David’s dilemma reflects the position of every backslidden believer. When we are one foot in the world, and one foot in the kingdom of God, very soon the world wants all of us, and some great enticement, or some terrible temptation will come along, and we shall be spiritually weak and enfeebled, and we will collapse. Now David is in this terrible position. He cannot continue any longer in the land of the Philistines, but at a distance from Gath, trying to do two opposite things at once. Our only option is to return to the Lord entirely, and nail our colours to the mast and be ready to be seen as wholeheartedly for him. Then the world will stop treating us as a possible friend, and the position of both sides will become clear.
Pink comments that, ‘to seek the society of non-Christians is to play with fire, and to accept favours from them will almost certainly result in our getting burned. To compromise one point, will be followed by letting down the bars at others. For a young lady to accept the attentions of an undesirable young man, makes it far harder to reject his later advances. Once you accept a favour – even if it be but a “joyride” in an auto – you place yourself under an obligation, and though you be asked to pay a high price in return, yet if you demur, ”ingratitude” is what you are likely to be charged with … David had done wrong in seeking protection from Saul in the land of the Philistines, and now the king of Gath required service from him in return.’ We might think also of a young Christian who starts a new job, and immediately feels under pressure from his unconverted work companions to join them in their socialising, to approve of their joke, and lower his standards. Maybe it is made clear that this is the only way he will get on the company. To compromise would be to weaken himself. God has promised his children that with the temptation he will also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13), but when we persist in sin, the way of escape becomes harder to find.