I was reading in 1 Samuel 23 in the last week of December and it ended up being one of the more profound chapters I had read this year. It almost seemed like it was intended as my "end of year" chapter.
In this section of Scripture, David is being chased by Saul and ends up being in several different wildernesses. Right away I could relate. It seems like I jump from one wilderness to another sometimes. David was in Ziph, then Maon, then Engedi. I can be in the wilderness of homeschooling unmotivated kids, to the wilderness of unwarranted fears, to the wilderness of just the plain unknown.....
David was in the wilderness, but it wasn't really his fault. He was being pursued by Saul, "Saul had come out to seek his life". This is how it feels sometimes - like we are being pursued. It really comes down to being chased by Satan. Saul hated David and wanted to somehow stop him from becoming king. Jonathan, his son, came to encourage David. He wanted him to know that he would be king and that Saul also knew this. I guess he just wanted to see if he could delay the inevitable and make it somehow more difficult in the process. In some ways he succeeded. It must have been discouraging for David, " And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.” Is not this the same with our enemy? He knows the story is not going to end in his favour, but boy oh boy, does he ever try to attack and defeat us along the way. But, not unlike David, we are also sent "Jonathans" along the way, people that come into our lives simply to encourage us to stay on the path. Jonathan literally tells David not to fear. I ALWAYS need to hear that, every day, sometimes 5 times a day. Jonathan's job is to remind him about the end, "You're going to be king. I know it, you know it and my dad knows it." We need to hear that, too. Jesus is coming back. You know it, I know it and Satan knows it. There will be victory....ONE DAY. Jonathan doesn't say when, just that it WILL happen. David needed to walk in that victory and so do we. We also need to be "Jonathans" to others that are feeling discouraged and share this same message to them.
However, despite his encouraging message, poor David keeps being pursued. Verse 25, "And Saul and his men went to seek him". David heard about this so quickly runs away again, but still....."And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon". David could not get a break! And again, this is how it can feel. We go from escaping a bad situation and yet we run into another one! Sometimes it almost becomes comical it gets so bad. In the next part of the chapter Saul and David are like a cat and a mouse running around the mountain - one going one way, one going another way - so funny if it weren't so awful for David! "Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul." At one point this year we had NO cars running well. We had taken 2 off of insurance and were left with the dumpy farm truck and my daughter's car, but then her car died. Now we were left with basically one dumpy car and it shut our life down. It seemed to go from bad to worse. People were lending us cars and we were borrowing cars and it just seemed like we were running around mountains. We know how David felt. But then....the best part of the story....at the last moment, the 11th hour...."As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, 27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines....." Suddenly Saul gets a text - Come home! The Philistines are attacking and we need you back here! Oh darn...I guess I'll have to get David later. WHEW! David must have been wiping the sweat off his forehead - thank you Lord! What a relief! And this is where I read the line of the year....."Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape" - The Rock of Escape - it could really be another name for God, another name for what He does for us all the time, all day long, all year long. He provides a Rock of Escape continually. He gives us a way out. For whatever reason, He allows us to be chased sometimes, maybe to teach us to trust, maybe to teach us to pray, or to stay humble, who knows, but He seems to consistently, in the 11th hour more often than not, provide a Rock of Escape. We just have to look back and see how He's done this so many times I can't count. With the cars, we finally got them all fixed and they were all back on the road and then 2 of them broke down AGAIN! Fixed one of them again and then weren't sure what to do about the other one as we thought it was going to be a huge cost, but it turns out, it was just loose wheels and cost $60 - so grateful. So now, back in business and feeling grateful for vehicles that run. We escaped "Saul" again.
We can look back on our year, let alone our life, and see the Rock of Escape so many times. I'm so grateful for this passage and for the reminder to look out for how God will be that Rock for us again in 2022. I've already seen it and we're only 12 days in....
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