Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 24 (day three)
But David and his men went up to the stronghold.
Saul wept nostalgic tears. The golden times of David’s service in Saul’s household—those were the days. Too bad he didn’t understand: The past is a good teacher, but it’s a terrible coach. It can remind us where we’ve been, but it can’t urge us on in the direction we must go. The future’s coming, and only those who make peace with the present will live well in that future. Does that mean satisfaction with the present? Hardly. It means understanding that you start with what you’ve got, not with what you wish you had. David’s present wasn’t a good one, but it was what he had. Saul withdrew into his memories. David went up to the stronghold. That wasn’t his future, but it’s how he would get there.
There are always valuable lessons to be learned from the past or from our services to others. From lessons learned, we can avoid making the same mistakes, can learn what not to do at the present moments and plan our earthy journey in a way that will please God and will give us joy, peace, and happiness in our daily lives.
Our experience with our past and by working with or for others is the best teacher. We know what is important, what battle is unnecessary, and whom we cannot trust and can make peace with the present and live in harmony in the future.
David knew Saul too well to trust him and therefore returned to the stronghold for his safety while waiting for the Lord’s timing. He could have learned that Saul’s soft feelings could be just temporary so he better retreated himself to a secured location until the day to take over the Kingdom as God had planned for him. Knowing Saul through David’s days of service to Saul provided David with valuable lessons about who Saul was and about what to do for his own safety without displaying disloyalty to Saul. David was a man with wisdom.
Obedience to God and pursuing peace and harmony should be our choice despite how painful our experience with men could have been.
All this is true, and right. However, having the best teacher and being taught right doesn’t mean we remember to follow instruction. David was “in the Spirit” of God as specified earlier while Saul clearly was not. Most important in all our decisions is the one to ask God to have final say, final control over our behavior. When we are not “living in the Spirit”, the Holy Spirit, we’re living in the flesh, and we often find ourselves looking back at our own behavior and mourning how we could go so far astray. Thus, later on, when David himself met Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11.