The Service of David's Mighty Men (II)

Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, drew water from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD. And he said, “Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. 

Loyalty and Faithfulness. Something that I admired about the mighty men was that they displayed great loyalty and faithfulness to David, their commander. We see here in this situation that David was thirsty, longing for water from the well by the gates of Bethlehem. However, the area was guarded by the Philistines. So these three men, hearing of David's request, went out, battling their way through the Philistine army, drew the water from the well, and brought it back to David.

This demonstrated the great lengths that these men took for their commander and chief. They risked their lives for David when he made a request. If we look at a map of Israel, the distance between Adullam and Bethlehem was more than 10 miles each way, so the journey totaled at least 20 miles. For mighty men, a 20 mile run/walk was probably nothing, but it still is quite a distance to travel for water. If we think about it, all we have to do is walk to the kitchen or refrigerator 200 ft away to get a drink. Or maybe we walk a block down the street or drive our cars for a few minutes from our house to the local store to purchase bottled water. Obviously, these might men couldn't do that back then, so they had to travel by foot and face the dangers of enemies in their travels. This type of character requires loyalty and faithfulness because if these men weren't loyal and faithful to David, they wouldn't have gone out to Bethlehem and risked their lives simply for a cup of water. They could've easily gone to a city nearby and grabbed a cup of water from there, but they didn't. No matter what situation they were in, they adhered to the specific details of David's request and followed through, obeying wholeheartedly.

Just as the mighty men were faithful and loyal to David, we can strive to be faithful to our Lord Jesus, who is greater than David. Matthew 25 tells of the parable of the talents, where the master gave his servants 5, 2 and 1 talents. The first two servants doubled their earnings; while the third one returned with the 1 talent he was given. And the first two were praised and recognized by their master as “good and faithful servants” because they were faithful in the task they were given. We all want to be called good and faithful servants. In order to do so, we need to make sure we are doing what God requires us to do, to accomplish the church works that He has entrusted to us. If we can be faithful in what we are asked to do by our master, God, we will be recognized and remembered by our Lord. The key is how diligent we are in completing God’s work.

Poured out to the Lord. David had an interesting reaction - he did not drink of the water; rather, he poured it out to the Lord. I found this this interesting because the 3 men went out of their way, risking their lives, to get that cup of water for David, which ended up being poured out. It sounds like it was a wasted effort; however, because David poured it out to the Lord, he is almost indicating that he was not worthy to receive this cup of water that was a result of such dedication and faithfulness of the three men. Instead, he poured it out as an offering to God, to tell God that this act done by these men was for God, as if David was asking God to remember these men for what they did. This is like what Jesus says to the sheep in the parable of the sheep and goats --

For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in… And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

The same can be applied to the mighty men of David. Their love for David as demonstrated by their actions is like doing it to God, in which God remembered, recorded in the Bible. Likewise, the good works we do, whether it's helping the younger or less fortunate ones or anyone for that matter, will be remembered by God if done out of love. So let us also continue to do good works faithfully, as it says in Galatians 6:9 --

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

The Service of David's Mighty Men (I)

A while back, some of the brothers in Christ mentioned about David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23 and 1 Chronicles 11) and the great things they have done, and they seemed quite fascinated with these characters. I wasn't very familiar with the stories and the recordings about them, so I decided to take a look and to see what was special about these men.

Of course, there is always something to learn from any of the passages in the Bible, even from a list of names. Romans 15:4 tells us that everything that was recorded in the Bible is used for our learning, so that we may have hope:

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

I will share my findings in a series of posts, since publishing everything in one post may result in pages of text (haha, jk).

The Bible does not specifically mention of the backgrounds of these mighty men, besides the regions where they came from. But some of them were believed to have come from the unruly band of men who joined David during his exile and fleeing from King Saul in 1 Samuel 22:2.

And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

Before, they were lost - they were in difficulty, in debt, and discontent with their lives. But when they came to David in the cave of Adullam, David took them in, and he became their leader. Some of these 400 men ended up becoming listed as David's mighty men. These men were given the chance to become “somebody” for David and, ultimately, for God, and they made the most out of that opportunity. They were remembered by God and used as encouragement for those who read the Bible.

Aren't we (in a sense) like these mighty men? In Titus 2:14, it says:

... who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. 

Before we knew Christ, we were like “nobody” to God - we might have been in a difficult situation, had many problems in our lives, or were simply discontent or feeling empty in our lives. But now, through Jesus Christ, we belong to His kingdom and are His people, so we are given a chance to work for God and His kingdom, to become "somebody," to be remembered by God for the good works that we accomplish for Him. And our leader is Jesus Christ, who is much greater than David, so aren't we more special and more precious than these mighty men?

May we always remember the love of Jesus Christ and strive to serve Him better, just like the men that joined David in Adullam who later became David's mighty men.

Do All Things Without Grumbling or Complaining

We were hit with quite a bit of rain all day yesterday and throughout the night, and I woke up to the sound of tree specialists cutting down a few of the neighbor's trees at 7:30 AM. I'll be honest: I wasn't too fond of the disturbance. I mean, I wasn't going to whip up a storm, ranting about how they could have waited an hour to start waking people up, but a few extra minutes of sleep would've been nice.

After I went downstairs, I saw the news about the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan. It was a bit painful to watch the footage of the conditions and the flooding as I was eating my breakfast. I can't really express my thoughts and feelings about the situation over there because I'm still in shock. But one thing it made me realize was how fortunate I am to be living in the US. Even though life can be difficult at times, but sometimes we never think how lucky we are to be living in a country where there is much freedom, humanity, and fewer natural disasters - not to say that there aren't natural disasters that happen, they just don't wipe out a portion of the country. And I thought about how I woke up this morning semi-grumbling about the tree company and how I should be more grateful that we aren't in a situation where the east coast is completely flooded or tore down by a hurricane or activists are causing riots and chaos in Washington, D.C.

It reminds me of this month's Verse of the Month (that the Religious Education Department at Elizabeth has recently implemented), and then some:

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” (Philippians 2:14-15a)

Little annoyances and disturbances happen in life. Sometimes things don't go as planned, but that's how life is. I don't feel that complaining is necessarily a bad thing, but it really depends on context and situation. But if one is always complaining about big and little things, then that can be a problem. It doesn't really shine the light of Jesus now, does it? Instead, being thankful is a better option, because there is a lot to be thankful for.