I Samuel 22; Psalm 52; I Samuel 23; Psalm 63
Saul lives in an imaginary world. He imagines that no one cares about him. He imagines that [Jonathan] has stirred up [David] against [him], to lie in wait. (I Sam. 22:8) He imagines that David is actively seeking the throne. He imagines that David wants to kill him. He imagines that Ahimelech, the High Priest, all the other priests, and indeed the entire city of Nob are guilty of conspiring with David to overthrow the king. But his imagination is wrong.
Unfortunately, Saul’s imaginary world carries with it horrendous real-world consequences. Real-world priests are killed. The real-world city of Nob is wiped out. Real-world resources are diverted from protecting Israel and instead devoted to hunting David.
Saul is not alone, of course. We all live in imaginary worlds. We can’t help it. That’s just the way we are wired — and rightly so, for without imagination, we could never advance our knowledge: we could never learn anything; or invent anything; or develop language; or create art; or, well, use your imagination to fill in the blank! But we always need to hold our imaginations in check, to bring them back to reality, especially when our imaginations bring fear and anxiety. How much energy do we expend worrying about imagined possible futures that never actually happen? (By the way, there are an infinite number of possible futures, but only one ever materializes.) Do you really know the motives behind your co-worker’s actions? Do you really know that that other driver is an idiot? (Or maybe he’s racing to the hospital to save his child…) How much first-hand knowledge do you really have about all those things you fret about? And how much is just imagined?
The LORD God is the ultimate Reality. Yet He is the One we most often overlook in our imaginations, the Critical Factor that we ignore in all our anxieties. He certainly seems to be absent from Saul’s imaginary world. Is there room for Him in yours?
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