David brought about a big victory
for the Israelites against the Philistines by defeating Goliath. As
we saw last week the Philistines didn't keep their end of the
bargain to become the slaves of Israel. They decided to flee
instead and God helped the Israelites to defeat the Philistines and
to be enriched through plundering their tents.
It was during this process that
something happened that was quite funny to me. King Saul turned to
his commander of the army, Abner, and asked concerning David:
"Abner, whose son is this
youth?" 1 Samuel 17:55
And then later he summoned David
and asked him "Whose son are you young man?" 1 Samuel
17:58
I find his questions amusing. It
was as if Saul didn't know who David was. Yet only one chapter back
Saul listened to the advice of his servants and sent for David to
come and play the harp for him. His servants then told him that
this was David, the son of Jesse. Saul even wrote a letter to Jesse
asking him to send David to him. And we saw how Saul was pleased
with David and how the distressing spirit left as David played to
him.
And yet after all that, Saul is
acting as if he doesn't know David at all. There could be two
possible reasons for it. First of all the distressing spirit might
be interfering with Saul's memory, in other words Saul might not
have clarity of mind anymore. Or secondly, Saul might have never
really looked at David whilst playing the harp for him. Maybe he
thought of himself so much higher in ranking than David that he
didn't truly notice him, even though the music brought 'ointment'
for his disturbed soul. We will never know. But the fact is Saul
didn't even recognize David here.
Today we might also have done a lot
of good to someone who doesn't even recognize all our efforts. We
might be helping behind the scenes and never even receive a 'thank
you'. We might be overlooked when it comes to promotion or when
bonuses are distributed. But the fact of the matter is that God
sees our efforts and will reward us accordingly. He sees all that
we do and He is pleased with His sons and daughters. Never give up
doing good. Never expect to receive an earthly 'thank you' or
reward for all the good that you do, yet continue doing good
anyway. God is the One we want to be proud of us. This made me
think of a poem by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It has truly blessed
me and I hope it will mean something to you today:
People are often unreasonable,
illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway
If you are kind, people may accuse
you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway
If you are successful, you will win
some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway
If you are honest and frank, people
may cheat you; be frank and honest anyway
What you spend years building,
someone may destroy overnight; build anyway
If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous; be happy anyway
The good you do today, people will
often forget tomorrow, do good anyway
Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got
anyway
You see in the final analysis, it
is all between you and God; it was never between you and them
anyway.
Father, we are so blessed to know
that this life is between us and You. We are not in competition
with one another, but we are here to glorify You and You alone and
to build Your Kingdom. Thank you for the opportunity to be able to
do that. We love You. Amen