“And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard” (1 Samuel 21:13).
TEXT — 1 Samuel 21:10-15
Message
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), “In 2019, 1 in every 8 people, or 970 million people around the world were living with a mental disorder, with anxiety and depressive disorders being the most common”. It defines “mental disorder as characterised by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotional regulation or behaviour. It is usually associated with distress or impairment in important areas of functioning”. The world mental report card is bleak. It shows that more people are going mad than ever before.
The passage for reading today shows David at one of those days in his life when wrong decisions got the better of him. Jonathan had confirmed his suspicion that Saul was serious about killing him. David, therefore, ran to Gath of all places, the home of Goliath, to hide. The Philistines recognised him immediately and raised the alarm about his presence among them. Realising his mistake and with no confidence in God to see him through this wrong turn, David decided to pretend that he could no longer coordinate himself. He changed his behaviour and exhibited signs of “madness” such that Achish was convinced David was now mad and as a result drove him away from his presence.
Even though David’s “madness” was temporary, many people today are following his footsteps by taking decisions out of fear and discouragement. As children of God, we must allow our difficulties to drive us to pray and seek the face of God instead of lying and running helter-skelter. We must not allow our temporary challenges to make us take unwise decisions or compromise our convictions.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
