David was described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). Elsewhere, I’ve explored what this might mean (see The Making of a King), but today I am thinking about what it might mean to hear from God and follow His leading. What specifically, did it look like for David to hear God and discern His will for his life? Hearing from God has always been a confusing, though popular topic. Each of us has a story to tell in this regard – a story about the ways that God has led us through the years. I am sure that we can all recall key moments of decision and some of the ways that God has spoken into them.

In this blog, I am going to seek to explore some of the variety of ways that God led David. While not all of these will be applicable in quite the same way today, I hope that we will see that David’s example is a good example for us also. We will clearly need to jump around the vast material we have on the life of David, but I will try for the most part to base this on 1 Samuel 23. Here we will see four ways that David followed God’s leading! These will surely not constitute and exhaustive list, but they are a big piece of the picture of how this works in practice

1. Led through Seeking the Lord (1 Sam 23:1-5):

In 1&2 Samuel there are 9 references to David enquiring of the LORD (1 Sam 23:1-3, 4-5, 10-11, 12-14, 30:8-9, 2 Sam 2:1-2, 5:17-19, 22-25, 21:1). Of those 9, it’s particularly interesting that 4 of them are here in this chapter! The first 2 come in the first 5 verses of ch.23. The context of this chapter is that David is on the run from Saul. It’s therefore fascinating that when news comes that the Philistines were fighting against Keilah, David’s initial response was to enquire of the Lord. David asks a very specific question of God about whether he should attack the Philistines. God’s answer is a very clear! Yes, David should attack and save Keilah from the Philistines. But David men were filled with fear. Therefore, David enquired a second time of the Lord, who again told David to go. This time, God explains that He was going to give the Philistines into his hand. Two aspects really stand out:

Firstly, it is so interesting that we are told so little about what this actually looked like. Wouldn’t it be so interesting to know more details of how David enquired of God? Was it a simple prayer or was there some person or mechanism involved in the process In the same way wouldn’t be helpful to know the means by which God answered him? Earlier in 1 Samuel, God had spoken audibly to a young Samuel (3:4,6,8,10), but we are not told how it happened here. The fact that we are not given these details is significant. The emphasis in the passage is that David sought God, and He answered him

The means by which God spoke, however, is less important that the fact that he spoke and what he said…We do not know the details of how this happened, probably because, once again, to the Bible writers the fact and the content of divine revelation were far more important than the mechanism.

John Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, pg.447, 449

Secondly, its particularly interesting that God that God was speaking to David, but not to Saul. Why do I say that? In the previous chapter, Doeg the Edomite informs King Saul about how the priest Ahimelek had enquired on David’s behalf. As a result of Doeg’s intervention Saul has Ahimelek brought before him and he questions him. Ahimelek even tells the King that this was not the first time he had enquired on David’s behalf. Saul’s response is to have him killed – not by Saul’s officials who refused to act, but by Doeg. King Saul was depending not on God, but on Doeg, an Edomite.

The fact is that we have no record of God speaking directly since ch.16. That was when a young David was anointed King! The reason that David was anointed King was because God had sought out a King after His own heart. Saul was not following God’s leading, because God had rejected him as King (15:26).

2. Led through available Resources (1 Sam 23:6-13):

The second way that David follows God’s leading, is through what is known as the Priestly Ephod. During the massacre at Nob in ch.22, Saul killed a total of 85 priests, including Ahimelek. But Abiathar, one of Ahimelek’s sons, had fled to join David and he had taken the Ephod with him (v6). All priests wore an Ephod, but the High Priest’s Ephod was more elaborate (Exodus 28:6-14, 39:2-7) and it seems likely Abiathar had taken that Ephod when he went to David.

Attached to the High Priest’s Ephod was the breast-piece containing the Urim and the Thummin (Exodus 28:30, Lev 8:8). These were used to receive divine revelation from God (1 Sam 28:6, Ezra 2:63). It seems that they were gemstones carried in some way on the Ephod. We don’t know exactly how they worked, but some suggest that they might have lit up, or were engraved with particular answers to reveal God’s will. Pastor Alistair Begg described the Urim & the Thummin as “one of the means used at this point in history for the people of God to discern the direction of God.”

We no longer have the simplicity of the Urim and the Thummin to help us determine God’s will. Neither would we be wise to seek to replicate such a decision-making system by hanging out our fleece in whatever shape that might take. The Urim and the Thummin were given for a particular time and place. However, we do have God’s Word and God’s Spirit living within us. They are the resources that we now have at hand to help us to determine God’s will. There are plenty of verses in the New Testament which speak about the power of Scripture in our lives or the fact that in Christ we are led by the Spirit. The verse below, however expresses how the renewal of our minds will enable us to determine God’s good, pleasing and perfect will.

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.

Romans 12:2

From a New Testament perspective the leading of the Holy Spirit, often working in tandem with Scripture, would certainly make a list of the key ways that God leads us. It is interesting that the Spirit does not get any mention here in ch.23. Typically in the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon particular people for particular tasks. After God removed His Spirit from Saul, He came powerfully upon David (16:13). While there are only a few references to the Holy Spirit in the life of David, the Spirit was likely still a significant influence in his life. After he committed adultery with Bathsheba David prayed “Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:11). Near the end of David’s life he declared: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue” (23:2). To follow God’s leading, each of us must learn to hear the Spirit’s voice in our hearts.

3. Led through Wise Counsel (1 Sam 23:14-23)

Another key way that David followed God’s leading was through the wise counsel of others. For example in 1 Samuel 22:5, God used the prophet Gad to instruct David to move on from the stronghold. We see in the life of David how time and again he listened to the right people. This of course is in contrast to Saul who as we saw above was following the leading of people like Doeg. The next part of our passage in v14-23 records how Jonathan went out to help David while he was on the run from his father:

¹⁶ And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him to find strength in God. ¹⁷ ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You shall be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.’ ¹⁸ The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

1 Samuel 23:16-18

What I really love about these verses is that Jonathan’s counsel was focused on finding strength in God. In our own counsel, it is so easy to promote our own interests, but Jonathan only wants to point David to God. He urged him not to be afraid and he reassured him that David would end up being King. Finally, they made a covenant together.

All of us need people in our lives who can encourage us in the Lord. God will often use the people around us to lead us. Certainly in my own life, God has often used others to help me in the process of making key decisions. We can be sure that with people in our lives, we will always have counsel, the question is what kind of counsel we will listen to. David was the kind of man who listened to the right people – those who pointed him to God.

4. Led through Circumstances (1 Sam 23:24-29):

This forth way is another key means of following God’s leading. This is about the circumstances going on around us. In our passage we find David waiting for God to intervene. King Saul was still in pursuit of David and he actually gets pretty close to him. We are told in v26 that Saul was going along one side of the mountain while David and his men were on the other side. Saul’s men were closing in on David who was hurrying to get away from Saul. But then God intervened – Saul received news of a Philistine raid which led Saul to break off his pursuit of David. They called the place Hammahlekoth which means rock of parting.

In this case, David is very much led by God through the circumstances going on around him. He never tried to take things into his own hands even when he had opportunities to do away with King Saul (see ch.24 & ch.26). Instead, David submitted himself to what he understood of God’s will. He knew God was in control and He trusted Him through all that life was bringing his way.

There is of course plenty of precedent for God leading through circumstances. For example many years later Mordecai tells Esther “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14). God is at work in the little things and in the big things and He will use anything and everything as He seeks to lead us on our journey of faith.

So there you have it – four key ways that God sought to lead David in this chapter through seeking the Lord, using the resources available to him, wise counsel and circumstances. They surely do not constitute the whole picture of how God leads us, but they do make a very sizeable contribution to that picture.

I find it interesting that they all feature in this one chapter which makes sense because God may well lead us through a combination of these means. This has often been true in my own life. For example our ministry involvement in Latvia came to an end in 2013 in the wake of a significant tragedy. Subsequently, the wise counsel of others helped us to see how this was actually God shutting the door to our ongoing involvement in that country. We have only been back once since then! Let me encourage you to join me in bearing in mind each of these 4 ways as each of us seeks to hear God and discern His will for our lives.

Cover Photo by Khyta on Unsplash