The Danger of Success: 2 Samuel 5:17-25
Sin is a master at tarnishing the goodness God brings to our life. This doesn’t mean sin is more powerful than God. The problem is our free will. Even when experiencing success in God’s glory, we still feel the temptation of sin in our lives.
David consolidated the Hebrew people and moved his capital to Jerusalem. The Philistines see this and realize David is no longer their vassal. As David gains power, they want the Hebrew people to realize they are still a group to be contended with.
David needs to respond to this threat. The rest of the Hebrew people joined him because they perceived him to be strong leader. This is the time to demonstrate they made the right choice. In typical fashion, David doesn’t muster the military and command them to follow. David pauses before the Lord to make sure he understands what the Lord desires.
David was a great general. He understood tactics. He knew a small group with the right battle plan could defeat a larger group with a generic plan. David could have marched out under his own wisdom and beaten the Philistines. However, he did not do this. Even in his strength, David paused to seek the Lord’s will and humble himself to God’s plan.
The Philistines flee before David’s force, leaving their idols behind. This is more than a commentary on the overwhelming strength of David’s force. The Bible doesn’t say they left all their supplies behind. They left their idols behind. The advantage of David’s forces have over the Philistines causes them to leave their idols behind. Their idols were powerless against God’s plan. There is no reason to keep objects of superstition when those same objects are shown powerless.
Unfortunately, the battle isn’t fully glorious for God. The battle earns the area the name Ba’al-perazim, which means the Lord breaks through. However, while Ba’al is a generic semitic root word for lord, it is also the name of one of the chief Canaanite deities. This great battle, demonstrating God’s power over the Philistines, ends up being more of a memorial to Ba’al than God. That’s frequently how sin works, corrupting what is good to remind us of the ways of the world.
The next time the Philistines come, God makes sure there is no confusion about who has the power. When David inquires from the Lord, the Lord tells him to go around back of the Philistines and wait. God plans to make it clear He fights for the Hebrew people and He deserves the glory.
Even in those moments where we have good leadership and things go well, sin is crouching at the door to take our mind away from God. This is the second story in a row we’ve seen success lead to less than God’s ideal. Sin is a master at tarnishing the goodness God brings to our life.
