Trying to be David

We are all familiar with the valiantry of David in the Bible. Taking on Goliath and ripping apart a lion with his bare hands. But what of the David that ran from Saul and hid in the caves? What about the guy who knew he was to be king but wouldn't take on King Saul-an evil king.

I read a book some time ago called a Tale of Three Kings. It spoke to a circumstance I found myself in last fall-and spoke pretty loudly. I believe there are times when we are called to be valiant, fight the good fight so to speak. But we are always called to be humble-and David, while there was a calling on his life to be king, understood this. He hid in the caves. He did not take the spears thrown at him by Saul and return volley (he wouldn't have missed, I'm sure).

David remained in the caves, a broken man, despite what (or maybe to what) God called him to. In that, he became "a man after God's own heart". We often get ahead of God in our zeal-and demand our rights. But that is contrary to God's nature. Christ didn't do this. Being reminded of this by some good friends, I've made a decision to spend some time hanging out in caves for a while-after throwing a lot of spears. And praying that at some point I can be a guy after God's heart. That would be awesome-even better than being king.