3.23 1 Samuel 24-26

Stephen Van Bueren

3.23.2020

1 Samuel 24 – 26

These chapters highlight King Saul’s relentless pursuit of David – and his desire to kill him in order to protect that which God had already promised to remove from him – his throne. Chapter 24 recounts David and his men hiding in a cave and King Saul entering that cave to…uhhh…well you know…relieve himself 🙂 Even though it seemed as if God were serving Saul up on a silver platter – and at the urging from his men – David refuses. Chapter 25 details how a woman named Abigail intervened on her husband Nabal’s behalf – even though he was a harsh, unloving and unkind man – saving him from a certain death at the hands of David and his men. Nabal dies a week and half later and Abigail becomes one of David’s wives.   Chapter 26 once again highlights Saul’s pursuit of David – the opportunity for David to kill Saul while he slept – but David’s faithfulness to God above all else – sparing Saul’s life.

The key verse that stood out to me was

1 Samuel 24:4-7 “…And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. He said to his men, ‘The LORD forbid that i should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed…’” 

I’m struck by the humility, faithfulness and reverence of David – despite the most trying and desperate circumstances he found himself in. The prophet Samuel had anointed David to be King in place of Saul. For what was certainly a significant period of time – may be even years – David is on the run for his life – hiding in caves and crevices in the mountains. Finally an opportunity afforded itself to David to put an end – to take matters into his own hands – and end the nightmare of running for his life. And though he did not do it – even what he did do by cutting a piece of Saul’s robe – strickened David’s conscience. Saul was not a godly man. He was unfaithful to the LORD and had his kingdom taken from him. And even still – David viewed Saul as the LORD’s anointed and refused to take matters into his own hands – but rather decided to wait patiently on God’s timing.

I’m humbled because whenever I face adversity – my inclination is not to patiently wait for God to move me out of that situation – but rather to take matters into my own hands. Therefore, as a result of my reading, how I will “Go With God” moving forward – I will decide to trust more in God’s timing, have a reverence for His Holiness – and patiently wait on Him for deliverance as opposed to trying to deliver myself!

How I see Jesus in this reading is that he could easily and at any point taken matters into his own hands. What Jesus was facing was far more terrifying than what David endured – or anything that I could possibly go through – yet he humbled himself, was patient – not taking matters into his own hands – and trusted himself to God, his timing and deliverance – at his resurrection!