Avoiding Being Pressured Into A Bad Decision

I Samuel 27.1

David's situation was serious.
These were tough times in the Kingdom of God. We are facing them today.

He had some very close calls. A few times he shook hands with death.

His thinking was partly correct but it was devoid of a taking into account God's intervention and power. He had temporarily forgotten what God had done. He forgot the Promises of God. We get into trouble in our thinking when we come to that place. We need to be continually immersed in God's Word, His Promises. Those who are stand firm. Those who are not struggle.

The place where he left for was an arch enemy of Israel. He ended up in the enemy's camp! Focusing in on our problems apart from the LORD can do that. It can land us in the worst of places.

David ended being correct on how Saul would respond but the ends does not justify the means.

G. Campbell Morgan wrote, " And who can wonder at, or blame him? Long and weary indeed had been the period of suffering." Yet he was wrong.
Zwi Gafni, "There has been enough blood shed already. Enough. I'm tired of the fighting."

He was going through some depression. The Psalms he wrote during this time:
Psalm 10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
Psalm 13:1-2 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 22:1-2 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

David was anxious, felt his prayers were not getting through, felt God was far away and
was suffering from insomnia. All signs of depression.

There were reasons for David's depression.
Saul was being eaten alive with jealousy of him and was trying to kill him.
The whole army of Israel was under commands of Saul, particularly the elite forces to hunt him down.
There were traitors, like Doeg, ready to betray David into Saul's hands.
A whole town he rescued was going to give him and his men over if he remained.
1 Samuel 23:14 David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.

To avoid making David's mistake we must ask for wisdom, trust in the LORD, be willing to wait for direction from Him, think and ask God to open our eyes.

We can tell when we are being pressured into a bad decision. We have an uneasy feeling in our heart and mind. We can see people who are doing the pressuring being mad at us if we do not choose their way (these folks are generally pretty crafty and also may have deep sin they are struggling with in their own lives). This can especially happen when we are in a transitional place.

When a man is in a false position, no matter how strenuously he may desire to be true to the Divine Purpose, he is inevitably in grave danger of violating some fundamental principle of his loyalty. Here he is with Goliath's people, the ones as a younger man he had fought against.

1. Do Not Lean On Your Understanding.
The China Inland Mission would have been launched if Hudson Taylor would have made it according to money... And that is true of many mission movements.

Trusting the LORD is relatively easy when there is no pressure... Lots of advice come from those who do not understand this... More about that in a moment.

Do not rely on your wit.
Do not try to assess tense situations without God. Proverbs 16.3
Do not make major decisions under pressure.
Do not listen to the crowd.

Remember that when you worn out, afraid and under stress major decisions need to be avoided.

In his heart
1 Samuel 27:1 And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.”
The guarding of our hearts includes bringing everything to God in prayer. David failed to do this. He came up with plan out of fear. It resulted in much anguish, causing him to sin. It brought idolatry back to Israel.

It seems that he forgot temporarily about how the LORD enabled Him to defeat Goliath. Interesting the Philistines didn't forget! Nearly 10 years had passed. We must remember or we will fall into despair.

2. Never Settle For The "Best Thing" When It Is A Bad Thing.
The decision by David had him in enemy territory, wiping out whole towns and worried that the Philistines would find out. He had to lie. He had to make it sound like he was fighting against Israel. He had to wipe out whole towns lest word got back to the Philistines of what he was up to. This resulted in the deaths of innocent women and children.

When we lean on our own understanding we severely limit our options.
Psalm 27.14

As we said there is no record of David praying here.
Where is the ephod? Why not a discussion with the son of Ahimilech?
We cannot back up what he is doing with scripture.

How different from this account a few chapters earlier: I Samuel 23.1-14

I wonder what God's plan would have been.

3. Never Let The Means Justify The Ends In God's Kingdom.

Just because this worked (v.4) does not mean it was right.
Just because churches have large numbers of people coming do not mean God is blessing them.
Just because people have a lot of money does not mean God is blessing them.
Just because we have not had another terrorist attack does not mean God is pleased with America.

4. Look To The LORD. Seek His Face Always.

Pray about everything.
Ask God for wisdom.
Do your Homework. We don't disengage our brains when we follow Christ.
We do trust Him explicitly, even when it does not make sense.
Yet at your Word...
Luke 5:5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Luke 5:5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

Tahgba

John 6:5-7 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
Neither made sense but on both occasions they had the instructions of the LORD Jesus.
Feeding of the 5,000
Letting down of the nets John 21 very similar to Luke 5 in Capernaum...


We are human.
We are subject to sin in our thinking..." The renewal of our minds"
This was part of David having blood on his own hands.(vs. 8-12)
God forgives.
We are to aim for perfection (good reasons for that!)

Let's take the life lessons from David. Let's be on our guard. Let's not be pressured into a bad decision.

Ephesians 5:15-17 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.