1 Samuel 21:11

And he changed his behaviour before them.

David scrabbling at the gate

Taking the behaviour of David as a suggestion, I wish to tell you how many of the wise, and the brave, and the regal sometimes play the fool.

I. I remark that those men as badly play the fool as this man of the text, who in any crisis of life take their case out of the hand of God. David, in this case, acted as though there were no God to lift him out of the predicament. The life of the most insignificant man is too vast for any human management.

II. I remark that all those persons play the fool, as certainly as did this man of the text, who allow the technicalities of religion to stop their salvation.

III. I go still further, and say to you that those men play the fool who undertake to pay out eternity for time.

IV. I say to you that those men play the fool who, while they admit the righteousness of religion, set it down for future attendance. (T. De Witt Talmage.).