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YOU CAN OVERCOME PANDEMIC LONELINESS
LOD-04
100207PM
Short Clip
YOU CAN OVERCOME PANDEMIC LONELINESS–IN THE SAME WAY GOD TAUGHT DAVID TO OVERCOME HIS EMPTY TIMES
As we open to I Samuel 16 think with me what David must have felt: So much has happened so fast. First, he was āKing for a dayā in chapter 16 we met a young shepherd boy, minding his sheep when the greatest man in Israel comes and sits in his dadās house waiting to meet him. There in front of his family, David is anointed the next King of Israel. Back to the sheep he goes, and off to the war go his brothers.
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Then āSuper Warriorā as we turn to I Samuel 17, and enter one of the greatest chapters of the Bible. Most people have heard of this event. David facing, fearlessly confronting, and miraculously defeating the biggest, strongest, and most feared warrior of the day is astonishing, and so encouraging. The lessons flow from this chapter.
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Then, David becomes almost overnight, in I Samuel 18-20, a āNational Heroā. In a short period of time he becomes a member of King Saulās cabinet as a commander of the army. Plus he gets to marry into the Royal Family, while still keeping his job as the most visible musician of the day. Add to that the rage and death threats of a dark-hearted Saul, and the picture becomes cloudy. David sticks it out, faces abuse: both verbal, emotional, and physical. Then the moment of truth comes. Jonathan warns him that his worst nightmare is true. The King of Israel wants to use the entire resource of the nation to hunt, track down, and to kill his own son-in-law, David.
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David is an unemployed young man, facing a bleak and unknown future with nowhere to go, and on the run. That is where I Samuel 20 ends.
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DAVIDāS SHOCK AT HIS JOB LOSS
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If youāve ever had to face sudden unemployment, you should be able to identify with how David felt as he was going through this very trying time.
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David was always a hard worker.
Because he had been continuously employed since his earliest youth, David never had time to think about unemployment. Either he was tending the sheep or acting as a courier to run provisions to his brothers at the front lines. After defeating Goliath, King Saul hired him to work in various departments of the government. Although David got to sit at Saulās table as his son-in-law, he had to earn his wife, Michal, by meeting a quota of killing 100 Philistines. However, as an āeager beaverā employee he went āthe second mileā and killed 200.
Life sometimes throws us a curve.
David lived by King Saul: he worked for him, ate with him, sang and played the harp for him, and married his daughter. All of his financial and family security was wrapped up in that job. Then suddenly everything drastically changed. Isnāt that always what happens? Everythingās just rolling along, weāre up to our neck with an unbelievable workload, and then BOOM!āout of the blue we get to notice our services are no longer needed. When Saul threw a spear at David to kill him, that was the equivalent of todayās āpink slip.ā (Getting fired was more direct and blunt 3,000 years ago.) Given that David had never felt the sting of a job loss, he was hard hit by the unexpected unemployment.
Davidās job loss was a big surprise to everyone but God.
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As David mulled over what had happened, he felt the immense pain of loneliness that usually accompanies the unanticipated loss of everything formerly relied upon. But God was in control and had allowed that unemployment for a refining purpose. So everything changed for David except what was most importantāhis growing relationship with God.
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Hereās a key point: habits youāre forming now will determine your response to God when youāre caught off guard by a new heartache. If youāve made a habit of turning to God in all circumstances, it will be natural to flee to Christ as your Refuge the moment trouble strikes. Should you lose your job, or face a different trauma, remember this: everything will change except for one thingāGod, and His great love for you!
David reverted to his ādefault system.ā
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If you work with computers, you know that occasionally a malfunction causes a changed setting to revert back to its default, or original setting. When his unemployment malfunction occurred, David reverted back to his original settings, and that is reflected in the setting in I Samuel 21, a time David sang about:
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When Life Hurts
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