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
fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this
fellow come into my house?
David learned a lesson that day, a lesson that we all need
to learn. You will never truly live until you learn to live
in and through the Lord
Let God Live For And Through You
Warren Wiersbe once said "We live by God's
promises, not by God's explanations". This is very
true. A Child of God must learn to trust the promises of
God. He must learn to trust God and God alone. After
David shamefacedly wrote the superscription "A Psalm
of David, when he changed his behavior before
Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.",
he followed that statement with ... I will bless the LORD at all
times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalms 34:1
When fear or fearful situations come David tells us that
the first lesson he learned was to avoid Abimelech ( or FLESH ) and
bless the LORD at all times.
The word “bless” means that this
is a deliberate and intensive action.
When the dark times come in your life the first thing
David said to do is worship the Lord. Intentionally and
with all deliberateness kneel before Him, and praise
Him for what is going on in your life. Too many people
try to fix the problem then, when they've messed it all up,
they go to God crying with a desperate prayer.
I don't care how bad the situation may be God has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. So what you need to do right now is STOP and PRAISE THE LORD!
Psalms 34:7-8 The angel of the LORD
encampeth round about them that fear him, and
delivereth them. (8) O taste and see that the LORD
is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Taste means to intimately experience, to put something on the tongue and swallow it.
God wants you to intimately experience Him. When the woman at the well came to Jesus she told him that we worship in the mountains.But Jesus told her that the hour is coming when the true worshipers of God won't need to worship Him in the mountains but that they can worship Him wherever because GOD is a SPIRIT and they that worship Him must Worship Him in spirit and in truth.(John 4) The only way I can experience God intimately is through the Holy Spirit. God wants a relationship with us, He wants us to trust in His power and not in any man or any flesh.
Romans 5:8-10 But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through
him. (10) For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much
more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Do you honestly think that God saved you to throw you
away? No He didn't!
You need to see the broader plan of God in your life.
Listen When God had Samuel anoint David as the next King
David came from the fields smelling like sheep, David was
safe and secure cause God had a plan for Davids life. No man could take David. Certainly
Saul had no power over David. But David, through fear, allowed a dead man to rule over him.
When are you going to realize that you have not been anointed by Samuel, but that the Greater
One has anointed you.
Revelation 1:6 say's that we have been made kings and priests unto God.
Just like Saul had no hold over David, Satan has no hold over you.
You are kings and priests unto God, you have been washed in the
Blood of the Lamb, you are precious and holy because of what Christ paid for you.
You should feel like David when he said, "Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul, and ALL that is within me,
Bless His Holy Name!
Tell your neighbor, " You Have A Right To Praise Him"
Next David said:
Psalms 34:2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be
glad.
Do not just bless the Lord in the midst of the trial, but boast in the Lord.
Years ago they use to sing a song in the church that went like this: "Said I want gonna tell nobody but I couldn't keep it to myself I had to tell somebody else what the Lord has done for me." Every chance you get you should "brag' about God.
The Hebrew word for boast is HALLEL it means to “shine forth, to brag on, to boast”. David
tells his soul boast in the Lord.
When trials come in your life instead of having a pity party you need to boast in the Lord. I have come to far to let anything or circumstance in my life dictate to me about my status or my relationship with God. We need to learn to Magnify God -(make Him bigger than our problems.)
1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God's.
You belong to God, just as certainly as David belonged to God. You need to know that you have a destiny and a calling. God did not shed the Blood of His Precious Son to purchase you for no reason.
Psalms 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me,and let us exalt his name together.
At first it was personal now it has become so good to David that now he wants everybody to experience God with him. Can I tell you that the enemies main focus and goal is to keep you in fear and prevent you from praising God with others.
Psalms 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in
him shall be desolate.
Psalms 34:5 They looked unto Him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
The word "lightened" in the Hebrew is naw-har which means "to be cheerful, to bubble like a stream, to be lifted up in spirit, to shine or be radiant".
Those who look unto Jesus and are saved are all of these things.
Can I tell you, I'm happy. I'm not happy because I'm
perfect, because I'm not perfect. I'm happy because the
Lord loves me. He gave His life on Calvary for me. He
rose from the grave and, because of me and because of
all who believe in Him, He sits on the right hand of God
the Father making intercession for us.
