Text: 2 Samuel 1:1-16
Memory verse:
“So David said to him, “How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?””
II Samuel 1:14 NKJV
Your true character is revealed in the way you react when you see the flaws of the delegated authority over you.
Saul loved David so much from the first day that he set his eyes on him (I Sam 16:21). Saul brought him into his royal court and loved him deeply.
After his victory over Goliath, the women of Israel sang in his honour. From that moment, the relationship that started with so much love and admiration became bitter and sour. Love turned to jealousy, suspicion, and deep hatred (1 Sam 18:9). Favour changed to fear, the fear of losing his throne. Saul began to seek after his death. David was surprised with the sudden turn of events!
Even though David had two good opportunities to kill Saul, he held back himself from doing it. He knew that the God who anointed him to kill an uncircumcised Goliath did not anoint him to kill the anointed Saul, even though he was backsliding! Even though he had been chosen and anointed to be the future king, David knew that he could not remove God’s chosen king by any means, either by assassination or by rebelling! Unlike Ham, the son of Noah, David didn’t dishonour the anointed Saul even in his fallen state but still recognized him as the anointed. David showed reverence for God; dishonour to God’s delegated authority is a dishonour to God.
David’s loyalty to his father was not limited to his lifetime but even to his death! When an Amalekite came to David, claiming he had killed his enemy, thinking it would earn him a reward, David surprised him with his response (II Sam 1:14). David immediately ordered his execution. Instead of getting a reward for killing the anointed, he was rewarded by death for killing the backsliding anointed king! David demonstrated integrity in what he stood for. If he would not kill the anointed, he would not honour the man who killed the anointed! Your loyalty and character will be revealed in the way you react when your father is maltreated by others. Do you rejoice in your heart or keep silent when he is being ‘killed’ by others, even though you will not ‘kill’ him yourself? Do you reward those who take credit in dishonouring him? Do the ‘character murderers’ of your father receive your acceptance and derive joy in your presence? Do your father’s stone throwers gather their clothes at your place?
Friends, don’t dishonour your father simply because his authority is flawed.
Prayer points
1. Father, please, let me never dishonour my father even when his authority is flawed, in Jesus’ name.
2. O Lord, let not my father’s character assassinators and stone throwers ever have comfort in me, in Jesus’ name.
Today’s declarations
1. I won’t kill my father for any reason, even when his authority is flawed, nor will those who want to kill him receive my acceptance.
2. I will maintain my character and integrity at all times, even when the flaws of my father are open to me.
Contact: pastor@thf.org.ng