GOD Will Direct Your Paths!!!

David relied on GOD for direction and GOD always came through for him. 


2 Samuel 5:17-20 (NCV)

¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been made king over Israel, all the Philistines went to look for him. But when David heard the news, he went down to the stronghold. ¹⁸ The Philistines came and camped in the Valley of Rephaim.

¹⁹ David asked the Lord, “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”
The Lord said to David, “Go! I will certainly hand them over to you.”
²⁰ So David went to Baal Perazim and defeated the Philistines there. David said, “Like a flood of water, the Lord has broken through my enemies in front of me.” So David named the place Baal Perazim.

GOD will show you exactly what to do if you seek HIM and depend on HIM!!!!  GOD told David how to defeat the Philistines and HE will tell us what to do to win the battles in our lives.


1 Chronicles 14:13-17 (NKJV)

¹³ Then the Philistines once again made a raid on the valley. ¹⁴ Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.

¹⁵ And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.”

¹⁶ So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer. ¹⁷ Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.


Sometimes, God will direct you to take a detour from the path that you had planned. 


Early one morning after I had finished watering the plants at the house that I was taking care of, I got in my truck to leave.  I turned out of the driveway to go through town and God told me NOT to go that way.  I was sleepy and I wasn’t thinking clearly.  Instead of listening to God and driving around the block to go back the other direction, I went ahead and went the way that I had started out. 


It is always a big mistake to ignore what God is telling you!!!  We should always ask God about our plans and be ready to change them, if needed. 


A few minutes later, I got stopped by a police officer who said that I had run a stop sign and was given a ticket.  This was a ticket that I could have avoided by listening to GOD and following HIS instructions. 


We often cause ourselves a lot of trouble by NOT seeking GOD and doing what HE tells us. 


1 Chronicles 13:1-4, 7-14 (NKJV)

13 Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. ² And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the Lord our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; ³ and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.”

⁴ Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

⁷ So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. ⁸ Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.


⁹ And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. ¹⁰ Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. ¹¹ And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzza; therefore that place is called Perez Uzza to this day. ¹² David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God to me?”

¹³ So David would not move the ark with him into the City of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
¹⁴ The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had.


At other times, GOD will close the door that you thought you were going to go through.  This happened to David when he was serving King Achish in the land of the Philistines. 


1 Samuel 29 (NKJV)

29 Then the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. ² And the lords of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. ³ Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years? And to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me.”

⁴ But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; so the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become our adversary. For with what could he reconcile himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men?


⁵ Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying:

‘Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands’?” 

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, “Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. ⁷ Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”

⁸ So David said to Achish, “But what have I done? And to this day what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

⁹ Then Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are as good in my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’


¹⁰ Now therefore, rise early in the morning with your master’s servants who have come with you. And as soon as you are up early in the morning and have light, depart.”


¹¹ So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

We may NOT always understand what GOD is doing, but HE will show us, if we continue to trust HIM!!! 


1 Samuel 30:1-19 (NKJV)

30 Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, ² and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. ³ So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.

⁴ Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵ And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. ⁶ Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”

And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”

⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind.

¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.

¹¹ Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they let him drink water. ¹² And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴ We made an invasion of the southern area of the Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ And David said to him, “Can you take me down to this troop?”

So he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this troop.”

¹⁶ And when he had brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷ Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.

¹⁸ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.

¹⁹ And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.


What would have happened if God had NOT closed this door for David? 


What would have happened if Achish had NOT sent David and his men home? 


Did you notice that David and his men got home just in time to chase after the Amalekites?  They got home just in time to rescue their wives and children.  NOW, isn’t that just like GOD???


David followed earnestly after GOD and GOD directed his paths.   
God took David, a shepherd boy, from his father’s pastures and he became a mighty man of valor.  And as GOD had promised, he became the King of Israel.  David is the most famous King to ever live and he is part of the lineage of Christ.  People are still talking about David today.      

GOD showed David the way HE should go and HE WILL DO IT FOR YOU, TOO!!!