The Foreknowledge of God
1 Sam. 23:1-15
Foreknowledge, the knowledge of a thing before it happens. God Knows everything, past, present, and future. God knew the results of verses 13-15 before the passage began in verse 1. He knows what you have need of before you ask, [Matt.6:8]. Man’s free will can change circumstances, but cannot change God’s knowledge of the results. In this passage, we can clearly see God’s will, a king’s will, and how David maneuvered through the circumstances to succeed and accomplish God’s Will.
God Knows Everything! Why Not Get with Him and take advantage of God’s Foreknowledge!
[Isa.46:9-10] Declaring the end from the beginning
[Isa48:3] Declared the former things from the beginning, … and they came to pass
How to take advantage of God’s foreknowledge:
Seek it First [verses 1-2]
- Shall I?
- Paul, [Acts 9:6] Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
- [Lk. 11:9-10] What a promise, why not take Him up on it? Ask, Seek, Knock…
- Some things you don’t even need to ask! [verse 13]
- David didn’t ask if he should get out of Keilah, based on God’s knowledge, he made a good decision.
- Some things He put in writing, Your Bible
- We have written instructions on things that we should do, so there are many things that you don’t need to pray about, i.e. obeying your parents.
- Many things have been revealed that still lay ahead, His Foreknowledge
- Everything else you must ask! [verse 6,9-12]
- David could make a Godly, correct decision without having to ask because he had been in constant contact with God and knew some really important facts.
- Without asking, he may of stayed there thinking that the men of Keilah would protect him. The more you know about a decision, the better choices you can make.
Seek it along the way [verses 3-4]
- Doubt or fear from others? Ask again!
- God will make it clearer
- When the task is complete, seek it once again [verses 6,9-12], what would have happened to David if he had not?
Then Do it [verse 5] Here is the Hard Part!
- Sounds simple, so why do we resist?
- Afraid of the circumstances
- We all make decisions based on how we perceive the outcome will be
- It is always best to do the right thing, and let the Lord take care of the circumstances
- [Prov.3:5-6] lean not on your own understanding
- Not in fellowship with God, NO TRUST
- this is something that you need to start building NOW.
- A good example is trusting God enough to tithe. At first you cannot begin to understand how you can exist on 90 percent of your money when you are not doing well on 100 percent now.
- We see God answering YES to all our desires! Deceived. [verses 7-8]
- Saul believed that God had delivered David into his hand, wrong.
- [verse 14-15] God never did.
- Our desires taint the view of God’s work in our lives, we see yes answers to all our request! That’s not your Daddy! Imagine what would happen if a parent ALWAYS said yes to their child.
- Afraid of the circumstances