But God does not leave him to revel in his glory. God immediately guides him to a ‘wilderness’ experience where he must run for his life from a jealous and power hungry king named Saul. On the surface, Saul is a hindrance to David’s future; but if we go a layer deeper, we realize that God is the one who allows the difficulties and interruptions to exist in David’s life.
This is similar to our own experience. We have people in our life of whom we think, “I’d be happier if she/he were out of my life!” But if God had not allowed these people in our lives, they wouldn't be there. All circumstances exist in our life because God allows them. God allowed David to go through the wilderness experience. Why? Although part of the reason was to mature and groom him to become the next king, God also knew that no matter how difficult life may get, the victory belongs to Him. God was saying, "Trust me. I will take care of you. I will uphold you. I will swoop down to carry you! Victory belongs to Me! The final victory is always Mine!"
Have you heard of how eagles teach their babies to fly? Somewhere along the line the mama eagle decides it’s time for the baby eagle to learn how to fly. She takes the little eagle out of the nest and flies up as high as she can go. At this point, she drops the fledgling. The fledgling has never flown in his life. The ground is coming up, his heart is ready to burst, and he knows there is no way he is going to survive. But, the mama eagle is watching closely and at the last moment she swoops down and catches the baby eagle. The mama eagle then flies back up and lets go again. She does this until he learns to fly.
The Bible says that God bore the Israelites on eagles' wings. When they had no water or food, He swooped down and provided it for them. When Moses faced the Red Sea, God swooped down and parted it. When the walls were falling down in Jericho, God swooped down and saved Rahab and her family. When you were wandering lost in life, He swooped down and saved you through Jesus. God always leads His people to victory!
In 1 Samuel 20, David is separated from his best friend Jonathan. David realized Saul’s intentions to kill him. So David ran. But in reality, where could he have run? When your king is searching for you, there aren't many places to run. Chapter 21 tells us he ran to Nob, where the temple of God and Ahimelek the priest were.
This is an interesting fact because most people instinctively run to their hometown. Detectives say that when people are chased by the law, they eventually end up in their hometown [home], which is where most criminals are caught. So we could expect David to run to his hometown, Judah; but instead he ran to the temple of God. In one of the most difficult times of his life, David sought to run to the temple of God or in our days, the church. He ran to the church. It’s as if David’s spiritual hometown was the church!
People often say I want to be like David. Then learn this, David loved the church! And when life got tough, he always found himself in the church.
Psalm 122 gives us a glimpse into David’s perspective of the church. David writes this song in praising the city of Jerusalem, where the temple of God stands.
v.1 | I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
David says he rejoices with those who ask him to go to the house of the Lord. It’s like one of your friends asked you to come to Disciple Church and you rejoice because this is the house of the Lord. We can flip this and say, he enjoyed asking people to come to the church for it is the house of the Lord! I pray that is the case with us as well. May you rejoice in coming and serving and loving Disciple Church! May you rejoice in asking people around you to join you in the House of the Lord!
v.6-7 | Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”
David says to pray for peace... the church is the center of God’s grace and peace.
When I was a young believer, I went to the church to pray in the morning before school. And on the way home, though it was out of the way, I would stop by the church to pray. I prayed all night at the church with my brother and friends. I prayed with my mom at the church.
I remember as a college student, our church was renting a building. One night, due to some misunderstanding, the owner of the building came to our worship service and drove us out of the building. Our college group went to my friend's church and we cried together to the Lord, “Give us a place to worship freely.” Through difficulty we learned the preciousness of church. When David faced hard times, he ran to the church. May we become like him. May we love the church. May our church become your solace, place of comfort, place to meet Jesus, place of shalom, and place of joy! May we rejoice in asking people to come to the Disciple Church for this is the house of the Lord! And may we enjoy calling our friends in Disciple Church to come to the church for this is the house of the Lord, where His presence is. May we all become lovers of God’s church, the bride of Christ. Blessings!
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