Bible Passage:  1 Samuel 29

Here, we see our beloved David once again preparing for yet another battle. His team? The Philistine army! The opponent? His fellow Israelites!!!

If you’re just starting off the Bible reading schedule with this chapter and you’re not familiar with the history of David, you might be thinking, “What in the galaxy and the neighbouring Andromeda was he doing in there???”…

You can call me lazy, but the background story can be seen in the prior chapters of this book. But anyway, today, we look at David when he was part of the Philistine army…

It might have seemed that David was disappointed that he was forced to withdraw from the army and for the ensuing fight. But looking at and thinking about what he could have had encountered, he would probably be relieved…

What If…

Can you imagine if David ended up face to face with Jonathan, his dear friend, in combat? Just imagine the amount of Hollywood/Bollywood/HK series/Korean series/Chinese series drama there would be if these two amigos had to square off against each other in the midst of a fierce battle? And imagine the immense amount of guilt and sorrow if David had to kill Jonathan? (Editor’s note: Why David? Because he would be God’s anointed and God never backs down on His promises. But this is just an assumption…)

But whatever the outcome, surely it would still have pained David to fight against his own nation nonetheless. Sure, he might have had a plan to defect mid-battle and turn on the Philistines. But, in my opinion, in all likelihood, he would still likely end up killing some of his own countrymen, further adding on to his guilt, let alone fighting against Jonathan.

That being said, I think that David would have been disappointed, yet relieved later with his departure from the Philistine army.

God really bailed out David there on that occasion. David was fortunate that the princes of the Philistines had a very different view of David from Achish. I think the latter liked David and saw no deceit or wrong in David, but the princes were fearful that David had a cunning plan to overthrow their army. A plan so cunning that foxes everywhere would look like innocuous school children when compared to David.

In addition, correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel that since Achish was at the rear of the army, it could mean that he was not really that highly regarded in the big picture. So even though Achish had good things to say about David to the princes, they still dismissed his claims. Maybe his position could have played a part in his rejection from the battle.

Whatever the reason, we can’t deny the fact that God delivered David from self-saboing himself into an extremely awkward situation, as described earlier… And David didn’t even ask for that…

His Way Is The Best Way…

Like David, we do things that we think might be best for us given the circumstances (David fled and dwelt to the enemy to escape the wrath of Saul). Although we might think it be right then, our foresight can only go so far. For David, he might or might not have foreseen the possible trauma he could have faced had he gone into battle against Saul, Jonathan and the Israelites. But God knows all things, and I’m sure He saw the danger that David was putting himself in. So, God bailed him out…

I believe that God did so because (i) he was the anointed one of God and (ii) he was still pleasing in the sight of God, although he might not have made the right move in allying himself with the Philistines. Even Achish had a good testimony of David.

Then Achish called David and said to him, “Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless, the lords do not favour you…”

– 1 Samuel 29: 6

God knows the consequences of every choice we make, while we can only at most predict the more immediate ones. If we remain faithful in Christ and make sure that we do not stray too far away from Him, I think He will look after us and bail us out if we are heading to our doom… Of course, this does not warrant us the freedom to do whatever we want and expect God to save us every time. We must still be wary of our actions and choices, but we should also remember to pray to God for guidance.

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah…

– Psalm 32: 7

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts…

– Isaiah 55: 9

May God continue to guide our ways and our thoughts, that we do not make too bad choices that would lead us into trouble. And may we continue to remain faithful in Him always…

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