Word of Encouragement (11/14/2023)

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, "There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death." (2 Sam. 21:1)

After three years of famine, David knew that something was not right. Maybe he remembered the blessings and curses that the LORD promised to Israel as the Israelites were getting ready to enter the promised land. One of the curses for their disobedience was this: “And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed” (Deut. 28:23-24). It was a good thing that David sought the LORD in the face of such a terrible disaster.

But we are amazed that it took David three years of famine before he sought the LORD. To have a three-year famine could not have been a common occurrence. If that were the case, David would not have inquired the Lord about it. Consider also how the LORD punished Ahab for his blatant idolatry: there was no rain in Israel (the northern kingdom) for three and a half years. Was it possible that two-year famines were so common that David sought the LORD only after a three-year famine? When these famines came, did David and the people of Israel view them as nothing more than a common, natural phenomenon? Probably not.

Remember what God promised to Israel if the people obeyed the voice of the LORD: “The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow” (Deut. 28:12). If so, the Israelites should have asked what the problem was whenever there was a famine in the land.

So, we must wonder what was going through David’s mind at that time. There was a famine not just for a year but for three years! And yet, it did not occur to him that he should seek the LORD and ask why. David in his old age was not what he used to be. In fact, David was never the same after the Bathsheba incident. He and his family were afflicted with one trouble after another. There was even a civil war when Absalom, his son, rebelled against him. God did forgive him for his sin. But there were other (natural, moral, and psychological) consequences of his sin.

One sign of spiritual health is seeking the Lord all the time or, at the very least, right away when troubles arise. We don’t want to get to that place where we view what happens in our lives as a mere coincidence or a natural phenomenon having nothing to do with God. God is sovereign and “time and space are saturated with God's active purpose” (Lundgaard, “The Devoted Mind”). If so, should we not engage Him at all times, not just when we are in trouble?