Scripture Passage
Scripture Focus
So Saul quit chasing David and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape (1 Samuel 23:28 NLT)
Observation
What great reading today—what *real* people! And how is it that surly men get with beautiful wives? (Yeah, I know what you’re thinkin’—but I’m not talking about me!) And that’s all I’m saying about Nabal and Abigail. Because what I really enjoyed reading today was a new name for an old mountain.
Saul is in pursuit of David…each on opposite sides of the same mountain…a great game of cat and mouse (well, easier said when you’re not the mouse). And when it looks like the game’s about over—all of a sudden, out of the blue, the Philistines attack again. “So Saul quit chasing David and returned to fight the Philistines” (1 Sam 23:28).
What a “coincidence”, huh?
It’s not just God’s protection of David that’s encouraging, but also the fact that a previously generic stronghold—“the great rock”—now has a new name. “Ever since that time, the place where David was camped has been called the Rock of Escape” (1 Samuel 23:28 NLT).
An old mountain got a new name. What had been, perhaps, an obstacle in the past—just a big block of granite that got in the way—now becomes a testimony to God’s grace and deliverance.
Makes me wonder what victory God wants to bring in my life so that what was simply a “great rock” can become “the Rock of Escape”—a testimony to Him!
What I keep hearing God ask me when I read this is 'Why do you chase after that one person who you don't get along with?" "Why do you keep obsessing with someone who doesn't love you as I do and never will?" King Saul obsessively chased David for years and David continually tried to prove to him his loyalty..Saul just couldn't get it! God could have done so much more with Saul's reign as king but he just wouldn't stop seeing things his way instead of God's. As is the same for people in the here and now. I can try as hard as I can with the 'niceties' the compliments, patronization and doing kind things for these people and mean it with all of my heart as David did. I am learning that there are people who will just never let go of their bitterness for me and if I don't let go of them I will be just as guilty for trying to grasp something that isn't mine to behold. I don't want my passion for the Lord to be assuaged by the need to be accepted by the 'King Saul's' in my life.
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