David’s compelling rationale for not killing Saul (though Saul wants to kill him) – 1st Samuel 26 & 27, Part 1

When my oldest son was in Kindergarten, he would come home reporting to us what movies other kids in his class were allowed to watch. My wife and I were astounded at those parents. How could they allow their kids to watch such movies with such intense themes? We were certainly not allowing our two boys to watch those movies until they were much older.

5 years passed and we had another son, then two years later we had a daughter. As our #3 and #4 children eventually went to Kindergarten, something changed. We allowed them, at that young age, to watch the very films we did not allow our older boys to watch at that age. We changed. We made a different decision. Have you ever done that? You make one decision in one situation, then you make the opposite decision in another similar situation.

As we continue studying the life of David, this week we will observe David making decisions that seem to be totally inconsistent. We’ll ask if David is being unethical. We’ll attempt to learn principles from the seemingly-conflicting stories in these chapters.

The historical context of 1st Samuel chapters 26 and 27 is that King Saul has been hunting David, trying to kill him.  Last we heard about Saul was in chapter 24, when Saul went into a cave to relieve himself, and it happened to be the very cave that David and his men were hiding in.  David could easily have killed Saul, but instead David sneakily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.  Then after Saul went back outside the cave, and was walking away, David appeared at the mouth of the cave and revealed that he had spared Saul’s life.  Saul starts weeping, and admits his sinful pursuit of David.  Saul responds that he knows David will be the next king, and he asks David to make an oath not to kill off Saul’s family when David becomes king. 

In that post I asked, “What just happened there?”  Did the two men make amends?  Is everything okay between them now?  No.  David and Saul and their armies go their separate ways.  Why?  David does not trust Saul.  David and his men travel south, where David almost commits a massive sin by slaughtering wealthy Nabal and his men, because Nabal wouldn’t give David and his men any food.  It was only the intervention of Nabal’s wife, Abigail, that David changed his evil course.  Soon after that, Nabal died, and Abigail became David’s wife. 

But has Saul given up the hunt for David?  Here’s what we read in 1st Samuel 26, verses 1-4,

“The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, ‘Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?’ So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David. Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived.”

Just like that the hunt is back on.  We don’t know how much time has passed since Saul’s confession at the cave, but when they get a tip, Saul and his 3000 men head right back out trying to find David and his 600 men.  The advantage David has is that it is very difficult for Saul to be sneaky with 3000 men.  So while David and his men are hiding in the wilderness, David’s scouts find Saul.  What happens next might sound very familiar.  Read 1st Samuel 26, verses 5-12,

Did you notice how incredibly similar this episode is to the cave story!  David has another opportunity to kill Saul.  This time, though, God put Saul and his men into a deep sleep.  It seems like God is arranging this situation so David can take Saul out and David fulfill his destiny to be king.  But just like the cave, David doesn’t see it that way.  David interprets God as giving him an opportunity to practice mercy toward Saul, so that Saul will see his wicked ways. 

You might think, “Why in the world does David give evil Saul a pass, twice now? But last week, David didn’t think twice about going after Nabal who wasn’t even trying to kill David?”  It sure seems like David should be taking these opportunities to kill Saul, and that he might have a solid case for believing that God arranged the opportunity.  At the cave, and now by the road, David’s men clearly think David should see this as God delivering Saul into David’s hands. 

But David views these opportunities differently.  To David there’s a big difference between Nabal and Saul.  Saul had something going for him that Nabal did not.  Saul was anointed by God.  Even though Saul has been behaving horribly for a long time now, David says, “I’m not going to touch him because Saul is God’s anointed.”  For David, that’s a done deal.  You do not touch the Lord’s anointed.  If God wants to do something about it, fine, God can easily do something about it.  But David will not.

That’s David point in verses 9-10.  If anyone harms the Lord’s anointed, in David’s opinion, that person is guilty.  Let God handle Saul.  God could strike the king down, or maybe the king will just grow old and die, or maybe the king will die in battle, presumably against other nations.  Apparently David did not see himself as in a battle with Saul. 

Thus David goes to extreme lengths to practice righteousness.  He has such deep trust in God to handle his oppressor.  Right in the middle of Saul’s encampment, David and Abishai sneak up and grab Saul’s spear and water jug, similarly to how David cut off part of Saul’s robe in the cave episode. And they leave undetected. 

What happens next starts out comical and becomes gravely serious very quickly. Check back to the next post to find out.

Photo by Daniel Hering on Unsplash

Who are the difficult people in your life? – 1st Samuel 26 & 27, Preview

Who are the difficult people in your life?  Who comes to mind?  Could be a family member.  Could be a coworker.  A client.  A team member.  A friend.  A friend???  Why would we be friends with difficult people?  But we are sometimes, aren’t we?  

Would anyone in your life think that you are difficult in some way?  Probably.  

I’m bringing up difficult people because throughout our lives we will almost certainly cross paths with difficult people.  Some difficult people we might have to interact with daily.  Others rarely.  But we will have to consider how we will relate to them, and then actually relate to them.  What is a faithful Jesus-like way of dealing with difficult people?

In our study through the Life of David the past few weeks, we’ve been learning about his fugitive years.  David has been on the run from his father-in-law, King Saul, who is jealous of David’s success and wants to kill David.  Saul is the very definition of a difficult person.  Saul also has a lot of power, and he has used it in disastrous ways in his hunt for David.  Saul is bulldozing his way through Palestine, trying to take David down. 

David’s response to difficult Saul has been to run away, hide, and not fight.  David is a fascinating example of how to handle a difficult person.  But I have to ask, shouldn’t David confront Saul and try to stop Saul?  What would you do if you were David, on the run for what was likely multiple years?  How do you handle the difficult people in your life?  Do you avoid them?  Or do you confront them?  

This coming week on the blog we are going to study 1st Samuel chapters 26 & 27, which bring a conclusion to David’s fugitive years.  In these chapters, David deals with Saul once and for all.  Check out chapter 26 ahead of time to learn David’s approach to Saul.  It might sound familiar.  It might sound surprising.  Then keep reading in chapter 27, as David makes what might seem like shocking decisions.  What David does could be described as unethical, maybe even sinful.  Have David’s years on the run ruined him?  Last week we saw him on the verge of committing an atrocity of slaughtering Nabal and his men.  Now this week, it might seem that David has gone off the deep end.  What is going on with David?

We’ll talk about it next week!

Photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash

In God’s mission, do the ends justify the means? – 1st Samuel 25, Part 5

Have you heard the phrase, “the ends justify the means”? This common statement suggest that if we are pursuing a good goal, we might need to use not-so-good methods to achieve that goal. All that matters is achieving the goal. The goal, in other words, is so important that we can allow for inappropriate behavior as we strive for the goal. Can we lie, cheat and steal, for example, on our way to providing food for the hungry? We can. But should we? Is providing food for the hungry so important a mission that it doesn’t matter what method we use? Do the ends (providing food for the hungry) justify the means (lying, cheating, and stealing)?

In our posts this week, we have studied the story of David and Abigail in 1st Samuel 25. In this final post, let’s think further about whether the ends justify the means. But first, the story has a surprise ending!

As we saw in the previous post, David and Abigail part ways in peace. In 1st Samuel 25 verses 36-44, with both the minor and major roadblocks removed, David continues progressing toward the role that God promised him, to become the leader of Israel.  In this passage we learn a few details about that journey.  Remember David’s first wife, Michal, who was King Saul’s daughter?  After David ran away, Saul gave Michal to another man.  This is not the last we’ll hear of Michal.  Now single again, David learns that when Abigail told her selfish husband Nabal about how she averted disaster on their community, Nabal has a heart attack or stroke and dies. So David invites Abigail to marry him, and she accepts.  Obviously, he was extremely impressed with her.  End of story?  No! 

David has married another woman also.  Ahinoam.  Now David has had three wives, two of which he is currently married to.  A reader might question, “Wait…three wives?  What’s going on there?  After losing Michal to the other man, why didn’t David try to rescue her?  Did they get divorced?  She is with a new husband.  So then why did David marry two more women? This is odd.  Isn’t that wrong?”  Yes it is, and we will eventually return to this quandary, as David marries multiple more wives, leading to one of his downfalls. 

For now, think with me about the phrase, “Get out of your own way.” 

As we have seen in this week’s study of 1st Samuel 25, David was his own roadblock.  He was absolutely convinced that he was heading to do the right thing by eliminating Nabal and his men.  But Abigail showed David that he was wrong. David’s self-assurance should cause us to pause and reflect on our lives.  We can be so self-assured that we are right, and yet actually be wrong. 

We can pursue God’s mission but using methods that are out of line with God.  That was Abigail’s point to David.  “David, God has a great mission for you, but this warpath you are on is wrong, very wrong, and you do not want that on your conscience.” 

What about us?  In our contemporary society, there are Christians who believe that mission justifies method.  For example, think about the mission of Jesus, that people would become his disciples.  Think about the mission of God’s heart for justice to produce flourishing in society.  Those important parts of God’s mission are what we disciples of Jesus are to be about.  But that doesn’t mean we can pursue his mission using any method we want.  As the saying goes, “the ends do not justify the means.” Instead, we pursue the mission of Jesus using the methods of Jesus.  The Fruit of the Spirit is our primary method.

Sadly, Church leaders across the country have made the news because they have been so aggressive in their style of leadership that they left a trail of broken people, employees and church members, in their pursuit of the mission.  Listen to the podcast, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill for one story.  Read the book A Church Called Tov.  Read the book Jesus and John Wayne for how the “mission at any cost” philosophy has played out negatively for some contemporary Christians.

Take a minute and think about yourself.  What do you know of yourself and your own roadblocks?  What tendencies within yourself do you need to keep an eye on?  Is it possible that you might have a roadblock or two that you might not be aware of?  Do you find it difficult to reign in the roadblock tendencies you ARE aware of? 

What are you doing about that?  What could a next step be in becoming aware of your roadblock, so that you can becoming more like Jesus and better pursue his mission?  David, though he had a major roadblock within himself, was still humble enough to listen to Abigail and evaluate if she was right.  He was teachable.  Having a teachable heart is vital if we are to be people who see the roadblocks, so that we can remove them.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

How the practice of listening can keep us from disaster – 1 Samuel 25, Part 4

David is in a rage, believing a man named Nabal has disrespected him. David and his men, armed to the teeth, are advancing on Nabal to slaughter Nabal and his servants. But suddenly, Nabal’s wife, Abigail, shows up and pleads with David to stop. In the previous post, we observed Abigail’s genius diplomacy and communication skills. But will it be enough to stem the tide of David’s vengeance? Will Abigail succeed in averting disaster? We find out in 1st Samuel 25, verses 32-35,

“David said to Abigail, ‘Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.’ Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, ‘Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.’”

David chooses what is right.  He listens to Abigail.  He admits that he was wrong, that he was headed for a disastrous choice.  What we see in David is astounding. I’m referring to his willingness to publicly admit fault and change course.  That is difficult for any of us.  But it might have been even more difficult for David. Why? Because he is a man in a patriarchal society listening to a woman, receiving her correction, and learning from her.  What David does is rare.

I wonder if any of David’s men were thinking, “What???  You’re listening to a woman?  Let’s go attack her foolish husband and get his food!”  Then again, they were probably too busy eating all the food Abigail brought them as a gift (see previous post).  But still, David could easily be viewed by many as a weak leader in this story.  His men could say that he should not give in to diplomacy.  Especially diplomacy from a woman.  They would rather David do what he said in verse 22, “May God deal with me ever so severely if I don’t kill them all.”  There is a cultural pressure on David to act like a man, and to act like a strong leader who does not allow anyone like Nabal to disrespect him.

In verse 22 that is exactly how David had initially responded, even making it seemed like God affirmed a course of action that was actually flowing from David’s rage and lack of self-control.  We can do that, can’t we?  We can make it seem like God is on our side, even when our attitude and action is nothing like God’s heart.  We can believe we are right to use vindictive, warlike methods that do not resemble the Fruit of the Spirit.  We even sometimes believe that if we are pursuing God’s mission, we don’t need to use God’s methods.  We call that “the ends justifying the means.” 

But notice how David has changed his tune in verse 32, “Praise be to the Lord who has sent you today.”  Because of Abigail’s courage and excellent logic, David finally sees the major roadblock I’ve been referring to in this week’s series of posts. That major roadblock is David himself.  He now sees that his rage and vengeance were not of the Lord, but from within himself.  David now realizes that in his pursuit of God’s mission, he had jettisoned God’s methods. We can do the same, and we’ll talk about that further in the next post.

For now, notice verse 34.  In verse 34, David points to God as the one who is keeping him from committing evil.  David has had a total change of heart and mind, and it was all because Abigail stuck her neck out, pleading with David to consider God.  David sees God as working through Abigail. Because of Abigail’s courage, quick-thinking, and creative diplomacy, she has pointed out the major roadblock, David himself, and David has removed the roadblock.  Disaster averted.  The unnamed servant and Abigail are heroes.  David and Abigail part ways in peace.

But this story is not done.  It has a surprise ending that we will learn about that in the next post.

Photo by Wonderlane on Unsplash

How to diffuse rage and anger – 1st Samuel 25, Part 3

Have you ever been so angry, so hurt, so embarrassed, or feeling so disrespected, that you are ready to rage against the person who has hurt you? This week as we’ve been studying 1st Samuel 25, we’ve been talking about two roadblocks to David’s progress to becoming king. We’ve met the first roadblock, a man named Nabal who refuses to help David. But what is the second roadblock? (If you haven’t figured out that second roadblock, check out the two previous posts here and here before you continue with this post.)

It’s David himself!  David is the major roadblock.  He is so angry at Nabal, that David is about to take drastic, murderous action against Nabal.  Whatever is going on inside David erupts out of him, firing him up to take out his anger against Nabal.  David himself is his own roadblock.  Maybe you’ve experienced that before.  We truly are our own worst enemy sometimes, aren’t we?  We can allow ourselves to think wrongly because we have been slighted, offended, hurt.  It can be so easy to let self-control and gentleness and peace and goodness fly out the window of our lives when we feel like someone is mistreating us.

If David gives in to the murderous thoughts that anger is motivating inside him, David will have committed a huge sin.  David himself is the roadblock to becoming what God anointed him to be, the future spiritual and political leader of Israel.  But David doesn’t see his anger and vengeance that way.  He thinks he is right.  He is strapping on his sword, mustering his men to battle Nabal.  David is all-in on committing an atrocity that would be as evil as the atrocities that King Saul has perpetrated. 

Though David doesn’t see the evil inside, Nabal’s wife Abigail, and the servant who alerted her to her husband’s decision, absolutely saw the roadblock inside David.  To reveal the roadblock to David, Abigail demonstrates her genius thinking and communication skills.  She wants David to open his eyes, see the roadblock and deal with it.  She sees the amazing potential in David, and she is afraid that this roadblock is going to keep him from realizing his potential.  Also, she’s probably afraid that David is going to bulldoze her entire community.  Her world hangs in the balance.  She knows that how she handles David could have a major impact.  She knows she needs to remove the roadblock within David.

Let’s walk through Abigail’s incredible approach to this super-tense situation.  In the previous post, we observed her quick thinking to gather a huge amount of food, to motivate and direct her servants, and to keep her husband in the dark.  But there is so much more to her diplomacy.

In 1st Samuel 25, verse 20 we see Abigail’s courage in meeting David face-to-face.  In verse 23 she bows down to him, literally falling at his feet.  In verse 24, she pleads for pardon. In these actions, she uses her body language to catch David’s attention, causing him to pause his rage long enough to listen.

Next notice the first words she speaks. In verse 25, she apologizes for her husband’s selfish rudeness, and shows that she is not defending Nabal’s actions to David.  She also says, “I wasn’t there by the way,” exonerating herself.

In verse 26, she redirects David to God, pointing out how God has kept David from any evil bloodshed.  This point is foundational to the case she is trying to make with David, to help David see the roadblock, to see himself.  She wants David to see how David is veering away from righteousness to wickedness.

It is only after saying all that, that she then refers to the gift of food she brought David and his men in verse 27.  This timing is super wise.  She has in verse 26 just confronted David.  By encouraging David to remember the Lord, she is insinuating that David, in his action to kill Nabal and Nabal’s men, is not remembering the Lord. 

Abigail’s confrontation, though we might see it as brief or not a big deal, is something that David could easily take great offense to.  He could easily say, “Time out, woman.  You just accused me of not remembering the Lord?  You just accused me of taking matters into my own hands.  Who do you think you are?”  But before David can get offended by Abigail’s confrontation and turn his anger on her, she redirects him to the gift of food, to the food truck buffet she has just brought out to him and his men.  She is solving the problem that started all this in the first place.  Abigail is extremely wise in her step-by-step diplomatic process.

But Abigail is far from done.  Look at verse 28.  She knows she has stepped on David’s toes, so she asks for his forgiveness.  Before David can squirm, Abigail affirms that God will not only make David the leader of Israel, but also give him a dynasty.  She’s playing on his emotions and dreams. She’s buttering him up.  But notice the last phrase in verse 28, “no wrongdoing will be in you as long as you live.”  Just like that she is back to confronting him of impending wrongdoing.  She holds fast to her central point.  If David takes action to kill Nabal and Nabal’s men, David would be wrong.  Abigail wants David to see this as a massive roadblock to his future success.  And she is right.

She’s on a roll in verse 28, and she keeps it going in verses 29 through 31.  In 29 she again directs David to think about the situation from the Lord’s perspective.  She even uses this phrase “your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.”  At that point in her talk, I wonder if a smile started forming on David’s lips.  Abigail has just referred to David’s iconic weapon of choice.  The sling.  Everyone in the nation would have heard the story of how David killed Goliath with a slingshot. 

I wonder if David smiled and thought, “Okay. I see what you’re doing here.”  Abigail is saying, using not only direct words, but the imagery of the sling, “David, remember how God used you to defeat Goliath!  Remember God’s mission and God’s methods.  Remember God!  Do not do this evil thing.  And then, when God lifts you up to the throne, as he surely will, you will not have any evil on your conscience.  Oh, and when the day comes, remember me too.”

That brings us to verse 32.  How will David react?  I’ve already said that I think he is smiling by the time Abigail gets to the end of her case.  She has removed the minor roadblock, but she cannot remove the major roadblock.  That major roadblock is within David himself.  That roadblock is his fury, his desire for vengeance, his plan to not use God’s methods.  Only David can remove that roadblock.  Only David can choose to get out of his own way.  Only David can redirect course. 

And you and I know that is very, very difficult to do when we have built up a passionate rationale in our own hearts and minds for why we are right, and the other person is wrong.  It can be nearly impossible to see things a different way when we are furious, embarrassed, fearful, jealous.  When fear and embarrassment are raging through us, it can be nearly impossible to see ourselves correctly.  We don’t think we are the roadblock.  We think we are right.  It is the other person who is wrong!  It is amazing the incredibly poor decisions we can justify when we feel hurt, embarrassed, disrespected.

In the next post we will find out how David responds.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

When you see evil, speak up – 1st Samuel 25, Part 2

This week we’re talking about the roadblocks that keep us from becoming all that God wants us to be. In 1st Samuel 25, David faces two of those roadblocks, one minor, one serious. In the previous post, we saw both of them. Nabal is the obvious roadblock to David, but he is not the much more serious roadblock. 

One reason that Nabal the Fool is not the major roadblock in this story is because his wife Abigail is so, so good.  I encourage you to reread 1st Samuel 25, verses 1-13, just as we did in the previous post. In those verses we learned that Nabal the Fool is married to Abigail the Good.  Nabal the Fool, surly and mean, marries Abigail who is intelligent and beautiful.  Wouldn’t it be interesting to know how they ended up together!  That’s all we read about her in verses 1-13, but she is about to steal the show. As we keep reading, we’ll see how Abigail quickly identifies both the minor roadblock, Nabal, her husband, and the major roadblock, which I have yet to reveal to you.   

First, we meet another important character in the story. In verses 14-17, an unnamed servant who seems very intelligent like Abigail, reports to Abigail that Nabal has denied David’s request for food for his men.  This behind-the-scenes, no-name servant is a hero in this story.  In Hebrew, the servant is “young man.”  Even though he is young, even though he is not named, he shines.

Look at how the servant describes Nabal in verse 17, “He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”  Have you ever talked with people like Nabal?  Know-it-alls.  You cannot tell them anything.  They do not listen.  They don’t care.  They believe they are right.  Period.

That servant seems to have observed Nabal in action many times before.  The servant also knows that he can go to his master’s wife, and she can do something about what he believes is “disaster hanging over the master and the whole household.”  Perhaps this young servant is thinking, “I better do something or I, along with everyone else in our household, could be in big trouble of retaliation.”  This servant reminds us of the influence people can have by speaking up.  Even if you are young, even if you think your perspective doesn’t matter. Even if you think, “They’ll never listen to me,” speak up! Never underestimate yourself. When you see a wrong, speak up.  Be a whistleblower.

After the servant speaks up, we learn more about Abigail.  Will she take the servant seriously?  Read verses 18-31. 

Did you notice how Abigail deals with both the minor roadblock and the major one?  What Abigail does is a master class in emotional intelligence.  Seems like she would have made a wonderful ruler over the entire country.  Her political, relational and communication skills are amazing.  She is able to move fast, marshal support from her servants, totally keeping Nabal the Fool in the dark, and rush out to ward off impending disaster. 

Abigail deals with the obvious roadblock first.  That is the minor roadblock, the foolishness of her husband, Nabal.  She just simply ignores his decision not to help David, and in her massive gift of food to David and his men, she removes that minor roadblock very efficiently. 

But what about the second roadblock, the major roadblock?  Did you identify it? Abigail does, and she addresses it head on, with graciousness but bluntness.  She is quite courageous, taking a risk to deal with the second roadblock.  In the next post, I will reveal the second roadblock to David and his men, the major roadblock.

Photo by Melany Rochester on Unsplash

Two roadblocks preventing David from becoming king – 1st Samuel 25, Part 1

What is the largest number of people you ever had to feed? Maybe at a wedding or funeral you’ve had to feed a couple hundred people.  As we continue the story of David in 1st Samuel 25, David’s army has 600 men, and they need to eat every day.  This is why an efficient and dependable supply chain is essential for any military.  I cannot fathom what it must take to feed and outfit militaries with tens of thousands of soldiers. 

But even though David and his men are only 600, they have a uniquely difficult situation because they are fugitives.  They cannot just walk into the local Costco and buy those huge packs of meat.  They will be spotted. As we have learned in the previous couple chapters of 1st Samuel, there are plenty of people watching out for David and reporting on his whereabouts to King Saul who is hunting David to kill him. So David and his men are extremely cautious.  They carefully develop relationships with the people living near their hiding spots, hoping to earn the favor of those people, so those people will feed them.

That brings us to the events of 1st Samuel 25. Verse 1 concludes a major storyline,

“Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.”

For 24 chapters one man has been the spiritual leader of the nation of Israel.  Actually, because Samuel was on the scene before Israel’s kings, for decades he served a kind of combo role as the nation’s spiritual and political leader.  Then Israel asked for a king, which was a slap in the face to God, their true king, as well as to Samuel who up until that time had been their human leader.  God allowed it, though, asking Samuel to anoint a guy named Saul to be king.  And Saul did not turn out to be a good king. 

God then tells Samuel to anoint David to succeed Saul as king, because David is a man after God’s own heart.  David, because he has a heart in line with God’s heart, has the chance to not only succeed Saul as king, but also to succeed Samuel as the spiritual leader of the nation.  Since David emerged on the scene, we haven’t heard much about Samuel.  Now with Samuel’s passing, there is a vacancy in the spiritual leader category. 

In the political leader category, however, Saul is still king, and he is doing his best to kill David.  Saul doesn’t want David to fill any leadership role.  But in chapter 25, we learn that David faces a very different roadblock that could easily stop him from become the spiritual and political leader of Israel that God has anointed him to be. 

After mentioning Samuel’s passing, verse 1 tells us that David is on the move again.  No surprise there.  When you are a fugitive, you are constantly moving, avoiding getting caught.  David is now in the Desert of Paran.  And that is where he comes up against the roadblock I mentioned.  You can read about the roadblock in verses 2-13.

Did you see the roadblock to David becoming the new spiritual and political leader of Israel?  Nabal.  We should call him Nabal the Fool because in Hebrew his name is actually the word Fool.  Can you imagine any parents naming their child “fool”?  I went to high school with a girl whose first name was Barbara, and her last name was Wire. I kid you not. Barb Wire.  She was nothing like barbed wire.  But Nabal…he just might be appropriately named. 

Nabal is a roadblock for sure, but he is not the roadblock to David that I was referring to earlier.  The roadblock I am referring to is much more serious.  Skim through verses 2-13 again, because you can read about that more serious roadblock too.  I’ll admit, the more serious roadblock is kind of hidden.  As we study verses 2-13, see if you can identify the roadblock.

Remember the narrative context of 1st Samuel 25, that David and his men are fugitives, being hunted by King Saul.  Because David and his men are fugitives, they need food and supplies. 

That’s what gives David the idea to reach out to Nabal the Fool.  David and his men need to eat.  Nabal is rich. He has thousands of livestock he could help David with.  Also David and his men have protected Nabal’s servants and livestock.  It only seems natural that Nabal would respond to David’s kindness with kindness of his own.  Even though Nabal is not the major roadblock in this story, Nabal is a roadblock because despite his wealth, Nabal refuses to help David. 

Have you ever met or heard about people like that, people who are both rich and selfish?  Some people are very disagreeable people and they have loads of money.  To be fair, there are people who do not have loads of money who are also selfish, and there are wealthy people who are exceedingly generous and kind.  Nabal just happens to have a lot of money, and he is selfish and foolish, just like his name. 

But maybe, just maybe, Nabal has a good reason for not helping David.

By now word is out around the country that King Saul has been more than willing to commit atrocities in his mad pursuit of David.  Maybe Nabal is thinking, “I don’t want King Saul anywhere near here.  I don’t want Saul to find out I helped David, or Saul will destroy me.” Or maybe Nabal is just selfish and doesn’t want to help David. Maybe Nabal just has a self-assured personality that says, “I worked hard for my money, I’m not giving it away to some fugitive.” Nabal is a roadblock in this story.  He doesn’t agree with David’s request, and so he makes life more difficult for David than if Nabal would have said, “Sure, I’ll feed you and your men, David.”  So Nabal is a roadblock, but he is not the much more serious roadblock that I have asked you to look for in the story.

Check back in to the next post, as we search for the major roadblock to David becoming the leader of the people.

Photo by Fahim Junaid on Unsplash

Whistleblowers…good or bad? – 1st Samuel 25, Preview

If you saw something illegal happening, would you call it out? Would you be a whistle-blower?  

Maybe you notice your boss “cooking” the books to avoid paying taxes.  Do you confront him?

Maybe your friend is using artificial intelligence to writer papers in school.  Do you ask her about it?

Maybe your spouse is coming home later than normal?  Do you spy on them?  

Since the advent of television, reality shows have placed hidden cameras to observe whether people will speak up if they see injustice occurring.  The scenario might be in grocery store where actors pretend to shoplift in the checkout line.  Will the unsuspecting people around them intervene?  Would you?  

Whistle-blowing is risky.  What if you are wrong?  What if you didn’t observe what you thought you observed?  What if the person you confront responds in anger to harm you?  Maybe it is better to just remain quiet.  Maybe we shouldn’t get involved.

Have you ever wrestled with those thoughts and feelings?  If so, that tension is a common human struggle.  Yet, some people charge right in courageously and speak up, risking life and limb for the truth.  Others of us watch them in awe, wishing we had their guts.  How about you?  Are you a whistle-blower, or do you keep quiet?

In our continuing study of the Life of David, this coming week on the blog we will study 1st Samuel 25, observing a whistle-blower.  Read it for yourself, and then check back on Monday as I begin to talk about the story. I think you’ll find this story to be quite relevant to your life.

Check out the new podcast some friends and I started: The Unapologetic Journey

So a couple guys from church and I started a podcast! It’s called The Unapologetic Journey, and here’s what it is about: “The Unapologetic Journey is about living a life that is authentic to who God made us to be. Through their discussions and interviews, hosts Dusty Zook, Joel Leicy, and Joel Kime raise awareness to the oftentimes struggle of living that authentic life. Each of them also have a military connection (Dusty served in the Navy, Joel L served in the Army, and Joel K’s son served in the Army), so they talk about and invite you to learn more about how their conversations relate to Mission 22.”

So far we have released the first three episodes of Season 1:

  1. Introducing The Unapologetic Journey
  2. Ratted, Tattered and Torn
  3. Plungers and Porpoises

Listen on:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Amazon

Subscribe, listen in and let us know your feedback!

Three steps for making wise choices – 1st Samuel 23 & 24, Part 5

We started this week’s series of posts by considering the difficult decisions we all make. Whether rare consequential decisions or frequent minor decisions, decision-making can be anxiety-inducing. As we observed David’s decision-making process in 1st Samuel chapters 23 and 24, what did we learn?

First, while David didn’t have a Bible to consult, he had the Urim and Thummim. Read about them here. You and I don’t have a Urim and Thummim, but we can learn about God’s will by studying the Bible.  We have such a gift of being able to read the Bible in our own language with loads of resources for helping us understand it.  I love my NIV Study Bible.  There are plenty of excellent tools to help us read the Bible intelligently and faithfully. 

Second, David regularly asked God for his direction, waiting on God to guide.  In the last ten years or so, I have benefited greatly from the contemplative tradition in the Christian faith.  Contemplative prayer emphasizes listening to God.  God’s Spirit is quite capable of communicating, if he wants to.  Sometimes through nature, sometimes through impressions in your spirit, sometimes through dreams, sometimes through audible voices.  The Spirit might not communicate in any of those ways, and that is okay.  Remember the previous paragraph. God has given us principles for wise decision-making in the Bible.

Third, we invite others into our process.  We practice community discernment.  Notice David welcoming the opinions of his friends.  He doesn’t automatically do what they say, but he gives them a voice in his life.  He pauses to hear them out.  They push back on him, and so he goes back to the Lord a second time, basically saying, “Did I hear you right, Lord?”  Others who love Jesus can help us greatly as we process difficult life choices. 

When we are making difficult choices, we go to God, we give those decisions to God in all these ways: studying the Bible, listening prayer, welcoming the input of other people who love him.  Then we decide on a course of action.  If the choice is between sin and not sin, we choose not sin.  But if the choice is between many options, none of which are sinful, we can use wisdom, applying what we learn in the Bible, in prayer and from others to make a choice.  When we do this we seek the heart of God like David did. 

There are plenty of difficult choices in life where we are evaluating numerous “not sin” options.  But even choosing between many “not sin” options can be complicated.  When I say “not sin,” it is more than just not committing the obvious sins of theft or murder.  Not sinning also means we are passionate about seeking God’s heart and his values rather than just assuming we know what is important to him.  This is why I encourage you to not assume that our culture, even our Christian culture, is thinking correctly about the many choices in life.  It is entirely possible that the majority could be wrong.  It is entirely possible that the social group we spend time with could be wrong. It is entirely possible that the way the people we admire look at the world could be wrong.  Instead, as we consider the many choices we could make, we strive to know God’s heart.

Often as we consider the many options we could choose, we desire “the best one.” We want to make the choice that will result in the best situation for us and our family.  But what is the best option?  How do we know what is the best option?  I would like to suggest that we think about decision-making differently than seeking “the best” option.  Trying to figure out the best option can lead us to deep frustration.  How will we know if we got the best?  We can’t know.  Just like we can’t know the future.  We’ll never know if we got the best option. 

Instead, we choose a “not sin” option that we believe is in clearly in line with God’s heart, and we step forward in confidence knowing that God will support us, precisely because it is in line with his heart.  During our process of decision-making, we pray asking for God’s correction, for his redirection, because we might need a change in direction to keep us aligned with his heart.  Thus it is vital for us to stay teachable, humble, and committed to knowing his heart. That is another reason studying the Bible regularly is so important.

When we study the Bible, prayer and listen, and receive the wise counsel of others, and then we make a choice, though we will never know if it was the best choice, we will know that God supports us because our choice was in line with what he desires. 

That means we don’t have to linger and linger and linger in uncertainty.  When we responsibly make a reasonable effort to study God’s word, to prayer and listen, and receive wise counsel, we can confidently decide, even if we still feel somewhat uncertain or risky or nervous.  We step forward in faith in God, knowing that he is for us! 

I’m indebted to Garry Friesen’s ideas in his book Decision-Making and The Will of God for informing the post.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash