Love God | Understand Yourself | Serve Others

Psalm 55:16-17 (The Message)
I call to God; God will help me. At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs — he hears, he rescues.

Benedict of Nursia founded communities of monks in the 6th century. He wrote the Rule, a description of practices for living in a healthy community. In this short book, he outlined the importance of humility, obedience, balance of work and rest, worship as a lifestyle, and prayer.

Prayer was a central part of that monastic life. There were seven times during the day when the community would gather for prayer: Vespers (sunset), Compline (at bedtime), Matins (beginning before dawn), Prime (about 7am), Terce (about 9am), Sext (noon), and None (about 3pm).

But Benedict wasn’t the first person to recognize the value of purposefully setting aside time for conversation with God.

In today’s verses, we’re told David prayed three times daily. Each night as the sun set, David would spend time praying. As the sun rose the next morning — before David began his day — he would stop and pray. And in the middle of it all, at noon, he would again step away from the business of life and spend time talking with God. I’m sure he actually prayed many more times than this, but these were pre-arranged, non-negotiable appointments on his schedule.

It is so easy in our busy, busy lives to neglect our quiet time with God. How often do we rush through our days, without stopping for any significant length of time to pray? We make appointments with everyone else, but if we looked at our calendar, would we see a time blocked out for talking with God? All too often, the answer is no. And that is so ironic! If there is any relationship in our lives that is worth investing deeply in, it would have to be with the One who lovingly created us.

Question:
How could having a regular, set time of prayer be helpful for you?

2 Samuel 1:9-12 (New Living Translation)
“Then he begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible pain and want to die.’ So I killed him,” the Amalekite told David, “for I knew he couldn’t live. Then I took his crown and his armband, and I have brought them here to you, my lord.” David and his men tore their clothes in sorrow when they heard the news. They mourned and wept and fasted all day for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the Lord’s army and the nation of Israel, because they had died by the sword that day.

David had been unjustly persecuted by King Saul. Saul had sent assassins and mercenaries to hunt down David and kill him. Although David twice spared Saul’s life, Saul still actively sought his death. It was Saul about whom David was writing in Psalm 142.3: “Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.” He had even married David’s wife Michal (Saul’s daughter) off to another man. To say that Saul had not made life easy for David would a gross understatement.

There’s a German word which, roughly translated, means “taking pleasure in another person’s misfortune”: schadenfreude. It would be easy to understand if David was feeling a bit of schadenfreude when he hears about the death of Saul — this man, this king — who had made his life so difficult for many years.

Saul and David, by Rembrandt, c. 1650

But that is not what happens.

Instead… David mourns. He grieves the death of Saul, this would-be father-figure, the chosen leader of the people. David laments the death of the first anointed king of Israel. Whatever Saul’s frailties, whatever his sins and mistakes, David, this next king, mourns King Saul’s death.

There is no schadenfreude here.

Question:
When have you been tempted to be happy at the misfortune of someone who has wronged you?

1 Samuel 28:3-7 (New Living Translation)
Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. And Saul had banned from the land of Israel all mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead. The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the army of Israel and camped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots or by the prophets. Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”

Mediums were people who called up the spirits of the dead to communicate with the living. The medium would pass on to the client messages from dead relatives, loved ones, and famous personalities. Today’s passage is sadly ironic, because it was King Saul himself who had outlawed mediums in his land. And now he now seeks out the medium in the Canaanite village of Endor. Saul wants to talk again with Samuel, hoping that he will hear a word of hope from this dead prophet.

More sad irony: this is the same dead prophet who rarely had a word of hope for Saul while he was alive. Why Saul thinks this is a good idea is completely, totally baffling.

Dictionary.com defines desperation as “reckless or dangerous because of despair or urgency.” That certainly describes Saul’s mental state. He’s so panicked that he makes the terrible decision to do what he knows full well he ought not to do.

When we’re faced with a situation that seems utterly out of control, we, too, can easily be tempted to make decisions that are not in line with what we know to be God’s will. So, how do we keep ourselves from falling into temptation to do the “easy thing” instead of the healthy thing?

By immersing ourselves in God’s word. By learning everything we can about who God is, and what God teaches us about how we are to live. By worshipping together and celebrating God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. By spending time in prayer, seeking God’s guidance, being completely honest with God, and laying every part of our lives before God. By serving others in need. By having people in our lives who will lovingly tell us the hard truth, no matter what.

How different Saul’s story could have been if he had done these things from the very beginning of his reign. And how amazing our own stories will be when we do!

Question:
What actions can you take this week to strengthen your relationship with God and your understanding of God’s love?

Psalm 59:14-17 (New Living Translation)
My enemies come out at night, snarling like vicious dogs as they prowl the streets. They scavenge for food but go to sleep unsatisfied. But as for me, I will sing about your power. Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love. For you have been my refuge, a place of safety when I am in distress. O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love.

The book of psalms is like a hymnal — a book filled with worship songs. At the top of many of the individual psalms, there are directions or explanations. Today’s psalm has this direction: “For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Saul sent soldiers to watch David’s house in order to kill him. To be sung to the tune ‘Do Not Destroy!’”

Back in the late 1980s, I heard a motivational speaker talk about four responses to stress in our lives: alter, avoid, accept, or adapt.* All of these responses are completely normal, and all have a potential positive and negative side.

At other points in his story, David will use all four of the responses. But here David can’t avoid his circumstances: there are actual, real men lurking in the darkness, waiting for a chance to murder him. He can’t alter it: King Saul has become so threatened by David that he has decided it’s better to simply end David’s existence. And although David could have accepted the situation — either by hiding forever inside or by walking out to allow the assassins to kill him — this is just not the way David is wired.

So, it’s the last of the four responses — adapt — that David uses here. He stops focusing on the very valid worries in his life, consciously steps back from the fear and stress of the moment, and takes a look at the big picture. He chooses to remember how God has sustained him in the past, and the promises that God has made about his future. And he celebrates that this painful time will not be the end of his story.

Question:
Which response sounds most like your typical response to stress in your life: avoid, alter, accept, or adapt?

* Glenna Salsbury. I remember listening to her talks with my mother, not on an iPod or even a CD-player, but on cassette tape. (Whew… getting old.) Luckily, even though the technology is antiquated, the concept has stood the test of time.

David Slays Goliath by Gustave Doré (1866)

1 Samuel 17:8-11 (The Message)
Goliath stood there and called out to the Israelite troops, “Why bother using your whole army? Am I not Philistine enough for you? And you’re all committed to Saul, aren’t you? So pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge the troops of Israel this day. Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!” When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.

There was no way that I could go through the book of 1 Samuel without mentioning David and Goliath. It’s one of the first stories children learn about in the Bible. People who’ve never cracked the cover of the Bible have often heard of this encounter between the young man and the giant.

And there are so many ways to look at it. It was meant to show the power of God in David, this newly anointed — but as of yet generally unknown — next king of Israel. I’ve heard this story used as a metaphor for the “little guy” fighting against the government or corporate institutions. It’s the victory of the underdog. It’s the triumph of innocence over arrogance, courage over cowardice, faith over fear. And, of course, there’s the gross-out factor of David picking up Goliath’s massive sword and cutting off Goliath’s head.

But, for many folks, this story is a reminder that what seems most undefeatable to us is perfectly unproblematic for God. The armies of Israel looked at this powerful Philistine warrior, and no one wanted to be the one chosen to confront him. And, seriously, can you blame them? Even if Goliath was not literally nine feet tall, it’s clear that he was an enormous and truly frightening character.

Then little David shows up, takes out his slingshot, grabs a few flat rocks, and walks up to the giant. One stone between the eyes. That’s all it took.

Can’t you just imagine the Israelite warriors watching — with mouths gaping open — as David packs his slingshot back up and walks away?

How much time, I wonder, do we waste worrying about the obstacles in our lives, instead of stepping up, and facing them directly? We worry about so much, and… sometimes… we allow those worries to become deep-seated fears. And those fears? They can incapacitate us.

Question:
What is the “Goliath” in your life right now?

Samuel Anoints David, Dura Europos, Syria, 3rd century CE

1 Samuel 16:6-7 (New Revised Standard Version)
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

God has sent Samuel to Bethlehem, the hometown of Jesse, in order to anoint the next king of Israel. The current king, Saul, had ben described in 9:2: “as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.” But now this tall, handsome man has been rejected by God as king because of his disobedience.

Samuel knows this, knows the history, and yet he still falls prey to the very human temptation to judge a person by how he or she looks. The king God has chosen will be David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. He wasn’t even at the house when Jesse brings his older boys in to be interviewed by Samuel — that is how certain Jesse was that young David was not the one.

“David?” the brothers must have thought, “Surely, you don’t mean our little brother, who is out in the fields with our flocks? Little, puny, baby-faced David? You’re passing us over for him? Seriously?”

But as soon as David had come near, God told Samuel: “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one” (16:12).

Question:
What physical characteristics tend to make you automatically trust someone? What about someone’s appearance might make you distrust them before you even know them? How have you experienced the truth of the phrase “You can’t judge a book by its cover”?

1 Samuel 10:20-25 (New Living Translation)
So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot. Then he brought each family of the tribe of Benjamin before the Lord, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. And finally Saul son of Kish was chosen from among them. But when they looked for him, he had disappeared! So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?” And the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage.” So they found him and brought him out, and he stood head and shoulders above anyone else. Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him!” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” Then Samuel told the people what the rights and duties of a king were. He wrote them down on a scroll and placed it before the Lord. Then Samuel sent the people home again.

In 1 Samuel 10:25, Samuel gives the people a document describing the “duties and responsibilities of the king”: mishpat hammelukah in Hebrew. Look how closely this phrase mirrors the one used by Samuel in 8:9: mishpat hammelek, which can be translated as the “ways or behaviors of the king.” In chapter 8, Samuel had told the people that they would deeply regret rejecting God as their King and insisting on a human king. Samuel warned them that a king would enslave the people for his benefit, force them into war with the surrounding nations, and take away the people’s possessions to give them to the noblemen in his court. This is mishpat hammelek… how the king will act.

Mishpat hammelukah and mishpat hammelek. With these two phrases we have (1) how the king ought to act, and (2) how the king will actually act.

Instead of joyfully accepting the kingship, walking powerfully among his people, learning their names and their stories, Saul skulks off to hide in the baggage. It was not the most promising way to begin one’s reign as king! I have no idea whether the modern idea of “emotional baggage” was around in those days: deeply-engrained emotional scars that keep us from engaging in healthy relationships. But it struck me as I read today’s passage that for all the people’s joy in their new king, Saul’s hiding away in the baggage is a strong forewarning: the people have traded the powerful, bold Kingship of God for a very human king, flawed and frail.

Question:
How large a gap do you feel between what you believe God wants for your life, and what you are currently experiencing?

1 Samuel 8:6-8 (New International Version)
But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to theLord. And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.

God had chosen Abraham’s descendants as his representatives to the world. He had guided them through the years, rescued them from slavery in Egypt, and provided for and protected them through the wilderness until they arrived at Canaan. The God of the universe had reached down to earth, and entered into a covenant — a contract — with humanity, agreeing to be their eternal King.

But now they have officially rejected the kingship of God. They tell Samuel: “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle” (New Living Translation).

Samuel can’t believe it when he hears the people say this. How could they desire a human, earthly, fallible man leading them when they had God as their King? God had a great plan for the people, and they have now collectively turned their backs on it.

How often in our lives do we look at the plan God has for us, and think: “That’s great. But I have a better idea.”

Maybe you’ve never thought those exact words, but I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about. And it’s understandable. After all, following God is not easy! Many of God’s commandments fly in the face of what the world advises us. When we’re tempted to be dishonest to get ahead, God tells us to be honest in spite of the consequences. When we witness injustice, God tells us to courageously stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. When we’re persecuted, God tells us to love our enemies.

God never promised that following him would be simple, or that we would never be tempted “to be like the people around us.” What God did promise is that we would never, never, never be alone in the midst of the challenge. God promises that we will be given the strength we need to live a joy-filled, soul-healthy life. And God promises that the rewards are nothing short of eternal.

Question:
When you are struggling between difficult choices, what helps you to make the God-honoring decision?