Salvation Belongs to the LordSample

Safe and Sound

David lay down and slept. This is remarkable considering his desperate situation. David was surrounded by enemies who bayed for his blood like hungry jackals. He was in clear mortal danger. Add to this the heartbreak of the knowledge that it was his son who desired him dead! The anxiety and stress of such a situation would have kept any man awake the whole night. Yet David slept. The great Puritan and Anglican clergyman William Gurnall commented rather amusingly, “Truly it must have been a soft pillow indeed that could make him forget his danger.” David did have a soft pillow that night – the tender bosom of his God. David cast his care upon God in prayer (1 Peter 5:7) and slept safe and sound. David by his faith experienced God, who is gentle and lowly in heart, granting rest for his weary soul (Matthew 11:29).

David experienced the grace of God which sustained him through his darkest night! David could very well have died that night had Absalom followed Ahithophel’s advice and immediately pursued David with twelve thousand men (2 Samuel 17:1-3). Ahithophel’s counsel was held in such high esteem that it was if one consulted the word of God (2 Samuel 16:23). Yet that fateful night, it was strangely ignored. This happened, “for the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom.” (2 Samuel 17:14). God’s sustaining grace for David in the wilderness involved subverting the diabolical plans of his enemies. Even in the dark night, God is ever-present working out the salvation of his beloved children and sustaining them through the trials of this world.

David, who awoke in the morning untouched in the Judean wilderness, knew that God had not abandoned him to death. His faith chased away all fears! So, he proclaims that he is not afraid of all the many thousands who hunted for his blood! Though he was surrounded, David knew God was on his side. The Reformer Martin Luther, who himself knew mortal danger, wrote in his hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God,

And though this world, with devils filled,

Should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed

His truth to triumph through us.

In Jesus, believers are eternally safe and sound. For if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31).