{ Day 255}

Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” … So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” —1 Samuel 16:19-22, NKJV

After Samuel anointed David, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit troubled him. As a cure for his ugly mood, Saul’s servants recommended David to play music to comfort him. So David moved to the city of Gibeah, the capital of Saul’s government. He lived there from approximately the time he was seventeen to when he was twenty-three. Saul was greatly pleased with him, and David found favor in Saul’s eyes. David also found favor with the entire nation of Israel, which had been in full-scale military crisis because of Goliath the Philistine. David was used by God to pull the nation out of a disaster. He became a national hero and brought the nation into a significant victory. God snatched him out of the hills of Bethlehem, significantly increased his salary, and gave him favor before man. What David probably didn’t know is that in all this early success, God was testing the character of his love and servanthood. Would he continue to draw on his spiritual identity in God, or would he begin to find value and importance from his new position of honor?

{ PRAYER STARTER }

Father, when You have placed me in my Gibeah where You are testing my love and servanthood for You, help me to recognize that any promotion that comes to me comes from You. It is not because of me; it is because of You and Your love for me.

This was the test of promotion God
set before David in Gibeah.