Thursday, July
19, 2018
I have found
my servant David. I have anointed him
with my holy oil. I will steady him with my hand; with
my powerful arm I will make him strong. His enemies will not
defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him. I will beat down his
adversaries before him and destroy those who hate him. My
faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him, and by my authority he will
grow in power. I will extend his rule over the
sea, his dominion over the rivers. And he will call out to me, ‘You
are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ I
will make him my firstborn son, the mightiest king on earth. I
will love him and be kind to him forever; my covenant with him will never end. Psalm 89:20-28(NLT)
Once when
David was at the rock near the cave of Adullam, the Philistine army was camped
in the valley of Rephaim. The Three (who
were among the Thirty—an elite group among David’s fighting men) went down to
meet him there. David
was staying in the stronghold at the time, and a Philistine detachment had
occupied the town of Bethlehem. David remarked longingly to his
men, “Oh, how I would love some of that good water from the well by the gate in
Bethlehem.” So the Three broke through the
Philistine lines, drew some water from the well by the gate in Bethlehem, and
brought it back to David. But David
refused to drink it. Instead, he poured
it out as an offering to the Lord. “God forbid that I should drink
this!” he exclaimed. “This water is as
precious as the blood of these men who risked their lives to bring it to me.” So David did not drink it. These are examples of the exploits of the
Three. 1 Chronicles 11:15-19(NLT)
David was hand-picked by God
to be Israel’s leader. From the
slingshot/stone-throwing days of his battle with Goliath, to the daily
decisions of battle and governing, David was a man of loyalty; he lived in it,
and he depended upon it. He also earned
it.
There are those who never get
it about leadership. A
leader is seen at the head table, standing in front of a group, issuing orders
or at the head of whatever the group is doing.
And sometimes the thought is that a leader has all this fun, and everybody
else has to do what he/she says. I must
admit it’s easy to see things that way; I’ve been guilty of those thoughts
also.
However, over the last 40
years or so, as I have attempted to fulfill leadership roles in a variety of
settings, the whole issue of being a leader has proved much different than what
leadership looked-like from the outside.
Just a couple of things I’ve
learned:
First – loyalty goes both
ways. If you are a leader, you must be
loyal to those you lead. If you follow,
you cannot do so honorably without loyalty.
God had promised David the might of heaven’s favor on his kingdom
throughout the generations. David’s men;
those special soldiers called the Three, understood their king’s
loyalty to God was something they could count on. Those who follow with honor will die for a
leader like that.
Second – you cannot buy
loyalty. As much as the Three were
loyal, it was not a matter of money, golden parachute retirement plans, or
perks fit for royalty; the privilege of serving a fiercely-loyal king who was
committed to truth and fidelity was everything a person of honor needs to know
he/she is making a difference in the world.
For You Today
The Three risked life and limb to
bring a drink of well water to their king; can we do less in loyalty for Jesus,
the eternal King of Heaven?
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
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