Come with me to Palestine, and back in time about 3,500 years. Israel has its first king, Saul, and is beset by many foes. We travel up the Wady es-Sur, not far from Bethlehem, where we find traces of recent encampments on the hills adjacent to our desolate defile. We will ask a local shepherd about the events that were enacted there.
“The Philistines were camped on one hill overlooking the junction of the wady near Socoh and our armies were on the opposite hillside. The Philistines had a giant of a man as their champion, but our only giant was the king and he seemed scared. But a young shepherd boy from nearby Bethlehem challenged the foe, aye—and killed him with a stone from his sling.”
The shepherd’s story interests us.
“The stone must have had great force, as it struck the Philistine.”
“Indeed it did, more force than man could give it, for the lad’s faith in God was behind his throw, and God gave direction and power to the stone.”
“May we ask, is the shepherd boy of whom you speak being feted as he deserved?”
“You may well ask, He was praised everywhere, and the king was grateful for his own deliverance. But Saul grew jealous of the lad”s popularity, and David had to run away. He is now in the hills above us.”
“Is he alone?”
“No indeed, he has as motley a band of outlaws and malcontents around him as ever gathered together under one banner. Yet “this said that God has anointed him to be our king after Saul, though truly David’s fortunes seem to have taken a downward turn since Samuel anointed him.”
Our pilgrimage now takes us into higher and more desolate regions. We wonder where the few scraggy sheep we meet find pasture here. Men must venture further to get their supplies, but David has the advantage of knowing this region well from his early shepherd days. Soon the hillside is seen to be dotted with caves which penetrate deeply into the limestone.
We find the man we seek. He prays (Psalm 152), “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge, and my portion in the land of the living”. David must have indeed felt the bitterness of man’s ingratitude. As we look at the men around him (1 Sam. 22. 2), we hear the conclusion of David’s prayer: “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”
And now, back in our own age and time, we have our Bible before us.
We know that many of the Psalms were written by the outlaw shepherd whom, in thought, we have just visited. Two of these were written in the cave of Adullam (Psalms 57 and 142). These were not just the pretty phrases of a poet; they were the expression of a man’s experience and needs: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” David knew his God; he knew that He does hear; he was prepared to wait for God’s deliverance: “He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up.” As one reads through this psalm (57) one perceives that David’s spirit becomes more exalted: “I will sing and give praise, Awake up, my glory: awake psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people—for thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth to the clouds.”
Psalm 142 follows the same line of thought. David appeals to God: “I cried unto the Lord . . .” he states his needs:
“I shewed before him all my trouble . . his lack of human aid, “. . . refuge failed me”, and the concluding certainty that God will help: “Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”
Our subject is “faith triumphant”. All these psalms disclose a faith. Only when success is achieved can we say that the faith is truly triumphant. David did become king in due course; God did deliver him out of all his troubles. But there is another aspect of faith triumphant which is shown to us by David, and which is our example whilst we, too, travel through our wilderness. David’s faith that God would eventually reward him served as a brake on David”s natural impulses. We have a very dramatic picture of human and divine reasoning in conflict in the record of events whilst David was an outlaw in the cave.
David’s men reasoned as we quite likely would have reasoned (1 Sam. 24). Saul lay asleep and unprotected within the reach of David”s hand. The men of David reasoned, “Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand”. This appeared a reasonable assumption, although, be it noted, we have no record that God made such a statement.
David, however, chose to wait the day when God would remove Saul. Even then, he reacted sharply against the Amalekite who said that he had taken Saul’s life. David did not seek the throne in a spirit of vanity. He accepted the position as king because God had appointed him for this. Humility was always a dominant trait in his character. At a very early age, David was appointed commander-in-chief of the army (1 Sam. 18. 5). Shortly afterwards, in a fit of jealousy, Saul demoted David to captain over a thousand ( 1 Sam. 18. 13). The record tells us that David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. “But all Israel loved David, because he went out and came in before them”—presumably without ostentation.
Many years later, whilst reigning as king, this same humility was shown as David danced without his kingly clothes, before the ark of God (2 Sam. 6. 14). Such conduct did not suit the vanity of his worldly-minded consort, Michal, who spoke disparagingly of the event. David’s reply was earnest, “It was before the Lord, which chose me . . . and I will be base in mine own sight”.
Humility and faith are two related virtues. Faith requires confidence in another, whilst pride finds confidence in itself. David knew such success as he achieved was because God gave it to him. His journey to popularity and greatness began on the field of war. A stone of the brook showed David that God would work with him. The Spirit of God carried that stone to victory over Goliath. David trusted that same Spirit to bring victory, when the will of God decreed.
All the servants of God in the divine record show this blend of humility and faith. They are the dominant threads in the raiment of needlework of the bride of Christ. The loom on which they are woven is love: love for God and love of God, without which no passing virtues could survive. Late in his life David penned these words, “I have been young, and now am old: yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread” (Ps. 37. 25). We wonder whether David, in his mind’s eye, saw again the cave of Adullam as he wrote, “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: he is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him”.
Faith such as David’s can carry us also through many a dark day as we, too, await the times when the sunshine of God’s Glory shall Israel adorn.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One