”And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest.“
I Samuel 23:14-15 NKJV
a. The Wilderness of Ziph: Ziph was a town below the southern tip of the Dead Sea, with a dramatically varied landscape. It was not a comfortable or easy place to be. God guided and protected David, but it wasn’t comfortable or easy. This was an essential time for God’s work in David’s life. He became a man after God’s heart in the shepherd’s field, but he became a king in the wilderness.
b. Saul sought him every day: Saul was a determined enemy, unrelenting in his pursuit of David. Saul was so obsessed with killing David that he didn’t give attention to the work God called him to do.
c. But God did not deliver him into his hand: Saul can be as determined as he pleases but he does not dictate these events – God does. Man can intend, attempt, and work all kinds of evil but God is still in charge. (Guzik)
Wilderness
Every one of us has our time in the wilderness. It’s in that time that Gods builds us up for his purposes. It’s a time of schooling, a time of hard knocks!
David “became a man after God’s heart in the shepherd’s field, but he became a king in the wilderness.”
After we had adopted our son I was particularly having a hard time juggling work driving to and fro, about an hour and a half each way and dealing with our son’s daily crises. At one particular time I met with our pastor and told him I needed prayer for patience! After that prayer God took me into the wilderness and taught me how to be a father the hard way. It brought me to the edge of the precipice to the point of almost cracking. It was as if God was saying, you want patience? Have a BIG serving of chaos and eat it too! 😳
At that particular moment I did something I shouldn’t have done with my son because of his PTSD, I lost my temper and I got into his face and yelled at him. He went into fight mode and pushed me and I fell backwards and broke my wrist.
It was at that moment God said to me:
”And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.“
Ephesians 6:4 NKJV
I had my wilderness moment, was humbled and learned patience through the school of hard knocks! Through the surgery, pin removal, therapy and recovery I was reminded everyday by God that, “I prayed for patience” and He taught me the hard way how to be a loving father with “patience” in the same way God the Father had patience with me and my sinful ways.
Have you had your David moments in life when you “became a man after God’s heart in the shepherd’s field, but he became a king in the wilderness.”?
Blessings
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