The Lesson Of Fear

To spare his life, David did an unusual thing, he went unto the land of the Philistines. When he arrived however, the people skeptically received him.

The King in Psalm 34 has caused some to believe the Bible contradicts itself. For example:

• In 1 Samuel 21 the Bible refers to the King of Gath as Achish

• But in Psalms 34 he is called Abimelech

The reason that many think of this as a contradiction, is because they do not know that Abimelech is a general title for royalty. (Just like Pharaoh is a title of royalty in Egypt.)

So Abimelech and Achish are the same. There is NO contradiction in the Word of God.

Any time we think we find a contradiction in the Bible, we have to remember, the problem is not with the inerrant Word of God, the problem is with us.

When David arrived, the servants of Achish distrusted David. David knew he was in real danger, so he pretended to be an insane man.

Look at 1 Samuel 21:10-15, we read, “And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said unto him, 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? And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And he changed his behaviour 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. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

Also look at 1 Samuel 22:1, “David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.”

In these verses, we see that David realized his life depended on acting like a mad man, and he did a very convincing job. The king became disgusted with his insane behavior, so he sent him away.

Acting insane for most of us does not require a lot of acting. Someone has defined “Sanity” as:

• If you can start the day without caffeine or pep pills

• If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains

• If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles

• If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it

• If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time

• If you can overlook when people take things out on you when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong

• If you can take criticism and blame without resentment

• If you can face the world without lies and deceit

• If you can conquer tension without medical help

• If you can relax without liquor

• If you can sleep without the aid of drugs

If you can do all these things, THEN, YOU ARE PROBABLY THE FAMILY DOG.

David was SANE, but he certainly put on a convincing show to prove he was INSANE!

After David was sent away from Abimelech, he fled back into the wilderness to hide in the cave of Adullam.

But evidently, as he got into a place of safety, he could reflect on what took place before the king, and he thought to himself - “WHAT A FOOL I MADE OF MYSELF, (clawing with my finger nails, allowing spittle to run down my cheeks) WHY DIDN’T I JUST TRUST GOD?”

That is a question we need to ask ourselves; “WHY DON’T WE TRUST THE LORD IN THE FEARFUL SITUATIONS?”

We do all these dumb things to work ourselves out of the situations we find ourselves in, and we would be better off if we simply just trusted the Lord.

This is how David must have felt in this Psalm. As David reflected on what had taken place before Abimelech, it disturbed him greatly.

I. HE RESOLVED

WHAT DID HE RESOLVE? Did you ever make an idiot of yourself, and determine that you would never do that again?

Illus: Did you hear about the Americans and the Japanese who decided to engage in a competitive boat race? Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day, they felt ready. The Japanese won by a mile.

The American team decided that if they ever did this again, they would do things differently. They investigated why they lost the competition, and what they discovered was: