That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.
1 Samuel 21:10 (NIV)

It was a Sunday morning and I stood before two prayer warriors desperately asking for their prayers. I was weeping. They were not wispy, single tears that quietly escaped from the corners of my eyes. They were crocodile tears that flooded down my face.

That afternoon I was scheduled to leave for a business trip with two colleagues. I would be speaking that week at a large national conference. It was a major opportunity and an honor to be asked to present.

It was also, in that moment, the last thing on earth I wanted to do.

When I entered my job, almost 30 years before, God had spoken words of promise and blessing over me and my calling to the job. But, the promises seemed perpetually on the horizon — out of reach. And I was feeling far more cursed than blessed. Everything at work, in our business, was stressful. Relationships were strained. Crucial conversations were being avoided. The future felt uncertain, at best. Doom felt far more likely an outcome.

That moment came to mind this morning as I meditated on today’s chapter. David, the triumphant victor over Goliath, the hero of Israel, and anointed king — is suddenly a man on the run. Mad king Saul’s homicidal tendencies toward David — whom he views as a rival — have turned into an official, kingdom-wide head-hunt. There is a price on David’s head even though he did nothing to deserve it.

David’s first move? To go to God’s place. He flees to the high-priest at Nob, where God’s tent temple was currently operating. He arrives empty-handed.

No army.
No title.
No position.
No certainty.

The promises of God remain true. But they no longer look true. That was me on that Sunday morning standing before my prayer partners with tears dripping off my cheeks and chin. This is not the first time I’d been here.

God had spoken. I believe Him. Yet all the evidence around me seemed to be moving in the opposite direction. On the spiritual journey, this is the way.

The promotion becomes unemployment.
The marriage becomes loneliness.
The dream becomes wilderness.

David’s story reminds me that God’s promises are often fulfilled through seasons that appear to contradict them.

David has been anointed king. Yet today he is begging for bread. Both things are true. And perhaps that’s the lesson. The anointing did not exempt David from the wilderness. The wilderness becomes part of the anointing.

It’s easy to assume that when God calls, doors will open smoothly and circumstances will align neatly. But the Great Story repeatedly tells a different story.

Joseph is given dreams before prison.
Moses receives a calling before forty years in Midian.
David is anointed before exile.
Jesus is declared God’s beloved Son before entering the wilderness.

The path to God’s promise often winds through places where the promise seems impossible.

Yet God is not absent. He is there providing what is needed.

Providing bread.
Providing a sword.
Providing escape.

Just enough for one more day in the wilderness — like manna.

In the quiet this morning I’m reminded that sometimes faith is not standing on a battlefield facing a giant. It is eating borrowed bread, looking over your shoulder, and trusting God for tomorrow.

And in the economy of God’s Kingdom, that may be the greater miracle.

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