Is There Not a Cause

The longer I walk with the Lord, the more amazed I become at the details He works in my life. I imagine He is doing the same in yours. However, it seems only recently I have noticed things meshing quite as well as they are now. Maybe I was distracted. Maybe I was unconscious. Whatever the reason, as I said, I am amazed. Let me tell you from where the amazement comes.


I will not bore you with a repetition of how this blog came about. For those of you who do not know, and are interested, there is quite a bit of detail in the first few posts. It started out with a voice behind me whispering, "This is the way. Walk in it." (Isaiah 30:21) I would like to tell you, I immediately jumped up and started writing. I did, in fact, start researching how to publish a blog, but I had no sense of urgency about it. In case you are unaware, God starts calling some of us early because He knows it is going to take us longer to do what He wants us to do. Obviously, I did start writing and publishing the blog and the more I understand, the more I can see everything, right down to the timing, has been set in motion with precision.


Some of this will not make sense unless you have read the previous posts, "Shaken and Stirred" and "Aftershocks" published within the past few weeks, and "Of Men and Microcosms" as well as "Holy Boldness" published a little while before them. I am even more amazed as I type in those titles because, at the time, they did not seem to relate to each other. I even wondered why I was writing some of them. God truly does do all things well.


If anyone has ever been accused of ulterior or impure motives it surely must be me. I am not saying that to get any sympathy or glory in my sufferings. I am only stating facts. I think I have a good heart. I do tend at times to be naive, and at other times presumptuous, but I am making progress, at least in the latter area. I used to rush in where angels fear to tread, but these days I am much more deliberate so it takes me longer to make the same mistakes. I clearly remember a time when I intentionally said something for no other reason than to make another person look bad. I remember just as clearly the conviction of the Holy Spirit after I had done it. That was almost 33 years ago. It is something I have attempted to not replicate.


There was another fellow by the same name who was accused of wrong motives. You may remember the story. If you do not remember it, I would refer you to 1 Samuel 17. David, the shepherd boy, went to take food to his brothers who were with the army of Israel. They were encamped facing the Philistine army. The Philistine leader, Goliath, came out twice a day, challenging and taunting the Israelites to send one man to fight him. Goliath was descended from a race of giants and stood over nine feet tall. That would be intimidating enough nowadays, but if I remember correctly from physical anthropology, the average height of an Israelite soldier would have been barely over five feet. King Saul is reported to have been head and shoulders taller than average so he might have stood six feet tall. No one was going to challenge this huge man one on one, no one except David anyway.


You see, David knew something none of the other Israelite soldiers knew. He had been in training for years to defeat Goliath. He had already killed a lion and a bear. He also knew the battle was not his, but the Lord's. He had a Holy Boldness. While the other Israelites were Shaken, he was Stirred. He became a Microcosm for those of us who are fighting enemies larger than ourselves. When his older brother challenged him as to his motives, his response was, "Is there not a cause?" (1 Samuel 17:29)

Why did Eliab challenge David and question his motives? God had just passed over Eliab to be the next king of Israel having chosen his youngest brother instead. Certainly Eliab had reason to be jealous of David, but it seems to have been more than that. Eliab was one of the Israelite army who had been cowering at the taunts of Goliath. Along came David, willing to take the giant's challenge. Need I spell it out for you? When someone is doing the right thing, perhaps even the thing we should be doing, we will do whatever we can to keep them from doing it. Should they succeed, we might be embarrassed. God forbid! Who's victory is it anyway?


We all know the story. David was taken to Saul (another man not doing what he should) who was willing to let the brash, young man fight his battles for him, but thought he ought to dress differently. David eschewed Saul's armor (another whole teaching) preferring instead to trust his own weapon and believing God to give him the victory. God gave him the victory. He always does.


I do not want to make too much of this, but I take David seriously. After all, he has a great name. He became the second king of Israel. He fought the giant and won. The religious spirit is gigantic compared to me. Before I get to that though, I have another battle to fight. I cannot really go into detail at this time, but there is a cause. Part of it is protecting my men. Mostly it is simply the right thing to do--and I trust, the right time to do it.

It is my own fault I have this battle to face. I started praying for a change. Some people who know the situation say I should not have prayed for the change at all. My idea of change was just a little thing. This one looks to be much bigger than I imagined. At this point I am not even sure how big the change is going to be. I do know this though, it is yet another step in preparation for the larger battle here in the Santa Maria valley.

This battle will be joined tomorrow when I send out a letter asking for what I believe is owed to me. Were I to leave it there, some would impute the impure motives of financial gain to this battle. There may be some financial gain, but that will only be the spoils of the battle. I will let you know how it all resolves. Please pray. There is a cause.

Mighty Men

"David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him." (1 Samuel 22:1-2)

I must admit to liking the way this chapter begins--with my name. That's right, I have the same name as the second king of Israel. That is about where the similarity ends. David had already become famous in Israel. As a youth he had slain Goliath and encouraged the Israelite army to rout the Philistines as a result. In his adult years he was so successful in battle that the nation sang of Saul slaying thousands and David tens of thousands. That did not make him the most popular fellow in Israel. Saul was the king and his ego would not let him be second to David. He tried to kill David in the palace with a spear. After David escaped that assasination attempt he ran away to the wilderness. Saul took his army and chased David and his men all over the wilderness for years. And we think we have bad days.

When we were prayerfully pondering leaving northern California, the Lord gave me a promise that I would grow in wisdom and knowledge and favor with God and man. Naturally I expected that to happen immediately. This is the age of instant communications in various media, one hour cleaners, and microwave popcorn after all. That was over twenty years ago.

I think some people like me. I think everyone should. I am a great guy. Just ask me. I am not perfect by any means. Please do not ask me to rate myself by any measure, on any scale. In comparison to the second king of Israel whose name I bear, I am a minus something. He sinned, I sin. Still, he was a man after God's own heart. I try. Thankfully, we are told in scripture that comparing ourselves one with another is not wise. (2 Corinthians 10:12)

David was in distress as recorded in the verses above. The king wanted him dead. His family gathered around him. Many who were discontented in one way or another gathered around him, four hundred of them. Some of them became David's mighty men. I got three so far. Really, three men who want to fight with me. They know who they are. There are probably more who just have not said so. My father is a little too old and he would not understand spiritual warfare anyway. I have brothers who understand and if push came to shove they would all be right there. And I have three men. They are kind of discontented with their lives. I used to be. I am not anymore. We are all going to battle this religious spirit together and we are going to win. Maybe some other people will join us. Maybe there will be 400 of us. It does not really matter how many there are. The victory is assured. Even now, in answer to our prayers, the Lord is stretching out His hand to banish the enemy.


Yesterday in church, during worship, the Holy Spirit told me to write a letter to three men and gave me the next four topics for this blog. This is the second one. I have already emailed the letter. When Jesus said His yoke is easy and his load is light (Matthew 11:29-30) He was not exaggerating. This is sweatless. God does the work. We follow His instructions. How could it be any easier? Oh, well, there is the whole thing about having to give up our own way to follow His. For the most part our way was not working out all that well anyway. Did I mention my three mighty men also got here the hard way. It did not take them quite as long as it took me, but hey, we are all walking the same way now. Thanks men. And thank all of you who have embraced this battle as if it were your own. Drop us a line sometime. We need you.