I've decided I'm going to work on writing two musicals at once, instead of just one. I'm writing a King David musical for kids, and also one for adults. Both deal with similar themes, and both may include some of the same music. Both are one-man shows at this point, and one will hopefully morph into a large-cast production at a later time. But one must start somewhere, right?
As you can see from my recent posts, hunger in a desert period is something that has struck a deep chord with me lately. I am also intrigued by this in the life of King David. I see David as a man who was given a great promise from a very early age and struggled with the delayed fulfillment of that promise for years to come. At several points in the Biblical narrative, others in David's life have to reassure him that he will indeed inherit the promise that God has made to him regarding his kingship over Israel. At times, it looks as though David is not entirely secure about his future as Israel's king. If I had a raging, demon-tormented King pursuing me with armies through multiple assassination attempts, I might question God on this as well. "So, what was all that about becoming Israel's next king? 'Cause right now I don't know if I'll make it to see the sunrise tomorrow, much less become the leader of this nation."
Put yourself in his shoes. Now add to that conflict the fact that your best friend, the king's son, is next in line for the throne. And even though he, your best friend, has sworn his allegiance to you, relinquishing his birthright to the throne, who's to say that he won't change his mind and turn against you once his father dies, leaving the kingdom up for grabs?
Here's something interesting to consider...David wouldn't kill King Saul, his chief obstacle to receiving his God-given inheritance as Israel's next king. And David wouldn't kill his own best friend, Jonathan, who would have been next in line for the kingship. Somehow David trusted, through all of the doubting, that God would deal with Saul in his time and would turn the kingdom over to him as promised. But I don't know if he ever considered that his best friend would die at the same time. I am not saying that God killed Jonathan or that Jonathan would have gone back on his word to David regarding relinquishing his birthright to the throne. I just find it interesting that at a time when David's chief obstacle (and once-loved fatherly figure), King Saul, was removed, David's best friend Jonathan (and a potential threat to the kingdom) died as well. David lamented the loss of these two great men in his life, enemy though one of them had become, and his grief was so great that he wrote a song about them, memorializing their greatness. It is right after this huge personal loss in David's life that he becomes ready to receive the kingdom of Israel, which he had long since been promised.
I suppose the reason this strikes me so much is that I have been grieving the loss of a friendship recently, or at least a major transition in that friendship which to me, signals the end of a very long season of richness and beauty in our communication. I have been struggling with God some this weekend as a tender wound in me has been jostled, wondering how it is that something so very good and so long-standing could so suddenly be brought to a close. Part of my desert experience, if I can be quite honest, is the absence of this close friendship in my life. I miss my friend dearly, but I know things can't go back to the way they were, especially if I am to maintain a healthy progression of moving on in my heart and being able to live in the here and now, locally and presently.
So I am strangely encouraged as I look at David's life before his kingship. He too experienced deep, personal loss. And it was almost immediately after that great loss that his greatest fulfillment came.
I think I'm onto something...Releasing my grasp to take hold of the future that God wants to give.
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