Where Will You Run? The World’s Lies and God’s Mercy - 1 Samuel 21:10-22:5

One of the blessings or curses depending on how you look at it about growing up around here is learning how to drive on a backwoods, curvy, country, road. It’s usually okay as long as you’re traveling during the day, but things can get a little more interesting at night especially if it’s foggy.

When the fog is thick and you’re only able to see a few feet in front of you – the fog can even make familiar roads feel unfamiliar. The fog can even make you think you're lost in places that you know well. It can make you second guess everything.

I think that’s a helpful way to think about what fear and desperation can do to the human heart.

In 1 Samuel 21–22, David—the man after God’s own heart—finds himself in a thick fog of desperation and fear. He's fleeing for his life from Saul and in his fear and desperation David makes some very foolish decisions. It’s not that David stopped believing in God – rather the fog of fear and desperation made him unable to see the clarity of God’s promises.

Which can happen to any of us! When finances are tight, relationships fall apart, or we feel isolated and alone – we’re tempted to seize control, seek worldly solutions, and make impulsive decisions that we later regret. The road never changed. God’s faithfulness and goodness never changed, but our reliance on Him becomes clouded by desperation and fear.

When we’re desperate, we don’t just need answers—we need peace, safety, and security. In a word, we need refuge. We need God to meet us in the fog, to slow us down, and to remind us that His truth still holds, even when we can’t see clearly.

Our passage reminds us of three things this morning: first, the world often promises false refuge (vv. 10-15), but it’s the Lord who provides true refuge (vv. 22:1-2), and it’s his truth that will guide our path (vv. 3-5).

In the last third of 1 Samuel is all about David the fugitive. David is on the run from King Saul who wants to kill him simply because he sees him as a threat to his power. David hasn’t done anything wrong. He never threatened Saul’s authority or power, David has been nothing but a loyal servant in Saul’s court. He did everything from lead Saul’s army to play soothing music for him.

And despite all of that, Saul still wanted David dead. And that’s where we find ourselves this morning. David is on the run from Saul. Last week, David fled to Nob where the Tabernacle was located with nothing but the shirt on his back – and the Lord mercifully provided for him there. The High Priest Ahimelech gave him the bread of the Presence along with Goliath’s sword. He received food and protection.

The World Lures Us with False Refuge (vv. 10–15)

But of course, David knew that Saul was in hot pursuit of him and couldn’t stay in any one place for very long. And so he ends up fleeing to a shocking location, a place called Gath.

Now most of us are probably not experts on Biblical geography. We might not know very much about Biblical places like Gilboa or the Valley of Hinnom, but hopefully Gath rings a bell.

Gath was a Philistine city, but it wasn’t just any Philistine city, it was the hometown of the most famous Philistine – Gath was Goliath’s hometown. As most of you are probably aware, there’s some famous history between David and Goliath. But by this point, it was more than just Goliath. David had killed countless Philistines.

So hopefully, it makes sense to you why David’s decision to go to Gath is so shocking. He’s seeking safety and security behind enemy lines, which are two things that do not go well together. You don’t have to be a genius to know that you’re probably not going to find peace, safety, and security amongst your enemies.

Now, to be fair, David was probably thinking that Saul would never find him in Gath, or even if he did, he would never be able to send his army after him. But David was taking a massive risk, because there was no way he could know with any certainty that he would be welcomed and treated well in Gath.

David didn’t try to be incognito in Gath, rather, he went straight to the King. It’s what we’re told there in verse 1: “[David] fled from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.” David went to Achish the King of Gath hoping that he would be willing to protect him. And it would seem that Achish was at least considering it, because it was his servants who came to him with concerns about David.

After all, David was the most famous man in Israel. Even the Philistines were aware of David’s greatness – they called him “the king of the land.”

They were even aware of the chart topping song in Israel: “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

Achish’s servants were skeptical of David to say the least, which would explain why David would be afraid. He was afraid the Philistines were going to kill him.

Because of that, David gave the performance of a lifetime. He would have made Daniel Day Lewis proud. If the Oscars were around, he would have definitely won one. David pretended to be crazy. He scratched the door and let spit run down his beard.

His acting performance was so convincing that Achish didn’t believe that he was really a threat. He simply thought that David was another crazy person, which apparently was a common thing amongst the Philistines. Look at what Achish says in verses 14-15:

“Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

And just like that David escaped by the skin of his teeth.

But when you pull back and examine what happened here, you can’t help but wonder… What on earth was David thinking? Did he honestly think that the Philistines would be happy to see him? Again, David had killed countless Philistines by this point. He killed 200 Philistines just to marry Michal, remember that?

But this is exactly the sort of thing that I was talking about earlier. Desperation and fear will often cloud your judgment.

You can even understand the thinking that would lead David to the point where he believed going to Gath would be a good idea. There’s nothing for him in Israel. In fact, he’s only done everything he’s supposed to do and look where it got him! He’s being chased by the king in Israel who wants him dead!

Rick Phillips commenting on this passage wrote:

“Possibly, [David] had drunk from the poison serum of self-pity, thus rationalizing sin and willful folly. He had not asked to be anointed by Samuel, but he had still served Saul faithfully. What had been the result? He was being ruthlessly hounded by a mad king! David had great promises from God, but so little providence of them.”

Because nothing seemed to be going right for David, you can see how desperation, fear, and self-pity would lead him to think that maybe what was best for him lied somewhere outside of God’s presence and his people. Perhaps he could find what he was looking for somewhere in the world.

What Christian cannot relate in some way, shape or form to that? Who here has not been tempted by the things of this world? Who hasn’t at some point thought, “maybe what the world offers is really what I need?”

Those lies are tempting no matter where you are in life, but the more desperate, the more fearful you are the more appealing those lies become! It’s like pouring gasoline on a fire.

But of course, David went to Gath only to realize that the refuge he was desperately seeking would never be found there. Only the Lord can provide the refuge that we long for.

The Lord Meets Us with Merciful Refuge (22:1–2)

The Scriptures are light on details on exactly what happened. All we know is that David’s acting performance somehow got him out of Gath. From there, he goes and hides in the cave of Adullam.

How depressing does that sound? Hiding in a cave all by yourself. If David stayed in that cave too long, his acting performance might become reality. He might actually go insane!

But something really interesting happened: David experienced the Lord’s mercy anew there in the cave. It’s not exactly the place you’d expect it, but it’s exactly what happened, and we know this because David actually wrote two Psalms while he was in the cave: Psalm 57 and Psalm 142.

David began Psalm 57 by saying,

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.”

We tend to think that we’ve experienced God’s mercy only when he removes the storms in our lives but David comes to a very different conclusion. David realized in Psalm 57 that God will often show you his mercy in the middle of the storm.

It’s in the midst of the storm God mercifully protects you like a mother bird protects her chicks under her wings.

The other Psalm David wrote in the cave, Psalm 142, makes a very similar point about the Lord.

In Psalm 142:4-5 David says, “No one cares for my soul. I cry to you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Psalm 142 makes it crystal clear that David realized something very important: His hiding place wasn’t what kept him safe from his enemies. It was the Lord who kept him safe from his enemies. The Lord protected him. He was his refuge and portion in the land of the living.

What both Psalm 57 and 142 make abundantly clear is that in the middle of that dark cave – David came to his spiritual senses. It’s something that you see over and over again in Scripture and that is, God meets with his people when they have been brought low. Do you remember where the prophet Jonah came to his spiritual senses? In the belly of the whale (or the great fish!).

You would expect the cave to be where David’s depression would go into full swing. And yet, it’s clear that God’s mercy and grace is poured out on David. Not only is God with him, but as it turns other people join him there in the cave too.

First, we learn that his family finds out that he’s in the cave and they go and visit him there. Then word spreads and more people gather to David in the cave of Adullam.

We’re told in verse 2 that “...everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.”

Remember the Island of Misfit Toys from the old claymation Rudolph movie? It was a place for flawed, forgotten, and broken toys—rejected because they weren’t good enough. There was a toy train with square wheels, a cowboy riding an ostrich, a spotted elephant, a Jack-in-the-box whose name wasn’t Jack, it was Charlie. He was Charlie-in-the-box.

It sounds a lot like the people who began to gather around David doesn’t it? They were a bunch of misfits.

But isn’t that the very thing that makes this passage so compelling? Everyone who gathered around David was broken in some way. They were people in distress, in debt, and bitter in soul. In other words, they were overlooked, burdened, and spiritually and emotionally weary.

They were all people who could relate on some level to what David was going through. Which is exactly what I’m talking about! This is exhibit A of God’s mercy on David. The place that you would expect to be the place of loneliness and spiritual depression for David became the place of fellowship and spiritual renewal.

Isn’t that exactly what the church is supposed to be? A place of spiritual renewal and fellowship? Behind every smile, every handshake, every Sunday outfit, we’re all dealing with something. Maybe it’s anxiety that won’t let go. Maybe it’s disappointment, or shame, or financial pressure, or grief that lingers. Like those 400 people in the cave with David, we’re not gathered here today because we have it all together—we’re here because we don’t.

Is there any doubt that some of you are distressed, indebted, and bitter in soul? Welcome to Providence Church – the island of misfit toys.

But there is one really important distinction that we need to make: The thing that unites us together isn’t our brokenness. We’re all sinners, but it’s not our sin that brings us together – it’s our shared faith and hope in the King who can fix it!

And something very similar happened in our text. All these broken people gathered around David because he gave them hope for a brighter future in the same way Jesus offers each of us refuge, strength, and hope for a brighter future.

Truth Leads Us Out of the Cave (1 Samuel 22:3–5)

But he’s also our shepherd and guide.

David and his motley crue of misfits were in the cave, but they didn’t stay in the cave. Eventually, they left and went to Mizpeh in Moab, which was the place where David decided to leave his parents. He thought they would be safe in Moab, and for good reason.

David has a personal connection to Moab, his great-grandmother, Ruth was a Moabite. It’s likely for that reason, David thought that his parents would be safe in Moab while he tried to figure things out.

And it was there that a prophet named Gad appeared on the scene. And he told David exactly what he needed to do next: “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.”

Keep in mind, this wasn’t a random guy’s opinion. God would speak through the prophets. God was telling David that he needed to go to the land of Judah.

How many times did the prophet Samuel tell King Saul what the Lord wanted him to do, and yet, time and again, he failed to do it.

In many ways, that is the test of true faith. It’s easy to make a profession. It’s easy to say that you believe in Jesus Christ, but your sincerity of faith is seen whether or not you humbly submit to the Word of the Lord.

James said something about this, didn’t he? Most famously he said that, “faith without works is dead.”

Here’s the big thing that I don’t want us to miss – the Word of the Lord came to David through the prophet Gad and told David to go back to Israel. He told David to go back to where Saul could easily find him.

God in his mercy will often lead us out of hiding and into the places of hard obedience. At some point, your Christian faith will challenge some deeply held aspect of your life. At some point your faith will call you to do something hard. And the question is always, “will you obey?”

Much in the same way David was heading back into the land where Saul could easily find him and yet, it’s exactly what God is calling him to do!

What’s amazing is we see something of a full circle, don’t we? David started out by taking matters into his own hands and hiding in enemy territory to boldly march back into Israel in the forest of Hereth, which was in Judah where Saul, the man who sought David’s life could easily find him.

What’s the difference? David finally realized that his safety, security, and protection are not wrapped up in where he hides – ultimately it’s the Lord who will protect him.

The same is true for all of us today. Your protection, peace, and security isn’t in your family, your money, reputation, power – true peace, true refuge, true protection is only found in the Lord.

Which is exactly what Jesus tells us in John 16. Jesus said: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

As we’ve walked through David’s journey in 1 Samuel 21–22, we’ve seen a man on the run—desperate, afraid, making choices that at times reflect fear more than faith. And yet, even in the cave, even in his weakness, God meets him with mercy. But David had to learn the hard way: the world offers temporary shelter, but the Lord offers eternal refuge.

And the same question faces us: Where do seek temporary shelter or eternal refuge?

Do you run to distraction—bingeing shows or scrolling endlessly through your phone to escape the pain?

Do you run to achievement—throwing yourself into work or performance to feel secure and in control?

Do you run to people—placing all your hope in a relationship to satisfy your longing for peace?

These may offer relief for a moment. But like David in Gath, the world’s refuge always turns into a place of hostility. It cannot protect your soul. And it will eventually leave you emptier than you were before.

But there is another way. There is a better refuge.

In Psalm 57, written from the cave, David cries, “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.”

And in Psalm 142, he confesses, “I cry to you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’”

David stopped running to worldly shelter and began to rest in the shadow of God’s mercy.

And that mercy has a name: Jesus Christ.

He is your refuge in every storm. He invites you not to hide in fear, but to take shelter in Him.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

May you find your peace and refuge in Him.

Amen. Let’s pray together.