1 Samuel 20:1-23

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah…

1 Samuel 20:1

We are mistaken if we think God is primarily concerned with delivering us from difficulty.

Having been providentially delivered from Saul, David could have assumed that this was an indication that his troubles would soon be over. God had openly taken a hand in David’s circumstances by providing a remarkable means of escape. But rather than become complacent, David continued to flee – seeking out Jonathan for an explanation of Saul’s continuing hatred. David seemed to sense that this wasn’t over yet. He had been burned enough times already that he suspected there was more to come, so he went looking for some explanation for his difficulty.
This is far different from the way most of us handle hard times. We seldom look beyond the removal of the immediate trial, and our prayers clearly indicate that our concern for deliverance is often greater than our concern for God’s glory. In an age of immediate gratification, we tend to see deliverance (i.e. our removal from a hard situation) as the greatest gift we can receive. It is the peculiarly evangelical form of the prosperity gospel: while we may not believe that God wants us all wealthy, we DO believe that He wants His children to be comfortable. This is the reason why we so often pray for deliverance from trials rather than pray for growth in faith and holiness. This is the reason why we do not have a well-developed theology of suffering (even though it is a major Biblical theme). Consequently, there is a vital lesson for us here in David’s experience. God allowed this particular trial to continue on in David’s life. It dragged on for YEARS! He may do the same with us.
In fact, we may go even further and assert that every one of God’s true children will have a “Saul” in their life – some person or circumstance that produces tremendous stress and tests us spiritually. James assumes this point when he tells us to be joyful WHEN (not if) we encounter various trials. (James 1:2) You see, God loves to strengthen our faith in Him and He chooses to do so through difficulty. James goes on in this section to assure us that “faith tests” produce spiritual endurance. Our Father is training marathoners, not sprinters.
God could easily have delivered David at any point in this years-long trial. Yet, it was during these difficult years that the seeds of David’s greatness were sown. He learned battle wisdom; his band of “mighty men” was formed; his family began to take shape. But most of all, David came to know God in a way that few others have even known Him. Show me a man who walks in close fellowship with God, and I will show you a man who has developed that fellowship through trial and difficulty.
So, God leaves trials, and sometimes even sins, in our life in order to teach us what we would or could not learn any other way. These long-term difficulties teach us to depend upon divine strength and not our own. (2 Cor. 12:9,10) They teach us that it is enough to walk with Christ, and that this can be done regardless of our outward circumstances. We also learn that God is able to give us joy IN the trials – even when He doesn’t deliver us. In other words, we gradually come to learn that the spiritual gains we make as a result of such trials are FAR more valuable than the temporal comfort we might have received through premature deliverance from them.
God had something beyond immediate deliverance in mind for David. And He often has the same in mind for us. This is the explanation for prolonged illnesses, interpersonal conflicts, financial struggles and family crises. As we struggle with our trials, may God enable us to look beyond the immediate circumstance, and give us grace to see our situation from an eternal point of view. May He teach us to trust His wisdom, to rest in his sustaining grace and to be assured that His power will deliver us from our trials at just the right time.