Look at the Bright Side

Today's passage:  II Samuel 16
     Children have to be taught gratitude.  It doesn't come naturally.  I've met some children who seem to have been born gracious.  But I have been around children for a long time, and I know better. It is a trait that has been carefully instilled by parents, or learned individually through unfortunate experience.  As adults, gratitude either thrives or shrivels, depending on how much we use it.  If we become negative, bitter, critical people, we neglect to see the blessings.  When we praise God for every breath we take, every morsel of food we lift to our lips, every dry, warm night we spend out of the elements, thankfulness grows and envelops us.  Which brings me to today's passage about Ziba.  Do you remember Ziba?  I gave him high praise several posts ago (A Servant's Choice).  Tsk, tsk, tsk.  Alas, Ziba has somehow allowed ingratitude to creep into his heart.

Rainbow on a Cloudy Day--Taken from Standard Bible Story Readers, Book One
By Lillie A. Faris,  Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1925

     David has resumed to living in the hills, now that Absalom is acting king.  Every person who approaches David is either friend or foe, and I'm sure that he can't tell who is who anymore.  Ziba arrives over the hill bearing nourishment for the deposed king.  Naturally, David wants to know where Mephibosheth stands in all of this rebellion.  Ziba tells him that Mephibosheth is looking forward to recapturing the glory days of his father, Saul.  In other words, he is aiding Absalom in this thing.  As we will see a few chapters later, Ziba is lying.  Now why would this man, who had been living in poor conditions before David found them, who had probably been Mephibosheth's feet, who had been rewarded by this king with all of Saul's former lands, make up this story?  It has to start with ingratitude.  Some people can not handle good things.  The more good they have, the more they want.  I have to think this is what happened in Ziba's life.  When he was living among the ruins, he forgot what it was like to serve in Saul's palace.  He got used to the gruel and broth for meals, he became accustomed to unmended clothes, leaky roofs, chopping his own wood for the fire.  When he was far from the high life, he forgot how low he had been plunged.  Now that he was a little closer, now that he could see the fanfare at the castle while working the field, he began to savor the taste of ambition.  The lands and home he tended in service to Mephibosheth became menial.  He was the man, after all, who had reunited Jonathan's son and King David.  Why should he be planting vineyards and plowing fields?  Why should he be figuring expenses and directing servants when he could be using his skills to advise a king?  I imagine that when Mephibosheth becomes a resident of the palace, he would need servants to attend to his needs. As Ziba saw some of his former household drafted into these positions, I wonder if Ziba was offended that none of those positions went to him.  Perhaps Ziba viewed his groundskeeper/lands manager position as a curse instead of a blessing.  Ziba needed a good dose of gratitude.  He needed to remember where he had been living prior to David's calling for them.  He needed to remember that any other king would have had the household of the previous king killed, with no mercy spared.  He needed to remember that living in the palace at the beck and call of someone else was tiring.
     Our former pastor often used the illustration of the older lady who always saw the positive side of everything.  It drove people crazy, because no matter what subject was brought up, she could always see the bright side. Determined to get her to say something negative, one man asked her if she could find anything good to say about Satan.  She just gave a little chuckle, shook her head and said, "Well, that devil, he never gives up!"  What a spectacular way to look at things!  I'm not saying we should smile when we are facing sorrow.  I'm not suggesting that we plaster a smile on our face everywhere we go.  But some people never smile or never look happy.  It makes me think they have forgotten their blessings.  It makes me think they didn't know they had any to begin with.
     When we are tempted to be somewhere other than where we are, when we yearn for things we don't have, we are preparing our hearts to go the way of Ziba.  We are acting out of ingratitude.  God has a way of dealing with that.  He is expert in stripping away all we held as dear, and showing us what is really important.  It is not always easy to magnify the good, when the bad seems so much greater.  I know that.  But shouldn't we try?  When my humdrum life seems too hum or drum, I need to look to God for giving me simple things to enjoy.  When life seems hard and steep, I need to thank God He sustains me, pushes me, keeps me going.  Ziba forgot what a blessing it was to be the loyal friend of Mephibosheth.  He failed to see that not just anyone would have been given such a position of trust.  Instead of wishing for more, he should have seen that not just anyone could do his job.  When we do what God calls us to do with gratitude, it may be that He will give us more.  Then we have to choose to be thankful for the more.

Unbelievable

Today's passage:  Hebrews 4:12
     I will admit it.  I believed in Santa until I was twelve years old.  Well, let's say for a couple years I started to have doubts, but since I never came out and asked the question, my parents allowed me to continue to defend Mr. Claus.  I was certain that my parents did not have the money to put all those gifts under the tree, especially for five kids.  By sixth grade, I was seriously getting made fun of (sorry, Mom, if you didn't realize all this).  But loyal person that I am, I was insistent that he was real.  Of course, this meant I had to lay down a case for Easter Bunny and my personal tooth fairy, Angelique.  My tooth fairy even wrote me a letter in beautiful handwriting that was not my parents, so I knew she was real.  The day came when I discovered it was Mom and Dad.  My Dad came into the room to switch out a coin for a tooth, and pretending to be asleep, I spotted him.  I continued to pretend to be asleep not wanting to startle him with a "Gotcha!"  Confronted the next morning with my discovery, my Dad insisted that I was asleep because he checked.  It's called pretending, Dad, something I have always done very well, thus my penchant for theater.  Yes, I still debate this point with him even though he has been in Heaven these seven years now.  I'm sure he is refusing to cede this point.  Well,   this was a very difficult idea to let go of.  I had believed in these imaginary figures for about ten years.  That is a long time to believe in something and find out it is not true.  I wasn't thrilled that I looked pretty foolish among the other sixth graders who had long ago given up the notion.  I know my parents weren't trying to be cruel or subject me to undue ridicule, they wanted me to be a kid for as long as possible.  Keeping Santa alive, was one way for them to do that.
     Before we had kids, my husband and I discussed the Santa Claus/Easter Bunny/Rudolph/Tooth Fairy conundrum.  Do we let them believe, or do we tell them the truth.  Now, I am not trying to persuade anyone to do what they have already decided to do.  I am not going to think you are a horrible person if you do the Santa Claus thing.  I believe that is a decision every family has to make on their own.  But my husband and I decided that if we were to allow them to believe in these fictional characters, when they finally discovered that they were not real, how much would they think it was pretend, and how much of it would they think was Mommy and Daddy lying to them.  It is possible that they would understand it is like a joke you tell, and be fine when they discovered the punchline.  But we felt that there was a real distinct possibility that they might look at it as being deceitful and lose trust.  If Mommy and Daddy lied about that, maybe they lied about Jesus, maybe they lied about the Bible.  Again, I'm not trying to convince anyone to do anything differently, I'm just revealing our thought processes on the matter.  My husband and I came to the conclusion that it was a chance we were not willing to take, not when our sons' souls might be at stake in the future.  So we choose not to include Santa in our Christmas festivities.

     Here is the real reason for this post, and I hope you have been able to tune in long enough to hear it.  We have repeatedly explained to our boys that Santa is not real.  My eight year old gets it.  My four year old is less certain.  After all, St. Nick is everywhere.  On the radio, in the stores, in the sales papers.  The other day, as I was finishing up my food prep for Thanksgiving Day, my four year old calls to me, "Mom, come here quick!"  I rush into the living room and see a snippet of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on the TV.  On the float is none other than the jolly old fellow himself bellowing out "Ho, ho, ho!"  My four year old, eyes all innocence, looks up at me and says, "Well, Mom, I guess we were wrong."  Seeing that real, live man dressed in a Santa Claus suit completely changed his mind about the legitimacy of Santa Claus.  Needless to say, I had to explain the man was just pretending to be Santa Claus.  I know he really wants to believe in him.
     Thinking about that, we have God's Word that tells us exactly who Jesus Christ is.  How is it we are more willing to believe what is on a TV set than what is in our own Bible?  Why do we have people who will believe anything they hear on the radio or in the newspaper, but not from God's own Word?  People believe what they want to believe.We have a Book that gives us all the truth we need.  Why do we have to be more convinced that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, than we need to be of aliens or vampires?  God's Word is more real than Santa Claus.  It is more tangible than the Easter Bunny.  It is more faithful than the Tooth Fairy.  Believe in those things if you want, but make sure you believe in the real thing.
     Back to II Samuel on Monday.  Enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving weekend!

Outlaws

Today's passage: I Samuel 22
     I have always loved the story of Robin Hood.  I've watched movies, cartoons, TV shows about the noble turned outlaw who brings justice to England by stealing from Prince John and showering the peasants with riches.  I'm not endorsing this kind of behavior, but it makes for a fun story. 
     The next several chapters in Samuel seem to be the beginning of David's "Robin Hood" days.  Maybe Robin Hood was loosely based on David's life.  Can you see the similarities?  David lives in forests and caves, think Sherwood Forest.  David is surrounded by mighty instead of merry men.  They flee from town to town to escape the king who is after them.  The only thing missing is the "rob from the rich to give to the poor" theme.
     God had already prepared David for roaming the countryside.  When David was a shepherd, he would have led his sheep to many pastures, to many streams.  David would have been very familiar with the land, because as a shepherd, he had to be.  David had no idea this was knowledge he was going to need in the future, but it was.  He knew where enemies resided, he knew the borders, he knew the landscape.  I wonder if David felt a little like Moses in the wilderness.  I wonder if David thought about Moses and his ancestors as they wandered the length of Israel, not being yet able to settle in the Promised Land.  When he started to feel discouraged, maybe he remembered that he was not the only Israelite who had a season of wandering.
     David secures the safety of his family in Bethlehem.  He asks the king of Moab to shelter them until he is no longer in danger.  David probably figures that Saul would have no qualms harming his family, taking them as hostages, to coax David out of his hiding place.  The king of Moab agrees, not at all concerned about angering Israel's king.  An enemy of Saul's was a friend of his.  David uses this to his advantage.  Unfortunately, as we saw in last chapter he also used his celebrity and his relationship as son-in-law to the king to his advantage as well.  Ahimelech is discovered to have helped David (thanks to Doeg the Edomite).  Saul requests a conference with him, and Ahimelech is surprised to learn that David had lied to him.  Completely.  Ahimelech cannot convince Saul that he had no knowledge that David was a fugitive.  Saul believes him to be in league with David.  Ahimelech and all the priests of Nob are executed.  Only Abiathar, Ahimelech's grandson (I think) escapes.  Doeg the Edomite (who would not care at all what God's Word said about how to treat a priest) is the only man who will lay a hand on God's men.  No other of Saul's servants will do this dastardly deed. 
     Abiathar locates David.  He reports to David what has happened in Nob.  I'm sure David is greatly affected by this news.  "And David said unto Abiathar,...I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house."  Really there is no excuse I can offer for David.  He was responsible, he was the reason.  Ahimelech may have elected to help David anyway had he known the truth about why David had come to him.  But that should have been Ahimelech's choice.  He should have been able to choose for himself whether he was going to defy the king and help the outlaw, not be deceived into it.  Was it right for Ahimelech to aid and abet David?  Absolutely.  God was with David.  But Ahimelech was tricked.  I'm sure David felt the full weight of responsibility for the outcome.  Would it change David's future behavior?  We shall see.
     Robin Hood may have been a legend.  David was real.  David's actions brought real consequences.  Our choices in life affect others.  I'm sure if David could take back these actions, he would have.  If he could have seen the forest for the trees, he may have behaved differently.  Nothing I do in this life affects only me.  My choices affect others around me.  My sin will taint other lives, whether I choose to believe that or not.  My good choices will produce good results and will be a good influence.  My poor choices will bring about bad results and bad influences.  Abiathar had no where else to go.  Now he had no choice but to run with David, because to do otherwise would mean death.  Saul would never be convinced that Abiathar was not involved in a conspiracy against him.  David is still God's man.  He failed, as we all fail.  He will fail again, as we all will fail again.  Still God is merciful to us and gives us chance upon chance to do better. 
   Although I love the story of Robin Hood, I can't say that I approve of his methods.  Stealing is never right, no matter how it is fashioned.  Deceit is wrong whether you are a fugitive storybook hero, or the king's fugitive son-in-law.   And the results do not bring about a happy ending.

A Little Truth

Today's passage: I Samuel 21
     In a day where we have electronic devices that give us information at a moment's notice, Ahimelech the priest was at a great disadvantage.  He did not have a computer to access the morning news reporting about David fleeing from Saul.  He couldn't text his friends in the palace to verify David's story.  He didn't have an I-pad that had an app for fugitive lists.  Ahimelech had to do something that few of us need to do today.  He had to trust David.  He had to believe that David was telling him the truth.  Of course, David wasn't.  Saul had not sent David on a mission, David was the mission.  David was not in Saul's service now, but he pretended to be. 
     David had a reputation that preceded him.  He was a kind of celebrity in Israel.  He had beaten the giant, he had killed other Philistines, he had married the king's daughter, he was known to be a man of God.  So Ahimelech does not feel the need to check out David's story.  He believes him.  He may have also been a little dazzled by David.  This famous man was in his tent, asking him for bread.  Who wouldn't be a little star struck?
     David was not perfect.  David chose to lie his way out of the situation, so he could seek safety and so he could satisfy his hunger.  God did not strike him down with lightning for this, but there is a much deeper issue.  David must have been trustworthy, but would he continue to be?  Would David burn a bridge with Ahimelech, when the priest learned the truth?  Would Ahimelech feel as if he had been played for a fool?  Nobody likes to feel foolish.  Nobody likes to have egg on their face.  David was only concerned about the rescue, not the relationship. 
     It is never to our advantage if a person looks at us with skepticism, it is never to our credit if someone has to refer to other sources to secure whether we are being truthful.  We need to deal truthfully in all areas of our life, not just generally.  Just because David did it, doesn't mean he got away with it.  He did what he felt was necessary, but God could have made another way for him, if he had elected to wait on Him.  This became an unfortunate pattern in David's life, which extended down into his children.
     Lying takes many different forms in excuses, deceit, pretense.  God wants us to be rid of all of it.  I would like to think that I have never been involved in any of it, but if I examine myself, I have.  It is not worth it.  It will cost me trust with my children, it will cause my friends to be wary, it will make me less useful for my Lord.  How honest am I with the police officer when he pulls me over for a ticket?  Do I pretend I did not realize I was going so fast or didn't see the "No Parking" sign?  When I am craving chocolate and there are only two cookies left, do I tell the boys there is no dessert so I can pocket them later because I don't want to admit to my selfishness?  When I am asked how I like someone's haircut, do I smile and rave when I hadn't even noticed, or truthfully am not that crazy about the new style?  I would like to think that God does not really care about these silly little things, but He cares about it all.  If I want to be honest, I have to first start with being honest with myself.  And truthfully, really truthfully, I could improve in this area. 
     In a world where a handshake means nothing, every story has to be checked with snopes, and someone's word has to be challenged, honesty is important.  If God's people can't be trusted in every area of life, how can we be trusted to be telling the truth about God?  That is why we ultimately need to be honest in all of our dealings.  If someone discovers we were dishonest about something small, they will automatically assume we will be dishonest about something big.  And nobody's soul is worth that.  Honestly, it is not. 

Kings and Criminals

Today's passage:  I Samuel 20
     One of the greatest fears of my life is to be the victim of a violent crime.  I have been afraid of many things over the years, but little fills me with as much trembling as that thought.  Of course, I have great fears for my children as well, but concerning my own person, the violent crime thing still tops my list.  That's not to say I am not afraid of other events, but I give myself credit that I could keep panic from setting in during other situations.  Perhaps it is my greatest fear because I'm fearful how I would react.  Perhaps it makes me fearful because I am not sure I could respond with grace.  I pray I never have to find out.
     I am trying to get into David's head.  I am wondering why the shepherd boy who had slain a lion, a bear, a giant,  and two hundred Philistines should be afraid of the king of Israel?  There is no question that David is afraid.  He tells Jonathan, "there is but a step between me and death".  And he is right.  Saul is determined to kill him.  But David had already been anointed by Samuel as the next king.  How could he think God had changed His plans?  Fearfulness causes us to do a lot of crazy things.  It just seems strange that David would be fearful of Saul. 
     I think the difference is, Saul was God's anointed at this time.  He sat on the throne, and as far as David is concerned, that means God's hand is upon him.  David had nothing to fear against the Philistines, because they were God's enemy, he would not be afraid to take their lives, because he knew he was in the right.  David had a holy respect and reverence toward the man God had placed on the throne of Israel.  This was who God intended to reign, and David felt defenseless because he would not harm the man God anointed as king. 
     David was not sure if he was right in this situation.  The uncertainty of whether he was in God's will, caused David to be fearful.  David makes a few missteps in this chapter because he was afraid.  Who of us wouldn't?  I have made some wrong decisions because I was fearful, and it takes a real calming of the Spirit to proceed cautiously but wisely.
     When we are fearful, we tend to take matters into our own hands.  David is certain that if he goes to dinner that night, it will be his last supper.  He devises a lie to find out Saul's intentions towards him.  Several times in the Bible, we see how people in the Bible tell a "little white lie".  I don't think I really need to go there.  I think we all know lying under any circumstances is wrong, but God is merciful to us.  We do have to be careful because it is not something we want to make as a continual pattern in our lives, especially when we are afraid.  I don't know how God would have handled the situation, but I know we will never find out since this is the way David chose to handle the matter.  What is more disconcerting, is that he persuades Jonathan to tell the lie for him.  This will put Jonathan in great jeopardy.  Fearfulness blinds us to the danger to which we expose other people.
     Being afraid will cause us to doubt whether we are in God's will.  We assume that if we are in dangerous circumstances, we must be doing something wrong.  David says, "if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself".  We should search ourselves often.  But if the Lord does not reveal to us that we are involved in sin, we should not automatically assume that God is punishing us, or trying to probe a confession like a detective in an interrogation room.  God doesn't always put us in a frightening situation because He wants to scare the sin out of us.
     Fear caused David to doubt the person he trusted most.  Jonathan had to convince David that he was not involved in a murder plot against him.  David knew this deep down, but nervous anxiety gnawed at him to need Jonathan's reassurance.  Jonathan does, and perhaps this is also why he is willing to lie for David, to prove his loyalty.  This put Jonathan in an awful predicament, and an unfair one too.  Jonathan should not have to prove his friendship, but he loved his friend, understood his fear, and was willing to go the extra mile for him.

Jonathan sends a message to David by shooting an arrow--Taken from Standard Bible Story Reader, Book Three
By Lillie A. Faris, Illustrated by O.A. Stemler and Bess Bruce Cleaveland
The Standard Publishing Company, 1926

     Jonathan says something that I think is very telling.  He tells David, "and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father."  Saul must have put on a show as being very Godly.  The Lord has not been with Saul for a very long while, He has even promised to take Saul off the throne.  Yet, this is Jonathan's father, and he sees God's hand on him.  I'm thinking, if I were David I would tell Jonathan to take back that statement, because if God has been with Saul these last several years, I would rather take my chances on my own.  I'm not sure how the temper tantrums and mood swings still signaled godliness to these two men but I guess since Saul remains on the throne, they assume God is still with him.  God has still allowed him to reign, but I don't think God is still with him.  This is what can make us the most fearful, when we look at circumstances in life, and make assumptions.      
     David and Jonathan assume that because God had not removed Saul from the throne, he was in the right, and they were in the wrong.  God has His own timetable.  God has His own reasons for doing things, and it is not for us to find out why.  If He chooses to reveal His reasoning to us, He will.  In the meantime, we have to trust God.  What does that mean?  I'm going to make up a word.  Trusting God is what I will call a genericalization.  A what?  You know, one of those intangible statements we make to assure people, but really have no idea how to explain.  Trust God.  How do I do that? Maybe instead of saying that I should say: Remember God's promises.  That is something tangible.  Go to His Word, and list all of the places where He says how He will protect us, how He will take care of us.  David's psalms are a great resource for those kinds of verses.  Reading this chapter in I Samuel, I think he knew a little bit about being frightened and depending on the God he could not see to help him.  But what if trusting God means death? For David, he was not so sure it didn't.  God has promised me a home in Heaven if I have accepted His Son as my Savior.  What is so fearful about that?  That is a promise our Christian brothers and sisters in Indonesia, Syria, and Libya are trusting in today.  If that is not God's plan, if there is more than one step between me and death, than I just keep taking a step each day, doing what He has asked me to do, waiting for Him to reveal the rest.
     If I am ever faced with a hardened criminal who wants to take my purse at gunpoint, or threaten to do me bodily harm (thoughts which make my blood run cold) I would need to remember God's promises.  He doesn't promise me that I will never be harmed, He promises me that in some way I don't understand He will sustain me, He will get me through, He will be with me.  If I survive the situation, He has promised me I can endure it.  If I don't survive, He has promised me I will be with Him.  I am fearful because I don't think I can endure, which means I am fearful that God will not keep His Word.  But He always does.  So perhaps, that is the crux of David's fears.  He is afraid God did not mean what He said when He told David he would someday be king.  David is afraid that God will not keep His promise to him.  David is afraid that he has failed Him in some way that would constitute God going back on His Word.  I may have to remind myself what He has said, but I will never have to remind Him.  In David's life, a king was scarier than a giant.  He was sure what God had promised against the giant, but he was a little less sure what God had promised against the king.  But God's promise is the same.  He will go with me. No giant, king or criminal can dispute that.

Listening with the Heart

Today's passage:  I Samuel 15:12-35
     Both times when Saul is confronted with his sin of bringing back the Amalekite spoil, he says "they have brought them," and "for the people spared".  He is not willing to take ownership of this deed.  Verse 9 says, "But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them..."    Hmmmm.  Who is telling the truth here?  God or Saul? 
     Then Saul tries to justify "their" actions by saying it was for religious reasons, to sacrifice to God.  Were they going to sacrifice King Agag to God too?  I mean, if you are going to make up a story, make sure all the pieces fit.  The Israelites were not known to give up human sacrifices, they left that to their heathen counterparts.  When Samuel presses him about this disobedience, Saul says, "Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek..." Okay, Saul, stop right there.  That's what I would have said if I had been Samuel.  When God said, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not..." what part of that sentence meant, and bring the king back to Israel with you?
      Saul further says, "But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been uterly destroyed..."  What he did was only bring back the king, the people are the real violators here because they brought back the livestock, but he adds, "to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."  So, really, they were thinking about God so its not as bad as that, is it Samuel?  Even if this was all true, even if Saul had only brought back Agag which God said not to do, the people follow their leader.  If King Saul brings something back, it stands to reason that they would too.        
     Only when Samuel pronounces Saul's punishment does Saul come anywhere close to confessing his sin, and even then, I'm not sure he is repentant.  It is like the child who steals the cookie from the cookie jar and once caught, promises never to do that again, and says over and over, "I love you, Mommy, I love you Mommy, I love you Mommy" to avoid his spanking.  In his confession, he tells Samuel that it is because he feared the people that he disobeyed.  So now it is the people's fault?

Saul tears Samuel's Robe--Taken from Treasures of the Bible
By Henry Davenport Northrop
International Publishing Company, 1894

     Then Samuel says something very interesting to Saul which I think prompts a true confession.  Samuel says, "And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent:  for he is not a man, that he should repent."  It is almost as if Samuel has to go back to the basics with Saul.  He has to remind Saul that God is not a man.  God doesn't lie.  God doesn't make a mistake.  It is almost as if Saul had forgotten that God could not be at fault for this.  Being king, he had been used to laying the blame on others.  It had become his habit to allow others to become his scapegoats.  He couldn't do that with God.  He had forgotten that God will not be a scapegoat.  He needed to be reminded that Someone was higher than the king, and that Someone does not make a mistake.  When Saul realizes this, that he is not going to fool the Lord, he comes clean.  It takes a while to get there, but he is at last able to recognize his wrong, without making excuses, and without throwing anyone else under the bus.
     Saul could fool Samuel.  Saul could fool the elders.  Saul could fool the other nations, but God will never be fooled.  He sees the heart, and it is because He sees the heart that Saul will be replaced.  Maybe Saul was genuinely repentant on this occasion, but God knew that it would take reminder after reminder to make Saul the king he ought to be.  God was not interested in continuing that process, at least, not while Saul was on the throne.  God never gives up on us.  He works with us to get us where He wants us to go, but not always in the position we are in.  Sometimes He has to knock us off our thrones so we will listen.  When we are surrounded by all our worldly comforts, we can drown out His Voice.  It takes a lot to hear Him amid all the distractions.  When He takes things away from us, it is so He can get us to a place where we hear Him.  Really hear Him, not the "Yes, dear" kind of hearing that spouses so often give.  He wants us to listen.  Intently. 
    Does that ever happen for Saul?  I can't see that it does.  He doesn't exactly wear earplugs, more like earmuffs.  He hears God, but he never really listens.  God's instructions are like the adult "Wa, wa, wa" in a Peanuts cartoon.  We can listen with our ears, but if we don't listen with our heart too, we haven't really heard anything.  When God tells us something, and we don't respond emotionally to it, I'm not sure we have actually responded.  Going through the motions, not the emotions.  That doesn't mean we have to be a crying mess in everything we do, but doesn't God say to do things "heartily"?  Saul heard with his ears, but he never heard God with his heart.  When I feel that disconnect with God, in my prayer time, in my Bible time, when I am witnessing to someone, I have to ask myself, am I really listening?  My ears are open, is my heart?

Excuse Me

Today's passage:  I Samuel 6
     Probably one of the biggest excuses policemen hear from people they have pulled over is, "Oh, I didn't know."  And more than likely they are telling the truth.  People are not aware of many laws.  Do you know what?  That doesn't mean you will not necessarily still get a ticket for it.  Now sometimes, policemen will be merciful and only give out a warning.  But people should not expect this, and should not complain against the policemen for enforcing what the general public should already know.  Ignorance is not an excuse.  If I don't know, it is my responsibility to find out.  Sometimes the best way of finding out, is suffering the consequences.
     After seven months, the Philistines finally devise a plan for getting rid of that wretched Ark.  I'm not sure why it took so long.  Even if the Ark had resided in each of Philistia's five major cities for a month, that still leaves two months left over.  Maybe it took them that long to decide what to do with the thing.  In the meantime, they are suffering from the boils until it leaves their country.  After consulting their wise men, they melt down gold and dip some of their emerods and field mice in it to send as a trespass offering with the ark.  Now when the wise men first propose this plan they say, "If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty," which sends alarm bells ringing in my head, "Uh-oh, they aren't going to open that box, are they?"  But do you know what? They had sense enough not to do this.  They do put it on a cart (which was a no-no), but I don't think God expected them to have enough knowledge about His Ark not to do this, and he does not dole out punishment for it.
     They hitch up some milk cows to the cart, secure the ark on it along with a chest of the gold items, and send it on its way back to Israel.  Some of the Philistines follow behind, just to make sure it reaches its destination, and doesn't get waylaid somewhere in their country.  As it reaches one of the borderlands, a field in Beth-shemesh, the Israelis of course are thrilled to see their beloved symbol back on their soil.  They immediately take it down from the cart (they knew it should not be on there) and offer the milk cows as a sacrifice.  Many people had gathered by this time.  All of Israel was rejoicing that the Ark of the Covenant had been returned.  Then they did something that even the Philistines knew not to do.  They looked in the Ark.  Why would they do such a thing?  Did they think they could get away with such behavior?  Were they that ignorant, when people from another land, who worshipped other gods, knew not to do this?  The Philistines had more respect for God's Ark, than its own people did. God smites them.  And the number is pretty astounding.  Over 50,000 people are killed.  Does that mean 50,000 people took turns looking into the Ark?  I'm guessing no.  I'm guessing several hundred may have, but several thousand more stood by to watch without giving any warning, without trying to stop them.
     What does this tell me?  The people had lost any respect for God and His ways.  This could be because Eli had been an ineffective priest.  He was nearly 100 years old at his death, which would mean he had been a priest in Israel for a very long time.  Beth-shemesh is only about 30 miles from Shiloh, the religious capital at the time.  That doesn't seem so far a distance for these field-hands not to know what God's Word taught.  But chapter 2 already told us, that because of the corruption of Eli and his sons, many people had stopped coming to the tabernacle to offer sacrifices.  If they were not going there to offer sacrifices, they were probably not going there for much of anything else.  When they fell away from this, they more than likely fell away from studying the Scriptures on their own.  When they fell away from that, they started to drift from revering God as He should be revered.  Little step by little step produces big consequences.
     So why would God not punish the Philistines for their ignorance in putting the Ark on a cart, and not spare His own people for looking into it?  Forgive the worldly quip here, but as Uncle Ben in Spider-Man said, "With great power, comes great responsibility".  The more knowledge we have, the more we are accountable.  If the Beth-shemites were ignorant, it would be their own fault, for neglecting to worship at the tabernacle (even with the corrupt priests) and then neglecting to study God's Word on their own.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think God excuses us from our responsibility just because someone else is not living up to his.  God still expects us to be faithful.  He still expects us to follow through.  He will hold those doing wrong accountable for their actions, but He will also hold us accountable for our wrongdoing.  The Israelites should have known that they were not to look in the Ark.  The Philistines were not God's chosen people.  He did not expect them to behave as if they were.  He did not expect them to know all the details of how to treat His Ark.  They obviously knew the big one which was not to look inside.  But He wasn't going to hold a heathen nation responsible for the details they did not know.  The Israelites had been given this information thoroughly, and still had it in His Word to reference.  They would be held responsible for what they did or did not know, because if they didn't know, they could find out.
     How does this apply to me?  God expects me to know what His Word says.  He expects me to go to His house to find out, and He expects me to go to His Word to find out.  If I am not doing either of those two things, I can not expect God to excuse my bad behavior because I claim ignorance.  I should know, and if I don't know, I should take the opportunity to find out.  If I make a decision without consulting His Word first, and believe it or not, He can direct me through it, even today, I have no excuses when my plans go awry.  If I make plans and do not pray to Him about them, I shouldn't complain when my expectations are thwarted.  Just because I don't do those things, doesn't mean God is going to be merciful to me, although He may choose to be.  But I can only blame myself if He chooses to allow me to suffer the consequences. 
     God might be like the policeman who gives only the warning, but if He chooses to give me the ticket or send me to jail, ignorance will never be an excuse.