A blessed life - the back story

When we want God's blessing in our lives, that commits us to a sometimes-difficult way of life, doesn't it? Well, of course we want His blessings! What must we do to achieve that? To be gifted with those blessings.  Contrary to what some folks would tell you, there's not a long list of do's and don'ts. But at the same time, He does not bless those who ignore His commandments and continue to live in ways that please themselves. Ignoring God's commands doesn't lead to those blessings we crave. He blesses those who fear (reverence) Him and walk in His ways - they turn away from their sins. They truly do seek God.

Yep, that's what we're talking about. Not an easy assignment. Now, do we really truly want God's blessing in our lives?

Well, David did. Yes, I know, he had a bucketful of failures and even some flagrant sins. But David kept coming back to the Lord, sincerely repenting, and seeking God as his chief treasure, his joy. There are people, I know (and you do, too, I bet) who try to straddle the fence. They ask God for His blessings, but they continue to live for their own selfish ends. But in the psalms, we see that David saw the Lord Himself as the supreme blessing -- he would agree with this from Asaph in Psalm 73:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you. (Psalm 73:25)

And we see in this psalm (number 34) that David will first give his own testimony, and then he will try to teach us, using the acrostic that we mentioned yesterday. His lesson? How to enjoy God and His blessings.

Like we said, this comes from an embarrassing incident in David's life. I promised you the back-story, so here goes . . . . . 

Remember in I Samuel, in chapter 21, how David was running from King Saul? The king was very focused on killing David. David and his men came to Ahimelech the priest and they were so, very hungry. Famished would be a good word for how they felt. Ahimelech explained that there was nothing available but the holy bread (consecrated) from the Tabernacle. He gave it to David and his men, and then when David asked for a weapon to help him defend himself, Ahimelech pointed to the sword of Goliath, stored there wrapped in cloth behind the ephod - David took the sword because he knew there was "none like it." 

You know how in some old movies, there's a special little sound or a musical phrase, that says "pay attention here"? It either tells you the villain just stepped into the room, or something like that. Well, cue that music:

Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd. (I Samuel 21:7)

OK, so the very same day that David asked the priest for assistance, ate the holy bread (and gave some to his men, too), and grabbed Goliath's sword to arm himself, there was a servant of Saul called Doeg at the tabernacle, also.  Hmmmm. So this Edomite was worshiping at the tabernacle. Well, what of it? All through the Bible, there have been those who wanted to be a part of the faith, right? They've worshiped with the children of Israel, or they've worshiped and prayed with the New Testament church. This Doeg must have been an alright guy? 

Maybe. Israel and Edom were currently enemies, but it is possible that Doeg was for real. (Except that we will see he was feigning his devotion.) I hear that music again . . .

The scene changes from the tabernacle to a tamarisk tree where King Saul is sitting with his servants and having a pity party. Let's get real, here. He's actually whining. "Nobody likes me, everybody hates me . . ." I'm not kidding! (I Samuel 22:8) And so he griped about the future king, David, and then someone stood up and said that they had some information. They knew where David was.

Who do you suppose stood up and spilled the beans? Yep. Our old acquaintance, Doeg. Well, you can imagine what happened next: Ahimilech and all his household were summoned immediately to appear before King Saul. In less than the time it takes a lamb to shake its little tail, Ahimilech was tried and condemned to die - but none of Saul's servants would kill him. He was God's appointed priest, and they evidently had enough of a conscience to stop them from killing him. 

Except for one guy.

Doeg.

Oy vey. I guess you can't put much stock in where someone worships, or that they worship at all. God knows the heart. And Doeg's heart was as black as coal. He killed eighty-five priests that day, and also killed women and children, oxen and donkeys. Only one priest was able to escape; he ran to report to David about the slaughter. David's reply is here:

Then David said to Abiathar, “That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your whole family. (I Samuel 22:22)

Can you imagine how David must have felt; he took responsibility for the deaths of all in Ahimilech's family. All the men, women, babies, servants. What a burden to carry.  In addition, he must have thought long and hard about encouraging those who were now following him - was he leading them into the same fate?

It may be that now David panicked. The Bible tells us that he fled from Israeli territory and went to the city of Achish; Achish was the Philistine king of Gath. What!! Did you notice that? Gath was the hometown of Goliath, whom David had killed years before! So here comes David, carrying the extra-large-size sword of Goliath, showing up in Goliath's home town! (By the way, if you are reading along, you will notice the similarity of the name "Abimelech" to the name Ahimilech. They sound the same, but Abimelech means "my father is king" and is a title much like the title of Pharaoh. So we see Achish referred to both by his name and by his title.)

My grandma would say that David went "from the frying pan into the fire." It wasn't long until the servants of Achish in Gath said, "Isn't this David?" They would have heard of his fame, since all the people of the Hebrew nation had been singing his praises. Remember? "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands".... 

David lost it. Total panic. He decided to act like an insane man. He scribbled on the gates of the city. He acted totally weird. He went so far as to drool, allowing his spit to dribble down onto his beard as he walked about. 

You know what? Achish bought it. 

He fell for the ruse, even asking his men, "Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one into my presence?"

Yes, the deception worked. But David's acting like a madman had dishonored God in front of these pagan and idolatrous men. 

I fear that I have rambled on too long -- please come back and study with me tomorrow and we'll talk about this some more.