After God’s Own Heart When You’ve Lost Your Way

1 Samuel 27:1-4 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. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” 2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. 4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

A.) Hope/Purpose

David has lost all hope and gives into despair He settles for compromise with the enemy and finds himself on the wrong side

1 Sam 27:5 Then 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?”

Compromise will destroy you and leave you without hope and void of purpose

James 4:4-5 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?

1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

Romans 5:3-5 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

B.) Bearings/ Frame of Reference

Where am I? What significant things lie before, or around me that I can assess where I am?

Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the L ORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’

Joshua 4:4-6 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the L ORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’

Cairns…. Piles of stones or rocks used as bearing posts or trail guides

C.) Compass/Map

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness

“God-breathed” Greek Theonuestos God inspired or God breathed

2 Peter 1:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

D.) Direction

Isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Proverbs 3:5-6 5 Trust in the L ORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Acknowledge Yada means to be intimately familiar with Yasar means to make straight, make smooth, to be evenly hammered, to gaze straight New Living Translation says, “…he will show you which path to take” Neuschwander Translation “…he will make clear what you are to do and which way you are to go”