Listening To Hope

Lesson:  God molds communities of faith in the wilderness.  

Text(s):  1 Samuel ch. 30.  

Ice-Breakers: (opening questions to ask the members of the group) 

1. Have you ever been on a team where you won an important game? Were there players who sat out most of the game? Did they share in the victory celebration?  How do you think the players felt who never go to play?

1. In tough situations we are challenged to seek God for strength and direction.  Can you remember a tough situation where you either sought God’s strength or you did something else? How did it turn out?

Background:

At the end of ten years in the wilderness fleeing from Saul, David was again on the run with his men. Having offered to help Achish fight his enemies, David and his men were rejected at the last minute by the commanders of the Philistines and had a three-day march back to their families in Ziklag. When they arrived, they found Ziklag destroyed by fire and all of their families taken captive by the Amalekites. David’s men were ready to stone him, but David “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” He took 400 men to pursue the Amalekites, while 200 stayed behind at the Besor Ravine, too exhausted to keep going. God gave the Israelites a miraculous victory, and they recovered all the captives as well as great spoils from the Amalekites. God brought David and his men out of the wilderness to victory and everyone shared in the spoils. 

Digging Deeper:

1. Geno mentioned how wilderness experiences can teach us to wait aggressively (cf. Ps 40:1-3). How would one apply Geno’s three basics to waiting aggressively for God? (prayer, spiritual discipline, and obedience)
2. Geno made the statement that we always have a choice between two alternatives when we are seeking God: God’s way or idolatry. How might “everything else” be equivalent to idolatry?  Why was it that King David had learned this lesson and King Saul had not?
3. When it came time to divide the spoils after defeating the Amalekites, what dissension occurred among David’s men? (cf. 1 Sam 30:21-25)  What did David say, and what was the final result?  Was this fair?
4. Why was it so important for David to share the spoils evenly with those who stayed behind to guard the baggage?  How did this help establish true community there among the warriors and their families who were following David?

1. Geno contrasted David’s response to crisis in 1 Samuel 30 with Saul’s response in chapter 28. How might Saul’s “place of desolation” be related to him seeking God in inappropriate ways?  Does God ever hear the prayer of the disobedient?
2. Extra credit: In what way might the above two examples (David in 1 Sam 30 and Saul in 1 Sam 28) illustrate the nuance between temptation and testing/trial (note: the New Testament uses the same Greek word, peirosmos, for both!)? (cf. 1 Cor 10:13)

Wrap Up:

• Geno illustrated Jesus’ teaching about greatness by telling about how Michael Jordan made others on his team “shine.” Discuss ways that we can help make others in the Body of Christ “shine” by following Christ’s own example of washing His disciples’ feet.   
• Is there anyone in your group who is going through a “wilderness experience” now? Pray for them and consider ways the group might be used by God for helping them “grow up spiritually” as an outcome of the experience.

Outreach/Mission:

• Geno observed that Hope Chapel has been through its own wilderness experiences over the past several years. How might God use such experiences to mold Hope Chapel for the mission He has called us to?