Integrity Where Imperfection Takes Up Residence

Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.” So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice. So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!” But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.” Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down till he comes here.” - I Samuel 16:1-11

Truly, if you and I, assuming you have had a similar life and church experience as I, had someone of note, thought to be a grand leader of the faith and a man of massive political and military importance such as David in our midst and, if we had known half of the things he had done, we not only would have written David out of the congregation of the elect, the saved, the righteous, the blood bought believers but we would have hid our children's eyes as we passed him on the street!

But God knew David. And, had we acted the way I just described, we would have proven that we did not.

God knew David had the quality of integrity. For as many ups and downs and hideously horrible and unspeakable evils that he did, David was a man the God of the universe could count on; both to hear His voice and obey His directives. God could count on it because David, as many times as he might fall, loved Loved LOVED God.

The church comes under massive attack from inside and out because we have bought into a system that says the appearance of right and good and just and holy is as good and maybe even better than the genuine article. After all, if you are just acting holy you can real put on a show! Actual holiness requires that whole humility thing and hey, if you can't be known for your righteous and pure life then why bother? How can you change the world if in fact the whole world doesn't know just how amazingly good you really are? Huh? Huh?

But you will never be a man or woman of God if hyperbole is your guiding principle. Never. You cannot fake it with the Almighty. And, in the final analysis, He is the only one that matters. He is not impressed with externals. Don't get me wrong. I am sure God would have preferred less adultery and killing in the life of David. But apparently actions aren't the whole story. Daddy Father God always focuses on the inward qualities, those eternal qualities that only time in His presence are created .

The love of God and time with God trained David for a leadership role with four disciplines. Now this is just a perspective. It is not the only one that exists on the life of David but I believe it holds relevance for you and I.

First, God trained David one-on-one, alone. David needed to learn life's major lessons with the great Mentor of the Universe, in a practice, before he could be trusted with responsibilities and rewards before the people. Solitude, just you and God, has nurturing qualities all its own. Anyone who must have superficial sounds to survive lacks depth. If you can't stand to be alone with yourself, you have deep, unresolved issues in your inner life. Solitude has a way of bringing those issues to the surface.

Second, David grew up in obscurity. That's another way God trains His best personnel - outside the limelight, the lights, the crowds and the context of the "big picture". Most nearly always those who love God and serve others are first unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and unapplauded. In the quiet context of obscurity, character is built. You learn to hear God's voice and therefore be led by something deeper and with more value to you than the shouts of the crowds, the pressures of friends and family. Strange as it may seem, those who first accept the silence of "no stage" are best qualified to handle the applause of popularity.

Which leads us to the third training ground, David's life was monotonous. That's being faithful in the menial, apparently insignificant, routine, unexciting, uneventful, daily drone of life. Life without the lavish and exciting . . . without the wine, the lobster, the caviar and roses. Just dull, plain, walk-it-out L-I-F-E. It is when life is consistent but more to the point it's constant, unchanging, tedious hours of the otherwise boring as you learn to be a man or woman of God and there is nobody else around to notice or care. Heck! What would they see? It's all just a big 'ol yawn. That's how we learn to make it real and do what needs to be done.

That brings us to the fourth discipline and that is David lived within reality. Up until now you might have the feeling that despite the solitude, obscurity, and monotony, David was just sitting out on some hilltop in a mystic haze, composing a great piece of music, or relaxing in the pastures of Judea and having a great time training those sheep to sit on their hind legs. That's not true. He simply lived what was normal and he fit into it. Yet, in all of his "fitting in" David found God in the quiet. He learned from Him. He honored Him. He did what He did so as to ensure that with God greatness is relative. "Whatever your hand finds to do...do it all to honor God." That would resonate with David. For David reality might be on earth but earth and all its workings are here to glorify God. David found it easy.

So the great struggle a King who craves but always returns to his roots; his integrity. He bows to the King of Kings. He loves on His relationship and fully expects God, as bad as he might have been, to speak into His life and in all of this he fulfilled the role of a man of integrity...ultimately.

Isn't that us? Aren't we "mostly" something but not perfectly and completely those qualities. David had great beginnings. They served him when he came to the end of his days and provided him a path back when he got lost in between. How about you and I? I'll leave it at that. It's worth a thought...

I remain...
InHISgrip,

~J~