Who Gives Up Their Hero?

Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."  Then David said, "O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.  Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant." And the LORD said, "He will come down."  Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will surrender you."  Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit. (1 Samuel 23:9-13 NASB)

 In the account of Saul's pursuit of David, one of the elements I really never understood was the willingness of the people to surrender David to Saul.  This seemed almost infuriating, how could they?  How could they not notice the weak sanity of Saul?  How could they not notice the faith and strength of David?  How could they not see such stark differences between them and choose the obvious choice?

This is a perfect example of my difficulty.  The people of Keilah in Judah are being attacked by Philistines, and it's David who comes to rescue them.  When Saul hears of it, he's elated that David is now shut up in a city where he can be found.  When David inquires of God, God makes it clear that David will be handed over to Saul by the people of Keilah.  How is that even possible?  I looked it over from the Hebrew, and there's no other way to read it.  It's sad.  It's crazy, as crazy as Saul.

So, my assumption is that people should see how bad Saul is and throw their lot in with David.  To get to this point I had to read chapter 22, where Saul tells Doeg the Edomite to kill the priests of Nob, and who then proceeds to initiate the ban on the entire city, men, women, children, infants, and livestock.  Okay, so perhaps it's the smoldering ruin of Nob that gives people the sense of which side is safest, in their best interest, best for their families and livelihood.

And then there's the other element to this story that it was God sending David to Keilah in the first place.  God sends him there knowing the people would be faithless to David.  That just seems so weird.  Why would He do that?  It just seems sometimes in Scripture that God is being just as faithless as the people, doesn't it?  It just doesn't seem fair.  Think of David's men; they didn't want to go to Keilah out of fear, and now, it seems they were right.  How faithful would that make them toward David?  How easy is for him to lead them into battle now?  Well, actually, easier.

David has 400 men when he starts at Addullum in chapter 22, leaving Keilah he now has 600.  I don't know, it doesn't say where these additional 200 came from, but I wonder if it was men of Keilah.  Probably not anywhere near 200, but I bet some were.  I bet the faithfulness and devotion of David for the people of Judah was crystal clear to many.  His willingness to go where God sent regardless of cost, how he always seems to come out on top of difficult situations, that he never wavers in his devotion to God or to the people; it probably made a deep impression. 

These are the qualities with which I struggled in ministry.  When the people were faithless toward me, would I still fight for them?  When God seemed to be leading me into danger on behalf of these faithless people, would I remain obedient to Him?  The thing that led me out of vocational ministry was finally reaching a point where I became convinced that these people couldn't see past me to my Master.  They were so focused on me they couldn't hear anything else.  It was amazing. 

On the other hand, it could have been that I was focused on me; my problems, my pain, my frustration with them.  It could have been that I was not what distracted them, it was this world, their problems, their lack of faith, and their inability to be honest.  All these things probably stemmed from fear, but I didn't stay there long enough to know what lay beneath.

So was I right to remove myself from the equation? Was it the right thing to get out of the way so God could have His voice without my interference?  I don't know.  I suspect that I needed to go, that vocational ministry wasn't my thing, at least not there.  But I don't know.  I see here that the faithfulness of others to him didn't deter David.  I see that He was obedient even when it didn't make sense, and the odds were against him.  I see that David set his heart against the enemies of God and His people, not against those seeking David's life; which is probably the hardest lesson I see here.

And so I learn that I need to stop fighting the wrong battles.  I see that I need to start seeking the real enemy (which seems surreal if you think about it).  I'm beginning to understand that the righteousness of others is not to be my motivation for serving them, or even for continuing to serve them.  It's starting to dawn on me that my Master is less interested in my safety than my usefulness in His Kingdom; against His enemies as opposed to against His faithless people. 

But not all are faithless.  As I suspect some of the 200 came from Keilah, faithful ones who understood the difference between David and Saul; so I suspect I will see my Master work in the lives of others for transformation, just as He works in mine.  Even if their faith is weak, isn't mine?  I can change, but so can they.  My faith can grow, and so can theirs.  Perhaps I will lead others, others discontent with the status quo, the usual, the norm.  But then I should be leading them in the path of faithfulness of my pursuit of my Master, shouldn't I?  Well, time to whip out the machete and get to 'trail-busting'; leaving a swath for others to follow in pursuit of my Master's work.  Perhaps I should sharpen it first?