Day 35 | Where You Go, I Go

May 25th, 2019

2 Samuel 15: 14-22
David’s Exodus from Jerusalem
14 Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or else none of us will escape from Absalom. Leave in haste or else he will overtake us quickly and bring disaster down on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
15 Then the king’s officials said to the king, “Behold, your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.”
16 So the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But the king left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.
17 As the king went out and all the people after him, they paused at the last house.
18 All his servants passed on beside him: all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites—600 men that had come after him from Gath—passed on before the king.
19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your own place.
20 Your arrival was only yesterday—should I make you wander around with us today, to go wherever I may go? Go back and take your kinsmen back with you. Kindness and truth be with you!”
21 But Ittai answered the king and said, “As Adonai lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in whatever place my lord the king will be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.”
22 So David said to Ittai, “Go on and cross over.” So Ittai the Gittite passed on, with all his men and all the little children who were with him.

REFLECT

David was God's anointed king, but his son Absolam had staged a coup. The king was forced to flee, and those who were faithful to him went with him as well. Ittai was a Philistine from Gath, the same city that Goliath was from. Having just come into David's service, he chose to follow him into exile. Sometimes we have to make intentional choices when we follow Yeshua. Following Him will usually require a level of sacrifice! As I write this, I am sitting in a tent in Ethiopia, thousands of miles from my family with people whom I've never met. It's very hot; I've been up for a long time. I should be aggravated, but instead there's a joy that God has made available to me that is special. It cuts through the tiredness and exhaustion to reveal a new, fresh level of intimacy and friendship with God and the people He's called me to serve. Friends, is God calling you to a similar state of sacrificial living? I encourage you to go, because intimacy with God's and great joy are certainly waiting for you.