Here's a thought from a close friend today on this passage:
In verse 30 it is as if every experience that David endures shows up in a positive way in his conduct. Arriving at Ziklag, his men were ready to revolt because he had led them away and during their absence their families were plundered. He responds by trusting and seeking God. But for me the most profound is the lesson he teaches his men about roles and responsibilities in a team.
“The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to battle”. I have long believed that for extraordinary performance to occur in an organization, three things must be in the minds of each individual; 1) they know their role 2) they believe it matters and 3) they are able to be proud of their work. David sets the tone for his leadership early, each will have a role in my kingdom and no role is more important than any other. We should always me mindful to extend that to our organizations, including our church body. We always say ‘thank you’ to each who are serving, but do we mean it with the same level of intensity for every role that is being performed or in our heart do we think some roles are more important than others?
His question is rhetorical. But I'll add another verse to affirm and remind us of his point
"As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other." (1 Corinthians 12:20-25)
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The challenge comes to leave society behind. How many times do we judge someone based on things that don't matter? Where do they work, what do they drive, how do the dress, what a bunch of junk!! We would all agree that none of this matters. Afterall we are all good God fearing bible believing people right? BUT still, at least for me, I am sizing up people all the time based on the outside. David saw to a person's inside. Maybe he saw that way because he knew what it was like to be on the outside. I don't know, I do know this, there is way to much judging in our world. We know we are even being judged. If this is true it is hard to go against our human nature and actually want to serve in some of the lowly positions that must get done in every organization. Still someone MUST do the dishes or they don't get clean. Maybe it would help us if we spent more time doing the jobs that don't want to be done. I bet we would have a different outlook on things.
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