Remembering the Image of God and the Strength of Christ to Do Right
Good Morning,
I’ve had opportunity lately to tell a couple of folks that one of my favorite stories in the Bible is David in the cave at Wildgoats’ Rock in 1 Sam. 24. Just the name itself sounds like something out of a young adult novel, but the sequence there is another in the long history of Saul and the former sheepherder. Once again David finds himself running, but this time he has a gaggle of men with him. He has the slip on Saul. However, as David and his men hide in a cave the king of Israel waltzes into it to make a pitstop. What . . . a . . . scene. You couldn’t make this stuff up, and yet as the leader takes his place on another throne a great dilemma comes to David.
Part of the reason why this episode in the lives of these two men is to my liking is it shows the son of Jesse as being a man of honor. That word, honor, means a lot to me. Born out of my military service and having that term burned into my soul by my senior drill instructor SSGT Allen has a lot to do with it. I still can hear his voice in my ears. Those who know, know what I mean. For today’s prayer and worship help we are going to talk a little bit about what that word can teach us as we navigate the fallen and wicked world in which we live in 2024.
As David is fleeing for his life from Saul, providence offers him an opportunity to end the life of Saul, and get away with it. To put a stop to the chaos in his life and speed up the plan to put him in leadership in Jerusalem. No one is watching, at least not that he can see. Who would even blame him for doing what he needs to? David has the support of his men. They are goading him on, and yet he refuses to take advantage of Saul despite the precariousness of the latter’s position. His reasoning?
1 Samuel 24:6-7 says:
He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.” So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.
You see, what makes this so beautiful is that as much as he may have privately been disgusted by the conduct and actions of Saul at the end of the day Saul was, as he says, The Lord’s Anointed, and God is clear how we are to treat the anointed. Most of the time when we hear that word we think primarily of people in charge. Presidents, preachers, pulpiteers, and the like. If you drive down the road in some parts of the country you’ll even see some men and women pompously provide themselves with that as they self-title as bishops, apostles, and prophets. But the cool thing about the New Testament is that the people given that identity is far broader. Everyone who is a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is anointed. Where do I get that from the Bible? Let’s take a look at a passage like 1 John 2:20-21. John says, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”. So if we all have an anointing how does that make us anointed? The word simply means that we are set apart by the act of the placing or pouring upon us. As those who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as promised by Jesus and proclaimed by Peter, we are then to understand ourselves as anointed.
That may sound strange, and it does to be honest, but it doesn’t need to be when we remember again who we are in Christ. We are members of a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-12) through the redemption accomplished and applied to us in our Lord. There is great joy available to the believer the more we live in that truth, but what does that have to do with honor, isn’t that what this whole shooting match this morning is supposed to be about? Good question.
Honor in the context of David and Saul is born out of the love that David has for Saul. That love comes from a two-fold understanding of who Saul is. First, David sees Saul as a human being, one who has the image of God. Second, he recognizes that Jehovah is the mighty God who has placed Saul on the throne of Israel. The Scriptures in a couple of places reminds us to give honor to whom honor is due. David is seeking to do this for Saul because he has learned the proverb not to return evil for evil. We are to never do bad that good may come. Our calling as believers is to love all and to show love, and honor, in every situation. That doesn’t mean we have to like those who are causing trials, whether they be trying to kill us as Saul was to David, or not. The folks we struggle with in showing honor have likely never been as awful to us as what David experienced from Saul, yet in the Wildgoats cave instead of choosing violence, the good shepherd who had learned such from his Master, left him alone and prayed for him in grace. Doesn’t matter who or what, the same honor should be shown to all.
In closing, it is widely understood that David penned Psalm 142 in response to the entirety of what he had experienced in that hole in the earth. What weight must have been released as David exclaimed his heart to God above. While the man focus of the psalm is exclaiming the lack of help from Saul, and how he felt abandoned by the man, it opens opportunity for the Lord’s anointed to find his rest in Christ alone. When we can’t find refuge and strength especially when we struggle with showing honor to those who have harmed us, and may like Saul, still be seeking our flesh in spiritual or other ways there is an answer to be found in the Anointed One.
The whole of the psalm captures the main point of this morning’s words of mercy.
Read and meditate:
“I cry out to the Lord with my voice; with my voice to the Lord I make my supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me. Look on my right hand and see, for there is no one who acknowledges me; refuge has failed me; no one cares for my soul. I cried out to You, O Lord: I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Your name; the righteous shall surround me, for You shall deal bountifully with me.”
No extra stuff today.
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church
