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Have you ever looked at a passage of scripture and thought… what in the heck is going on here? I have to be real with you, when I first started studying 2 Samuel 21, I didn’t particularly like it. We find King David towards the end of his reign. He’s older. He’s lived some life. He’s had some huge successes and some massive failures, and if I were writing the story, at this point, I would see him comfortably reflecting on his life as he enters retirement. However, when we look at this passage of scripture, that couldn’t be farther from what is happening.
In a nutshell, David and his people are in the middle of a three-year-long drought that has resulted in a famine. They’re starving to death. While David has made plenty of mistakes in his life, in verse 1, he gets things right and cries out to the Lord for help! Unfortunately, God reveals that Saul’s bad choices and the breaking of a covenant are what is causing the drought/famine. Long story short, David has to give up 7 of Saul’s sons to the Gibeonites to make amends to the broken covenant, and these guys are killed! After that David finds himself battling giants AGAIN, while at war with the Philistines. Verse 15 points out, “And David grew weary.” (No kidding!) The chapter concludes with more giants and more fighting and more winning for David… and then it’s over.
I have been wrestling with this scripture for several weeks. Life has thrown me some curveballs I wasn’t expecting and more than once I have found myself asking God, “Ok, now what?” For me that is the big take away from this less than chipper passage. In the middle of the chaos of life, regardless of what is going on around us, God is available and willing to give direction… but we have to ask for it.
Philippians 4:6-8 reminds us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the PEACE OF GOD, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus.”
It is my genuine prayer that your day is filled with that perfect peace.
