God’s Grace in a Godless Place

 

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9

 

The goodness and the grace of God are all through the Book of 1 Samuel. He is shown again and again to have been the Provider and the Protector of His people.

As I am coming to an end of my study of 1 Samuel I realize that it is like reading a good novel. I have come across characters I love like Hannah, Samuel, Jonathan, Abigail and David. The book contrasts these “good guys” with people who are much harder to take like Eli the priest and his sons, and Saul who by the end of the book you just want him to die and leave David alone!

Then, we get to chapter 27. By this time in the book Saul has wickedly attempted to kill David several times. David has had opportunity to end Saul’s life and he refuses to. He will not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and as King, Saul is the Lord’s anointed. Though this is admirable and clearly what he knows God wants from him as I read I think, “Why not? Saul deserves to die.” David never takes his opportunities to kill Saul, to the disgust of the men who are running for their lives with him.

Up to this point David has shown absolute and resolute faith in God to care for him and to protect him. He does a couple of wily things to protect his own life, like pretending he’s crazy one time and lying outright another time, but overall his faith is firm. He obviously relies on God and believes His promise that he will become King.

In chapter 27 David has just walked away from his second opportunity to kill Saul who, in turn, has been trying to kill him. He is tired. He has about 400 men and their families that travel with him who he feels responsible for. He is at the end of his rope with Saul’s reminders that David will take over the Kingship one minute and throwing a spear at him the next. So, David decides to move into enemy territory to escape Saul’s pursuit of him.

Wait! Where is his faith? What happened to the man who always trusts in God? The one who wrote in Psalm 34:2-8, “My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” David was choosing refuge in Philistia knowing God’s presence and blessing were in Israel.

Chapter 27 is Godless. David is worn out, he’s afraid and he doesn’t turn to God for a time while he’s in enemy territory with the Philistines. He kills whole villages leaving no one alive because he is actually fighting for Israel though the Philistine king is fooled into believing that his killing is against Judah and other Israelite towns. What David does is for self-preservation but the way he does it is nothing short of an atrocity.

The text reports the facts. The writer seems to understand David’s dilemma while not approving of his methods. (The Bible reports many things that it doesn’t approve of.)

David will become the King of Israel. He will be called a man after God’s own heart. How can this be? There is only one answer – God’s grace. In all of history, with the one exception of Jesus, who is also God, God has had no perfect people to work with. It is while we are still in our own sin that God calls us to work for Him. Perhaps we don’t think our sin is as bad as David’s sin of killing whole towns leaving no one who could give away his secrets – but we are sinners nonetheless, looking out for our own good. It is while we are still in these that God saves us from the terrible consequences of sin. (The wages of sin is death. Romans 6:23).

I often hear people say they think that God did not show grace in the Old Testament. David is living proof that God’s grace was as great then as it is now. He does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Like David, I deserve to die for my sin. Like David, the grace of God has forgiven me and given me a future and a hope in heaven. Maybe when I get there I’ll get to ask David what he was thinking about when he left the Promised Land to go to Philistia.  For now, I pray I’ll remember what happened to David when he was tired and overwhelmed with responsibility so I don’t leave God’s blessings and seek refuge in enemy territory.

You can read all about it in 1 Samuel.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight. Ephesians 1:7-8