Word of the week
1 Samuel 28:1-2
“About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel. King Achish told David, “You and your men will be expected to join me in battle.” “Very well!” David agreed. “Now you will see for yourself what we can do.” Then Achish told David, “I will make you my personal bodyguard for life.””
The emphasis is on 1 Samuel 28:2b, ‘I will make you my personal bodyguard for life’.
Achish, the Philistine king wanted to make David his personal bodyguard for life.
He knew David was running away from Saul who was pursuing him relentlessly.
David was in a disadvantaged position.
But he kept his identity intact.
David had already been anointed the king of Israel.
No amount of hiding in caves, rocks and running away from Saul and living among the Philistines could change that.
Keep your identity intact.
Know who you are and be deeply convinced about it.
Don’t let the trials of life redirect your identity.
Maybe you are unemployed and you decided to use your car for Uber
Maybe you are presently doing a job that doesn’t befit your education, upbringing, social status etc. That is similar to being a king who is working as a personal bodyguard.
Keep doing that job but keep your identity.
There is this elderly gentleman in the UK who is a chartered accountant.
When he came to the UK, to keep body and soul together, he started working as a carer.
The problem was he stayed over 15 years in that job and his confidence and identity as a chartered accountant had gone.
To the glory of God, my husband was able to help and coach him.
He got his confidence and identity back and today he operates his own business as an accountant.
Be mindful of your identity and don’t let people and circumstances of life put you where you shouldn’t be.
Message of the week
I Sam 30:21-23
“Then David returned to the brook Besor and met up with the 200 men who had been left behind because they were too exhausted to go with him. They went out to meet David and his men, and David greeted them joyfully. But some evil troublemakers among David’s men said, “They didn’t go with us, so they can’t have any of the plunder we recovered. Give them their wives and children, and tell them to be gone.” But David said, “No, my brothers! Don’t be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of raiders that attacked us.”
David had some fantastic men in his army. He had valiant men and mighty warriors in his army that would do anything for him.
Unfortunately in his army he also had evil troublemakers. The King James Version calls them wicked men and men of Belial. These were the same men in verse 6 of 1 Sam 30 that spoke of stoning David. If you read all of 1 Samuel 30, you will understand more of this story.
So, how did David cope with the evil troublemakers? It was obvious the wicked men needed more maintenance than the regular fantastic and mighty warriors.
As a leader you may find yourself in this position too. You may be leading a team, you may be a pastor, CEO etc and you are facing a situation of having some volatile, unpredictable, unmanageable people in your team. Meanwhile, some of these unmanageable people are sometimes critical to your assignment as a leader.
So, what do you do?
Tough question.
Personally, I would have disengaged the people. I would have given them marching orders.
We can learn from David.
David didn’t disengage them. He spoke to them calmly and rationally and succeeded in uniting the team.
No wonder David was great.
He knew how to manage difficult people.
I know that sometimes you have to let go of uncooperative staff. But what this story shows is that letting them go should not be the first choice.
It is good to appeal to their sense of reasoning first. That should be the first call. If that fails, one can try other methods.
People are important to our success.
May God give us the grace to manage them in Jesus Name.
