Aside from the extreme bloodbath that took place in these first chapters of 2 Samuel, we get some key insights into David's view of God's anointed. On two separate occasions, men approached David with the "good news" that Saul and members of Saul's family were dead. Now if I was in David's shoes, I would be jumping for joy at the knowledge that I would not longer be pursued by a devious, maniacal person who was planning on ending my life. David's response, however, was one of extreme grief. In spite of the very likely frustration of being pursued by Saul, David fully believed that he was God's anointed until the day of his death. And since he was God's anointed, who was David to bring his life to an end? If God wanted Saul to die of natural causes, couldn't he have orchestrated that? After all, does God hold our every breath? And so David came to the conclusion that Saul was around because God wanted him present. He understood the important lesson that God doesn't need our help in accomplishing His purposes. I don't mean to beat a dead horse here as I know I've talked about this several times in the last week or so. However, we need to learn the lesson of submitting to the authorities whom God has placed over us just as David did. He did not relish the fact that such grief was brought upon Saul's household because he believed that God placed Saul in authority for a reason. The same is true for us. The leaders over us are there for a reason, and we need to submit to them simply because God has allowed them to rule over us.
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