Imperfect, but Being Perfected

This morning I read 1 Samuel 27, the passage when David and his men fled to the land of the Philistines to seek refuge from King Saul.  After ingratiating himself with Achish the king, David persuaded him to give him some land.  Achish complied and gave David the town of Ziklag.  For the space of time David remained in Philistine territory, he lived a double life.  He was outwardly loyal to Achish but secretly remained loyal to Israel and God.  He and his men would go on raids of the native inhabitants of the land and when asked by Achish David would lie, "Oh, we went on a raid in the south of Judah."  He would give some of the spoil to Achish, who became absolutely convinced of David's allegiance and sword.

I think some can make the mistake of seeing a God-fearing man like David playing the hypocrite and believe this scriptural account is an endorsement of this behaviour.  I do not believe David was right in living a double life, and I do not believe God in any way endorses hypocrisy.  Just because something is recorded in scripture does not mean what happened was good or right.  God can redeem all evils, but we should never use scripture to justify sin.  The Bible is unique in that God does not sanitise His people.  We employ great effort to hide our warts, but God lays even wicked motives bare for all to see.  He does not withhold the truth to make His disciples appear blameless.  The fact that Barnabas and Saul had a fierce contention does not mean we should justify contentions with brothers and sisters in Christ!  Barnabas and Saul contended with each other because they were sinners, human beings reliant upon the grace of God for salvation.  Even men filled with the Holy Spirit make mistakes.  I will even risk the fallacy of personal experience to unequivocally affirm this point!

I believe the account of David living a double life in Ziklag is a warning to all who will heed.  David was a man after God's own heart, but this did not spare him from making sinful decisions with catastrophic results.  The move to Gath was not because David sought the LORD.  It was a natural response to his fear of death, not faith in God.  I think it is most significant that for the year plus David was in Ziklag, not once do we read of him inquiring of the LORD.  Because David did not seek the LORD and did what was right in his own eyes, he was likely blind to his own hypocrisy.  He justified his choice to co-habitate with the enemy by fighting for Israel in secret.  Perhaps he even saw his successful raids as proof of God's favour!  We do not read of David inquiring of God at all until Ziklag was burned to the ground, his wives kidnapped, all his possessions were stolen, and all his men wanted to kill him!  That is what it took to bring David to his senses.  Sometimes it takes tragedy and loss for us to see our great need for God.

Out of distress, David fled to Gath.  He went about things the wrong way.  It took disaster for David to seek God again.  1 Samuel 30:6 reads, "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."  I think, "Ah David, why didn't you strengthen yourself in God before seeking refuge with the enemy and living in hypocrisy?"  I find David does not need to answer, because in his situation I see myself.  Have I always seen my mistake of trusting myself instead of finding strength and guidance from God?  Of course not.  God is willing to bring us low so we might look to Him.  That time in Ziklag was not wasted time but a teaching moment God employed so David might never, ever seek refuge in anyone else but Him.  Never again did God want David to do what was right in his own eyes.  After this incident, David sought God often.  There were bumps along the way, but a valuable lesson was learned:  one learned only through such a catastrophic failure.  God's people will learn our lessons when we respond through the exercise of faith in God.