DON’T BE TRICKED BY “THE SHOULDS”
Wanting to be a good citizen, I’ve been paying more attention to
politics. It’s a good thing to be aware of what’s going on, but this morning,
as I was listening to a pastor who is very involved in politics, I found myself
being overwhelmed by the “shoulds.” I “should” be more outspoken; I “should”
learn how to debate; I “should,” I should,” I “should.” I started feeling bad
about myself until the Lord gave me a revelation from the Bible, where David
got tricked by the “shoulds.” The record is found in 1 Samuel 27-30.
King Saul of Israel was coming after David to kill him, so David
found refuge with the Philistines. They gave him a whole city, Ziklag, where he
brought his wives, children, his men, and his wealth. But then there was going
to be a war between Israel and the Philistines. David felt that he “should” get
involved in the fight. He took his men and stayed in the back, close to the man
who befriended him—Achish, the Philistine King’s son. But while David and his
men were away, intending to do what they thought they “should” be doing—their
politically correct thing to do—another enemy went after David’s own city,
Ziklag.
Even though David wanted to be involved, and his Philistine
friend, Achish, thought it was a good idea, the other Philistine leaders
weren’t receptive to David. They didn’t trust him and didn’t want him there, so
“David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning to return” (1 Sam.
29:11).
“And
it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag, that the Amalekites
had invaded, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the
women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small,
but carried them away, and went on their way.
“So
David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and
their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then
David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until
they had no more power to weep” (1 Sam. 30:1-4).
Because David had stepped into the land of the “shoulds,” he
wasn’t walking in the light of what the Lord really wanted him to be doing. The
consequences were devastating, but not a total loss. David hadn’t intentionally
disobeyed God, so the Lord made a way for him to recover his losses. He went
after the Amalekites.
“And David recovered all that the
Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And there was
nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters,
neither spoil nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all”
(1 Sam. 30:18-19).
It would take some time to rebuild the burned city, but at least
no one was killed, and they got back their form of income in the goods that
were stolen. Thank God the goods went with them because if they had been left
in Ziklag, they would have been destroyed in the fire. In God’s foresight, He
knew that David had made an error in judgment, but not in heart. And if in our
hearts we truly want to always to do His will, He will find a way to always
provide for us, even when we mess up.
When things in our world present themselves, and we get
emotionally upset about them, we tend to want to do something about them, and
that’s good. But wisdom, it says in God’s Word, is the principal thing, and
wisdom comes from God. We don’t want to be tricked liked David into taking
action on something just because of some false feeling of responsibility or
obligation. The “shoulds” can be tricky.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that pastors, preachers,
Christian leaders, or Christian people at large are not supposed to get
involved with politics—quite the opposite. I feel that more of us need to be
actively involved. We definitely have opinions, and we need to express them.
Christians are never going to all agree on politics, or Biblical doctrine for
that matter, either. But that’s okay. We do our best to assess and discern.
Honestly, a lot of Christian leaders in America don’t speak their
opinions because of the Johnson Act that gives them tax exemption if they incorporate.
But then their church and its leaders are responsible to follow the “shoulds” that
are dictated by their state political leadership. That often means keeping
their mouths shut about politics. Personally, I’m praying to see pastors and
preachers be bold enough to voluntarily opt-out of the 501 C3 corporate tax
exemption so that they can freely speak on anything the Lord wants saying. They
can still take offerings, so they don’t really benefit from the state
incorporations anyway.
Let’s not be tricked by the “shoulds” in any category. David felt
he “should” go to war on the side of the Philistines, but it wasn’t what God
wanted him to do, so he ended up having to start over and rebuild his whole
city. We don’t want to be in a place where we have to rebuild something in our
lives that we’ve already spent good time doing. I started to feel I should do more
politically, but that doesn’t mean I have to get totally immersed.
I need to only follow the Lord, detail by detail. When I feel He
directs me to be more politically outspoken, I do it. When not, I don’t.
Simple. We can’t let other people dictate how we “should” act. Only the Lord
has the right to direct us, and in Him, we walk freely, just like Him.
Love, Carolyn
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