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"And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard." (I Samuel 21:13)What a tragic scene this must have been to gaze upon! Here's David, the one-time mighty Fighter in Saul's army, now a mere Fugitive from Saul's anger. This is a sad picture of Israel's greatest Hero, now reduced to a groveling Hobo.In the 10th verse of this same chapter, we learn that David was on the lam from Saul. Maybe one too many javelins from the hand of the king that were backed with jealousy and marked with death were enough for this future king of Israel. Who knows? Who really knows what doubts and fears reside in the heart of any person when they're up against it? Only God knows!Nonetheless, we now find David cozying up to Achish. Now this Achish was king of Gath, a long-time bitter enemy of Israel. Gath was a city of the Philistines and you'll recall that notable battle that took place in the valley of Elah. When after all was said and done that day, and no one from either side wanted to foot the bill for victory, we find that it was David and that loud-mouth Goliath going one on one for the survivor title! (I Samuel 17)In verse 11, even Achish couldn't believe his eyes when David suddenly showed up out of nowhere in Gath probably wondering what in the world this champion of all fighting soldiers was up to now. That ole king even repeats a song that all Israel used to sing when mighty David would return from a battle.In verse 12, David gives the king's well remembered words to this old familiar song a good going over, but his past fear of Saul now gives birth to his present fear of Achish.So, with all this to think about, what does David do? Verse 13 tells us, doesn't it? "And he [David] changed his behaviour before them,"See the bravest and most fearless of all fighting men now scrabbling on the doors of the gate like an illiterate and slobbering all over himself like an idiot. But you know, that's exactly how all of us act when we wander away from the will of God. We act like fools! Our beliefs change, our bravery changes, and finally our behavior changes.Friends, mark it down well. When we lose sight of God's Promises, God's Presence, God's Protection, and God's Power; fear will set in and foolishness will spew out and it will be all because we act like David did back then, "And he changed his behaviour."