‘David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod.’ Now this is interesting.
It is the same with us when we go a wandering and we do something foolish or we backslide. The Lord is there; the ephod is there, if you like. Abiathar is there – in our case a much better than Abiathar, the Christ himself is with us, all the time. It is just we who do not turn to him; that is our trouble when we are wayward. But now David turns and seeks; he could have done it long before. We fail to ask the Lord for guidance in our spiritual coldness. The Lord is near, but we are not consulting him; we are not depending upon him.