1 Samuel 27:1 (NIV) 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. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

David had been running from Saul for a long time. He spent a lot of time in the wilderness and hiding in caves from King Saul. He had quite a few close calls, but the Lord always delivered him from King Saul’s hand. Once when he was hiding in his stronghold outside of Judah, the Prophet Gad counseled him to leave his stronghold and head back to Judah, which was Saul’s stronghold. The Lord wanted David to know that it was He who would protect him from Saul. Twice, David had an opportunity to kill Saul but refused to lift up his hand against “the Lord’s anointed.” David was tracking with God, being delivered left and right from every attempt that Saul made to find him and kill him. But one day he made a bad mistake. His mistake was that he thought to himself.

Thinking to yourself means that you have left God out of the occasion as was the case in this instance with David. He let fear get the better of him and he decided that he and his men were better off in Philistine territory where he knew that King Saul would not dare to venture. King Achish, the king of the Philistines, was more than glad to have Israel’s greatest warrior on his side so he gave him and his men and their families the town of Ziklag to live in. But soon enough, his decision, which was not directed by God, would come back to haunt him. First, King Achish and the Philistine army was planning to go up against Israel. That meant that David and his men would be expected to fight with the enemies of God against their own people. We don’t know what David was thinking, but he and his men geared up to go and fight against the armies of Israel. But God, in His great mercy, turned the Philistine commander’s hearts against David. They did not trust him and that forced King Achish to reluctantly send David and his men back to Ziklag. But then the second shoe dropped. While they were away, the Amalekites had raided and burned down their town. Additionally, they kidnapped all the women and children. David’s men were so hurt and upset that they were planning to kill David. All of this happened because David “thought to himself.” Thankfully, David inquired of the Lord and the Lord delivered the Amalekites into David and his men’s hands. By God’s mercy, not one woman or child had been injured or killed.

David, a man after God’s own heart, made a grave error in thinking and he almost paid a high cost. All other times he had relied on God instead of his own thinking and had been successful in all that he did. The one time that he thought to himself, he almost found himself fighting alongside the enemies of God and almost lost his own family and the families of all his men. Let’s learn an important lesson from David’s mistake: don’t think to yourself, think of yourself or think by yourself. Bring everything to Jesus and ask Him for His guidance so that instead of a disaster, you will have success every time.

Pastor Joey Vazquez