Beds, Barley, and Basins

Another battle for David.  His own son is conspiring against him.  It must just seem too much to handle.  I think of my sister who is facing the knife today.  It must seem surreal.  I think of another friend who feels like she is facing one setback after another.  Will our battles ever end?

David didn't know.  He couldn't see into the future.  He was forced to leave his palace and go back into the wilderness where he had just come from a short time ago.  I'm sure this seemed surreal to him, too.  Perhaps, like us, he asked, "Didn't I learn the lessons I was supposed to learn last time I was here?  Do I really have to go here again!?"

It was a test of loyalty for those who followed him.  Would they stand my him or side with his son, Absalom, who had now turned against him?  David even gave them a chance to leave.  One man in particular, Ittai, was told by David to turn back, but Ittai answered the king, "As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be." (2 Sam. 15:21).  My sister is finding this out, too, right now....all the people who are loyal to her.  A quick two week list of meals was sent out to the church, asking if people would be willing to sign up to help out her family.  It was filled up in very short matter of time, leaving some frustrated that they didn't get to sign up, too!  Loyal friends.  Willing to serve.  She's also been receiving cards in the mail daily, encouraging her.  Do we get sent into the wilderness for other reasons?  Is it possible that we get sent there to find God?  Hmm....that's a twist....we don't normally think that the wilderness is where we'll meet God.

Later, David is still wandering in the wilderness and a servant of Mephibosheth meets him, "with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine."  David asked, "Why have you brought these?"  The servant answered, "The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink."  He had thought of everything.  What an encouragement this must have been for David.  Being in the wilderness is not an easy place to be, but God often uses people in our lives to remind us He's with us even in the lonely places.  He often brings us donkeys to ride on, food to eat and wine for the faint at heart. 

However, Satan lurks in the wilderness, too.  He knows we're already down and it's almost as if he wants to make sure we stay there, discouraged, frustrated, depressed.  Right after this amazing encouragement, David passed by a men who started cursing him calling him "a worthless man".  How awful that must have been!  But David didn't fight back, though his men wanted to take the guy out.  He told his men, "Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to.  It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with god for his cursing today." (16:11, 12)  It's hard to imagine that the Lord told the man to curse him, but maybe He did!  Either way, God allowed it.  David chose to take it in stride and to see that God was sovereign, in control and that is was up to God to handle it ultimately.  David didn't need to return evil for evil.  It does say only a few verses later though that "the king, and all the people that were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan." (vs. 14)  I can see that!  Wandering in the wilderness, getting cursed - it's a lot to take!  I'm sure he wondered when it would end.  Yet, there they were at the Jordan, "And there he refreshed himself."  Give us refreshement, Lord! 

It seems to go hand in hand.  Weariness, yet an opportunity for refreshment.  Blessings, but then cursing.  I guess we shouldn't be so surprised when it happens in our own life.  Right in the middle of his struggle, David gets another blow.  He gets word that an attack is about to happen, but he's got the inside scoop, so he makes sure he crosses the Jordan, just in time.  Once again, a very difficult time, but more supplies are sent.  Two men "brought beds, basins, and earthen vessels, wheat, barley, flour, parched grain, beans and lentils, honey and curds and sheep and cheese from the herd, for David and the people with him to eat for they said, 'The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.'" (17:28).  So often, that is how we can encourage one another when we see another friend struggling.  With food!  Why is that so effective?  When I think through my day, so much of it is meal planning, meal prepping, shopping for the meal, cleaning up the meal.  If someone were to come in and take that burden off of me, I would be so grateful!  That is why going to a restaurant is so awesome!  It's not because the food is any better than I could make at home (though it often is!), but it's because I don't make it, shop for it, or clean it up afterwards!  Making a meal for someone allows them to be weary and/or to grieve without adding more weariness or more grief.

I'm already hearing amazing stories of encouragement about the body of Christ stepping in to help my sister.  None of these people helping her are taking away her cancer or are taking away her physical pain, but they are lifting her up emotionally.  They are meeting her in her weariness, in her wilderness. 

So many wander in the wilderness.  We all have our own different wilderness, the wilderness of sickness, marriage, debt, loss.  Reading about David and those who came alongside him is a good reminder to get out of my wilderness and help someone else in their's!  I get so inward focused.  Seeing others struggle is good for me in a way as it takes my eyes off myself and it reminds me that the universe doesn't actually revolve around me.  I need to get myself some "beds, barley and basins" and head out to find someone I can encourage, keeping my eyes open for those who are "hungry, weary and thirsty".