The Road to David’s Kingship continues.

From the song “Above All”: Like a rose trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me above all.

”The enigma of Christian faith – a God who is so mighty, so wise, so all powerful – who spoke a creation into being so large it is immeasurable – yet taking on the form of man and coming to live among his creatures – experiencing the limitations of rejection, pain and loneliness of life here on Earth. And then actually dying and taking the punishment on himself which each person deserves – placing love for my creatures above all. Now as ever before I invite you and everyone who wishes into an intimate relationship of love – more intimate than the greatest loves of the Earth. I invite you – ‘Come onto me all who are heavy laden and all those who are full of joy and I will give you rest – rest in an intimate relationship with me'”.

We move now into chapter 21 of 1 Samuel, which describes a period where David is exiled and persecuted, which continues to 26:25. This chapter pictures David as desperate and alone, as he flees from Saul’s wrath. As I read it, it raised a few questions in my mind.

Despite the desperateness of his situation, is this not the same man who, as a boy, had faced Goliath on the basis of trusting in a God who had always rescued him from the fiercest wild animals?(1 Samuel 17:37) About whom now is written: vs 12; David took these words to heart and was very much afraid.

This spoke to me of the danger of ever feeling so secure in your faith that you think you will never be tempted and fall. Our faith depends on our growing in our relationship with God continually. Yes, and He will test us in many ways, but His purpose is not to get us to fall but to strengthen our faith.

The picture of the loneliness of David and the desperate situation he was in is perhaps a small foretaste of the greater David, King Jesus, who was sought and persecuted from the beginning of His life.

What else should be kept in mind is that there is more than just a jealousy and hate being reflected here. It is also a reflection of the great Spiritual battle which was going on in the background as Satan sought to derail God’s plans. When we come to Jesus’ life, we see from the very beginning how Satan attempted to derail God’s plan, with the actions of Herod for example, as he sought to kill the “future King of Israel”, by killing all the little boys of a certain age. (Matthew 3:16 ff)

It is a timely warning to all of us not to ever under-estimate the spiritual battle that is going on for each one of our souls. Jesus has won the victory, but the battle still rages and we need to be cognizant of it. cf Ephesians 6:10 ff

It is hard to reconcile the young lad who took on Goliath with the frightened man escaping into a Philistine king’s hands and then having to resort to appearing mad to survive. Yet in all this we must believe that God was there through His grace, continuing to prepare David for the huge task that lay ahead. It is comforting to know that this fearful, appearing mad man would eventually be called by God as a “Man after my own heart”. We can never fall too far that it stops God, through His grace from loving us completely.

We will come back to this but just a mention that this time of exile was a period when David was prolifically producing many of the beautiful psalms which we love. Experiencing all the emotions of rejection and fear he was able to write the psalms that give us so much comfort.

So let us take heart as we read about this favourite son and his struggles as we go into a new year, knowing that God equally has a plan for each one of us and though we will face difficulties along the way, He will be there, He is there through His Spirit guiding and supporting us all the way. Bless you all till next week.