SA 23-24THE subject of divine guidance, in its application to the details of our every-day life and conduct, is evidently one of great importance; and it is one on which the minds of many saints are often greatly exercised. " It is not in man that walketh to direct his own steps"; but there is One of whom it is written, " In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." There are important epochs in the life of each, when the need of divine guidance cannot but be felt. But the word is not, " acknowledge Him at such times as these," but, " in all thy ways, acknowledge Him." Habitual reference to the Lord in all the details of life, makes it easy to confide in Him when any great crisis arrives; whereas, if in general we pass on without acknowledging Him, though the heart may feel, when in straits and difficulties, the need of light from above not being practiced in consulting God, or familiar with His ways of guiding His people, it little knows how to cast itself upon Him, or even to avail itself of such guidance as He vouchsafes. And though the Lord may, and often does, exceed His promise, and guide when in extremities those who do not habitually acknowledge Him, the promise is, " In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and then, when difficulties occur, " He shall direct thy paths." It is not that we need always be asking, " What must I do?" There are things in which we know the Lord would have us to be engaged; but He is to be acknowledged in these things as well as in inquiring of Him when uncertain as to our path. " It is God that worketh in you to will and to do." " For Thou also hast wrought all our works in us." "Without me ye can do nothing."
One thing we must never forget-that if we are to have practical guidance from God, it must be in a path which is itself according to His mind and will. A vast deal of the uncertainty felt by Christians as to the details of their path arises from the fact, that they look for guidance as to details, when their entire position is such as God cannot own. It is contrary to His word. Suppose my child to be bent on a course which he knows, or ought to know, to be contrary to his father's wishes; if in the prosecution of his design he meets with difficulties which are quite insuperable, and asks me for instruction how to extricate himself therefrom, what am I to do? Should his father's interposition be requisite for his safety, that would be another case. Any father would then exert himself for his child, though the child's willfulness alone had involved him in the danger from which he had to be rescued. But what father would help his child to disobey him? Can we expect God to help and guide us in a path which is throughout contrary to His revealed will? The difficulties which we meet in such a path, are the thorns by which God is hedging up our way, in order that we may relinquish it altogether; and the first step towards the enjoyment of divine guidance in such a case, is to forsake the position and manner of life out of which, not in which, the Lord would lead us. It is our privilege to know that our position and manner of life as a whole are according to God. There may still be difficulties, and there doubtless will be; but we may then, in simple confidence, reckon on the Lord's wisdom to guide us through them all.
David's path, at the time to which our chapters refer, was one of extreme difficulty. His circumstances were scarcely two days together alike. He had to conceal himself first in one fastness, then in another. But the path he trod was one in which the Lord had set him. His position was according to God's mind. It was the path of faith; and in all simplicity of faith, he reckoned on God's guidance in that path.
"Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing floors." Here was a new circumstance in David's path.
He was at the moment concealing himself from the envy and rage of Saul; but his position had respect to the Philistines as well as Saul. The Lord had raised up Saul, and anointed him captain over His people Israel, that he might save His people out of the hands of the Philistines (see 9:16). Saul had entirely failed in this. He had proved himself faithless and disobedient, and hence, when arrayed against the Philistines (14, 17), he had shrunk from the unequal contest. David, having been anointed in his stead (16), had really in faith taken the place of Israel's shepherd; and while the ostensible shepherd proved himself a hireling, who, when the wolf cometh, flees, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep, David stood in the gap, and delivered the trembling affrighted flock out of the jaws of the destroyer. That was a day of triumph and of glory for Israel; a day on which it was seen, "that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear," but that His people's battle is His own. It was a day of renown for David too, the daughters of Israel singing with tabrets and dances, " Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Affairs had changed since that day, and David was now an outcast and a wanderer-hunted by Saul, like a partridge on the mountains. But has this alienated his heart from Israel, or rendered him indifferent to their sufferings? When he hears of the Philistines having plundered Keilah, does he say, "Well, if I am to suffer thus at the hands of Israel's king, he and his people may defend themselves against the Philistines-what have I to do with their affairs? No, he is as ready to gird on his weapons and hasten to the conflict, as though Saul had appreciated and rewarded all his previous services. But though ready to go thus to the rescue of the men of Keilah, does he, on the other hand, rush on the undertaking in the energy of his own will-the mere natural impetuosity of a man of war? No, he inquires of the Lord, " Shall I go and smite these Philistines?" He does not use many words, as we so often do in our prayers. With the simplicity of a child, he asks a question of Him whom he knows to be alone able to answer it. And the answer is as direct and simple as the inquiry.
"Shall I go?" "And the Lord said, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah."
A new difficulty, however, now presents itself. David is not alone, but at the head of a band of men who had from various motives attached themselves to his person, but who do not walk in the same simplicity of faith as himself. Spiritually, they are far behind him. " Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?" Feeling themselves unable to cope with the lesser difficulties, they shrink from encountering the greater. What now is David's course? Does he, on the one side, despise the check he has received by the remonstrances of his men? or does he, on the other, blindly follow their timid counsels, and give up the light he had received from God? No; finding himself in new circumstances, he inquires afresh of the Lord. When he first inquired, he evidently had no doubt as to the allegiance of his men•' but now, when the Lord has said "Go," and his men hold back, David applies to his former resource, and inquires again of the Lord. To David's faith, the command to go was, no doubt, equivalent to a promise that the Philistines should be delivered into his hand; but now, in consideration of his timid followers, inquiring a second time of the Lord, the Lord repeats to him the direction to go, and accompanies it with the express promise, " for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand." This overcomes the reluctance of his men; they go down to Keilah; and a great slaughter of the Philistines ensues. " So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah."
SA 23:6-23:13Verses 6-13 suggest considerations of the deepest interest. " And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand." Now the ephod was that part of the priests' garments in which the Urim and Thummim, by which guidance from the Lord was obtained, were placed. This was the appointed, established mode of seeking counsel from God. What claims attention here is, that when the ephod is to be had, David uses it; when it is not there, he can consult God without it. He despises not the ordered way when it is available; nor is he so dependent upon the ordered means as to be unable, when they are out of his reach, to consult God without them. When the ephod is not there, he inquires directly of God, as we have seen; when Abiathar is there with the ephod he says, " Bring hither the ephod." Surely there is instruction here for us all. We have means, advantages, helps, afforded us of God; and when He does afford them, they are not to be despised, but diligently and faithfully used. But neither are we so dependent on these, as in their absence to be unable to have to do immediately with God Himself. What a precious boon is God's written word! How impossible, if we neglect it, to receive guidance from the Lord! Who that believes it to be God's word, and is conversant with it, can find language in which to express its value. But suppose we should lose our sight, or be imprisoned for the truth, and refused the use of the Bible, should we necessarily be deprived of instruction or counsel from the Lord? God forbid. Its effect, when we have it and use it, is to place us in His presence, and declare to us His mind. Deprived of it, as has been supposed, we should find Him better to us than the book. Diligent in the use of means when vouchsafed, faith can reckon upon God Himself when they are withheld, well knowing that He never withdraws the means, except when He would cause the soul to know His sufficiency above and beyond, and, when it pleases Him, even apart from them all.
David's inquiries of the Lord served him better than any number of scouts and spies, to watch the movements of his enemy and pursuer. "Will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard?" "And the Lord said, He will come down." "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" "And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up." Thus he escapes, as a bird from the snare of the fowler.
SA 23:14-23:18Verses 14-18 may not strictly bear on the subject before us, that of Divine Guidance; but they are too touching and instructive to pass without notice. David was aware that Saul sought him every day; he needed comfort and encouragement; the Lord also knew his need, and sent Jonathan, Saul's son, to supply it. A messenger from Saul's own house strengthens David's hand in God. " Fear not," says Jonathan, " for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth." Alas for Jonathan! He was correct in all his anticipations save one. Saul's hand never did find David, David did become king over Israel; but he himself, instead of being next to David, fell ingloriously with Saul on the mountains of Gilboa! Nothing could be more beautiful than Jonathan's love to David; but it never broke the links which actually united him to his father's house. It never led him away from his kindred and his home to be the companion of David's exile; and adhering thus to Saul, with Saul he perished by the hand of the Philistines.
SA 23:19-23:29Verses 19-29 disclose to us the plotting of the Ziphites to deliver David into Saul's hand. When they offer to do this, Saul says, " Blessed be ye of the Lord; for ye have compassion on me." Saul could use the name of the Lord as well as David; and when this is the case, very simple faith is needed-faith which looks directly to the Lord. In the present day you will often hear it said-" There are so many parties, all claiming the sanction of the Lord's name, and of God's word, while differing among themselves, that we know not which path to take." What is the remedy in such a case? Nothing but the faith which puts the conscience in the Lord's presence, as having to do immediately with Himself. Saul may talk about the Lord; but David had to do with Him. And when the plots and treachery of his enemies seemed ripe for success,-Saul on one side of the mountain, David on the other, and David fleeing for fear of Saul,-just at this juncture a message is brought to Saul, that the Philistines have invaded the land, and he is obliged to let go his prey. This was not divine guidance of David's course; but it was divine interposition on behalf of the one who had sought divine guidance as to each detail of his path-a path in which we are thus led of the Lord may seem to terminate in difficulties from which nothing can extricate us. But it is in appearance only. If there be no way through the circumstances, the Lord can act in providence and remove the circumstances altogether. Happy indeed to be under His care!
But while it is for our comfort to see how God can thus use providential circumstances, let us beware of taking providence for our guide. A most important lesson as to this is afforded by chap. xxiv. Providence places Saul completely in David's power. David's men would have had him regard this as guidance from the Lord -" Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee." How often is this argument employed! How often do Satan, worldly-minded friends, and our own worldly-minded hearts say-" See, the Lord has now given you the opportunity to do so and so." But let us beware. Providence had given David the opportunity to destroy Saul, as his men thought; but what was the estimate David's faith formed of the circumstances? He read them aright. He saw in them the opportunity for faith to forego the opportunity of fighting his own battle, or delivering himself by his own hand. Precious and solemn lesson for us! The opportunity to do anything is no indication of its being the Lord's will that we should do it. It may, or may not, be the Lord's will. His word, understood by His Spirit's aid and teaching, must settle that. The opportunity of doing it may be, and often is, the opportunity for Faith to say-" No; it is not my Lord's will; it would not be for my Lord's glory; and no opportunity shall tempt me away from the path of simple obedience to Him."
The Lord make us wiser in all His ways! And let us not forget His word-" If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." Amen.