WHEN FAITH SEEMS TO FAIL. 1st Samuel 21 In the freshness of youth, when the ways of the Lord with us are new and glorious, our faith is strong, and we realize our own weakness and God's strength. At those times, we can better understand that God's strength is "made perfect in weakness." However, even the best men can become preoccupied with themselves, their private lives, personal difficulties, and their ambitions. When that happens, we can make bad decisions that lead to bad actions and consequences.
In David's flight from Saul, he goes to the priest who had moved the sanctuary of the Lord from Shiloh to Nob. Both the prophet and the priest were outside the nation's mainstream, and now the rejected future king is also in the outside place. The community of priests lived at Nob, where David began a path of lies that indicated a weakening of his faith. Because of his deception, disaster fell on Ahimelech, who trusted his word, and the whole group of priests who lived there. Eighty-five of them died because of one series of lies David spoke when his confidence in God waned. He got the bread and the sword he wanted, but the price was much higher than he had the ability to pay.
Dark shadows follow the path of lies. Satan, the father of lies, has his emissaries stationed in places of holy convocation of the Lord’s people. They are there to spread the news of any failure by the children of God. The pressure of the flesh against a believer and then the uncontrolled mind and tongue open the way for a child of the devil to seek to defeat the purposes of God. The sin of lying may spare the one who lies from the immediate consequences of his words and actions, but others may suffer.
Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ must face their weaknesses and learn how to deal with them. We will be tried and tested in many ways throughout our lives. Both our strong points and our weaknesses will not escape the refining process of being challenged over and over again. When a child of God goes forward and acts in faith on the commands of the Lord, they will soon be tested. The more responsibility God gives us, the more we must be aware of and prepare for the upcoming tests. One reason for this is that “When a brother is overtaken in a fault,” there are spiritual men who have proven themselves and can restore the erring one in a “spirit of meekness,” knowing that they are not done living in this godless world.
In our modern society, including the religious systems, our Lord Jesus is outside of the practice of popular opinion that motivates religious groups to adapt to whatever pleases the people. They focus their organizations' practices on what they think makes mankind better by trying to be as much like the worldly society as possible while still maintaining religious and biblical words. Political society wants to control the minds and actions of the citizens to "the majority rules" opinion. So, they make edicts and change laws to say what can or cannot be done based on the consensus of popular opinion.
David had either been influenced by the fleshly lifestyle of Saul's court or had taken his eyes off God and succumbed to "the fear of man [which] bringeth a snare." When one begins to lie to get what he wants or to escape certain consequences, he has started something that increases like a snowball—in the case of David and Ahimelech, the priest, David's lies ultimately led to the death of eighty-five priests and tragedy in that small village.
The foreigner, Doeg the Edomite, who was chief herdsman for Saul, was there ready to betray David to the king, as David wrote in Psalm 52. There are many in religious leadership taking their place in what they would claim is the house of God, who will readily betray the Lord and deny the truth of God's word for personal and religious advantage. The words they use may be scriptural terms but are not used in the context of scripture and are suited to their own opinions.
The Lord Jesus recalled this event when challenged because his disciples gathered food to eat from the grain field as they walked on the Sabbath day. He said the food that was sanctified for the table of showbread and, a week later, for the use of the priests was given to David and those who followed him. To do what is right and to save a life is more important than to follow the law's formal observance. The compassion of Ahimelech was within the spirit of the law.
The rest that we find in Christ does not depend on formal laws but on our willingness to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him who is "meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest to your soul. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." The provision for spiritual food we find in Christ is the "bread which came down from heaven." We find we shall be satisfied and neither hunger nor thirst from being yoked to Him.
David had defeated Goliath some years earlier when he was young, and he had only a sling and a stone - and his confidence in God. Now, he is looking for a sword to give him the power he needs. Once, he had relied on the Lord by faith. It seems like he was now acting in the flesh by taking the huge sword a man of the flesh used. Until then, where Goliath's sword was kept was of no interest to David. He had won victories since defeating the giant, which was all done by the power of God, who was with him. He was safe if he inquired of God and knew God's mind. In this instance, he did not do that.
Our greatest defeats may follow our greatest victories. When we get to the place where we think, "We did it," instead of "GIVE GOD ALL THE GLORY," we are in a position where we can have a great downfall. The only way to avoid the undermining activities of those who oppose the work of God in our hands (like Doeg) or those who want us to fail personally is to stay true to the word of God and be strong in our faith in Him. God, in grace, knows what to do on our behalf in difficult situations, and we need to turn to Him in faith and rest in the assurance that His grace is sufficient. No matter the reason for David’s deception, it was wrong. He may have wanted to protect Ahimelech from some fallout because, in compassion, he gave him some bread that was not normally permitted for him to eat. He may have just wanted to get what he wanted without considering its effect on others. If it weren't for the words of Psalms 34 and 56, we would think David had forgotten who he was and why he was here. Even though he seemed far from God outwardly, when he came to Ahimelech, he knew, "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry." He knew "The Lord delivereth them out of their troubles." Even when the Philistines took him in, his trust was in "The Most-High." "What time, I am afraid, I will trust in Thee."
There remains an ongoing problem that will never leave us when we focus on what is behind us. There may even be a longing for something we left behind that we shouldn't have had in the first place. There may be fear that someone has instilled in us, and that cause for fear has long been removed, but we don't know it. There may be a guilt over what we have done and cannot change. Even though it has been confessed to God and forsaken, it still seeks to claim our attention.
When that happens, we are "fleeing when no man pursueth." If we look ahead and consider our choices, we can make a wise decision based on our faith in God and rational thought. We don't know the outcome of a matter, but we can avoid the complications that await us if we act in haste without due consideration. David fled to a place he knew Saul would not come, a stronghold of the Philistines, but he did not consider what would happen. Perhaps he thought they would welcome him as a defector or deserter and would overlook what he had done to them personally previously.
Our enemy, Satan, will take every opportunity to defeat us that he can. He will bring up past failures or even use our victories and change them to his advantage. Our current weakness makes us particularly vulnerable to his subtlety and deception. Fear of the future has been a tool he uses to paralyze us into compromise and inactivity. David even resorted to debasing himself in the eyes of his enemies until he became the object of mockery and derision.
Remembering past experiences of victory by the grace of God and faith in Him is useless if we are fearful and without trust in God now. God's faithfulness in the past gave us confidence that God will not fail us now. Simply trusting Him and not being afraid brings deliverance from fear and the light of faith. The truth of Psalms 56 and 35 begins with the fear of man but ends with confidence, faith, assurance, and high notes of praise.
We learn from David that when our faith is failing and may be temporarily forgotten, when we "Cast (our) burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee..." is a real and precious promise that is as real and good for us as it was for him. In one way, we may condemn David for his lies and defection to the enemy. We may think he had abandoned his faith in God. But when we find ourselves in the same kind of situations and resort to lies and half-truths to get out of a difficult dilemma or even compromise a little to be accepted by friends, we need to do what David did and learn from the words expressed from his heart at that difficult time in his life.
There are some kings whose business is bad if, in arrogance and pride, they forget about God or consider God to be somewhat of an equal – especially if we think we are our own king. We take the place of God if we think the future is in our control. How pitiful we are when, without humility and grace, we think there’s something in us that gives us a place of authority. Think beyond this day and consider that God has the final say about all He allows in our lives.
The King of Kings is the One who has all power in heaven and earth. How much more is His power over us? He has business going on, which he has called me to do. The kingdom now consists of people in every nation. Some are poor and outcasts, and others have high positions of authority, but whoever they are, His citizens have a commission they must hasten to fulfill. Often, they will be rejected or even killed, but haste is required – the end of earthly kingdoms is in sight. Then, the world's darkness gives way to the King’s Holy Light.
What a privilege to be allowed to be in the King’s business! He sends us where He wants, to the rich or the homeless. He has expansion in His mind that other kings don’t have because His kingdom is one of peace, and the flag that waves is Love! His servants are glad to serve, knowing what they do is important, for it will last forever. They tend to His business in haste and serve Him with inner joy. True servants act in haste, for they know earth’s kingdoms end. When the King of kings is seen, all other kings to Him attend. Our King’s business requires haste!