Driven by Fear

1 Samuel 27

Fear is a driver, and it is driving David to a life of deceit living with the Philistines, acting as if he is one of them while raiding and killing the enemies of Israel.  What if David had read and applied the Scripture to his life, as I understand Isaiah 41:9-11, this promise came to mind that God made to Jacob.  “But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, My friend—I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners.  I said to you: You are My servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.  Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.  Be sure that all who are enraged against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will become as nothing and will perish.”

David had been anointed by Samuel and was God’s messenger and he proclaimed David as the King of Israel and Judah.  And had God not already withdrawn from Saul and sent his favor to David?  But David was tired of being hunted and allowed fear, not faith, to drive him into a life of deception for a year and four months.

How could a man after the heart of God do such things, how could he allow fear to overcome faith?  What an excellent question, one I need to ask the guy I see each day in the mirror, and it might be something you also need to do.  We as followers of Christ have these promises, and this request from Jesus to our Father found in John 17:20-24.  “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

Maybe you and I are troubled with this thing that drove David to the Philistines, and could it be that we, like David, have forgotten whose we are and that the Holy Spirit lives in us?

Somehow David does a snow job on the Philistine King and when ask who he raided David tells him it was against the Negeb of Judah or the Negeh of the Kenites.  So Achish believed that David was a stench to the people of Israel and therefore would always be his servant.   

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice