1 Samuel 22

The term “Guilty by Association” take center stage in today’s passage on the life of David. David is still on the run from King Saul. As a result, he finds refuge, but those who assisted him early in his flight are punished for helping him. Why would God allow something like this? In this chapter we clearly see that David is in the right while Saul is in the wrong. Saul, driven by jealousy instead of the will of God, wanted to punish David because he knew David would take power from him. It is a classic case of the ways of this world against the ways of God.

3 From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?" 4 So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold. – 1 Samuel 22:3-4

While most of this chapter is dry, I wanted to focus on this small section because it shows the patience David had. In the midst of everything, he knew that he still had to wait on God. He was trying to protect not just himself, but his family as well. Still, he knew he needed to wait on God. It wasn’t even about what he needed to do for God or anyone else. It was about what God needed to do for him.

I find this very hard to do, especially now. I feel like God is doing nothing for me because nothing ever changes. Things only seem to get more stressful and farther from God each and every day. Today is a prime example. I want nothing more than to retreat into my shell and just be with God, but I’m not even allowed to do that. I don’t want to speak unless spoken to by anyone here at work, yet that is an impossible request because of the nature of my job. I long for silence, but there is chaos and useless noise going on all around. David found peace and knew to wait for God even in the most chaotic situation of his life. I long to find a way to do the same.