1 Samuel 17:34-35
And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
Shepherds were a lowly and disgusting group to some
Maybe we should begin to think of every setback and test as a gift from God. What you do with that opportunity is your gift to God. Opportunity doesn’t knock. Opportunity roars! Here is the great irony about opportunities. They usually come disguised as insurmountable problems. They look like five-hundred-pound lions that want to eat you for lunch. Or they look like six hundred Philistines charging at you. To the average person, the circumstances presented to david and Benaiah were problems to run away from, not opportunities to be seized. But Benaiah or david didn’t see a five-hundred-pound problem.
Psalm 5:3 reveals the way David started every day: “In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”
One of our greatest spiritual shortcomings is low expectations. We don’t expect much from God because we aren’t asking for much.
Prayer has a way of God-sizing our expectations. David can’t wait to see what God is going to do next because he is living in prayer mode. The more you pray, the higher your expectations.
Col 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; The word watch is a throwback to the Old Testament watchmen whose job it was to sit on the city wall, scan the horizon, and keep watch. They were the first ones to see an attacking army or traveling traders. People who live in prayer mode are watchmen. They see further than others see. They see things before others see them. And they see things other
people don’t see. People who live in prayer mode see opportunities that other people don’t even notice. People who don’t live in prayer mode are opportunity blind. There are only two ways to live your life: survival mode or prayer mode. Survival mode is simply reacting to the circumstances around you. It is a pinball existence. And to be perfectly honest, it’s predictable, monotonous, and boring. Prayer mode is the exact opposite. Your spiritual antenna is up and your radar is on.
the Aramaic word for prayer, slotha, means “to set a trap.” Prayer helps us catch the opportunities God throws our way.
Proseuchomai 90x nt
If Benaiah had been in survival mode, he would have reacted to the situation by running away from the lion. But living in prayer mode made him proactive. He knew that God was ordering his footsteps even when they crossed paths with paw prints. He knew that the lion was lunch. Living in prayer mode is the difference between seeing coincidences and providences. Prayer has a way of helping us recognize that what we might dismiss as human accidents are really divine appointments.
In my estimation, Jeremiah 46:17 is one of the saddest verses in Scripture: “Pharaoh king of Egypt is only a loud noise; he has missed his opportunity” (NIV). The pharaoh ruled over one of the most advanced ancient civilizations on earth. Think of his influence. Think of his wealth. The resources of an entire kingdom were at his disposal. But he missed his moment. The opportunity came and went without Pharaoh seeing it or seizing it. What a waste.
The English word opportunity comes from the Latin phrase ob portu. In the days before modern harbors, ships had to wait till flood tide to make it into port. The Latin phrase ob portu referred to “that moment in time when the tide would turn.” The captain and crew would wait for that window of opportunity to open, and they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in.
Shakespeare borrowed the concept in one of his famous verses from Julius Ceasar: There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea we are now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures
We try to be too reasonable about what we believe. What I believe is not reasonable at all. In fact, it’s hilariously impossible.
Noah looked foolish building an ark in the desert. Sarah looked foolish buying maternity clothes at ninety. The Israelites looked foolish marching around Jericho blowing trumpets. David looked foolish attacking Goliath with a slingshot. Benaiah looked foolish chasing a lion. The wise men looked foolish following yonder star. Peter looked foolish stepping out of the boat in the middle of the lake. And Jesus looked foolish hanging naked on the cross.
But that’s the essence of faith. And the results speak for themselves. Noah was saved from the flood. Sarah gave birth to Isaac. The walls of Jericho came tumbling down. David defeated Goliath. Benaiah killed the lion. The wise men found the Messiah. Peter walked on water. And Jesus rose from the dead.
Can I tell you why some people have never killed a giant or walked on water or seen the walls come tumbling down? It’s because they weren’t willing to look foolish
The greatest breakthroughs, miracles, and turning points in Scripture can be traced back to someone who was willing to look foolish. 1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT) reveals God’s modus operandi: “God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.” Nothing has changed. Divergent thinking is intellectual originality. It is creative and counterintuitive thought. It is thinking outside the box.
A study found that 98 percent of children between the ages of three and five score in the genius category for divergent thinking.
Between the ages of eight and ten, that number drops to 32 percent.
By the time the kids become teenagers, it drops down to 10 percent.
And only 2 percent of those over twenty-five scored in the genius category for divergent thinking.
According to John Putzier, who cites the study in his book Get Weird, the solution to this intellectual conformity and creative atrophy is “tapping into your natural weirdness.” And I think he’s on to something. Tapping into our natural weirdness isn’t just one key to divergent thinking. It is one key to divergent spirituality. Have you read the Bible lately? Lots of wild and wacky stuff! At face value, God says and does lots of things that seem awfully weird.
He tells Ezekiel to cook his meals over dung for three hundred and ninety days. What’s that about? God uses a donkey to speak to Balaam. That’s different. God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. Huh? And what about speaking in tongues on the Day of Pentecost? That’s downright strange.
He speaks and acts in divergent ways. Can I come right out and say it? Normal is overrated. Think of it this way. We are called to conform to Christ. And Christ was a nonconformist.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
For more than thirty years, Gordon MacKenzie worked at Hallmark, eventually convincing the company to create a special title for him: “creative paradox.” Along with challenging corporate normalcy at Hallmark, MacKenzie did a lot of creativity workshops for elementary schools. And those workshops led to a fascinating observation that he shares in his book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball.
MacKenzie would ask the kids upfront: “How many artists are there in the room?” And he said the pattern of responses never varied. In the first grade, the entire class waved their arms like maniacs. Every child was an artist. In the second grade, about half the kids raised their hands. In the third grade, he’d get about ten out of thirty kids. And by the time he got to sixth grade, only one or two kids would tentatively and self-consciously raise their hands. All the schools he went to seemed to be involved in “the suppression of creative genius.” They weren’t doing it on purpose, but society’s goal is to make us less foolish.
I’m afraid our version of Christlikeness is way too civilized and sanitized. I wonder if we’ve turned a blind eye to the peculiarity in the Gospels. Jesus touched lepers, healed on the Sabbath, defended adulterers, befriended prostitutes, washed the feet of his disciples, threw a temple tantrum, ate with tax collectors, and regularly offended the Pharisees.
Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas identify neoteny as an indispensable quality of leadership in their book. Neoteny is the retention of those wonderful qualities that we associate with youth: curiosity, playfulness, eagerness, fearlessness, warmth, energy. Unlike those defeated by time and age, these folks continue to be open, willing to take risks, hungry for knowledge and experience, courageous, eager to see what the new day brings.
Matthew 18:3
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of of God.
As parents we set behavioral boundaries for kids, but their potential and imaginations are unlimited. God creates us that way. On any given day, my sons have planned on being an engineer, govt. agent, nfl star, garbage collector, youth pastor and on and on. They are limited by neither genealogy nor genetics. It doesn’t occur to either of them that they can or can’t do something! We internalize limitations. We grow up and grow old. What is worse, we become small people with a small God.
I think part of Neos is regaining the limitlessness of youth. Regaining the idea that we have been created by a limitless God to have limitless dreams and imaginations. What limits are you listening to? “It’s too crazy.” “It’s never been done.” “What if I fail?” “It’s too expensive.” The list goes on forever. Remember this: we serve an unlimited God with unlimited resources. A God who looked at a few loaves and fishes and saw a banquet for five thousand people.
Kids live in a world of limitless possibilities. They dream of growing up to become lion chasers. But we allow the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy those childlike dreams. The key to recapturing those dreams is becoming like little children
Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The humility of children is disarming, isn’t it? There is no pride or prejudice. There are no inhibitions or hidden agendas. Undiluted humility. The word humble comes from the Greek word tapeinoo, which in its strongest form, means “to humiliate.” No one is better at that than kids. Why? Because they don’t care what people think. They aren’t self-conscious
give example of kids rolling in living room naked when we had guests
As David climbed the political ladder and gained power and prestige, he never lost his ability to look foolish. Even as king, he wasn’t afraid to humiliate himself before God. And I think that is why God used David in such an epic manner
In 2 Samuel 6, David has just been crowned King of Israel. He has defeated the Philistines and recaptured Zion. And David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. Think of it as an inaugural parade full of pomp and circumstance. But as the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, looked down from her window. When she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she was filled with contempt for him.
Let me make an observation. When you get excited about God, don’t expect everybody to get excited about your excitement. Here’s why. When the Holy Spirit turns up the heat underneath you it disrupts the status quo. Some people will be inspired by what God is doing in your life. Others will be convicted. And they will mask their personal conviction by finding something to criticize. Nine times out of ten, criticism is a defense mechanism. We criticize in others what we don’t like about ourselves. When David got home his wife gave him an earful. Michal is dripping with sarcasm: “How the King of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls.” You know what impresses me about David? It’s not his kingliness. It’s the fact that David wasn’t afraid of taking off his royal robes. Those robes symbolized his identity and security as King of Israel. And I’m guessing there was added pressure to act like a king at the inauguration. He had a reputation to protect. He had a crown to represent. And kings don’t disrobe and dance.
No one knew that better than Michal a king’s kid. She grew up in the palace. She knew the protocol. And I’m guessing that father Saul was very kingly. Saul was all about image. But David was all about substance. He didn’t find his identity and security in his position as King of Israel. He found his identity and security in the God who anointed him King of Israel. So David disrobes and dances without inhibition before the Lord.
I’m sure David was frustrated. It is the greatest day of his life, and his wife takes some of the joy out of it by criticizing him. But David sticks to his guns. “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone in his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.”
Another translation says it this way: “I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the LORD. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this.” Part of spiritual maturity is caring less and less about what people think about you and more and more about what God thinks about you. Part of taking God more seriously is taking yourself less seriously. The healthiest people in the world are those who laugh at themselves the most.
I just don’t think David cared one iota about what the people in his royal entourage thought of his dancing skills. David wasn’t dancing for human applause. He was dancing before God. And I’m guessing God Himself got a good laugh that day. One Hebrew word for praise is hallal. It means “clamorously foolish.” In a sense, worship is foolish, isn’t it? Singing to someone you can’t see. Raising your hands to someone you can’t touch.
There is an old saying: “Those who hear not the music think the dancer is mad.” That’s what is happening in 2 Samuel 6, isn’t it? David hears the music. Michal doesn’t. So who’s crazy? I think David gives us a picture of pure worship. Worship is disrobing. It is taking off those things outside our relationship with Christ that we find our identity and security in. It is a reminder that our royal robes are like “filthy rags.” It’s about what God has done for us
that understanding produces the greatest freedom in the world: having nothing to prove. Instead of trying to prove himself as the King of Israel, David was consumed with worshiping the King of Kings. There is a powerful scene in Rocky III. Rocky was based on the life of chuch wepner the only one at that time to ever knock ali down
Rocky is getting soft. He is getting cultured. He has achieved boxing fame, and he loses his fighting fire. And his manager, Mickey, says to Rocky, “The worst thing happened that could happen to any fighter—you got civilized.” I wonder if that is exactly what Jesus would say to us. You got civilized.
John the Baptist was uncivilized. Just look at his diet and dress. He ate locusts and wore camel hair. It sure seems like Jesus handpicked a dozen disciples who were totally undomesticated. And Jesus himself was untamed.
One writer said: The people who hung Christ never, to do them justice, accused Him of being a bore—on the contrary; they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that
We have very efficiently clipped the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him “meek and mild,” and recommended Him as a fitting household pet One of my favorite gospel episodes is when Jesus threw down with the moneychangers. He turned a routine Passover into a circus act or riot act. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and oxen, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over tables. To be perfectly honest, this temple tantrum can cause one internal dissonance. It does not fit our flannelgraph caricature of who Jesus was. It seemed out of character. But I think we underestimate and underappreciate this side of Jesus. We tend to picture Jesus only as the meek Lamb of God. But on that day, there was holy fire in his eyes.
And the coolest part of the story to me is that Jesus made the whip himself. I think the disciples’ jaws were sore the next day because they dropped so hard when they saw Jesus flex his righteous muscles. This incident revealed a dimension of Jesus’ personality that they hadn’t noticed before: “Then his disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures, ‘Passion for God’s house burns within me.’”
Jesus followers ought to be the most passionate people on the planet. To be like Jesus is to be consumed with passion. The enthusiasm comes from two Greek words, en and Theos, which together mean in God. The more we get into God, the more passionate we become. Lion chasers aren’t afraid of conflict. They aren’t afraid of risking their reputation by chasing snakes out of the temple. And they aren’t afraid of risking their lives chasing a lion into a pit. They often look foolish while in the act. It almost seems like they have a death wish. But lion chasers have a life wish. They live life to the fullest because they are willing to look
Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather fear that it shall never have a beginning.
