Hard Lessons

 Live among the Philistines long enough, and you’ll start acting like a Philistine. Although you may not notice your transformation, those around you will, and as you become more like them, they will praise you and consider you one of their own.

Before you start beating your chest, insisting that it would never happen to you, remember that it happened to men such as David, who likely also thought he was beyond the enemy’s ability to slither into his heart and upturn his virtues.

One thing I respect about the Bible is that it does not attempt to whitewash or sugarcoat men’s actions. It does not try to portray men as flawless, infallible, or incapable of making mistakes. After the confab with his own heart and his subsequent flight to live with the Philistines, David’s character began to darken, and whether he admitted it to himself or not, he was a changed man.

Even though he was ill at ease among the Philistines and asked Achish for a place of his own, David began doing things that the king of Gath approved of as long as he thought David was doing them against his own people.

When the devil approves of your conduct, speech, or position on a given topic, you know you have a problem. When the enemy is beside himself with glee, thinking that you are attacking God’s people, you can claim to be of the household of faith until you’re blue in the face; you’re not.  

For the slow kids on the short bus, calling out sin in church leadership is not attacking God’s people. Calling those defending the unborn unloving and heretical is attacking God’s people. See the difference?

You have scores of men and women calling themselves pastors, bishops, and spiritual leaders defending godlessness in all its many forms while actively denouncing those who would stand on the Word of God. The names they throw out are as colorful as the rainbow stoles they wear, from ignorant to vile, to hateful to unloving, to barbaric, to you name it, and the godless cheer them on because while they may claim to be servants of God, they are doing the devil’s bidding.

If you spend all your time in the sewer, you won’t smell like roses. You may no longer notice the smell, but others will, and if they, too, call the sewer their second home, they’ll recognize the scent. I’m trying to be nice, but the level of lunacy passing for sound doctrine today is making it difficult.

Again, the Master sent his servant to the highways and hedges to compel them to come into the Master’s house. He didn’t send the servant to pitch a tent next to those he was attempting to draw into the Master’s house and become like them. You go where the lost are, but don’t become lost during the process. The one guy who showed up thinking he was getting a free lunch got tied up hand and foot and thrown into the outer darkness.

It’s not works salvation, it’s not legalism, it’s what the Word of God tells you that you must do.

1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.”’

David had gotten so good at being a Philistine that the king of Gath even went so far as to say he would make David one of his chief guardians. If all David had been is a sheepherder who didn’t know any better, it would have been a flattering position. However, David had already been chosen as the next king of Israel, and he knew it.

1 Samuel 28:1-2, “Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, “You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.” So David said to Achish, “Surely you know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians forever.”’

Achish thought he was being magnanimous when he said he would make David one of his chief guardians. He was also being deluded, as all power-mad fools are, because he threw the word forever in there, as though it was a foregone conclusion that he would reign for millennia.

Whatever thing the devil offers you will always pale in comparison to what God has already done on your behalf. Even if his offer seems generous, it’s not; it’s only made to look that way because he hopes you’ll take him up on his offer in a momentary lapse of judgment.

Even if he offers to make you his chief guardian, you’d still always be a tool to be used and abused, an employee, and an underling. The devil will use you until there’s nothing left, then discard you as though you were nothing more than belly button lint. The moment you step out of line or disagree with the evermore deranged narrative of hedonism and debauchery, he will cut you off and sic his minions on you.

 God’s standing offer is to make you a son; His standing offer is to make you a daughter; not someone who has to scrape and bow for fear of their master growing angry, frustrated, or disillusioned, but one who is in a position to call God Abba.

Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My hoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.