Everyone wants to talk about the glory of King David, how he went from being a despised shepherd boy to a king; earned a reputation as “a man after God’s own heart;” defeated many enemies, including Goliath; had a city named after him; was an ancestor of Jesus Christ; and today is the namesake of millions of people around the globe.
However, few people take the time to meditate on the myriad trials he endured and the psychological trauma he experienced—some of which was recorded in the Psalms—while on the run for years from a crazed king who betrayed him and tried to kill him (to say nothing of the revolution his son Absalom fomented against his throne.)
I think there is something to be said here about suffering and the will of God. While some suffering is a result of our foolish choices, another portion of it is part and parcel of God’s divine plan to develop the kind of person he is after.
What do you think?
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