Without faith we cannot obey God’s Word!
God's work is fascinating. The reason being, Saul, the king, clearly sought to kill David.
Thus, David, fearing Saul, left the town of Nob in the territory of Benjamin
and went to Achish, the king of Gath (1 Samuel 21:1, 10).
From there, he fled to the cave of Adullam (22:1).
Departing from there, he went to Moab's Mizpah
and pleaded with the king of Moab to allow his parents to stay
under the king's protection until he knew what God would do for him (vv. 3-4).
He received permission and sought refuge in the stronghold (v. 4).
One day, through the prophet Gad, God instructed David
to leave the stronghold and go into the land of Judah (v. 5).
The reason this fact is intriguing is that when David followed
the prophet Gad's instruction to enter the land of Judah,
it was akin to inviting Saul, who sought to kill him, to come and capture him.
However, upon hearing that the Philistines were attacking Keilah,
an important city in Judah, and plundering the newly harvested grain,
David asked God, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" (23:1-2).
God responded, "Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah" (vv. 1-2).
When David's men expressed fear about facing the Philistine army
while they were already in Judah, David inquired of the Lord again.
Once more, God assured David, saying, "Go down to Keilah,
for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand" (v. 4).
When I reflect on this passage, I believe that from David's perspective,
obedience to God's word was impossible without faith.
If David had relied on his own understanding (Proverbs 3:5),
he would not have obeyed God's command to go down to Keilah.
This is because there was a high probability that Saul,
who sought to capture and kill him, would have caught him in Keilah.
In reality, when Saul heard that David had gone to Keilah,
he exclaimed, "God has delivered him into my hands,
for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars" (v. 7).
Therefore, Saul mobilized all his forces and planned to go down to Keilah
to besiege David and his men (v. 8).
Despite this situation, David wholeheartedly trusted in God (Proverbs 3:5)
and obeyed God's word by going to Keilah, where he defeated the Philistine army
and saved the people of Keilah (1 Samuel 23:5).
The lesson we learn here is that if we do not trust in God wholeheartedly
and rely on our own understanding, we will never be able to obey God's word.
Furthermore, when we trust in God and obey His word,
people around us, like Saul, who lack faith and rely on their own understanding,
may have futile thoughts about God's guidance
(Saul thought that God had delivered David into his hands)
and wrong convictions (Saul was convinced that David was trapped in Keilah).
When David trusted in God wholeheartedly and obeyed God's word in faith,
his fearful followers, who were initially hesitant, followed him to Keilah
and fought against the Philistine army.
Seeing this, I believe they also fully trusted, relied on,
and followed David, their leader, who trusted in God wholeheartedly.
This teaches us that leaders should follow God in faith,
and those who follow leaders should follow them in faith as well.