When Life Doesn't Make Sense

Lets all be honest, there are times in life when things just don’t seem to make sense.  Everywhere you expect there to be an open door, the door is slammed shut.  Right after a great victory the floor caves in.  When one thing breaks, four others follow closely behind.  It doesn’t make sense!  It’s in these times when we look to the heavens and we say, “God!  What is up?  I am doing my best to follow you but nothing seems to be going right lately.”  I wonder if that’s how David felt in the years following his victory over Goliath?

            If you or I were in charge we may have looked at David at this time and said, “Yes!  Now is the time to make him king.  Samuel anointed him. He defeated the giant.  He’s our man!”  It makes sense, right?  But this is not what happens.  David never returns home after this fateful day.  He stays with King Saul and King Saul’s admiration quickly turns into a jealous rage.  David spends the next twenty years waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled.  Many of those years he spends as a fugitive running from a crazed king bent on killing him.

            So often, we spend our time looking at the injustice.  What happened to David was unjust.  He had done nothing to deserve a contract to be put out on his life by the king.  He served him faithfully.  In fact, David’s harp playing is the only thing that can calm Saul’s restless heart.  How does Saul repay this?

1 Samuel 19:10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

Saul tries to pin him to the wall with a spear!  Are you serious?  This is the thanks I get for delivering peace to your kingdom and to your soul.  The very man who should have been most grateful hated David, and for no other reason then sheer jealousy.  David could have spent all of his time seeking revenge and complaining about the injustice.  He didn’t though.  He continued to trust God and believe, that in His time, God will fulfill his promise to David.

            David become a fugitive.  Innocent of any crime, he doesn’t have a one-armed man to point to either.  His culprit is the King of Israel.  David has nowhere to turn.  He can’t go to his family, his best friend, his wife or even his pastor.  All of these crutches have been kicked out from under David.  David is so desperate and confused he actually tries to seek shelter in the camp of the enemy by disguising himself as a mad-man.  That doesn’t work real well either.  The only one David can turn to is God.  He finds himself, all alone, in a cave in Adullam.  God meets David in this cave.  God is always at work in David.  It is in this cave that David’s cabinet is being formed out of misfit and malcontents.   

I Samuel 22:2 All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

It took many years for God to fulfill his promise with David and I don’t know all the reasons.  I do know that God used all that time to form David’s heart and shape his character. None of David’s struggles were in vain.  David continued to trust God despite the circumstances.  Sometimes our struggles are just not going to make sense.  We can ask the questions, “Why is this happening?”, or “What did I do?”, but in reality life just doesn’t make sense sometimes.  Maybe we just need to learn to trust like David did.  Listen to the words of his son Soloman in Proverbs…

Proverbs 3:5,6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Have a great week!

Pastor Stan and Polly

Facing Our Giants

            Even though I love baseball, I was never really that good at it.  I had a friend who was really good.  He was a pitcher and had a possible future in baseball had he not blown his elbow out in college.  Too many curveballs as a youth, remember that parents, fastballs only until at least the teen years.  My friend had such a good curveball he would even show it to me before it came and I still couldn’t hit it.  He was my Goliath!  Every time I stepped into the batters box I felt like I was facing a giant.  I wish I could tell you some miraculous heroic moment I had against him but it never came.  I never had the confidence I needed against him. 

            David had confidence not just in himself and the training he had but more so in God and his ability to defend His own name.  David’s opponent certainly did not lack confidence, he scoffed at the idea of a teenage shepherd being the only one willing to meet him on the battlefield.  This is the best you have?  Listen to his words to David… 

1 Samuel 17:43 “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

If there was ever a chance to run, this would have been it.  Staring into the face of a nine-foot tall giant who is cursing you and your God.  David is a young, inexperienced shepherd.  What is he doing here?  There were many men hiding in the Israeli camp that were much more qualified to face this giant including King Saul, who is the tallest most impressive man in camp.  Where are all of these men?  They are cowering in fear.  David, however, has the heart of a king and will face anyone or anything that defies his God. 

1 Samuel 17:45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

            David, of course, did not go in without preparation.  Saul tried to prepare him by giving him his own armor and weapon.  These were far too big for David, they were not designed for him.  God had a different design for David.  He had been preparing him for this day for some time.  David had spent time as a shepherd where he developed an intimate relationship with God that we read all throughout the Psalms.  He prepared him as a warrior, defending his flock from the threat of lions and bears.  David was a marksman with a sling and stone, after years of training in the hills of Bethlehem.  David has been well prepared but the test comes in his recognition of the moment.  The moment is right before him and it is terrifying, much more so than a pitcher with a great curveball.  David steps into this confrontation with his confidence placed fully in God.  God is the one who has called him to be the next king.  God is the one who has given him victory over the wild animals that tried to prey on his flock while he was shepherding in Bethlehem.  God will give him victory over this giant as well. 

I never did learn to hit a curveball but fortunately never needed to.  The battlefield God chose for me was not on the baseball diamond and my weapon was never to be a bat.  I was not use the armor of the baseball player.  God had designed something different for me.  I had different giants to face.  Who or what are the giants you face?  Do not run and hide from them.  Face them with the full confidence of a child of God.  He goes before you and can help you have victory over any giant.  Have a great week!

Pastor Stan and Polly