Life presents problems.
David is on the run from King Saul and has been working for a Philistine leader named Achish. David has been a faithful soldier for Achish, providing Achish safety from local enemies with his band of warriors.
But now there is a problem. A big problem.
The entire Philistine army has assembled to go to war against Israel. David is marching with the Philistines to go to war, but David is supposed to be the future King of Israel. How can David fight against his own people? How can he claim to be the next king if he goes to war against Israel?
David has a dilemma.
David has no plan. He has no way out of this problem.
Fortunately, the God of Israel mercifully steps into the situation. God mercifully removes David from the Philistine army safely by using the Philistine military leaders. They notice David and his Hebrew warriors marching with their men and they immediately tell Achish that David and his men cannot be trusted - they have to be sent home.
God used the military leaders to graciously give David a way out of his situation. When David was confronted with a problem he could not solve, God provided the answer. God acted and preserved David, keeping him from fighting his own people.
Interestingly, as you read 1 Samuel 29, David is a man who demonstrates faith in God. He knows God will fulfill his promise to him. He knows that God will protect him. Yet, David still finds himself facing trials and tests from the Lord.
Similarly, Christians who are following the Triune God today will face trials and tests from the Lord. God will test your faith in him.
God promises you eternal safety and protection; but he does not promise to keep you from pain and problems.
Rather, God promises that he will be with you in the midst of pain and problems. He promises that all the opposition you face in life will be used to strengthen your confidence in him, weaken your reliance on the idols in your life, and promote his glory in your life.
1 Samuel 29 provides a timely reminder to you that God does not promise a pain-free, carefree life. Much of American Christianity peddles a message of 'moralistic, therapeutic, deism' instead of Biblical Christianity. Moralism instead of grace, therapy instead of truth, and deism instead of a Trinitarian theology of the cross.
If you are following Jesus Christ you need to be reminded that God does not promise you will avoid storms in your life. No, God promises that he will be with you in the midst of the storms of life. As the 17th century Puritan writer Richard Sibbes wrote, God will be your rock, your castle, and your shield during the trials of life.
David was a man of faith, but faced a test of that faith in 1 Samuel 29. If you are following God your faith will be tested, but God will be faithful to you. He will protect, provide, and guide you as you place your confidence in him.