Good Morning Friends,
“When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. Word came to Saul: ‘David is in Naioth at Ramah’; so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also prophesied. Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied.” (1 Samuel 19:18-21)
Though David had done nothing to harm Saul and had remained loyal to him, Saul still sought to kill David. David fled from the palace and made his way to Samuel to seek guidance from him. When Saul found out where David was hiding he sent his men there with instructions to kill David. Three times Saul sent men to where David was hiding and all three times the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul’s men and they were stopped from killing David. After those three attempts to kill David had failed, Saul came to where David was himself and the same thing that had happened to his men happened also to Saul. The Spirit of the Lord came even upon Saul and he began prophesying and was unable to kill David.
When he was afraid that he would be killed, David did not recruit an army to fight Saul in order to protect himself. He could have done that. He was the leader of Saul’s army and under David’s leadership the army had won great battles against the Philistines. There would have been many men willing to follow David’s leadership against a king they knew was wrong. But David did not seek protection in that way.
David did not flee to the enemies of Israel and become a traitor to Israel. It would have been a great victory for the Philistines to have David come over to their side. Although he had been their enemy, perhaps they would have allowed David to join them and participate in the fight to overthrow Saul. But David did not seek protection among the enemies of the people of Israel.
David sought protection in a strange and unlikely place. David sought protection from Samuel, the prophet of God. Samuel was a not a great warrior with a large army to offer David protection. The only protection Samuel had to offer to David was the Lord. And it was the Lord who provided the protection that David needed.
Where do you turn in times of trouble in your own life? Do you turn to places of human help or do you turn to the Lord? David turned to the Lord and found there exactly what he needed. So will we!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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