MAY 20 "ARE YOU BI-POLAR?"

       I just finished remarking in my mind, about how spiritual and in tune David is with God until I begin to read the next paragraph and then I'm forced to take it back. One thing that cannot be overemphasized about David is how truly righteous he is and what an awesome man of God he is.  That being said, he, like us, seems to flip flop back n forth between two opinions. In this paragraph he is on a roll, ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless? ¹⁰ As surely as the LORD lives,” he said, “the LORD himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish."  David is right on the money here, not just on his convictions but also on his hunch about Saul's future. Saul will perish in battle, by the hand of the Lord. His convictions are right on, he's premonitions are right on, He's right on, he's in tune with God until...the next paragraph.... ¹ But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines.  David himself just said that he doesn't have to lay a hand on Saul, that God would take care of Saul and now already he has flip flopped on that and is planning to flee, to the land of the Philistines (of all places) to save his life from Saul. First God is going to take care of him and Saul and now David is going to have to take care of himself. From great faith and confidence, to fear and instability all in the course of a few verses. It is so evident here because the scriptures are so close to each other it's easy for us to see the contradictions and David's faith and convictions.  He flip flops as you and I do.  We are stirred when we see and hear of our spouses, brethren and friends speaking great faith but we are just as quickly irritated when we see them, the next day, flip flop and not carry out any of the convictions and faith they spoke of the day, week or month before. It's one thing to flip flop in our minds, but it's another thing to actually give in to it.  David actually does go to the land of the Philistines. No only does he flip flop in his mind, but he doesn't counter it with faith, he gives in to it and changes his course.  Jesus told Peter, "pray, because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" our flesh will always challenge us (sometimes the very next morning) the moment we want to step out in faith. Common reason and rational thinking will always snuff out faith, if we let it. We cannot try to intermingle faith and pragmatism, they are diametrically opposed to one another.  The moment God stirs you to faith and you say, "now let us sit down and think about this and use reason" that is the moment you are done. We cannot try to justify, with reason, to our families, co-workers, principals and employers, why we do what we do for God. There is no reason, practically speaking, there is no "explaining". In the natural sense, it is ludicrous. This is why Paul says, "when the Lord spoke to me, I did not confer with flesh and blood" in other words Paul says, "this is a spiritual thing" and if I try to confer with human beings about this, they will not concur with me and may very well talk me out of this. I am going to have to separate what is natural from what is spiritual. If I know that it is God than there is nothing to confer or discuss, if we are not sure, than there is plenty to confer and discuss, especially with headship and those that are mature in the faith (in the multitude of counselors there is safety).  Are you flip flopping in your faith? Is it because you are not sure or is it because you are letting your flesh and natural reason get the best of you?  Pray that you have the spiritual strength to follow through on what God stirs you to do for him in Faith and don't allow common sense and reason to get the best of you. Don't be a FLIP FLOPPER.