ALL INCLUDED
The body of believers is divided on many things
right now. Some people are focusing on certain aspects of the world’s political
systems; others are focusing on a switchover from the fiat money system to the
gold-backed financial system; some focus on certain church doctrines. And some
people are trying to focus only on the things that affect them locally. We all
have the tendency to think our focus is where others should focus as well. But
God doesn’t think that way. When He gave His son Jesus Christ to the world, He
gave him to everyone who would believe. All were included in the mind of God
when He gave His most precious gift.
The Bible in 1 Timothy 2:3-5 tell us God’s
vision toward the people of earth: “For
this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will
have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there
is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians
6:10 tells believers to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” A fact of life
is that not all believers are strong. But that doesn’t mean that only the
strong will receive the blessings God gave to all who believe in Jesus Christ. All
of us receive an everlasting home in heaven for one thing, and that is all good
forever! A
huge concept, I know, but nevertheless, eternally true.
David in the Old Testament shows us on a
practical level the equity of our God. He takes care of all His children, the
strong and the weak.
David was away from home fighting alongside
the Philistines against one of their enemies. When he got back home with his
troops, he found out that the Amalekites had invaded his city, burned it down,
and taken all the women and children as captives. The troops were so distressed
they “lifted up
their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep” (1 Samuel 30:4). They were so upset they wanted to stone David, but David
went to God about this.
“And David enquired at the Lord, saying, ‘Shall
I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue:
for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
“So David went, he and the six hundred men
that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that
were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two
hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook
Besor” (1 Samuel 30: 8-10).
It’s important to notice here, that out of the six hundred
troops, two hundred didn’t feel strong enough for more fighting. They had already
been fighting and were weary. David wasn’t upset. He knew that God told him to
go and had promised him that he would recover all.
David understood that these two hundred men may have gone
with him, but they just didn’t have the strength for it. It didn’t mean that
they were bad people. In fact, some very bad people (sons of Belial - devil
worshippers) were among the four hundred who went with David.
They found the camp of the Amalekites.
“Behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth,
eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had
taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
“And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of
the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men,
which rode upon camels, and fled. 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”
(vv. 17-19).
“And
David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not
follow David, and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people
that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he
saluted them” (v. 21). We see here that David didn’t belittle those who stayed
behind.
But
the evil men that were with David, they resented those who had to stay behind. “Then
answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went
with David, and said, ‘Because they went not with us, we will not give
them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his
wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.’” (v.
22). In their eyes, it was unfair that those
weaker ones should be rewarded when they didn’t have to fight. And sometimes the
strong among us in the body of Christ may even feel that way: “Why should they
get the goods too when we were the ones who had to be out front fighting all
this time?!” But God’s ways are above our ways.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord” (Isa. 55:8).
We need
to always be growing in our thinking and our actions to come up to the level
God’s called us to. We can do it because we have His spirit in us, and David is
a great example of how it works. God said this about David: “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will” (Acts 13:22).
When the fighters
wanted to keep all the spoil for themselves, David wouldn’t let them.
“Then said David, ‘Ye shall not do so, my
brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved
us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. For who will
hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down
to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the
stuff: they shall part alike’” (vv. 23-24).
So David carried out God’s will to give equal parts to those
that were on the front lines, with those who stayed behind. That’s the mercy,
grace, and kindness of our God. He understands us like no one else.
And even
beyond that, David was so elated with what God had given him that he sent gifts
all over to “all the places where David himself and his men were known to haunt”
(v.31). He sent presents to people in Judah, and friends in many other places,
saying, “Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord” (1
Sam. 30:26).
David
knew God’s heart of love and generosity. David knew that God would always take
the best care of him. David wasn’t stingy or jealous or full of himself. He knew
how merciful and kind and generous God was to him, and he knew that it was God’s
will toward all his family. David was blessed to play a part in God’s distribution
of the spoils, and that is how we are to be too.
Love,
Carolyn
See my
publications on Amazon: Great keys to living a Christian life every day.
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