Backsliding abounds. Its prevalence explains to a great degree the malaise upon so many churches today. It is always disastrous. In 1 Samuel 21 we find David at Nob, then Gath. He is on the slide. He seems to have forgotten that he is the Lord’s anointed. On the run from Saul, he feels hurt, bewildered, alone and endangered. A pale imitation of his former self, he is cowardly, thoughtless, fearful, selfish, thoughtless, faithless. What a warning of how easy it is to get into that frame of mind – especially when we have been doing well. There are lessons here.
1. Don’t bottle it up
As soon as Ahimelech the priest saw David he knew something was wrong. He knew about Saul’s hatred towards David and guesses David is running away. However, David not only fails to share his plight with this faithful man, whom he surely could have trusted, but chooses to deceive him. A problem shared is a problem halved. Bottling it up does no good. David reasoned that Ahimelech was bound to be on Saul’s side, convinced himself he would never understand – and could do nothing anyway. The Devil is eager to isolate us. Like a lion stalking a deer, he loves nothing better than to see his prey isolated from the herd.
2. Don’t deceive people
If you try to cover up your low state it is difficult to say nothing and so we are tempted to make things up, to lie, to deceive even those on our side. David says he is on an urgent mission for Saul. Ahimelech is deceived. Perhaps David comforted himself that he was being kind to Ahimelech – refusing to drag him into his troubles, but he was bearing false witness against his neighbour. The consequences, we learn in the next chapter, were great.
3. Don’t be selfish
At the root of David’s conduct is a wholly selfish approach. In fear of his life he, understandably, said and did things he would, in better moments, not have contemplated but what a contrast between the two. All David can think of is himself. In contrast Ahimelech is selfless. David is in need and so, recognising, as the Lord himself later emphasised, that God desires mercy, not sacrifice he agrees to let David and his men eat the sacred bread. Yes, he will have to explain to the others the shortage of bread. They may criticise him for giving consecrated bread to non-priests. But his only concern is to serve the Lord’s anointed. Ahimelech gives, receiving nothing in return. David takes, giving nothing in return. It is a mark of the backslider that he is all take and no give. Too often, under pressure, we get things the wrong way round. Christ is forgotten and all we can think about is self.
4. Don’t ignore what others think
Observing all this was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd. David knew his face well. It is not until the next chapter that we see the full significance of this but it is Doeg who reports back to Saul, leading to the massacre at Nob. When David hears about it he says to Abiathar That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father’s whole family. He realises how selfish and thoughtless he has been – but it is too late. It is easy when we are on a downward spiral to say ‘I don’t care what others think.’ But that is not the way the believer should speak. No, he sees that how he lives has an affect on others. Remember your testimony. Your backsliding may lead someone else to fall or an unbeliever to curse God. We cannot live to ourselves.
5. Don’t rely on earthly means
What happens next is full of irony. David has no weapon. He asks Ahimelech if there is one in the Tabernacle. The only thing there is The sword of Goliath whom David himself had killed. It is hard to believe David’s reply. There is none like it; give it to me! David! Don’t you hear yourself? Can this be the man who confronted the Philistine saying You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty? Is this the man who said it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s …. What a reversal. This is what happens when God’s people panic and backslide. Suddenly worldly advantage seems the thing – the world’s weapons, its riches, its attitudes. Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. A sling and five stones can do more than any Philistine sword.
6. Don’t make friends with the world
You may think David has reached rock bottom but it gets worse. David has a dilemma. Having refused to confide in Ahimelech where can he turn? Where can he hide? He hits upon a ‘cunning plan’. Where is Saul least likely to look? Of course, among the Philistines! There is logic here but David is not thinking straight. Going to Gath – the very land that Goliath came from. This is madness. Yet how often it happens. A believer backslides. His thinking begins to go awry. He is panicking, despairing – like a wild animal confronted by a predator he does not know where to run. First, he fails to confide in Christian friends, then he goes for help to unbelievers! He starts going to the places they go. He starts watching the films they watch, reading the same books, laughing at the same jokes. He is compromised. He is torn.
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David does not escape before he has suffered great fear – far worse than he had known before – and great indignity. To backslide is a fearful thing. It is frightening to think of Satan’s opposition and our weakness what poor Christians we are but to run into the arms of the world is to jump from the frying pan into the fire. It is no remedy for fear.
God always provides a way back for his children. David can honestly say of his escape, This poor man called, and the LORD heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles (Psalm 34:6). However, he did not escape with dignity. Quite the opposite. He had been mad to go to the Philistines in the first place, and so, in the final irony of the chapter, he feigns insanity so that they will send him away. It is clear from Psalms 34 and 56 that he was full of thankfulness for his escape and full of repentance for his foolishness. He learned his lesson. Though the believer may backslide, yet if he is truly the Lord’s he will be restored but there is no dignified way out. You cannot expect to keep pride intact. Let us learn to avoid backsliding and where we fall into it let’s be eager to be free as soon as possible.
This article first appeared in Grace Magazine
