Ep 608 – 1 Samuel 22:14-23

Have you ever experienced dark days? Of course, you have. We all have. Even as followers of Christ, we can find ourselves walking through what David once described as the valley of the shadow of death. Faith in Christ is not some kind of spiritual force field that protects us from days filled with difficulty or moments that bring despair. One of the things about faith is that it is based on what is unseen. The author of Hebrews put it this way: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). And in 1 Samuel 22:14-23, we will see David having to place his hope in God when everything around him seemed to be spiraling into a black hole of doubt and despair. His actions had resulted in the slaughter of the priests of God, their families and all the citizens of Nob. And he felt responsible, even though the genocide was the work of Doeg the Edomite, under the orders of King Saul. David couldn’t believe what he had heard. He was shocked at the ungodly actions of the man who was supposed to be the shepherd of Israel. But through it all, David was learning some costly, yet invaluable lessons about trusting God.