I Knew It That Day
The above words came from the mouth of David, the second king of all Israel. The message had just been brought to David how Saul had slaughtered the priest Ahimelech and the people of Nob. The reason for the slaughter was the jealousy of Saul that continued day by day to eat him up. The priest had given food to David and his men who were fleeing from Saul. Ahimelech's defense was that David was the son-in-law of Saul and, likewise, was known to be a good man (I Samuel 22:14). He, the priest, had no reason to suspect that David was not being faithful. In other words the priest acted in a responsible way.
Clear thinking minds could have weighed the evidence of the words of the priest and evaluated that he was, indeed, innocent. The only problem was that his words were being heard by a man who was not thinking clearly, that is Saul. Saul saw only one conclusion. This priest and the people of Nob had aided his enemy, David, whereupon he ordered the death of Ahimelech and the people of Nob. Did he have any proof that David was his enemy? Was there any evidence that David was plotting against Saul? The answer is a resounding "no". It is an established fact that the farther one gets from God, the reasoning of the mind becomes less strong.
The man Doeg had seen Ahimelech providing food for David. When he saw his opportunity to lift himself up in the eyes of the king, he could not wait to get the information to the king. As I said, most individuals would have accepted what the priest said about giving food to David. Doeg was not concerned with truth. He just wanted to tell Saul to lift himself up, even at the expense of lying. The mind set of Saul was known by all that were close to him. Doeg used that thinking to lift up himself. When Saul ordered those around him to kill the priest, they refused. Doeg then led the slaughter at the command of Saul.
After the horror of this event, David said that he knew it that day when Doeg was present, that Doeg would go and tell Saul. As surely as the reputation of Saul had been set forth as being unstable, the character of Doeg was, likewise, well known. Those who spend time spreading lies, avoiding truth and overall being unkind cannot hide such a disposition long from others. What makes us what we are is a result of the contents of our heart. God gives us the warning that we must all keep our hearts with all diligence because out of those hearts flow the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). The content of a man's heart is not something that can be easily hidden.
The spiritual principle is that what a man sows, that is what he will reap (Galatians 6:7). His actions may be hidden from others but in time it will reflect itself in his life and conduct. A Doeg established his life and the course of his life and it was known by others. He continued to sow into his life those attitudes that established his reputation among others. A little later in time, the man Nabal is described as a churlish man (I Samuel 25:3). In the same verse, his wife Abigail is described as a woman of good understanding. Both had sowed into their lives attitudes that produced the result of one being churlish while the other being understanding.
This not to say that one cannot change the direction of their life. Otherwise, why or how would we describe repentance. Those on the day of Pentecost were accused, and rightfully so, of having participated in the death of Jesus. Were their lives therefore over because of such a horrible choice that they had made? Some would sum up the decisions that a person made that are bad and say there is no hope for them. The apostles on the day of Pentecost offered to their audience a way out of their wrong choices. They were to repent and be baptized in water in order to remove all their sins (Acts 2:38).
What about a Doeg? His life was set and he had no intention of changing. He cared not for the feelings of others, only himself. A person who desires to change, can change through the Lord Jesus Christ. However, if one is determined to keep a course of rebellion to God's way, then in time they will reap what they have sown with eternal separation from God. Let us all be careful about our reputation (what others think we are) and our character (what we really are). The Doeg's of this world can destroy our reputation but only we can destroy our character.