Wavering faith

From today’s passage, we see that even a faithful person like David can have moments of wavering. He decides to escape to Philistine territory to avoid Saul. (1) What lead to this decision was fear of Saul. David once feared leaving the land of Israel, but changed his mind so easily, fleeing to the Philistine territory. (2) He thought that if he left the territory of Israel, Saul would stop searching for him. However, this decision was based on a lack of faith and would lead to various problems. (3) He took his two wives (Ahinoam and Abigail) and his 600 men and sought refuge with Achish, the king of the Philistine city of Gath. David was essentially marketing himself as a “foreign mercenary.” (4) When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer pursued David. This indicates that Saul had not truly repented.

Lessons for us

Let’s take a look at David’s lack of faith. (1) He was given a special revelation that we do not have today; the revelation that he would become the king of Israel. (2) If he walks according to God’s will, this revelation will surely be fulfilled. In other words, David would not die until he became king. This is faith. (3) However, David forgot about God’s protection and began to act on his own judgment. Leaving the land of Israel to take refuge in Philistine territory is itself a major issue, as it was outside of God’s protection. What can you learn from David’s failure? The promises given to us by God will surely be fulfilled. Are you running away from God’s promises out of fear? Let’s learn to not act based on your own judgment and choose to remain in God’s promises.