So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel left and stayed at Naioth. — 1 Samuel 19:18 (CSB)
We need help. Doing life isolated and alone is unwise at best and deadly at worst.
But, who you run to for help is also really important. Do you go to someone who always agrees with you and just pacifies you in your place of trouble?
Or, do you go to someone who can challenge you, call you up and really help you.
I can only imagine what David was going through as just a few verses earlier Saul had sworn an oath that he wouldn’t harm David and then a short time later had tried to pin him to the wall with a spear!
He doesn’t go home to his family. He doesn’t seek out his buddies. He goes to the man who can really help him.
Maybe there was some frustration, maybe some angst in this young man as he poured out the story to the elderly leader. There was probably empathy in Samuel’s response as he listened to the tale of woe.
We don’t have a record of the conversation that transpired but knowing a bit about Samuel’s character and relationship with God and then following David as he struggles through the next several decades of strife with Saul gives us a little bit of an idea.
Samuel probably challenged David to stick to the plan. Trust God.
Soon afterwards David is betrayed by one of Saul’s shepherds and works through his emotions is Psalm 52. He concludes in faith:
But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God; I trust in God’s faithful love forever and ever. I will praise you forever for what you have done. In the presence of your faithful people, I will put my hope in your name, for it is good. — Psalms 52:8-9 (CSB)
When we’re down, struggling, failing and flailing we need to run to people who will tell us to trust God. People who will point our eyes up and believe with us that God loves us and will be faithful to us.
Praise God it’s true!