Swimming Against the Tide

Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 23:3-4, But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

What David experienced in that moment is what many of us have experienced, are experiencing, or will experience at some point in our walk with the Lord. How do I know? Well, I know because if we are truly obeying the Lord’s leading, then a time will come when others will either call us crazy, or vehemently disagree with our approach to a situation because it will not line up with their way of thinking or the world’s way of doing things. Because of this, we will often find ourselves “swimming against the tide”. The truth of the matter is that what God calls us to do does not always line up with our version of “logical thinking”. The solution that David chose, which is the same one we should always choose is defined for us in Proverbs 3:5-8, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” When God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, I am sure it did not make sense to anyone he may have told. Yet, he obeyed God and received the greater reward (Genesis 22). When God called Gideon to fight against the enemies of Israel with only 300 men, I’m sure that did not make sense to any of those men (Judges 7). Yet, God led them to a great victory that brought Him much glory. The bottom line today is that when we set out to faithfully follow the LORD, we will definitely have times in our walk when we will have to choose to either obey God or obey men. As much as this becomes a struggle for some of us, the truth is that having to choose one or the other should really be a “no brainer”. One of the best examples we have of this is in Acts 5. After the Apostles were put in prison for preaching in the Name of Jesus, they were miraculously freed from prison by the Lord and they returned to preaching. They were later approached by the guards and brought back to trial for the same offense and questioned. When asked in verse 28, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this Name?” Peter and the Apostle responded in verse 29, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” This resulted in a plot to have them killed. Yet, they stood their ground and continued to do what they were called to do by the LORD. When David chose to go ahead to Keilah to help them against the Philistines, he stood the chance that these men would choose to not follow him any longer. However, when God truly calls us to something, He will also prepare the hearts of those He has chosen to serve Him and follow us as we serve Him. For those of us who are struggling with whether or not we should go in the direction God is leading us to go in, I will make the decision easy for us. Just follow the Lord, even if it means “swimming against the tide” of naysayers by ourselves, because when it is all said and done, we will not be alone; for the LORD is always with us.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).