Inside-Out

David is anointed King. Its a story for children with low self esteem, or perhaps for any of us who forget that although "mortals see the outward appearance, the LORD looks on the heart." (1 Sam.16:7) Do you ever wonder how David felt about all this? Perhaps it appeared an opportunity to get away from the smelly sheep. Maybe it was just a chance to join the rest of the world after being 'banished' to the fields with duties left to the youngest brother. As conflict begins to enter David's life, I wonder if he ever missed those quiet fields?

It is interesting that from the moment "The spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David" (1 Sam. 16:13) his life gets VERY complicated. Yes, he gets to be King eventually and that has its own complications, but along the way he is put into the service of the current king, Saul, he ends up in battle with a giant, he gets pursued and fears for his life thanks to the king's jealousy, paranoia, and "evil spirit". The story of David's friendship with Jonathan is lifted up and made part of children's curriculum. (Let's all turn against our parents in favor of our best friend. . .?) We often skip some of the most interesting parts of David's life.

David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath. ¹¹The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” ¹²David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. ¹³So he changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence. He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. ¹⁴Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? ¹⁵Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”1 Samuel 21:10-15

David received God's blessing and answered God's call and life was exceedingly difficult, "interesting" at least. How do we received God's call? Do we only expect the blessing part and forget about the difficulties? Are we 'up' for "interesting" or must our callings be sweetness and light?

God's call comes to all people, thankfully in less dramatic form than David's call. We are all challenged to respond in trust, humbled by the fact that we are the chosen of God and hopefully prepared for all the "interesting" adventures that are part of God's call.