God's Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

obligations are fully met when we obtain our specific orders from Him and carry them out to His exact instructions. If we pledge to trust and obey in this manner, we will frequently find our selves faced with apparent failure and be strongly tempted to follow an alternative course. Although in our own judgment this would avoid the setbacks and losses apparently threatening us, under no circumstances should we yield to such temptation. With our eyes fixed on God’s infinite capacities and reliable faithfulness, we are to trust in Him and confine ourselves to obeying His specifications implicitly. Had David done this, he would have been saved a great deal of anguish and trouble.

Decision

Short-term results

Long-term results

Because we only look on the immediate results we sometime feel justified in selecting a wrong course. Could we see the long-term results beforehand, we would be shocked.

David’s Deception of Achish

A characteristic of those who undertake the role of decision makers in God’s place is that they determine to remain loyal to Him, and although they are actually working against God, they do not abandon themselves to the ways of unbelievers. Accord ingly, when David arrived in Philistia, he would not settle in the sin-cursed capital where he and his followers would be under continual temptation to surrender their allegiance to God for a life of idol worship. Instead, David requested a quiet retreat re moved from the capital, where he and his band could maintain their worship of the true God. So the king gave him Ziklag, a small center east of Gath (see 1Samuel 27:5, 6).