In The Smelting Pot

1 Samuel 24:10 (KJV) Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed.

David is called “a man after God’s own heart”. There is no one thing that can be pointed to that would fully explain this description but I believe that the story recounted in 1 Samuel 24 helps to explain God’s regard for His servant David. David was on the run for his life. Saul, the King who David had been anointed to replace (but not just yet it would take 15 years from anointing to appointing), was determined to kill him. David and his men were hiding in a cave that Saul went into leaving his guards outside the cave.

For you Bible scholars the King James uses a euphemism in translation, “cover his feet”. As a child, I was always taught that Saul was sleeping. He wasn’t. This was an old English way of saying “answer the call of nature”.

As Saul was preoccupied, David’s men saw this moment as a chance for David to end his suffering and hiding by claiming what God had told him was his when Samuel anointed him King. Now all he had to do was kill Saul and take the crown. When we view our authority as the enemy it is easy to reason this way. We can fight against them and devalue them. Hasn’t God anointed my life? Don’t I hear from God? We can see all their faults and failures (often pointing them out to others) and feel like it is up to us to remove them from their position.

David didn’t see it this way. With all human reasoning telling David to attack the King, David refuses and honors his authority. The way we view and treat those in authority over us is directly related to the growth of our faith. When Jesus saw the Centurion, who spoke wisely of those in authority, He declared that in all of Israel He had not seen such great faith. Instead of killing Saul, David secretly cut off a piece of his robe and then watched as his tormenter walked away unhurt. David actually protected Saul from death at the hands of David’s friends.

We could learn a lot from David. In the smelting room of God’s furnace when the heat was applied, David came forth as gold. When we feel wronged do we lash out and try to seek revenge or do we wait on the Lord and show honor and love even to those that despitefully use us? This is perhaps one of the hottest parts of God’s oven but it is there that the image of Christ is brought forth.