The Wrong Question

04.24.13

1 Samuel 29.8 8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” (ESV)

David, in a season of despair, fled to Philistia to escape Saul’s attempts to take his life. In Philistia, David made himself comfortable under the leadership of a man named Achish; so much so, that Achish made David and his men his bodyguards. Achish was comfortable with David and the David with Achish. But not so the rulers of the Philistines, they saw David as an enormous threat; they remembered what was sung about David when he killed their champion, Goliath.

So the Philistine leaders told Achish, “Get rid of David! No way is he going to fight with us and be on our side!” And in 1 Samuel 29 Achish says to David, “As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” (Vv. 6-7) (They’re not that into you…)

So David asks, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” Funny, David asked King Saul the same question. David seemed good at asking the question: What have I done? The question is not what have I done, but what is God doing?

Sometimes our own reasoning leads us to justify what we do even when it’s diametrically opposed to what God is doing. God appointed David as king and David was acting like a criminal fugitive. David had even gone over to the enemies of Israel to live among them because he’d lost his faith in his own people: if I can’t have my way, I’m going to take my ball and go… Without God such foolish thinking may fly, but with God it is utter insanity!

David asked the wrong question from the wrong mentality: everyone’s picking on me; he’d forgotten that God never picks on anyone. God was shaping him because as king he would face enormous things and he’d have to rely on God’s wisdom and not just his own reasoning to overcome them.

So, what’s happening in our lives: are we learning from God’s seasoning, or leaning on our own reasoning? Are we asking the right question: God what are You doing? The beauty of today’s lesson is God didn't leave David to his own devices and thinking: God saved David from ruining his kingship by fighting against his own people. And God used Philistine bosses to get His message across: David, you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and nothing good will come from this.

Father, keep me from being in the wrong place at the wrong time because I’m listening to the voices in my head that say You are anything less than faithful. Help me to ask the right question and to be effective for You in all I do – amen.