When I first read 2 Samuel 21:1, I wondered, “Why did David wait three years to enquire of the LORD? Why didn’t he seek the LORD immediately?”
Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. – 2 Samuel 21:1 (KJV)
We are told that the famine has been going on for three years. Then there comes the phrase, “year by year.” This is the only place it occurs in the Bible. Why is that phrase there? I think it’s because the famine came upon them “year by year.” If you have a bad crop one year, it’s not good but you can recover. A bad crop the second year and you have trouble and hardship. If the crop fails the third year, you have famine.
David enquired of the LORD and received the reason why there was a famine. What about your life? If things are going steadily down “year by year,” do you enquire of the LORD? Do you seek an answer in the Bible? That is the first place to look. It is possible and even easy in this world to lose your way if you get out of God’s Word. God’s will is revealed in the Bible and that is the first place to look if you think you might be out of God’s will.
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. – Hebrews 4:12 (KJV)
God bless, Mike