Kept!
Placing today's extract in context, this was when King Saul, a man who was anointed by God to be king over Israel, even prophesied at a point, had wandered so far away from God that an evil spirt was now troubling him. He knew David was anointed as his replacement, and would stop at nothing to kill David and hand over the kingdom to his son Jonathan. Quick lesson: being anointed of God does not take away your responsibility to guard what has been entrusted into your hands. Anointing is not an excuse for laziness or assumptions; I must keep at the work entrusted into my hands, if I will be all that God intends. At the same time, anointing does not keep me from trials and tribulations. Being on assignment for God doesn't guarantee a stress-free life; ask men like Stephen, anointed as a deacon, yet stoned to death. Ask James, Paul, Peter and Jesus, men who had the unmistakable imprint of God upon their lives, yet their stories show that God's path to greatness and impact usually lies through the midst of storms and trials.
Yet another quick lesson: how you face the certain trials is a reflection of your personal walk with God. There are men like Elijah who simply gave up when things got tough and told God they had had enough. Before I think he gave up too easily, as I look at my own life, haven't there been times when it was easier to compromise and blend in rather than stand up for God? Haven't there been times when joining the crowd was the only sane thing to do at the time? David too had his moments of weakness and doubt but from today's extract, one thing is clear: he knew God on a personal level.
How does a man sing of God's power if he has not experienced it? How does a man sing aloud of God's mercy and risk embarrassment and ridicule, if he has not personally experienced that mercy? The BUT at the beginning of today's extract makes it clear that the decision by the writer wasn't based on people's opinions or popular choice or whatever had gone before, but from a personal knowledge and experience of the One he was singing about. When I sing or shout about God, am I doing it from a personal experience of Him, or only from what I have heard people say about it? Is all I know about God from other people's stories or from personal accounts?
Today's extract shows off that relationship. For every personal experience of trouble, God had an answer. It didn't matter that trouble came; it mattered that God showed up when it really mattered. Trouble is certain and is a part of the human experience, but so also is God's power and mercy. These are always available on call, but like David, I need to call upon God to activate them. Maybe this was why David was called a man after God's heart: he just won't keep quiet about his personal experience of God. He made God known as many ways as he could, and it was not a wonder that even with all his baggage, God gave him an eternal dynasty, with the King of kings coming from his lineage.
Have I really experienced this power and mercy? Do I know God on a personal level? Is He my refuge and defence, or just one of the many options I get to call on when I need to? Is He all I have or just one of my many things in my hands fighting for attention? Like David, who I know will determine how far I am kept and how my story ends. His time of favour is here.
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