[One-Verse Meditation]

1 Samuel 30:23 (NIV)

“David replied, ‘No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us.’”

[Meditation]

After David and his men won the battle against the Amalekites, a dispute arose over the plunder. At first, all six hundred men had been with David. But when two hundred of them became too exhausted to continue, David had them remain at the Besor Valley. Then he and the remaining four hundred pursued the Amalekites and won the victory. When David and his men returned to the Besor Valley, the two hundred who had stayed behind came out to welcome them. But at the sight of them, complaints began to rise from some of the men who had gone with David. Their argument was simple: they had risked their lives in battle, while the others had stayed behind and preserved their own. So, they said, let them take only their wives and children, but none of the plunder.

From a human point of view, their argument seems reasonable enough. After all, it sounds like a matter of receiving according to one’s labor. It seems hard to argue against. And yet Scripture calls them “evil men and troublemakers.” In a sense, it is exposing something worthless at the core. So what does Scripture mean by this “evil” and “worthlessness”? It means placing the source of our lives in ourselves. When I believe that I am the reason for what I have, grace disappears. Gratitude disappears too. After all, if I believe I accomplished it myself, there is nothing left to receive as a gift.

And yet David addresses such men by saying, “My brothers.” This was a broad communal form of address in that time. But here it is more than a customary expression. Its meaning becomes clear in the words that follow: “The Lord has given us this… He has protected us.” In other words, David wants them to understand this too. Understand what? That all of this is the grace of God. Once you see that, you cannot so easily turn away from a brother who seems to have suffered the unfair side of things. After all, you are dealing with something that was never yours to begin with.

Scripture tells us that this took place at the Besor Valley. The name Besor is often associated with the nuance of “joy” or “good news,” which makes this scene all the more striking. Joy is the life we taste when we rightly understand the grace of God. When I truly see that I am not the source, and that God alone is, grace becomes joy. And that joy is something a community shares together. We see this in the scene that follows, when David distributes the plunder. In the end, the saints are those who know the joy of grace, and the church is the people who share that joy together.

[Prayer]

Lord, every part of my life is wholly Your grace. And yet I so often forget it. But through Your Word, You lead me to cling to You again—by Your own zeal and faithfulness. Let me live this beautiful new day by the grace of Christ Jesus alone. Amen.
_______________________

(Daily Meditation)

1 Samuel 30:21–31:6