My struggle with my basement – 1st Samuel 18 & 19, Part 1

I don’t like the basement in my house. 

First of all, just getting into the basement is odd.  The current placement of the basement steps is not original to the house.  The previous owner did a near total rehab on the living areas of the house, and that necessitated moving the location of the basement steps.  But there must not have been many options for where to put the basement steps.  So they were left with a location that does not allow for a normal amount of landing space at the bottom of the steps.  It’s a tight squeeze. 

Also, the ceiling is really low.  I cannot stand in my basement.  Whenever I’m down there, I have to duck. 

It’s also not a finished basement.  The walls are bare, and the floor is part concrete, part dirt. The walls are over 100 years old, and they let some moisture in.  The section under our living room is a dirt crawl space.  I could go on and on. I don’t like our basement. 

Do you have something like that in your life?  Maybe it’s your house, your yard, a vehicle, your job.  There are all sorts of situations in our lives that we don’t like.  As a result, we can feel an unsettled feeling inside us.  Discontent. 

Discontentedness can lead us down a very dark road.

That discontent can linger and grow. Especially in our culture, when we are regularly fed images, mostly through advertising, of how we can make our lives better.  The thoughts capture our imaginations.  “If I just had ___ (fill in the blank), I would be happy.”   We dream of it.  We see others who have it, and we get jealous.  We can fixate on it.  In today’s sermon, we watch as discontent decimates one person.

In our study of the Life of David, King Saul is on a downward spiral, while David is on the rise.  And that brings us to 1st Samuel chapter 18.  Let’s read the first few verses:

“After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.”

David’s life has just changed completely.  Prior to defeating Goliath, even though David was anointed to be the next king, David was a no-name shepherd who sometimes played music for the current king Saul.  Now after defeating Goliath, David becomes best friends with King Saul’s son Jonathan, and Saul brings David to his residence permanently. 

This is the stuff of movie scripts.  One day you’re working for the weekend, and the next day through a wild series of events, you’re a fixture in the White House.  We dream about that kind of fortune.  We dream about posting something on social media that goes viral.  We dream about hitting the lottery.  We dream about a promotion.  About starting our own business.  We dream about making it big.  For David, it’s happening. 

Particularly, notice how it happens in David’s relationship with Jonathan, the crown prince.  Remember how Jonathan was a courageous warrior who trusted in God?  That was here in chapter 14.  In many ways, David and Jonathan are similar.  It makes sense that they would become close friends.  They both have hearts for God.  They both are fierce warriors.   In these verses we just read that Jonathan makes a covenant with David, and that covenant will factor into this story many times over in the future. 

What is fascinating about this covenant is how much Jonathan is taking the initiative to make it happen.  Consider the relationship’s starting point.  David and Jonathan’s relationship have an imbalance in its starting point.  Jonathan is the crown prince.  David is a no-name peasant shepherd boy. 

Yes, David has already been anointed to be the next king, but that was in a secret ceremony.  Jonathan would not have known about that secret anointing when David and Jonathan first meet.  

And if I was David, I would not tell Jonathan that Samuel anointed me to be the next king.   At least not yet.  That’s not the kind of info you blurt out on first meeting someone, especially someone who might be your rival.  David is wise to not talk about his secret anointing until he has assurance that he can trust Jonathan. 

But wouldn’t it be normal to be the other way around? Shouldn’t David be trying to become friends with Jonathan?  Why is Jonathan so eager to be friends with David? We’ll talk about it further in the next post!

Photo by Random Thinking on Unsplash