No Matter What Happened Yesterday

Every day we must rely anew on God’s strength.   ~~~   Turn your attention to verse 1. David goes to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Nob is located 5 miles or less, southeast of Saul’s home in Gibeah. When Ahimelech sees David coming, Ahimelech is trembling. He is afraid. He in all likelihood knows who David is, knows what David’s role is in King Saul’s kingdom as being a warrior and a leader of a thousand. So it surprises Ahimelech that David is seemingly by himself. We come to learn that David has picked up a few men, who are very possibly hiding out, but right here, David is alone and this perplexes Ahimelech to the point that he possibly thinks David is there as a threat to him. To all of this, David responds, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’” Up until this point, David’s words and actions have been spot-on. He has been blameless, sparkling and pure. So much so, that in chapter 20, David asked Jonathan, “What have I done wrong? What is my sin that your father is hunting me down for?” Think about what David could have said—“Your dad is crazy! He’s nuts! What is wrong with that lunatic?” But he doesn’t! He examines his own heart. He is humble. But here, David is in a desperate situation. Here is the one who marched out in front of Goliath with no armor and no fear. Here is the one who had been relying on the LORD at every turn. He has had victory after victory, and yet has remained faithful and humble. But this pressure is so great upon him that instead of turning to the God who has led him thus far, David turns to deception. We can ask why he does this. Does he do this as a means of protecting Ahimelech? Does he do it as a means to protect himself? To grease the wheels on Ahimelech’s heart so he can get what he is going to request? We can’t be sure. But we do know that King Saul did not send David on a secret mission. David is lying. David is being deceitful. The pressure, the turmoil of the situation turns this young man desperate, and he tries to use deception to get what he wants. And here are two things we must understand about David. Yes, he was a man after God’s own heart, but he was also a man from the dirt. He had feet of clay. Anxiety, panic, pressures, got to him. And this is actually one of the beautiful transparencies of the word of God. David is not held up for us as an example to follow. The bible does not hide from us the realities of David’s humanity. The second thing we learn is that past faithfulness is not a guarantee of future faithfulness. Out of all the people we have encountered so far, who has seen God move and provide and deliver as much as David? Who has the back log of events and history of God’s faithfulness and deliverance? It is David. David, the shepherd boy, raised up above his brothers. David toe to toe with Goliath. David, who has killed his tens of thousands. David, who has been blessed with the King’s daughter in law. David, who has escaped the spear. David, who has seen the Spirit, very actively, protect Him from Saul’s lynchman and Saul himself. Here, at this point in 21, seemingly forgets it all, or at least does not thing God will or can handle this current situation of desperation. My friend, don’t ever think that great spiritual progress, great spiritual victories from the past are guarantees on your faithfulness to the LORD in the future. There must be a daily, hourly, moment by moment clinging to the LORD. Listen to me, you must admit day by day, every day that you get up, before you hit the ground running, you must admit and confess, no matter what happened yesterday, that you do not have what it takes to get through today. There is no such thing as spiritual coasting. Proverbs 8:34 “Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.”