Gospel Reflections #1012: Our Hardships and Failures are not the end Result of our Faith

1 Samuel 27:8 ‘David and his men would go up and raid the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites, who had long been the inhabitants of the region from Shur to the land of Egypt.’

This passage describes the scene in which David, having fled from King Saul and taken refuge in the land of the Philistines, launched a military campaign against these foreign peoples.

The Geshurites, Girzites and Amalekites whom David attacked were Israel’s sworn enemies and tribes against whom God had once commanded ‘utter destruction’.

The Amalekites, in particular, were a people who had afflicted Israel since the time of the Exodus.

Although David was under the command of Achish, King of the Philistines, it is thought that he was in fact striking down Israel’s enemies and indirectly carrying out God’s command.

During this period, David had placed himself under the authority of Achish, King of Gath in Philistia, in order to escape King Saul’s pursuit.

Some view this as a wavering of faith, David led a double life: maintaining his loyalty to Israel whilst feigning service to the Philistines by making false reports to Achish that he had ‘raided the Negev (southern region) of Israel’.

Although David found himself in a difficult situation, perhaps because he had not forgotten God’s promise that he would one day become king of Israel, he seemed to feel a responsibility to fulfil the mission that Saul had failed to accomplish; in this way, he may have sought to become a figure who would win the loyalty of his own people.

 During the raid, David carried out a thorough attack to destroy all evidence, ensuring that Achish would not discover the true nature of his actions—that he was not fighting on the side of the Philistines, but was in fact striking down Israel’s enemies. This demonstrates David’s human frailty and his survival strategy under extreme circumstances. 

Chapter 27 as a whole, including this passage, is often interpreted as one of the ‘dark periods’ in the life of David, a man of faith, during which he fled to Philistine territory on his own initiative without consulting God. 

I believe we all inevitably experience such dark periods in our faith.

God knows exactly that we will remember Him and seek Him.

Let us remember that the hardships and failures we face are not the end result of our faith, but merely waypoints where we can make corrections as many times as necessary, and let us continue to respond to God’s call without giving up.

AUTHOR'S BIO: This Gospel Reflections page is written by Masae San, who resides in Hiroshima, Japan. Masae is a dedicated student of the Bible with a deep passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She shares her daily reflections on Gospel perspectives to reach out to others and spread the message of God's true love through a Christ-centered approach. We are sharing her insights here so that you, too, can experience the joy that comes from knowing and understanding the true Gospel and the love of God through Jesus Christ.