The Gift of a Future

Hannah's husband, Elkanah, was a man with a proud past. At least, that's the feeling I get from the beginning of 1 Samuel. Why would you mention four generations worth of ancestors unless some kind of pride was attached to that ancestry? Despite marrying into this proud past, however, there seems to be little hope for Hannah's future. In a world where women are valued by the children they provide, Hannah is barren. To be sure, Elkanah loves her deeply in spite of her barrenness but the story seems to indicate that even Elkanah's love is not enough to overcome Hannah's hopeless situation. (When Elkanah asks his wife "Am I not better to you than ten sons?", Hannah gives no answer and continues to pray for the Lord to remember her and give her a son.) To make matters worse, Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah, provoked and tormented Hannah over her lack of children.

Hannah's story is a microcosm of the story of Israel, particularly the place where Israel finds itself in Hannah's lifetime. Israel too has a proud past. They still remember the days that God delivered them with a mighty hand from slavery in Egypt. Israel has seen God do tremendous things in the past. But Israel's situation is now bleak and there is little hope for the future. The reactions of Eli the priest to Hannah's prayer is telling of the situation in Israel. When Hannah comes to the tabernacle to pray, Eli sees her lips moving but doesn't hear her speaking and assumes that she must be drunk. Was prayer in Israel so rarely seen that even a priest had to assume someone who was praying had just had too much to drink? Furthermore, Eli's sons offer no hope of better spiritual leadership in the future. And just as Hannah was mocked by Peninnah, so Israel was mocked by its rivals and their greater power, especially the Philistines.

Into this bleak narrative with no future and no hope, God breathes new life through the birth of a son. Samuel is the answer both to Hannah's prayer and to Israel's problem. Samuel is not only the overcoming of Hannah's barrenness. He is also the future leader of Israel; the one through whom Israel will have a hope and a future once again. Hannah and Israel both had a proud past and heritage but as great as that heritage was, it was not enough to make for either of them a future. Only God, by his gift to Hannah, could do that.

Our local congregation has a proud heritage dating all the way back to the 1920's, a long time for a Church of the Nazarene. Just a year ago our denomination celebrated its proud heritage of 100 years of holiness mission. And the Church around the world has seen God do many tremendous things over the last 2000 years. But no matter how proud we might be of our past, God's grace is still our only way into the future.

More than an Underdog

Who sends a kid into a war zone with a sling shot?

The story of David and Goliath is one of the most well known stories of the Bible. And like many biblical stories that become absorbed into the mindset of our larger culture, it's popularity causes it to become trivialized to a certain degree. A reference to the story of David and Goliath has become short-hand for refering to a victorious underdog. I hear it often in sports when a small market team comes out of nowhere to challenge the perennial champions for the title. Commentators quikcly pose the question "Will David take down the mighty Goliath?" Usually, this means that the "David" team will have to out-hustle and out-smart their more talented "Goliath" of an opponent.

While I was personally dissapointed last night when a certain sports Goliath (the L.A. Lakers) wasn't defeated, as Christians and regular readers of scripture we should recognize that the story of David really has nothing to do with him being an underdog, at least not in the way we normally use that term. Yes, David is undersized, too young and inexperienced, and seemingly helpless with his sling and a lack of proper weaponry. But the point of the story is not that David conjurs up some inner drive to succeed by which he out-works or out-smarts the more powerful Goliath. The point is that David puts his trust in God and not in himself.

Of course, this trust appears naive and idealistic to those whose perceptions of reality have been shaped by the rigors and horrors of "the real world." So Saul attempts to conform David's view of reality to his own by dressing him up in respectable armor and weapons, the things in which Saul trusts. After trying on the king's armor David refuses, knowing that it is God who will decide this battle.

And so, a boy armed with trust, five stones, and a sling goes where a whole army of seasoned warriors dared not go. One stone is all it takes. The battle has barely begun and it is over. The giant is taken down by one well placed stone.

There are so many battlefields in our world; all kinds of metaphorical ones and sadly too many literal ones as well. Often its seems that the Church feels like it only has two choices in these battles; either to cower from the things that threaten us as the Israelite army did or to go into the battle with the weapons of the world as Saul wanted David to. Both of those options fail because they fail to account for God's presence. But there is a third option; stepping onto the battlefield with trust in God as our only real weapon.

Of course, that's risky. It leaves us vulnerable to the giant enemy standing in front of us and backed by an army that is supposed to be on our side but doesn't exactly have a lot faith in the odds of our success. But, of course, this is the path that Jesus walked; publicly challenging the God-mocking giants of his day while even his closest followers wondered why he hadn't taken up the more conventional weapons of revolution. And for a time it appeared that his trust had been too naive and idealistic and that the giant had won but even after death his trust was vindicated because God has the power to raise those who trust in him to new life.

In a world of tanks and nuclear weapons, a world of injustice and political games, a world where so many lines have been drawn deeply in the sand, what would it mean for us to be a people who stand between opposing armies and challenge the giants of our world, armed with only our trust in God and a sling?

Youth Revolution

Sedition. Treason. Revolution. An unknown, unimportant, left-over of a boy.

By the beginning of the 16th chapter of 1 Samuel, God himself and Samuel both regret having made Saul king over Israel. Saul has failed as the shepherd of this people. But God speaks to Samuel, indicating to him that the time of morning for Saul is over because God is about to do something new. God tells Samuel to prepare to anoint one of the sons of Jesse the Bethlemite as Israel's next king. Samuel response to God's command (When Saul hears of it, he will kill me! v.2) takes seriously the dangerous political implications of what God is asking him to do. There is already a king in Israel; to anoint another one while Saul is still alive is nothing short of open rebellion against the powers that be. God doesn't discount this reality, recognizing the danger of what he is asking Samuel to do. But God does give Samuel an "out", telling Samuel to go to Bethlehem under the guise of offering a sacrifice. (Is God encouraging an act of deception here in order to bring about the revolution he desires?)

Samuel arrives in Bethlehem and the elders of the town know something is up. They ask Samuel if he comes in peace. They figure that the presence of a big shot like Samuel in a small town like theirs can only mean trouble; either he is there working for Saul or he is there in opposition to Saul. Either way, the elders figure it can't be good for Bethlehem. But Samuel reassures them by repeating the line God gave him about being there to offer sacrifice sees to it that Jesse and his family are in attendance. Immediately upon their entrance, Samuel sees Jesse's son Eliab and thinks that his work is done; surely this must be the next king of Israel. But God tells Samuel to pass over Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah and all seven of Jesse's sons who are present. Has Samuel got the wrong house? Did he misunderstand God's instructions? Are there no other sons?

It turns out there is one son remaining but he is the youngest, the runt of the litter. You could even translate Jesse's description of this son as a "left-over". His own father considered him so unimportant that he didn't even bother to bring him before Samuel the king-maker. Samuel instructs Jesse to go get his left-over boy and he says that they will all wait while he retrieves him. And so the mighty Samuel, the town elders, and the older brothers come to a stand still because of this young boy who has yet to even be named in the story. The power and influential are made to wait for the young, lowly shepherd to come in from the field. Such is the kingdom of God.

Upon this young boy's entrance into the story, it seems that even the narrator can not contain his excitment over his main character. He says that the boy had beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance, even though it has already been stated that this was not God's criteria for choosing his annointed. His good looks are only a sort of added bonus to the kind of heart that God desires which this boy also possesses. Immediately upon seeing the boy, God tells Samuel to get up and anoint him and he does so. Right there in front of all those who should be more powerful than he is, David is anointed as king of Israel and filled with the Holy Spirit and it is only then that he is finally named within the story.

In the life of an unknown, left-over, nearly nameless, young boy the seeds of God's revolution and a new kingdom are planted. There are none too young or unimportant for the kingdom of God. The Church today finds itself in a situation similar to Samuel's. We can mourn over the failures of past or current leaders. We can accept a dim future because seeking new leaders is too dangerous and risky. Or we can be obedient to God and begin looking for those that God has already chosen among the younger generations to lead the way into a new future.