Bible Reflections From Scripture Union Volume OneSample

A Tricky Situation
Read 1 Samuel 29:1-11

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

What will you do if you foolishly paint yourself into a corner? Pray that an angel of God would suddenly appear and spirit you out of the room? David had ‘painted himself into a corner’ as far as his relationship with the Philistines was concerned. He had to join them and fight his own people. What was he to do?

David did nothing to help himself. He had so enamoured himself to Achish that he had been made bodyguard of the Philistine king for life (28:2b)! What was he thinking when he marched out with Achish and the other Philistine rulers to fight his own people? Did he have Plan B in mind–a plan to sabotage the battle plans of the Philistines? But everything pointed to the opposite. When the Philistine rulers objected to the presence of ‘these Hebrews’ (v 3a), it was not just Achish who guaranteed David’s loyalty, David himself went overboard in his declaration of loyalty to the Philistine king (v 8).

We could say that it was only common sense for the Philistine rulers to insist that David and his men be sent home. But what if they had been taken in by David just as Achish had been? After all, David and his fearless fighting men would have greatly boosted their military might. It was certainly God who intervened and bailed out David from that tricky situation. It is difficult to imagine what would have happened otherwise.

Tricky situations can be anything from trying to get out of a business deal into which you foolishly entered or trying to break up a relationship with a non-Christian partner. God does not fish us out of every tricky situation we get ourselves into. Sometimes He leaves us there until we have learnt our lesson. Isn’t it far better not to get into such situations in the first place?