ThroughSample

David was a man after God’s own heart.

Yet he was imperfect, fallible, fearful. So, what can we learn from him, in particular, regarding his own times in the wilderness? The sheer volume of what is written about or by David in the Bible urges us to look at him more closely.

Firstly, David knew the wilderness. He knew how to cope in the barren places, having had plenty of experience during his childhood days as a shepherd. He knew what it was to be alone and how to fend for himself and his sheep. It’s heartening to see how God often does this, preparing us many years in advance for our time of isolation. We’re given no clues regarding any interaction he may have had with God prior to the day when Samuel arrived at his father’s house to anoint him as the new king. What we do know is that “from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David.”

As we trace his story in the Bible, it becomes evident why David can teach us much. His ability to survive in the physical wilderness is obvious, as we see when he’s on the run from Saul and then later from his son, Absalom. But it’s in the way he deals with spiritual dryness and the potential separation from God, which is most revealing.

Psalm 57 puts his fear into words. This cry from the heart came as Saul pursued him across the desert. This was the same Saul who previously enjoyed David’s music and his presence but who then saw only the threat of God’s anointed taking over his throne. The Psalm veers from panic to praise. It demonstrates both his vulnerability and his trust in the God who had proven himself able to rescue.

This is the same David who was ordained by God to be the next king. A man unto God’s own heart. Slayer of Goliath. Yet he suffered the same terrors that we do. We’ve all been at the receiving end of people “whose tongues are sharp swords”. Many of us have felt as if others are waiting to “spread a net for [our] feet”, just waiting to trap us in humiliation and shame. Fear is real and it’s paralysing.

But it’s worth examining in Psalm 57 how David deals with his anxiety. He brings all the threats to God. He lists them. He trusts them to God, and even as he does so, he praises him. In the darkness of the cave where he hid from Saul, and in the suffocating fear which took hold of him, he praises.

Then, many years later, David had to flee once again. This time it was his own son, Absalom, who turned against him, as he attempted to supplant the king. Once again, as the wilderness became his protection, he turned to the Lord, as we read in Psalm 3.

The threats against him were no less real than when Saul pursued him. The devastation must have been all the more severe, though, as it was his son who sought his life. Yet there’s a change in the words we read above, compared to those in Psalm 57. David tells us that many say, “God will not deliver him,” and yet he knows otherwise. He speaks over his life what he knows about God’s faithfulness in the past: God is a shield. He is my glory. He answers me. He sustains me. As a consequence, he is able to say, “I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.”

David’s experience of God’s power to save and of his faithfulness was what sustained him. This is a powerful lesson for us. So often, when we feel overwhelmed by circumstances, we panic. We forget the lessons of the past. We try to cope in our own strength instead of falling back on God’s promise: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

It’s a powerful action to speak his promises back to ourselves, and not to allow fear to gain a foothold in our situation. It’s not about pretending that the situation isn’t threatening, or frightening, or even deadly. David doesn’t do that. Rather, it’s a reliance on the one who is able to sustain us through it and who has the power to deliver us from it. It’s speaking light into the darkness and then releasing the situation into God’s hands, trusting that he has the ability to save.

Each of us is a man or woman after God’s own heart. When fear rattles our faith, we are to remember his faithfulness. To speak it over our lives. When we fall short, we should admit it to God and turn back to him. Once it’s confessed he removes it completely: “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” He calls us to a life of walking intimately with him, unhindered by the chains of doubt and fear which Satan loves to throw around us. Hopefully we can also say each day, as David did at the end of Psalm 51, “Praise the Lord, my soul.”

A few thoughts to ponder:

• How can David's life (and the life of many other weak, fallible individuals in the Bible) give us hope that God still loves us and that he is willing to forgive our sins and failures, if we turn to him?
• How can you intentionally 'speak God's promises back to yourself' in the days to come, while trusting that he is a loving and faithful Father?