Lost Wallet, Week 11 Day 3, 1 Samuel 24

Lost Wallet, Week 11 Day 3, 1 Samuel 24

Did you ever read one of those stories where someone finds a wallet or a pile of cash and returns it without taking anything?

That happened in our family once.  Not the pile of cash part, just the wallet.  One of our kids left their wallet sitting on top of the gas pump at that gas station.  They hadn’t even realized they had lost it until a little bit later.  They just realized that it was gone and was quickly moving or “Oh shoot!” to panic central.  They were getting ready to go on a trip and no wallet and no ID would make the trip difficult if not impossible.

Right then there was a knock on the front door.  There was middle aged couple with only minimal English skills and the missing wallet.  Everything was still inside.  They’d gotten the address from the drivers license and drove to our house to return it.  Why?

Well, due to the minimal English skills on their part and the very poor Spanish skills on my part, I’ll never know exactly why.  But there was some cash in the wallet, credit card, ATM card, etc.  They very easily could have taken that cash and dumped the rest.  But they didn’t.  They did the right thing, went out of their way and returned the wallet.  So my kid’s trip went from “Oh Shoot!” and panic central and made a quick detour to “Thank Goodness” and relief.

How hard is it to do the right thing, especially when you could profit from doing the wrong thing?  Especially when no one but you would know?

That’s the dilemma that David faces.  Pardon a bit of indelicacy on my part as I describe what happened.  So, back in Saul and David’s day there aren’t any porta-potties.  So, if you’re out in the wilderness and you need to relieve yourself you go behind a rock.  If you want some real privacy, and who doesn’t at a moment like that, you might even go into a cave.

So when Saul needs to take a natural break from his “let’s go find David and kill him” hunting expedition he decides to go relieve himself in a cave.  And talk about bad luck, he just so happens to pick the exact cave where the David that he is trying to kill is hiding.  Now Saul must have been REALLY intent on taking care of business, because he doesn’t even notice when David creeps up on him and cuts off a corner of his robe.  Either Saul is really focused on the business at hand or David has one really sharp knife and is a world champion creeper.

David’s men wanted him to take advantage of the delicate situation in which Saul has placed himself to kill Saul.  David could very easily have killed Saul.  But David didn’t.  Why?  And that is the question that we’ll answer in a moment.

A short time after Saul had finished his business, David confronts him with the corner of Saul’s robe as evidence that indeed, he could have killed Saul.  And with the evidence in hand that he meant no ill for Saul, David makes his case and prostrates himself before Saul.  What happens next is completely up to Saul.  Remember that’s spear throwing trying to hunt you down to kill you Saul.  Yeah, David certainly isn’t short in the courage department.

So what are the lessons to be learned from this indelicate moment of personal hygiene?

First, if you’re going to take care of your business in a cave then it would really be a good idea to make sure the cave is empty BEFORE you get down to business, especially if you’re trying to kill someone who might be hiding in that cave.  Yeah, I know, words to live by.

Second, and this is the real lesson, it’s not okay to do whatever takes to get what you want, even if God has promised it to you.  David has already been anointed by Samuel to be the next king.  Things like honor, honesty, integrity, patience, respect for others and respect for God are all important.  Saul got into trouble for trying to take short cuts to get what he wanted.  It appears that David, at least at this point in his life, does not suffer from the same fault.  David refuses to kill God’s anointed, even if it would make him king. 

David could have rationalized. “God wants me to be king, look, He just provided me with the opportunity to make that happen.  I’m just taking advantage of the opportunity that He provided me.  Thanks God!”  Nope.  David doesn’t fall into that trap. 

Coming back to the wallet, I bet you thought I’d forgotten about it.  The fact remains that when you find the wallet it isn’t yours.  And what’s in it isn’t yours ether.  Finder’s keeper’s losers weepers is most definitely NOT a Biblical principle.  “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t trying’.” is a popular sports adage.  That one isn’t Biblical either. 

Cheating means you’re not depending on God.  Doing something that isn’t right isn’t depending on God either.  And that’s true even if you can rationalize whatever “it” is.  Yeah, rationalizing isn’t depending on God.  Depending on God is doing what’s right no matter what.  It means doing what’s right even it could end up costing you dearly.

Sorry to be such a spoil sport.  But those aren’t my rules, those God’s rules.  David understood them.  David was even willing to put his life in jeopardy to follow God’s rules.  Heck, if Saul had lost his wallet and had David found it, I bet he would have even returned it to him, with everything still inside.

God’s version of that old sports adage would be something like this, “If you are cheatin’, you ain’t trustin.”  And God is pretty big on that whole trust thing.

God, it’s all too easy to see things that happen around us and try to find a way to rationalize it as Your will.  No matter what the circumstances Lord, I pray that You would create and mind and heart with in me to do Your will.  And I pray that I would always listen to the leading of Your Spirit.  God, You require obedience not to the letter of Your law, but to the Spirit of Your law.  May I always be lead by Your Spirit and not by circumstances.  Amen

Leonard