Materials
The David Series: Our Lives Before God
Handling Prosperity
I Samuel 30 – II Samuel 1
by R. Todd Bouldin
Thomas
Carlyle claimed that for every hundred people who can handle adversity,
there is only one who can handle prosperity. It all comes down to whether
you think you deserve the life you have, or you were given the life you
have received.
Prayer - Give us vision, O God, to see that the victory and prosperity of our lives has come to us only by Your grace. Make us worthy stewards of Your grace that we may become compassionate people in a world perishing by its weapons. In the Name of our gracious Savior, amen.
Our text today takes us to a tired and bloody battlefield where Israel has just lost a battle at Mt. Gilboa. King Saul watched as three of his sons, including David’s friend and Saul’s Prince, Jonathan, were killed at the hands of the Philistines. Seeing his defeat, and overcome with despair, Saul fell upon his own sword and died. Well, at least that’s how I Samuel tells the story. The Amalekite who runs to tell David what he think David will receive as joyful news says that he killed Saul. We’re not sure which way it was, but we are sure that David did not react with glee. He responded with grief. He cries out in public grief, “How the mighty are fallen, and the weapons of war perished.”
Earlier in the story, you’ll recall how Saul had it made. He was the people’s choice for a king. He was head and shoulders above the rest. He was powerful and prosperous. But something was wrong beneath the surface. His life ended in despair, paranoia, and suicide. By contrast, when we are introduced to David, he’s nothing more than a shepherd boy. He is the eighth son of an unknown father. Not much to fear. But he is about to become the greatest king Israel ever had, and Saul knows it. That’s why he has pursued David endlessly through the wilderness to no avail. It all comes tumbling down for him at Gilboa, and weapons could no longer protect him from himself.
Saul had defended his security and prosperity with weapons. They were the weapons of war, and also the very weapons by which he perished. David had few weapons and only a few hundred discontented, disillusioned and indebted men to join him. What he did have was the dream God had given him -- a dream that could not be defeated because God was looming over every turn and page of his life.
The dream began when the prophet Samuel whispered God’s promise in the boy’s ear, “You are the one.” That began a series of events in David’s life that seem to propel him toward his great future – his victory over Goliath, successful campaigns against the Philistines, and the popularity with the Israeli people – everything seemed to be coming together. That was, until it all came apart. Saul had every intention and every weapon necessary to stay in power. At least he thought he did.
Because of Saul’s power and his terrifying weapons, David and the dream of a new kingdom would have to flee from town and hide in caves and deserts. Centuries later, after this story had been told and retold, people would remember it when the infant Jesus had to flee before the weapons and jealousies of another king, Herod, and hide in Egypt.
Defenses. Weapons. We all use them whenever our security and prosperity gets threatened. For Saul, these were weapons of war. What are your defenses? What do you rely on when you feel threatened? Your intellect or talent? Your family, your financial reserves or anger? Do you return to revenge? Maybe you just decide to be a jerk too. Maybe your favorite weapon is your Palm Pilot where you record the hard work and busy schedule you think will keep you secure. And a full Palm Pilot – well, you are just indispensable. Maybe your weapon of choice is the Rolodex, or a trust fund, or some cool friends. We have a whole arsenal of weapons, and we readily grab them when we feel insecure.
One of the problems with these weapons is that if you rely on them, you will chase The Kingdom of God away from your part of the world. In God’s kingdom, there is no need for weapons. In His kingdom, swords are beaten into plowshares, righteousness and peace kiss, sinners are forgiven, enemies are loved, and shepherds become kings. It is a kingdom that is not built on hard work or competition. It is built by The Presence of God who looms over the pages of our lives. Saul could not defeat God’s dream with his weapons, neither could Herod defeat God’s dream with his. God’s dream in your life, or in His coming kingdom, may seem to be hiding in a cave for a while. But you can know one thing – eventually it will rise and prevail.
Another problem with weapons is that, not only are they finally ineffective against the dreams of God, they eventually will drive you crazy. Like Javert in Les Miserables, a life occupied with the success of another person, or their perceived threat to you, will lead you to your demise. It is painful to read about Saul’s crazed descent from prosperity. He is so threatened that David would take it all away from him that he goes nuts trying to find him. In fact, he becomes so crazy that he destroys himself. He kills all the priests of Nob who gave David shelter, stops praying to God, and he even turns to a witch in Endor to engage in a seyonce with Samuel. He alienates his family. Finally, he falls on his own sword. Among his last recorded words are those to the ghost of Samuel, “I have played the fool.”
That continues to be the legacy of those who live by the sword of all the defenses you are putting up in your life. Defenses will drive you nuts. You may be already facing the weapons of Saul. Someone may come at you with angry, venomous words. Some crazed gladiator may hurt because it’s the only way he or she knows how to stay alive in the arena. A trusted friend may betray you. The company may give your job to someone else. When you see the fight coming your way, the temptation to pick up Saul’s weapons will be overwhelming. But you have to remember this truth from Saul’s life – you cannot fight your way into God’s dreams for your life. Actually, it’s impossible to hold a dream as big as the one God has for your life if your hands are so full of weapons.
David’s approach to life stands in sharp contrast to Saul’s approach. Saul believed he would win through force; David believed he would win through faith. David trusted the dream. He trusted the dream-giver. He trusted the dream so much that he refused to pick up a weapon against Saul. The future God has for you cannot be protected by your defensive weapons.
The future is God’s, and He really doesn’t need your attitude, and your anger, and your cunning politics to make it come true. He asks for something much more demanding from you. He asks you to believe the dream. If you are in a place where you can no longer see the dream, then you need to return to trusting the Dream Maker.
While Saul was being defeated at the battle of Gilboa, David was in a town called Ziklag, facing one of the darkest days of his life. He had taken all six hundred men into battle, but they left the women and children behind. These were the distressed, the indebted and discontented, you will recall. While they were gone to battle, the Amalekites raid Ziklag, looting and burning the town down. They took all the women and children captive including David’s own family. When David and his men returned to see what happened to their homes and families, all they saw was the smoke rising from what had once been their homes. David’s own men turned against him and wanted to stone him to death for not leaving someone to protect the city. Now, even his own men hunted his life. It was at this point that David’s life took a decided turn that would renew him for the journey and anchor his life again in the life and purposes of God. Saul had relied on weapons when he feel threatened. But Scripture tells us chapter I Samuel 30:6 that David “strengthened himself in The Lord his God.”
David calls his minister, Abiathar, and together they pray to The Lord until God’s life and dream is renewed in the heart of David. This is what Christians do for each other when we have lost our way and The Kingdom of God seems a distant reality. We strengthen each other in the unimagined life and dreams of God, dreams that are ours by the sovereign grace of God.
Strengthened in God’s commitment to him, David pursues the Amalakites to recover the women and children. All six hundred of the men leave on the campaign, when they get back to the Brook of Bessor, two hundred say they are too exhausted from the last campaign to go any further. So with only four hundred men, David continues, finds the Amalekites, and brings all the women and children back along with the stolen loot. When they return as far as the Brook of Bessor where the other two hundred men are waiting, their wives and children rush to them in a glad reunion. Some of the four hundred men who fought, those the Bible calls “worthless men,” said to David, “These who stayed behind shouldn’t get any of the recovered loot.” How interesting that the distressed, indebted and discontented group who have become somebodies by the grace of God now ask that everyone get only what they’ve earned. We hear this in the church all the time. We were nobodies when the grace of God found us, and then when the pieces of our lives are put together again, we are so tempted to say that people should only get what they deserve. But who of us can afford to say that? Thank God, you didn’t get what you deserved.
In a moment of great leadership, David says, “Everything we have is a gift from God; we share it with all who are saved by God.” (I Samuel 30:23-25). Then he ordered the shares of battle to be shared among all. That is how you handle prosperity. Not like Saul, by greedily clinging to what you have been given. But like David, remembering that what you have been given was grace. When you are strengthened in the security and life of The Lord your God, your weapons become the weapons of love and grace in the lives of others. Your heart is enlarged by a bigger dream than the scenario that seems to be playing out on the battlefield of your life, so you can respond differently than those who believe that life depends on the weapons of mere hard work, connections and political skill. Rights and fairness are not all that matter. Your life is lived by a different rhythm of trust and grace.
The compassion did not end there. David gave bread and water to a servant of the Amalekites who found himself a refugee in the wilderness. Finally, in the passage we read when we began, David receives word that the man who has kept him on the run for years in the wilderness is now dead. Danger, hardship, loss, and loneliness had come his way because of this one man, Saul. Now Saul was dead. The future was David’s. Instead of merriment and declarations of victory, David cries out in grief for the loss of God’s anointed and his beloved friend, Jonathan. “Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely!” David laments when he remembers his foe. David could even love his enemy because he knew that God’s vengeance, and God’s grace, did not depend on him. He would leave judgment and vengeance to God. David chose to be shaped and influenced under the sovereignty of God. He would live by the grace of God, not the hate of Saul. It all began by anchoring himself again in God. He could love this deeply, and forgive this lavishly, because his heart had been strengthened in The Lord his God, this God whose sovereignty and grace would never let him or his dreams go. Amen.
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