1 Sam 27:1, Then David said to himself, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand." 
	We are presented with one of those examples in scripture in which a decision was made based on a most limited human understanding of a hopeless situation. It was not necessarily a wrong thing for David to seek some respite from the constant threat of death from Saul. He and his men had been running away and hiding in the wilderness regions almost getting caught several times by the army of Saul. They had been relentlessly vigilant and always living with the imminent reality that they could be discovered at any time. 
This insidious peril had its normal and natural effect on David, weighing him down in his mind and his heart and his spirit. It finally got to the place that he decided it would be better to live among the enemies of his people in order to find some release from the continuous menace he faced by remaining in Israel. 
	Whether this was simply David’s way of trying to gain some relief, or whether the Lord told him to do this would be speculation at this point. We do not know for sure what the pressures were that forced this decision in terms of the guidance of the Lord or the running away because of human frailty and fear. 
Whatever the root cause, David soon found himself in the midst of attacking those peoples who were the friends of the Philistines. He had to wipe out entire communities to hide his actions from the King of Gath, his host. He was also caught up in the lies and cover-up of those raids upon the enemies of Israel.
	There was another possible result of this going to the Philistines for safety from Saul. David’s men, most likely, used this time to learn the manner of metal working that gave the Philistines such power in the region. The Philistines were the ones who worked with metal, making weapons and shields and armor. The Israelites were purposefully kept from this skill by the Philistines. The Israeli farmers had to bring their knives and farming implements to the Philistine communities to be sharpened. This was intended to prevent the Hebrews from gaining access to the technology of the day that would allow the Israelites greater power in battle. 
As a result of David and his men receiving the city of Ziklag, many historians believe that some of the men became skilled in working with the metal-smiths of that community. This was most likely the means by which Israel, under the kingship of David, developed the metal working skills and thus did become the most powerful and well-armed nation in that region of the world. Israel was able to dominate all their enemies for the period of time from David’s reign through Solomon’s reign. We know that it was the Lord Who allowed this to take place as the skills required for such ability to work with the metals of the day most probably were secured during David’s time of living with the Philistines and under their protection.
This was but a brief detailing of some of the result of David fleeing to the Philistines to escape the incessant assault of Saul. Whether through fear or just seeking some solace for a period of time, the results were formed by the plan of God being carried out in this man. He could not forsake his heart after the Lord and his love for his own people. David, as was evident, did not shy away from brutalizing the enemies of Israel, even when in the midst of those very enemies. 
At the same time, we recognize that because of his violence in action, his hands were stained with blood ultimately denying him the opportunity to build the Temple of The Lord. This was his greatest desire for the praise and the adoration of God. However Jehovah would not allow this man of war to be the one to build and dedicate the place of honor for the Lord God Almighty. This was because of the violence that David had committed. His blood soaked hands would prevent him from being the one to construct the Temple, The Lord’s dwelling place among His people. 
At the core of this morning’s passage is that trace of human hopelessness and effort to make things better through our own ideas of what we should do. There is that which wells up in all of us whereby we need to learn to simply trust and obey the Lord. David was in a state of furious anxiety over the manner in which Saul was relentlessly hunting him and his men down. He gave into the thoughts of his mind that there was some escape possible by going to the Philistines, which he did for a season. 
It is that same aspect with which we each deal when we have those so trying times which cause us to toss and turn and debate in our minds the course of this way or that way or no way at all. We wrestle with decisions and causes and effects and the consequences of the actions we might take or might not take or what would happen if we did nothing at all. It is a bubbling, boiling caldron of doubt and indecision and rumination upon what could happen which further clouds our minds and darkens the paths of our imaginations of dread and disaster.
We are brought back to the Children of Israel as they were caught between the Red Sea and the chariots of Pharaoh, as recorded in Ex 14:12-14. They were absolutely trapped and saw no way of escape. They were facing absolute obliteration because they had followed God and Moses and left the place of their perceived safety in being the slaves of Egypt. In their best understanding of what was facing them, they cried out against Moses and blamed him for bringing them into the desert to die at the hands of Pharaoh’s army.
Ex 14:12-14, "Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." 
	They were panicked because their human eyes and minds could only see disaster on the horizon. They lacked the faith and the trust and the obedient heart that would see them through as they allowed the Lord to do that which only God can do in His perfect plan and purpose. 
Moses knew that all was not lost. He had been learning just how wonderfully powerful and awesome God was in the manner of His dealing with His people. The 10 plagues that devastated Egypt were not lost on this prophet of the Lord who knew that God did not bring His people out into the desert to be slaughtered. The people had to learn to simply be still and trust as the hand of God in full operation showed forth His glory and His might and His deliverance and His salvation.
	This was a lesson that the first generation of Israel did not fully take to heart. Throughout their wanderings in the wilderness, they failed to learn the truth that God was the One Who was fighting their battles and making every perfect provision for them. They constantly wanted to just return to what their deceived minds considered to be the land of their safety and well-being, Egypt, whenever the going became difficult. 
As recorded in Num 14:3+4, they were willing to turn away from the plan of God and just slink back into the slavery of Egypt from which they had been so victoriously released. The entire plan of the salvation of humanity was at stake each time they decided that the guidance of the Lord was not sufficient to meet the needs of their imaged fears and doubts and anxieties.	
Num 14:3+4, "And why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt." 
	Here they were, on the banks of the Jordan River, after all the miracles that the Lord had shown them through their trek to the Promised Land. They were faltering, turning away from entry into the land that was to be theirs. They were afraid of the reports of the giants in the land and the numbers of the peoples who had to be dispossessed. 
Once again, in their faithlessness, they were turning away from their trust and their obedience to God and giving into the irrational fears of their imaginations. They had been witness to daily deliverances by the Lord, and yet they could not bring themselves to trust and obey. 
On the very cusp of entry into the land flowing with milk and honey and every good thing in abundance, they were choosing to go back to their meager portions in Egypt. They would willingly put themselves under the bondage of the slavery to those who had been their tormentors and the killers of their male babies. This is what their human psyche proposed as the best course of action for them at this point of decision. Oh how deceived we are when we do not simply trust and obey!
This was something that Moses knew and that Joshua knew as he was the one who would later lead the children of that eventually deceased first generation into the Promised Land. He, along with Caleb had been the two remainders of that first generation who had encouraged the trust in the Lord. These two knew that God would go before them to conquer and to bring them into all that was their heritage in Jehovah. This is detailed in verses 6-9 of Numbers Chapter 14.
Num 14:6-9, And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, "The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it to us —  a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they shall be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them." 
But the people would not listen. They were too far gone into the depths of their imagined annihilation by the hordes and the giants of the land. They were even to the point of trying to stone Joshua and Caleb for telling them to trust the Lord rather than to trust in their imagined fallacies and visions of disaster. Therefore the Lord refused to let that generation enter the land. He instead led them through the wilderness for forty years, around the mountain until there remained only Joshua and Caleb to enter in and enjoy the fruits of their trust in Jehovah.
This then brings us back to David as he would later give God the glory and the praise and the credit for saving him from the hands of his enemies and from the hands of Saul. Despite running to the Philistines, David realized that his ultimate security and salvation was not from the manner of his own hands. Everything surrounding him was in terms of how God had intervened and made known His Saving hand in power and grace and mercy.
Consider what David would later declare as to the wondrous work of the Lord in his life. He fully gave God the glory for keeping him safe from the deadly hands of Saul and of all those who sought to destroy him. 
It was not by David’s hand or by his cunning or by his ideas of how to escape. It was all the work and the grace and the mercy of Jehovah under Whose protection David was kept from death and destruction. Please turn to 2 Sam 22:1-7, as we will rejoice in this truth of the One Who protects and keeps everyone of us.
2 Sam 22:1-7, And David spoke the words of this song to the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, Thou dost save me from violence. "I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; And I am saved from my enemies. "For the waves of death encompassed me; The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me; The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. "In my distress I called upon the Lord, Yes, I cried to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears. 
	David describes that inner battle of our minds as we try to figure out the manner which will relieve us from the anguish and the peril and the disaster of our imagined and real plights. Where the mind of humanity is utterly incapable of any true assistance in the midst of the strife, the Hand of God rules and overrules among His beloved! He is to be praised and adored and glorified for the manner of His salvation of those who will respond and trust and obey. 
	We will continue with this passage, Lord willing, the next time we are together. In the meantime, we need to ask God to work in us that trust which will wait for Him and watch expectantly in obedient reverence to see the Hand of God work for His glory in our lives. So be it.
"I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; And I am saved from my enemies. "For the waves of death encompassed me; The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me; The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. "In my distress I called upon the Lord, Yes, I cried to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Eph 4:32. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Amen.