Power Anointed but Undeclared
I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite. — 1 Sam. xvii. 58.
That is a very simple account for a man to give of himself yet it answered the question wliicli elicited it. Though but a stripling, David knew where to stop in his answers. On this occasion he could have startled Saul as Saul was never startled in his life, yet he hfeld his peace. Truly, there is power in moderation; and truly, discretion is the supreme beauty of the valiant man. Notice with special care the exciting circumstances under which the answer was given. David stood before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand! Call up the scene! Look at the sinewy hand grasping the bleeding head of the boastful barbarian! see the flush upon the cheek of the young conqueror! then listen to the quiet answer! To be selfcontrolled under such circumstances! Standing before the king.
POWER ANOINTED BUT UNDECLARED. 18i
grasping the head of a man who made Israel quake, a nation looking at him, yet he speaks as if a stranger had accosted him in some peaceful retreat of the pasturage!
Then look at Saul. His position is very touching. Occasionally insane, he is to-day sober-minded and tranquil. Little does he know to whom he is speaking! David might have said,” Samuel came to my father s house in search of a king. He passed by my brethren one by one; I was sent for at length from the sheepfold,, and Samuel anointed me king of Israel. Behold in this bleeding head the first sign and pledge of my kingly power! Instead of speaking so, he merely saidj with a childs beautiful simplicity, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.^^
Learn that men may be anointed, long before their power is officially and publicly declared. God may have put his secret in their heart long before He puts the diadem upon their brow. We do not know to whom we are speaking. The child who looks so simple, almost so insignificant, may become the man who shall render us the greatest service, or bring upon us the most appalling ruin. You speak to the little one some gentle word, or bid him God-speed, not knowing that in after years he may repronounce to a hushed world the convictions for which you could get no hearing*, or, may honour your memory by a successful vindication of its claim upon grateful regard.
Learn J therefore that Gods arrangements are not extemporaneoiis. The men who shall succeed to all good offices are known to Him from the beginning to the end. Often in oar impatience we concern ourselves to know what will be done in the event of this man dying, or that — the king, the preacher, the prime minister, the commanding soldier. To us the prospect may be dark, but to God the whole course is clear; the successor is anointed, but not yet declared.
Our morning is to be spent in looking at the period in Davids life which is contained between his anointing and the slaughter of Goliath; we shall look at it for one purpose only, namely, for the purpose of finding out some qualities in David which are imitable by ourselves. Confining attention to this object, we shall of course leave many points of deep interest unnoticed, because they do not come immediately within our plan.
Soon after his anointing, David became harp-player to the king. This seems to be a descent. Are there not many apparent anti-climaxes in life? Is this a conspicuous example of them? ‘^ Play the harp! Why, I am king,” David might have said. “AVhy should I waste my time in attempting to prolong the life of a man who is upon my throne? The sooner he dies, the sooner I shall reign; not one soothing note will I evoke from my harp!” Had
David spoken so, lie would have dropped from the high elevation which becomes the spirit of a king. There are two ways of looking at this harp-playing. David saw it in its right aspect, and therefore to him it lost all its apparent humiliation and vulgarity. To a mere outsider it was harp-playing; to David it was an attempt to liel a man by driving away an evil spirit. In playing the harp David was doing a great Sjpiritual work. He was not trying to please the merely musical ear; he was not the paid servant of taste j he was a spiritual minister, and as such he was as the angel of God to the tormented man. We might all help ourselves in our work by looking at its spiritual rather than at its merely outward aspect. The influence of a spiritual worker never ceases. Davids harp is being played still, and its strains are ‘expelling many an evil spirit. Had his work been merely so much manipulation upon a musical instrument, his work would have perished with his physical existence; but David played with his soul as well as his fingers; hence his strains linger in the air that is around us, and find their way into our hearts when weary with much sadness or beclouded by unusual fear. Learn, then, that how high soever be the office to which we are anointed, there is no anti-climax in our attempts to redeem men from the power of evil spirits, or in any way, possible to us, to bring men out of the horror of great darkness into the sweet light of hope. Art thou skilled in music? Help those who are sad. Hast thou this worlds goods? Seek out the poor that they may bless thee as the messenger of God. Hast thou power to say beautiful words? Speak to men who are weary of the common tumult which is around them. To help a man is the honour of true kingliness.
After this engagement as harp-player, David went
home to pursue his usual avocations. How well he
carried the burden of his prospects! We see no sign
of impatience. He did not behave himself as a child
who, having seen a toy, cries until it is put into his
hands. David had the dignity of patience. He
carried the Lords secret in a quiet heart. Was it
not a trial to him to go back to the sheepfold? Had
it been so, he would have wrested the word of the
Lord to his own destruction. He would then have
worked from the point of his own desires rather than
from the point of the divine will. In little things as
well as in great men show their temper and quality.
One sign of impatience at this point would have shown
that Davids pride had overcome his moral strength.
Would you Tide? Learn to obey. Would you like to
be master? Learn first and well the duties of a good
servant. Are you conscious of superior powers? Show
their superiority by the calmness of your patience, and by the repression of every wish that is marred by one element of selfishness.
When David came to see his fighting brethren by the express instructions of his father Jesse he disclosed a feature in his character in true keeping with what we have just seen. When he had become acquainted with the case he at once looTxed at outward circumstances in their moral hearing. Other men including Saul himself, were talking about mere appearances. They did not see the case as it really was. Their talk in fact was strongly atheistic. They whispered to one another in hot and panting breathy “Why that stafi’of his is like a weaver’s beam; look at his spear’s head, it must weigh at least six hundred shekels of iron: I am told that the weight of his coat is five thousand shekels of brass; as for his height, it must be a span Taore than six cubits! ‘’ This was the talk that was proceeding when David ran into the army to salute his brethren. It is barbaric talk after all, is it not? It is external, mechanical, superficial. Now for another tone! David called Goliath, not a giant, not a soldier, but an uncircumcised Philistine, who had defied the armies of the living God! This is a moral tone. This is precisely the tone that was wanted in the talk of degenerate Israel! As used by David, the very word uncircumcised involved a moral challenge. In efiect, David said: ^’ I do not look upon his height; I ask no questions respecting the strength of his muscles, the length of his staff, the circumference of his chest, the swing of his arm; he is an uncircumcised Philistine, and has defied tine armies of the living God; it is none other than God Himself whom the barbarian has defied; therefore shall judgment fall upon him swiftly, and the hand of the Lord shall tear him in pieces,” This tone retrieves the honour of any controversy. It brings strength with it, and hope, and dignity. Israel had fallen away from the right elevation; the contention had become one of muscle against muscle, of number against number; David said it is a contention between light and darkness, between right and wrong, between God and the devil; to your knees, 0 Israel, and call upon the name of the living God! Oh, for one David in every controversy! Men lose themselves in petty details, they fight about straws, they see only the surface; David sees the spiritual bearing of all things, and redeems a controversy from vulgarity and atheism by distinctly and lovingly pronouncing the name of God. The atheist counts the gimSj the saint looks up to God; the atheist is terrified by the size of the staff, the saint is inspired by his faith in right and purity. Such a man cannot fail. I wish I could lay still stronger emphasis upon the word CANNOT. If he could fail, life would be a continual mockery, and hope would be only a variety of despair. Sooner or later what is rifjlit must slay what is wrong; lose faith in that doctrine,, and you lose everything in life worth having; creation itself is unsafe: —
“The pillared firmament is rottenness,
And earth’s base built on stubble.”
The moral is the true standard of measurement. Look not at GoHath’s fleshy but at his soul, and learn how soon that arm withers which is not supported by spiritual strength. Copy the moral tone of David! We cannot copy it mechanically, remember; it must come out of our heart of hearts, or it will perish in the very act of its expression.
David interpreted the ‘past so as to qualify himself for the future. When Saul doubted his ability to cope with the Philistine, David recounted some of his recdllections as a shepherd: “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep,’^ etc.; “the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear will deliver me out of the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living Grod.^’ The Past should be our prophet. David confided in the unchangeableness of God. Forms of danger might vary; but the delivering jpower remained the same. Sometimes danger comes as a lion, sometimes as a bear, sometimes as a Philistine, sometimes as a devil. David did not ask what the special form was; lie knew that God never changed and that His power was the same in all cases. As for ourselves, we know this right well; our own path is strewn with lions and bears slain in the name of the Lord, yet we are as afraid of the next lion or the next PhiUstine as if God had never enabled us to smite an enemy! “Lord, increase our faith/^ When our theology is right, our power over circumstances will be complete. WJien is our theology right? When the hearths whole trust is in the living Father, and our love goes out towards Him through His one Son, Jesus Christ the Saviour. When our hold upon the true idea of God is lost, our life is disorganised and weakened; when our hold of that idea is firm, we ‘^ plant our footsteps on the sea, and ride upon the storm. The great fight of life is a contention between the material and the spiritual. Goliath represents the material: he is towering in stature, vast in strength, terrible in aspect. David represents the spiritual: he is simple, trustful, reverent; the merely fleshly side of his power is reduced to the lowest possible point, — he fights under the inspiration of great memories, in a deeply religious spirit, not for personal glory, but for the glory of the living God. This leads us to say, in the last place, that —
David went to his work in the name and fear of God. ‘^ I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts.”*’
In that one word David disclosed the secret of his power. His mere personality ceased, and he became the minister of God. As a contest between strength and strength, the scene was simply ridiculous. Viewed materially, the Philistine was perfectly right when he disdained David, and scornfully laughed at the weapons which the stripling produced. Goliath showed a most justifiable contempt; as a materialist, he could indeed have adopted no other tone. David made no boast of his weapons. He pronounced the name of God, and put his life in the keeping of the Most High. It is as if David had said,” My fall will be the fall of God; it is not a fight between thee and me, 0 great strong man; it is a fight between earth and heaven; the victory will not be given to the weapon, but to the hand that wields it; God shall htirl this stone at thee, thou uncircumcised boaster, and before it thou shalt be as a helpless beast.’’^
In the expression,” I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts,^^ we have a watchword which may be used by true men in all crises. Use it in temjptation, in times of unjust opjpositiofij in solemn trials of strength and patience; yes, and use it when Death itself challenges you to the combat! That grim monster will one day invite you to contest. He will call you out, that in the open field you may try your strength together. Go not in thine own name, or thou wilt be worsted in the fray; to Death itself say, ‘^ I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts/^ and death shall be swallowed up in victory.
The application of the truths of this lesson is easy as a matter of inference, but hard as a matter of realization. Some men save, others are saved. Such is the law of sovereignty. This law of sovereignty penetrates the whole scheme and fabric of life. David saved, Israel was saved; activity and passivity make up the sphere of this life. Without any attempt at fanciful spiritualizing, we see in David the type of the one Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, who bruised the serpents head, and won for us the one victory through which we may have eternal life. ‘^ Crown Him Lord of all.”
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