In the first of the two songs of David in 2 Samuel, 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 his triumphs, 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 2 Samuel 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 leads him to reach forward in spirit to the full triumph of that day when all should be full of blessing.
Holy Affections
In the same way, 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 consciences 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.
J. N. Darby (adapted)