1 Samuel 23:25–29

When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down to the rock, and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon. Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. So David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them.

But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!” Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place the Rock of Escape. Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at En Gedi.

It looks like curtains for David. Saul’s army is encircling David and his men to take them. It looks like there’s no escape.

But suddenly they’re “saved by the bell.” Saul hears of a Philistine incursion and he has to dash off to handle that. Letting the incursion wait until he has finished off David simply isn’t an option. Not only is battling the Philistines his main job, it’s why Israel wanted a king in the first place. If he let his personal vendetta against David take priority over that, no one would buy his explanation.

Besides, David fought the Philistines just a little while back. He didn’t let his spat with Saul take priority.

So Saul has to let David get away.

This is a wonderfully simple example of how God uses evil for good. So is Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor leading to the US entering WWII and defeating Hitler. And, of course, there’s Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery.

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. — Genesis 50:20

These are the easy examples—where the good purpose is obvious—and thank God for them. We need the obvious cases to teach us how this can work.

But things are rarely that simple. God’s plans usually work out in intricate and complex ways. We can’t always see how God meant it for good. They simply look evil and that’s that.

The thing to remember is that God’s good purpose is always there. We may not see it right away, or ever for that matter.

In fact, we may see it and not recognize it. God’s purposes can be so advanced that we wouldn’t know them if they were right in front of us. This is because God’s purposes are higher than ours and are often over our heads.

Eternal consequences are infinitely more important than events in this life.

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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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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.