ceremonial gown that the priests would wear on ceremonial days It's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod take that if you want it, but there's nothing else here Oh, there's nothing like it david replied Do you see what's happening David's faith is wavering Just a while ago There was this young man who stood before his giant with only a sling in his hand And he said the battle belongs to the lord And now all of a sudden when this new giant saul stands before david david needs a sword or a spear or something That david could do the david thing Because you see what happened to david is what I taught you last week What happens when the giants come and overwhelm us and we allow them we get tunnel vision And david loses his god Okay And all of a sudden david's giant takes up the big screen in david's imagination And all that leads to is desperation life spawning fear stirring Truth stripping Desperation so here's the question Where do the desperate go to find sanctuary Where would they find people with a heart That would not judge but that would care and that would love Shouldn't they find that? God's people In the church Because that's where I You we Like david find bread And a sword Strength for the day and weapons for the struggle bread and blades Both of these are part of the task and the work of the church To provide both Because working with people is never a tidy trade Because hurting people And desperate people don't always have tidy lives They're fugitives That run to the church sometimes running away from angry souls sometimes running away from desperate broken messy lives Jesus asks the church to leave him to the side of compassion Listen to the son of david Nearly a millennium later As he reminds us Of this himalayan priest He did not dot i's and cross keys matthew 12 At about that time jesus was walking through some grain fields on the sabbath Note that word These disciples were hungry. So they began breaking off some heads of grain and eating them But some pharisees church saw them do it and protested look The disciples are breaking the law by harvesting grain on the sabbath jesus said to them Haven't you read in the scriptures what david did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of god and he and his companions broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread That only the priests are allowed to eat And haven't you read in the law of moses that the priests on duty in the temple may work on the sabbath See at the end of the sanctuary day The question isn't how many laws have been broken It's rather how many davids Desperate davids Were nourished And protected And provided Yes Yes David stumbles Messes up But at least he stumbles in the right direction He stumbles into the church Where god's people Where god says? Break your hearts Break your hearts For those who are needy And lost And sick Let me take you back To the beginning of my sermon To the man sitting In the back pew The desperate man Like david and the others were runaways I forgot to mention a few important pieces of information The size of the congregation where he sat They were only about a dozen or so the location Was a room somewhere in jerusalem But the door was locked The day was a sunday But a very special sunday It was the sunday after the friday that jesus had been crucified It was the sunday after the thursday of the betrayal and that's where peter sit In the back pew The desperate man And even if he puts his hands on his ears He doesn't stop the voice luke 22 Oh simon simon I have prayed for you He hears that voice his own voice that says even if all of them will leave you I will never do that And he hears that voice saying oh before the roosting three times And he hears that voice.

I don't know who you're talking about I don't know that man. I don't know who you're talking about and that rooster and peter Peter and those other disciples wonder what god's place would be for him for them For a desperate runaway And jesus answers the question when he walks right through that door And he gives them bread For desperate souls john 2019 when he says Peace with you He gives them swords for the struggle John 2022 when he says You see the holy spirit He gives bread And swords To desperate runaways Still today Amen take a few moments Thank you lord for the sanctuary Place where we are received even when we run away Even when we are death, especially when we are desperate Even if we try to hide Thank you that that's the place where we don't have to Where you provide Blades and bread Today we'll see that When you provide it all Oh lord, how blessed we are In a moment, we're going to sit at this table You will see the bread and the wine Your gifts lord of forgiveness your gifts of running to a runaway And holding us in your arms Thank you for reminding us of that Thank you for your amazing life-giving grace How blessed We're going to listen to this beautiful song lord called the sound of the saints As we sing with our hearts Thank you that we may raise that hallelujah Praise the lord For he is good In jesus name Amen