“Then the king ordered the guards at his side: ‘Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.’ But the king’s officials were not willing to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.”
~ 1 Samuel 22:17
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you leaders or are you followers? Do you know what a leader is? Do you know what a follower is? A leader is a guy or gal who other guys and gals follow. A follower is a guy or gal who desires that another guy or gal lead him or her. Do you remember who David is in the Bible? David became the second king over the Israelite people group. The Israelite people group were God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids. The first Samuel Book introduces you to David. David gets anointed – which means named, to be the Israelite people group’s next king. David – after he was anointed to be king, did not become king right away. David was anointed or named by an Israelite people group prophet – Samuel, to be the Israelite people group’s second king. Because David respected the position of king, David did not try to take the king position away the Israelite people group’s first king – King Saul. David was usually good at following God’s leading. As your grandpaa goes through Samuel’s first book, you are going to learn a lot about King Saul. Your grandpaa thinks that God did not give King Saul’s life a fair shake. God asked Saul to do something which Saul was not prepared to do. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have seen guys and gals get into jobs which they were not prepared to do. At the time when your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived in Guatemala, the guy who was the assigned Guatemalan field missionary and ministry team leader did not have much experience as a leader. After your grandmaa and grandpaa were settled in Guatemala, a missionary couple who had a lot of leadership experiences joined your grandmaa’s and grandpaa’s field missionary team. Less than two years after your grandmaa and grandpaa arrived here in Guatemala, the field missionary and ministry team leader left with his family for the United States to begin a yearlong furlough break. A month or so before this field missionary and ministry team leader left Guatemala for a furlough break in the United States, your grandpaa and the new missionary took the guy to another room to talk with him and to pray for him. The guy had been leading a weekly field ministry team meeting. The guy was trying to get everyone who was in the meeting to do what he wanted them to do. When the field missionary and ministry team leader realized that the guys and gals in the meeting were not going to do what he wanted them to do, the guy went bonkers. The guy began to say strange things. The guy claimed that all the guys and gals in the meeting were against him. Your grandpaa thinks that the guy really got stressed because he did not know what to do as a leader because of not having the leadership experiences that the new missionary had and what your grandpaa had as a Field Director in Bolivia. What do you think happens when you do not know what to do but you think that you should know what you should do? You may lose the ability to trust another guy or gal to know what to do because you do not want to believe that another guy or gal may know more than you.
When Saul first became king, King Saul would sometimes ask God for help. After he had been king for a time, King Saul stopped asking God for help. By the time that Samuel 22 is written, King Saul has become super stressed. King Saul is very jealous of David. King Saul wants to kill David. David has to hide in order to escape King Saul from killing him. Even David’s family is hiding to escape King Saul. King Saul has gone bonkers. David by now was the leader of a gang of marginalized guys. The guys who were following David were guys who had gotten in debt or who had somehow gotten into trouble or who were not happy with Saul being king. David has accumulated about four hundred of these guys. King Saul is doing everything that he can to find David. King Saul one day found out where David was hiding. King Saul – by now, has some bad guys speaking into his life. One of these bad guys is called Doeg. Doeg is an Edomite. King Saul – by now, thinks that everyone is against him. King Saul asks a priest by the name of Ahimelech to come see him. Saul is so mixed up that he even thinks that the priests are against him. Samuel in verse 17 recorded what Saul said “Then the king ordered the guards at his side: ‘Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.’ But the king’s officials were not willing to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.” Even though King Saul’s guards would not kill the priests, the next verse tells you that Doeg – the Edomite, killed eight-five priests plus some gals, kids and babies. When a guy or gal – like a King Saul, no longer trusts other guys and gals, the guy or gal will do all that he or she can do to destroy the guys and gals who they do not trust.
Your grandpaa was confronted one day by an acting Bolivian field leader. The guy told your grandpaa that your grandpaa was telling untruths about him. What the acting field leader thought that your grandpaa had said had been said by another field team missionary. The acting field leader did not want your grandpaa talking with the other Bolivian field team missionaries. This same acting field leader told your grandpaa that he could have your grandpaa sent back to the United States anytime that he wanted. Even though your grandpaa was not the Bolivian field team leader at the time, your grandpaa was respected by the other field team missionaries. It is easy to become paranoid. Do you know what paranoid means? Paranoid means becoming suspicious and untrusting of other guys. King Saul is an example of what happens when you become paranoid. You start to question the motives of other guys and gals. Your suspicions lead you not to trust guys and gals anymore. You have gone bonkers. You have lost control of your minds. Everything has crashed down all around you. If you ask Jesus to always lead you, you will never go bonkers.
1 Samuel 22 (81)