Avoiding Fear And Trusting In God

David the Shepherd had been anointed King by the

Prophet Samuel. Though Saul still sat on the Throne of

Israel the Lord has promised David that he would one

day be King of Israel. The first time Saul meets David

was when the Philistine Goliath challenges Israel to a

duel. David - filled with faith in the promise of God -

steps out on to the battlefield carrying only a sling and

five smooth stones (1 Samuel 17:40). You all know how

that ended. Goliath ends up laying on the ground, and to

turn injury to insult David cuts off Goliath's head with

his own sword.

Although King Saul threatened David's life, and

David - driven with fear - began to run. He ran first of all

to the Tabernacle of God where a hungry and shaking

David begged for bread (1 Samuel 21). The only bread

that was there was the shew bread, holy bread dedicated

to the House of God. This should have been a sign to

David that God was looking after him. God always

provides bread to His people. The Lord had promised

David that he would be the next King of Israel. The

Lord's Prophet had anointed him. David was as safe in

the midst of his enemies as he was in the Tabernacle

before the High Priest.

As David prepared to leave the Tabernacle – his belly

filled with holy bread – he asked the High Priest if he

had any weapon that David could use to protect himself.

The High Priest said:

1 Samuel 21:9 “The sword of Goliath the Philistine,

whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is

here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilttake that, take it: for there is no other save that here.

And David said, There is none like that; give it me. ”

David should have remembered the faithfulness of God

as he looked at Goliath's Sword. When David - in faith -

went to fight Goliath, he refused to wear Saul's armor

because it was over-sized and unusable. The David who

forgot God and feared man now wants an oversized,

impossible to use sword to protect himself. “There is

none like that; give it to me”. All this sword will do is

slow David down. It's huge, and useless. But David takes

it anyway and continues running. Error of errors, comedy

of errors! Now David decides to run to the Abimelech of

Gath, a man called Achish. The Bible says in

Jeremiah 17:5-6 .... Cursed be the man that trusteth

in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart

departeth from the LORD. (6) For he shall be like

the {tumbleweed} in the desert, and shall not see when

good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in

the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

When you FOCUS and put TRUST in MAN or everything else around you and not on the

FAITHFULNESS of God you bring a curse on

yourself.

David had cursed himself by his actions.

Here it is He's been running scared instead of running to God.

You can imagine what he looks like. He hasn't had a

bath in days. He's been hiding in caves and in holes in

the ground. His hair is probably matted. He has

scratches all over his body. He probably stinks. And He is probably jumpy, shaky, wide eyed and frightened. When

Abimelech's guards see David they say:

1 Samuel 21:11 .... Is not this David the king of the

land? did they not sing one to another of him in

dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and

David his ten thousands?

Suddenly David was frightened.Kings of that day were

subject to assassination, so they maintained their reign

by maintaining their appearance. If you looked weak,

you could be easily overthrown. No one wants to follow

a weak king! Abimelech's guards had

heard through the grapevine of that day that King David

was the next great warrior, a man who was greater than

the great King Saul. They heard that David had

overthrown Saul. Who was this filthy, ragged, scared

looking man who was dragging a sword too big for him

behind him? Surely this couldn't be David!

Why was David now frightened before Abimelech?

David realized he had made a serious mistake. What did

he do? We now see an explanation of the superscription

on Psalm 34:

1 Samuel 21:13-15 {David} changed his behavior

before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands,

and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his

spittle fall down upon his beard. (14) Then said

Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad:

wherefore then have ye brought him to me? (15)

Have I need of a mad man, that ye have brought this