Ah just another happy story in the life of David the soon-to-be-King of Israel.
David just defeated Goliath and led Israel's troops over the Philistine armies and everyone is singing his praises! Girls are tweeting about David, the Paparazzi follows his every move. Israel's GQ put David on its cover with the headline, 'David: The Hot Beast of the Middle East!'
King Saul put David in charge of Israel's armies and David's winning streak continued. Battle after battle brought only victory and success.
David had everything going for him in life... a successful job, a wife, and a best friend in Jonathan. He was a man of character, whom the Prophet Samuel had anointed to be the next King.
Then, over a period of 12 years, David enters one of the most desolate stretches of his life... One by one, everything and everyone that David relied on in life was removed. He lost his position -and was forced to run like a common outlaw. He lost his wife after her father (King Saul) hatches a plan to trap David. David could marry the King's daughter after he delivers a wedding present of 100 Philistine Foreskins! Let's just say, I've given many mediocre gifts in my life, but this one takes the cake! (oh by the way, David brings 200 to the King!).
David loses his best friend Jonathan, only meeting up with him once during this time. Same with the Prophet Samuel... David truly is alone... And finally when he seemingly had nothing else to lose, he defaced his own dignity and self-respect, by going to the enemy king and acting insane....
God has a way of allowing us to go through difficult times so that we end up relying on Him. He often will remove those things in our life that we put before Him.
We may long for those times when all of life seems to be perfectly aligned... We call these 'Mountain Top Experiences.' The reality is that our life is lived not in the mountains, but through the abrasive reality of our messed up lives... Billy Graham said it best, 'Mountain tops are great for views, but fruit grows in the Valleys.'
David reminds us that we will often lose in life. Knowing this ahead of time helps to not only prepare us, but to cause our dependence to grow on God and his love for us...
1 comment:
I noticed that at least twice in the scriptures we read Sunday that it said that Saul was overcome with an evil spirit from the Lord after which time he did something to try and harm David. Can you explain what that means? How could an evil spirit be from the Lord? If from the Lord, is Saul responsible for his actions?
--Rachel S.
Post a Comment