God's King

This powerful message confronts us with an uncomfortable truth: we live in a world of wolves, yet most of us don't realize how unsafe we truly are. Drawing from the viral incident of a man foolishly approaching wolves at Yellowstone Park, we're reminded that the greatest danger isn't the threat itself—it's our failure to recognize it. The text walks us through 1 Samuel 22, where David becomes a refuge for the distressed, the indebted, and the bitter in soul. These aren't the strong or the successful—they're the broken, the bankrupt, and the burdened. What transforms them into David's mighty men isn't their own strength, but their recognition of their need for a king. The Christmas story begins with David because Jesus is the greater David, the ultimate King who says to each of us: 'You are safe with me.' We discover that financial debt, relational brokenness, and spiritual guilt all point to our fundamental problem—original sin. But Jesus addresses all three: He becomes our pillar when everything else crumbles, He pays our debt in full at the cross, and He gives us a new soul through His resurrection. The barrier to experiencing this safety isn't the severity of our problems—it's our refusal to admit we're unsafe. When we finally see the wolves closing in, when our pillars shake and our inner world doesn't work right, that's when we're ready to seek refuge in God's King. This Advent season calls us to stop pretending we're safe and to run to the One who actually is our safety.