Daily Thought

It was honour indeed to be included amongst the chiefs of king David’s mighty men. Three of his chief men braved the might of the encamped Philistine army and went to him in the cave of Adullam. The Philistine army encampment extended from Adullam to Bethlehem, the town of David’s birth. Remembrance of the days when, as a shepherd boy, he drank from the well near the gate of Bethlehem, stood in sharp contrast to his present restriction, and caused him to utter a longing to drink again of that water. The three, driven by devotion to their leader, ‘brake through the host of the Philistines’, v. 18, and made the perilous journey to the well and, returning, presented him with what they knew to be his heart’s desire.

All that mattered was that their liege lord understood and accepted what they had done. They had demonstrated their love for him, gladly associated with him in the day of his rejection and served him willingly and totally. He, the king, acknowledged this in his record, but the Holy Spirit incorporated it in the scriptures for our example and their eternal recognition. Typically, this carefully recorded event would speak of the believer’s association with the rejected Lord Jesus in the day in which we live. Oh, that we might be sensitive to the desires of His heart and conduct ourselves in the light of this.

David would not drink the water but poured it out before Jehovah as a drink offering with the prayer, ‘My God, forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy?’, v. 19. So precious was the water to David that he could not accept it for himself; rather he identified himself with it, and with those who procured it, and presented it to Jehovah as appreciation of faithful commitment to Him and His cause. Paul knew similar emotions when writing to the Philippian believers, ‘Yea, and if I be poured out upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all’, Phil. 2. 17, 18. The exhortation of Romans chapter 12 verse 1 is, in many ways, a parallel of this: ‘to offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and well pleasing unto God, which is your reasonable worship’, CONYBEARE. This is the divine model for service in the day of our Lord’s rejection.