Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - When Bad News is Good News | Historical Books | 1 Samuel 29

Episode Date: May 22, 2025

Is there any good in disappointing news? How does God use our pain for good? Why does God say "no"? In today's episode, Patrick shares how 1 Samuel 29 encourages us to trust that God is working all things, even the worst of news, for the good of those who love him. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Samuel 29

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. When you get disappointing news, do you ever stop and consider if it might actually be good news in disguise? Let me tell you a few stories and just ask yourself how you would feel if you were in this scenario. I was talking to a friend who is a fellow Christian author, and he shared that a while back, he wrote a book that underperformed his publisher's expectations, and it was really, really disappointing. I mean, he felt like he'd failed.

He wondered if he'd ever get a chance to write another book again. And of course, it was kind of a big hit to his ego. I mean, how would you feel if something you wrote, something you put together, failed? I have another friend who desperately wants to get married. I mean, she's a great person. She's got a lot going for her, and she seriously dated a guy for several years,

only for that guy to tell her that he just wasn't really that interested in marriage and broke up with her. How would you feel if you were her? Disappointed? hurt? I have another friend who received a deadly cancer diagnosis at a young age, and her kids were in their early 20s. I mean, she had so much life in front of her. She wanted to see her kids get married to meet her grandkids, but she knew she wouldn't because she would die. How would you feel if that was you? How could it be possible that there's any good news and any of these stories?

Let me change the question. What's the most disappointing news you've recently received? The news that makes you think there's nothing good in this, this is just a letdown, this is just bad news, just like all the stories I just shared. I want to challenge you to ask the question, maybe, maybe, God wants you to reframe what's happening in your life. You see, David was the guy who faced plenty of disappointments, but few were worse than being exiled from his own homeland, despite doing nothing wrong. Now, eventually, he ends up in the nearby nation of Philistia, and once he's there, he enters into the service of a Philistine king named Ashish.

Now, at first, trust between the two of them is hard because they're coming from warring people groups. But over time, David shows his prowess as a military commander and warrior, and Ashish comes to trust him deeply. And now, as a result, for the first time in years, David isn't on the run. He finally has some stability in his life. He might actually be able to serve Ashish and the Philistines for the rest of his days. Now, today's chapter begins as the Philistines march on Israel with David at their rear. But as they begin to approach Israel to go to war with Israel, and David's going to go to war on behalf of the Philistines, he's going to fight his own people. As they get there, David receives

what he thinks is terrible news, at least terrible news to his sense of stability of having a life where maybe he doesn't have to run away anymore. Because the Philistine leaders, they don't trust him. They want him to turn back. They're afraid that if he's their rear guard, he'll actually turn on them, and he'll attack them and defend the Israelites. And King Ashish, he disagrees with all the other rulers, but he's overruled by them. There's nothing he can do. He tells David, look, I'm sorry, you've got to go away. And there goes David's stability.

There goes David's livelihood. I mean, you can hear David's disappointment when Ashish tells him the bad news. We read this in 1st Samuel 29, verse 6. So Ashish called David and said to him, As surely as the Lord lives, you have been reliable. And I would be pleased to have you serve with me in the army. from the day you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you, but the rulers don't approve of you.

Now turn back and go in peace. Do nothing to displease the Philistine rulers. But what have I done? said David. What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why can't I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? Ashish answered, I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said he must not go up with us into battle.

Now get up early, along with your master's servants, who came in with you, and leave in the morning as soon as it is light. So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jesrael. Can you relate to David? I mean, he finally has stability in his life. He can finally imagine a future where he's not on the run. But now he's being told that he's not wanted, that he can't be trusted, that his future isn't actually secure, that he's not really on the up and up anymore. So the question is, how could this disappointing news turn out to be good news in disguise? Well, the narrator never says it explicitly. He's kind of expecting us the readers to read between the lines. But two chapters

earlier, we learned that on David's early raids for the Philistines, he actually never attacked Israelites. He only attacked Canaanites. And it's clear that he thought that attacking his fellow people, his fellow Israelites, that that would be a grievous sin, and so he refused to do it. But now a lot of time has passed, and David's begun to feel a bit more comfortable with the Philistines, and maybe he's starting to see a future life there. It seems that maybe he's having a change in heart, because now he's joined the Philistines in a war against Israel. He's about to oppose and attack God's chosen people, his own brothers, his own kinsmen, what he thought was a grievous sin. He's now about to commit. And he's right. This would have been a terrible.

terrible sin. So while David couldn't see it at the time, God was actually being gracious to him with this disappointment. He was being gracious to him by setting the Philistine rulers against him. He was protecting David from committing a sin by sending David away by giving him a disappointment. I'm reminded of the words of Psalm 73, which says, truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped. for I was envious of the arrogance when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. The author is saying that he was just about to fall into serious sin. Why? Because he envied the wealth and the comfort and the pleasure of those who had rejected God.

He goes on to say that if he'd continued in his envy, he would have betrayed God's people and God himself. But at the very last moment, God rescued him. He obstructed the psalmist from acting out on his sinful desires. just as the psalmist is lifting his foot over the pit to fall straight into it, God pulls him back. And so the psalmist writes, Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You hold my right hand. It's like imagining a kid who's about to take a big trip over a block of concrete that's sticking up and they just don't notice it.

God's at your right hand. He's the one holding you up. He's the one making sure that you don't fall down. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there's nothing on earth that I desire besides you. my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. This is how it was with David. The day of disappointment?

The day he got rejected from the future he thought he wanted to have? Well, it was actually a day of really good news, because it was the day that God rescued him from falling into the pit. It's the day that God rescued him from falling into his own sin. This is actually what happened to my author friend I told you about earlier. You see, in retrospect, he realized that if his book hadn't done well, he would have grown so terribly proud and self-reliant that he would have stopped trusting God. And so God protected him from his pride, from his self-reliance by causing his book to fail. Or what about my friend who wanted to get married?

Well, it turns out that guy she wanted to get married with, well, he turned out to not be a good guy several years later. And God was protecting her from a bad marriage. It was disappointing news, but it turned out to be good news in the long run. Or what about my friend who had cancer? Well, here's the truth. She suffered, and eventually she died. But before her death, none of her children were Christians. Because of how well she suffered,

because of how well she trusted God during the cancer, all of her kids converted before she died. So it was really disappointing news to be told that she had cancer. But it was really good news because it meant she got to have eternity with her family. Think about that disappointment in your life. I know it's hard to see right now, but here's the truth. It may be good news in secret.

The secret is waiting on God to reveal the good news and having the humility to admit that maybe, just maybe, he's protecting you from your own sin or using you to bless others.