Have you ever felt life was just going from bad to worse? David in 2 Samuel 15 is in this position. His half-hearted reconciliation with his son Absalom cannot hope to placate that arrogant young man for long, and in this chapter, we see Absalom using his charm and good looks to deflect people’s loyalty away from the king so that he can usurp his father’s position. Such betrayal was hard to take, especially since it was followed by the defection of one of David’s closest spiritual advisers, Ahithophel (whose advice was treated as being directly from God.) Psalm 55 reflects the pain of betrayal by a friend which David felt at this time. In Michael Card’s words, ‘only a friend comes close enough/ to ever cause so much pain.’ (‘Why?’)
David could easily have given up at this point, well aware as he was that much of this unrest and betrayal stemmed from his own behaviour and was in part God’s judgment on him for his callous treatment of Uriah the Hittite and his wife, Bathsheba. But he shows us that when judgment comes, our repentance and sorrow matter to God. He responds by weeping, putting on sackcloth and covering his head and going barefoot, leaving Jerusalem with the ark, fleeing for his life. The country joins with him in lament and sorrow, with Ittai the Gittite and Zadok the priest showing loyalty which must have blessed David enormously at a time when so many others were abandoning him and he felt so alone.
David decides to let God be the one to decide his fate, and sends the ark back to Jerusalem, hoping he will one day be able to return, but well aware the outcome of this latest coup against him is far from certain. (2 Sam 15:25-26) He urges Zadok and Abiathar to send word to him of what is happening and urges Hushai the Arkite to return too so that Ahithophel’s advice may be neutralised (‘frustrated’). David has by no means lost his strategic awareness, but he has reached the place of surrender to God’s will. He recognises God as being in ultimate control and that man’s plots and schemes cannot thwart God’s plans (see Ps 2). He accepts responsibility for his own sins and waits for God to work things out. In this, his is a model response to adversity.