Living After the Mountain Top
In the fairy tales, after the hero
slays the dragon, he is supposed to marry the princess and live happily ever
after right? David discovers in this section that, while slaying the giant was
an amazing feat that God accomplished through him, it wasn’t exactly his ticket
to the good life. While he was now rich and famous, his life was also perilous.
David continues to have success in battle and everyone in the kingdom loves
him. The text makes it clear that this success is from the Lord, the Lord who
was with David and not with Saul. This makes Saul, the king, very, very jealous.
Because David is so beloved, however, he can’t just kill him, so Saul plots
other ways to get rid of David.
Saul hated David because the Lord
was with him, and not with Saul. He decides to follow the time honored mobster
tradition of keeping “your friends close and your enemies closer” by trying to
get David married off to his daughter. David shows some political savvy by not
considering himself worthy of such an honor but eventually Saul comes up with a
bride price that makes it hard for David to refuse. Again we see that God is
with David as he brings a hundred Philistine foreskins to Saul in exchange for
his daughter Michal.
The political intrigue here is
messy and in the end no one really wins. Michal is used as a pawn by her father
and, even though she loves David, the text never says that David loves her
back. She will live a very lonely and tragic life treated more like property than
a person. Even though David wins battles and wins the girl, he does so like
jumping through the flame only to be rewarded by having to walk through a mine
field. He faces enemies on the battle field and on the home front and can trust
almost no one.
Lessons:
David’s reward for faithfulness so far is further trial and
testing but this time the enemies are more confusing and the right choices are
less obvious. We too often find ourselves in situations where the mountain top
spiritual experience leads to a disappointing, and even uncertain aftermath. We
need to choose to remain faithful to God in these murky times, even when we can’t
see the way through, even though we don’t know why God is working the way that
he is. Following God will always lead to ultimate blessing but often not immediate
blessing. This life is filled with the weedy, messiness of a sinful world, even
our own hearts. So we must trust in God and his word to see us through when we
can’t see for ourselves.
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