He Did It!

I have been reading the books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and I have been awed again and again by David. When it came to God, he did not play. He loved God – no doubt about that. Through the good times and the not so good times His love for God always shone through. For instance, in 2 Samuel 5:20 after winning a battle he had been fighting against the Philistines he exclaimed, ‘The LORD did it.’ That seemingly short and ordinary phrase got me. Here was a simple acknowledgement that God had brought him victory. It made me think of myself and how I usually act when something good happens to me. Am I quick to declare that my success was because of God or do I give myself the props and tell whoever will listen how hard I worked, the connections I used and the risk I took etc. Even after praying about something, begging and crying before God it is so easy to claim the victory as our own. We are quick to forget and put God in the background.

There is nothing wrong in boasting in the Lord – in fact it is a form of offering, praise and thanksgiving – which opens the door to even greater things (Paul and Silas can testify to the power of praise and worship: Acts 16. 23-30). Yep, let God be the first person you give the 1^st credit for your success – every time. I intend to, David’s good example really inspired me. 

Minding Your Own Business

David and Saul in the Bible couldn’t have been more different kings. Saul was the 1^st king of Israel and he was rejected by God because of his disobedience. Samuel asked him to wait for him so that they could sacrifice burnt offerings to the Lord together but because Saul became impatient he ended up not waiting for Samuel and he made the offering himself. This move cost him, because he lost the right of the continuation of the kingship in his family (1 Samuel 13:7 -14). David on the other hand was referred to as a ‘man after God’s heart’ (1 Sam 13:13) and a reading of the book of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel reveals why. David strived to walked in obedience to God. For instance, even when he had the opportunities, he refused to kill Saul (who had made it his mission to kill David because he was jealous of him) and proclaimed he would not touch God’s anointed (1 Samuel 24 & 27). So faithful to his words was he that he was angry and killed the man who killed Saul calling him condemned because he had dared touch God’s anointed (2 Samuel 1:16).

But one thing which hit me right in the face was how both David and Saul were called to kingship. Both of them were busy living their lives, minding their own business that is. Saul was busy looking for and worrying about his father’s lost donkeys. When Samuel invited him to join him to the place of worship and spoke some positive words about his father’s house, he was surprised, confused (and probably annoyed too) and asked Samuel why he spoke to him in the way that he did when he was from the least tribe and the least clan in that tribe (1 Samuel 9: 18-21). As for David, when Samuel came to anoint the next king of Israel in Jesse’s house he was not even present. He was out keeping his father’s sheep and he only came as an afterthought when Samuel asked if Jesse had any other sons after God revealed to him that none of the present sons was the chosen one (1 Samuel 16:11 -12). Imagine this, probably David actually had no idea what was happening at home – could there be any more minding your own business than that?

These two stories, of these two very different men remind me that sometimes the best of things happen to us when you are not looking, searching or trying. As God says in Jeremiah 29:11 He has plans for us, plans for wholeness, to give us a future and hope. We don’t always know these plans but when the time is right things will fall into place. I just love those instances when I am minding my own business and then something absolutely amazing happens to me.