1 Samuel 23:2”Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the LORD said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah."
David made multiple trips to his prayer chamber and got ‘confirmations’ from God before he launched out, unlike many of us who daringly move saying, ’I feel good about this’ so I am going ahead with this marriage. Today many marriages stand ruined, shattered and broken because they are cunning connived with gold, car, foreign assignments kept in mind, rather than God. Parents be ashamed today. If you were seeking a godly man, you would not be in a mess as you are now, we think of MONEY, GOLD AND FAT SALARIES….. the end is fiasco! Oh, how I wish our young men/women would change the trend of Indian marriages! Young men, you better earn and take care of your wife! Let the dowry system perish in the name of Jesus! Young women! Arise and stand against it. Let’s get into God’s word now…..
Friend, we have profound learning from this chapter, it would definitely bless those who are interested to dig deeper into the Bible for gold. Hear me please. In the previous chapter we see Saul murder 85 of the Lord’s priest and he is hounding for David’s blood, David is shattered by the news. Now, the next scene(chapter) opens with the people approaching David: “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors." Now, David did not send them back saying, “I’m upset and in no mood to help people, but I admire David arise to the occasion and pray to God for His will. A true warrior of God does not retract but he would interact with God for his people! Amen. David does not react emotionally and impulsively but enquires the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord said, ‘go.’ Now, having been demoralized by the things of the past, the men connected with David had not come out of the mass murder of the priests, in the bargain they dampen the spirit of David too by commenting, "Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?" In other words they said, ‘when we are not safe with our own guys, how much more against the enemies’, David does not give up but goes again to the Lord in prayer and the Lord says, ‘Arise, go down to Keilah..’ Don’t allow anyone to thwart you but keep your focus straight on Him.
Let me take a digression here, when the Lord called me to Hyderabad, there were roar of voices trying to shout down the voice of God, I grit my teeth and stood firm in my decision; however, I did have my ample share of fear and apprehension of such a huge decision, because it was a time of college admission for my daughter. Friend, when you stand for God, never ever dream that people are going to appreciate you, stones would be pelted on you. I admire David for his composure, his dedication to God, his calmness in the midst of storm and the most commendable of all is his sense of duty in protecting his people. Look what followed: “David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.” The men of David followed the leader, despite their fear to fight the enemies, because they knew their leader was a man who followed the voice of God. Glory to Jesus! Youth leader! Can the people trust your decision and follow you thus? We are strewn with people around in the church who say, ‘Oops, I made a mistake’, or ‘ the devil took me in the wrong direction’…where did your brains go by the way???? Let us learn valuable lessons from this chapter which has been meticulously written so that we would be benefited, the fact is many of the Christians do not read the Bible but they are busy muttering some written prayer like a parrot and claim to be great Christians. THERE IS NO CHRISTIAN FAITH WITHOUT THE BIBLE. GET THAT CLEAR AND STRAIGHT TODAY. Friend, tell me, how can one Christian convert another Christian? This is crazy. That’s exactly how some feel. They say, ‘don’t tell me to repent, get baptized and read the Bible…I belong to such and such a denomination and I will never change.’ These are instructions from the Bible not from any individual. The Bible commands, ‘you got to be born again and a new creation! Read ‘Are you saved?’ for full message on salvation. Hear me please. Let nothing else crowd you when you worship Him, keep the family of Jesus outside your worship. He alone deserves to be worshipped. HE ONLY IS GOD! You don’t need any intercessor or mediator, He is your dad, mom and friend, that close…you get me. Let us worship Him in Truth and come out of bondages and rituals.
Back to the subject, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars." Let’s take a humor-break here; the evil, wicked man who slaughtered 85 priests of the Lord said that He heard God. Imagine! It’s is highly hilarious! Today, we have abundant of them inside the church. Friend, you know what, there are various pits we got to cross before we finally reach a high spiritual plane and one of that is , ‘God told me’ and ‘God spoke to me.’ For very frivolous things they would dare to say, ‘God told me.’ Dear friend, this is a dangerous path….I know of many young men/women who had given in to this pride and fall. Let me give you one incident, an elderly Christian woman had frequent attacks of the devil and so she came to a man of God, the man prayed and said, ‘I clearly have a revelation from God that this spirit is your late husband and he has come to torture you again.’ I’m not kidding, this is true, believe me. Those same people came to me and asked me to pray and also told me what the previous man of God said, it was the most stupidest thing that I have ever heard using the name of God in vain. Beware! You are bubbling with God and you love the Lord, alright, but stop vainly using His name. You could say it like this: I got this revelation through the Bible or I feel the Lord speaking to me; however, there are times when the Lord would directly speak and lead you.
While the men of David were having a ball over the victory, David smelt evil! David knew that Saul plotted evil against him….! That is a man of God! He would not drown himself in mirth but is cautious! Now, David further requests Abiathar to bring the ephod (The ephod was a tool to determine the will of God that the priests carried those days) and he prayed to God thus: “Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down?” The Lord replied: YES. Did you observe right from the beginning that the ways of the Lord were crystal clear? If you obediently follow Him, there would be do flunks.
Okay, how do you think David would have felt when he heard that the people of Keilah, for whom he had fought against the enemies, would give him up to the enemies? This is what you call us stabbing in the back. Be ready for betrayals and hurts when you follow the Lord whole-heartedly. ‘Hey, did I not help you’ or ‘did I not preach the Gospel to you’ would not work here…….people are going to hurt you and kick you. David dusted the pain, hurt and got ready to move….Remember, only God is faithful!
There is another scripture that certainly brought tears to my eyes because I kind of was able to relate with the pain of David, the Bible says: “So David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go…” Went wherever they could go….The man of God had no place to rest! After resigning from the bank, selling the only apartment that I had, surrendering all the money that I had and joining the mission field as full-time servant, I had to shift houses regularly. In the bargain my children suffered much in this shifting process because they had to change schools….Well, all this comes along with the package of ministry, would you believe that I had to shift my house to a new location within a year of moving to Hyderabad, not because we had goofed up but because there were reasons behind this move.
Let’s get a rapid fire application from this chapter:
• Never be moved by flesh but wait for His will
• Be ready to pray again and again, if need be, than make wrong moves
• Do not let other’s negative opinion derail you from God’s will
• There is victory and provision when you obey God diligently
• Do not bask in victory too long, be alert always, the enemy will be planning his next attack
• God’s path may not be a ‘comfort zone’ always, but it is surely a ‘safety zone.’
Hope you were spiritually nourished through this teaching! God bless you!
