No Perfect Answer

“And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.” (1Sa 27:7 AV)

We can make mention this was probably not the best of ideas.  However, who would blame David?  David was on the run from Saul for about eight years.  David had come close to ending it all several times.  Each time Saul promised to stop his pursuit.  It didn’t take long before Saul went back on his word.  Understandably, David gets tired.  He is exhausted.  He had nowhere to lay his head for any length of time.  Traveling roughly five hundred miles, on foot, over that period helps us to understand what David might have gone through.  He stayed at over twenty different places in those six and a half years.  This means he moved about once every four months.  When we stop and think of how David had to live his life because Saul wanted him dead, we cannot help but empathize with David if he could find a place he could call home for a year and a half.  We can second guess David here.  I am sure he did a lot of that as well.  Especially when Achish wanted him to go into battle against Saul, assisting the Philistines as well.  It is here David felt completely abandoned when invaders dragged off family and belongings.  It is said that David had to encourage himself in the LORD because all the men were preparing to leave him.

Evidence against David’s choice here is mostly anecdotal.  It is assumed he didn’t do the wisest of things by fleeing to Gath.  It is supposed because he had to live in relative secrecy while holding up in Ziklag.  He had to lie to Achish leading him to believe the spoils came for the southern territory of Judah.  It is often assumed because he lived among the Philistines, he was compromising just to be there.  However, not one time did David violate his core beliefs.  He never fought for the Philistines.  He never made any kind of treaty with them.  David never gave in to a foreign god and his men never took upon them any customs or idols of the people with whom they dwelt.  As near as we can tell, David lived among them separated to the point they were able to keep to themselves and live with a clear conscience before God.  When placed in a position of hypothetical compromise, the LORD delivered him out of it.  In the battle that would eventually end Saul’s life, Achish wanted David to go and fight Saul alongside him.  Without having to make that choice, the princes of Gath advised Achish against it.  So, David was held back.  God kept him from having to make a now-win choice.

These times may come.  Times when the battle has been so long and hard, we simply need to step back and rest for a while.  It is not a permanent solution to a difficult problem.  The battle still rages and we must be engaged.  However, we do need a furlough.  We need a break.  The key is to take that break without opening oneself to potential compromise.  Had David thought about it, perhaps he might have taken a better option.  But he had none at the time.  Not every problem has a perfect solution.  Sometimes it is the better of two evils.  We get this idea that whatever problem we are faced with, there is a perfect solution with no downside.  It will meet the need without any negative consequences.  The longer we live, the more aware we are that life doesn’t always work that way.  If a patient comes down with cancer, being completely cured with perfect health to follow is not a choice.  There are side effects from the medicine.  Some residual complications or adjustments have to be made.  In a bad situation, the right choice might be the one that makes things a little bit better rather than seeking a choice the resolves all issues.  David made the choice he felt he had to at the time.  It wasn’t a perfect choice.  But it was a choice that allowed time to prepare for the kingdom.