SATURDAY July 27, 2019
Conflict of Character
Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
1 Samuel 21:10-11
This is a sad mark on the great character of David. He was known as a mighty man of valor among his enemies. The servants of Achish are curious and questioned, “Is this the daring man of faith whom they had heard about, the one who had slain his ten thousands. David, who went out against the enemies of Saul and came back victorious, was he the same person?” The servants of Achish were baffled and left scratching their heads. The man that stood before them seemed so different.
David’s character was weakened because of fear. David feared Saul; he feared man. He had run for safety into the camp of his enemies. David was not perfect. He had learned in the fields to take care of the sheep, but now he learned from other life experiences. David had his famous victories against Goliath the giant. He suffered because of Saul who had repaid him evil for good; he had fought in battle for the kingdom. David had lapses of faith and defeats. He had his highs and lows in life.
David was no different than us. Everyone has their highs and lows in life. We have our times of victories in Christ, and, I am sure we have our defeats as well. We face trials and temptations and suffer pain when someone close to us all of a sudden turns on us for no apparent reason.
Have you experienced intense fear that has caused you to flee your circumstances? Where have you run to be safe? We should not run to the enemy’s camp, we need to run to the Lord.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
~Proverbs 18:10~
For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!