Trials and tribulations
how David dealt with them by reminding God of what he said
If you’ve been alive a minute, you’ve run into a trial or tribulation or trouble of some kind, probably more than one. They’re part of the human experience. Even God said in John 16,
. . . in the world ye shall have tribulation . . .
It’s a guarantee, and it would be easy to get overwhelmed with all the negative things going on in our lives. That’s the way it is when you’re in the middle of it and can’t see your way out. If we could back up and get a bird’s-eye view, we might see things a little differently, but here we are, smack-dab in the middle of our chaos.
I’ve heard it said that if we all threw our problems in a big pile and saw everybody else’s, we would snatch our own back. I’m not sure that’s 100% true—or even very healthy. It’s not wise to compare our problems. Only God knows who needs what and he takes care of that much better than any of us could. Also, sometimes our troubles are just life happening without any orchestration from the Lord. Stove breaks? That’s life. Transmission goes out? Life. Cow miscarries twin bull calves? Life is just life-ing. Certainly God can use those circumstances to help us grow, and he often does. But in his sermon on the mount recorded in Matthew 5, Jesus tells those listening that
he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Sometimes life just lifes and no one is impervious to it. But wouldn’t it be nice to have ready-made instructions for when things go wrong? Kind of like the self-help part of the refrigerator manual where they give suggestions for things to try when the ice maker stops making. That’s what I need. If this . . . then do that.
I was reading the other day in 2 Samuel where Abner—Saul’s right-hand man—kills Asahel when the servants of Saul are pitted against the servants of David.
Of course, Asahel’s brothers, Joab and Abishai, couldn’t just let that slide, so they waited patiently for their opportunity to avenge their brother because that’s what they did back then.
Eventually the opportunity presented itself and Joab killed Abner. So Asahel was avenged and they all lived happily ever after, right?
Wrong.
Even though Abner was on the opposite team from David, David recognized him as “a prince and a great man,” and mourned him accordingly. David spent most of the book of 1 Samuel refusing to kill Saul, even though God had already said David would be king and even though Saul repeatedly tried to kill David. Saul was an enemy of God’s man of the hour, but over and over again, David referred to him as “the Lord’s anointed” and would not harm him. It’s fascinating; you should go read it.
Did David have good reason to hate Saul? He did, but remember, David was a man after God’s own heart and this story shows just one way he earned that title.
David acknowledged that an enemy—Abner—was a prince and a great man, and then properly mourned him with honor. Then he said,
And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah [Joab and Abishai] be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
David never forgot who he was—a little boy keeping the sheep—and who placed him in his position—the LORD. He wasn’t so proud or self-absorbed that he could not admit he was weak—the man who, as a boy, killed the giant with one stone when the entire army of Israel was trembling in fear. The man who killed a bear and a lion while protecting his father’s sheep. The man of whom it was said he had slain his ten thousands. That man said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” He knew who he was.
Further, he could admit when something was too much for him. “These men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me.” Too strong? Too fierce? Too mean? Too much to think about? It’s hard to imagine anything being too hard for David after all the valiant fighting he’d done in his life. But by his own admission, they were “too hard for me.”
It’s pretty obvious throughout the Scriptures that David was not afraid of emotion. We see it clearly in the Psalms he wrote, and in his desperate grief when his wayward son Absalom was killed (2 Samuel 18).
In this story, a “great man” had been killed, and even though he was an enemy, David mourned his loss. He could have gotten righteously angry and gone after the sons of Zeruiah, but he was in a state of great sorrow, so much that it made him feel weak.
So what did he do? Just like when Ziklag was ransacked and all his men’s stuff was stolen, including all the wives and children, David encouraged himself in the Lord. He reminded himself that,
. . . the LORD shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness.
David admitted he was weak and in the same breath reminded himself that the Lord would handle it. He didn’t have to go after Joab and Abishai because God would take care of it, and better than a man could.
What trial are you facing? Is it too hard for you? Do you feel weak?
Take it to God and remind him what he said. Read through the Psalms and pray them back to God just in case he’s forgotten (he hasn’t, but it will be a good reminder for you).
Thou art my help and my deliverer . . . (Psalm 40:17
The LORD is my rock . . . in whom I will trust (Psalm 18:2)
I will say of the LORD, he is my refuge . . . (Psalm 91:2)
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? (Psalm 118:6)
He’s given us enough promises in his word to cover whatever troubles you’re facing. Go find them.
Hi Karen. This was good!