Welcome to the Daily Disciple Podcast, where we seek daily to be with and to become like Jesus. Our team. Welcome to the Daily Disciple Podcast, this is Travis, and we are going to look at an intriguing story from the life of David, and it's in 1 Samuel 24, and the title is a little bit long. If we get out of it fast, we will not get out of it.
What will last? And I know that's such a long title, why couldn't I have shortened it? And if we try to get out of it fast, we won't get out of it what will last. And the truth is that we try to get out of things fast, specifically difficult things.
So think of a difficult season where you or I are hurting or we're confused, we try to get out of it fast. Maybe it's a conversation. All of a sudden the conversation comes up with a friend, a parent, a spouse, a boyfriend, and we don't like the topic of the conversation, so we try to get out of it fast. If we get out of things fast, too fast, then we will not get out of the season, the conversation, what will last?
It is darkest before the dawn. The darkness, the difficulty, the tough season, the painful conversation, we have to let it do its work in us. We have to go there and stay there. How long?
Probably longer than we want to, because if we get out of it fast in all of the ways that we get out of stuff fast, then we will not get out of it what will actually last and we won't experience the fruit that we're intended to experience as a result of that trial, that difficulty, that very, very challenging season. So maybe think of a time in your past where you got out of something too fast and therefore probably didn't get out of it what would last. Maybe think about right now in your life, your journey, relationships, vocation, is there anything that you're trying to get out of fast and maybe not letting the darkness or difficulty or pain or whatever do the work that it needs to do and then we won't get out of it what's going to last. And this is a profound idea.
It's an important idea. We don't often like to think about it. I sometimes imagine if David had done something different than he did in the story years later, let's say that David's grandson ran into the throne room and said grandpa, grandpa, grandpa, tell me the story of how you became king. I love that story.
David says, oh, okay, you know, come sit on my lap and I was in a really difficult season. I was on the run and I was scared and I was confused and I wanted to get out of the season fast and I was hiding in a cave and the king at the time saw the Lord's anointed came into the cave, turned his back to me and I took my sword and I stabbed Saul in the back and he fell to the ground dead and that's how I became king. Well, that's not the story. That's not how it happened, but when we try to do all the things that we try to do to get out of things fast, those are the kinds of stories that will be the stories that will make up our lives.
But that's not how the story happened. First, how the story happened. First Samuel chapter 24, after Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told that David's in the deserts of Engetty and Saul hated David. He was jealous of David.
He wanted to kill David and so he took 3,000 able young body men and he went to look for David near the crags of the wild goats. He came to the sheep and along the way and the cave was there and Saul went into the cave to relieve himself to go to the bathroom. Well, David and his men happened to be in the back of that cave and David's men said to David, this is the day the Lord spoke of when he said I'm going to give your enemies into your hands. Now God did say that, but I don't think that that was a good interpretation of that prophetic word.
But I'm sure it tempted David to get out of this very, very difficult season fast. Well, David crept up unnoticed and then here is where we have the pause room and what's David going to do? What do you want to do when you want to get out of a conversation or a situation or a season or a group fast? What are our tips and tactics and strategies to get out of the darkness fast?
David could have ran Saul through his memory encouraging him to do it. He had the opportunity to do it, he could have stabbed Saul in the back and probably have become king. But David crept up unnoticed and he cut off a corner of Saul's robe and then David was conscience-stricken. For having even cut off a corner of Saul's robe and David said to the men, God forbid that I would do something to the Lord's anointed or lay a hand on him.
And later David says to his men, when God wants to deal with Saul, God can deal with Saul. But I will not put my hands upon the Lord's anointed. In other words, I'm not going to stab Saul in the back. I'm not going to get out of this darkness fast because if I do, I will never get out of this wilderness season, this dark season, what will last?
And that is such a profound principle in church and business and relationship and friendship and parenting and whatever it might be. Anytime we're in a hard conversation, we want to do something equivalent to stabbing someone in the back. So we can get out of this conversation fast when we're in a difficult season. We want to do the equivalent, whatever that might look like of stabbing somebody in the back so that we can get out of this season fast.
The darkness is too dark. It's too painful. It's too confusing. My affection is more my need of approval or my idolatry for accomplishment or my avoidance of pain or my obsessive need to grow or get better or whatever it might be, I'm facing myself in the darkness.
We always face ourselves in the darkness. We always get the mirror put up to our face and the enemy will always provide a quick way for us to get out of the darkness, out of the wilderness. Get into the promised land fast is always the temptation of the enemy. We are always tempted to stab Saul in the back, but David in this story, David knew that if he got out of this season fast, he would not get out of this season.
What would last in this season was instrumental for David's future. He learned patience. He learned to trust in God. He needed to stay in the wilderness for a little bit longer for stuff to surface.
Some of those beautiful Psalms in the history of the world were written during the time where David was in this cave or on the runner in the wilderness season. What a powerful point for daily disciples. Whatever darkness looks like, whatever the season looks like, whatever this conversation looks like, we're going to be tempted to get out of it fast, but then we will not get out of it. What will last?
In a case we're wondering what God is doing with us in the middle of the darkness, in the middle of this difficult season, he's making us into the kind of people that can handle the next season. But if we don't stay in the darkness, as long as we're called to stay in the darkness, then we will not be prepared for what God has next. God is making us through the darkness into the kind of people that are ready for what he has for us next. So the reality is, later on, because God did deal with Saul, in fact Saul ended up stabbing himself and David became king.
And then if ever one of David's grandkids jumped up on his lap and said, David, a grandpa, grandpa tell us the story of how he became king. David would get to tell a great story, a story that was so difficult when it was happening, but a great story of trusting God, of refusing to take matters into my own hands, of refusing to sacrifice integrity to get out of the difficult season fast, but to stay in it to let the darkness have its way, to let the issues surface in the trust that God delivers when it's God's time to deliver. And that would be the story that David would get to tell his grandkids, because that is exactly what happened. And I think it's good for us to remember his daily disciples that the choices that we make today will actually be the stories that we'll be told or that we get to tell tomorrow.
We'll talk to you. Thanks for listening to the Daily Deciple podcast. We truly hope that you were encouraged by it today. Now if you would like to support or if you have any questions about the Daily Deciple podcast, feel free to contact us through our Inland Vineyard Church app.
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