FALSELY ACCUSED

 

Chapter 3

I Samuel 17:29

“If you ever change your mind     About leaving, leaving me behind

Oh, bring it to me, bring your sweet loving     Bring it on home to me, oh yeah”*

We all have our troubles…but the ones that seem to affect us most are troubles within our own families.  It seems the people we are closest to are the ones who know our ‘hot buttons’ and where and when to push them.  Whether it is the too perfect sister-in-law, the whacky uncle or the toxic cousin, we all have challenges in our lives that can drive us nuts.  Or, if we are smart, drive us closer to the Lord.  After all, He is in the business of conforming us to His image and what better way to get our attention than to get it within the confines of our own inner circle.  Especially the ones who were there when we were born, and the ones who will be smiling down on us in our caskets!  Hopefully, the smiles will be in remembrance of good times and not like the song of my distant youth:  Got along without you before I met you; gonna get along without you now!

Let’s take a look at David’s life and his not so doting family to see if we can glean methods of dealing with who or what may very well be going on in our own lives today.  How does he react to being accused by his FAMILY?  How did God use these accusations to prepare him for greatness?

To set this up, let’s remember that Saul had disobeyed God.  Scripture says that Samuel “never let the words of God fall to the ground”.  This means he heard Him precisely and spoke those words to the people of Israel.  This began happening from the time Samuel was a small boy in the temple.  Though Samuel had not wanted the Jewish nation to choose a king, they had insisted and God told him to anoint Saul…a man that the people would admire for worldly reasons like his height and good looks.  He stood head and shoulders above most of the diminutive men that he was raised around.  Samuel had reasoned with the people three times that God had always come through to defend them as long as they were keeping His laws.  But to no avail.  The people seemed not to care that it was not only hurting Samuel to have this demand but also hurt the very heart of God, their loving Father.

So Saul was anointed and was a good king for a time.  The two reasons the people gave for demanding a king were first of all ‘to be like the nations around us.’  The second reason was ‘to lead us in war’.  Israel had had many failures in battle when they were forgetting to honor God.  They kept taking on other gods to serve like the nations surrounding them.  One thing God could not seem to make them understand was that when they began worshipping these other gods, disaster always followed.  The Philistines were their main foe, but they were surrounded by Jebusites, Canaanites, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites and termites.  Well, maybe not the last one.  Which makes their dilemma very much like our own today.  We are surrounded by poverty, adultery, crime, perversion, lewdness, fear and you can fill in the blanks of your own life.

Sometimes when I read scripture I get so annoyed at what the people back then were choosing.  After all, the one thing they kept repeating over and over again was having gods other than Jehovah.  It seems clear, reading back in a concise retelling of the history that they just could not, would not, get this through their heads.  But the two reasons for wanting a king were similar to our own lives.  Christians want to be like the world in many ways.  satan is cleaver in that he does not try to conform us quickly; but little by little over time, we are saying or doing things or believing things that our grandparents would have found abhorrent.  As for wanting someone to lead in battle, so many in our nation just want our government to figure out everything for us and just make all the decisions without bothering us.  This led to destruction for them; it will do the same for us.  God never changes.

So in I Samuel 15, the very clear instruction Samuel had told Saul from God was to wait for seven days before beginning the pending battle.  Saul, himself, was full of fear.  This fear in their leader caused the soldiers to become fearful and the bible tells us that they began to ‘melt’ away, hiding in holes, caves, bushes as well as just plain going AWOL.  The large standing army of Saul had dwindled down to 600 men.  Saul panicked and did what only Samuel was to do—he took it on himself to offer sacrifices to the Lord so that they could begin the battle before even more men left.

Saul should have done what we need to do when things don’t go right.  He could have easily remembered back in the not too distant past the story of Gideon.  Gideon had been fearful too…threshing wheat in the dead of the night in a hidden place.  Gideon called himself the least important man in the least important clan in the least important tribe of Israel.  But fearful as he was, he still cut down the idols of the Baals.  (Yes, he did it in the middle of the night, hoping to not get caught…still he did it.)  Then, even though it made zero sense, Gideon dismissed most of his massive army to go home.  He then faced off with the brutal and barbaric army of the Midianites with 300 men holding lights and blowing horns.  He believed God whether it made sense to him or not and followed His almost insane instructions.

But now we have Saul who depended on his own logic and made the decision to do things his way which is seemingly the smart way.  Of course, like happens so often, the minute he was done with the sacrifices, Samuel showed up.  Saul was, like many corrupt politicians today, full of spin, blame and excuses.  But Samuel was not fooled.  He announced that this very day the kingdom had been taken away from him and given to another.   Samuel had not yet anointed David, not even met him.  Plus it would be many grueling years before David would be crowned.  However, God was using this time to fashion David into the greatest ruler the nation had ever had.

That gives us a history of how it came to be that David was in and Saul was out (as they say on Project Runway).  So now the Lord speaks to Samuel telling him to go to Bethlehem to anoint the replacement.  Samuel replies that it will be dangerous to go as Saul will watch him carefully to see where he is going, knowing a new king must be anointed.  You see, many times throughout the world’s history the ousted kings were killed along with any relatives to ensure that the new king would have no one to contest their rights to the throne.  We can all remember from our history classes kings and queens in England being beheaded simply for having the name of the outgoing monarchy.  The sad fact is that even today in some third world countries this is still practiced.

The Lord tells Samuel to take an animal to sacrifice which is something Samuel did on a regular basis, going from town to town.  He was a circuit prophet and this made things easier on the people who would have been under tremendous hardship to travel to him to have cases heard, etc.  Samuel did this even after leaving the palace and took his family with him.  Reminds me of the Methodist preachers who did much the same in our nation’s early years.  So it was a typical routine for him to travel to Jesse’s house without suspicion from anyone.  Samuel does not let anyone know that he is there to anoint Israel’s new king, not even the people of Jesse’s household.  He does say, however, that he is here to anoint someone.  Jesse parades his seven sons, one by one, in front of the old prophet.  Samuel upon seeing each one believes that perhaps he is the new king.  But God puts a thumbs down within his spirit.  They are turned down, one and all.  Knowing he heard clearly from the Lord, Samuel inquires if maybe there could possibly be one more son some place.

Jesse is a poor farmer though his clan is prominent.  You see, Obed is his father and Obed is the son of Ruth.  His youngest son, David, is keeping the sheep.  Back then, the lowliest of positions you could have was to be a sheep herder.  It was the job given to the least thought of in any family clan.  David was still very young at this point and there were many dangers in this region.  We know this because David describes killing lions and bears during his watch, in order to protect the sheep.  They were so poor even losing one was not an option.  Upon a quick glance of scripture one may think there was only one bear and one lion, but David tells us that anytime a lion or a bear came, he killed it.  He speaks of the animals attacking him with their paws.  Usually these animals would attack with their teeth, but they were holding the sheep in their mouths and unwilling to give up their meals.

So this tells us that David is not even an afterthought in the mind of his own father, Jesse.  Samuel has to prompt him with the question, “Do you have any other sons anywhere at all?”  Jesse then calls for David to be brought in.  Doubtless this means one of the other sons, probably the next lowest on the totem pole, must go and take David’s place with the sheep.  As soon as he appears, it is apparent he is the one to be anointed.  Only David and Samuel know what it is for.  This is a great comfort to us when we feel we have a dead end job and no one is even aware of our existence.  God is there, and God is aware!  He is preparing us for great and mighty things that we are don’t yet know about.  He knows exactly what He is doing and is preparing us to be used in His kingdom if we are responding to our circumstances the way David did.

You see, David had not wasted his years out in the darkness with a bunch of smelly sheep.  He used this time to practice playing on his small harp singing praise to the One whose company he was keeping.  Sheep aren’t very smart; they need constant supervision and they are apt to run away.  Add to that the dangers of predators and you have a perfect formula to believe you have a right to complain.  David took his job so seriously that he put his life in danger multiple times.  He did not need the praise of people.  He instead probably remembered the story of Gideon others that the young sons were taught about and, like the men in these stories, relied on God’s strength alone for victory.  He most likely envisioned himself doing exploits in the name of the mighty God of Israel.  This was preparation for his future and he needed every moment of it.

How about us?  Does God notice us when we are neglected or passed over?  Is there any point to being diligent in mindless chores or thankless jobs?  Well, only if God is still on the throne.  And only if we make him God on the throne of our hearts.  He sees, He knows, He hears and He is using the moments of our lives to prepare us to be useful and fruitful in His kingdom.  God does not place His children in places that do not benefit them. Sometimes this benefit comes from molding us.  And sometimes molding hurts.  But it is always for our good and the good of the kingdom of God.  He is teaching us how to prepare to expand this kingdom which is pretty awesome if you think about it.  Sometimes not seeing that expansion right away can be disheartening.  But when we are able to see with spiritual eyes, nothing is lost.

I believe the most important thing I do in my life is just being in the presence of God and communing with Him.  Taking time to acknowledge that He is really with me and being in awe of that fact.  My kids used to watch ‘Winnie the Pooh’.   There was one character Eeyore, who did not have a dynamic or loud personality.  So he felt left out at times.  Anytime someone would engage him he’d say, “Thanks for noticing me.”  I truly don’t want to live my life to the point that I so infrequently acknowledge God in my mind that when I do focus on Him, it’s like He would think, “Thanks for noticing Me.”  I want to train myself to be conscious of His sweetness and greatness and kindness to me every second of every minute of every day of my life.  I admit I have a very long way to go.  But it is the deepest desire of my heart.

So to make a long story short, David was anointed by Samuel to be the king.  It’s no fairy tale though.  He goes right back to the sheep and stays in submission and obedience to his father and to his older brothers.  And he does not get a big head.  He uses the time to praise God and minister to the sheep.  Good thing.  Because years later he’ll be in a cave with 600 disgruntled men who have left Saul’s kingdom because of debt, complaints of unfairness and accusations of lawlessness.  David needs this time with the sheep just to learn how to handle an army of outcasts to stay alive while being chased down by the very man who he has faithfully served.  Before the insanity of raging jealousy took root in Saul’s mind, David had been his bodyguard.  Saul’s constant moods travelled from trying to kill David to being soothed by David’s harp.  Over and over and over.  But David’s bravery and devotion to Saul, who had been anointed by Samuel before him, brought him back into Saul’s presence.  Later, Saul made many journeys hunting him down taking 3,000 men to capture the one who had so proven his love for this troubled king.

This chapter on being left out and dismissed may have hit a nerve within your heart.  We’ve all been there.  We’ve seen the younger applicant get the job you were more qualified for or heard of the prettier girl chosen for a class play who can’t project her voice the way someone else can.  Those hard knocks are not places were God failed us.  They are golden opportunities to begin classes in His college classrooms.  One course is “How to respond”.  Another we all need is “How to wait”.  These classes will enable and empower us to move toward the goal that the Lord has chosen for us.  And if it’s really true that all things work together for our good, then being out in the field with smelly sheep who tend to walk over cliffs if we aren’t there, is exactly where we need to be.  Let’s be like David while we’re out there and sing praises to the true God who is at our side and wanting to fellowship with us.

Prayer

Father, the circumstance I’m in is not appealing to me.  I see others who are sitting in greater places of honor while I labor with silly sheep.  Dear Lord, I so very much do not want to look at the things that are outwardly unfair and hard.  Instead, Jesus, help me to focus on the fact that you are enjoying being with me and help me to hunger for the fellowship that only seeing You with my spiritual eyes can bring.  May I see and know that You have me where you want me and that You and You alone will lead me to move when and how you want.  May I be a blessing to those around me, even if they don’t want it.  And, most of all, may I acknowledge You in all my ways so that the fellowship is sweeter and fresher every single day.  Amen.

youtube.com/watch?v=rreNmAluBc

*Artist:  Sam and Dave

*Album:  The Nashville Soul Sessions