Editor’s Note: AMI Quiet Times from April 13-19 are written by Pastor Charles Choe of Tapestry LA.
Devotional Thoughts for Today
1 Samuel 29:4-5 (ESV)
[4] But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? [5] Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
The Philistines amassed all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites were nearby in Jezreel, ready to square off in anticipation of a great battle. The Philistines wanted to deliver a deathblow to Israel and were foaming at the mouth in eagerness. But David is among the Philistines. Because Saul’s relentless attacks against him were unbearable, he and his men left the people of God and the land of Israel, and decided to unite forces with the Philistines instead (1 Sam. 27). Ironically, the one who slayed Goliath, the Philistine giant, found himself in a place he never imagined: among the ungodly, ready to fight to death against God’s people.
But perhaps to David’s ultimate benefit, the leaders among the Philistines looked at David and his men and declared, “They are Hebrews. They are not amongst us. We don’t belong together!” Though David seemed to have forgotten his identity, blinded by his own pride and fear of Saul, the Philistine leaders did not—they knew David’s true identity: that he was a Hebrew, part of the nation of Israel, and among to the people of Yahweh. David would not have found himself in this predicament if he considered who he really was and the calling of God in his life.
What is troubling is how the Philistine ruler Achish defended David so confidently. David behaved so much in accord to with the ungodly that Achish knew he had David in his pocket. To be vouched by the ungodly should have revealed to David just how much he was away from God and His people. The other Philistine leaders did not agree with Achish’s evaluation. They didn’t trust David and feared that he would stab them in the back in battle so to somehow bring himself back into Saul’s favor.
Here’s how David found himself in this plight: David was not content or at peace in the land of Israel (27:1), and now he discovered that his “Philistine friends” wouldn’t receive him either. By trying to live in both worlds, David quickly realized that he was a man without a home.
We, too, find ourselves having to make choices. We are sometimes hesitant to live out our faith for Jesus Christ, because we are afraid of the rejection of the ungodly. This can be at work or amongst friends. And if we disguise it well enough, some people never come to see that we are Christians. Like David, we may even have the ungodly, perhaps an ungodly coworker, vouch for us because of our lack of distinction from them.
How much better it is to be all out for Jesus and to trust that if the ungodly reject us, God is for us; and that He will eventually use the rejection for our good, as we will see in David’s life. We must not be double-minded—enjoying God and enjoying the world. Rather, we must be single-minded—living as a child of God and for the cause of the Gospel. This is the only way to avoid being in David’s predicament, where he had too much of the world in him to be at peace in the LORD and too much of the LORD in him to be at peace in the world.
Prayer:
Lord, help me to live out my faith boldly today! May I never be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation.
Bible Reading for Today: Jeremiah 52
Lunch Break Study
Read Romans 12:1-2
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Questions to Consider
- What are we to offer the Lord as our spiritual service of worship?
- We are called not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. What is the result of this?
- What is an area you need to work on to be godlier and less worldly? (i.e. about the way you view money, sex, relationships, etc.)
Notes
- We are to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice.
- When we don’t follow the ways of the world, but follow the ways of God, the Lord is pleased with our offering.
- Personal response.
Evening Reflection
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:1
With the Philistines gathered at Shunem, ready to attack in the morning, Saul was “afraid, and his heart trembled greatly” (v. 5). Before his precipitous fall from grace, when Saul still walked in the Spirit, he was a man of great courage (see 1 Sam. 11:6-11). But Saul began to lose courage when the Spirit departed from him (1 Sam. 16:14); and now after the death of Samuel, his courage appears to have eluded him completely.
The older I get, the more I realize how strong the link between our thoughts and our circumstances is. It’s not an exaggeration to say that for many people their problems stem from the way they think.
Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that the writer takes time to develop a narrative of how David and Abigail end up getting married. And in the narrative, it’s hard to overlook the quality that is highlighted in Abigail: her sense of “discretion”—this Hebrew word טַ֫עַם (ṭǎʹ·ʿǎm) means “judgment, discretion, discernment.” Concerning the quick thinking actions of Abigail in preventing disaster to her family, commentators of 1 Samuel describe Abigail using words such as: full of wisdom, sensible, prudent, and perceptive. Personally, having been married for 15 years now, I can testify that my wife has often practiced good sensibility in situations and with people, which has helped us in avoiding some negative circumstances in life.
Two times (1 Sam. 23:5-7; 26:9-11), David is given a golden opportunity to take the life of his nemesis, King Saul, the man who was completely bent on killing David. Yet, on both occasions, not only does David refrain from taking Saul’s life, but he denies his men from harming Saul as well.
Yet both times, he refrains from harming Saul. What would you have done? Of course, we live in a totally different time and a way of life, and so we cringe at the thought of taking anybody’s life, even if the person had all of the traits of King Saul. We’d refrain from taking King Saul’s life as well, but not because of the reason David states. For David, it was clear that as long as Saul remained alive, he was still the Lord’s anointed servant. David may not have agreed with Saul and his ways as a king, yet David knew that God had His own timing, His own way of accomplishing His will, and His own way of displaying His glory.
David and Jonathan shared a deep friendship that was defined by a covenant before the Lord. One can imagine how exhausted and discouraged David must have been as he sought refuge from King Saul. David had to live in caves and the wilderness, fleeing from one place to another, never knowing rest. But on this day, though brief, refreshing encouragement came to David through his friend Jonathan (King Saul’s son). Technically, Jonathan should have been the next rightful heir to the throne and all of its power and wealth. Yet, Jonathan knew that David would be the next king over Israel, and he would be David’s second. Jonathan was a loyal and trustworthy friend—a friend that would stick closer than a brother who would have laid his own life for David. I hardly think that David saw Jonathan’s estimated worth as being $174.17. I’m certain that David truly valued Jonathan.
As soon as I became a father, I made a discovery of a whole line of products that I hadn’t paid much attention to prior to parenthood. For instance, there are numerous products that help parents “child-proof” the house. These include: protection from swallowing deadly chemicals, protection from electricity, protection from falling and bumping into sharp edges, etc. Good parents do their best to provide protection. In the same way, do you believe that God also provides protection for you as His child?
Such brutal edicts may have been perceived somewhat differently back then from the way we might understand them today. Nevertheless, we can readily see that there was something wrong and insidious about this order from Saul, for even the king’s guards had enough sensibility (and probably the fear of God) to refuse the order of slaying the priests. The price of the guards’ disobedience was probably very costly. It was indeed a day of mourning for Nob, David, and Israel.
My two boys will get into a little tiff and eventually one of them (usually the younger) will come running to me making a case about how he had been victimized by his brother: “Dad, he took the controller away from me, and he’s not sharing!” Of course, then his older brother will have to plead his own case that he first had been wronged: “Dad, he’s been playing already for a long time, and I didn’t even get a turn.” Back and forth the arguments will be made, hoping that I would be persuaded to take the side of the ultimate victim.