1 Samuel 22:1–5

David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

Now the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

It makes sense for David to ask the king of Moab to let his parents stay there. Ruth, who was from Moab, is his father’s grandmother.

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, the LORD gave her conception, and she bore a son. …  And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. — Ruth 4:13, 17b (ESV)

Jesse should have a whole bunch of second cousins around there. They might even get to connect and catch up.

But David gives a stronger reason when he says, “till I know what God will do for me.” God has big plans for David, but that says nothing about his parents. So he acts wisely to protect them.

David has his share of faults, but overconfidence isn’t one of them.

Oh, that we could be like David. Christians struggle with overconfidence. It’s only natural; being saved means a lot of good things. It’s easy to think that everything will go our way. In a sense, everything does.

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. — Romans 8:28

This is a glorious truth, but we tend to think that for good means no trials or suffering. That can’t be it—great saints have had great trials—but then what does it mean?

The answer come from fully understanding the phrase, “for those who love God.” The Greek word translated as “love” there is agapé. It means sacrificial love, or “to prioritize another.”

So, those who love God are those who have made God’s priorities their own. For them, “for good,” means, “for His glory.” They have moved beyond a purely selfish perspective.

They won’t be disappointed.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.