God is a refuge for all who will turn to him. King David was on the run with no-one to help so he calls out to God for mercy and grace …. finding it in ‘the shadow of his wings’.  Jesus uses a similar expression when he speaks of his desire for ‘Jerusalem’ to gather together under ‘wings’ in a similar way. This poses a question for us .… are we willing to take refuge under God’s wings?

We further find in this passage that King David’s hope was that one day God’s glory would fill the earth. This is to be accomplished through the spread of the ‘good news’ of what Jesus’ has done by dying on the cross and then coming back to life.

King David promises that he will sing because of God’s great love to him. We can also sing for the same reason which is God’s great love in Jesus Christ, who is the perfect refuge, providing forgiveness forever through grace.

 

 

 

Fear can put us under pressure to escape from a situation. It can lead to a wrong course of action which is out of character. Fear can be used to obtain control over others but it is faith which must have the upper hand.

King David did not always respond correctly to fear ….. on one occasion he even pretended to be ill in order to obtain deliverance. In this passage, which was written by king David, we also see that He called upon God in his distress. He trusted in God and knew that God was for him and so he says ‘what can man do to me’.

The coming of Jesus Christ will cast out fear for all those who trust in Him. Death will then never be the last word in our life. God’s grace in Christ secures an everlasting pardon for all who call upon Him. This is what David was pointing forward to. Faith wins over fear.

 

 

 

In this passage we see some very important things about the Law …… it reveals wrong but it cannot make a person who tries to keep it right with God. Why is this? Well the reason is that the Law is spiritual and reveals our innermost failings in a way that makes it impossible to keep. This is because we are ‘fallen in Adam’. In other words we are born with a direction in us which is away from God’s perfect right-ness.

How then can we be right with God? The illustration at the beginning of the chapter tells us. We must ‘die’ to the Law (ie. not  try to justify ourselves by our attempts to keep it) and become ‘married’ to Jesus Christ ( justified by trusting in what He has accomplished for us).

There is also another danger which is like having divided loyalties …. trying to be made right by keeping the Law and also coming to Christ for the ‘free’ gift of forgiveness. It cannot be both ways because you are trying to buy one and get one free. It’s not free if you have to pay something to get it. The gospel way, however, is truly free because Jesus paid the price for what we freely receive by faith.

 

In this passage the apostle Paul sends a reminder. He tells the people that their struggle ‘is not against flesh and blood’. Too often we think in terms of what other people are doing to us personally and respond in a direct way against them in order to justify ourselves. Here we are told that the battle is actually against forces which we cannot see ….. ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’.

This raises a question. How is this different kind of battle to be fought? Paul tells us this also. The weapon of this warfare is prayer which is connected also to the word of God. Prayer focusses our attention on God and His power which is the gospel message. It is this alone which can truly reconcile enemies because it brings people into a right relationship with God and therefore one another. In the gospel there is no need to justify ourselves because everything is done for us in Jesus Christ.

The hand is a very important part of the body. It is also a symbol of God’s care for his people. In a number of ways we can see it in this passage. Firstly, there is his guiding hand. The anointed king, David, inquired of God before making major decisions. In doing this he was protected from making big mistakes.

Secondly, there is his strengthening hand. David didn’t know when or how the fulfilment of God’s intention to make him king would take place. David had also learned that the existing king, Saul, was coming to kill him. Then we see David’s friend, Jonathan, comes to him, in God’s providence, and reassures him that he will not die and that he will be king over Israel.

Finally, there is God’s delivering hand. Just as Saul is closing in on David he receives news that the Philistines are raiding the land. Saul breaks off his pursuit of David and escapes to the strongholds of En Gedi. Here is a beautiful picture of the deliverance Jesus provides. Through His pierced hands and body, which were nailed to the cross as a substitute, prisoners of sin are set free.

How we see God affects how we see people. In the passage we find that king Saul’s horrific actions were the opposite of what he should have been doing. His heart was against the Lord. The reason for this is that he had forgotten something.  That something is that all people are to be valued because they are made in the image of God.

By way of contrast, David, even though he had not killed the priests, felt that he was indirectly responsible for their deaths. This was because of the circumstances involved. David’s willingness to accept the blame showed that his heart was for God.

In a way that is not often considered though, there is a sense that everyone has caused the death of a priest. Jesus, the Great High Priest, died on the cross for the wrong things his people have done. He however can never be destroyed. He was brought back to life so that we could have a heart for God.

 

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.

 

In this passage it shows that “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” Rom 5:20 (NASB) The general effect that the Law has on mankind is to reveal sin. Because of the fall, sin is the master or ruler …. it is said to reign in death.

However when, by God’s grace, people receive a righteousness (i.e. as if they had kept the Law perfectly) through faith in Christ, it sets them free forever from having sin as their master…. “so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom 5:21 (NASB)

 

Many people are interested in the future because they want to make the right decisions today. The nation of Israel and Israel’s king were to follow God and trust in Him for the future. King Saul, however, disobeyed God and in doing this rejected Him. As a result, God rejected Saul as king and instead anointed David to lead His people.

In the passage, we see that Saul’s son Jonathan had realized that David would be the next king of Israel. Jonathan had made the right decision about the future by giving his allegiance to David. This enraged Saul who tried to kill both Jonathan and David but it only bound them closer together in love.

In all this we see a picture of God’s anointed King, Jesus Christ, who is descended, in the earthly sense, from the line of David. It is important to make the right response to what God has done in Him. His rule is established through what was accomplished at the cross and in His resurrection ….. forgiveness for sin. ‘Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.’

 

People are either for or against Jesus … no-one can avoid Him. The writer H. G. Wells said: “ I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

 

In this passage we find how people responded to His predecessor, David.  Jonathan, king Saul’s son, recognized David as the Lord’s anointed. The people loved David because he fought  their battles for them. That’s how it should be with people and Jesus. He fought and won THE  great battle at the cross. The death He died was not for His own sin but for others … all those who trust in Him.

 

With David we find that the very thing which evokes love from Jonathan evokes hatred from Saul.  Jonathan was for David …. Saul was against him. When it comes to Jesus people can be like Jonathan or like Saul but eventually everyone will acknowledge Jesus as King. The outcome is either life with Him or slavery to sin and death.