1 Samuel 21:8

"... the king's business required haste." 1 Samuel 21:8 .

This is another instance in which the expositor can only proceed by way of accommodation. The accommodation, however, is full of suggestion of a most practical and useful nature. We are always called upon to work as if we had but one day to work in: " I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." Whatever we can do let us do it now. There is no to-morrow in the life of a Christian who is fully consecrated to the service of his Lord; every day is the last day, every coming day is the day of judgment, the judge always standeth at the door. How many things we are going to do by-and-by! We have no right to talk so, for our breath is in our nostrils. This is a boasting of to-morrow that is forbidden by the Holy Ghost. If we have a gospel to carry we must carry it instantly, or the man for whom it is designed may die. If we have any revelation to declare we must lose no time in the declaration, or we may lose our ability to reveal the message with which God has entrusted us. Such impetuosity need not involve carelessness. The impetuosity that is useful is also earnest. Sometimes men hasten slowly, and therefore hasten the more. The most deliberate things are to be done with the intensest earnestness, and the intensest earnestness is never to allow itself to be deprived of the advantage and utility of the highest spiritual dignity. When the king's business relates to the salvation of souls, who dare say there is a moment to be lost? Are men prodigal of time who are called to extinguish a conflagration? Do men proceed at leisure when the swimmer is struggling with the billows and may at any moment be lost? We should be urged by the necessity of others, and not merely impelled by our own sense of the fitness of things. Where there is need there is a call for help, and need always calls not for remote but for immediate assistance. In all things let us hear the voice of the Saviour saying, "That thou doest, do quickly," whether it be prayer, or gift, or offer of sympathy, or proclamation of the gospel; the next moment may be the last; therefore fill the present breathing space with all faithful action.