A letter to King David
I’m not sure how to address you, King David, for I know you mostly as a songwriter and encourager. I read your Psalms more regularly than I do the historical accounts of your life and kingdom. That’s probably going to change now that I have walked where you’ve walked.
I have struggled to start this letter to you for days now because I like to see the whole picture and I feel like I’m here with bits and pieces. I hope in sharing the fragments of your life, God will speak into the caves and strongholds of my life.
I saw the ruins of your palace. The places you hid. I saw the place where you wanted to build the Temple. However, God had that for your son, Solomon, to do, although you did lots of the preparation. I walked the path you took to defeat the Jebusites and take the land that is now Jerusalem. I have more historical findings in a continued letter below.
Seeing your land has given me a hunger and thirst for God’s Word and I refuse to be overwhelmed by what I don’t know or understand. I encourage any fellow traveler to not let what you don’t know keep you from reading and seeking Truth found in the Bible.
I decided to write you a song, a psalm and borrow a few of yours:
To David, a king, writer, warrior:
You tended sheep in Bethlehem. The daily, mundane, cultural norm.
I imagine you let your gift of writing and music grow among the fields and flocks.
Time in the mundane, when appreciated, affords us the gifts of dreams and creativity.
Thoughts can link together and form visions and plans.
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
And on an ordinary day, Samuel visited and the Lord said,
“This is he.”
The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon you from that day forward.
You defeated Goliath, a Philistine.
King Saul was jealous of you.
Jealousy, when uncontrolled, turns in anger.
He hunted for your life in Masada, called stronghold.
He looked for you in every cave in En Gedi, not far from Masada.
The very tribe that birthed Goliath surrounded Saul near Beth-Shan.
Full circle. A haunting and hunting that didn’t end well for him.
At age thirty, you become king.
You set out to defeat the Jebusites in Jerusalem.
A Canaanite tribe certain you wouldn’t know about the water shaft.
“Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack.”
This became the City of David. Zion.
A slither of land now re-discovered a stone’s throw from the Temple Mount.
You became greater and greater because the LORD, the God of hosts, was with you.
Like all of us, you had victories and failures. Successes and losses.
You invited in a lame man as one of your own. An act of kindness.
You invited in a married woman as your own. An act of adultery.
Sin had lasting effects.
I have sinned greatly, please take away the iniquity of your servant.
So did your leadership and “followship” after God’s heart.
Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the Lord do what seems good to him.
I will not stop praying for my soul.
My family.
My friends.
My community.
My church.
My city.
My world.
I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.
So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.
I echo your songs, your writings, your psalms.
Hear my prayer, O LORD;
Like You heard the prayers of David.
Give ears to my pleas for mercy.
End this virus. End this plague. End this world war that we find ourselves locked up inside our homes from one another.
Until then, Father God, breathe life, unity, hope, and faith inside every living space in every corner of Your beautiful world You have made.
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by.
You wrote this in the cave of En Gedi. We call it Psalm 57.
Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name!
Another psalm as you hid from Saul.
A Psalm that resonates with us as we shelter in place.
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast!
I imagine you are telling yourself what you want to be true and will yourself to act.
I will sing and make melody! Awake, my whole being!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,
Your faithfulness to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
And once again, I echo your prayer, your praise.
God, whether in a cave or shelter in place.
Against a physical enemy or viral enemy.
We need Your help. Your mercy. Your nearness.
We lift our voices to You. For You are God. Yahweh.
(Taken from 1 Samuel 16; Psalm 139; 2 Samuel 5; 2 Samuel 10; 2 Samuel 24; Psalm 143)
Amen.
I recently read this after my trip. “We benefit to this day, from his [David’s] decision to keep writing.” (Geri Scazerro, The Emotional Healthy Woman, pg 73) I love the idea that though David was king and a national leader, he made time to do what he loved and what he was good at - writing.