During my time in college, I had the opportunity to sing an opera, in Italian no less, that was based on the book called "The Pilgrim's Progress." While I can't remember a great deal about the opera, what I do know is that is sparked an interest in me to read the book and it was a life changing book to read, one that I still hold dear to my heart.
It is a 387 year old literary classic. It is an allegory of what we experience in the Christian life. Although John Bunyan was uneducated, his writing is now translated into over 100 different languages and read the world over. Not too shabby for a uneducated, son of a tinker and someone that suffered imprisonment for preaching the gospel without a license. Through his writing he was able to show us how to handle the cloudiest of days and the darkest of nights that we will each experience in our lives.
During one particularly memorable part of the story we find Christian leaving from the City of Destruction and headed to the Celestial City. Along the way he falls head long into a swamp. This particular swamp was a deep, miry, and muddy hole in the ground called the Slough of Despond. While Christian is struggling to survive, his companion, Pliable, a disloyal sort of person, finds a way out and leaves Christian alone. I can imagine the cries for help that he must have sent up. But as he gropes in the darkness, his hands met the strong arms of Help, the Holy Spirit, who pulls him up out of the deep mud and sets his feet on solid ground.
“Then David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand." So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. Then David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.” 1st Samuel 27:1-7 ESV
In the passage that I have referenced above, we find David hiding in what amounted to no more than a muddy hole in the ground. There was nothing wrong with how he got there. David's problems started when he started to look for his own way out of it.
While there is nothing wrong with having feelings of despair. It is when we seek refuge in an enemy camp that we see disobedience take root in our lives. That is exactly what David did. We find David coming down from the highest of highs that he experienced in his early life. He had twice had the chance to take Saul out and stop running but he hadn't. He was feeling righteous and like a winner thus giving sway to a vulnerability he didn't intend on, the seductive voice of self. The first verse in Chapter 27 say it all, "Then David said in his heart." I have found in my own life that when I start to speak to myself it is imperative that I say the right things. David was speaking to himself while God was trying to speak to him as well but David thought his wisdom and solution to be the wiser.
It is when I grab the paint brush out of God's hands that things start to run off the tracks. When your back is against the wall, when you are tired of being good, and when temptation is at its highest level, it is easy for us to ignore the pokes and prods of the Holy Spirit. It is arrogant rationalization combined with weakened resolve. That is exactly where David was. I mean, how else can you explain David running to hide in the camp of the enemy. Have you ever thought this to yourself, "So what if it's wrong, I am not hurting anyone but myself." David had the same exact thought and he took 600 men along with him. Proof that our thoughts and desires all have consequences, not only on us but those closest to us.
While it is true that disobedience brings conviction and remorse in the life of a Christian, it also fools us with a feeling of exhilaration. Imagine the sigh of relief when David found out that Saul had stopped hunting him. Sin has its pleasures but they are all passing and fleeting in our life. David felt like he was safe hiding among the Philistines but destruction was hiding just around the corner. And our lives are no different. That feeling when you are sneaking a drink behind your parents backs. The feeling of that illicit relationship that started with simple flirting now has gone towards full blown sin. It is these things that may seem innocent enough in our minds that corrupt our hearts. They start with us acting one way on the outside but belonging to someone else of the inside. It leads to lies and double standards and ultimately a changed way of life. It is in these times when we believe we are starting out of the swamp we are actually headed 4 steps further into the darkness.
The swamp that Bunyan described was a prison cell but he was able to turn it into an example of hope for us all. David's run for the enemy camp was an exhausting chorus of failure and compromise but eventually he finally learned the same thing John Bunyan knew: Cloudy days and dark nights call for right thinking and new focus. Every single Christian will experience this at some point in their lives. Times will come when we are beyond tired and our friends will scatter to the winds but if we will remember our Helper, the Holy Spirit, is never very far away.
It is a 387 year old literary classic. It is an allegory of what we experience in the Christian life. Although John Bunyan was uneducated, his writing is now translated into over 100 different languages and read the world over. Not too shabby for a uneducated, son of a tinker and someone that suffered imprisonment for preaching the gospel without a license. Through his writing he was able to show us how to handle the cloudiest of days and the darkest of nights that we will each experience in our lives.
During one particularly memorable part of the story we find Christian leaving from the City of Destruction and headed to the Celestial City. Along the way he falls head long into a swamp. This particular swamp was a deep, miry, and muddy hole in the ground called the Slough of Despond. While Christian is struggling to survive, his companion, Pliable, a disloyal sort of person, finds a way out and leaves Christian alone. I can imagine the cries for help that he must have sent up. But as he gropes in the darkness, his hands met the strong arms of Help, the Holy Spirit, who pulls him up out of the deep mud and sets his feet on solid ground.
“Then David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand." So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow. And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. Then David said to Achish, "If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.” 1st Samuel 27:1-7 ESV
In the passage that I have referenced above, we find David hiding in what amounted to no more than a muddy hole in the ground. There was nothing wrong with how he got there. David's problems started when he started to look for his own way out of it.
While there is nothing wrong with having feelings of despair. It is when we seek refuge in an enemy camp that we see disobedience take root in our lives. That is exactly what David did. We find David coming down from the highest of highs that he experienced in his early life. He had twice had the chance to take Saul out and stop running but he hadn't. He was feeling righteous and like a winner thus giving sway to a vulnerability he didn't intend on, the seductive voice of self. The first verse in Chapter 27 say it all, "Then David said in his heart." I have found in my own life that when I start to speak to myself it is imperative that I say the right things. David was speaking to himself while God was trying to speak to him as well but David thought his wisdom and solution to be the wiser.
It is when I grab the paint brush out of God's hands that things start to run off the tracks. When your back is against the wall, when you are tired of being good, and when temptation is at its highest level, it is easy for us to ignore the pokes and prods of the Holy Spirit. It is arrogant rationalization combined with weakened resolve. That is exactly where David was. I mean, how else can you explain David running to hide in the camp of the enemy. Have you ever thought this to yourself, "So what if it's wrong, I am not hurting anyone but myself." David had the same exact thought and he took 600 men along with him. Proof that our thoughts and desires all have consequences, not only on us but those closest to us.
While it is true that disobedience brings conviction and remorse in the life of a Christian, it also fools us with a feeling of exhilaration. Imagine the sigh of relief when David found out that Saul had stopped hunting him. Sin has its pleasures but they are all passing and fleeting in our life. David felt like he was safe hiding among the Philistines but destruction was hiding just around the corner. And our lives are no different. That feeling when you are sneaking a drink behind your parents backs. The feeling of that illicit relationship that started with simple flirting now has gone towards full blown sin. It is these things that may seem innocent enough in our minds that corrupt our hearts. They start with us acting one way on the outside but belonging to someone else of the inside. It leads to lies and double standards and ultimately a changed way of life. It is in these times when we believe we are starting out of the swamp we are actually headed 4 steps further into the darkness.
The swamp that Bunyan described was a prison cell but he was able to turn it into an example of hope for us all. David's run for the enemy camp was an exhausting chorus of failure and compromise but eventually he finally learned the same thing John Bunyan knew: Cloudy days and dark nights call for right thinking and new focus. Every single Christian will experience this at some point in their lives. Times will come when we are beyond tired and our friends will scatter to the winds but if we will remember our Helper, the Holy Spirit, is never very far away.
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