Sometimes when I read I try to summarize the one key thought that is being represented by the text. It isn’t always possible to do, based on the size of the passage, etc. Today, here’s what I would say the key thought is…
Every one of these 4 chapters has one thing in common. Someone is trying to harm David, and God is protecting him. In Chapter 21-22 the king of Gath is suspicious of him, and Doeg the Edomite plots against him…but David is protected by the Priests, and even the king of Moab!
In 23-24 king Saul is trying to kill him, and the people of Keilah are willing to betray him, even though he protected their town. And the men of a town called Ziph are willing to betray him to Saul as well.
David is protected. No one can stay on the run that long and not be caught eventually without divine help. I mean, a single man can disappear into the crowd, or get lost in another country…but a band of 600 marauders? That’s going to stick out. Every time Saul closes in (and there were some close calls!) something happens that allows David and his men to escape. And then there’s the issue of how this many people found food and weapons, clothing and shelter… God is protecting and providing for David. To someone who looked at this story from the outside, not knowing the backstory (Saul’s sin and disobedience, God’s decision to give the kingdom to someone else..) it might look like just another rebel uprising, similar to what happens in almost every other nation. But this is far different, this is spiritually ordained.
Maybe God allows this period between the anointing of David (age 10-15) and the actual crowning of David when he was 30 years old (7 years before reigning in Judah and 15 before ruling Israel) to grow his new king. Maybe God was developing and shaping David’s character so that he wouldn’t make the same mistakes that Saul made. All the time that Saul is chasing David, and poor David is living in caves and hideouts, and foreign countries, he is learning one key thing: God will provide. Make that 2 things: add “God protects”.
When David eventually sits on the throne and looks back at his life he knows for certain that God is for him, and that God will provide. I believe that this knowledge alone gave David a confidence and boldness that he might otherwise not have known.
That brings me to another reflection about my own life: How would I react if the people that I was protecting suddenly turned against me, and believed false reports? How would I cope with being separated from my wife while my reputation was dragged through the mud and I was forced into hiding? (David loved Michal, even though they were married, Saul gave her to someone else…probably to spite David).
How would I react if I watched people embrace a leader who clearly was evil, and slaughtered even the priests, along with women and children? How would I feel if they rejected me and embraced a wicked person like Saul?
I hope that I never have to find out the answer to any of these questions, but should the occasion ever come, I want to respond the way David did.
David never took his eye off God. He helped anyone he could, defending even those who would betray him. And when the opportunity to avenge himself came, there was no repressed anger in David…to come boiling to the surface. David wasn’t harboring any ill will toward Saul.
Don’t you find that amazing? David isn’t carrying a grudge at all! How is that even possible?
While Saul offered sacrifices without waiting for Samuel because he was afraid of the people, David risks his reputation and the favor of his men by declining to kill Saul when he has the chance, and restraining them from doing it as well. I promise you there were men with blood in their eyes hiding in the back of that cave who would have killed Saul without a second thought. He was only alive because of David…because David would do anything to remain in constant contact with the Father.
I want to hear God as clearly as David did. So that when difficult times come, I am not grumpy, vengeful, bitter or anything else. Maybe God will allow these things to occur in my life to prepare me for a greater work of service down the road. I hadn’t thought about it in quite that way before.
This isn’t me promising never to be grumpy again…..”just sayin”
Faithfully,
PR