Gods Sabbath

D AVID C HOOSES THE W AY OF S UCCESS

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revelation cannot help but draw a response of adoration and love from the soul. This is the effect it had on David, who gave ex pression to his feelings in the beautiful Psalms recorded for our benefit and blessing. It is unfortunate that David had to learn about these wonderful characteristics of his heavenly Father the hard way, by following wrong procedures himself. Blessed will we be, when we learn from David’s mistakes instead of our own, for we will then trust wholly in the Lord, instead of sometimes trusting Him and sometimes self. In considering the period when David vacillated between his own and God’s ways, we will look firstly at his experience at Keilah. Word reached David not long after he had taken refuge in the cave of Adullam, that the Philistines were investing the city of Keilah. Recognizing that as a serious problem, David did not turn to himself as the problem solver this time, but took the cri sis to the Lord. He asked God what he should do, and then pro ceeded to obey God’s specific orders. “When David was told, ‘Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,’ he inquired of the L ORD , saying, ‘Shall I go and attack these Philistines?’ The L ORD answered him, ‘Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.’” 1Samuel 23:1, 2. In obeying the Lord’s directives, a fresh problem immediately arose. David’s men were not prepared to go out to this battle, for they saw in it only trouble and loss. David simply went to God a second time, to ask for further specific orders from the great Problem Solver. “But David’s men said to him, ‘Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!’ Once again David inquired of the L ORD , and the L ORD an swered him, ‘Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Phi listines into your hand.’” Verses 3 and 4. With such clear-cut specific orders containing no human de vising, David was assured that the venture could not possibly David’s Victory at Keilah