David had pretended to be mad in Abimelech’s presence, so the man sent him running!
Now, here he is- 2 “My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad”.
Can shrewdness be God’s gift? I suppose when you’re dealing with the unscrupulous, it’s arguable that it’s OK to play “genal,” as the Jamaican Rasta man would dub such behaviour.
I guess too, that a king acting like a madman might consider himself humble when he makes an – – – of himself and has the other person judging him to be an imbecile of sorts. I know too, that it sometimes comes in handy to expose your ignorance. I have, on occasion, allowed myself to look stupid to remove the threat posed to someone who fees threatened. But to semblant fait folle is taking it to another level! I couldn’t write that in English, but my kweyol spelling is not that good, so I chose French. Only in kweyol can I find words to express such a streak of “genal”!
The delivered man has reason to invite us,3 “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together,” because I tell you, if God weren’t Good God, crapaud might have smoked David’s pipe! It is amazing what God lets us get away with, when our agenda is not to destroy someone else but rather, just to save our own skin. Of course, God always wants to save your skin and mine, even if exposing skin is sometimes a necessary part of the healing process. O wisest God!
So, whatever the reason you can testify 4 “I sought the Lord and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears” then 5 “Look to him, and be radiant, so your face shall never be ashamed” even if it took a bit of “scampish-ness” on your part to save your dirty skin, because 6 whenever “this poor soul cries” to the Lord, God hears and saves from trouble.
8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in the Lord.”
11 “Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord”. And that fear includes being afraid to play pretend as that might get you into trouble rather than out of trouble. Pretentiousness is synonymous with lying. Not so? But when you’re dealing with proud human beings who like to feel important, maybe, just maybe, playing pretend that you’re only an idiot might just work for you. It worked for David.
Heaven help us.