Author: Pastor Mike

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 106

But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David inquired of the LORD once more. And the LORD answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

 1 Samuel 23:3-4

It’s amazing what a little repentance can do for a soul.  Once David renews his trust in God, his passion, perspective and purpose returned.  It lives in Him to be king by first acting as a king.  Just because we leave fear doesn’t mean fear leaves us.  There is fear all around us.  The opposite of love is fear, and it’s our enemy’s greatest weapon.  The best way to deal with fear is to go to the Father.  Get His perspective and plans for the situation.  With His perspective,e we lead through the fear, over the fear, during fear for the glory of God.  Don’t accept fear, admit it to God.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 105

But the king said, “You will surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family. ”
¹⁷ Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.”

1 Samuel 22:16-17

It’s important to understand the power of a lie.  Proverbs says, “A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin. (Proverbs 26:28) When we lie, we expose those around us to harm and death.  Believing something that’s not true puts them in a dangerous way.  We lie when we become proud in our own hearts and more confident in our own ways.  That’s pride. Even life itself becomes perverted through lies, perverting our understanding as well as our perception.  Proverbs 12:2 says, “The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 104

But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. ²¹ And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD. ²² And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. ²³ Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

 1 Samuel 22:20-23

A principle in the Bible says we will reap what we sow.  In fact, this principle is woven into creation.  Sin costs more, reaches further, and lasts longer than we ever think.  The past doesn’t become the past until we repent.  Now we can live under or over the past, it’s our decision.  Here’s a couple of things David did to live over his past:  He confessed not only what he did but what he thought, and then he took responsibility for what he had caused and cared for those he hurt.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 103

And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.”

1 Samuel 22:3

True repentance is revealed in trust.  David became a man of trust and a man who could be trusted.  There’s a change that follows repentance; it’s no longer all about me but about us.  We can live that way when we trust God.  It’s His love and loyalty that motivates our thoughts and actions.  It’s this loving, trusting relationship with God that changes everything.  You’ll need it because repentance doesn’t remove your past, it redeems it.  The fruit of rebellion will float back to the surface in the following verses, but David won’t let it interfere with what God is doing in his life.  Let your belief in God guide your behavior for God.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 102

And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

 1 Samuel 22:2

When we make changes in our lives for the good, we will find others who want to leave the bad.  Look at the people who come to David: those in distress, debt, and discontent.  We weren’t made for any of this or these things.  Our discontent gives us the idea that something more is at work in our hearts.  Like a magnet, those who surrender to God and His will pull others toward them or push the offended away.  God makes dead people alive and bad actors good.  The cave of Adullam becomes a picture of what the church would be.  Big things happen when we rest our lives in His big hands.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 101

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.

 1 Samuel 22:1

Sometimes you have to leave where you live, especially if the life you’ve built isn’t true.  David left Gath, but he didn’t just leave Gath; he left the life he brought to Gath.  When we get tired of being fools, we can start being free.  Now those who loved David could come close to him.  It’s hard to come close to someone who won’t come clean.    But when you choose to live loved and free, not only will those who love you come close, but those who need love will come too.  Just think, David could have missed it all if he had stayed grounded in Gath with no life, no leadership, and no liberty to live the life God had for him.  Leave Gath!

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 100

Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? ¹⁵ Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

1 Samuel 21:14-15

The man here is David.  King Achish never uses his name and has no respect for his deeds.  Maybe the last step into insignificance is isolation.  Not only does David mean nothing to King Achish, but the king also doesn’t want David in his home.  This is what David wants, really, but it gives us a picture of what really happens when we run in fear rather than march in faith.  This is all about to change when David decides to leave Gath, and that’s what must happen; we must want to leave a life of fear and foolishness.  There’s a way out; we must choose it. 

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 99

David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

1 Samuel 21:12-13 It does not take long to fall from dignity to disgrace.  We fall faster than we rise. Once David victoriously carried the head of Goliath of Gath, and now, he feared for his own head before the king of Gath.  Times change, but that is not the problem; we change from purity to pretending.  We start worrying about our own skin, listening to our own thoughts, and trying to fit in rather than stand out.  Deception is the key and the motive of someone running scared.  Listen and learn.  We quit on God, but God doesn’t quit on us.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 98

That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

1 Samuel 21:10-11

You’ll end up in strange places when you decide to run in fear.  One of the great joys of maturity and freedom is the ability to be who you want to be, do what you want to do, and go where you want to go.   The enemy uses the events of life to scare us and steal from us all those freedoms.  What changed?  David had lost his confidence in his relationship with God.  Be careful, titles and testimonies of victory can distract your focus from the truth.  The next thing is that we have to forget whose we are and who we are to fit in with what we are not.  In Christ, we don’t have to live this way.

The Kitchen Table Devotional

David Day 97

David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”  ⁹ The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”  David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

 1 Samuel 21:8-9

Losing a relationship can ruin your day, but don’t let it ruin your life.  Things happen and life changes; you can’t let loss lead your life.  The real motive for this little visit finally surfaces.  It was a relic from David’s past, the sword of Goliath.  Loss seems to have robbed him of his love and light-hearted attitude to life.  Loneliness can be scary.  Who do you turn to and who do you trust?  Had David forgotten how God delivered him from the lion and the bear?  It’s fatal to fall prey to our feelings and abandon our faith.