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broken but rather, how many desperate Davids were nourished and equipped? Ahimelech teaches the church to pursue the spirit of the law more than its letter.
    David teaches the desperate to seek help amidst God’s people. David stumbles in this story. Desperate souls always do. But at least
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    David teaches the desperate to seek help amidst God’s people.
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    he stumbles into the right place—into God’s sanctuary, where God meets and ministers to hopeless hearts.
    For proof, return to the story with which we began: the breath-less, disheveled man who sits in the church assembly.
    Did I mention the size of the congregation? Small. A dozen or so souls clustered together for strength. Did I tell you the location of the gathering? A borrowed upstairs room in Jerusalem. And the date? Sunday. The Sunday after Friday’s crucifixion. The Sunday after Thursday night’s betrayal.
    A church of desperate disciples.
    Peter cowers in the corner and covers his ears, but he can’t silence the sound of his empty promise. “I’d die for you!” he had
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    God brings bread for our souls (“Peace be with you”)
and a sword for the struggle (“Receive the Holy Spirit”).
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    vowed (Luke 22:33 MSG). But his courage had melted in the midnight fire and fear. And now he and the other runaways wonder what place God has for them. Jesus answers the question by walking through the door.
    He brings bread for their souls. “Peace be with you” ( John 20:19). He brings a sword for the struggle. “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22).
    Bread and swords. He gives both to the desperate.
    Still.

5
    DRY SEASONS
    T HE DEAD SEA is dying. Drop by drop, at a rate of three feet a year, she is shrinking. Galilee sends her fresh fluid through the T Jordanian Canal, water worthy of a Messiah’s baptism. But the Dead Sea impoverishes it: darkening, acidizing, creating a saline cemetery. You find little life in her waters.
    You find little life in her surroundings. Ominous cliffs rise to the west, flattening out at two thousand feet. Erosion has scarred the land into a tyranny of caves and ruts and sparse canyons: a home for hyenas, lizards, buzzards . . . and David. Not by choice, mind you. He didn’t want to swap the palace for the badlands. No one chooses the wilderness. It comes at you from all directions—heat and rain, sandstorms and hail. We prefer air-conditioned bedrooms and culs-de-sac—safety.
    But sometimes we have no vote. Calamity hits and the roof rips. The tornado lifts and drops us in the desert. Not the desert in south-eastern Israel, but the desert of the soul.
    A season of dryness.
    Isolation marks such seasons. Saul has effectively and systematically isolated David from every source of stability.
    His half-dozen assassination attempts ended David’s military career. His pursuit drove a wedge in David’s marriage. After David’s
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    Wilderness begins with disconnections.
It continues with deceit.
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    wife, Michal, helped him escape, Saul demanded an explanation from her. “I had to,” she lied. “He threatened to kill me if I didn’t help him” (1 Sam. 19:17 TLB). David never trusted his wife again. They stayed married but slept in different beds.
    David races from Saul’s court to Samuel’s house. But no sooner does he arrive than someone tells Saul, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!” (19:19).
    David flees to Jonathan, his soul mate. Jonathan wants to help, but what can he do? Leave the court in the hands of a madman? No, Jonathan has to stay with Saul. David can hear the twine popping on the lifeline.
    No place in the court.
    No position in the army.
    No wife, no priest, no friend.
    Nothing to do but run. Wilderness begins with disconnections. It continues with deceit.
    We saw David’s deceit in Nob, the city of the priests. The city was holy; David was anything but. He lied each time he opened