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A drought gripped the land.
Probably in the first year, it was simply attributed to weather patterns. During the second year, as we would, people probably looked hopefully
for change, which didn’t come. When a third
crop failed, David knew something
was wrong, and he sought the Lord to determine the cause.
Saul had been killed in battle 30 years prior, but God had patiently waited to correct a problem Saul
had caused, and when the people themselves hadn’t done it, God finally decided
to get their attention.
Joshua, centuries before, had not sought the Lord to discover God’s truth about a group of people
claiming to be from far away, suing
for peace and asking to be Israel’s servants.
Instead of asking God, he’d granted their request, only to discover they’d
lied and were from nearby and part of those God had ordered destroyed to cleanse
the Promised Land. Joshua’s pledge had
been kept all those years, but Saul had at some point decided to go after them,
wrongly believing he could help his
nation by violating a pledge made
before God!
Now, David was left in the difficult spot of needing to
rectify Saul’s rash behavior to give these people the legal retribution called
for under the law. And they wanted payment-in-king – the death of seven of
Saul’s descendants as payment for murders by the king.
David had vowed years before to protect Jonathan’s
descendants, so he wisely looked for other descendant lines; otherwise he’d have found himself in the same
hot water as Saul. The offended people
ended up doing the killing, and the bodies were hung on trees as a curse. David decided that the disgrace would
continue until God Himself showed He
was satisfied by bringing the rain again (it lasted 6 more months).
How easily today we
look at droughts as only weather cycles.
We never consider inquiring
of the Lord as a nation whether our actions have caused a drought (except for global warming allegedly caused by our
pollution). How God might be choosing to
bless us if only we would humble ourselves as a nation before Him and seek His face,
rather than allowing godless leaders to sideline such actions and lead us
further to destruction!
Father, as a nation I fear we’ve become a terrible
disappointment to You. Events seem to
have conspired to make it almost impossible for Christians to effect change anymore. Must we
suffer when we are unable to rectify
the situation? Help us to seek Your face and begin to understand if there is any way to overcome the godlessness
of America today, or whether we are part of what You are doing to chastise our
nation for the sin of ignoring You and Your will.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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