Dear God, Hard to see how all this happened. I had a great job which I loved and was very successful at. My best friend was the King’s son, Jonathan. I even married into the royal family when I took King Saul’s beautiful daughter, Micah, as my wife. Life was pretty terrific. Yes, my father-in-law was not known for his mental stability, but I found that playing a few of my tunes could calm King Saul down.
It was unbelievable how quickly the great times went up in smoke. The king began to perceive me as a threat to his throne. Saul actually gave out an order to have me assassinated. His son Jonathan, my dear friend, spoke up on my behalf and his dad rescinded the order. Everything again went well, but this was short-lived. I again began to meet with military success as the leader of the King’s army and my father-in-law once again grew obsessed with jealousy, believing that I was a threat to his throne.
This time my wife Micah got wind of her dad renewing the kill order. Micah pushed me to escape before the death squad arrived at my home. I fled to my mentor Samuel’s home town thinking that Samuel could save me, however God had a quite different plan to rescue me. After the assassins discovered I wasn’t at home, they picked up my trail and arrived at Samuel’s town, Naioth. Who would have believed it? The Spirit of God came upon the hit men and they began praising God, forgetting about their deadly mission. The same thing happened when the 2nd death squad arrived. The praise band was further enlarged when the 3rd group of henchmen arrived. No matter who arrived, the Spirit of God enveloped them. King Saul himself then decided to come and personally eliminate me but the very same thing happened to him as his hit men. King Saul stripped off his royal robes and began rolling on the ground, praising God. It was unbelievable!
While the praise group with King Saul continued in worship, I took the opportunity to make a getaway to Jonathan’s home. Jon had helped save my life before, so maybe he could do it again. Even though Jon was the king’s son, everyone had kept secret from him his dad’s most recent plans for my demise. During our intense conversation, Jonathan renewed his personal oath to me of faithful friendship and urged me to continue to hide. When his father got back in town, Jon risked his own life by asking his dad, King Saul, about his plans for me. Sadly, even though God’s Spirit had visited him at Naioth, Saul had not had a true change of heart regarding my fate. The King got so incensed with Jonathan’s questions that he threw a spear at his own son, confirming that indeed, Saul was totally possessed by his hatred toward me. Thankfully, King Saul had the worst aim in the world and missed hitting Jon with the spear.
Jon secretly let me know the King’s continued evil intentions. On hearing Jon’s info, I ran as fast as I could to the town of Nob. I didn’t have any weapons on me and was desperately hungry, so I went to the priest Ahimelech. I was exhausted. Ahimelech started shaking because he knew some of the dangers associated with King Saul. However, I lied my way out of those questions by saying I was actually on a secret mission for the King. I told Ahimelech I had to leave the royal household so fast that I didn’t even have food or my weapons with me. Naively, Ahimelech believed me and gave me some fresh baked bread from the altar. At the worship center at Nob was also stored Goliath’s sword. Ahimelech handed the huge weapon over to me. I regret to say that Doeg, Saul’s chief shepherd, heard this exchange and later reported it to Saul.
Now armed and fed, I was desperate and made a rather stupid decision. I thought I could find sanctuary with the Philistines, our sworn enemies, in the town of Gath. Word quickly got out among the people of Gath who I was. They captured me and brought me before their king Achish. I didn’t know what to do, so I took a cue from Saul’s ravings and played the “crazy card”. I peed on the doors of the gate, drooled all over my beard, and ranted and raved. Achish was convinced I had lost it and let me go.
As I write this, I am homeless, separated from my family and loved ones. I don’t have a job and it looks like everything has gone down the drain. However, You are still my God. Lord God, please continue to remind me that You are stronger than my enemies.
With Love, Your Servant David
(This is the basis for Psalm 13 – read it!!!!)