“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.”
Psalm 31:14-15a
When David wrote Psalm 31, he was on the run from King Saul, who wanted to kill him. After pleading with God to deliver him and expressing deep anguish about his situation, David boldly declared his trust in God’s sovereignty. Despite everything he was going through, David had confidence that his times were in God’s hands. In another Psalm, David reaffirmed that confidence by praising God that every day of his life was written in God’s book before he was ever born. (Psalm 139)
Sometimes it is hard to see God working in our lives. This is especially true when we suffer loss. Whether we are grieving the loss of a loved one or another type of loss, it can be so hard to understand why God would allow that kind of pain into our lives.
David understood pain. At first, his life was amazing, full of blessings and favor. He was an anointed harpist, whose music drove evil spirits from the king and landed him a place in the palace as the king’s armor-bearer. He was the one chosen by God to succeed Saul as king. He was a mighty warrior whose God-given victory over the giant gained him great favor with the people, the love of the king’s daughter, Michal, whom he married, and the devotion of the king’s son, Jonathan, who became his closest friend and confidant.
But then it all changed very quickly, and David was forced to escape the palace and flee from Saul. The Bible is not clear about the length of time between David’s escape and the death of Saul, but most scholars believe it was somewhere close to a decade. During that time, David was forced to live in caves in the wilderness while Saul “sought him every day” (1 Sam. 23:14). He had to seek refuge for his parents from the king of Moab to protect them from Saul. At one point, he even had to align himself with the Philistine army, whom he had previously defeated in his battle with Goliath. However, just like everything else in David’s life, God redeemed for good what the enemy meant for evil.
Here are a few of the good things that God brought out of that difficult time in David’s life.
- 1/3 of the 75 psalms that David authored were written while on the run from Saul.
- David and his men protected the property and livestock of Nabal and others in Israel.
- God built a strong, loyal army for David that would remain with him for the duration of his life and reign as king of Israel and Judah.
- David and his men saved the people of Keilah from the Philistines.
- David defeated most of the Amalekites and rescued all the women and children they had kidnapped.
David would not have been the great king he was without the struggles he endured. Like Joseph, Daniel, Jonah, Abraham, Jacob, Esther, Ruth, and others, David’s pain and hard times were instruments through which God fulfilled His promises to them and led them into their destinies. It is easy to look at these people and think that we are not on their level or that God cannot use our struggles in the same way. While it is true that God used most of these people in extraordinary ways, it is important to remember that they all started out leading very ordinary lives. They all had their own struggles with sin and doubt. They were all imperfect people whose lives were directed by God in spite of themselves and in spite of all that the enemy used to try to turn them away from Him.
Even when it is impossible for us to understand, God is sovereign and if He allows something into our lives, He will use it for good because like David so eloquently wrote, our times are in His hands. If we draw closer to God in the midst of our storms rather than allowing them to drive us away from Him, He will get us through the hard times and bring us out to see the sun again and like Job, we will experience the restoration of God in countless ways. We must always remember that our God is a good God who loves us and that everything – absolutely everything – He does or allows is only for our good and for the good of others. Make the choice today to put whatever is hurting you into the hands of your Creator and trust Him to redeem it. You will never regret it and you will see the promises of God come to pass in your life.
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