Strength from the Strong - 1 Samuel 30:1-25
Septemeber 25, 2011

To understand our text here today, we have to review an ancient practice that I discussed some time ago called vassal treaties. These treaties were made when a larger army overtook a smaller army and, instead of killing that army, the greater army would subject the lesser army to aid them at their will.

In our text, Israel has been split into two Kingdoms and the Philistines have overtaken the southern kingdom known as Judah. As the leader in line of Saul (who is soon to be killed in battle), David is subject, along with the soldiers of Judah, to the bidding of the Philistines.

Here, in Samuel 30, David is campaigning with the Philistines until the commander of the army splits his forces and sends David elsewhere while taking the majority of his army to another location.

And as David leads his army, as a vassal to the Philistines, they get to a region known as Ziklag and discover that the Amalekites have captured the wives and children of the Judean soldiers—wives and children, as in, the epitome of what these men absolutely love; the essence of their love, in other words, was stolen from them.

I remember I once had a stuffed bear that I absolutely loved. It was given to me by my aunt the week before she got married to my uncle and I remember that she was so nice to me and so loving to me. Well, one day, when I got a little older, my parents had some friends over and they had a very young daughter who took a liking to my favorite bear, whom I utterly loved. That night, my parents forced me to give my bear to her—the bear I loved was stolen from me! And as a result, I felt, as much as a five year old could, like these Judeans who lost their loves: I wept until I could not weep anymore and until all my strength was gone.

Some of us here today may feel spiritually weak, as if all of your strength is gone. You may reminisce and fondly remember the days of old when you were spiritually strong and on fire … only to realize that today, you are spiritual weak and dry, as if you were weeping for years and now you've no more tears to weep and no more strength to give.

The root, as God's Word indicates here and as life reveals, of your loss of strength deals with something more than the amount of time you pray or read the Bible or spend time with Christians—your spiritual weakness comes from the loss of your love.

Many of us are living loveless lives. Even though our God is said to be love absolute and even though we are saved by love and we exist and are blessed by God's eternal and infinite love, many of us are seemingly loveless and, as a result, weak and without an inkling of spiritual strength.

And so, in desperation, the Judeans contemplate stoning David for leading them poorly and for the loss of their love.

But then David, in verse 6, finds new strength. Where? He finds new strength in the Lord and he uses this strength to seek and obey the Lord in a new and vigorous way: David seeks the Lord through the breast plate of the priest and pursues the Amalekite army with 400 men (200 of which were too tired to go with him).

Now, interestingly, in verse 11, we have along the way an Egyptian who is in service to the Amalekites; in other words, we have an Egyptian who is also a vassal, as David is to the Philistines, except to the Amalekites.

And David takes this famished Egyptian and does all he possibly can to strengthen him. He feeds him and nourishes him—but most importantly, he uses him: in other words, David, the future king of Israel, who is in very likeness of the Egyptian as a vassal, adopts the Egyptian and takes him on as his own vassal.

The Egyptian who is famished and left for dead by his own king, is now brought under a new kingship and made into a new vassal: a vassal who is fed and nourished and strengthened.

In turn, what does the Egyptian do? He commits himself to David as his new vassal and leads David to destroy and demolish the entire empire whereby he came from: the Egyptian leads David to destroy and overtake the kingdom that once ruled over him and that left him for dead.

Then, in his victory, David takes the plunder from the Amalekites and shares it not only with those who fought but with those who were too tired from losing their love to fight and, furthermore, returns their love to them.

Now, here we go with some very, very important application to a critically Redemptive-Historical text:

First application is this: Are you ruled by Christ, the True David and the True King of Israel? Or is there another kingdom over you?

In Ephesians, Paul says that prior to receiving Christ into your life, you were ruled by the kingdom of the air—a kingdom that leaves you for dead, and just physically but spiritually and for all eternity.
Are you ruled by the Kingdom of the Air and by the Amalekite rulers who are only interested in using you and abusing you?

Or are you ruled by the Christ and the kingdom of heaven? Because there is a big difference: While the kingdoms of this world leads you to sin and death, the kingdom of Christ leads you to life and strength: just as David restored and strengthened the famished Egyptian, so Christ, through the cross, restores and strengthens you—even though you, like the Egyptian, don't deserve the True David, Jesus Christ, to restore you and strengthen you, still he does; the True David, Jesus Christ, makes himself like you, just as David levels with the Egyptian as a vassal, and strengthens you with eternal life and restores you with His Holy Spirit.

What you must do, however, is do as the Egyptian did and lead Christ to the center and core of the kingdom that once ruled over you and allow him to utterly destroy it and to completely overtake it.

The Bible calls this believing onto the Lord Jesus Christ or putting your faith in Christ but in actuality, what this means is that you allow him into every facet of your life and allow him to reign as the True King he is: money, relationships, academics, hobbies, friendships, everything!

Don't assume you've already done this because this could take years to do but you must not stop doing it, even (and especially) if it takes the rest of your life: Christ must reign continuously in every aspect of your life; that is the true nature of a vassal and that is the true nature of a born-again Christian.

The second application is this: Perhaps you've done that already—you've genuinely allowed Christ to enter into every facet of your life; however, you feel like all of your strength is gone and you feel weak in every way.

Well, perhaps it's because you've lost your love: Your love for the Lord was stolen by the kingdom you once allowed Christ to overcome and overtake. Perhaps that kingdom you struggled so hard to let Christ have dominion over has stolen, over the years or months or weeks, the vigorous and passionate love you once had for the Lord.

Well, in our text, what does David do? David fights the battle and even though the 200 men did nothing, he comes to them and shares the plunder of his victory and returns their love.

I think the best way to understand this is to look at parenting: Some of us have had these moments in our lives where we do something stupid and mess up and get our parents involved in whatever it was we did and in the end, they end up rescuing us and saving us from a heap of trouble. For instance, when I was young. I got into a huge mess with the law and had to go to court and get a lawyer and all this junk. It was a very expensive and tedious process and my parents paid for all of it and got me through all of it—and I avoided any major federal punishment!

And it's moments like that when you're stranded in some odd neighborhood at 1:00 in the morning and you need a ride home or you get into a fight at school and your parents have to come bail you out—it's moments like these, when you're down and out and utterly helpless, that you are reminded of the love your parents have for you.

In other words, when your parents rescue you from a situation, whether it be legal or financial or what-not, it reminds us (or it ought to) that our parents love us.

What's worse than getting in trouble with the law or needing a ride home or needing a large amount of money? Eternal condemnation and the flood of God's wrath upon you for all eternity. And God has lovingly saved you and rescued you from this, as well as a heap of many other things—you could have been born into poverty or into an abusive family with a drunk father or a drug infested neighborhood where you fear walking home each day … but only because of God's love, you're not.

God loves you. God loves you very, very much. And that love, seen on the cross and in the person of Jesus Christ, is the only thing that can strengthen you.

Are you filled with this love? Are you loving? Are your thoughts dwelling on God's love? How often do you genuinely think about God's love for you? Well, today, all of these questions must go answered because God eternally and graciously and redemptive-ly and lovingly loves you… That is a lot of love, so may you gain a lot of strength here and now as you receive the love of God in Jesus Christ.