Day 79 or March the 20th. Don't forget your family
responsibilities. Our thoughts today are rooted
in 1 Samuel chapter 22 verses 3 and 4. David
went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of
Moab, Would you let my father and mother come
and stay with you until I learn what God will
do for me? So he left them with the king of Moab,
and they stayed with him as long as David was
in the stronghold. First, the big picture surrounding
these verses. Even though David had been anointed
as king, he resists any temptation to replace
Saul by force. He still accepts him as king and
the Lord's anointed, and is willing to wait for
God's timing to become king himself. Even though
David would be a popular choice amongst the people,
he knows that God's timing is best. Saul is not
sure that David won't kill him, so he spends
a great deal of time and effort trying to kill
him. Killing David would make his own position
safe and guarantee that his successor was Jonathan,
ironically David's best friend. David is protected
and supported by priests, and is fed by them.
This results in Saul killing the priests, which
goes a long way to confirm that he is now totally
unsuitable to be king. But still David waits
for God to act, rather than take over with a
violent coup. And now today's action step. I
worked with a man some years ago and discovered
that he had not seen his parents for many years.
In fact, he wasn't sure where they lived or even
if they were still alive. This shocked me because
my colleague was a very sociable man in the office.
It's interesting that David, who has been anointed
king, but who is constantly on the run because
Saul wants him dead, takes time to look after
his parents and takes them to a safe place, to
a friend who will take care of them. I've seen
too many Christians who, in responding to God's
recent call, neglect their earlier call to be
a caring relative or friend. Be sure that you
are a godly child or parent before you can think
about being a godly worker. It's all part of
being a godly disciple of Christ.