…David & Saul
Why was it such a great sin for
Saul to spare the king (of the Amalekites) & cattle? - What were
his motives? Mercy? No, vainglory.
One proud choice to disobey a seemingly minor instruction of the true prophet cost Saul his kingdom...
Parents sometimes make the
mistake of giving their kids something that they like or want too
quickly, but it often spoils them & the amount of appreciation
& gratitude they could have developed otherwise... You still tend
to do that, even with adults. You've got something, and you want to
share it right away. But I like to wait & see whether they will
really appreciate it.
Then there's the factor of
rushing ahead in the flesh & not waiting for Me, which amounts to
screwing up big time, as Saul did when he didn't wait for Samuel. These
are all lessons related to waiting on Me.
You can't advertise God and Mammon. You can't serve 2 masters.
But many people are too much in
a rut to stop in order to even realize these things. They don't take
the time to stop, look and listen for Me to show them these things.
They keep busy, busy, busy, pursuing the distractions. They don't
really take the time to absorb and soak in My Words, but actually -
when it comes down to it and to the application of them - rather tend
to ignore them in essence, which is what Saul did, and describes the
behavior and attitude of most Christians.
(Spirit helper*:) You are not
alone! It's not like the Lord is sending you out against this army of
Goliaths all by yourself. But you see, that's the difference with REAL
faith, the kind David had: He was so sure of the Lord's presence and
power in him, he didn't see the way the rest of Israel were looking at
Goliath, as this gigantic, superior, fierce enemy. David saw in him no
match for the Lord. And that's the kind of faith you must have, too!
Believe that no matter who or what is opposing you, it's no match for
the Lord. No matter what the difficulties, no matter how huge the
bills, no matter how adverse the circumstances, none of it is a match
or a challenge to the Lord. No matter how bleak the night, how terrible
the approaching danger or threat; nothing, nothing is too hard for the
Lord, and you have to learn to walk in the firm knowledge of that, for
only with this kind of faith it's possible to please the Lord!
(* Spirit helper: a departed
saint or angelic being in heaven, fighting on the Lord's side and for
His Cause by helping those of us fighting for His Cause on earth)
(Jesus:) The longer you stay
small, out of sight, out of range, you can be like an independent
little guerrilla fighter, like David, who was able to run around
Goliath, while he could hardly move in his heavy armor.
You feel like, 'how is a
weakling like I going to make it through those times?' Well, by My
miracle working power, the same way all the other weak-in-the-flesh
prophets of mine have made it through all times. 'Not by might, nor by
power, but by My Spirit.' That's the little strength that shall save
you. Not your own puny strength. But if you invest what little strength
you have, to connect with Me, you're tapping into a Power Source that's
unbeatable, invincible, like that song, 'If you've got God with you,
you're unbeatable, no matter how small you are...' It's David &
Goliath all over again.
So, are you willing to be My
courageous little David, a shepherd boy with a sling shot, facing the
greatest giant ever to come upon this Earth? 'Big Brother,' indeed.
Well, remember those rocks in the river. You can step on them to cross
the river, and you can also hurl them at his face, like David hurled
the stone at Goliath. I'm the Master Rock, & I will always supply
you with more rocks & I will put them right at your reach, wherever
& whenever you need them. I'm with you always. Right here.
Young David stood up against,
defied, and slew Goliath alone, while the entire rest of the army of
God's people stood back in fear. Of course, I allowed this to happen to
glorify My power, and illustrate that the battle is won by My power,
not by flesh.
So, if you feel alone and
despised, perhaps even unimportant, or at least considered unimportant
by God's physical army, cheer up, you're not the first and not the only
one, and you're in good company.
This was only the beginning of
David's woes and odyssey of ups and downs, highs and lows, triumphs and
persecutions... But in all this he never failed or neglected to
remember Me.
I'm having to withdraw the
tender & gentle blessings, the comforts & the luxuries, and I'm
having to love you with My rod and with My harshness instead, and you
will see, it will bring much better results!
You will sing like King David:
"Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept Thy Word. It
is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn Thy
statutes."
You only learn to truly keep My
law of love by the afflictions I'm letting come upon you! It's sad, but
it's true, that's the sinful nature of man's heart!
King David made some pretty
grave mistakes just following his gut & going after the woman he
fell in love with, and yet, nonetheless, I've used this to bring about
My will and Israel's succeeding king. I still called David a man after
My own heart.
When Nathan the prophet came
before David, to reprove him for having stolen Bathsheba from Uriah, by
seeing to it that Uriah would get killed, there was no way for Nathan
to tell beforehand whether David was going to be "in the mood" to
receive any such message, or whether he was going to receive it at all.
But he obediently brought the message before him, anyway. Of course, he
also wisely had asked Me to show him how to best present it, and he did
so in presenting a parable, a story that I knew was going to appeal to
David, since he had such a strong sense of righteousness & was a
fighter for the underdog.
But it shows again that people
often do not see the whole truth about themselves. He was barely aware
of ever having done anything wrong. He hypocritically would have
refused to ever see that he was just as unjust & guilty of
exploiting someone weaker as those unjust people he had learned to hate
& had vowed to protect others from. It took Nathan to open his eyes.
When Nathan came to King David
and told him the story of the man who had many sheep and yet stole the
one lamb from the other fellow, the only one he had, David didn't see
himself at all in that description and got all stirred up in
(self-)righteous indignation, and boy, was he shocked when Nathan said,
"Thou art that man!" He held the story just like a mirror in front of
his face, to show him his own ugliness in the spirit.
As soon as someone reaches the
top, they often lose that original fire, that spark, sometimes even
their righteous zeal. Like king David: as long as he was small &
persecuted, he was desperately calling out for Me & dependent on Me
for his very life, he was the epitome of righteousness. But once he was
king, he even abused his position to become the very persecutor of one
of his most loyal subjects, Uriah.
It is inevitable, it seems; power corrupts.
The amount of love in what you
did is what counts, not the dead statistics. They're just numbers. So,
don't hide behind numbers, don't glory in them, only glory in love, and
in how much you're able to truly live in and convey My Spirit each day.
That's why I got so upset with
David's counting the soldiers of his army: he was trying to put his
confidence in numbers, instead of Me. Don't put your faith in numbers,
but in Me!
It's like the "abundance" of
riches, of money, that some people have on their bank accounts and
think that that's what their life consists of. Their life and its value
basically consists of a number: the amount of money they have on their
bank account.
Your true value is determined
by the amount of My Spirit you allow to flush through your life. How
much do you allow others to be touched by Me through you? How much do
you really give in order to be able to say you did your best, you gave
your all? How much do you have left? Are you doing and giving all you
can? That's what counts to Me.
King David didn't always have
the best & noblest fighters on his side, whereas some of the
noblest warriors of Israel were sometimes on the side that happened to
oppose him at a time, such as Abner.
It is a great privilege to be
one the "right side" and under the anointed leadership of My choicest
vessels for this day & age, & some people simply choose to stay
loyal to whoever they're fighting for, simply for the sake of loyalty
itself & because they haven't learned any better; they don't know
any better.
Many of those who followed
Saul, even in his pursuits of David, only became loyal servants to
David once Saul was dead and David's anointing as king became
"official" and plain, open in the sight of all.
Those seeming defeats make you
dig down deep in the dirt, like a man digging a well, and they prime
the pump that makes the heavenly water flow; heavenly water to refresh
generations to come.
King David hardly thought that
the Psalms he wrote would be such a vast source of inspiration, wisdom
and comfort to generations to come... Yet they were the honey that came
forth through the crushing and twisting of his life, and it has been a
source of comfort beyond all measure to innumerable souls. Was it worth
it?
Everything can change. The
factors can change, the parties involved can change, the cards can
change. Those who formerly were against Me can change and work for Me
instead, as it unfortunately works the other way around, as evident.
King David had to learn this
during his life-time, as those who he thought to be his allies, his
country, his people, turned against him and became his enemies, so that
he was forced to seek refuge with his former enemies.
Trust in Me alone, never in any
earthly institution. Your friends of yesterday can become your enemies
of tomorrow and vice versa. The only thing that changes not and you can
rely on is My being on your side.
It took David quite a few years
of persecution, of hiding out, of enduring the ill treatment from Saul,
and many valuable experiences, before he was ready to be the leader I
wanted him to be, and even then he made some mistakes that some might
call fairly grave.
The true power and proof of
divine authority lay not in young David's voice, harp skills, nor any
of his other skills - although his boldness to defy lions, bears and
giants were certainly a manifestation of My Spirit in Him, and a result
of his strong faith - but it ultimately lay in his gift of prophecy as
evident in the lyrics and words of his psalms, which are still
unequalled in all Jewish and Christian literature.
In fact, they are much more
valued by Christians because of their manifold messianic implications,
often too obvious to deny for the rejecting Jews…
It always has to be some lonely
shepherd boy out in a field with a few sheep, out in My creation, to
whom I can entrust the truth of truths of the day, certainly not to the
high priests in their synagogues, temples and tabernacles.
Just like with young
shepherd-king David of old, your greatness does not lie in your talents
and skills, but in the magic of My wonderworking words to you. That's
where your future lies, and the true greatness of your ministry.
David had a much greater impact
on the world through the lyrics of his Psalms than he had through any
other feats of his. It was the still, small, quiet voice of the
whispers of My Spirit and truth, that echoed throughout history in a
more lasting, persisting and powerful way than any of his great an
mighty feats. That is the magic of the Spirit, and all the magic you
need.
There were always those who
would listen to My true prophets and stayed obedient to Me, and those
who weren't. There was always a good side and a wrong side: the house
of Saul and the house of David; the children of disobedience and those
who stayed true to My voice.
Everyone must make those choices.