9 BUT DAVID said to Abishai, ‘Don’t destroy him (Saul)! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? 1 Samuel 26
David allowed Saul to escape a second time with his life, because he feared God enough to let Him deal with Saul. If there’s a ‘Saul’ in your life, a leader who’s ‘gone off the rails’ then let God deal with them. Don’t raise your own hand against someone whom God has raised up to lead.
27 BUT DAVID thought to himself, ‘One of these days I shall be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.’ 1 Samuel 27
God has given everyone Free Will and unlike the enemy, who always works by Force and Coercion, God won’t override our decisions. David decided that his life and those with him would never be safe so long as Saul and his army could get to him. So David took his six hundred men and their wives and families and moved to the land of the Philistines.
2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, …
David had to ask an enemy for Favour to live with them, to escape the corrupted leader of his own people.
5 Then David said to Achish, ‘If I HAVE FOUND FAVOUR in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?’
David was more welcome and safer with a foreign king, Achish, than he was with his own people.
6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, AND IT HAS BELONGED TO THE KINGS OF JUDAH EVER SINCE. 7 David lived in Philistine territory for a year and four months.
Could there be situations today when it’s actually safer for men and women of God to live outside the camp or community of their own people? Unfortunately I’m sure the answer to that is yes. David never intended to stay outside his own land, but he needed a breathing space from the warfare being waged against him. David, with many people depending on him, decided that the warfare was just too great to stay within the reach of those who wanted to harm him. David’s heart never turned away from his God or his people, but he left for a season. There have been many times when Christians have had to flee from danger, but God kept David and all those with him from harm.
No matter how desperate our circumstances, God is more than enough and can keep us from all harm.
May our merciful God bless and keep us today from every situation we face in our lives. Amen