Facing Depressing Circumstances
1 Samuel 21–22
Paul J. Bucknell
1 Samuel 21–22 | Next: 1 Samuel 23
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Psalm 42:5).
David faced many challenges. First, although he was anointed king, he was constantly accused of secretly taking over Saul’s throne and using his best friend, Jonathan, the son of King Saul, for political gain. Saul’s treacherous treatment of David signaled that it was time to leave. He had to flee the country, permanently running away from everything and everyone he loved. Leaving it all for a very uncertain world was difficult. To where? He did not know.
The situation worsened, though. Perhaps nothing was more perplexing for David than to hear the tragic news from Abiathar, the only escapee from the city of priests, that due to David, King Saul had decimated the City of Nob. Saul accused them of siding with David just because he had recently obtained water, food, and his sword (the one he won from Goliath). Saul, God’s king of Israel, had become raging mad, a jealous tyrant willing to kill God’s own priests, even if it was by a foreigner.
Being in a hurry, David found himself in a trap of sorts. The King of Gath heard that this runaway David was a threat to his kingdom, so David actually pretended to be a madman when brought before the Philistine king (1 Sam 22). Had David himself gone mad along with King Saul? Although he was promised to be king by God’s prophet, David ended up as a refugee leading a group of bandits and other discontented people. “And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him” (1 Sam 22:2).
Deep-rooted questions could easily arise in David’s mind. Was it possible that David’s lie caused the early death of all those priests and their families? How could he manage this group now following him? Why has God allowed all this to happen? Each question could easily lead him into the realm of depression.
Depression occurs when we let the unreasonable, confusing, and furious events around us steal the last shred of hope from our hearts. David’s world seemed to have gone wild like a rabid dog, eager to spread its deadly confusion to others. Sometimes it feels like God has unlatched Himself from life and let the world go out of control, allowing us to drift away alone, much like an astronaut cut free from his connecting life cable.
Tragedies happen in our lives that distort our view of normalcy, trying to break any simple trust in God. But it is this trust in God that becomes our only connection to sanity. Perhaps David's experience of madness occurred when he took his eyes off the Lord during this most desperate time.
But despite David’s weak attempt to understand all this, along with his madman prop, observe how the Lord cared for him through this period of disillusionment. In the Psalms, we see the advice David gave to himself, as if trying to wake himself from his stupor of unbelief: “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence” (Psalm 42:5). Our true connection to sanity is not in understanding the incomprehensible but in trusting the God who controls our very lives, even in this unpredictable, sin-stained world.