AP

1 Samuel 26:12  So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left.  No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up.  They were all sleeping, because the LORD had put them into a deep sleep.

In this exciting ‘cat and mouse’ story in this part of 1 Samuel it is hard not to become emotionally involved in the drama itself.  We have a divinely-rejected, irrationally-jealous, mentally-unstable king, with a force of three thousand select troops, chasing a young fugitive with just a few supporters, but who has already been anointed as the king’s successor.  Two chapters ago, when David had the perfect opportunity to take matters into his own hands and to solve the problem once and for all by killing Saul, I confess that I voted with David’s men to assume that that was clearly a ‘God-moment’!

That he refused to take the opportunity was perplexing enough, but when he then decided to take Abner with him and stealthily enter the very heart of Saul’s heavily armed camp, my heart was in my mouth.  What could he be thinking of?  Given Saul’s mental state and his troops apprehension, what hope did he think he had of pulling off the important lesson he wanted to teach Saul?  Has David gone mad, too?

As I contemplated all this, I reflected on how David possessed a couple of qualities I wish I had in greater measure.  When he faced the ‘impossible’ task of fighting Goliath back in chapter 17, his whole confidence rested in his God alone.  I remember his saying to his antagonist: “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.  This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

And then in chapter 25, courageous Abigail gave him ‘prophetic’ confirmation to leave everything in God’s hands alone: “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The LORD your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the LORD’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.  When the LORD has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself.  And when the LORD your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”

And, on top of all this, why wasn’t it obvious to me that it was an easy thing for David’s God to visit Saul’s camp at the crucial time and ‘put them into a deep sleep’!  I must learn to worry less and trust God more.

– Bruce Christian