BOLD Daily Devotional- When Fear Takes the Wheel

So today I have um 1 Samuel chapter 27 and um I was able to give it a topic and a subtopic.

1 Samuel 27 · chapter mention

Um this is a very short um chapter.

There's only um there's only like I think 12 verses, no, 11 verses here.

It's not a lot.

So um, and then I was like, okay, God, that's not a lot of information.

Um, I need some some some meat to give the people.

Um, but God was able to give me a few things um to share with you guys in reference to David out of the book of 1 Samuel.

So um my title, my title is going to be What Happens When Fear Takes the Steering Wheel?

I know we hear sometimes the funny thing is Jesus take the wheel.

Um, well, in 1 Samuel chapter 27, um fear took the wheel for David in this particular chapter.

1 Samuel 27 · chapter mention

Um, and then my subtitle is um, I don't know if y'all remember Britney Spears, that song, Oops, I did it again.

No, y'all might not remember it, but either way, this is Oops, I moved in with the Philistine.

So um, we're gonna go with those titles and then we'll talk a little bit about um what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 27.

1 Samuel 27 · chapter mention

So basically in 1 Samuel chapter 27, um we see that David, David has done so many things um through God.

1 Samuel 27 · chapter mention

Like he has conquered Goliath, he has been in a room with Saul on two occasions where he could have taken him out.

Um, but for some reason David is walking and living in fear in um 1 Samuel chapter 27.

1 Samuel 27 · chapter mention

So let me start with verses for uh the verses one through four.

The very first um verse in 1 Samuel chapter 27, verse 1.

1 Samuel 27:1

But David kept thinking to himself, thinking, thinking, the mind, the mind is powerful.

Thinking to himself, someday Saul is going to get me.

The best thing I can do is escape the Philistine, the Philistines, then Saul will stop hunting me in the Israeli territory, and I will uh finally be safe.

First few words of the chapter is but David kept thinking to himself.

And if we talk about the word thinking, the mind is so powerful, the mind can create giants when there is not even a giant there.

And I know um at one point in my life I remember um it was pretty popular acronym of fear, F-E-A-R.

F stands for false, um, E, evidence, A appearing R, real, false evidence appearing real.

So a lot of times when we think about fear, when we talk about fear, when we allow fear to guide us, be our steering wheel, instead of our um acknowledging it and and conquering it, then a lot of times we let it rule our behavior, how we think, and how we do things in life.

So David allows fear to be be his decision.

Um he uh instead of trusting God during this time, um, God had already promised that he would become king.

So David knew in his heart that he was going to be king.

We already know that from previous chapters.

Um again, he had conquered so many things.

He conquered Goliath.

He had been there with Saul on numerous occasions, and we're not even talking about the things, other things that he conquered during this time.

David has seen God's hand be real and transformative, and um, he's seen God be a God of His His promises, and he still allowed the human experience, which is emotion.

We are not exempt from the human experience, which is you know, fear, anger, happiness, those are things that we still experience in this life.

We are created the way God has created us, but he still allowed the human experience to outspeak exactly what he knew God had promised him to do during in this chapter, in this chapter only.

Um, well, in other places too, but specifically in this chapter, um, instead of asking God what to do, David let his fear start talking to him.

He moves to the land of Philistine.

Now, David had he beat them up, like he he really took took them out.

He took them out.

In this chapter, you'll see when he went into various places in the in Philistine, he didn't leave anything behind except for like no person.

He didn't leave any children, he didn't leave any wives, he didn't leave any men, he took them all out.

And the reason why he did this, which is also in the chapter, is because he didn't want any of anybody to go back and inform on him.

Like one of them could go back and say, you know, this is what David and Israelites are doing, they're doing this, that, and the other.

So he makes sure that ever nobody can go back and say anything about anything.

So he took them all out except for their um cattle and and some of their belongings.

So he was very meticulous as a smart man.

He was a very smart man, but then you know, you can be the most intelligent person in the world.

But then when fear enters in, you you're not so smart, basically.

Um fear can make you forget what God has already done.

And I've already talked about how David has already conquered so many things.

It's amazing how quickly our minds can go from God has always taken care of me, um, to this time I'm on my own without him.

God has never left David, he's never forsaken him.

He might have been a little quiet.

God has never left us.

He might have been a little quiet here and quiet there, but he's never left us.

Um, so in verses five through seven, David asked for his own town.

He went and asked Um Akish, Akish um to give him Ziglag.

And um, David, again, this is one of the places that he went, and these are this is an area where he defeated the people, um, but he wanted his own town.

So he lived over there for about a year and four months, um, and it became his temporary home.

Again, he's on the run.

He's on the run because he's afraid that Saul is going to get him.

So you take a dismake a decision to go to a place where you have beat all the people, you conquered them, you you and and go there and live.

What kind of thinking is that?

Fear is what it was.

That was the kind of thinking it was.

God uh still provided provides for us even when we makes make imperfect decisions.

Because how much sense does it make to go back to a place where you defeated and still live amongst the people of well, the territory in that territory?

You'd already beat them up, and you're still in the territory where you beat them up.

You're you're you're playing with fire, basically, um, kind of sort of, because David knew that God was with him.

And I also wonder with with uh David too, you know, he loved Saul.

And Saul basically, I can imagine how hurt he was with Saul.

So some of the fear may have came from disappointment, hurt, feeling like he was rejected by Saul, which is why maybe he had so much fear.

Plus, he he still respected him.

He respected him because he could have killed him numerous times.

So he still respected him.

So I'm sure that he was like, I don't know what to do with this, you know, like I'm not sure how to deal again in this human experience, even though I'm facing adversity.

This is a man who is a part of my family who's trying to kill me, who should love me, who should be guiding me, who should be directing me, who should be mentoring me.

He's trying to kill me.

So I just don't know what to do with that.

Um, so he took made the decision to run, basically, continue to run when he could have killed him several times.

And I keep saying that over and over again.

Um uh of course, um, it talks about here how the areas that he went to were longtime enemies of um of Israel and and David and his people.

Um let's see what's going on here.

Um this is a very difficult time in David's life.

Um he's living um he David is living in great areas.

He's protecting Israel, he's deceiving King Akelesh, he's deceiving him, um, and he's acting out of survival instead of complete trust in God.

Lord have mercy, survival mode.

I know I've used the word survival mode a lot of times, and that is not God's plan for our life to live in survival mode.

God has given us promises, he's given us um the word, he's given us guidance, and he's proven himself over and over and over again.

And we still talk about being in survival mode.

And David was acting and living in survival mode at the time.

Um, fear definitely clouds our faith a lot of times.

It clouds the the um the decisions that we make in life.

Um, fear convinced him maybe God won't protect me this time.

Um, fear is always making yesterday's miracles seem far away.

God doesn't abandon us when we make mistakes, he is always there.

So even though uh David didn't make the best decision to be um over in Ziglag, God was still there.

He's he was never not with him.

He might have been what seemed to be silent, because if you really tap into God, he's never really silent.

He's always there, he's always there.

We just have to tap in and understand that he's there with us.

Um sometimes we we make situations very complicated.

We make situations really complicated when we don't have to.

Again, when we tap into God, he always meets us where we are.

He might, it might not come in the thunderstorm or the loud, you know, but if you just listen, it's still a small voice, and we've been given things in this life that they weren't given in the Old Testament.

We've been given the Holy Spirit, we've been given self-help books, we've been given the Bible, we've been given all kinds of things in this life.

God is never too far from us.

Um, and let me see.

Um of the takeaways um from uh 1 Samuel chapter 27.

1 Samuel 27 · chapter mention

Again, it's a very short book, is fear can whisper, constantly whisper, and our emotions get involved in those whispers.

Um, and it can take control if we allow it to take control in our lives.

Um faith says God is still in control of everything that we do.

So are you gonna let fear, false evidence appearing real, false evidence appearing real, what you see, what your emotions are saying?

Are you gonna let that override what you know the living God has promised you in your life?

And that is my time.

I will yield.