Astonished by God . . .

 

READ 1 Samuel 19–23

The sovereignty of God is on my mind these days. Many of our friends ask for changes in their circumstances, mainly health issues. Others, me included, wonder about the shootings and other forms of violence in the world. Watching the news is painful. Is God sleeping? Does He merely watch? Is His care reserved for only a special few with more faith than anyone else?

Today I read of OT incidents in the life of David. I know this man was chosen by God to be king, but before he was crowned, the current king was bent on killing him. Amazed, God was in that bent, yet at the same time, not allowing it to happen . . .

And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. (1 Samuel 19:8–10)

God sent an evil spirit (He is the boss) so Saul would attempt murder? Astonishing! It didn’t stop there; He also sent His Spirit to do the opposite . . .

Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (19:20–24)

Also astonishing! And the story goes on to say that Saul’s son realized God was in all of it. He said to David, “May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.” (20:13)

Later, David saved the people of Keilah from the Philistines (23:1–5), but when Saul came to that city to destroy him, God told David not only that he was coming but when David asked, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” the Lord answered, “They will surrender you.” Thus David escaped again. He hid in the wilderness and Saul went after him there, but as Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.” At that news, Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Coincidence? Or God’s amazing timing? It happened too often to be mere happenstance! God is the boss.

The idea of God’s hand in everything is a strange comfort. Our friend was murdered. How does knowing God is in charge make that less painful? It doesn’t remove the grief, but knowing that a loving God allowed this without knowing the reason for it is comforting. It is not the unexplained actions of God that make a difference; it is what I do understand about Him that assure me.

The best revealed example of Him is that He took on human flesh and walked among us. He knows the human condition and the frailty of being human. But even more than that, He knows what failure and guilt feel like, not His own but ours — because He accepted it as His own and let the full power of all our sin and foolishness and guilt kill Him.

Of course He could not stay dead. He didn’t deserve death. He is everlasting life — and in the power of that life He walked out of that tomb. This shows me what He is like. This revealed His eternal plan, was His declaration of love for us who sin against Him, and His display of sovereign power over all things. We think we can rule our world, change the climate and all other annoyances, even plot the course of history, but this God that we cannot explain or fully understand shows up our folly when He sends evil spirits to influence a selfish king to try and kill a good man, and prophesying spirits to influence that same selfish king to prophesy truth. What do we know? Nothing compared to the God who created us and watches over us, undeserving and selfish as we are, and offers us eternal life with Him. Astonishing, totally astonishing.