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1 Samuel 29 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Can you imagine David fighting against his friends and family? Can you imagine him going to war with his best friend, Jonathan?
Jesus speaks in Revelation to the church at Laodicea with strong, convicting words. This church isn’t as close as they should be, yet, they are just close enough to know right from wrong. They are lukewarm. Here in 1 Samuel 29, I think David has become lukewarm. He is close enough to the Philistines to be comfortable (and go to war on their side), but still close enough to God to know he’s in the wrong. It’s a terrible place to be.
But in His grace, God spares David the decision. The Philistines don’t trust him, and really, why should they? The truth is, David has been fighting Israel’s enemies and lying about it. Take a moment and think about the possible outcomes of this ordeal.
If David fights with the Philistines, he will be labeled a traitor for the rest of his days. His future reign as king of Israel will never happen. Not only that, but it is probable that if an encounter were to happen with Saul on the battlefield, David would have won, further extending the shame of his decisions. For all this time he had avoided taking matters with Saul into his own hands, but this kind of encounter would have forced him to either kill or be killed.
If David turns against the Philistines to fight with Israel, he will go against his word and betray the trust he has established with Achish. He would again be labeled a traitor and would forever be known by his treachery and deception. His honor would be lost.
Because David has become lukewarm, he now faces an impossible situation. But our God is the God of the impossible. Even though David doesn’t seem to cry out for help or even be remotely concerned with his circumstances, God was working. David caused this ordeal and the Lord graciously protected him.
I wonder how many of us are being unknowingly protected right now? I wonder how many times each of us has allowed a lukewarm state of mind to lure us into an impossible situation only to be rescued by the hand of God? We cannot only praise him for what we know but also what we do not know, for we can rest assured that He has delivered us from the bloodshed of our future.
When things don’t go as planned, we often blame God for His lack of involvement instead of praising Him for His hand of protection. His grace is so much deeper than we know.