How Deep Does Your Devotion Run?

We should remain devoted to serving Jesus even when circumstances are against us.   ~~~   We read in verses 18:6-11 of a victory parade. David is returning from striking down Goliath, and Saul is out in front. It sure seems like Saul is trying to take as much credit as he can for sending a teenage boy out to do a man’s job. And the women start singing, which would have been customary. And they sing a song that says, “Saul has killed a lot, and David has killed a lot more!” Now, I don’t think we are to read anything too snarky into this song. They were simply retelling the story, perhaps a bit dramatically. At any rate, it upsets Saul. But we read in verse 10-11 that David played the lyre in Saul’s house day by day. And on that day after the parade, Saul was being tormented by a spirit from the LORD, and in two different attempts tries to kill David by throwing his spear at him hoping it would pierce him and pin him to the wall. The next thing that we read is David, being handed a demotion from being leader over the men of war to being a commander of a thousand, and yet, David still goes out to fight for the King of Israel. Why, because David is devoted to the LORD, and Israel. Remember, at no point in this chapter does David even realize that Saul is trying to kill him on multiple occasions. David didn’t claim a victim status. He didn’t play a part to be pitied. Through it all, he remained faithful to the Lord and the Lord’s people. It makes me wonder about myself, how deep does my devotion run. When it’s easy to bail, I usually want to bail. When the fight seems lopsided, I want to blend into the crowd and not stand out. When the task requires sacrifice, I too often want to figure out a way so that I don’t have to sacrifice. And this is where I must turn to depend upon Jesus and His Spirit living in and through me. Jesus knows all about staying and standing when people were pinning him to the cross. And he did it because of His devotion to God and His love for His people.