Today Daily Devotional

Some years ago, when I was a pastor, someone told me that even though I was chosen as pastor by their congregation, I was not their pastor. The words shocked me. The person remained a member of my church but never allowed me to pastor them. Over time, several other members told me the same thing.

As a leader, David was not accepted by everyone either. The Lord had approved of David’s becoming king over Judah after the death of Saul. The Lord had been with David and had anointed him for this role many years earlier. David had also proven his leadership through successful military cam­paigns and wise decision making, in which he sought to honor the Lord.

At the same time, not everyone had declared David as their king. The Lord’s people were split into two camps. Saul’s general, Abner, wanted Saul’s kingdom to continue, so he made Saul’s 40-year-old son Ish-Bosheth king over Israel.

So David’s rule began in the midst of disunity.

These are the conditions in which sin and grace stand in tension in this world. They are not comfortable conditions, but God uses them to do some of his best work in us—to help us grow to live fully, with his wisdom and love.

King Saul and his son Jonathan had died in battle with the Philistines (1 Samuel 31:1-6). So David composed a song of lament to honor them.

How could David mourn for Saul? Saul had tried to kill David several times, and he had spent considerable time hunting David down with his army. Because of that, David had become a refugee in the land of their enemies the Philistines.

Even so, the report of Saul’s death grieved David. Why? Saul had been chosen by God to be the people’s first king. David honored that out of respect for the Lord, and he often called Saul “the Lord’s anointed.”

David’s mourning for Jonathan made sense. He was the first member of Saul’s family to stand up for David. He made a covenant of friendship with David against his own prospects for the throne. Jonathan pleaded with his father to see David as a blessing to Israel, not a threat.

Saul had shown David what not to do as Israel’s leader. And Jonathan had shown how a person can be a true friend. David found no paradox in mourning both of these men. They each gave him something that made him alive to God’s purposes and plans.

David’s refuge at Ziklag was attacked and burned while he and his men were away. And all their wives and children were taken by the Amalekites. Everyone wept and lamented over this destruction, and David was in deep distress. It seemed his men were about to turn on him because they lost all their loved ones, but “David found strength in the Lord his God.”

What should they do? David knew that the best way to seek guidance was from the Lord. So he went to Abiathar the priest in order to ask God what to do next. The Lord’s answer would be the only answer that mattered.

“Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” David asked. The Lord’s answer was positive. God gave David the go-ahead to rescue everyone’s families and all the plunder that the Amalekites had taken.

The Lord had provided victory over the Amalekites, and when some of the men wanted to keep the plunder for themselves, David declared, “All will share alike.” Everyone was entitled to a share, whether they had stayed back to guard the supplies or they had advanced to fight in the battle. After all, said David, all of this had been given by the Lord, who protected them and gave them victory. David also shared some of the plunder to people in the surrounding towns as well.

Saul had to fight with Israel’s enemy the Philistines again. And when he saw the opposing army, “he was afraid; terror filled his heart.” He wanted to ask the Lord about what he should do, but the Lord did not respond to him. Saul needed advice, but old Samuel the prophet was dead. So Saul decided to use a medium, a spiritist, to try to communicate with the spirit of Samuel from the dead.

Saul persuaded a medium at Endor into conjuring up the spirit of Samuel for him. Though God had told his people not to do this (Leviticus 19:31; 20:6), Saul did it anyway.

Old Samuel told Saul that the Lord had torn the kingdom from him and given it to David. The Philistines would crush Israel, and Saul and his sons would die. When Saul heard this, he fell to the ground, “filled with fear because of Samuel’s words.”

God’s no to Saul was an attempt to wake him up and turn him away from trying to get his own way. But would Saul listen?

Oftentimes for us too, the Lord’s no might be his way of trying to get our attention to repent from destructive choices and choose a different path. What will it take for us to trust and obey God?

David lived by his wits in the wilderness. He knew that ­going back to Israel would be too dangerous because Saul was hunting him again. Where could he go for safety? Who might provide the kind of ­anonymity he needed for protection?

David decided to live among his former enemies, the Philis­tines. What? Wouldn’t the Philistines remember that he had killed their champion Goliath? We aren’t told all of the details, but it seems that living with the Philistines was the safest way for David and his men to stay alive at this time.

Making his plea to Achish, the king of Gath, David was given refuge in Ziklag. David, along with his 600 men and their families, made no attempt to harm the Philistines. They kept their word to leave them alone and to wage war on their ­surrounding enemies. While David was in Philistine territory, Saul stayed away. David flourished in the last place he really wanted to be.

During this time, something amazing happened—the king of Gath trusted David. David had shown himself to be trustworthy. He had modeled the kind of behavior that can turn an old enemy into an ally. In this way we can see that the Lord protected David even while living among his people’s enemies.

David and his fighting men had been living in the wilderness for a while. They had been watching over the countryside and protecting farmers and shepherds from thieves and raiders. A servant recalled, “These men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us. . . .”

But Nabal took no notice of David’s protection, and he had no interest in hospitality. He only wanted to go about business as usual: what was good for him alone. When David asked for some food and supplies, Nabal did not even offer a simple thank-you to David. In the culture of that day, this kind of response was an insult. It was unforgivable. Nabal had to be taught a lesson, and David was willing to teach it.

Nabal’s wife, Abigail, had more sense. She knew that Nabal’s foolish ways were about to cost him his life. So she worked quickly to go and bring gifts of food to David and his men on the road.

Abigail’s wise actions restored humanity to David. She reminded him of who he was and what the Lord had called him to be. There was no reason for him to be a fool like Nabal, and David thanked her for keeping him from taking vengeance into his own hands.

Movies about revenge are often top sellers. People cheer when villains get what’s coming to them. There’s something satisfying about getting back at someone who has done you wrong, especially if you did nothing to provoke it.

The writer of 1 Samuel gives us the “director’s cut” of the scene in the Desert of En Gedi. David has been living in exile, trying to hide from King Saul, who wants to destroy him. With three thousand men, Saul appears to have the upper hand in the drama.

But the king doesn’t know that David and his men are hiding in the cave where he goes in to relieve himself. Sometimes the Bible even includes a bit of humor as the plot thickens.

The setting is perfect. The unsuspecting king believes he is alone in the cave. So David can sneak up and kill Saul with the same sword he used on Goliath.

But, instead, David merely cuts off a corner of the king’s robe. David does not try to satisfy the thirst for revenge. He practices holy restraint, saying he could not do such a thing to his “master, the Lord’s anointed.”

Saul is humbled and says, “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.”

David has modeled something that Saul could never achieve. How about you?

David was a fugitive. He was on the run from King Saul, who was jealous and felt threatened by David’s great success as a warrior.

David fled to Nob, where he found Ahimelek the priest. The old priest was shocked to see David alone, without any troops around him. David did not know whom to trust because anyone could become a spy for Saul. So he lied to the priest, saying he was on a secret mission. David also asked for bread, or whatever food the priest might have on hand.

Ahimelek had holy bread that was offered to the Lord in wor­ship. The bread had been replaced by fresh loaves, so it was available for the priests to eat. It was not supposed to be eaten by anyone else, but Ahimelek had nothing else, so he gave that to David.

Ahimelek became the giver, and David the receiver, of left­overs in the house of God. The priest also gave David the sword of Goliath, whom David had killed in the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17).

In the book Leap Over the Wall, Eugene Peterson wrote that David’s life wasn’t “an ideal life but an actual life. We imaginatively enter the [story] of David not to improve our morals but to deepen our own sense of human reality.” We all live at the crossroads of sin and grace.

David thought it might have been his fault that King Saul was trying to kill him. Did he offend the king unknowingly? Did he not fulfill his duties or make a disloyal gesture in Saul’s presence? David could not figure out why Saul was against him.

David had tried to serve the king faithfully, even though Saul had tried to kill him several times. No wonder David was confused and upset.

Jonathan was also confused at this point, probably thinking that Saul had kept his vow not to kill David (see 1 Samuel 19:6-7). Jonathan didn’t seem to realize that Saul had again tried to kill David and to hunt him down (19:10, 15). But David said, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”

Everything hinged on Jona­than’s response. David would have been completely vulner­able and exposed if he could not trust Jonathan. But Jonathan was not motivated by his own ambitions. He realized now that he could not trust his father. And with a heart of love, Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”

In this way Jonathan changed sides. And he and David pledged their friendship to one another, calling upon God as their witness.

King Saul believed he had the right to command everyone to obey his wishes. He told his son Jonathan and everyone around him to kill David.

In this way Saul tested his family members’ loyalty. Often in situations like this, as the saying goes, “Blood is thicker than water.” Family members were expected to support their blood relatives more than their friends or in-laws.

Perhaps Jonathan noticed his father’s attendants nodding in agreement with Saul. But Jonathan was clearly concerned as he heard his father say that David was to be killed.

Jonathan gave no indication of turning against his father. But as soon as he left the king’s presence, Jonathan wasted no time in warning his friend that Saul wanted to kill him. And instead of going along with his father, Jonathan assured David that he would speak with Saul and support David for the sake of their friendship.

Saul’s daughter Michal, who was now David’s wife, also protected David from her murderous father.

These events mark a crucial point in the decline of Saul and the rise of David. Two of Saul’s own children chose to help David rather than making the traditional choice of supporting their father.