ONLY God gives us ‘REWARDS’ of LASTING VALUE!
March 30 Bible
Reading: 2 Samuel Chapters 1-3
ONLY God gives us ‘REWARDS’ of LASTING VALUE!
Then David said to the young man who told
him, "Where are you from?" And he answered, "I am the son of an
alien, an Amalekite." So David said to him, "How was it you were not
afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?" Then David
called one of the young men and said, "Go near, and execute him!" And
he struck him so that he died. So David said to him, "Your blood is on
your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have
killed the Lord's anointed.'" (2 Sam 1:13-16)
David,
having just returned to Ziklag from his campaign against the Amalekites (1 Sam.
30:1), received the tragic news of the death of Saul and his sons. The
messenger was none other than an Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul with
his own hands (2 Sam. 1:1–10). He had now travelled over 90 miles from Mount Gilboa to Ziklag to convey this news to
David. However, we know that Saul’s death was a suicide (as recorded in 1 Sam.
31:3-6). This Amalekite had probably fabricated this story to make himself look
good in David’s eyes in order to get some reward since he had known from others
that Saul was David’s enemy (see 2 Sam. 4:10).
However, David
had always considered Saul as God’s
anointed, even though Saul was rejected by God, hated David, and sought to
kill him (1:14; 1 Sam. 24:6; 26:9). David’s reverence was actually for God who
had anointed Saul, and had twice
refused to harm Saul earlier (1 Sam. 24:6; 26:9-11). So, hearing the tragic
news David mourned deeply all that day for Saul, and then during the evening
time he ordered the execution of the Amalekite because (by his own admission) he
had killed the Lord’s anointed. Instead
of getting a reward from David, what the Amalekite received was a death blow
through a sword! The Amalekite had received a ‘reward’ that he had never expected in his wildest dreams!
This sad
story brings to us two very important
life lessons that we should consider seriously:
- Whatever we do for people, we will
never get the adequate rewards that we expect. A good example is Hagar who only got
bread and water from her master Abraham for bearing and raising his eldest son
Ishmael (Gen. 21:9-21). In this world, we are only valued when we have
something to offer, otherwise we are deemed as ‘losers’ and sidelined even
by our own family, friends, and society.
Let us understand that "it is better
to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in
the Lord than to put confidence in princes." (Psalms 118:8-9)
- Only God can give us rewards that have any lasting value. God has put eternity in our hearts (Eccl. 3:11b), and we should live for eternal values and to please God more than anyone. One of the last statements of Jesus in the Bible is as follows: “…behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work" (Rev 22:12). Let us live to obey God and serve others; as per Matt. 10:42 we will be rewarded even for a cup of cold water that we give in His name. "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works." (Matt 16:27)
