DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

"And 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.' Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men, who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath." (I Samuel 27:1-2)

hat is wrong with this picture? Here is David, who had a great victory over the Philistines by defeating Goliath – who was from Gath – moving in with the enemy. Something does not seem quite right. In addition, it is strange that Achish, the son of the king of Gath, would welcome David and his army to settle down in his territory. In fact, he regarded David as an angel of God (29:30). It is not as though Achish did not know that this was the same David that killed Goliath. The princes of the Philistines were angry with Achish for making league with David. They said, " 'Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands"?' " (29:5).

David had to sacrifice his own integrity to live in Gath. When he and his men went out on raids, he had to lie and kill innocent people in order to remain in the good graces of Achish (27:8-11).

Here's the deal. When we make our bed with the enemy, we have to sacrifice our own faith and integrity in order to live there. If our goal is to make friends with the world, then we have to compromise our faith to have peace with it.

We need to remember the words of James, who wrote: "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4b) If I want to crawl into bed with the world, then I have to expect that there will be illegitimate children born out of that relationship.

My relationship with God is more important than anything the world has to offer. God says, "Do not love not the world or the things in the world" because "the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (I John 2:15-17). Any benefit of making our bed with the world is fleeting. Our relationship with God is eternal.

Love, Dad