Grace Changes Everything ( 1 Samuel 30)

Grace Changes Everything.

We know this as Christians, but what I constantly am challenged by is the question: do I believe it? Sometimes living upon God’s grace seems like a muscle I am still building. But I am pretty amazed that God’s grace and this theme is found in the book of Samuel. 1 Samuel 30: 22-26 to be exact. So this passage 1 Samuel 30 is significant in many ways. David and his men were just rejected to fight on behalf of the Philistines, their primary enemy, and while they were doing so their wives, animals, possessions were all taken by the Amalekites ( which is God’s grace that they didn’t just kill everyone right?) So David and his men were bitter and weeping to the point where they could weep no more. Some men wanted to kill David, others felt so weak that they couldn’t do anything. So David inquires God ( aka this is how he is strengthened by God. He seeks God who has all power, wisdom, might, etc. So when people think about being strengthened by God, I think it first requires us to seek God who knows all things and holds all things in his hands. That idea that we are usually strengthened by the people in our corner) Side tangent that I’ve always wondered how or what it means to be strengthened in the Lord.

But anyways, God says go fight and promises that he will recover and rescue all through David and his men and ironically and Egyptian servant they take in. It’s actually through a rejected Amalekite Egyptian servant that leads them to the camp ( theme: God usually chooses the rejected/”worthless: of this world for a specific purpose in a grand plan). Super cool how God interweaves these themes about His character. But grace! Right … grace. So David sets out with some of his men to fight the Amalekites, the other men were so tired that they stayed back to rest. They won and took back every single thing, big, small, son, daughter, - everything was recovered as God has said. Which points to God being so much in the details of things and is faithful to his word in its entirety.

So the men who fought the war, some of them began to fall in to this wordly perspective we might all have. The men began to have pride and basically said that they deserve all the spoils while the men who rested should get nothing but their families. Because they went out to battle, they looked down at those who didn't fight because they found that their skills and strengths made them worthy to take all the spoils and leave those who rested with their families members at best. In their minds giving them even their family members was generous. They demanded that the men who rested to depart from them. Again this is a worthiness issue- it resembles the world, If you do something worthy then you deserve more than those who do not. This can be seen in anything especially among christians and it's not really actively want to do but it's something that naturally happens around us so we fall into it too.

But David points to God's grace without saying grace. Grace changes us, God's grace changes everything about us. And really it starts with where does everything we have come from? David reminds the men that "you shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us (emphasis on given us). He has preserved us (kept us from danger, provided security) and has given ( emphasize) into our hands.." (v 23) David reminds the men and me that everything, the victory, the food, the people - all that we gain is from God. So it's not like we can say we earned it and therefore it is ours that we may give and with how we want. Grace levels out the playing field for everyone! Basically restated in Ephesians 2:8-9 " for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is NOT your own doing; it is a gift from God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast". And to bring it home even more, once we see it is by grace we are victorious, we have salvation , we have all that we need and more, grace leads us to be generous. In v26 I strongly believe that David is convinced that his victory was from the Lord and in that it caused him to naturally share with those around him, 'here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord".

Grace is a gift that keeps giving!

We can get so caught up in thinking that certain things are ours or that we deserve one thing , this one person's approval for me specifically but really all that we have is from God and ultimately for God. There's this one book called when people are big and God is small, it talks about the fear of man, one quote that is somewhat relative, God makes need people less and serve them more. I think that's what grace does when we not only understand it with our minds, but believe it in our hearts. And I know this is something I will get on some days and other days will need to be reminded of. But truly our understanding of a godly perspective on ourselves, others , what we have, trials etc. It all ties into how much we believe in the person of Jesus and the gospel. It all boils down to that.

Grace changes everything, all is from God and for God! (Col 1:16)