1 Samuel 23:1-5
David is informed of an enemy attack on a city in the lowlands of Judah. Recently escaped from the homicidal king, David is, seemingly, in no position to answer this threat. He has at this point amassed a small army, but they lack the number, might and experience of the king’s army. However, unlike the king, David is not distracted by selfish pursuits. The defense of Judah is his priority, immediately after his first priority: obedience to God. It is why God chose David as the king's imminent replacement.
Before action, strategy or even fear, David’s reaction to crisis is to consult God: Shall I go and smite these Philistines? Imagine if our first response to a crisis was to turn to God, as if He were visible in the room, to shift our eyes from the messenger to God, leaving no room for fear in split second trust in God and say: what are my orders? A spiritual soldier's question to the Righteous General.
David received his response from God in a somewhat less subtle manner than we generally seem to receive ours; His response was immediate and definitive: Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. But David’s relationship with God was strong; since he was a boy facing a giant, David had undiluted faith in God’s goodness and ability.
Practically, the more likely we are to follow God’s advice, the more likely He will be to give it. And as sure as God spoke the answer to David, He will place His answer in our heart, gut, mind, soul. Faith in Him and reason within the parameters of His righteous way, will provide the clear response we yearn to have.
Despite having only a rag-tag, and rather small, assemblage of people (that could only generously be labeled an army), God’s affirmative answer was enough for David to commit to the cause. It was not enough for David’s men. They felt their insufficiency, keenly; they were not confident even within their stronghold, never mind out in lowland city against a trained and ruthless army. And so for them, David returned to counsel with God and received the reassurance his tiny, haphazard army wanted: Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
It seemed not to have occurred to David to ask God if he would win; he seemed only to wonder if he should go. In previous chapters, David scoffed at the idea that God could ever lose; that invites us to believe that David knew, by the Hand of God, he and his small army would defeat the Philistines; he did not need to hear God explicitly say it. But maybe it invites us to believe something else, too… perhaps the outcome did not matter to David. Perhaps God saying: arise, go, meant that the journey, adventure, trial would be worthwhile.
In a sense, spoken directly to our souls at conception, at birth, and as we grow and enter new stages, new phases of life, God says: arise, go. And it does not matter so much, the outcome, because if our eyes are fixed on God, the journeys, the adventures, the trials will be worthwhile. If, like David, our instinct is to consult God in the split second after life-altering news and circumstance (and even in the small or general stuff), we can rely on God to guide, protect and provide. Fixed on God, every moment and interaction is a blessed lesson and therefore no day, no journey is a waste. Every day, we are better equipped to arise and go at it… if we trust like David.
Plenty of us trust like David’s men; we will go if victory is ensured. In David’s heart, with God, victory is assured… whether or not it is the victory we anticipated. Almost none, maybe actually none of us think: “Hey, I think I’ll try this new job! Maybe I’ll fall on my face and maybe this whole thing will blow up in my face cause me to learn so much about myself and life that I’ll come out wiser and more productive than ever! With more faith and gratitude than ever!” Or, “I think I’ll become a parent so that it will completely alter life-as-I-know-it and force me to learn selflessness and resilience like I never imagined!”
Of course not. Instead, we think: “Hey, I think I’ll try this new job. I could make more money than ever. I can make my own hours. I won’t be micromanaged. I won’t have to deal with the problems of my current job anymore… etc. etc.” Or, “I want to have a boy/girl! I won’t make the same mistakes my parents made. I’ll have a ballerina. I’ll have a soccer player. I won’t let my kid overuse technology. Won’t it be so fun to have a little you, or a little me?”
How many of us instead pray: “Dear God, please catalyze the life-trials that will better my character and ultimately result in the life you want for me.”? And yet, that is the very reason why we are here.
Maybe David never specifically prayed that either but he was prepared for it… for whatever outcome, if God chose the path. He was prepared to live life in obedient service to God, as a conscientious student of God, with fervent love and ardent faith in Him. We render any outcome a victory if we live in such a way.
David and his men went to Keilah and saved the people. God clinched the victory. When circumstances arise, ask God to chart you through or away from them as He sees fit. To Him be deeply connected; together you will actively love thereby save so many, while He actively loves and saves you, if you consistently ask for and follow, trust God's counsel.