Context No. 3567 of 4322 · 1 Samuel

1 Samuel 27:1-7: in context

1David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So I will escape out of his hand.” 2David arose and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife. 4Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, so he stopped looking for him. 5David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” 6Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day. 7The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

After all of God's protection, David has a moment of discouragement and fear: I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. So he goes to live among Israel's enemies, seeking safety with the pagan king of Gath.

It is a striking lapse. The same David who had twice spared Saul, trusting God to give him the throne in due time, now, worn down, takes matters into his own hands and finds refuge among the Philistines, a decision that would tangle him in compromise. Even a man after God's own heart had his moments of fear-driven faithlessness, when weariness whispered that God could not really be trusted after all. There is honesty in Scripture's portrait: the faithful are not immune to discouragement and lapses of faith. And yet God did not abandon David even here. Our failures of faith do not cancel God's faithfulness, though they may cost us something along the way.

When weariness and fear whisper that God cannot be trusted to protect me, do I hold on to faith, and do I take comfort that God's faithfulness endures even through my lapses?

Sources

1 Samuel 27:1: "David said in his heart, I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul... So I will escape out of his hand."
1 Samuel 27:4: "Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, so he stopped looking for him."
Psalm 56:3: "When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you."