1 Samuel 27 - David's Discouragement

Previously in 1 Samuel, we saw Saul pursue David once again while he was hiding in the hill of Hachilah. Saul and his men encamped overnight, and a deep sleep from the Lord fell on them. David and one of his men sneaked in and took Saul’s spear and jug of water, but they did not touch Saul. When Saul found out it was David, and that David did not take his life, he admitted his wrongdoing and went home. Again, he was showing outward signs of remorse, stating he had played the fool, and errored exceedingly.

We have repeatedly seen this behavior from Saul: he vacillated between being in his right mind and being mad with envy and paranoia. As I stated before, repentance is a choice, not a feeling. We choose to turn from our sin, and we choose to believe God that He forgives and restores, just as He says He will. We also must trust that He has won the victory for us, and by faith in Him, we can and will overcome. This is what Saul failed to do, and the evidence of this is seen in his downward spiral into sin. If he were truly repentant, he may have still struggled, but he would have gotten better as the Lord worked in him.

Thus far, David has behaved himself wisely for the most part, but he becomes discouraged over the relentless pursuit from Saul and began making some poor decisions. David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” David was discouraged, and understandably so. However, he allowed his discouragement to turn into words of doubt. Believers should be careful with self-talk, because it is so easy to say things about themselves or their circumstances that are not true. If David were resting on the promises of God, he would have known that he would not perish by the hand of Saul, for God had promised him that he would be king one day.

This untrue self-talk led David to act on his doubts. He left his country and the inheritance of the Lord to go into Philistine country, Israel’s enemies. This is always the danger of speaking things that are not true: eventually a person may act on those thoughts. David was listening to his heart which the Bible refers to as deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:19), rather than the truth. Samuel, Jonathan, Abigail, and even Saul had told him he will be king, but he is willing to forsake all of that to seek protection among the Philistines. He wanted to go speedily, but God is never in a hurry. David didn’t know it, but it was only about a year and a half from Saul’s death.

So, David, his two wives, and his 600 men went to live with Achish, king of Gath. If we recall, this was Goliath’s hometown. It is difficult to understand what David was thinking here, but when a person begins operating in discouragement and doubt, they may say and do things they would not otherwise do. Once Saul found out David was at Gath, he did not seek for him anymore. David accomplished his goal, but the seeds of sin that would be sowed here will not have made it worth it in the long run.

At a certain point, David asked Achish, that if he had found favor in his eyes, if he would give him a place in the country, rather than dwelling in the royal city? So, Achish gave him Ziklag, a city that belonged to the tribe of Judah that was under Philistine control at the time. Ziklag was a fortified city, probably giving David and his men a false sense of security. However, as one commentator put it, “You cannot judge by your circumstances as to whether or not you are in God’s will. You must know the Word of God.” David and his men will end up staying in Philistine territory for 16 months.

While there, David and his men raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. These were Philistine and Canaanite cultures in the southern part of the tribe of Judah that were there before Israel possessed the land. These would have been the nations that the Lord told the Israelites to wipe out completely. Then when Achish would ask him where he had made a raid, he would say, “Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites.” David was lying to make Achish think he was killing his own people, and he left no one alive to speak the truth. Achish believed David, and said, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever.”

So, on the one hand it appears that David was obeying the Lord by wiping out these cultures, but he was taking all the loot back to Achish and lying about what he was doing. This killing, looting, and lying to cover it up will unfortunately show up later in David’s life with much steeper consequences. He was doing all of this to gain the favor of a pagan king. This was clearly a low point in David’s life and in his walk with the Lord. He was, again, operating out of doubt, discouragement, and the fear of man. His sinful decisions made him more like the Philistines and like Saul than the man God had called him to be.

Are we like David, and are going through a time of discouragement? As another commentator said, “Victorious Christian living doesn’t mean that we won’t have struggles or that we will always feel like victorious believers. David is disheartened and discouraged. Discouragement is a part of our journey…sometimes God takes us there. We must be careful not to make disobedient decisions while discouraged.” The Lord will allow us to be discouraged at times in order to teach us to trust Him in a deeper way. We may have been in this season a long time and are tempted to act speedily or hastily, but that is often times when God’s deliverance is just around the corner. David was in his predicament for over 10 years, but his deliverance was coming soon. When we are in times of discouragement, it can be very easy to do what David did, and if we are honest, most of us have been there to one degree or another. However, instead let us hang onto Jesus and the promises of God’s word to see us through. And He will, for God always does what He says He will do.