protection of Acliish. We know how groundless was his fear; but, apart from that events proved tliat tliough the dreacle<l evil was escape<l, another most terrible on~ came. Nor is there much defence for the self-chosen policy in saying that his own life wa~ secure, for escape from Saul gave no immunity from <leath by the han<ls of other men, and there are calamities even worse than <leath. We are too often in- fluenced by present dangers, forgetful that though we avoid them we have no secur- ity in that avoidance from others equally fearful. The Israelites feared the giants reported to occupy the promised land, and escaped being, as they groundlessly thought, slain by them ; but they saw not the physical miseries and the exclusion from the promised land consequent on choosing thus to escape. David ought to have profited by their example, as also should we from his. The application of this to common life is obvious. II. OUR SELF-CBOS!i:N POLICY MAY BE LONG BEFORE IT REVEALS ITS CHARACTER IN ANY POSITIVE DISASTER. The ambiguous position of David rendered the months during which he was with Achish a season for verifying the wisdom of his policy. Although slight inconveniences arose which necessitated minor expedients, as when he sought a separate city and made raids apparently on the south of Judah (eh. xxvii. 5, 10), yet no event transpired to awaken manifest regret for the course pursued. It was only toward the end of the sojourn in the land of the Philistines that his policy bore the bitter fruit referred to in this section. Trouble came at last in addition to the mental embarrassments which had been a secret in his own breast. So long as moral laws have force will every false policy tend to disaster, the form and degree of it being determined by the nature of the case. Men may go on hoping for exemption from trouble, concealing the occasional fears and embarrassments of their own heart, successful escape may be well nigh assured, there may be even joy at the thought of providential deliverance from impending perils ; but just then, from unexpected quarters, a blow may fall which confirms the truth that it is better to trust in the Lord than to listen to the fears of a wayward heart. Lot's ungenerous policy toward Abraham, successful at first, issued in loss of all in Sodom. Jonah's timid policy avoided the scorn and stones of the Ninevites, and bid fair to secure life and peace; but the storm arose, and, a trouble quite unforeseen sprang forth. In commerce, in Church action, and domestic arrangements, distrust of God and self-seeking cannot but issue in evil, though the evil seem to tarry and be beyond calculation. Ill. THE FORM: OF CALAMITY MAY PROVE TO DE A NEAR APPROACH TO THJ.T WHICH SELF-CHOSEN POLICY WAS DESIGNED TO AVOID. David lost his family and his property, the next best things to his own life, and also was put in as much danger of being slain by his own men as ever he had been by Saul. He virtually found him- self as he was when the distrust of God's care suggested a flight from Judah. The same ,.,.as true of the Israelites, who, avoiding the "giants" of the promised land, encountered the physical giants, famine and plague, and at last left their carcases in the wilderness. A merchant, by irreligious policy, may for a season avoid ruin, and yet by the means devised ultimately bring on an event equally disastrous. IV. THE FIRST EFFECT ON A GOOD MAN OF THE PRESSURL;; OF CALAMITY IS TO REVEAL TO HIM THE FOLLY AND EVIL OF HIS SELF-CHOSEN POLICY. It often requires u. heavy blow to awaken us from our complacent belief in our own wisdom. Such a blow fell on David in the desole.tion of his city, the loss of his wives, the injury to hi~ adherents, and the mutiny of his own friend,i and admirers. TIJe well-woven veil of expediency which imagination and reason had fabricated during the past sixteen months was thus rudely rent, and he saw at once liow much better it wuulJ havo been for him and his people to have continued trusting to the care of GoJ in Judah, till, at least, specific directions were given to depart. The reference to David en- couraging Jiimself in God (ver. 6) implies the prostration of his spirit in the new light which had broken in upon him. He had not sought the Lord on leaving Judah, and now he sees the mistake. Here notice the diverse effect of calamity on men of real piety and men of no vital religion. David is humbled before God, sees his error, is bitterly penitent; whereas Saul in all his calamities persists in his self-will, and hardens his heart against God. The truly religious spirit may err, may become wretched in ita wanderino·s from God, may for a long seaso·1 cleaYe to its self- produced miseries, but wh~n brought face to face with great calamity th<1t bespeaks Tll~ FWS1' BOUK OF S.UlUEL. f CII. XXX. 1-31.
tlw jndgment of God, at once bows in sorrow and shame, recognising what an evil alld bitter thing it is to depart from the living God. How many a backslider l\nd. ernng man has had occasion to bless the disaster that rent the delusion of their life and reYealed their sin 1 Y. THE SUBSEQUENT EFFECT OF SUCH CALAMITY IS TO THROW A GOOD MAN MORE ENTIRELY UPON Goo FOR HELP AND GUIDANCE. David, humiliated, self.condemned looking on to the future no~ knowing what best to do, took heart by casting hi; burden on the Lord, and seekmg through the appointed channel specific directions as to _the future. Affiiction .worked the _fruit of r!ghteousness. This is the proper rehg10~s use. of all calamity, whether m the nation, the Church, our business, our domestic affairs, or the unrecorded events of private life. Jacob's trouble consequent on his falsehood brought him nearer to God at Bethel. The sorrows that came on. lsrnel in the days of .Nehemiah developed a trust in God and earnest looking for bis gmdance not known m former days. There 1s good reason for all who are smitten ,nth sorrow brought on by folly and sin to encourage themselves in God· for as to- Dayid so to all his children, he is a covenant-keeping God, having· prepar~d fdr us a. kmgdom that cannot be moved. He it is who allows the trial to fa.II not for our injury, bnt for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness; the abandonment to o:irseh·es and to the suffering of trouble is all in mercy, and specially intended to renund us of the security and rest to be found in him ; and he is willing to hear our cry, and to cover all the sins of the past, as well as to vouchsafe the aid necessary to escape from the present anguish, and even to make it issue in some permanent ~piritual advantage. We may therefore "hope in God" when all help fails (cf. l's. xiii. 5; lvi. 13; Isa. !iv. 8; Jer. iii. 12; Heh. xii. 5-12).