[One-Verse Meditation]

1 Samuel 21:6 NIV (New International Version) “So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.”

[Meditation]

After parting with Jonathan, David comes to the priest Ahimelech. The priest trembles as he receives him. Perhaps he had heard rumors and sensed the tension between Saul and David. So Ahimelech asks David why he has come alone. David, in response, reassures him with a believable lie and asks for some food. To this request, Ahimelech replies that he has only the holy bread from the sanctuary, and says he can give it to David if he and his companions are ritually clean. David then claims that both he and his companions are clean, and receives the holy bread.

Here there is grace. David flees in fear of Saul and lies to God’s priest. Later he will even feign madness before King Achish to escape death. Even David, who displayed such great faith when he defeated Goliath, shows himself to be no different from us. In this way, consumed by fear and hunger, grace descends upon him. That grace is the ‘holy bread.’ The holy bread, which the law had ordained only priests could eat, is now eaten by David. And by that bread, he lives.

This episode seats us in the place of faith. The truth that the source of faith is not in myself but in the One who bestows grace is precisely what holds us fast in faith. A paradox indeed. God never abandons His people but establishes them beside Him. Because that love and zeal of God are the source of our faith, we cannot help but praise Him and sing His praises.

[Prayer]

Lord, I know that even my steps that falter in the smallest matters are laid upon Your steps. And so that inadequate step becomes Your step of glory. Let me live this day experiencing this grace, stepping forward boldly. Amen.
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(Daily Meditation)

– 1 Samuel 21:7-15