There is a remarkable contrast between two songs recorded of David, in 2 Samuel 22 and 2 Samuel 23. The first is the song of David after he had done with all his enemies, that is, after his trials by Saul; the second is the song of David after he had done with himself.
At the end of his trials, when looking back at his enemies, he sings of joy and triumph; all is exultation. After his years of experience of blessing, it is, “Although my house be not so with God” (2 Sam. 23:5). The result of all he went through at the hand of Saul, in deep and bitter exercise of soul, is triumph, thanksgiving and praise, when he recounts God’s deliverance. The result of the place of honor, blessing and triumph is deep and bitter sorrow, with the confession, “My house is not so with God!” Not that he was without something to sustain his heart under it all, for he adds, “Yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure” (2 Sam. 23:5). For this he waited until the “morning without clouds.” This contrast makes trouble precious, and is a check to any desire to get out of it.
So practically is it with us. We need to guard against the effects of success. The pressure of circumstances which keep me down produces joy and praise, in the experience of God’s goodness; the effect of circumstances which lift me up, is sorrow. How often has a saint been cast upon the Lord while in trial and conscious weakness, and as a faithful servant been sustained, had blessing and acquired godly influence. But how often one has been satisfied with the blessing and the influence thus acquired, and lost the sense of his weakness, has stopped short in his course, and become comparatively useless in the church of God. This should lead us to desire conformity in suffering to Jesus. The path of grace is to be like Him, getting nearer and nearer to the Father, not getting things down here.
Results of Trials
There are three things brought before us in these chapters, and they are intended to give us solemn warning. First, the result of all David’s trials at the hand of Saul; second, when set upon the throne, the consequence of his being surrounded with all the earthly blessings; third, the joy at the end, in anticipation of the “morning without clouds.”
While the heart receives the warning against the effect of success, or anything in present blessing, are we looking for, and resting on, the full, distinct and perfect blessing which will be in that day when the Lord Jesus comes? In the chapters before us, we see the way in which the Spirit of Christ gathers up the history of Israel into Himself as a center, and makes the harp of David that on which it should be played. There is perhaps nothing of deeper interest, than to see how God takes up the history of David in the Psalms, writing as it were upon the tablets of David’s heart the history of the Lord Jesus.
The Two Songs
In the first song (2 Samuel 22), there is a remarkable allusion to the whole history of God’s way of dealing with Israel, of which David felt the moral power in himself. We have a wonderful variety of circumstances backward, forward, and around, gathering up all the history of David, and the triumphs of David; unfolding the sympathies of Christ with the heart of David in sorrow, until he is made the head of the heathen, his own people being blessed under him.
In chapter 23, we get “the last words of David,” and here we learn where his eye and heart rested, amid the consciousness of his own failure, and the failure of his house. He was looking for the “morning without clouds” — for the One who should rule over men in the fear of the Lord — who should build God’s house, and in whom the glory should be manifested. There is the deep consciousness of all the ruin, but the effect of the coming morning shining into it. The effect on David’s heart of the coming of the Son of David, and the failure of everything around, lead him to reach forward in spirit to the full triumph of that day when all should be full of blessing.
We thus, in these two chapters, have unfolded to us the sympathies of Christ with the heart of David, gathering up all the sorrows of the history of Israel; and also the heart of David resting in the consciousness of what the “morning without clouds” would be. We too, should seek to get the power of the Spirit in the sympathies of Christ, and at the same time to reach out to the hope which the Spirit of God sets before us, in order to be conversant with the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings.
Constant Dependence
Through all David’s course before he became king, we find him in constant dependence on God’s strength, not avenging himself, but always gracious to Saul when it was in his power. His constant dependence is on the strength of God, whatever may be the consciousness of his own weakness. In whatever way reproach may break his heart as he feels the power of ungodliness, he confesses his own unworthiness, while taking a place of superiority to circumstances. So was it with the Lord Jesus, “When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23).
And this is what the church is called upon to do amid enemies whom it cannot set aside. While seeking God’s glory, it is better to not seek to justify ourselves; there may be entreaty (“being defamed, we entreat”), but we should not manifest haughty self-vindication. Peter says, “If when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” This is a strange principle for anything but faith. But, as a saint, I cannot, while the usurper is in power, take my portion, just as David could not touch the Lord’s anointed. There is “a morning without clouds” coming, when the true King will be set up; then I shall have it. Now it is for us to be doing well, suffering for it, and taking it patiently — just what the Lord Jesus did, but with this comfort — the consciousness that “this is acceptable with God.”
In the latter part of the history of David we see the consequence of blessing, where faith was at work, and the results for himself when the flesh was at work. We see the godly man blessed, and the results of his fidelity too much for the faith that brought him there! Grace shines through, and there is lovely humbleness afterward, most precious grace; but at the same time we have in his history solemn warnings. Sometimes faith brings blessing, but our faith is not strong enough to use it properly.
The only safety for us is in the word in Philippians — “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:55Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5)) — the going down, down, down, always humbling oneself. David was blessed as much by being humble when king as he was when an outcast hunted by Saul like a partridge in the mountains.
My House Is Not so
Where does the church find its comfort, resource, and joy as we perceive the ruin; when looking upon its present state, it has to say, my house is “not so with God”? And is there a single heart, having the Spirit of Christ in it, that does not feel thus, as not satisfied with any honor now, resting upon the house of Christ? Does the condition of Christ’s house give joy and gladness, or do we have to say, “not so with God”?
Still, amid all the ruin around us, it is a comfort to know that what is before us is blessing. We need what is presented to us as our hope — the coming of the Lord. We should seek to have our associations in that sphere where God becomes the center of communicated blessing. It is when God shall have put all things under the Lord Jesus Christ, as the one that is just, ruling in the fear of the Lord, that the thoughts of the Lord’s mind will be exhibited.
The Morning Without Clouds
It is not for us to be looking for blessing here, apart from the future manifestation of Him in whom the blessing comes in the “morning without clouds.” Until the power of evil is set aside, the effect of the energy of the Spirit is to make us groan and suffer in proportion to it. Our groaning, as saints, should always be that of spirit, because of holiness of mind, as amid the evil, and not on account of our own evil. So was it with Jesus: He groaned because of holy affections, and not because of unholy. Until the power of evil is set aside, the greater the energy of the Spirit, the more the individual is exposed to the fury of Satan.
The practical effect of all this upon our hearts and conscience is to throw us into the first part of the history of David. If we are faithful in singleness of eye in the camp of Saul we shall soon find ourselves in the cave of Adullam, taking fellowship in Christ’s sufferings as the portion of our souls. It is in these circumstances we shall have made good to us the same secret affections of heart, which were developed in David when he was humble. It was when David was a partaker beforehand of the sufferings and afflictions of Christ in the cave of Adullam, hunted as a partridge upon the mountains, that he was compassed about with songs of deliverance.
The Lord give us singleness of eye, and in the power of His resurrection, to have fellowship with His sufferings.
Adapted from J. N. Darby