God's Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

obviously inadequate and undesirable, which left David limited to the use of deception. To all appearances, the procedure worked very successfully, for the king believed and trusted him.

David’s Dilemma

Satan viewed these proceedings with great satisfaction. He had induced the son of Jesse to leave his divinely appointed re sponsibilities in Judah and seek protection in the land of his most deadly foes, the Philistines. There, he had tempted David to convince Achish that he was a loyal ally and could be trusted to fight for the king’s cause in time of war, particularly against his own people, the Israelites. Thus, every move that David planned, was enabling Satan to enmesh him further in a terri ble entanglement designed to destroy him. When the deceived king came to David with the plea to join him in his planned attack on Israel, suddenly the fugitive be came aware of the outworking of his own problem solving. “In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, ‘You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.’” 1Samuel 28:1. If the war had been against the Amalekites or any other of the accursed nations of that time, David would not have been in dif ficulty, for these were Israel’s enemies. But the Philistines were not interested in such campaigns against their allies. Instead, they were bent on destroying their long-standing enemy, Israel. Thus David and his men suddenly found themselves called up on to join Achish in a war against God’s and their own people. This was something they could never do. With what dismay must David have listened to the words of Achish to whom he dared not betray his real feelings or limitations. He instantly saw the predicament in which he had put himself. By conveying the idea that he had forever forsaken Israel and was now united with the Philistines, David had naturally led the monarch to expect his support in the warfare against Israel. In fact, the king probably felt that David would welcome the opportunity to hit back at Saul. But, despite his transfer of trust in some areas, from Jehovah to himself, David was still a child of God, and in heart he remained