When I was a young man just
starting out in the business world, my late father took me aside to give me
some good advice. The advice took the form of an Army Field Manual on
Leadership. Most of the advice was not worth the hearing, but I noted that my
father, a captain, had underlined two passages and written in the margins,
"All NCOs will read and initial." Those two passages said simply
this:
1.
Leadership is not a popularity contest.
2.
You take care of the troops, the troops will take care of you.
We're going to see King David's
version of this in our lesson today.
(1 Sam 30 NIV) David and his men reached Ziklag on the
third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had
attacked Ziklag and burned it, {2} and had taken captive the women and all who
were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off
as they went on their way. {3} When David and his men came to Ziklag, they
found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken
captive. {4} So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to
weep. {5} David's two wives had been captured--Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail,
the widow of Nabal of Carmel. {6} David was greatly distressed because the men
were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons
and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God. {7} Then David
said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the
ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, {8} and David inquired of the LORD,
"Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?"
"Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them
and succeed in the rescue." {9} David and the six hundred men with him
came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, {10} for two hundred men
were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men
continued the pursuit. {11} They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him
to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat-- {12} part of a cake of
pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not
eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. {13} David
asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He
said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me
when I became ill three days ago. {14} We raided the Negev of the Kerethites
and the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned
Ziklag." {15} David asked him, "Can you lead me down to this raiding
party?" He answered, "Swear to me before God that you will not kill
me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them." {16}
He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating,
drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken
from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. {17} David fought them from
dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four
hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. {18} David recovered
everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. {19} Nothing was
missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken.
David brought everything back. {20} He took all the flocks and herds, and his
men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's
plunder." {21} Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too
exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came
out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached, he
greeted them. {22} But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's
followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share
with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and
children and go." {23} David replied, "No, my brothers, you must not
do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to
us the forces that came against us. {24} Who will listen to what you say? The
share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him
who went down to the battle. All will share alike." {25} David made this a
statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this. {26} When David arrived
in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his
friends, saying, "Here is a present for you from the plunder of the Lord's
enemies." {27} He sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and
Jattir; {28} to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa {29} and Racal; to those in
the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; {30} to those in Hormah, Bor
Ashan, Athach {31} and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where David
and his men had roamed.
Handling Adversity
If you are a leader in any endeavor,
expect adversity. This is particularly true if you are a leader in the
church. Do you think that David thought his life would be smooth sailing? So
often we think ours should be; yet the Scripture warns us that this is not
so. We sometimes think ourselves defeated by the power of Satan - when in fact
we are defeated by our ignorance of the power of Christ. Let us examine the
attack, and the defense of the Christian.
Satan's attack
- Severe loss. The loss
in this instance is both physical, in terms of possessions, and personal -
those we love. We go through life blithely thinking that these things are
ours forever - and we should know better than that. Satan then says,
"Where is God now?"
- Mental and physical strain.
The men have been on the march for several days. They are nearing the end
of their strength. We are amphibians; partly spirit, partly flesh. That
which affects the flesh affects the spirit, and vice versa. Satan waits
until the limits of strength are near, and then brings up a new demand for
strength, saying, "See - you cannot go on. You're a failure."
- Being alone. David and
his men expected the warm fires of home; they got the burned ruins of
their homes. David in particular, as leader, must have felt terribly
alone at this time. So often we count noses instead of listening to God.
- Reaction of others. The
fabled Monday morning quarterback is ever with us. You can imagine
someone telling David, "we should have stayed home." It's the
leader's fault, whatever it is. If the group is large enough, there are
always those who are willing to throw stones. Roast preacher, for
example, is an old recipe.
The resource of the Christian
- The presence of God.
David found strength in the Lord. If you are alone, he is with you. Do
others criticize? He is the one you need to please. Strength at an end?
Mount up on the wings of eagles, and renew your strength. Your losses are
severe? Who is the giver of all things?
- The people of God. God
knows that we are not built to handle things alone. David seeks out
Abiathar, the priest. He goes to the man of God for counsel and help.
- Prayer. If you
acknowledge God, you should inquire of Him. If your path is not clear,
ask him to clear it. Ask him explicitly to show you the way you must go.
Often, this will surprise you (it certainly did me in coming to
Eastside).
- Relying on God. David
not only listens to what God says, he relies upon it. He doesn't
contemplate it, he acts. In so doing, he displays the calm which comes
from God's peace - a calm which lets him rule over the souls of the
anxious in his men.
In the Presence of the Enemy
The mark of a mature Christian is
not how he treats his friends - it's how he treats his enemies. We are at war,
like it or not. We are those who fight the Lord's battles, just as much as
David did - and like him, we need to know which weapons to use. We must use
the Lord's weapons, not the world's. All should see that there is a
fundamental difference between the way a Christian treats his enemies and the
way the world does.
The slave in this passage can see
it. His master has left him for dead in the wilderness. This is the
ruthlessness which is so prized in our business world - "looking out for
the bottom line." The plunder was sufficient that they could have
carried him along in one of those 400 camels. They threw away a human life -
which God then redeemed.
There is a parallel to that today
for the Christian leader. How many times have we seen someone come in who
looks "hopeless?" We need to realize that God calls the hopeless to
come to the Hope of the World. David is quickly rewarded for his kindness!
The sins of the enemy turned
against them
It often appears that the world's
way of doing things is much more profitable - but the books are not yet
closed. Greed and ruthlessness seem to be unstoppable. In one sense they
are. Left to themselves, they consume those who practice them. We see it here
with the Amelekites - they're partying when they should be standing watch. So
it is that the sin of the enemy is often his downfall.
God's weapons, God's way
We must remember that David
achieved this victory against great odds - after all, the runaway survivors
numbered as many as David's entire force! Most of us would be pleased at that
point to think of ourselves as military geniuses; David has learned better.
He gives credit for the victory to the Lord. How does he see that?
- First, from his prior
experience.
- Also, he sees God's
providence. That slave saved David's men an awful lot of tracking.
- He can also see the principle
that God's power is made perfect in weakness. The 400 were tired too;
the Amelekites outnumbered them and were better fed. To God be the glory.
Taking care of the troops
David now shows us the reason he
is one of the great leaders of Israel. We can see in his handling of the
spoils of war the principles he uses.
Principle: Give God the glory
It would have been tempting to
take the credit for the victory. After all, they were outnumbered. The men
coming back refer to the spoils as "David's spoils." This is coming
from the same mouths that wanted to stone him three days earlier.
By giving God the glory, David
avoids all wrangling over credit, who did what, and other things that only give
rise to damaged egos. God gave us the victory; we will use the spoil as He
would intend. It helps to know your place.
Principle: care for the
troops
David has a small bunch of
malcontents to deal with. The unfortunate thing about malcontents is that they
are also a vocal bunch. They tend to become an alternative to the leadership.
They're easy to identify: just look for the ones who are causing divisions in
the body of Christ. It won’t take long to find them.
How did David deal with this?
1.
There was certainly enough to go around. He recognizes the problem
right away - it's greed, pure and simple. This is not a case of sharing
something that is scarce.
2.
He emphasized that the victory belonged to God - and therefore the
spoils did too. In so doing, he reminds one and all that fairness is required.
3.
He makes it a "lasting ordinance." It isn't just a decision,
it's policy. We're not going to have this problem again.
It's not certain how the 200 left
behind felt, but any team leader understands the problem. You're either on the
team, or you're not. If you are, you share in the victory. In God's plan,
there is a place for everyone.
Principle: fairness and
wisdom
David's real problem is - what to
do with all this stuff? He solves it this way:
- He distributes it generously.
There is more than enough to go around.
- He distributes it fairly - with
an eye to team harmony.
- He distributes it to those who
will benefit him in the future - and who have protected him in the past.
(Those towns kept Saul in the dark).
This isn't rocket science. But
it does require courage to stand up to the malcontents and say, "No, we
will do it God's way."