NOT CAUGHT IN “THE SHOULDS” –
HAPPY AND FREE
I’ve been paying more attention to
politics. I feel it’s a good thing to be aware of what’s going on, but awhile
back, I was listening to a pastor who’s involved in politics, and I was overwhelmed
by his list of “shoulds.” I “should” be more outspoken; I “should” learn how to
debate; I “should,” I should,” I “should.” Then this morning, I heard from an
old friend with the opposite viewpoint. This person went to Bible school with
me 30 years ago, and knew me as a pastor, but today decided to authoritatively
tell me I shouldn’t be posting political things and went on to respond to one
of my Bible posts: “This is what you should be doing.”
What? I can’t be myself? Seriously?
Who, all of a sudden, made this old friend, my boss? The Apostle Paul had a
similar experience when he went to Corinth. Some of the believers were ragging
on him because of what he ate, and because he maybe wanted to go on a date: “Mine answer to them that do examine
me is this, ‘Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have
we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles,
and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?’” (1 Cor.
9:3-5).
Our daily authority comes from God
and God alone, except, of course, when we choose to put ourselves under another
person’s authority, like in a work situation, or in a spiritual situation,
where we ask specifically for someone’s opinion.
But if we let ourselves be easily swayed
by other’s ideas of what they think we should be doing, we may easily fall prey
to what it says in Ephesians 4:14. We go back to being like children. And it
says in that verse: “Be no more children, tossed
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.” Our standard
is the Bible and what the Lord gives by revelation on a daily basis. If we
don’t check with the Lord, we can even be fooled by old standards we still have
in our heads, which may not be the Lord’s will in the situation. Kind David
fell into that trap. David got tricked by the “shoulds.”
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, 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 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.
Let’s not get caught in 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. What we may feel are
obligations, we need to periodically check it out with the Lord, just to make
sure we’re doing it because God wants it, not because we got it in our heads
that we “should” be doing it.
Following the Lord, detail by
detail, is a joy, and an ever-changing adventure. The “shoulds” tend to confine
us, but following the Lord is freedom. Galatians 5:1 says it beautifully: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
Love, Carolyn
Enjoy a look
inside my most recent publication: WINGS A Journey in Faith Volume 2
