[One-Verse Meditation]

1 Samuel 22:6 (NIV) – “Now Saul heard that David and his men had been located. Saul was sitting on the hill at Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree with his spear in his hand, and all his officials were standing at his side.”

(Meditation)

David, seeking protection from King Achish of Gath, found his plan thwarted. He fled to the Cave of Adullam and then took refuge in Moab, entrusting his parents to the Moabite king. This reveals that David’s heart was filled with anxiety, fear, and worry. Yet God did not abandon him. Through the prophet Gad, God showed David the way he should go.

Meanwhile, upon hearing of David’s whereabouts, Saul sat in Gibeah with his officials, scheming how to deal with David. Gibeah was Israel’s capital at that time, located in Benjamin, Saul’s ancestral territory. There, Saul sat beneath the tamarisk tree, ‘spear in hand,’ casting its great shadow. This scene is a vivid picture language revealing what Saul relies upon.

Saul believes only in what he can see and fixes his gaze solely on his throne. Therefore, he puts to death Ahimelech the priest and all the priests of Nob on the charge that they helped David. God’s own priests, that is. In this moment, by slaying God’s priests, Saul has already slain God in his own heart. The god he clung to was his own kingship.

As we behold Saul’s plight, we see the wretchedness of a life without God. He appears to possess everything, yet he truly possesses nothing. But those who dwell in God live differently. As Paul declared, they live as those who have ‘nothing, and yet possessing everything’ (2 Corinthians 6:10b). They are the true saints.

(Prayer)

Lord, show me the image of Saul within my own heart, that I may gaze upon You alone. May delighting in You become my greatest joy this day. Amen.
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(Daily Meditation)

– 1 Samuel 22:1-16