HOW TO SURVIVE BAD TIMES (2)
HOW TO SURVIVE BAD TIMES (2)
The second one is, “Don’t be surprised if you act foolishly at first.” Why did David flee from Saul? David, you had stood up to lions, to bears. You had faced Goliath. You had won many battles against the Philistines; what make you to flee? David was a military hero. Why then didn’t he stand up to Saul instead of running for his life? It is because for the first time in his life, David did not know how to handle the situation. To this point, his way of handling opposition was to kill the opposition. He killed the lions and the bears. He killed Goliath. He killed Philistines. Saul, however, was God’s anointed king. David could not kill the Lord’s anointed. David did not know what to do, so he ran. It is significant that as David began his life as a fugitive, he ran desperately, without much plan or purpose, doing some really foolish things.
He first lied to the Priest, Ahimelech and thereafter ran to Philistia, to the city of Gath. David realized that he had more to fear from Saul than from the Philistines. (Unfortunately, it is often true that we have more to fear from our “brethren” than from our “enemies”) He ran to Gath to seek asylum, which was a really dumb thing to do! Do you remember where Goliath was from? Gath. Here came David—who had killed Goliath, who had killed two hundred Philistines and mutilated their bodies to get the bride-price for Michal. David perhaps thought he could remain anonymously, but there was no mistaking his red hair! David had to be at the top of the “most wanted list” in Philistia! They seized David, and he panicked. “So he disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard” (21:13). God’s chosen one, the next king of Israel, was acting like a lunatic!
Even though David gave the Lord credit for delivering him but if David’s thought processes had not gone askew in the first place, he would never have been in a situation which required him to act like a madman to save himself. If bad times happened to David, they can happen to you and me. We may think we would never become irrational if any unpleasant thing happen, but we just don’t know. I know how I would like to react, how I hope I would react, but it may not be that way at all. I’m saying this so we will not give up if at first, when such a time come, we act foolishly. That’s how life is wired.
Who knows before now that coronavirus would ravage the entire world? Who know that the great cities of the world would shut down? The Pope once worshipped alone on Easter Sunday, church doors and gates were once under lock and human activities remain limited. What was your reaction at first? Who do you run to at first when you heard about lockdown? You realize that there is no food at home and the city will be shut down for weeks. What do you do? What many of us will do is to check our account balance and forget that God is in heaven who can open the window. You have acted foolishly if you think about many hills before you think about the Hill of God at anytime you need help (Psalm 121:1). The point is the problem of life master us before he visited, the only thing to do is to think about God first, always be on your guard, be a man of worship, always in rejoicing mode, allow God in your action, fellowship in and with the Spirit and take action based on God’s words. Do not act foolishly.
Word Affirmation: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." - Luke 2:52 (Don't just say it, mean it!)
“You have acted foolishly if you think about many hills before you think about the Hill of God at anytime you need help.”
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