The Way to God's End # 1

The Way of Recovery

1 Samuel 22:1, 2

"David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men"

"Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish, and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war" (1 Chron. 12:1)

"And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the Word of the Lord" (1 Chron. 12:23)

Spiritual Weakness Must Be Made Manifest

This was a period during which Israel was particularly menaced by the Philistines. These latter were always the shadow over Israel's life, and the instrument by means of which Israel's weakness and helplessness were brought out and made manifest. The Lord usually has some particular thing by which a state or condition is revealed. It is not always recognizable as a state in itself; there has to be something that brings it out. Because of this or that, the real condition of things is manifested as it would not be apart from that instrument that the Lord uses for its uncovering. It becomes positive, rather than abstract, by reason of certain things. The Lord will, for instance, raise up a situation, an experience, a difficulty, a concrete challenge, and then the inability to meet it and deal with it shows that that particular thing - which in other circumstances, had things been different, would have counted for nothing and would have at once been conquered and subdued - has now become the Lord's means of showing how bad the spiritual state is. The Lord has a way of doing that. When Israel came into right position and condition under David the Philistines did not count for anything, they lost all significance. But here they are very significant; they occupy a very dominant place; and that is only because of the spiritual state of the Lord's people. So spiritual weakness is here made manifest by means of the Philistines.

We have to ask, Why was it that Israel was helpless before the Philistines? Why was it that their deplorable condition of weakness was manifested in the presence of the Philistines, who otherwise would not have signified anything? When you look closely for your answer, you find that it was because deep down there was so much in common between Israel and the Philistines. The Philistines are known to us by a certain epithet - the "uncircumcised Philistines". David used that phrase concerning Goliath of Gath (1 Sam. 17:36). Now when you look at Israel, that was really their spiritual state. They were uncircumcised in heart. They were called the Lord's people, and traditionally they were such. They had the ordinances - even the ordinance of circumcision - but it was all outward. Paul draws that very distinct line of discrimination between the outward circumcision, which he called the concision, and the inward circumcision of the heart. He says it is the latter that makes us Israelites in truth, not the former (Romans 2:25-29). Here you find Israel in exactly that position - uncircumcised in heart. The fact that they said, "Make us a king ... like all the nations" (1 Sam. 8:5). showed that the thing which was common to the nations had come into their hearts. They wanted to be like the other nations. That is to say, the spirit of the world had come inside, and thus they knew nothing of what Paul called "the circumcision of Christ," "not the putting away of the filth of the flesh" (1 Peter 3:21), but the putting away of the old man entirely. There was deep down in Israel something quite in common with the Philistines, and that being so, the fact had to be exposed; and the world exposed their weakness.

It is like that with a church, with a Christian community, or with Christendom, when it is really worldly in spirit, in principle, in method. It is the world that exposes their weakness and shows how helpless they are. The world, like the Philistines, laughs at them, and says, "You don't count for anything, you are not to be taken seriously." The world laughs at the church or the Christian who in principle has that which is in common with itself, and the world can say "We can do your job better than you can." So we find that the world is very largely the instrument of exhibiting or exposing the weakness of Christians, simply because there is that common basis.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

[continued with # 2 - The Way of Spiritual Strength]