Daily Manna 12-Aug-2016

Topic: Safety is of the Lord 22

Reading: 1Sam 23:7-14, 1Sam 18

Scripture: And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. (1Sam 23:7)

Note: Saul’s regrets after the two missed assassination attempts on David were momentary, pretentious and meant only for face-saving. The heart of the king was truly revealed when Saul moved from the second failed attempt to the third attempt, which was a veiled plan to give Merab, his elder daughter to David in marriage, ostensibly to fulfill his pledge to give his daughter to the conqueror of Goliath in marriage.

This plan by Saul was a pure conspiracy; it was a trap to get David killed. Instead of a free pass from payment of dowry, freedom from further future wars, including his nuclear family, David was “rewarded with further fights” to be valiant for Saul and fight the Lord’s battles. Saul lacked integrity, a virtue that is in short supply today by many leaders all over the world, including our own nation.

Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles at the same time. You cannot be a man of integrity if you are dishonest with regards to your own promises. After being relieved of the pain and menace of Goliath, Saul was now calling the shots and dictating how and under what conditions to give out his elder daughter. This wasn’t what David bargained for, but who was he to complain or contest? The charge to “keep fighting the Lord’s battles” was a pure spiritual jargon from a pretentious man meant to trap David’s zeal for the Lord into needless dangerous battles against the Philistines, not supported with the right numerical strength in troops, ultimately leading to the death of David. Saul’s admonishing to David to be valiant was just a trap to misguided courage and reckless bravado that could lead to David’s death as there was no real purpose from the Lord for such unnecessary fights.

Modern day Sauls are pervasive in our society. Political leaders seeking power in election make very outrageous promises to the people which they know will be impossible to fulfill. When they finally assume the reins of leadership, they do not even bother to read the promises made in their manifesto. They are aware the people they made the promises to, won’t even bother to read the manifesto in the first place. They know that no one will hold them accountable to their words.

Food for thought: Can you always be trusted and relied on based on your own words? If your answer is NO, then you have integrity problem.

Declaration: Better is the poor that walks in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. (Proverbs 19:1)

©Author: Rev Fred Aboe