Lost in the woods……

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is so heartwarming to reach you through this column, conveying the Gospel of truth, justice and His abundant grace.

Years ago, there was an young man. He was the eighth son in the family. The youngest. There were warriors in his family serving the king. But he was relegated to be a shepherd boy managing sheep in deep woods.

Even as an young boy, he spent most of his days alone in the ravines and forests deep in the woods. His only companions were his shepherd’s rod and musical instruments in which he was skilled. He was blessed with reciting his own psalms praising God. Recently I was trying to imagine how it would be to spend long period away from home especially away from civilization and be in charge of a herd in an young age. Many nights he must have been lying down, looking at the moon and some times the dark sky with millions of stars silently glittering above. What stories they told him we do not know. What we know was that as he was singing and praising God, he was also intently listening for any unusual sound about any wild animal or thief trying to plunder the sheep. His sheep. At least twice he fought a bear and a lion tearing them apart and pulling out his sheep and saving them.

I have read somewhere that the legendary samson was not of six pack or physically astounding…But he was able to smash everything and everyone ( sometimes a thousand of them)  around him. This occurred whenever the Holy Spirit descended  upon him. I am sure that our boy also was chosen and anointed by God even while he was an young shepherd. Probably he would not have realized the same. But at least a few others including some in the King’s palace recognized it:

“ Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.”

( I Samuel 16:18 )

Yes, we are talking about the life and times of king david. 

But it appeared that his father did not share the same opinion about David. Later on, we see that his brothers admonished him for coming to the battle field. When prophet samuel asked david’s father to introduce his sons, somehow, he ignored or forgotten about David. When the prophet asked whether he had anymore sons and refusing take food unless he sees him,  then only he called for David. Normally we don’t avoid anyone in the family when a lunch is arranged with the great prophet of the land. That day David was anointed as King.

After the great days of defeating Goliath and thereby the entire Philistine  army and glamour of  women chanting and praising “ Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands” (I Samuel 18:7), came the dark days of wilderness again in his life. This time his herd consisted of like minded armed men and their families and his own. This lasted for many long years  before David would finally become  King.

The days of wilderness came again a third time when his own son Absalom rebelled against him. This time his herd consisted of his royal family and  his few supporters.

What comes to my  mind striking about King David is that each time he was driven to wilderness, he accepted it with  humility and implicit obedience and trusted the Lord. He weighed everything on the Lord. That is why we read that when everything around him crashed and his supporters where about to stone him : “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God”.(I Samuel 30:6). And his God was truthful. God said “   And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever ( 2 samuel 7:16 ). Later on the King of Kings, Jesus of Nazareth would come in the lineage of King David. The star of David is the pride of Israel’s national flag . Even they addressed Lord Jesus as “ Son of david”.

Prayer : Our dear Lord Jesus,

 we thank you for Your abundant grace and mercy on us, loving us, protecting us and guiding us. Our heavenly Father, please teach us to obey and cling upon You always, even in our wilderness or solitude and days of darkness, as king David did.

We thank you for blessing us.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen.   

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