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Sunday, October 18, 2020

Taking Someone's Position (4)

To take someone's position, you need to be specifically called by God, willing to do the lowly tasks and able to serve without resources or rewards. And if you think all that is tough, the next one is often the final stumbling block, one obstacle that many cannot clear.

Betrayal

1) Betrayal by leaders

You can say that David's journey to the throne was marked by betrayal. He was first betrayed by first by Saul, the one he looked up to, whom he saw as his mentor, as a father figure.

It began with the Saul looking at David with suspicion:

1 Samuel 18:9 (NKJV) - Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.

... and then he eventually became David's enemy.

1 Samuel 18:29 (NKJV) - ... then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.

Saul first tried to have David killed by the hand of the Philistines (1 Samuel 18:25), then tried to kill him directly (1 Samuel 19:11). And throughout it all, David kept his heart towards Saul pure.

1 Samuel 24:10-11 (NKJV) - Behold, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD had given you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you, but my eye had pity on you; and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’S anointed.’ Now, my father, see! Indeed, see the edge of your robe in my hand! 

2) Betrayal by those he helped

The next major betrayal David faced was from the people of Keilah. As stated in the last blog post, David had enough problems of his own with Saul seeking to kill him. And yet at the same time, God instructed him to save the people of Keilah from Philistines

1 Samuel 23:1-5 (NIV) - When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” he inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”

The LORD answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.

 

After David saved them, it is entirely reasonable to expect some degree of gratitude in return. The Philistines were looting their threshing floors, in other words, destroying their food supplies. David saved them from dying agonizingly from starvation. And yet at the first hint of trouble from Saul, God warned David that the people of Keilah would betray him. So David fled again.

Simply put, helping others is no guarantee they will not betray you immediately after...

3) Betrayal by your own team

1 Samuel 30:3-6 (NASB) - When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

The backstory - David and his men were allotted the city of Ziklag as their refuge. They left their wives and families there, and finally had some peace of mind to carry out their own military campaigns. Imagine how devastated they were when they came back to discover that their home was destroyed, their possessions seized and their families were captured.

And in the midst of that, David's men spoke of stoning him. If you were raised in a society that eschews violence, you need to realize that violent people do not threaten violence unless they truly mean it. For David's men to speak of stoning him meant that David himself was in genuine danger. Never mind the battling the Amalakites, could he even save himself from his own embittered soldiers in the first place?

There are two main takeaways from the betrayals on his way to the throne

A) Betrayal is one of the job hazards of leadership.

If you are a leader like Saul; suspicious, treacherous, selfish and manipulative, you are just setting yourself up to be betrayed. Then when you meet someone like David, who bends over backward to not betray you, you know that is a miracle from God, one you entirely do NOT deserve.

Isaiah 33:1 (ESV) - Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

But even if you have tried your best to live your life right, it is very likely you will be betrayed. Ask anyone who has already been in leadership. Maybe you're the guy patiently helping the woman of your dreams wean off her dysfunctional boyfriend, and all of a sudden she gangs up with that boyfriend against you. Or maybe you're the employee tirelessly going the extra mile for your boss, only to discover that the colleague you trusted has badmouthed you to the boss and the boss actually believes him. David was betrayed by his mentor; you could have been betrayed by your apprentice, someone you taught your trade secrets to who then left to set up a rival business and poach your customers.

You can say that if you are not ready to face betrayal on your way to the throne, you aren't ready to face betrayal when you are sitting there!

B) You need to know when to win people over.

Betrayal is not the trickiest part; the trickiest part is knowing when to stand your ground in spite of the betrayal and win people over. 

Notice David's reaction to the third betrayal. He did not flee as he did with Saul and the Keilahites. The Scripture implied that David, after hearing from the Lord, set out to win his men over to himself and rallied them to the task of rescuing their families. Anyone who has ever been betrayed before know that it is much easier to either flee or to stay and fight. To stay and win people over is a much higher, a much more difficult route. It makes you vulnerable to people who have already chosen to betray you before. One of the most difficult and dangerous things to do.

I personally suspect that was the reason why this incident was the turning point in David's journey. We are already used to David enjoying military victory wherever he went, because he obeyed God's leading in this area. But this encounter yielded different results. This battle allowed them to capture sheep and cattle (1 Samuel 30:20) and this time, he actually distributed the spoils of the battle among the various cities and regions of Israel he and his men would roam in. Was this turning point because David stayed behind to win over his men? Or because he was fulfilling the God-given assignment that Saul failed at, war on the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:2-3)?

Whatever the reason, David's experiences in dealing with betrayal before he became king helped him deal with betrayal after he ascended the throne. As soul-crushing as the rebellion of Absalom was (2 Samuel 15), David was still able to win back his nation. And even though it was soon followed by Sheba's rebellion, David did not give up in despair looking at how fractured the nation had become but continued to take the necessary steps to regain the throne to discharge his responsibilities as king. If he could not win back to himself his original team back in the ruins of Ziklag, of course he was certainly not ready to win back his nation after the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, true?

Faithful in little...

Conclusion

I started this series of blog posts with only a vague outline of the topics and very little sense of the details. I meant it as a mere intellectual investigation into David's journey to replacing Saul as king, interesting but with little application to most of our lives, because most of us would not be ordained by God to take such an unique path. And now at this, my last post in this series, I realize the best summation is expressed by my old friend, Kenneth Koh. He said we talk glibly of being king and priest (Revelations 1:6), yet have little idea of what it means to be prepared by God to take a throne. "So you wanna be king, huh?" How many of us are willing to stay the course if we already knew in advance what price was required of us?

More importantly, if you see in my series of blog posts enough parallels to your current life and struggles, stay the course. Keep praying, keep feeding your soul with the Scriptures and stay faithful to the tasks at hand. Our God is gracious and compassionate toward us. May his grace and comfort be your strength when facing a difficult season of your journey!


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