Hunted

1 Samuel 19:1a, 4-10 (NLT)

Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David.
 
The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him. “The king must not sin against his servant David,” Jonathan said. “He’s never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could. Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great victory to all Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at all!”
 
So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.”
 
Afterward Jonathan called David and told him what had happened. Then he brought David to Saul, and David served in the court as before.
 
War broke out again after that, and David led his troops against the Philistines. He attacked them with such fury that they all ran away.
 
But one day when Saul was sitting at home, with spear in hand, the tormenting spirit from the Lord suddenly came upon him again. As David played his harp, Saul hurled his spear at David. But David dodged out of the way, and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped into the night.
 
 
Reflection:
 
Have you ever had an expectation for how something was going to go, but then it turned out very different? I have had this happen to me on more than one occasion, usually when I allowed my expectations to get way ahead of me. My husband is often on the receiving end of my wild expectations! It usually comes when we are planning a date, and I hit him with, “I don’t know what I want to do today, but I want it to be amazing!” Those kinds of expectations can often end in a bit of disappointment.

Well, I imagine this is how David felt in the passage above. He had just been anointed as the next king, and I am sure that came with an expectation of how he would be treated, or how his life would go until he got on the throne. But as we can see in the scripture, that's not at all what happened.

David had one of the most powerful men plotting to kill him several times. He had to flee from his family and live in caves for many years to stay alive. This must have been very hard, and when we look at the Psalms he wrote during this time, we can hear the loneliness, the questioning of where God is, and his desperate prayers to feel God's presence in his writings. Sometimes, in different circumstances, we can relate to this feeling of not being able to place God in your situation and wondering if God is even there.

How do we resolve this tension in our lives? The answer is simple to say, but not always as easy to practice. In those moments, when we barely feel God at all, we need to focus on our relationship with God, and not the outcome. Our hope must be in God, not in some expectation we created. Our minds can conjure up a million scenarios that we may think are better, but the reality is, God's plan will always be better for the big picture, even if we cannot see it. So, press into your relationship with God, and trust in how He leads and moves in your life.


Action Steps
 

1. In what areas of your life do you often find yourself forming unrealistic expectations or planning ahead of God?
2. Take a moment today to talk to God about what is going on in your heart and give it to Him. Allow Him to be in the driver’s seat of your life, and trust Him with the details. 

 
Prayer:

God, thank You for being a God that I can rely on to hold me in Your hands. It can be so hard to release control of my plans and expectations, but I pray that You will allow me to see Your hand in my life. Allow me to see You moving and working as I trust You with my future. I love You, amen.