5/8 1 Samuel 23:14

14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.


David had done nothing wrong. In fact, David was the king's best servant and most faithful warrior. It was King Saul's sin that lost him the kingdom and stirred insane jealousy in his heart. That jealousy distorted the way Saul thought of David, disconnecting his thoughts from reality. Sin causes a kind of mental distortion of what we observe. David and his men had to live a meager existence under constant stress because of Saul's sin.

It is impossible to escape the consequences of others' sin. We all experience times in life when we have done nothing wrong, and yet we are treated as if we had. Christians should be any country's most loyal citizens, but we are often looked on with suspicion, not because of anything we have done, but because reality is distorted in the mind of sinful men.

It is a time of spiritual growth. We learn to lean upon God. The close calls and dealing with stress teach us to trust God in a deeper way than we ever had before. It strengthens our relationship with God. David could have whined about the injustice of it all, or he could grow as a leader of his people by strengthening his confidence in the God who can see us through any situation.

Consider: Life in this world is often unjust. How you deal with that injustice determines whether it will benefit you or not. You decide if you will let it cause your spirit to shrink or grow in faith.