David clearly had a call from God to be the next King of Israel (16:13). And yet the prophet who had anointed him had died (25:1), and the people he had been trying to help kept betraying him to the king he was supposed to replace (23:12, 19; 26:1), the king who had branded him a traitor and sentenced him to death. How could David possibly fulfill God’s plan for his life in the face of such opposition?

And maybe you are wondering the same thing. For even though all Christians are called to spread the good news about Jesus Christ, maybe you work for a corporation that has strict policies against “proselytizing,” or that even forbids discussing religion with anyone on the job. Or maybe you are a public school teacher, not allowed to lead your students in prayer or tell them about Jesus in the classroom. What can you do?

Well, in today’s passage, we see David making the best out of a bad situation. He knew that one of the main jobs of a king was to fight against the enemies of his people. So, David devised a way that he could do this, taking advantage of the Philistines’ hospitality in order to attack other unbelieving nations that surrounded the people of God (27:8).

Now, David had to lie and to kill people in order to carry out his plans, and modern Christians are of course not called to do either of those things. But we can be just as creative as David was in working around the barriers that stand in the way of us following our calling. Maybe instead of talking about Jesus in the workplace, employees can befriend their co-workers, and then share the gospel with them away from the office. Public school teachers can pray for their students before class, model Christian behavior in the classroom, and even discuss the Bible as literature or as an important historical text, offering to explain more fully after school hours. And public school students have started meeting for prayer at the flagpole outside their school buildings, along with handing out tracts and Bibles to their classmates.

So, let’s look for opportunities to work around the obstacles that make evangelism and missions more difficult for us. If we all keep your eyes on the ultimate goal – the glory of God and the salvation of others – we’ll find ways to move in that direction, even if we might not be able to go as fast or as far as we want to today.

I Samuel 27 (NASB)

Then David said to himself, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.”
2 So David arose and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.
4 Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.
5 Then David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
6 So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
7 And the number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt.
9 And David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.
10 Now Achish said, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David said, “Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites.”
11 And David did not leave a man or a woman alive, to bring to Gath, saying, “Lest they should tell about us, saying, ‘So has David done and so has been his practice all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'”
12 So Achish believed David, saying, “He has surely made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore he will become my servant forever.”