Rollercoaster

1 Samuel 20-21
            Again, we have a story that seems familiar.  This portion of the story of David reminds of the story of Joseph.  Joseph rode a rollercoaster:  great privilege with dad, sold into Egyptian slavery, prominence in his master's house, prison, second-in-command of all Egypt.  David's star has been rising dramatically and now he is a fugitive, reduced to lying to a priest and living among his mortal enemies.  Again, Joseph was deeply loved by his father, and David was deeply loved by Jonathan.
            This is one of those patterns that is imprinted throughout the Scriptures:  first, suffering and trial, then vindication and blessing.  Ultimately, it's the pattern that shows itself in Jesus' life:  first, the cross, then the empty tomb.  Now, we want to walk carefully here.  It's certainly not the case that God owes us anything.  It wouldn't do to come out of a time of trial--unemployment, sickness, divorce--with a chip on our shoulder that says that God had better get busy making it up to us.
            But it does mean that we continue to live lives marked by hope, because we believe that beyond it all, beyond trouble, beyond suffering, beyond death itself, God will set all things right in the resurrection.  David lived a long time as a fugitive, and all he had to carry him through those years was a promise from his childhood.  But that future promise sustained his present.  Similarly our confidence in God's promise about the future of his world  sustains us as we slog through a world that still reels under its brokenness.