God's Sabbath

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E NTERING INTO G OD ’ S S ABBATH R EST

David’s men should have thus fortified their faith firstly by re moving their minds from the distressing circumstances under which they were placed, and secondly by recalling and reviewing God’s wonderful works in their past. Then they would have been assured that not only would He again deliver them, but that the destruction of their city, which He had permitted, was a blessing not a curse in the school of life. It would have been neither nat ural nor easy for them to see this, until an increase in their faith had cleared their vision. Had David’s men followed this course, they would have been at perfect peace in the midst of terrible adversity, but unfortu nately they did not adopt this one safe procedure. Instead, they charged God and David with their troubles and were in fact so infuriated that they planned to stone David to death. “David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters.” 1Samuel 30:6. They did have a valid point, for the fall of Ziklag was a further outworking of David’s proposal to find shelter among the Philistines. God was not in any way responsible for this calamity. As David saw this result, he gained a clearer picture of his lack of faith in seeking refuge among the foes of God and His people and of how much safe ty he could therefore expect. His was not an enviable position. “David seemed to be cut off from every human support. All that he held dear on earth had been swept from him. Saul had driven him from his country; the Philistines had driven him from the camp; the Amalekites had plundered his city; his wives and children had been made prisoners; and his own familiar friends had banded against him, and threatened him even with death.” Patriarchs and Prophets , 692.4. The wicked unbelief which possessed his men imposed an in creased burden of temptation upon David, and the pressure to turn to human planning in order to escape the threat was heavy upon him. If ever there was a time when he needed to abandon his own ways in favor of God’s, it was then. It would have been natural for David to assert his authority over his men and, with them, set about making plans for the recovery of their wives, children, and possessions. But it would have been disastrous for them all had he done so.