“But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines.” 1 Samuel 27:1
In this verse, we see that David is feeling discouraged by Saul’s continued attempts to kill him. Before this, there were two incidents where David had the opportunity to kill Saul. “Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.” (1 Samuel 24:4) and “So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left” (1 Samuel 26:12). David had been anointed by Samuel and knew God wanted him to be king. Yet when given the opportunity of killing Saul, David didn’t. David knew it would be wrong to take matters into his own hands. David said, “The Lord himself will strike him (Saul); either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 26:10).
This is different to Abraham’s attitude when he took circumstances into his own hands and had a child by Hagar, to bring God’s promises into existence by human means. Abraham created much hatred and tension because he didn’t wait for God’s timetable (Genesis 16:1-6).
David became king in God’s time and according to God’s agenda. David encourages us to “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14). How encouraging it is to reflect on David’s experience of having to wait to be made king when we’re required to wait for God’s timing.
