This is a crazy world we live in, isn’t it? I mean things happen everyday that make me scratch my head and say, “Why would somebody do that?” As I watch the news I’m constantly saying this. I wonder, “Why would somebody think it is okay to kidnap somebody else? Why would somebody think it is okay to blow themselves up trying to kill other people? Why would somebody want to kill an innocent baby still in his mothers womb? Why, why, why?” There are tons and tons of these situations that leave us asking why?
The problem we are facing is a difference in Ethical choices. Ethical choices are basically moral determinations, or decisions about what we believe to be right or wrong. They stem from our basic worldview.
Now ethics is a big subject and one that can not be taught in a day, but let me give a few ground rules and basic thoughts on it, before we see an excellent example of ethics at work in the Bible. From my perspective, ethics is basically theology at work. Because ethics is putting your beliefs into practice. It is where the rubber meets the road. It is how you live out the beliefs you truly hold too. In other words, your belief system frames your ethics. Therefore, the problems we are experiencing with the moral decay of the world and the unethical treatment of individuals is not a matter of our actions, so much as a matter of our beliefs. If we believe that life is sacred, we will have a difficult time in taking the life of another individual. If we believe that God punishes sin, we will not be as likely to sin. If we believe that might makes right, then we will live to destroy others. It is our beliefs that determine how we live.
One of the most popular beliefs that is reflected in our secular culture is the ethic that says, the ends justifies the means. In other words, all’s well that ends well. This is propagated in virtually every movie that has been made, because it allows a seemingly happy ending. But in reality this is a tremendously dangerous ethical position. But how do we evaluate an ethical position. I propose that there are three aspects that need to be examined: the means, the methods and the motives. In other words the what, the how and they why of every decision. To show how this works, we will examine this from a particular instance in the life of Israel and King David.
We pick up the story after Saul has been killed and David has been crowned King of Judah. However, there has been unrest throughout the rest of Israel as Abner, the commander of Saul’s army was unwilling to give Israel over to David, so he claimed the throne for one of Saul’s sons, Ishbosheth, or Ishbaal as some translations have it. Then there ensued a war between David’s men and Saul’s household. Eventually the commander of Saul’s army was murdered, although David had nothing to do with it, and publicly mourned for this “prince and great man” as David referred to him. That is where we come in, in chapter four of Second Samuel.
4When Saul’s son Ishbaal heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. 2Saul’s son had two captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab.
Before we go much further I’m going to let the cat out the bag and let you know what the “ends” in this story is. The “ends” for Baanah and Rechab is to ingratiate themselves with the King of Judah, David. That is what they are trying to do. They realized at this point that their king, Ishbaal was defeated, for his “courage had failed” so they were desiring to switch sides. As to what they were going to do, “the means”, they devised a plan. As it says in verse 5…
5Now, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ishbaal, while he was taking his noonday rest. 6They came inside the house as though to take wheat, and they struck him in the stomach; then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.
The means they used, was to assassinate David’s enemy. That was the “what” of there plan. Were there other means they could have taken? Sure, they could have simply deserted Ishbaal, after all, he had lost his fight, and he probably would not have come after them. Could they have arranged for a truce and a peaceful treaty agreement? It is possible as David and Ishbaal were both upset at Abner’s death, perhaps neither were particularly interested in more bloodshed. Obviously there were other means to their end, so why did they choose this one? Was this an acceptable means? The Bible is clear on that one. Murder has been condemned since the Ten commandments and was judged harshly since Cain killed Abel. Clearly their means were not ethical.
But how about their methods? Even if we judge their means to be unacceptable, what about their methods? What does “how” it is accomplished reveal about their ethics? The story continues in verse 7.
7Now they had come into the house while he was lying on his couch in his bedchamber; they attacked him, killed him, and beheaded him. Then they took his head and traveled by way of the Arabah all night long. 8They brought the head of Ishbaal to David at Hebron
Wow. Those are some methods. Anyone want to say those are ethical? Well, let’s look at David’s response, after all, they supposedly had done this for him, right?
9David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, 10when the one who told me, ‘See, Saul is dead,’ thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag—this was the reward I gave him for his news. 11How much more then, when wicked men have killed a righteous man on his bed in his own house! And now shall I not require his blood at your hand, and destroy you from the earth?”
It is clear that David found this particularly offensive that they would walk into a man’s house in the middle of the day and kill him as he slept on his own bed. This was egregious! And they came to David, carrying this innocent man’s head, seeking approval? Seeking acceptance? Trying to ingratiate themselves with this kind of atrocity? What were they thinking?
David clearly calls them wicked men, for that is what they are to take the life of their own king, while he was defenseless and in his own bed, WITHOUT CAUSE! He was innocent and they killed him And they expected to be rewarded for this action! This is mind boggling! What were they thinking?! Obviously they didn’t value human life, like David, God’s anointed did. They didn’t value loyalty to their king. Is this the kind of men David wants on his side? They didn’t respect his title or his position, nor even the family, for he was actually in the same tribe as they were, the Benjaminites. What did they value? What was it that drove them to this end?
That is a very important question and a very important point, the “why” factor. One of the main criteria in evaluating ethical decisions is motive. Why are you doing this? You see in this case it is easy to see that what they were doing was wrong because of the means and the methods, but what if the means and the methods were okay? Would the end be okay too? Perhaps, if their motive was okay.
So what was the motive for Rechab and Baanah? Was it to see the kingdom reunited? Was it to stop the violence (that would be an ironic way to do it)? Was it to glorify God? No, no, no. It was all about them. It was so that they could be rewarded. They were looking out only for themselves. It was a selfish motive and selfish motives always lose. Maybe they weren’t out for money, maybe they were out for power, or maybe they feared for their lives. Either way, their motive was all about themselves and they didn’t care about anyone else, nor anyone elses life.
So how does that fit with a Christian ethic? How does that fit with a Christian worldview? Obviously we reject the whole course of action and are repulsed just as David was. But why? Because as Christians, we take our ethics from the example of Jesus who showed us exactly what it means to be selfless. He showed us that we are to live lives of selflessness, not selfishness. He showed us that we are to be concerned about our neighbors and their welfare; that we are to be concerned about how we live, and what we do and why we do it. We are to consider others and not ourselves. This is the ethic of Christ, and the ethics of Christians.
Yet sometimes we think that just doing the right thing is enough. Sometimes we struggle with the motive thing. This reminds me of a story I heard about a man who had died and was trying to get into heaven. He walks up to the pearly gates to see Saint Peter and says, “I’m ready for heaven, sir.”
St Peter responds, “What makes you think so?”
“Well, sir, “the man begins, “I gave to the poor, I went to church, I never cheated on my wife, I didn’t drink and I prayed twice a day.”
St Peter replies, “You mean you got tax deductions, you wanted to impress people, you afraid of your wife catching you, you were allergic to alcohol and you said grace before meals, right?”
The man bowed his head ashamedly and said, “I was hoping you wouldn’t know the difference.”
You see God is definitely concerned with what we do, but he is also deeply concerned with why we do it! So if we want to be pleasing to God, which should be our main motivation for everything we do, let’s learn the ethics lesson from David and make sure our means and our methods and our motives all bring glory to Him!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
On Not Becoming the Enemy
I like watching movies, especially certain action adventure movies. One of my favorites is Star Wars. There was this great scene in Episode two “The Attack of the Clones” where Yoda was fighting this horrid bad guy named Count Dooku. If you have never seen it, it was quite impressive to see that little green fellow get around like he did. Anyway, during the scene, Count Dooku was clearly outmatched by Yoda and he knew it. So instead of giving his best shot at Yoda, he caused a large piece of metal to fall on another Jedi who had already been wounded. This may seem like a strange move, but Dooku knew that Yoda, being a good guy would sooner protect someone else from getting hurt, than take the opportunity to finish off Dooku. Of course, Yoda did the right thing, prevented further injury to the wounded Jedi allowing Count Dooku to get away. Meanwhile I’m shouting, “That’s not fair!” It’s not fair that the bad guys know the good guys will put themselves in danger to protect somebody else. The good guys take the high road, that’s what makes them good guys. But the bad guys are always out for themselves, for their own agendas. And they don’t care who they have to hurt to accomplish it.
The real danger in this however, is that sometimes we think the bad guy has an upper hand so maybe we should use his tactics to level out the playing field. It kind of goes back to the most popular misquotation of the golden rule, “do unto others as they do unto you.” “After all,” we think, “that is only fair.” If they hurt me, I’ll hurt them right back. If they slander my name, I’ll slander theirs. If they offend me, I’ll offend them. However it usually goes a step further. It is usually not an eye for an eye, but much worse. Instead of taking a tooth for a tooth, we would rather take a full set of choppers to replace the one we lost. We like to up the ante. However, utilizing the same tactics or worse than the bad guys does not make our actions justified, it only makes us bad guys too. And in most cases, we are worse because we have turned our back on doing things the right way.
The Bible does have something to say about this. Of course Jesus makes these points crystal clear in the Sermon on the Mount. But I think it is important for us to realize that what Jesus says is not just pie in the sky, but is practical and possible advice. So we will look at an actual example of someone who showed it is possible to put these words into actions, David.
Now, Saul had been chasing David for some time, and David had taken drastic measures to avoid him. He even hid out for a while in the Philistine city of Gath, the town that Goliath was from. He went from place to place to avoid Saul, yet when he heard of trouble in Israel, he came running to help. And just like a Star Wars episode, Saul tried to take advantage of it by trying to capture David in the city he was helping, yet David escaped. David was not afraid of battle, he was not afraid to fight, yet something was different with Saul. Of course Saul destroyed any and everyone that had been cordial with David, for he was ruthless. Yet I need to point out that for David, Saul was not an enemy against God’s people, but he was a personal enemy. He was not an outside force, for David would not have hesitated to destroy an outside enemy, but this was an enemy within the “house of God” if you will. And that is what sets this apart quite drastically.
We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 24 where Saul is tipped off as to David’s whereabouts and continues to chase him into the caves of Engedi. As Saul and his men search for David, Saul has to… how does the Bible say this… relieve himself. So he goes into the cave for some privacy. Yet unbeknownst to him, David and his men are hiding in this cave system and they see Saul in a compromised position. David’s men are convinced this is the opportunity they have been waiting for. Saul is alone with no support and no weapons. David could easily kill him and they encourage him to do so, thinking that this must be God’s will. Now I’ll admit that God’s will can be a hard thing to figure out and oftentimes we use circumstances to confirm God’s will. It would appear that circumstance had brought Saul right into David’s hand. Most of us would probably agree that God would want David to destroy this enemy that had been chasing him. Right? So what does David do?
He sneaks up on Saul, he has a sword or a knife at the ready, and he cuts off a piece of Saul’s garment. And if that wasn’t anticlimactic enough, he regretted doing that much! Look at what he says in verse six.
[6] He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord's anointed." [7] So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way.
Did you hear what I heard? David had the chance to kill his enemy that had been tracking him down like a dog, and he let him go. He just let him go! Why? He said, “The Lord forbid” that I should come against Saul, “for he is the Lord’s anointed.” Now wait a minute David, you are the Lord’s anointed. You were there. Remember when Samuel came and anointed you at Bethlehem? Remember when you faced the giant Goliath? Remember how Jonathon conceded his throne to you? Remember? You are the Lord’s anointed.
But you see we stand in a different place than David in a couple of ways. First off, we know some things that David didn’t necessarily know. Saul was anointed King in front of the whole nation, yet there was no un-anointing. There was no de-throning of Saul. God, through Samuel had told Saul that he had withdrawn his spirit, but it was not a public event. In fact, Samuel allowed Saul to be at a public worship event with him, even after the withdrawal. So in the eyes of David, Saul was still God’s anointed.
Now you and I might say, how could David even think that after seeing and hearing about all the horrible things that Saul had done. That is a good question. But we need to be careful about posing such a question, because we may really be wondering if the fact of sin in someone’ s life disqualifies him/her from being God’s anointed? I sure hope not, for if it did, we would all be in jeopardy. For none of us can claim to be sinless. Even David himself would have lost his anointing a few years down the line if this were the case.
“But,” you might say, “look at the things Saul has done; he crossed the line!” Perhaps you are right; perhaps he did cross the line, for as we know, Saul was not following God at this point, Saul was following his own agenda. He was not looking out for the greater good, but for his own good. Yet the point is David realized he was not in a position to judge. He left that up to God. If you look back in the last several chapters we can see David continually inquiring of the Lord. David had a relationship with God and talked to God regularly, so when this opportunity happened David was in a place to know whether or not this was God’s way of giving Saul into his hands. Although David’s men thought so, David knew that God had not told him to do such a thing. He was not going to follow the will of mankind if God had not given him permission and God did no such thing.
You see it is easy for us to judge someone else’s sin. It is easy for us to say, they shouldn’t have done that, or you better stop because that is wrong. It is even easy for us to say, “Because you have done those things, you deserve this in return.” But our judgment can be wrong. Perhaps that’s why Jesus tells us to “judge not.” Usually those who are quick to spot a speck of sand in their neighbor’s eye can’t see the plank in their own eye. David was not going to be caught in this trap. So he spared Saul’s life.
After Saul had exited the cave, David came out, bowed before the king and pleaded his case before Saul. He said, "Why do you listen to the words of those who say, 'David seeks to do you harm'? [10] This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not raise my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed.' It was not because of David’s great love for Saul or because he didn’t care about the things Saul had done. It was not because he wasn’t concerned about his own life, but because his concern was for the Lord. Something within him, no matter what the circumstance, even at risk of his own life, would not let him harm someone who represented God. We could use more of this type of thinking in our society. The type of thinking that recognizes that those who are called by God and set apart by him are not to be attacked or slandered or maligned. David said “I will not raise my hand against …the Lord’s anointed!” I will not do it!
He goes on to show how he had the opportunity by holding up the piece of Saul’s garment and revealing that he had no malice or sin of any kind against this man who was trying to hunt him down. This is counter-cultural stuff. This is the kind of stuff that people don’t believe, that after all that Saul had done, David could walk away. But he declares to Saul the reason he is able to spare him, he trusted God to take care of it.
[12] May the Lord judge between me and you! May the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. God will avenge me, but I will not be the instrument of your demise. He knew that God would take care of it. He was counting on God to take care of it. But the reason why David refused to be the instrument of Saul’s demise isn’t actually clear until the next verse.
[13] As the ancient proverb says, 'Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'; but my hand shall not be against you. He knew that if he struck out against Saul that would not make him righteous, but wicked. He would become the enemy, something he was unwilling to do. He would rather spend all of his days running, and depending on God than to become evil and wicked by taking matters into his own hands. He could not do as Saul did, for then he would be no better than Saul.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in this case is Saul’s response to David’s lack of action. He wept. He realized, at least for a moment how unfair and wicked he had been to David. He even says, "You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.” He recognizes that David is the good guy. David is the righteous one. Not because he took vengeance when he had the opportunity, but because he showed mercy when he had the opportunity. Remember Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful” but he never said, “Blessed are the vengeful.” Not only did Saul admit that David was the good guy, but he actually admitted that He should be king of Israel.
[20] Now I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. He realized that the task of establishing Israel as a kingdom was one that belonged to a good guy, and not to a selfish, fearful bad guy. Of course, as we will learn in a few weeks, David did succeed in becoming king and establishing Israel. He succeeded because he took the high road, and did not succumb to becoming the enemy. Instead he was content with being the good guy, no matter how difficult a road that would be.
If the story of Saul and David would have ended there it would have made the perfect background for the Star Wars story. For Saul, like Anakin Skywalker, was a good guy who decided to do things for his own selfish reasons. This is what made him the bad guy, like Darth Vader. And David, like Luke Skywalker, had the opportunity to do the same thing, to look out only for himself, yet he didn’t. And in the end, Darth Vader and Saul both realized the error of their ways. Becoming the enemy is an easy thing to do; it is almost the natural thing to do. But we, like David, have God with us to help us to do the unnatural thing, the Holy Spirit to help us to do the counter-cultural stuff, to take the high road and let God take care of the enemy within.
The real danger in this however, is that sometimes we think the bad guy has an upper hand so maybe we should use his tactics to level out the playing field. It kind of goes back to the most popular misquotation of the golden rule, “do unto others as they do unto you.” “After all,” we think, “that is only fair.” If they hurt me, I’ll hurt them right back. If they slander my name, I’ll slander theirs. If they offend me, I’ll offend them. However it usually goes a step further. It is usually not an eye for an eye, but much worse. Instead of taking a tooth for a tooth, we would rather take a full set of choppers to replace the one we lost. We like to up the ante. However, utilizing the same tactics or worse than the bad guys does not make our actions justified, it only makes us bad guys too. And in most cases, we are worse because we have turned our back on doing things the right way.
The Bible does have something to say about this. Of course Jesus makes these points crystal clear in the Sermon on the Mount. But I think it is important for us to realize that what Jesus says is not just pie in the sky, but is practical and possible advice. So we will look at an actual example of someone who showed it is possible to put these words into actions, David.
Now, Saul had been chasing David for some time, and David had taken drastic measures to avoid him. He even hid out for a while in the Philistine city of Gath, the town that Goliath was from. He went from place to place to avoid Saul, yet when he heard of trouble in Israel, he came running to help. And just like a Star Wars episode, Saul tried to take advantage of it by trying to capture David in the city he was helping, yet David escaped. David was not afraid of battle, he was not afraid to fight, yet something was different with Saul. Of course Saul destroyed any and everyone that had been cordial with David, for he was ruthless. Yet I need to point out that for David, Saul was not an enemy against God’s people, but he was a personal enemy. He was not an outside force, for David would not have hesitated to destroy an outside enemy, but this was an enemy within the “house of God” if you will. And that is what sets this apart quite drastically.
We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 24 where Saul is tipped off as to David’s whereabouts and continues to chase him into the caves of Engedi. As Saul and his men search for David, Saul has to… how does the Bible say this… relieve himself. So he goes into the cave for some privacy. Yet unbeknownst to him, David and his men are hiding in this cave system and they see Saul in a compromised position. David’s men are convinced this is the opportunity they have been waiting for. Saul is alone with no support and no weapons. David could easily kill him and they encourage him to do so, thinking that this must be God’s will. Now I’ll admit that God’s will can be a hard thing to figure out and oftentimes we use circumstances to confirm God’s will. It would appear that circumstance had brought Saul right into David’s hand. Most of us would probably agree that God would want David to destroy this enemy that had been chasing him. Right? So what does David do?
He sneaks up on Saul, he has a sword or a knife at the ready, and he cuts off a piece of Saul’s garment. And if that wasn’t anticlimactic enough, he regretted doing that much! Look at what he says in verse six.
[6] He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord's anointed." [7] So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way.
Did you hear what I heard? David had the chance to kill his enemy that had been tracking him down like a dog, and he let him go. He just let him go! Why? He said, “The Lord forbid” that I should come against Saul, “for he is the Lord’s anointed.” Now wait a minute David, you are the Lord’s anointed. You were there. Remember when Samuel came and anointed you at Bethlehem? Remember when you faced the giant Goliath? Remember how Jonathon conceded his throne to you? Remember? You are the Lord’s anointed.
But you see we stand in a different place than David in a couple of ways. First off, we know some things that David didn’t necessarily know. Saul was anointed King in front of the whole nation, yet there was no un-anointing. There was no de-throning of Saul. God, through Samuel had told Saul that he had withdrawn his spirit, but it was not a public event. In fact, Samuel allowed Saul to be at a public worship event with him, even after the withdrawal. So in the eyes of David, Saul was still God’s anointed.
Now you and I might say, how could David even think that after seeing and hearing about all the horrible things that Saul had done. That is a good question. But we need to be careful about posing such a question, because we may really be wondering if the fact of sin in someone’ s life disqualifies him/her from being God’s anointed? I sure hope not, for if it did, we would all be in jeopardy. For none of us can claim to be sinless. Even David himself would have lost his anointing a few years down the line if this were the case.
“But,” you might say, “look at the things Saul has done; he crossed the line!” Perhaps you are right; perhaps he did cross the line, for as we know, Saul was not following God at this point, Saul was following his own agenda. He was not looking out for the greater good, but for his own good. Yet the point is David realized he was not in a position to judge. He left that up to God. If you look back in the last several chapters we can see David continually inquiring of the Lord. David had a relationship with God and talked to God regularly, so when this opportunity happened David was in a place to know whether or not this was God’s way of giving Saul into his hands. Although David’s men thought so, David knew that God had not told him to do such a thing. He was not going to follow the will of mankind if God had not given him permission and God did no such thing.
You see it is easy for us to judge someone else’s sin. It is easy for us to say, they shouldn’t have done that, or you better stop because that is wrong. It is even easy for us to say, “Because you have done those things, you deserve this in return.” But our judgment can be wrong. Perhaps that’s why Jesus tells us to “judge not.” Usually those who are quick to spot a speck of sand in their neighbor’s eye can’t see the plank in their own eye. David was not going to be caught in this trap. So he spared Saul’s life.
After Saul had exited the cave, David came out, bowed before the king and pleaded his case before Saul. He said, "Why do you listen to the words of those who say, 'David seeks to do you harm'? [10] This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not raise my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed.' It was not because of David’s great love for Saul or because he didn’t care about the things Saul had done. It was not because he wasn’t concerned about his own life, but because his concern was for the Lord. Something within him, no matter what the circumstance, even at risk of his own life, would not let him harm someone who represented God. We could use more of this type of thinking in our society. The type of thinking that recognizes that those who are called by God and set apart by him are not to be attacked or slandered or maligned. David said “I will not raise my hand against …the Lord’s anointed!” I will not do it!
He goes on to show how he had the opportunity by holding up the piece of Saul’s garment and revealing that he had no malice or sin of any kind against this man who was trying to hunt him down. This is counter-cultural stuff. This is the kind of stuff that people don’t believe, that after all that Saul had done, David could walk away. But he declares to Saul the reason he is able to spare him, he trusted God to take care of it.
[12] May the Lord judge between me and you! May the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. God will avenge me, but I will not be the instrument of your demise. He knew that God would take care of it. He was counting on God to take care of it. But the reason why David refused to be the instrument of Saul’s demise isn’t actually clear until the next verse.
[13] As the ancient proverb says, 'Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'; but my hand shall not be against you. He knew that if he struck out against Saul that would not make him righteous, but wicked. He would become the enemy, something he was unwilling to do. He would rather spend all of his days running, and depending on God than to become evil and wicked by taking matters into his own hands. He could not do as Saul did, for then he would be no better than Saul.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in this case is Saul’s response to David’s lack of action. He wept. He realized, at least for a moment how unfair and wicked he had been to David. He even says, "You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.” He recognizes that David is the good guy. David is the righteous one. Not because he took vengeance when he had the opportunity, but because he showed mercy when he had the opportunity. Remember Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful” but he never said, “Blessed are the vengeful.” Not only did Saul admit that David was the good guy, but he actually admitted that He should be king of Israel.
[20] Now I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. He realized that the task of establishing Israel as a kingdom was one that belonged to a good guy, and not to a selfish, fearful bad guy. Of course, as we will learn in a few weeks, David did succeed in becoming king and establishing Israel. He succeeded because he took the high road, and did not succumb to becoming the enemy. Instead he was content with being the good guy, no matter how difficult a road that would be.
If the story of Saul and David would have ended there it would have made the perfect background for the Star Wars story. For Saul, like Anakin Skywalker, was a good guy who decided to do things for his own selfish reasons. This is what made him the bad guy, like Darth Vader. And David, like Luke Skywalker, had the opportunity to do the same thing, to look out only for himself, yet he didn’t. And in the end, Darth Vader and Saul both realized the error of their ways. Becoming the enemy is an easy thing to do; it is almost the natural thing to do. But we, like David, have God with us to help us to do the unnatural thing, the Holy Spirit to help us to do the counter-cultural stuff, to take the high road and let God take care of the enemy within.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
A Lesson in Hospitality
Have any of you watched the Amazing Race? I know it’s one of those so-called reality TV Shows, but this one is pretty neat. Teams of two have to travel around the world, utilizing various clues and dealing with cultural obstacles as they race to be the first to reach several checkpoints. Of course one of the most fascinating aspects of the show is the many different cultures that they highlight. Each culture is different, and the travelers have to be careful not to do something that might offend the people in that culture. Most of the time the teams are successful at not offending the natives, but usually the teams that are the most successful are those that engage the natives. The successful teams are those who take the little bit of time required to show forth kindness and concern for the natives. Usually they are successful, because the natives then show kindness in return and help the teams to finish the course quicker. In most cultures, kindness is considered a virtue and kindness to strangers is considered doubly so.
Being kind is a virtue in American culture to, but the kindness to strangers is becoming a lost dog. It was something that used to be here but has wandered away. And not without some good reason. We are beginning in many ways to become a culture of distrust, a culture of fear. We know that there are bad people all over the place who are ready to take advantage of us at the first opportunity. So we make sure there is no opportunity. But this culture of distrust has allowed us to lose one of our greatest evangelistic tools, hospitality. It has convinced us that the risk is too great and so we keep our doors shut to keep the devil out, meanwhile we keep the angels and the blessing out as well. However, this too is not something new. People who are filled with distrust are all over the world and were even in Biblical times. As we continue the story of David, we come to a story in chapter 25 of 1 Samuel that reveals the danger of being inhospitable. And it is not the danger it would first appear to be, as we will see.
So David and his men heard about a very rich man who is shearing his sheep nearby to where they were staying. The man’s name is Nabal, which just happens to means Fool in Hebrew, and he was a mean, surly man. His wife was named Abigail and she was smart and beautiful. Now the time of sheep shearing was usually a bit of a party and there was much food to be had, so David sent 10 of his men up to the party to give proper greetings from David who is camped nearby. The greeting was one of Peace and it mentioned the fact that David and his men have been protecting Nabal’s men and sheep for sometime. He then requests a portion of the feast that would seem appropriate for him and his men. Of course hospitality was a part of Jewish custom going back to the time of Abraham and people traditionally would share their feast with whoever asked.. Plus, God’s laws commanded kindness to strangers. Yet how did this fool respond?
Look at verse 10 But Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters. [11] Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?"
What do we see in Nabal’s response? First we see distrust. He asks who is David, yet he knew he was the Son of Jesse. What he may have been asking is why should I trust David? He doesn’t work for me. I don’t really know him from Adam, and I am certainly not giving him any of my food.
So we also see rudeness as he basically call’s David a runaway slave, implying that David had simply deserted Saul. Which again underscores that he DID know who David was. After all, the song had been going around.
Thirdly we see selfishness. David and his men are in need as they are camping in the wilderness, trying to evade Saul, and although this man has great wealth, he chooses to keep it all to himself instead of help out a stranger who asks for a meal. This is not a good lesson on Hospitality. This is what not to do. Did he have the right to respond this way, sure. But was it the right thing to do? Probably not, as we shall see.
David responded in anger and told all of his men to get prepared for battle and he took four hundred with him as he began to approach Nabal. You see people don’t respond very well to rudeness. And in this case it was actually a little more then simple rudeness, for David and his men had already showed kindness to Nabal by watching over his hirelings and his flocks. Therefore, Nabal was ignoring the good deed that David had done, or worse, thanking him for the good deed by being mean to him. As David says, repaying Good with Evil.
But One of the young men told Abigail what had happened and How David was prepared to take matters into his own hands. Abigail knew she needed to do something to try to reconcile this situation so in verse 18 it says she hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys [19] and said to her young men, "Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you."
Then she went and met up with David who was still fuming over the insults Now David had said, "Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned me evil for good. When she heard of the plans to destroy Nabal she acted quickly and humbly.
[24] She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. [25] My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. It is interesting that she asks that the guilt be placed on her even though she admits that she did not know anything about the visit. She also tries to excuse Nabal’s rudeness as simply being a character flaw. What is she trying to do? She is trying to be a Peacemaker. A Mediator, going between the two parties to try to prevent this from escalating. She is trying to reconcile the situation. Jesus Said Blessed are the Peacemakers, and here is an example of one. Listen to what else she says.
[26] Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.
She gives God credit for keeping David from becoming the enemy, yet the truth be known, he had intended too. Yet it was God who kept him and God happened to use a clever and beautiful woman named Abigail, for her intercession is what saved Nabal that Day, and what Saved David from doing something he would have regretted by acting out of anger.
[27] And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.
She then tries to reconcile by fulfilling David’s initial wish, by extending the hospitality that he expected in the first place. She gives him all the food that he probably expected the first time, perhaps more as an act of hospitality and as a way to restore trust. She completes the peacemaking process by asking forgiveness for the wrongdoing and calling forth a blessing upon David. Of course she reminds David that he will be blessed by God because he did not take vengeance, or shed innocent blood, again trying to ensure that Nabal would be spared.
David responded by recognizing that this woman with her act of hospitality and kindness was being used by God. He conceded that she was right to intercede and he was grateful that he had not done something he would only regret So he sent her off in Peace.
Abigail was able to secure peace by her hospitality and her willingness to trust David. Surely he could have killed her, it may have been his intention as he was riding toward Nabal’s place. But her boldness, her kindness, her humility, and her cleverness allowed her to bring Peace to what could have a terrible situation.
But the Story doesn’t end there. Although God spared David from doing such a horrendous deed through using Abigail’s hospitality, God was the one to give justice.
When Abigail got back after saving Nabal’s life, he was busy having a party and getting drunk. She didn’t even tell him until the next day how much danger he had been in because of his haughty, selfish, insolence. And when he heard of how his wife interceded and showed humility in his name, his his heart died within him; he became like a stone.
Clearly this was unacceptable behavior for him, and he couldn’t take the fact that his wife had done the right thing.
[38] About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
David never had to lift a finger, he never had to sin and become the enemy. He just let God take care of it.
[39] When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord who has judged the case of Nabal's insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head." God will take vengeance. There is no need in us stepping up to try to do his job! Meanwhile, David recognized good character and someone who listens to God, so he wooed Abigail and married her.
What does this teach us? Should we be quick to invite strangers in? Well this doesn’t really address that issue, and God gave us common sense for a reason. But the real issue here is how do we treat other people. Do we repay someone evil for doing good things for us? Do we hoard things we have when others are in need of them? Do we take vengeance when we get angry or do we let God take care of it? These are some of the questions that this story helps us address and it is clear that God’s ways are not the same as ours. But I think it is also clear that God’s ways are always better. We constantly need reminded that our actions have consequences, for good or for bad. So let’s do the right thing and treat other people as we would have them treat us. It’s a rule that proves itself to be golden.
Being kind is a virtue in American culture to, but the kindness to strangers is becoming a lost dog. It was something that used to be here but has wandered away. And not without some good reason. We are beginning in many ways to become a culture of distrust, a culture of fear. We know that there are bad people all over the place who are ready to take advantage of us at the first opportunity. So we make sure there is no opportunity. But this culture of distrust has allowed us to lose one of our greatest evangelistic tools, hospitality. It has convinced us that the risk is too great and so we keep our doors shut to keep the devil out, meanwhile we keep the angels and the blessing out as well. However, this too is not something new. People who are filled with distrust are all over the world and were even in Biblical times. As we continue the story of David, we come to a story in chapter 25 of 1 Samuel that reveals the danger of being inhospitable. And it is not the danger it would first appear to be, as we will see.
So David and his men heard about a very rich man who is shearing his sheep nearby to where they were staying. The man’s name is Nabal, which just happens to means Fool in Hebrew, and he was a mean, surly man. His wife was named Abigail and she was smart and beautiful. Now the time of sheep shearing was usually a bit of a party and there was much food to be had, so David sent 10 of his men up to the party to give proper greetings from David who is camped nearby. The greeting was one of Peace and it mentioned the fact that David and his men have been protecting Nabal’s men and sheep for sometime. He then requests a portion of the feast that would seem appropriate for him and his men. Of course hospitality was a part of Jewish custom going back to the time of Abraham and people traditionally would share their feast with whoever asked.. Plus, God’s laws commanded kindness to strangers. Yet how did this fool respond?
Look at verse 10 But Nabal answered David's servants, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are breaking away from their masters. [11] Shall I take my bread and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who come from I do not know where?"
What do we see in Nabal’s response? First we see distrust. He asks who is David, yet he knew he was the Son of Jesse. What he may have been asking is why should I trust David? He doesn’t work for me. I don’t really know him from Adam, and I am certainly not giving him any of my food.
So we also see rudeness as he basically call’s David a runaway slave, implying that David had simply deserted Saul. Which again underscores that he DID know who David was. After all, the song had been going around.
Thirdly we see selfishness. David and his men are in need as they are camping in the wilderness, trying to evade Saul, and although this man has great wealth, he chooses to keep it all to himself instead of help out a stranger who asks for a meal. This is not a good lesson on Hospitality. This is what not to do. Did he have the right to respond this way, sure. But was it the right thing to do? Probably not, as we shall see.
David responded in anger and told all of his men to get prepared for battle and he took four hundred with him as he began to approach Nabal. You see people don’t respond very well to rudeness. And in this case it was actually a little more then simple rudeness, for David and his men had already showed kindness to Nabal by watching over his hirelings and his flocks. Therefore, Nabal was ignoring the good deed that David had done, or worse, thanking him for the good deed by being mean to him. As David says, repaying Good with Evil.
But One of the young men told Abigail what had happened and How David was prepared to take matters into his own hands. Abigail knew she needed to do something to try to reconcile this situation so in verse 18 it says she hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys [19] and said to her young men, "Go on ahead of me; I am coming after you."
Then she went and met up with David who was still fuming over the insults Now David had said, "Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned me evil for good. When she heard of the plans to destroy Nabal she acted quickly and humbly.
[24] She fell at his feet and said, "Upon me alone, my lord, be the guilt; please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant. [25] My lord, do not take seriously this ill-natured fellow, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. It is interesting that she asks that the guilt be placed on her even though she admits that she did not know anything about the visit. She also tries to excuse Nabal’s rudeness as simply being a character flaw. What is she trying to do? She is trying to be a Peacemaker. A Mediator, going between the two parties to try to prevent this from escalating. She is trying to reconcile the situation. Jesus Said Blessed are the Peacemakers, and here is an example of one. Listen to what else she says.
[26] Now then, my lord, as the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, since the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand, now let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be like Nabal.
She gives God credit for keeping David from becoming the enemy, yet the truth be known, he had intended too. Yet it was God who kept him and God happened to use a clever and beautiful woman named Abigail, for her intercession is what saved Nabal that Day, and what Saved David from doing something he would have regretted by acting out of anger.
[27] And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.
She then tries to reconcile by fulfilling David’s initial wish, by extending the hospitality that he expected in the first place. She gives him all the food that he probably expected the first time, perhaps more as an act of hospitality and as a way to restore trust. She completes the peacemaking process by asking forgiveness for the wrongdoing and calling forth a blessing upon David. Of course she reminds David that he will be blessed by God because he did not take vengeance, or shed innocent blood, again trying to ensure that Nabal would be spared.
David responded by recognizing that this woman with her act of hospitality and kindness was being used by God. He conceded that she was right to intercede and he was grateful that he had not done something he would only regret So he sent her off in Peace.
Abigail was able to secure peace by her hospitality and her willingness to trust David. Surely he could have killed her, it may have been his intention as he was riding toward Nabal’s place. But her boldness, her kindness, her humility, and her cleverness allowed her to bring Peace to what could have a terrible situation.
But the Story doesn’t end there. Although God spared David from doing such a horrendous deed through using Abigail’s hospitality, God was the one to give justice.
When Abigail got back after saving Nabal’s life, he was busy having a party and getting drunk. She didn’t even tell him until the next day how much danger he had been in because of his haughty, selfish, insolence. And when he heard of how his wife interceded and showed humility in his name, his his heart died within him; he became like a stone.
Clearly this was unacceptable behavior for him, and he couldn’t take the fact that his wife had done the right thing.
[38] About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal, and he died.
David never had to lift a finger, he never had to sin and become the enemy. He just let God take care of it.
[39] When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the Lord who has judged the case of Nabal's insult to me, and has kept back his servant from evil; the Lord has returned the evildoing of Nabal upon his own head." God will take vengeance. There is no need in us stepping up to try to do his job! Meanwhile, David recognized good character and someone who listens to God, so he wooed Abigail and married her.
What does this teach us? Should we be quick to invite strangers in? Well this doesn’t really address that issue, and God gave us common sense for a reason. But the real issue here is how do we treat other people. Do we repay someone evil for doing good things for us? Do we hoard things we have when others are in need of them? Do we take vengeance when we get angry or do we let God take care of it? These are some of the questions that this story helps us address and it is clear that God’s ways are not the same as ours. But I think it is also clear that God’s ways are always better. We constantly need reminded that our actions have consequences, for good or for bad. So let’s do the right thing and treat other people as we would have them treat us. It’s a rule that proves itself to be golden.
Friday, July 07, 2006
The Danger of Being Blessed
There is a gospel that is being preached that sounds too good to be true. You might hear it on your radio, or see it on your TV, you will probably find it in your bookstore, but that doesn't make it true. It's a pretty popular gospel because it says things that most of us want to hear. I call it the "tickle the ears" Gospel. Some people call it the feel good gospel, or the prosperity Gospel and what it says is that, "If you just trust God, you will never have anymore troubles." Well, usually it says, "If you just trust God and send a tax deductible contribution, you will never have anymore trouble", but this Gospel is simply false. And I know that it’s false because the Bible clearly tells me it’s false.
Oh I would like it to be true. Wouldn't you like it to be true? Sure, who wouldn’t? For we realize that when we trust in Jesus we have to do a whole lot of life restructuring. We have to (with the help of the Holy Spirit) change so many of our selfish ways. We may have to stop watching the movies we've been watching, or reading the books we've been reading. We may have to stop hanging out with some of the people we've been hanging out with, or stop going to the places we've been going. And with all these changes there is an undeniable personal turmoil. So it would be great if we could say that once we have trusted in Jesus, all the problems disappear.
Sometimes, evangelists even use this gospel because they know that they will encounter people who are broken and in need of repair, people who need a respite. And although Jesus will provide respite and repair, it is not the same thing to say there will never be anymore trouble in your life. That is simply a false gospel. It is a lie. Not only does Scripture give example after example of Good Godly men and women facing trouble after trouble, Jesus himself declares that we would be hated, because he was hated. How much more proof do we need? Just in case we need another example, lets look at a story that proves this point. A story not just about someone who trusted in God, but someone who was set apart and anointed to be blessed by God. Someone who God used mightily and who was declared the man after God's own heart, David.
We pick up the story after David became famous. David, this little farm boy had killed Goliath the mighty warrior and Saul had been impressed. Jonathon, Saul's son and heir apparent had been so impressed that he gave David his armor, perhaps as a sign of his relinquishing his claim to the throne in favor of David. Of course, David had already been anointed as King by Samuel. He was God's chosen; he was Blessed by God, yet no-one outside Bethlehem was aware of this fact, and David surely wasn't going to tell Saul, the reigning monarch. So we pick up here in 1 Samuel 18:6.
As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they made merry,
"Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands."
Of course then as now, when the king comes into town people flock to see him. They take the opportunity to say nice things about him. Especially in this case, since he was a war hero. They had the band playing; there was dancing; in every town people were singing this wonderful refrain to the King.
"Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands."
How do you think that settled with the king? Do you think he was joining in the refrain?
[8] Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?" [9] So Saul eyed David from that day on.
Well, Saul wasn't too happy about it. Notice the reason. Did David do anything to Saul? No. Did he do anything for Saul? Yes. He helped Saul to win the battle. He took on the giant the Saul refused to take on. Was David leading the song? Did he write it? Was he glorying in this praise? Well we don't know, but it is doubtful, because David was not out for himself, he was out simply for the honor of God. Yet as God was with him and blessed him, people took notice. They started saying wonderful things about him, perhaps exaggerated, yet wonderful nonetheless. But it wasn't David that concerned Saul, it was the people's perception of David. David hadn't done anything wrong, perhaps that's what troubled Saul the most. Because David hadn't done anything wrong, and because it was clear that God was with him as he faced Goliath, and now the people were on his side too, Saul was crushed. He realized he was losing everything. The only thing he had left was his title of king, and he was sure the people would bestow that upon David soon enough! So Saul began despising this man who was Blessed of God.
[10] The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; [11] and Saul threw the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.
This is the Danger of being blessed by God, the danger of being someone whom God uses. People who are not being used will get jealous. And they may attack. Now you might not get a spear thrown at you, twice, but people attack us in different ways. People may gossip about you. They may say hurtful things. They may shun you. They may even hate you because you are blessed and they may want to attack you, like some rogues did to the United States because they recognize that we are a nation blessed by God. Oh they may not say that, but why is it that they hate us? Because we have such an abundance. And where does that abundance come from? It has to come from God. There is danger in being blessed by God. There was for David.
Now I want you to notice that verse 10 says an evil spirit from God came upon Saul. This verse is difficult to swallow at face value, for how could God be the author of evil? The trouble in this verse stems from our translation of the word we render as “evil”. We have some immediate connotations of what this word means, but in the Hebrew it essentially means "something that has a not good effect." For example, a tornado, or a storm may be called evil, but there is nothing inherently immoral in a tornado or a storm, yet they have effects that are not good. In this way, the Spirit that God sent to Saul had effects that were not good as is evidenced by his reaction to it. It is unclear to me whether the reason this Spirit from God elicited this reaction from Saul was because of the nature of the spirit or because of Saul's relationship with God, because this reaction never happened until Saul's relationship with God was damaged. It never happened until Saul was disobedient and lost his anointing. Nonetheless, when God sent this spirit to Saul, Saul responded by going into a rage and trying to kill the very boy who was trying to calm him by playing his lyre. But why did Saul take his rage out on this boy?
[12] Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
Saul recognized that David was more powerful than him because the Lord was with David. And worse for Saul, he knew the Lord wasn't with him. But why be afraid of David? One reason he may have been afraid of David is because he was afraid of God. Perhaps he knew he wasn't on God's side anymore. Perhaps what makes it dangerous to be God's blessed is because others want that blessing but they aren't willing to go by God's term to get it. Remember Saul had God's blessing but he decided to do things his own way and lost it, but David was doing things God's way and being blessed.
Notice also that David is never mentioned as being afraid of Saul. Here Saul throws a spear at the boy twice, he raves like a lunatic and David remains unfazed. David wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything. Remember, he faced that giant. Why wasn’t he afraid? Because he had the spirit of God. God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love and a sound mind. David wasn’t afraid of this spear throwing madman, because he knew he had God and there was nothing to fear.
Although there may be danger in being God's Blessed and there is no promise of "no more sorrows", there are rewards.
[14] David had success in all his undertakings; for the Lord was with him.
To be Blessed is worth the danger, it is worth the risk. Being God's own may mean that people or even circumstance gives you a hard time, yet God will give you success. This is not a prosperity gospel that says you will be rich, but it says you will be successful. And how is it that David was successful? What was the measure of his success? The Lord was with Him. That is what being successful is, having the Lord with you. It is not being delivered from hard times, but it is having God with you in the hard times. It is not being delivered from the danger, it is having God with you through the danger. You can all be successful today and this week, by having the Lord with you. Are you ready?
Oh I would like it to be true. Wouldn't you like it to be true? Sure, who wouldn’t? For we realize that when we trust in Jesus we have to do a whole lot of life restructuring. We have to (with the help of the Holy Spirit) change so many of our selfish ways. We may have to stop watching the movies we've been watching, or reading the books we've been reading. We may have to stop hanging out with some of the people we've been hanging out with, or stop going to the places we've been going. And with all these changes there is an undeniable personal turmoil. So it would be great if we could say that once we have trusted in Jesus, all the problems disappear.
Sometimes, evangelists even use this gospel because they know that they will encounter people who are broken and in need of repair, people who need a respite. And although Jesus will provide respite and repair, it is not the same thing to say there will never be anymore trouble in your life. That is simply a false gospel. It is a lie. Not only does Scripture give example after example of Good Godly men and women facing trouble after trouble, Jesus himself declares that we would be hated, because he was hated. How much more proof do we need? Just in case we need another example, lets look at a story that proves this point. A story not just about someone who trusted in God, but someone who was set apart and anointed to be blessed by God. Someone who God used mightily and who was declared the man after God's own heart, David.
We pick up the story after David became famous. David, this little farm boy had killed Goliath the mighty warrior and Saul had been impressed. Jonathon, Saul's son and heir apparent had been so impressed that he gave David his armor, perhaps as a sign of his relinquishing his claim to the throne in favor of David. Of course, David had already been anointed as King by Samuel. He was God's chosen; he was Blessed by God, yet no-one outside Bethlehem was aware of this fact, and David surely wasn't going to tell Saul, the reigning monarch. So we pick up here in 1 Samuel 18:6.
As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. And the women sang to one another as they made merry,
"Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands."
Of course then as now, when the king comes into town people flock to see him. They take the opportunity to say nice things about him. Especially in this case, since he was a war hero. They had the band playing; there was dancing; in every town people were singing this wonderful refrain to the King.
"Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands."
How do you think that settled with the king? Do you think he was joining in the refrain?
[8] Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?" [9] So Saul eyed David from that day on.
Well, Saul wasn't too happy about it. Notice the reason. Did David do anything to Saul? No. Did he do anything for Saul? Yes. He helped Saul to win the battle. He took on the giant the Saul refused to take on. Was David leading the song? Did he write it? Was he glorying in this praise? Well we don't know, but it is doubtful, because David was not out for himself, he was out simply for the honor of God. Yet as God was with him and blessed him, people took notice. They started saying wonderful things about him, perhaps exaggerated, yet wonderful nonetheless. But it wasn't David that concerned Saul, it was the people's perception of David. David hadn't done anything wrong, perhaps that's what troubled Saul the most. Because David hadn't done anything wrong, and because it was clear that God was with him as he faced Goliath, and now the people were on his side too, Saul was crushed. He realized he was losing everything. The only thing he had left was his title of king, and he was sure the people would bestow that upon David soon enough! So Saul began despising this man who was Blessed of God.
[10] The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; [11] and Saul threw the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.
This is the Danger of being blessed by God, the danger of being someone whom God uses. People who are not being used will get jealous. And they may attack. Now you might not get a spear thrown at you, twice, but people attack us in different ways. People may gossip about you. They may say hurtful things. They may shun you. They may even hate you because you are blessed and they may want to attack you, like some rogues did to the United States because they recognize that we are a nation blessed by God. Oh they may not say that, but why is it that they hate us? Because we have such an abundance. And where does that abundance come from? It has to come from God. There is danger in being blessed by God. There was for David.
Now I want you to notice that verse 10 says an evil spirit from God came upon Saul. This verse is difficult to swallow at face value, for how could God be the author of evil? The trouble in this verse stems from our translation of the word we render as “evil”. We have some immediate connotations of what this word means, but in the Hebrew it essentially means "something that has a not good effect." For example, a tornado, or a storm may be called evil, but there is nothing inherently immoral in a tornado or a storm, yet they have effects that are not good. In this way, the Spirit that God sent to Saul had effects that were not good as is evidenced by his reaction to it. It is unclear to me whether the reason this Spirit from God elicited this reaction from Saul was because of the nature of the spirit or because of Saul's relationship with God, because this reaction never happened until Saul's relationship with God was damaged. It never happened until Saul was disobedient and lost his anointing. Nonetheless, when God sent this spirit to Saul, Saul responded by going into a rage and trying to kill the very boy who was trying to calm him by playing his lyre. But why did Saul take his rage out on this boy?
[12] Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
Saul recognized that David was more powerful than him because the Lord was with David. And worse for Saul, he knew the Lord wasn't with him. But why be afraid of David? One reason he may have been afraid of David is because he was afraid of God. Perhaps he knew he wasn't on God's side anymore. Perhaps what makes it dangerous to be God's blessed is because others want that blessing but they aren't willing to go by God's term to get it. Remember Saul had God's blessing but he decided to do things his own way and lost it, but David was doing things God's way and being blessed.
Notice also that David is never mentioned as being afraid of Saul. Here Saul throws a spear at the boy twice, he raves like a lunatic and David remains unfazed. David wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything. Remember, he faced that giant. Why wasn’t he afraid? Because he had the spirit of God. God does not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love and a sound mind. David wasn’t afraid of this spear throwing madman, because he knew he had God and there was nothing to fear.
Although there may be danger in being God's Blessed and there is no promise of "no more sorrows", there are rewards.
[14] David had success in all his undertakings; for the Lord was with him.
To be Blessed is worth the danger, it is worth the risk. Being God's own may mean that people or even circumstance gives you a hard time, yet God will give you success. This is not a prosperity gospel that says you will be rich, but it says you will be successful. And how is it that David was successful? What was the measure of his success? The Lord was with Him. That is what being successful is, having the Lord with you. It is not being delivered from hard times, but it is having God with you in the hard times. It is not being delivered from the danger, it is having God with you through the danger. You can all be successful today and this week, by having the Lord with you. Are you ready?
What are you Looking at? Part 2
I would like to ask you to give me some creative license, because the story we will be discussing is a very familiar one. Yet it is pivotal story in the history of the nation of Israel and a powerful testimony to what God can do. Again we will see that what appears before our eyes is not the most important thing to consider, for there is so much more to life than what we think we see.
We will pick up this story knowing that Saul has been anointed King over Israel and has been battling against the Philistines for some time now. We also know that Saul had been disobedient to God, and so God has rejected him as king and anointed another, a redneck farm boy from the town of Bethlehem named David. However, Saul still held the position even if he no longer had the anointing. So he was still the king, and David was still the boy, the runt of a litter of eight. Now it is unclear if Saul was aware that David had been anointed king, and it seems rather unlikely for Saul had actually invited David into his home because he found David’s musical skill quite relaxing. Nonetheless, at this point in the story, the Philistines are blocking a major route in the valley just west of the Judean foothills and are prepared to do battle with Saul and his army.
Now one of the practices of warfare during this time was a test of divine power. Of course these tests were usually associated with how the deities had blessed the armies with superior strength and so each army would send out their best man as a representative of the strength of their God. The Philistines had a monster of a man. We might consider him a giant. Some people even claim that the Bible has exaggerated this account, but there has actually been archaeological evidence that there was a tribe of people that fit this description. Of course we know the description of Goliath. He was over nine and a half feet tall! Considering the fact that the average Israelite is about 5’4”, Goliath was almost twice the height of his average competitor and who knows how many pounds heavier. Goliath’s armor itself weighed 125 pounds which may have been more than most of the Israelite army weighed! Of course he was extremely well armed with powerful weapons and had a man walking in front of him to carry his shield.
So he calls out to the Israelite army to challenge them, and particularly to challenge their King. It was assumed that the King had some divine connection in the Old Testament world, and Saul had been God’s anointed, so he challenged them. He said, and I am paraphrasing, “Do you want a piece of me? Why have you come out here to fight? I am a Philistine and I have the gods of the Philistine supporting me, who do you have? Saul? Yeah right. If you think you can handle me, then give me your best shot. Send your best guy over here to take me down. If he can do it, great, you win and we will be your slaves. But that ain’t gonna happen. If you try, and I beat him, you lose and you will be our slaves. Come on I dare you. Give your best shot you bunch of lilly-livered chickens.” It was something like that anyway.
Of course when Saul and the army heard this, they were lilly livered chickens. They were shaking and quaking. Nobody was ready to volunteer for this assignment. They knew what they saw, a man that was much greater than themselves. They took one look and knew they were defeated. What were they looking at?
Of course, Saul was the king, and partly the way he became king was because he literally head and shoulders above everyone else. He was probably the biggest guy in the army, and he was probably the one everyone expected would take the challenge. After all, he was the one with the most to lose, it was his kingdom. Yet he remained silent. For forty days Goliath made this challenge and no one from the Israelite camp was prepared to stand up and fight.
Then came David. Of course he only came as a courier, bringing food from the village, about a days travel away because three of his oldest brothers were in the army. When he got to the frontlines, all the warriors were lined up for battle so David went up to see his brothers, and as he was talking with them, out came Goliath to issue his challenge. David was enraged that some “uncircumcised Philistine” would spew such vitriol towards the armies of the Living God. He was furious. Word got to Saul that someone was actually not terrified but enraged by this giant so Saul wanted to talk to him. The conversation probably went something like this.
“Listen King, we can’t let that heathen Philistine talk like this about us and our God. You don’t need to let him bother you or anyone else anymore, for I will take care of him.”
“Boy… You must be crazy! Did you even see the guy? You are just a runt, but this guy is a giant! He’s probably more than twice your size. He eats meals bigger than you! He is a first class warrior and you are just a redneck farm boy who can play a guitar! You better get back to your fields”
“I may be a farm boy, but that just means I can handle myself. I’ve killed lions and bears with my bare hands. When they have come to take one of my flock, I have chased them down and killed them, while rescuing my sheep. And that is what I will do to this overgrown bully. He is nothing more than a big ugly bear that has dared to talk bad about the living God. If God could save me from those wild animals with treacherous claws and lightning reflexes, he can certainly deliver me from this giant oaf.”
“Well, alright then, if you’re sure. May The Lord Be with You”
Notice, when David first came to Saul, what was Saul looking at? He just saw that redneck farm boy. He didn’t see the man of passion for God, the man after God’s own heart who was willing to stand up to whoever, and whatever whenever he needed to defend the honor of God.
Yet when David looked at Goliath, what was he looking at? Didn’t he see this giant of a man? Didn’t he see this behemoth who had every one afraid? No, he saw someone who lacked the power of God and therefore had nothing more than big bones and a big mouth.
There is something else I want us to see here though. It’s what I call faith conditioning. When David was preparing to go up against Goliath, it wasn’t when he was on the battlefields. It wasn’t when he got to the frontlines that he began his training for this fight. His training was in his everyday life. His training was on the hills of Judea with his sheep and with His God. His training was when he was faced with obstacles in his everyday journey, obstacles such as lions and bears, and who knows what else. Obstacles that gave him an opportunity to learn to trust in God. Notice when he reports to Saul, he declares that God was the one who had saved him and protected him from the lion and the bear, so he knew God would protect him now. Was this foolish faith? No this was conditioned faith.
God had shown him through many other circumstances, “just trust in me David, and I will deliver you.” You see David knew that even though he had accomplished those tasks, he hadn’t done it himself. It wasn’t because he was so strong, or so fast, or so agile, but that God had been with him. He knew that without God, it may be near impossible, but that with God, nothing was impossible. His faith had been conditioned for such a time as this.
What does that mean to us? How is your faith walk going? Are you struggling a bit? Sometimes I do. But although we may only notice the struggle when we are face to face with a giant, the real struggle starts when we are face to face with our everyday lives. We lose the battle because we have not been in training. We need to be conditioning our faith each day so that when the times of trial come we will be prepared to say, “whatever gets thrown my way, God and I can handle.” We will be able to say this because we will have experience with God having handled so many other things. We will be able to say, “There is nothing to this other than a higher degree of difficulty, but God has proven himself so that nothing is too difficult for him. Therefore, with God in me, nothing is too difficult for me!” That is what faith conditioning is all about as David shows us.
He also shows us that we do not need to try to be somebody else. It doesn’t work. You see Saul tried to give David his armor and weapons to help him to fight this battle. After all, Saul wasn’t using them, the chicken. Anyway, David tried them on, but he could hardly move. He wasn’t Saul, he was David. He didn’t have the experiences Saul had, he had the experiences that David had. And that is what equipped him for the battle, not trying to fill someone elses shoes. So he took his weapon of choice, the sling shot with five baseball sized stones and went to face Goliath.
Now I was going to paraphrase this part as well, but instead, let’s just listen to what the Bible records. [41] The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. [42] When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. [43] The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. [44] The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field."
AS I speculate at what was running through Goliath’s mind I think, he wasn’t even sure if he should take this serious! How could this be a challenge. This little boy armed with just a slingshot comes at me with my spear and sword, my armor, my shield and my might. This isn’t even fair. What are they thinking. If they wanted to give up, why drag this boy into it! I’ve eaten bigger meals than this kid.
[45] But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. [46] This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, [47] and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."
David’s reply to Goliath’s rant was like, “Yeah right! You may have all those fancy weapons, but they mean nothing, because you lack the power of God! You have been mocking him, but today you will know that he is real! And those birds you want to feed will be feasting on your body and the bodies of your friends because God is going to prove himself today. And he doesn’t need your fancy weapons! All he needs is a redneck who is willing to listen!”
[48] When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. [49] David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
David didn’t hesitate, he didn’t cower, he didn’t retreat, he simply ran up to face this beliggerant God –mocker and fired his guided missile with full assurance. He hit what may have been the only vulnerable spot on Goliath, getting the shot past the sheild bearer and the armor to land right on his forehead. God didn’t need an army, he needed one boy who was willing to stand up for him.
Is that you? Does God still have giants who are mocking him and claiming he doesn’t exist? Are there still people who try to defame him and try to discard his relevance? Then God needs someone willing to stand up for him. He is not looking for an army that will dress for battle, but for a soldier who is willing to fight. There is a big difference. He is looking for someone who knows that he is real and is not afraid of the enemy. Someone who realizes that the battle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of darkness in this world. And there are battles waging. And God will be victorious. You see I know how the story ends, but he is looking for people who are willing to stand up and be used by God to face the enemy without fear and trepidation. Someone who is willing to not see as the world sees, with these earthly eyes, but to see as God sees. To see that the Battle is the Lord’s.
If that is you, then the time is now. Join the battle and step up to serve God today.
We will pick up this story knowing that Saul has been anointed King over Israel and has been battling against the Philistines for some time now. We also know that Saul had been disobedient to God, and so God has rejected him as king and anointed another, a redneck farm boy from the town of Bethlehem named David. However, Saul still held the position even if he no longer had the anointing. So he was still the king, and David was still the boy, the runt of a litter of eight. Now it is unclear if Saul was aware that David had been anointed king, and it seems rather unlikely for Saul had actually invited David into his home because he found David’s musical skill quite relaxing. Nonetheless, at this point in the story, the Philistines are blocking a major route in the valley just west of the Judean foothills and are prepared to do battle with Saul and his army.
Now one of the practices of warfare during this time was a test of divine power. Of course these tests were usually associated with how the deities had blessed the armies with superior strength and so each army would send out their best man as a representative of the strength of their God. The Philistines had a monster of a man. We might consider him a giant. Some people even claim that the Bible has exaggerated this account, but there has actually been archaeological evidence that there was a tribe of people that fit this description. Of course we know the description of Goliath. He was over nine and a half feet tall! Considering the fact that the average Israelite is about 5’4”, Goliath was almost twice the height of his average competitor and who knows how many pounds heavier. Goliath’s armor itself weighed 125 pounds which may have been more than most of the Israelite army weighed! Of course he was extremely well armed with powerful weapons and had a man walking in front of him to carry his shield.
So he calls out to the Israelite army to challenge them, and particularly to challenge their King. It was assumed that the King had some divine connection in the Old Testament world, and Saul had been God’s anointed, so he challenged them. He said, and I am paraphrasing, “Do you want a piece of me? Why have you come out here to fight? I am a Philistine and I have the gods of the Philistine supporting me, who do you have? Saul? Yeah right. If you think you can handle me, then give me your best shot. Send your best guy over here to take me down. If he can do it, great, you win and we will be your slaves. But that ain’t gonna happen. If you try, and I beat him, you lose and you will be our slaves. Come on I dare you. Give your best shot you bunch of lilly-livered chickens.” It was something like that anyway.
Of course when Saul and the army heard this, they were lilly livered chickens. They were shaking and quaking. Nobody was ready to volunteer for this assignment. They knew what they saw, a man that was much greater than themselves. They took one look and knew they were defeated. What were they looking at?
Of course, Saul was the king, and partly the way he became king was because he literally head and shoulders above everyone else. He was probably the biggest guy in the army, and he was probably the one everyone expected would take the challenge. After all, he was the one with the most to lose, it was his kingdom. Yet he remained silent. For forty days Goliath made this challenge and no one from the Israelite camp was prepared to stand up and fight.
Then came David. Of course he only came as a courier, bringing food from the village, about a days travel away because three of his oldest brothers were in the army. When he got to the frontlines, all the warriors were lined up for battle so David went up to see his brothers, and as he was talking with them, out came Goliath to issue his challenge. David was enraged that some “uncircumcised Philistine” would spew such vitriol towards the armies of the Living God. He was furious. Word got to Saul that someone was actually not terrified but enraged by this giant so Saul wanted to talk to him. The conversation probably went something like this.
“Listen King, we can’t let that heathen Philistine talk like this about us and our God. You don’t need to let him bother you or anyone else anymore, for I will take care of him.”
“Boy… You must be crazy! Did you even see the guy? You are just a runt, but this guy is a giant! He’s probably more than twice your size. He eats meals bigger than you! He is a first class warrior and you are just a redneck farm boy who can play a guitar! You better get back to your fields”
“I may be a farm boy, but that just means I can handle myself. I’ve killed lions and bears with my bare hands. When they have come to take one of my flock, I have chased them down and killed them, while rescuing my sheep. And that is what I will do to this overgrown bully. He is nothing more than a big ugly bear that has dared to talk bad about the living God. If God could save me from those wild animals with treacherous claws and lightning reflexes, he can certainly deliver me from this giant oaf.”
“Well, alright then, if you’re sure. May The Lord Be with You”
Notice, when David first came to Saul, what was Saul looking at? He just saw that redneck farm boy. He didn’t see the man of passion for God, the man after God’s own heart who was willing to stand up to whoever, and whatever whenever he needed to defend the honor of God.
Yet when David looked at Goliath, what was he looking at? Didn’t he see this giant of a man? Didn’t he see this behemoth who had every one afraid? No, he saw someone who lacked the power of God and therefore had nothing more than big bones and a big mouth.
There is something else I want us to see here though. It’s what I call faith conditioning. When David was preparing to go up against Goliath, it wasn’t when he was on the battlefields. It wasn’t when he got to the frontlines that he began his training for this fight. His training was in his everyday life. His training was on the hills of Judea with his sheep and with His God. His training was when he was faced with obstacles in his everyday journey, obstacles such as lions and bears, and who knows what else. Obstacles that gave him an opportunity to learn to trust in God. Notice when he reports to Saul, he declares that God was the one who had saved him and protected him from the lion and the bear, so he knew God would protect him now. Was this foolish faith? No this was conditioned faith.
God had shown him through many other circumstances, “just trust in me David, and I will deliver you.” You see David knew that even though he had accomplished those tasks, he hadn’t done it himself. It wasn’t because he was so strong, or so fast, or so agile, but that God had been with him. He knew that without God, it may be near impossible, but that with God, nothing was impossible. His faith had been conditioned for such a time as this.
What does that mean to us? How is your faith walk going? Are you struggling a bit? Sometimes I do. But although we may only notice the struggle when we are face to face with a giant, the real struggle starts when we are face to face with our everyday lives. We lose the battle because we have not been in training. We need to be conditioning our faith each day so that when the times of trial come we will be prepared to say, “whatever gets thrown my way, God and I can handle.” We will be able to say this because we will have experience with God having handled so many other things. We will be able to say, “There is nothing to this other than a higher degree of difficulty, but God has proven himself so that nothing is too difficult for him. Therefore, with God in me, nothing is too difficult for me!” That is what faith conditioning is all about as David shows us.
He also shows us that we do not need to try to be somebody else. It doesn’t work. You see Saul tried to give David his armor and weapons to help him to fight this battle. After all, Saul wasn’t using them, the chicken. Anyway, David tried them on, but he could hardly move. He wasn’t Saul, he was David. He didn’t have the experiences Saul had, he had the experiences that David had. And that is what equipped him for the battle, not trying to fill someone elses shoes. So he took his weapon of choice, the sling shot with five baseball sized stones and went to face Goliath.
Now I was going to paraphrase this part as well, but instead, let’s just listen to what the Bible records. [41] The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. [42] When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. [43] The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. [44] The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field."
AS I speculate at what was running through Goliath’s mind I think, he wasn’t even sure if he should take this serious! How could this be a challenge. This little boy armed with just a slingshot comes at me with my spear and sword, my armor, my shield and my might. This isn’t even fair. What are they thinking. If they wanted to give up, why drag this boy into it! I’ve eaten bigger meals than this kid.
[45] But David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. [46] This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, [47] and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hand."
David’s reply to Goliath’s rant was like, “Yeah right! You may have all those fancy weapons, but they mean nothing, because you lack the power of God! You have been mocking him, but today you will know that he is real! And those birds you want to feed will be feasting on your body and the bodies of your friends because God is going to prove himself today. And he doesn’t need your fancy weapons! All he needs is a redneck who is willing to listen!”
[48] When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. [49] David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
David didn’t hesitate, he didn’t cower, he didn’t retreat, he simply ran up to face this beliggerant God –mocker and fired his guided missile with full assurance. He hit what may have been the only vulnerable spot on Goliath, getting the shot past the sheild bearer and the armor to land right on his forehead. God didn’t need an army, he needed one boy who was willing to stand up for him.
Is that you? Does God still have giants who are mocking him and claiming he doesn’t exist? Are there still people who try to defame him and try to discard his relevance? Then God needs someone willing to stand up for him. He is not looking for an army that will dress for battle, but for a soldier who is willing to fight. There is a big difference. He is looking for someone who knows that he is real and is not afraid of the enemy. Someone who realizes that the battle is not against flesh and blood but against the powers and principalities of darkness in this world. And there are battles waging. And God will be victorious. You see I know how the story ends, but he is looking for people who are willing to stand up and be used by God to face the enemy without fear and trepidation. Someone who is willing to not see as the world sees, with these earthly eyes, but to see as God sees. To see that the Battle is the Lord’s.
If that is you, then the time is now. Join the battle and step up to serve God today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)