We last left David living beneath the stars of En-Gedi. He had experienced a good meeting with Saul. Still, could it be trusted? David wasn’t ready to go back to the palace at this point. Saul’s emotional roller-coaster traveled back and forth, up and down. No telling how he would feel about David tomorrow.
CELEBRATING IN THE WILDERNESS
So, perhaps it was that David found himself still living in the lush oasis of the En-Gedi area during the beautiful season of Fall. Maybe he was even there during the month of September or October when all of the land’s foliage is completely lovely.
I wonder if he and his mighty men celebrated the fall festivals while hiding together in the wilderness. In those days of David’s life, these renegade men and David were actually a lot like all of us. They had no way to be in Jerusalem. It was not safe for them to go to the Temple for worship.
Of course, there was one huge blessing. It certainly would have been easy to build a sukkah. The required branches of palm, myrtle and willow would have been easily available. Such shady shelters would have seemed very comfortable for David and his men.
BLESSINGS AMONGST TROUBLES
Surely they still remembered the feast. It seems logical they would have enjoyed the blessings of their year in the presence of God. I like to think they celebrated despite their circumstances. We all could take a lesson from this attitude.
Though David had his choice of many caves, he may have spent several autumn nights sleeping under the open skies. Some of those nights might have found him playing his harp and singing praises to God as he looked up and composed the Psalms. He could have composed some of those Psalms while looking through the cracks of the natural roofline of his three-sided sukkah in the wilderness.
WORSHIPING WITH PSALMS AND PRAISE
Unknown to him at the time, David’s troubles turned into a fruitful offering to God and the world with the Psalms he produced. Many of these Psalms written by David were prophetic in nature. They often pointed to the life and experiences of Yeshua who was known as “the Son of David.”
History eventually supplied the whole world with the rich blessings of David’s words and music. Today we are thankful for these passages of the Psalms which we think might have been composed in David’s hiding places. So many of them have been inspirational to our hearts. These writings are still blessing others. They have now been passed on through many generations. Each new generation seems to find their own comfort from David’s compositions.
Let’s think about that a bit. What have you done today that God may use to pass on to future generations for inspiration?
CHANGING THE WORLD
How will you pass on the story of what God has done in your life to others? We are all significant in the changing of the world in some small way. Why not be like David? Keep on going despite the setbacks. If you find yourself stuck, use that place where you are stuck to inspire others who may also be stuck.
God has a plan. Eventually it will come forth, but only when He is ready. Trust His timing and stay the course as David did.
THE STARS OF EN-GEDI
If David looked up into the skies on those clear cool fall nights, he would have been able to read his own life story in the stars. We know this because we have discovered God wrote the stories there even before David was born.
I’m fascinated with this amazing concept. It makes me appreciate an already beloved verse from Jerimiah 1:5. This is the verse which says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”
God is writing your story too.
Keep looking up.
You will see His will for your life if you stay focused on what He has to say.
Next week we will think more about David in En-Gedi. There are so many more stories hiding inside the stars. Let’s continue to explore them together.