Faithful till the end
2 Samuel 15:21 "But But Ittai replied to the king, "As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be."
During the most worst times in the life of David, when his own son was pursuing to kill him, David decided to flee from his son Absalom, during this study we find a group of faithful servants follow him in this treacherous journey. I was awed! Sometimes we got to pause and thank God for what we got, say Amen. Though David lost everything, he had a group of faithful servants and one among them was Ittai who is outstanding. He said, 'death or life, I will be there for you.' Ittai had the courage to follow no matter what! Such workers are pure gold! These workers saw the goodness in David and at times when we think we are forsaken and lost, God had actually kept some faithful workers with David. Look around to see the Hands of God when you feel lonely and miserable. Amen .
As I am hunting for good workers, God brought this portion of the Bible to encourage me, He would do the same for you. When we're faithful, God would send faithful church members, workers, volunteers and so on.. Let me share my personal testimony here: After my salvation, I was like ‘burning for Christ’ and passionate about doing something for the Lord who saved me, along with my husband (who also got saved simultaneously) we spoke to the Sr Pastor’s wife and told her that we are eager to serve the Church and that’s how we took a step for God; however, the assistant pastor asked me, ‘do you have any prayer request? - BAM, I told him, “ I need a caretaker for my infant son because I got to join duty.” Sincerely he prayed, ah, after few weeks the servant girl walked in and stayed with me for the next 14 years, the ‘ones’ sent by God would stay with you. Amen. When you serve God and obey Him, He takes care of you, I’m excited to share this.
Courage means we are willing to work and serve even if it is difficult and my cost us. David Livingstone, who was a great missionary to Africa, received a letter asking for his position and stating that if there were any good roads they, would send some men to help. Livingstone replied, ”If they will only come if there were good roads he did not want them. He wanted men who were willing to come if there were no roads at all.”
Let me draw out some focal points for our learning and observation from the above history:
GOD HAS NOT FORSAKEN YOU:
God had kept faithful followers and courageous fellow-worker like Ittai to stand with David during the most perilous and agonizing moments in the life of David. What can be more painful than his own son chasing to kill him? Nevertheless, God kept faithful people to be with David and comfort him. Amen. The Bible tells us in that God remembered us in our low estate…read: Psalm 136 :23 “Who remembered us in our low estate, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, 24 And has rescued us from our adversaries, For His lovingkindness is everlasting..”
Friend, sometimes we think that God had forgotten us when we go through some pitch dark period, isn’t it? If you have been through that ‘low state’ then you would understand; however, those pitch dark periods were seasons of learning for us, if we endure then we would see sunshine. Hallelujah! For two years we were going through severe financial crisis with no inflow of funds to run our ministry, the free school that we were running for the poor and the free shelter for the poor also suffered. We were unable to buy provisions or pay rent, it was kind of ‘closed doors’ everywhere, mobiles were ringing ceaselessly enquiring for payments which made our heads reel. On a particular day, one agent called me for our credit card payment and said, ‘you have been only paying interest but your principal amount is the same, how do you plan to pay.’. He refused to cut the connection but spoke for half hour, I felt humiliated and wept the most that day. Did a miracle happen immediately? NO. At the same time, some church members left us, I fell sick , misunderstandings…overall it was MAYHEM in my life. I kept pushing though, kept praying…..kept praying…kept praying….eventually God brought us through, today we have surplus. Did not Apostle Peter say, ‘After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.(1 Peter 5:10)Suffering is inevitable! Let someone out there draw energy and strength from this.
FAITHFUL UNTIL THE END:
Samuel 15:30”David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went, and his head was covered and he walked barefoot. Then all the people who were with him each covered his head and went up weeping as they went.”
Did you see that, the servants of David did not forsake him midway and run but stood with him and also wept along with him. I need to pause here and think of the faithfulness of this group of men who STUCK with David. Hurray! Story is not over, this same group of men brought great victory, read: 2 Samuel 18:7” The people of Israel were defeated there before the servants of David, and the slaughter there that day was great, 20,000 men.”
I just want to give an illustration and close, Rev Billy Graham and the Grammy-winning gospel singer Bev Shea and a longtime associate of the Rev. Billy Graham, appearing before an estimated 200 million people at Graham revival meetings worldwide, died at the age of 104. Rev Billy Graham said, “I’ve been listening to Bev Shea sing for more than 50 years,” Mr. Graham told The Charlotte Observer in 1997, “and I would still rather hear him sing than anyone else I know.” Their TEAM were together for more than 50 years, can you imagine? I call them faithful workers!
Today we cannot keep a music troupe together for 5 months, the worship leaders would not stay stable, people get angry, annoyed, proud and aggressive. Stable workers at church or even secular field is rare! We have forgotten to be faithful, we need change.
