Bad Influence

And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.” 1 Samuel 27:12

Because I grew up in a dry home – no alcohol – I grappled with my own desire to drink when I went off to college. I told myself that as long as I was doing it in certain settings, not acting badly, and not causing anyone else to act badly, that it was an acceptable behavior. To be clear, there are a lot of people who can drink alcohol without engaging in self-destructive behavior. I just didn’t realize back then that I wasn’t going to be one of those people.

Over the years, as my appetite for alcohol grew, I found myself gravitating towards others who drank and if I was around those who didn’t drink, I encouraged them to start. In fact, I eventually found a lot of pleasure in introducing someone to alcohol. When out fishing with a buddy, I felt bad about drinking alone, but I didn’t want to stop. So, I encouraged my buddy to drink with me. Unwilling to recognize my own developing problem with chemicals, I refused to consider that I may be introducing someone else to an addictive behavior. I was a bad influence, finding pleasure in dragging others down to my level.

Though he likely didn’t see it that way, this was the same behavior modeled by Achish, king of the Philistines, in today’s passage. In the story, as David fled from King Saul, he found safety living with the Philistines. David had once been a great champion for Israel, defeating the Philistine’s champion, Goliath. So, when David fled to the Philistines, instead of treating him as an enemy, King Achish embraced him, finding great joy in now having David on his side. When he went off to war against Israel, Achish reveled in having David with him. King Achish was a bad influence, finding pleasure in dragging David down to his level.

When we struggle with any self-destructive behavior, we often first try to hide it. If, however, we can’t hide it, then we’ve got a decision to make. What we should do, is use that discomfort as motivation to stop the behavior. What we often do though, is gravitate towards others who are struggling as we are. If we can’t find those people, we try to create them. Come on. Just have one drink with me. No one likes to fail alone. So we often try to drag others down to our level. As bad as it is to self-destruct though, it’s that much worse to encourage others to do the same.