Sometimes we suffer for what is not our fault or for no apparent reason.

 

When we come to this passage, we shouldn’t ignore the significance of Saul’s continuing attempts on David’s life because it reminds us of how we sometimes suffer. The danger is that our suffering for what is not our fault may give us a sense of entitlement to do wrong.  Everywhere David went, at this time, was hostile territory. He needed to remember that his capacity to survive suffering is dependent on God not ourselves.

Unfortunately, David pretended that he was insane and that everything was falling apart. When we suffer we often pretend that everything is OK. This is in order to protect ourselves. Eventually David realized that it was in God that he would survive and so he wrote about God as his ‘refuge’. God is the only one who can really protect us.

Often when we are in the ‘cave’ of our suffering we don’t want to hear God’s voice …. but when we do hear it we find it is a bit like hearing the voice of a parent. God’s word can go deeper though, and this is the only way we can heal. It forces us to look at our Saviour. Jesus suffered the unimaginable so that one day we won’t have to suffer …… His suffering is the remedy for ours.