Different Situations

And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, “Behold, your servant has obeyed you. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.” He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it, and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. –I Samuel 28:21-28

Without God Saul has only the old witch to comfort him, and that comfort comes alone through the satisfaction of his primal needs – food. Saul is going to his death and the only strength he is afforded is nourishment for the body. His stomach will be filled, but his soul will remain empty. Food alone carries him forward.

The author of I Samuel ordered his account of the events to contrast David and Saul. Both are in dire situations. If you remember, as Saul was facing the Philistines at Gilboa, David was facing the prospect of losing the throne by fighting with the Philistines against Israel. While David’s trial probably took place before Saul’s, in the time leading up to the Philistine invasion, we are meant to see the difference between these men and their predicaments.

While David is hard-pressed, he is not without hope. We do not see him fall to the ground in despair. In some ways we should expect him to so do, for, to the eye, he has not behaved any better than has Saul. He has sought refuge from a foreign king, rather than in God. Saul is at least doing what the king of Israel should do – fighting his countries invaders.

The difference between these two men is of course God. David has made a mistake, but his mistake is a mistake in judgment, not willful rebellion from God. While David erred in going to Achish, we have every reason to believe he continued steadfast in prayer and devotion to God while he was in the service of the foreign king. David sinned, but his was not a sin unto death. God was with him even in Philistia, meaning David had every hope that he would be delivered, even from his own poor judgment.

We make mistakes, but God is faithful to us. Where we err, we may expect grace. God will only turn from us when we turn from him, and even then only after giving us opportunities to return. We are to be wise and seek to have our lives guided by God and his Word, but where we have made mistakes we should not think that we will be treated as Saul. Poor judgment is not blasphemy, and where we recognize our mistakes we have every reason to hope and expect that God will make them right. He is faithful to us, and where he has begun the work of redemption, nothing we can do can stop it.