Loyalty, Stupidity, Mercy and Destiny

By Brenda Black

If Hollywood ever gets ahold of this story, they'll have a movie blockbuster. The plot pits once dear friends against one another in a struggle for power and fame, interlaced with noble loyalty and insanity. The hero waffles from righteous actions to foolish decisions, while the arch rival breaks his own kingdom's laws to call on a witch to conjure up the dead. There are battle scenes and village burnings, pillaging and kidnappings. Ultimately, an entire family is wiped out in one day with the head of the clan committing suicide.

Though it sounds like a modern day version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth or a hodge-podge of headlines from today's press, this story is an historic account of Saul, King of Israel, and David, the one who would take his seat on the throne. By chapter 26 in the book of 1 Samuel, Saul is in hot pursuit of his nemesis, David. But David is still denying any wrong doing and proving his loyalty genuine with clever acts of bravery as evidenced in verses 9-11 when David could have easily snuffed out his opponent.

“But David said to Abishai, 'Don't destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives,' he said, 'the Lord himself will strike him; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let's go.'”

David had the means and the opportunity. He had just cause, but he didn't take justice into his own hands. Though wronged, he chose to do right – not because Saul was so deserving of such grace, but David knew that Jehovah God is the author and finisher of life. Loyalty to His Lord kept David from sin. Next time someone stabs you in the back, think of this scene. Play it over in your mind and pray for God to help you walk away with clean hands.

So, how does one so noble in his actions, suddenly become so foolish? David was human. He stopped listening to God's wisdom and took his own advice. That was a big mistake. “But David thought to himself, 'One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines...” (1 Samuel 27:1) Famous last words before falling into the land of stupidity. David followed his inkling without seeking the Lord and it cost him his family, a city and the respect of his community. He lied his way throughout the land of the enemies of Israel and pledged allegiance to a pagan king. His band of faithful followers were pushed to the point of stoning him in grief and anger. What a mess the merciful David had gotten himself into!

At the same time, Saul was also caught up in a state of stupidity as he sought the counsel of a witch and asked her to beckon Samuel for advice from the dead! You can read about that in chapter 28. When trust in the Lord waivers, humans reveal how truly desperate and pathetic we are on our own. I'm not accusing. I'm confessing. As a fellow human to these men of old, how often I have followed the beat of my own foolish thoughts rather than practiced obedience to the counsel of the Living God. The results have been futile at best, disastrous at times.

Samuel, in his ghostly state, delivered the indictment to Saul: “'Why do you consult me now that the Lord has turned away from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors – to David. Because you did not obey the Lord...'” (1 Sam. 28:16-18a)

God was merciful toward David. He led him to the camp of the raiders who had kidnapped his family along with all those belonging to his army. In pure “I Am the Almighty” fashion, God used a sick and abused Egyptian slave as his instrument of victory for David's army. I wonder if David saw himself in that desperate man who was left to die in the desert. Did David piece together the miraculous work of a God who would use the “least of these” as a spy for His glory? I wonder if it dawned on him that slavery to sin is a deadly option.

Speaking of death – the angel there of vanquished all of Saul's family at the hands of the Philistines during battle, just as David had predicted. No man took “the anointed” one's life. In fact, he fell upon his own spear to finalize the critical wounds Philistine archers had inflicted upon him.

One man rose to take the thrown while the other one fell to the ground. Each reached their destiny. David would live many more years (read 2 Samuel and 1 Kings) to capture the praise of people and the blessings of God. But he never quite got over that human condition that also caused him to stumble on occasion. He was loyal at times, stupid at times, merciful at times. And God was always supremely in charge – just like He is in our lives.

copyright 2012 The Word's Out - Brenda Black

The Seventh Shepherd

By Brenda Black


Smooth and warm to the hand, the shepherd's crook is both tool and a work of art. The shepherd who carries it masterfully captures straying lambs or rescues endangered sheep from raging waters and ravaging wolves. He totes it gracefully and balanced upon his arm as an extension of himself, ever ready to save those he guards with his life.
The Old Testament is rich with foreshadowing shepherds leading up to the one sacrificial lamb protector. There are, in fact, five shepherds that pointed their crook toward the Christ. Each one provides a glimpse down the path to the cross taught Arthur W. Pink, an English Christian evangelist from the early 1900s.

Abel was the first as reported in Genesis 4:2, “Now Abel kept flocks...” This shepherd died at the hands of a wicked brother much as Christ would be crucified by the sinful masses. Second was Jacob who tended the flocks and watched over them (Gen. 30:31); protected them from wild beasts and paid for any lost or stolen (Gen. 31:38-40); and who tended to the weak and young with compassion (Gen. 33:13-14). Jacob was a true reflection of the loving, caring shepherd who held children on his knee, touched lepers and loved the outcasts. The third shepherd to point to Christ was Joseph. The very first description of Joseph is that of one who “was tending the flocks.” While Joseph cared for family and a nation, Jesus, the Good Shepherd fed the five thousand and healed the blind and lame.

Our fourth foreshadow shepherd is none other than Moses. Before he ever led the massive nation of Israel, he first watered, protected and guided sheep.

“Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock...Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.” (Gen. 2:16,17, 3:1-2a)

This is loaded with symbolism of Christ's journey to the cross! He defended the defenseless, stood in the gap for sinners and rescued us from death. He ascended a mount called Calvary and God hung their visible and burning with passion for His flock.

Shepherd number five may be the most conspicuous forerunner. Before he was a king, David herded sheep and risked his own life to protect them. “But David said to Saul, 'Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the seep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear...” (1 Samuel 17:34-36a) With Jesus, that looks like this: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:54b)

In the book of Zechariah we find the sixth shepherd, suitably numbered. For he is the Antichrist. “For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs. Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!” (Zech. 11:16-17a)

The only other shepherd mentioned in Scripture is the Lord Jesus, and He is the seventh – the number of perfection! He came to bear the sins of others as Abel did, to pay the price as Jacob did, to feed the flock as Joseph did, to climb a mountain as Moses did, and to risk everything by laying down his life for the sake of those in his fold as David did.

The Lord came to defeat a “worthless” enemy and be our Good Shepherd! “The Savior gave his life not as a martyr for truth, not as a moral example of self-sacrifice, but for a people,” said A.W. Pink. I absolutely agree and thank God for the Seventh Shepherd.

“When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:23-25)

Jesus, keep us in the crook of your arm until we are safely home.

Privacy Rights

Privacy Rights
by Brenda Black

Knock. Knock. “Mommy, are you in there?” Without fail, they will find you at your most private and most vulnerable moment. After hours of postponement, you seize the opportunity to nab some privacy and that's when they need a cup filled or clean up from a cup spilled. They will hang just outside the door and get into a knock-down, drag-out tussle with their sibling. Or, and here's the kicker, answer the phone and announce that Mom's in the bathroom.

If you think your child's timing is amazing, wait until you read about King Saul's close encounter of the commode kind. David and his valiant men are in hiding. King Saul and his 3,000 chosen men are in pursuit. In the Desert of En Gedi, near the Crags of the Wild Goats, a cave is being used as both a hideout and an outhouse.

“[Saul] came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, 'This is the very day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, “I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.”' Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

“Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, 'The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.' With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.” (1 Samuel 24:3-7)

So many thoughts race through my mind as I read this strange account. The whole scene is more like something from a sixth grade boy's prank than from the Holy Scriptures describing two warring men risking their lives. I can almost hear the snickers from David's cohorts as their leader belly crawls silently across a dampened cave floor. I imagine David's wince as he gets close enough to cut off the end of Saul's robe only to be stricken by the humanness of his nemesis. Then, how he did slink back into the inky depths of the cave without notice, bearing his clutched royal slice of fabric.

Pardon the pun, but behind all this privacy in a privy is one amazing lesson that sorts the waste from the trustworthy – David's noble decision to honor one who has done him wrong. David's men spoke correctly when they said this very day the Lord will give you your enemy. What they failed to see that David rightly discerned was the second part of the promise – “for you to deal with as you wish.”

For David to defeat his enemy, he had to first conquer temptation and spite and disrespect. And he had to let God fight the battle for him rather than take things into his own hands. Had David seized his rival at his most vulnerable moment, what glory would there be in that? It would have been a cowardly act wrought with ridicule. Had David elevated himself in order to humiliate King Saul, could he have maintained his innocence? And what of the command that none of his army lay a hand on the sitting duck? David was granted a wish and he wished for the truth to be revealed and peace be restored. So he ventured to Saul once more his noble intentions rather than lower himself in the eyes of the Lord.

“'Why do you listen when men say, “David is bent on harming you”? 'This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, “I will not lift my hand against my master, because he is the Lord's anointed.” See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. Now understand and recognize that I am not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.'” (1 Sam. 24:9-12)

David's dirty crawl through the cave ended with clean hands and a pure heart. Even in the most private of circumstances, David did what was right. That was his wish. And God was pleased to honor him straight from the mouth of his enemy. “May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today,” Saul proclaimed. “I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.” (1 Sam. 24:19b-20)

The lesson from this latrine clearly merits recording the tale in God's Holy Word. Consider it adult toilet training. “When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” (Proverbs 16:7)

Brenda's latest release is a child's story book Cowboy Pete. Enjoy a fun-filled rhyming ride and help lead your child to Christ with this colorful, hardcover, glossy keepsake written to grow with your child from infancy to pre-school. Get a copy to share with your family today by visiting www.thewordsout-brendablack.com

True Test of Loyalty

True Test of Loyalty
By Brenda Black

One thing that ends a friendship the quickest in my book is disloyalty. My greatest hurdle to forgiveness is getting past broken trust. I pray about it and grapple with it and try to move past it. For me, it takes time and God's poignant conviction as the two ingredients that deliver freedom from the wound inflicted by a friend who stabbed me in the back or foolishly passed along what had been discretely shared with them in confidence. Don't lie to me and don't gossip about me behind my back. I can get along with about any personality, but it takes everything in my power and the Lord's supernatural strength to get me past broken trust.

I found a kindred spirit in the man of King David. I discovered his staunch adherence to forthright loyalty in 1 Chronicles 12. David has been banished from the presence of Saul and is holed up in a cave at Ziklag. He has only a small army of thirty chiefs, his “Mighty Men.” Make no mistake - his small troop of warriors was fit to serve.

“They were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed; they were kinsmen of Saul from the tribe of Benjamin.” (1 Chr. 12:2)

These men had proven their faithfulness time and again. They were strong supporters of David's right to the throne and three of them accomplished tremendous feats of selfless bravery in order to protect or accommodate their king.

These men were more than mighty, they were trustworthy. Safety in friendship is essential and familiarity breeds confidence, especially when life depends upon it. So when a new group of Gadite defects and more Benjamites search out David in his desert stronghold, he has every reason to question their intention in verses 8-17. “They were brave warriors, ready for battle and able to handle the shield and spear. Their faces were the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles in the mountains...

“These Gadites were army commanders; the least was a match for a hundred, and the greatest for a thousand. It was they who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks, and they put to flight everyone living in the valleys, to the east and to the west.

“Other Benjamites and some men from Judah also came to David in his stronghold. David went out to meet them and said to them, 'If you have come to me in peace, to help me, I am ready to have you untie with me. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free from violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you.'”

Stop right there. David has a mere 30 men and he's faced with commanders and fierce fighters and he hesitates to take them into his confidence. Get real! In David's desperate circumstance, how could he pass up such offers? Because taking a deceiver into his camp was more deadly than fighting with a faithful remnant.

Not until they decried fierce loyalty were they accepted. “We are yours, O David! We are with you, O son of Jesse! Success, success to you, and success to those who help you, for your God will help you!” (vs. 18b)

That's what David was waiting to hear. Loyalty to both himself and to the God he served. Trustworthy friends are not in the relationship for only what they can get out of it. They are in the friendship to insure that the other achieves the best as well. Looking out for the interest of others should be a prerequisite for true friendships. More importantly, a common trust in the Lord God insures that the relationship is built on TRUTH!

“Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” (1 Cor. 13:7)

As for me, I often need reminding that love also “keeps no record of wrongs.”

It takes trust to build trust. It takes love to forgive when trusts are broken. It takes God to offer a Son sacrifice who would lay down His life. And it takes God to build an army that would lay down their lives for one another. “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)