Saul’s distraction

14. August 2009 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Our text for today is as follows:

I Samuel 23: 19 The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? 20 Now, O king, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for handing him over to the king.” 21 Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. 22 Go and make further preparation. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. 23 Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.” 24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David. 26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

In our story today, we still see the sovereign hand of God.   Saul got information as to where David was and when he went to kill him, a more pressing matter arose being that the Philistines were raiding the land.  Saul had to leave his pursuit for David and go and assure the nation’s safety.

God’s providence.   How Powerful.   No matter how close the enemy got, God always blocked him from getting to David.   God even raised up a foreign enemy to distract Saul from his obsession with killing David.  

We are nearing the end of Saul’s reign and the kingdom will soon be turned over to David but in all this, David is being trained to meet his destiny.   His men are being trained.  Yes, it is a terrible situation that they are end, but God is using it to build Israel a strong king and a strong army and turning David into a “a man after God’s own heart.” 

During this time that David is on the run is when he penned many of his psalms.   We find through the liturgy of song that David was becoming a worshipper, developing into a man that loved God and a man that craved  the presence of God.  I know you have heard me say this a lot lately but somehow this scripture is such a reality to me.   God does work all things together for our good. 

Have a wonderful weekend.   See you on Monday in webland.

God Bless  and don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily.

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