God's Sabbath

C HAPTER 14

David Entangled

A prayer-filled careful reading of 1Samuel 27–28, together with Patriarchs and Prophets 672 to 674 can help to deepen the understanding of this chapter. W hen Satan sees God’s people sheltered within the impene trable circle of His protection, he does not surrender the struggle to destroy them. Instead he continues to work with re lentless determination in an effort to lure them out from this security into the deadly arena of their own works, where he can defeat and hopefully destroy them. All too often he is success ful. Whenever there is the least excuse for Christians to revert to their own ways, Satan tries to seduce them into doing so. David fell victim to this very temptation. We would imagine that after God had delivered him repeatedly from the clutches of Saul as he sought his life, David would have been strength ened to continue in God’s ways. He should have given no ear to Satan’s plea that he forsake the counsels of the Most High in preference for his own. Yet he yielded to this temptation. At the very time when Saul was forced to return to his palace humbled and ashamed, David, wearying of the incessant threat to his ex istence, began to work out his own solutions to the problem. Soon David was hopelessly entangled in a net he himself had woven. He would have perished but for the amazing love and

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