Countering Discouragement: Finding God When You Feel Forgotten | 1 Samuel 26-28

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever felt discouraged after doing the right thing?

Have you obeyed God, made the hard choice to be right, and still found yourself stuck in difficulty and found yourself to be discouraged?

When you experience discouragement in your life, how do you respond? Do you respond by immediately blaming yourself, “If I did this, if I did that?,” or do you look around to see someone else that you can blame? Well, often times when we face discouragement in our lives, we do not know how to respond. What to say, what to do, how to react the proper way.

The fact is that we all go through discouragement and discouragement can be dangerous. It can grow legs and walk you to places you never thought you’d go.

Countering Discouragement

Finding God when You feel Forgotten!

David has been on this pilgrimage of problems. 1 Samuel 19-31 (13 chapters)  covers 2-3 years of his wilderness experience, running from Saul.

In these chapters we see that God has promised David to be the king but he is on the run from King Saul. During this time, David gets a couple of opportunities to take revenge on Saul. In Ch. 24, Saul comes to the cave where David and his men were hiding. David was advised to kill Saul but David cut the corner of Saul’s garment and spared Saul. David did the right thing, withdrew from vengeance and murder.

When you come to Ch. 26, we are going to read an incident very similar to what happened in Ch. 24. He has another opportunity to kill Saul, but David does not do that.

Faithfulness Despite the Delay, 1 Samuel 26

This chapter opens with these Ziphites who are ratting out David again to Saul.

1 Samuel 26:1-4

¹The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?”

²So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David. ³Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, ⁴he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived.

⁵Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

1 Samuel 26:7

So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

3,000 men encamped around Saul but the protocol is broken, David reaches Saul. But we find out later that the Lord had put a deep sleep on them.

1 Samuel 26:8-9

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands.

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?

David is thinking, “If I do the wrong thing, my circumstances will deteriorate. But if I do the right thing here, my circumstances should improve.” That’s how things we think, right?

1 Samuel 26:10

¹⁰As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.”

And he had had some previous experience with Nabal in Ch. 25, Nabal insulted David and his men. David was very angry and wanted to kill Nabal and his men but Nabal’s wife Abigail intervened and David withdrew from vengeance and murder. God struck Nabal and he died. So that kind of encouraged him. David had a better idea.

1 Samuel 26:11

But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

And so they did. And no one saw them, because this deep sleep had fallen on them from the Lord.

1 Samuel 26: 13-14

¹³Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them. ¹⁴He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?”

First David chastised Abner, accusing him of not being a very good guard over his lord, over Saul. But then eventually Saul hears this:

1 Samuel 26:17-18

¹⁷Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?”

David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.” ¹⁸And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of? 

1 Samuel 26: 21

Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”

1 Samuel 26: 22-23

²²“Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of your young men come over and get it. ²³The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. ²⁴As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.

David prays for himself here. “Lord reward me. I showed respect for Saul and the Lord who anointed him . So I am asking the Lord to reward me. Like I spared the life of Saul, Lord spare my soul and value my life and deliver me.”

I will do the right thing. God will change my circumstances.

1 Samuel 26:25

Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, David my son; you will do great things and surely triumph.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

And I think David left that scene with a hopeful heart and a great sense of purpose: “I did the right thing. Any moment now, God is going to change my circumstances.”

When you do the right thing, shouldn’t your circumstances improve in life?

Isn’t that the point of making right choices, to iron out your problems?

Shouldn’t you be blessed if you do the right thing?

This seems fair to us. This seems like how God should operate with us. But as we peer into the lives of some of the Bible characters we know that may not always be the norm. The reward or the blessing of the righteous sometimes will take time.

We think about Joseph, who did the right thing when he rejected the advances of Potiphar’s wife and he ended up in prison. Paul and Silas did the right thing when they cast a demon out of a slave girl, and they ended up in prison. David here will do the right thing by resisting a second opportunity to harm Saul and his circumstances will not improve because of that.

So when this happens in our lives, it can lead to discouragement, because we expect immediate blessings. We make good choices; we should be blessed. And it doesn’t always work that way.

Learning form this Passage:

• When enduring oppression as one waits for God’s promise to materialize, one must look to God for vindication. The Lord vindicates his chosen servants in his time when they look to him for justice.
• When the fulfilment of God’s promise is delayed, God’s chosen servants must resist the temptation to force the issue. Instead, do what is right and you wait for God’s good time.

Falling into Discouragement; 1 Samuel 27:1

1 Samuel 27:1a

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul.

This is unfortunate because David had been given instructions that this will not happen. He has been anointed king of Israel. Sometimes in life we get under so much pressure. We lose sight of these promises of God and we just get swallowed up by circumstances. That is what happened to David here.

1 Samuel 27:1

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. (I am not sure that is the best thing David can do.) Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

David flees to Gath again. This is the second time David leaves the land and go to Philistine territory (First, Chapter 21). David is going to get himself into a very difficult situation again.

We can feel positive and purposeful one day, and then we can feel discouraged and downcast the next day, can’t we? The same man who just said in the previous chapter, “May He deliver me out of all my tribulation,” now he’s going to say, “I shall perish by the hand of Saul.” We flip that quickly.

So David has lapsed into this kind of thinking that I am the master of my own destiny. He is really not showing faith in the Lord at this point. It looks good on the surface, it is very practical kind of reasoning. But I think David is walking by sight at this point, not by faith.

Discouragement will take us to places in life that we never thought we were going to go. And discouragement is going to take David to a place that he never thought he was going to go, right into the Philistine camp.

The prophet Isaiah to say, “Even young men grow weary.” We all grow weary. David was weary as he said those words in verse 1. He had lost hope that anything was ever going to change. He had tried to make the right choices. And He had tried to do the right things. He’d been hopeful. But God did not change his circumstances. He was still in a difficult place. Now, he was still on the run. Still living in caves. His life was going on and on and on in the same difficulties and troubles.

Application: And you know what? In our life, we can also experience problem after problem after problem. And sometimes we fall into discouragement makes us think things and do things and say things that are not right. And we think, “This is just my life now. I tried to do the right thing. I tried to make good choices. But here’s where I am. This is where I am. I guess I’m just going to have to make the best of it. Stop expecting God to intervene or change my circumstances. In fact… I think I’m done talking to God. I think I’m just done.”

Three Signs of Spiritual Discouragement

a. Allowing the heart to inform us

1 Samuel 27:1

NIV But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul…

KJV And David said in his heart….

David was in a place where he allowed his heart to inform him. And this is how discouragement takes root in our lives; we spend time in conversation with our heart. And when we become discouraged, dark, dejected, disappointed, despaired, despondent, dismayed, downhearted, downcast, and droopy; our heart informs us.

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

Our heart is deceitful. It’s lying to us.

Jeremiah 17:10

I, the Lord, search the heart

and test the mind…”

Now in David’s clearer thinking days, he knew this. He knew because he wrote Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:23-24

²³Search me, God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.

So, in a clearer time, David allowed God to search his heart, now he is allowing his heart to guide him.

b. Forgetting Our Purpose

David forgot his purpose.

1 Samuel 27:1

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul…

David said, “I will be destroyed.” David forgot his purpose.

When we are weary with life, when we are discouraged that our problems haven’t gone away, we become naturally pessimistic.

David said, “I will be destroyed.” Samuel had anointed him. Jonathan kept encouraging him all along the way: “You shall be king.” Jonathan, Saul’s son said to David, “My father will not be able to kill you. You are destined to be king. I will be second in command.” Saul himself predicted in Ch. 24, “You will become king;” in Ch 26, “You will triumph.” Abigail told David that he would eventually prosper and that the Lord will defeat all his enemies. The Lord has been using key individuals: Jonathan, Saul, and the voice of wisdom (Abigail) to ensure David that he would prosper, and yet at this moment he goes: “I’m going to die.”

Discouraged people lose track of their purpose.

Discouraged people create scenarios of despair.

Application: Maybe we go to the doctor and there is that period of time you have to wait for that report. And during that period of time, we create scenarios of despair, we lose track of our purpose; don’t we?

c. Making Plans without Prayer

David Made Plans without God.

1 Samuel 27:1

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines.

David decided to go to Philistine territory. He made a decision without consulting God.

When we stop praying and listening to God, discouragement becomes our guide. And when we’re weary, and when we want to escape, we make plans without God.

David wrongly assessed that living among the enemy would be a good choice right now. No one would even be able to know he was an Israelite. He would look and act just like the enemy.

Application: When we get weary and discouraged, sometimes we just want to live like the world. “They seem kind of happy, actually. I’ll just live like the world. I’ll look like the world.” No one can even detect if I am a Christ follower in that moment.

So we need to consider these three dangers of discouragement from verse 1:

• Allowing our heart to inform us
• Forgetting our purpose
• Making plans without God

Discouragement can come even to the mature Believer. Now look—David wasn’t a baby believer. He had walked with God a long time. He had already written a whole bunch of psalms that showed a deep, deep connected relationship with the Lord. This wasn’t someone who didn’t know God. Which tells me that the dangers of discouragement are something for the mature. Discouragement can happen to people who have been walking with the Lord for 30, 40, or 50 years. We can still fall into these areas of discouragement.

Discouragement Can Lead to Compromise & Darkness

1 Samuel 27:2-4

²So David and the six hundred men with him (earlier he went alone, now he has an army) left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath

⁴When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.

So—this really worked! He went to Gath. Saul quit following after him. Sometimes when we walk by sight initially at least, the decision looks like a good one, a smart one. That seems to be the case here. But things are going to get complicated.

Just to note here: This was not super uncommon for someone from one country or tribe to go and hire themselves out as like a mercenary or something like that. Remember  earlier Doeg the Edomite? He came and worked for Saul. So David went to work for Achish. Not right.

1 Samuel 27:5-7

⁵Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

⁶So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. ⁷David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.

And how did they pass their time? What is he doing here?

1 Samuel 27:8

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)

Geshurites and Amalekites (we do not know Girzites) were all Canaanite people that God had told His people to clear the land back to the days of Joshua. They are native Canaanite population. These were all people that they were to destroy. So David spent his time truly fighting the enemies of Israel.

1 Samuel 27:10

When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.”

Now Negev basically means “south.” So David would say, “Over there—that’s where I raided.” And Achish was probably thinking he was raiding Israelite territory. Since Achish got his portion of the plunder, and since there were no survivors, and since Achish didn’t exactly communicate with Israel, everyone was fine. David did not want to attack Israel. He wants to do the work of the Lord even when he is in a foreign land.

David is having to do some deception here. He is doing good, defeating the Amalekites, but he is compromised in a lot of way to make Achish think he is loyal.

Discouragement Can Lead to Compromise

1 Samuel 27:12

Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.”

1 Samuel 28:1

¹In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.”

²David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.”

Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

Well it works. When you walk by sight not by faith, sometimes things seem to work out (Achish trusted David, he is his bodyguard, Saul is not chasing after David), but in the end not so much.

When Discouragement Grows Deeper & Darker

The Philistines are mounting up to have a major battle with Israel. This creates complications for everyone.

a. David’s loyalty is questioned by Achish’s commanders; 1 Samuel 29:1-2

There is a new war – Israel & the Philistines. Achish’s loyalty is questioned by the commanders of Achish; 1 Samuel 29:1-2 Achish is now feeling insecure about David’s loyalty.

b. Saul realizing he is not prepared at all to face the Philistines, goes to the mediums.

Saul spent the last decade of his life searching out one enemy, David. And so now he feels insecure.

1 Samuel 28:3

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.

Samuel is dead. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists. This was a Canaanite culture. Remember the OT law (Deut. 18:10-12) God said that mediums and spiritists (people who tap into the world of the dead, they tried to communicate with the dead to get information about what is going to happen in the future) are not to be in the land of Israel. Saul to his credit had gotten rid of them. Now, he is acutually going to violate this principle.

Saul Seeks the Medium at Endor (1 Samuel 28:4–25)

1 Samuel 28:5-6

⁵When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. ⁶He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.

Some of the ways that people would try to get information from God in these days was dreams, Urim or Prophets. Urim & Thummin method would work. You might ask a question, reach into a bag and out comes the answer, Urim would be maybe yes and Thummim no or vice versa. In the Assyrian parallel you had to get the same answer 3 times. So, Saul could never get the same answer. None of those methods worked. The Lord was not communicating to Saul.

1 Samuel 28:7

⁷Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said.

This is classic. Saul himself had made this illegal—put them all out of the land. “I have to get information from God, even though I violate God’s law.”

1 Samuel 28:8

So Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”

Saul consults the medium and gets the message from Samuel who is long dead and Saul and his sons are given 24 hours to survive. You can read it for yourself.

A Dark Season for Israel

• Samuel is Dead.
• Everyone is living with the Philistines.
• David has become content living out his days in a Philistine city.
• Saul has sunk to seeking direction from the Philistines’ dark arts.
• Israel will suffer a great defeat.

There is a king who disobeyed God and there is a man after God’s own heart who is discouraged now.

But when the writer tells us that Saul and his sons will die in 24 hours, there is hope. There is hope for David to be King. That we will see later.

Transition: Discouragement, if left unchecked, can distort our thinking, derail our purpose, and lead us to compromise our convictions. It can silence our prayers, isolate us from community, and make us settle for places God never intended us to stay. Like David, we too can forget who we are and where God is taking us. In our own dark seasons—when God feels silent, promises feel distant, and weariness sets in—we need more than motivation; we need a Saviour. That’s why we must now turn our eyes to Jesus, who faced discouragement yet never gave in—and see how He shows us the way forward

Jesus—The Greater David Who Overcame Discouragement

Jesus was not exempt from discouragement. He faced it fully.

Jesus Felt overwhelmed

Matthew 26:37–39

“He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’”

Jesus Felt Forsaken

Luke 22:44

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Jesus Prayed with Fervent Cries & Tears

Matthew 27:46

“About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ (which means ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’)”

Yet Jesus Never Sinned, Never Lost Trust, & Remained Obedient Through Suffering

Hebrews 5:7–8

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered…

He faced life and discouragement with confidence and faith in his Father. Because Jesus was forsaken, we are never forsaken. Jesus was crushed, and we are restored. Jesus was buried, and we will rise.

Remedies for Discouragement

1. Let the Word of God inform us

Instead of letting our heart inform us, let the Word of God inform us. Build that habit so that you get up in the morning and you go to your habit: “The Word of God informing us.” And it will lessen the chances of our heart informing us.

2. Let sanctification be our purpose in the Delay.

David’s current difficulties were forming his character to be God’s coming king. Our current difficulties are forming our character, forming Christ in us. Every one of you here have unique purposes; your trials, your delays are preparing you for your purpose. And so, God does bless us, but God blesses us in His time and in His way, and it’s not always an immediate result of a good decision that we’ve made.

3. Let Prayer be your Priority.

So if you are in a season of darkness, if you haven’t prayed in a while, if you’ve made plans without God, if you feel distant and dry,. come back. Christ walks with you.

I want to look at a psalm that David wrote in one of his better days, when he was communicating with God.

Psalm 34:15

¹⁵The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous…”

And His ears toward their cry.

¹⁶The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

¹⁷The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

(God delivers them in His time and in His way. And that is a Bible truth that we can lean on.)

¹⁸The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

LIFE APPLICATION

Trust God Even When Obedience Doesn’t Yield Instant Success.

Make Prayer the Foundation of all Decision-Making.

Beware the Deceit of Success Without God.

Encourage those in Silent Seasons.

Return to the Word When Your Emotions are Loud.

When Your Heart is Filled With Anxiety or Fear, Open Scripture. Let God’s truth drown out inner noise and re-center your focus.