Category: Freedom

When the Deliverer Comes (1 Samuel 30:1-31)

Cain killed Abel because Abel’s sacrifice was pleasing to God and Cain’s was not.  Esau sought to kill Jacob because Jacob had swindled his birthright and his blessing.  But, as with Cain, we were told at the beginning of the boys’ lives that God had chosen Jacob and had not chosen Esau.  So, Esau’s vengeance was born of envy, as was Cain’s.

Over a millennia later, the story was repeating itself again in the persons of Saul and David.  Saul had forfeited his anointing due to his failure to obey what God had told him to do through the prophet Samuel.  David had been anointed to replace Saul, and, though Samuel never told Saul whom he had anointed to succeed him, Saul realized quickly that David was the most likely candidate.  So, as Cain conspired to kill Abel and Esau conspired to kill Jacob, Saul conspired to kill David who, at that time, was one of the most successful soldiers in his army.

And yet, despite Saul’s repeated attempts to end David’s life, David refused to take any hostile action against Saul, even when given the opportunity.  And, perhaps more surprising still, David also continued to fight the enemies of Israel on Saul’s behalf while Saul was pursuing his life.  But, David could not carry out his campaign while living in Israel due to the threat of Saul.  So, David lived amongst the Philistines and pretended to fight for them, while, in fact, he continued to raid Israel’s hostile neighbors.

While playing this dangerous game, David resided in Ziklag.  And during one of David’s excursions, Ziklag was raided by a band of Amalekite warriors.   The events that follow are preserved for us in 1 Samuel 30:

1Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down, 2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great; they killed none of them, but carried them off, and went their way. 3 When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept, until they had no more strength to weep. 5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

1 Samuel 30:1-6, NRSV

After inquiring of the Lord and receiving assurance from God of victory, David pursued the Amalekite raiders.  He set out, at first, with six hundred men, but two hundred dropped out before the search was completed.  After having found an informant who revealed the location of the raiders, David and his remaining four hundred men descended upon the Amalekite camp.

16 When he had taken him down, they were spread out all over the ground, eating and drinking and dancing, because of the great amount of spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. 17 David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not one of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. 18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David brought back everything. 20 David also captured all the flocks and herds, which were driven ahead of the other cattle; people said, “This is David’s spoil.”

1 Samuel 30:16-20, NRSV

Having recovered what was taken, David also decided to share the bounty with the two hundred men who had neither completed the journey nor fought in the battle.  Needless to say, a number of those who had remained to the end objected to David’s decision, but not only did David share the spoils anyway, but he also sent some of the proceeds to the elders of the tribe of Judah in whose territory the Amalekites had been operating.

When reflecting on a story like this it is tempting read oneself into the story in the role of David.  But, the canon of Christian Scriptures cautions us from reading this story in that way.  Why?  Because David was the anointed king of Israel.  He may not yet have ascended the throne, but God had already anointed him through Samuel.  We cannot anoint ourselves king.  We are not David.  In fact, only one is truly the heir of the promises made to David; only one is the true Messiah who has been anointed by God to rule His Kingdom—Jesus, our Messiah.

When we read the tales of David, it is important to understand that Jesus is the fulfillment of David.  And though it is true that David’s story includes moral and legal failures to which Jesus did not succumb, it is Jesus who fills the role of the true King of Israel in the Christian Scriptures.  Read in that way, this story from 1 Samuel 30 finds fulfillment in the second coming of Jesus.

As Adam and Eve found themselves alone with the Serpent in Genesis 3 and as the people of Ziklag found themselves alone with the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 30, so, we too, have found ourselves alone with the enemies of God since Jesus ascended into the heavens.  Of course, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on the Church, and God has not left us as orphans in the world.  But, the Kingdom of God is not yet manifest and the King is not yet with us in the flesh.  Our Messiah has not yet returned.

And while Jesus has been seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavens, the book of Revelation tells us that the Serpent has been pursuing the woman who gave Him birth—Israel—and her children—those who have become children of God by faith in Jesus, our Messiah, our King.  We are those in Ziklag, and we have been taken by the enemies of God while our King has been away.

Some of us know we are now living in enemy territory, whereas others have forgotten that we were kidnapped at all.  Some seem convinced that the Amalekites are working for David.  But such convictions are folly.  The children of God have been kidnapped, and the second coming of Jesus, the gathering of the remnant, the awakening of those who are sleeping are ways of saying that just as David led an army to liberate those who had been stolen, so Jesus is coming to deliver His children from their bondage to the enemies of God.

Wherever we live—in whatever nation or tribe or culture—we who follow Jesus must remember that we are exiles in a land not our own.  We are citizens of another Kingdom—a Kingdom not of this world.  And though we are enslaved by the enemies of God in bondage to our captors, both human and spiritual, our King will not leave us in exile.  Our King is coming to deliver His children; our Shepherd is coming to gather His scattered sheep. The enemies of God have prepared themselves for Jesus’ coming, and they will not surrender to Him.  So, as God did battle with the gods of Egypt in the events of Exodus, God must do battle with our captors, as well.

For those who have not followed Jesus and have not given their allegiance, both body and spirit, to Him, the days to come will be terrifying.  But, for those of us who know we are living in slavery to foreign leaders and false gods, we will shine as lights in the darkness, rejoicing in the suffering of those days for the joy set before us will embolden us.  As David rescued the captives of Ziklag, so Jesus is coming to gather His children.  Do not waver in your faith in the days to come, children of God.  However powerful the Amalekites, as God assured David of victory, so the Father has declared victory for the Son. Do not turn back, children of God.  Jesus is coming.

~ J. Thomas Johnson ~

Creation and the Church

~ J. Thomas Johnson ~

Today I begin by reflecting on a section of the foreword to Dr. Jordan Peterson’s best-selling book 12 Rules for Life:  An Antidote to Chaos.  The foreword was written by Dr. Norman Doidge.

Rules?  More rules?  Really?  Isn’t life complicated enough, restricting enough, without abstract rules that don’t take our unique, individual situations into account?  And given that our brains are plastic, and all develop differently based on our life experiences, why even expect that a few rules might be helpful to us all?

People don’t clamour for rules, even in the Bible…as when Moses comes down the mountain, after a long absence, bearing the tablets inscribed with ten commandments, and finds the children of Israel in revelry.  They’d been Pharaoh’s slaves and subject to his tyrannical regulations for four hundred years, and after that Moses subjected them to the harsh desert wilderness for another forty years, to purify them of their slavishness.  Now, free at last, they are unbridled, and have lost all control as they dance wildly around an idol, a golden calf, displaying all manner of corporeal corruption.

“I’ve got some good news…and I’ve got some bad news,” the lawgiver yells to them.  “Which do you want first?”

“The good news!” the hedonists reply.

“I got Him from fifteen commandments down to ten!”

“Hallelujah!” cries the unruly crowd.  “And the bad?”

“Adultery is still in.”

So, rules there will be—but, please, not too many.  We are ambivalent about rules, even when we know they are good for us.  If we are spiritual souls, if we have character, rules seem restrictive, an affront to our sense of agency and our pride in working out our own lives.  Why should we be judged according to another’s rule?

And judged we are.  After all, God didn’t give Moses “The Ten Suggestions,” he gave Commandments; and if I’m a free agent, my first reaction to a command might just be that nobody, not even God, tells me what to do, even if it’s good for me.  But the story of the golden calf also reminds us that without rules we quickly become slaves to our passions—and there is nothing freeing about that.

Dr. Norman Doidge, foreword to 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, by Dr. Jordan Peterson (Random House Canada, January 23, 2018).

Individualism teaches us to take responsibility for our own lives, not to blame people or circumstances for our predicament, to evaluate the situation, to take decisive action, and then to take the long road of responsibility and hard work toward the ends on which we have set our eyes.  And to go farther, individualism in the church encourages us to seek a personal relationship with God for which we are personally responsible, irrespective of our culture or our particular community or our particular circumstances.  Each one must deny himself or herself, take up her or his cross, and follow Jesus.

This mentality has proven beneficial in many ways throughout history.  And if you meet such a person, you likely have found a peace in being in his or her presence…at least initially.  But there is a dark side to individualism, particularly when each person feels the responsibility to become a law unto themselves.  When this occurs other people become subhuman, serving either as obstacles or as tools to them.

There is no doubt that law and structure inhibits freedom to a degree, but the Scriptures teach us that structure and law actually create life precisely by curtailing freedom.  Unbridled freedom, in the Scriptures, is called tohu and bohu—formlessness and emptiness.  It was the state of the universe when God began to create.  No boundaries, no rules, no laws, no structures, no life.  Everything was everything.  Everything was nothing.  This is natural and free, and it is, at the same time, darkness and death.

God interrupted this unbridled freedom by speaking—by imposing law and structure on the chaos.  And as God speaks, creation takes shape.  With each new command of God, new structures are created and new possibilities are unleashed.  Light is created and separated from darkness.  Imagine if God had not imposed that on us?  The chaotic waters are separated and caged so that land and atmosphere can be separated out.  Then living things are organized and unleashed, and cosmic entities are placed in proper balance.  Finally, God commands humanity to rise from the dust of creation and breathes life into us after God’s own life.

Provided these structures are maintained, life will thrive.  If these structures are eroded, the chaos will return.  And yet, throughout history the people of the earth have pursued life on the other side of God’s boundaries.

That’s what happened to Israel.  So, in due time God sent the prophet Jeremiah to them.  Through Jeremiah, God evaluated the state of Israel.  He gave them His verdict in Jeremiah 4:19-28:

19My anguish, my anguish!  I writhe in pain!  Oh, the walls of my heart!  My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.  20Disaster overtakes disaster, the whole land is laid waste.  Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtain in a moment.

21How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?  22For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding.  They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.

23I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.  24I looked to the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.  25I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled.  26I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

27For thus says the Lord:  The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.  28Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back.

Jeremiah 4:19-28, NRSV.

How had this happened to Israel, to creation itself?  Sin–the desire of humanity to become a law unto themselves, to seek life on the other side of God’s tents and curtains.  And creation followed.  Life depends on God’s order, on God’s structure, on God’s law.  We see the necessity of this orderliness in nature, but we so often fail to see its utility in culture or in our individual choices.

It’s easy to curse the wind when it exceeds the speeds our structures can withstand, and it’s easy to wail against the waters when they go where we did not prepare for them to go.  Chaos is held back by structure, and destruction ensues when chaos breaks its bonds.

The same is true in human life.  In fact, the Scriptures indicate that the two are not to be separated from each other—creation and human life.  And people of faith—true faith—recognize this truth.  The church in Philippi began quite organically, which is to say, naturally.  Paul spoke to some who were already following the God of Israel, and he told them about Jesus.  One believed and followed.  Then, a demon-possessed girl harassed Paul, so he set her free in the name of Jesus.  This act landed him in prison.  While he was in prison, there was an earthquake, but Paul did not take the opportunity afforded him to escape his bonds.  This decision saved the life of his jailor, which then gave Paul another opportunity to share the story of Jesus.  And the jailer, too, believed.  Seems very spontaneous and free, doesn’t it?  Very little planning or deliberateness.

Yet, once these folks followed Jesus and began to grow as a community of faith, they began to organize themselves.  By the time Paul wrote the letter preserved in the Christian Bible, he addressed not only the believers generally, but also two sets of leaders.  The first he called overseers (episkopoi), and the second he called deacons (deaconoi – servants).  Already, the church in Philippi had begun to create an organizational structure.

During my time in vocational ministry, I have had quite a number of Christians tell me that structure, rules, policies, and such inhibit ministry—red tape, they often call it…sometimes hoops or rigamarole.  That’s a belief of the worldly.  Of course, things can get out of hand, as we saw with the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day.  Jesus called them blind guides who “strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”  That, of course, was a less a comment on structure and more a comment on the values that informed it.  But, it’s an important reminder.  The structure must be rooted in the Words God has spoken.

Even so, all of life depends on law, on structure, on order.  Those who seek to be a law unto themselves, to be trusted to create and tear down boundaries unilaterally, are not following the God of Christian Scripture.  Those impulses are of the flesh and of the devil.  This is a spirit wishing to be free of law and oversight and accountability.  At the bottom such an impulse wishes to be free of any authority outside of oneself—free even of God.

But, the Philippians demonstrated their faithfulness to Christ, not only by what they professed to believe, by in how those beliefs had begun to structure their life together.  They had tasked some within their community with keeping watch over the people of God, and they had tasked others with serving the needs of the kingdom in an organized fashion.  These are good impulses.

Their structures weren’t perfect, of course, as the rest of the letter makes clear.  But, this desire to organize is a reflection of the God they worshipped.  As Paul reminded the Corinthians (a group of churches much less inclined to order and structure than the Philippians) in 1 Corinthians 14:26-33:

26What should be done then my friends?  When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation!  Let all things be done for building up.  27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn; and let one interpret.  28But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God.  29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.  30If a revelation is made to someone else sitting nearby, let the first person be silent.  31For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and be encouraged.  32And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, 33for God is not a God of disorder, but of peace.

1 Corinthians 14:26-33, NRSV.

We are living in a time in which the voice of chaos is gaining ascendance.  Remember, always, people of God, that our God is a God of order.  The people of God have always organized their communal life.  Just as the life of creation depends on the laws of nature, so the life of Christian community depends on Christian structures.  Of course, most churches today have taken their organizational cues from culture, which is a risky game to play.  But, at its core organization is godly, both in nature and in community.

And, finally, this is true in our personal lives, as well.  The Scriptures tell us that the very definition of sin is living as though there are no rules outside of ourselves—in other words, lawlessness.  The Apostle John explains this in 1 John 3:4-10.

4Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.  5You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.  6No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him.  7Little children, let no one deceive you.  Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.  8Everyone who commits sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.  9Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God’s seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God.  10The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way:  all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.

1 John 3:4-10, NRSV.

We don’t like rules, unless we make them.  This is sin.  It is what sin is.  This is the way of the devil.  “Did God really say that you couldn’t eat of that tree?  Oh, come on, you won’t die.  Make up your own mind.  You’re smart; you’ve got the spirit of God breathed into you; you’re wise, wiser than these dummies anyway.  You don’t need laws or leaders.  You can lead yourself.”  Satan…every time.

This spirit is being revealed in these days, both in the world and in the church.  And some of us are being shamed because we follow rules, because we embrace structure, because we refuse to be a law unto ourselves.  Of course, Paul reminded the Philippians in verse one of the letter he wrote to them that they were (and we are) first and foremost slaves of Jesus.  So, we don’t submit to requirements that are disloyal to Him.  But, short of that, let me encourage us: we are of God.  Our accusers, in this instance, are not.

In fact, this desire to be a law unto oneself is explained by Paul as a sign that a society is nearing its end.  This is what Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-5:

1You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come.  2For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3inhuman, implacable, slanderous, profligates, brutes, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5holding to the outward form of godliness, but denying its power.  Avoid them!

2 Timothy 3:1-5, NRSV.

Avoid those who tell you that they don’t need rules and regulations—that law and structure and organization and accountability and orderliness are inhibiting to life.  That is the enemy talking.  The opposite is true.  Avoid those who want to be a law unto themselves and refuse to submit to anything but their own scruples and discernment.  They are not of God.

The people of God seek accountability, community discernment, and laws and authority outside of themselves.  The people of God seek to make it easy to govern us, so long as we are not led into disobedience to Jesus.  The people of God are not kings, nor do we wish to be such.  We are slaves of Jesus, servants of each other, and sent to the world.

We seek to respect others.  We do not seek respect from others.  We forgive those who sin against us.  We do not demand forgiveness from others.  We repent of our own sins.  We do not demand that others repent.  We seek to live within structures and boundaries in the world, in our communities, and in our lives.  We recognize that life and freedom depends on law and boundaries.

To those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Do not become discouraged, people of God.  Your labor in the Lord will be richly rewarded.