Daily Devotional for Tuesday 23rd January
God works in mysterious ways
You may have heard the phrase ‘God works in mysterious ways’ before. It’s often used to ‘explain’ a strange set of events, an unusual outcome, or an unexpected answer to prayer. In today’s passage, the phrase could definitely be used! Throughout the reading, we can clearly see God’s hand at work. We find out that it was the Lord who had caused everyone in Saul’s camp to be in a deep sleep. This allowed David to sneak in and take the spear and water jug to prove he had been able to get very close to Saul. David says, ‘The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed’ (v.23). As we saw yesterday, David followed God’s guidance rather than fixing things himself. It was the Lord who had led David to that moment next to a sleeping Saul, and it was now the Lord who had orchestrated this meeting between David and Saul in today’s reading.
When David speaks, Saul recognises his voice. He doesn’t command his army to attack David or rush to capture him himself. Instead, there is a civilised and interesting conversation that takes place between the two of them. Saul seems to be full of remorse, acknowledging that he has sinned, and even calls David his son. He wants David to come home. Whether it was the short-term relief that David hadn’t killed him or whether it was the Lord moving in his heart to bring him to a place of repentance, we can’t be sure. Either way, Saul’s pursuit of David ends with an apology, a blessing, and a mini-sermon from David. Saul then heads home while David ‘went on his way’ (v.25).
This isn’t the ending we perhaps expected. David didn’t kill or capture Saul and Saul didn’t kill or capture David. This was an unusual and unexpected outcome of a strange set of events - God certainly worked in a mysterious way!
Time to reflect...
• Did you expect the pursuit to end in this way?
• Where have you seen God working in mysterious ways in your life, and the lives of those you know?
• Have you ever clearly seen how God orchestrated a situation or event in your life?
Pause to pray…
God, thank you for the ways that you have worked in my life. Thank you for the ways you’re working right now, even when I can’t see what you’re doing. And thank you for all the ways you will work in my life in the days, weeks and months to come. Please open my eyes to see the ways you’re working around me. Thank you for your faithfulness. Amen.
