When fear is stronger than faith

Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: 'Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands'?" Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?" – 1 Samuel 21.10-15

I like the fact that the Lord shows us that even though David was a man after God’s heart he still was not perfect. He still had weaknesses and flaws and issues.

You wouldn't think that David would have a problem with this particular issue. He had killed bears and lions. He had killed the giant Goliath. He had killed his ‘tens of thousands.’ He did not seem like a guy who would have a problem with fear.

But Saul made him afraid. To be fair I guess having a javelin thrown at you could tend to do that. But David was afraid – and he ran. He ran to Gath where Achish was king but his reputation proceeded him. ‘Isn’t this David, the guy who they sing about being a great warrior?’

Now he was afraid of Achish. So he tried something to save himself. He pretended to mad and tore at the city gates and let his spit run down his beard.

So how did the great and famous David get to this point?

One thing – he let his fear overcome his faith.

Fear is a great danger for God’s people. Fear blinds us to the promises and power and even person of God. It blinds us to His love because God’s perfect love will cast out fear. When we are afraid it is because we have turned from God because God never gives us a spirit of fear.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ God says, ‘because I am with you.’ When God is on our side and we give Him his place we need never fear what others God do to us.

It's too bad that David let his fear reign. There was not need for it to reign then or now.