1 SAMUEL 18 - BEING SECURE IN WHO YOU ARE IN THE LORD

1 Samuel 18

In the previous Chapter, David had just completed his legendary victory over Goliath.  It was his faith and trust in God that had given him the victory against odds that were overwhelming humanly speaking.  In Chapter 18, he is going to face a new set of challenges, but he will also overcome them by faith.

David was still a young man.  Yet, as a result of his victory over Goliath, he was given an audience before Saul the king.  While speaking with Saul, Jonathan, Saul’s son, heard David’s heart for the Lord, and saw him as a brother.  The earthly difference between Jonathan and David was great.  Jonathan was the first born son of a great King, whereas David was the last born son of a humble farmer.  Yet, in the Lord, they found great kinship.  Many times, we find that we have more in common with fellow believers than even our own family members who don’t know the Lord.  In any event, Jonathan and David become fast friends, and so Saul invited David to live in the king’s palace. 

Jonathan was moved to give up his robe, as well as his armor, sword, bow, and belt, to David as a sign of the covenant of their friendship.  As the first born son of Saul, Jonathan was next in line for the throne, and these things were all symbols of his heirship to the throne.  Yet, in an incredible act of submission and friendship, he gave these things to David.  Jonathan must have seen in David that he was destined by the will of God to one day be king of Israel, and he did not want to stand in the way of God’s plan.  

Jonathan submitted his own will and plans to God’s will and plans.

Saul also saw that God’s hand of anointing was on David, but his response was quite different.  He became quite jealous of David and did all he could to eliminate him as a threat.  He first tried to kill David not once, but twice, with a spear in his own palace.  When that didn’t work, he then put David in charge of military expeditions against the Philistines in the hope that this would get him killed.  When that didn’t work, he promised David his daughter in marriage if he would bring him the foreskins of 100 dead Philistines, hoping that trying to do this would for sure get him killed.  David made it through that trial as well, and even managed to bring Saul the foreskins of 200 Philistines without getting killed.

Throughout all of these trials, David just kept trusting in God.  But, more than that, David was secure in who he was in the Lord, and in God’s plan for his life.  He knew that God’s loving hand of provision was on him, and that was enough for him.  

Like his best friend Jonathan, he was able to submit his will and his plans to those of God, and he was patient to let God carry them out.  

Saul was different, however.  He was impatient and insecure, and was desperately trying to control things, so he came up with every deceitful scheme he could think of to thwart God’s plan for David.   Even though his own son was not desperately trying to hang on to the opportunity he had to be the next king, with all the power that came with that, Saul was doing all he could to hang on to power.  It is a dangerous sign when a leader is jealous of a subordinate that God is using for His service.  It leads to bitterness and resentment, and causes the leader to look for every opportunity to discourage the other person and drag them down in the hope that they will give up.

So, what was it that allowed to David to hang in there, put up with all of Saul’s abuse, and patiently wait for the unfolding of God’s plan for his life?  Well, David knew that God was sovereign & in control of all things.  David was a shepherd, and he understood that God’s heart was the heart of a shepherd, and that he will always protect and provide for his sheep, and David knew that he was one of God’s sheep.  1 Samuel 17: 45-46 says that David did battle with Goliath in the name of the Lord, and that he fully trusted God to deliver Goliath into his hand.

David was fully secure in who he was in the Lord, and so he was not worried about what others thought of him, said about him, or tried to do to him.

Knowing that God was in control, and that God was his shepherd, he had no need to take things into his own hands.  It is when we learn and come to know who we are in Christ, that we are His beloved, whom He gave Himself up for and died for, and that because of His sacrifice on the cross, we are fully right before God, that we will stop striving to make everything turn out the way we think it should be, and will enjoy the freedom and the peace of letting God be God and be in control of our lives and of everything going on around us.