How do you respond to mis-treatment? 1 Samuel 16-20

1 Samuel 18:30 (NASBStr)

Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed.

If you read chapter 18 of this chapter you have to be struck with David's character.   He was attacked, swindled, denied promises, discredited and provoked.  Yet, David did not respond back.  He simply acted with more wisdom and meekness than any other of Saul's servants.  Treated worse than Saul's servants, David rose above them.   Note what Matthew Henry states in his concise commentary on this passage:

For a long time David was kept in continual apprehension of falling by the hand of Saul, yet he persevered in meek and respectful behavior towards his persecutor. How uncommon is such prudence and discretion, especially under insults and provocations! Let us inquire if we imitate this part of the exemplary character before us. Are we behaving wisely in all our ways? Is there no sinful omission, no rashness of spirit, nothing wrong in our conduct? Opposition and perverseness in others, will not excuse wrong tempers in us, but should increase our care, and attention to the duties of our station. Consider Him that endured contradiction of sinners (Matthew Henry, Concise Edition).  

The last line, of course, is spoken in regard to Christ.   He endured persecution to become our Savior (Hebrews 12:23).  How we respond to mis-treatment says more about our faith than our lips do.  Our actions speak louder than our words.  When we are treated unkindly we are to find a way, through faith in Christ's power, to endure the affliction and not strike back.   God is looking for more David's in this world.   God sent His Son to take our affliction for us and we should respond in kindness and not in revenge or vindictiveness.   

Do you have rope tied to your leg? Exodus 1-4

Exodus 4:10 (NASBStr)

Then Moses said to the Lord, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

When a baby elephant is born they stake it to the ground with a rope tied to their front leg.   The little guy pulls and pulls only to discover he can't pull the stake out of the ground.  As it grows older it quits trying to pull the stake out of the ground because it has tried before and can't.   Even though it weighs twelve ton and the elephant can pull trees out with its trunk it won't try to pull the stake out because it has learned an "assumed constraint."  It "assumes" since he never could he still can't.   Here, in the above passage, is a good example of how the same concept of an assumed constraint affects our service for God.   God told Moses to go and lead His people out of Egypt and to "speak" to the King.   Moses has had a speech rope tied to a factious stake for all his life.   He only knows one thing, he can speak eloquently.   Even though he is not speaking to the God of the universe, who made his tongue, he feels constrained by his past inabilities.  When God calls us, however, He equips.  God knew about Moses speech issues ... He created them.   God also knows He can give us the power to overcome them when He wants.   We all have assumed constraints.   The Scripture is full of people who expose them and use them as excuses in their lives.   But, with God all things are possible.  We can move mountains by faith in God.   Don't let an assumed constraint hold you back from your service for God.  There is nothing He can overcome in our lives when we approach our service by faith in His power.  

How do we use our Christian liberty? 1 Corinthians 9-10

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (NASBStr)

Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Paul is a valiant warrior of the concept of Christian liberty.  He so fought the battle in the church that many leaders of the church thought he was given the body a license to sin.  He so believed in God's grace he didn't want anyone to think works at anything to do with any part of their salvation; from justification through sanctification unto glorification ... all faith, no flesh!  That is why to the Romans he had to clarify and in chapter six wrote, "What, shall we continue in sin that Grace by abound? God Forbid!! How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in it?"    So, don't mistake the above verse as anything but a further explanation of liberty that works for others.   In the above Paul talks about bringing his body into subjection.  He is using the training metaphor of a fighter getting ready for a big fight.  The context of the chapter (8-11:1) is to not do anything that may cause a brother to follow you into sin, or cause them to sin by your actions.  It is about allowing the weak brother who has a different perspective to see you serve him or her.   So, Paul, by faith, brings his body into subjection, offering it both to God and to his brother in Christ.   He doesn't want to be disqualified in his service.   He wants to make sure others see him as a servant to them.  We are not naturally servants.  We are typically focused on our own needs.  Paul wants us to make sure we have a heart that wants to glorify God and minister to others.   For that to happen he brings his body into discipline by Faith in the power of Christ.   

Who is actually in charge? Mark 5-6

Mark 5:13 (NASBStr)

Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

Poor pigs!!   Innocent pigs are lost to their farmers and to future people who where looking for a bacon breakfast sandwich as a result of a demon who wanted to escape Jesus' power.   The story in Mark five shows us the sad state of affairs for man who was living in the caves and rocks of the country. At some point in his life he became possessed, not with on demon, but many.   We are not told how long or why he was possessed.  It could have been a birth and no fault of the man (simply sin in the world), or, he could have done some great evil thing and danced with the Devil ... now inhabited with the Devil's darlings.   We are told, however, that he was constantly tormented by the demons, day and night.   We are told they are powerful demons that he had no control over, nor those around him.   We are also told that he had no common place to call home.  He lived in tombs and among the rocks.  No friends, no family and no frills are mentioned.   The demons had total control over his life.  Yet, they did not have total control.   We have to note in the story the demon's immediate recognition of Jesus' power.   They immediately recognized His lordship.   Although the man may never have see Jesus high and lifted up, the demons did.  In Luke 4 we see that Satan also recognized Jesus' authority.   In order for the demons to escape they ask to be cast into a heard of swine.   They need Jesus' permission.   Nothing happens without HIs permission.   In Proverbs 9 we read that through Wisdom He created the heavens and the earth.  He formed everything.   He is over all things.  In Colossians 2 we read of his divine power.  All names and nations need His permission to move.   Today spiritual, political conservatives rely so much on their "party" affiliation for their hope.   No President, Prime Minister, King or Queen moves in this world with God's permission through His Risen Son!!   Practice your politics but God can cause King Nebuchadnezzar to eat grass like a cow and he can cast demons into a heard of swine and then tell the swine to jump off a cliff.  Do you know this power in your life?   Believe it.  He is LORD!!

Will God's Word still work? Jeremiah 1-5

Jeremiah 1:12 (NASBStr)

Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”

What a blessed thought God reveals to his messenger, Jeremiah.   Jeremiah is called to be the orator who will deliver very bad information to the nation of Israel. He will be asked to say some things and illustrate those things in some difficult and maybe even confusing manners.   He might be tempted, in the future, to shy away from the message he is given.  He might worry that the rebellious audience/congregation he is sent to preach to might reject him, or worse, the message.   He might think he is more important than the message (many in the pulpit today are like that).   He might, like today's church ministries, think that the message is validated by the delivery rather than the Deliver above.   But, here, in just 14 English words, God says more than enough to keep any messenger of God on the right course.   God is watching over His word and it will perform what He sends it to do.  Today we might buy a product that will do something for awhile, but all things man made eventually die off.  God makes sure His word has life and it continues to do what He wants it to do.   The delivered word (delivered in many and all methods) will not come back void.    Don't doubt the power of God's Word, even if it is delivered in unusual ways or less bight lights.   God makes sure His word will perform.  Bank on it.  

What do we say to someone who is suffering? Job 25-26

Job 25:2 (NASBStr)

“ Dominion and awe belong to Him

Who establishes peace in His heights.

Only God can establish peace and peace can only be established by the power and awe inspiring character of God.   That seems to be Bildad's message to Job.  And, it is a good message.  We have to remember as we read Job that Job's friends were not often off with their advice.  They were typically accurate with their counsel but simply wrong in the application of their counsel as it applied to Job.   Bildad finally leaves Job alone and his "wicked people will have to pay and you must be wicked since your paying" argument.   Now he moves into the area that God is simply too big and too far away for man to be in the same world.   Note the verse above.   Bildad is letting Job know that God is so great He is to be awed.   Dominion and awe are God's.   Peace is His.  Only He can establish peace.   When we want to give others encouragement we need to focus on the character of God.  Getting past the poor application, Bildad is not wrong in this approach.   Peace comes from God.   Power is from God.   Awe belongs to God.   That helps us understand our pain, suffering, and turmoil.   We can rejoice in God's character in the midst of the turmoil we are experiencing.   

What do you do when others talk about you? Psalm 36-38

Psalms 38:13-16 (NASBStr)

But I, like a deaf man, do not hear;

And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

 Yes, I am like a man who does not hear,

And in whose mouth are no arguments.

 For I hope in You, O Lord;

You will answer, O Lord my God.

 For I said, “May they not rejoice over me,

Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me.”

If possible, go back and read the beginning of Psalm 38.   The writer, David, is outlining the terrible position he is in.  His sin has caused a great amount on his stress on his health and his relationships.   He is in a position of pain and vulnerability.   Yet, despite the hard pressing of life, David knows the God he believers upon.  He knows who God is and what God's salvation is all about.   When others mock him and want to hurt him and hurl insults at him, David becomes as a "deaf man".  He simply doesn't hear it.   He becomes like a "mute man."  He doesn't respond.   In his mouth are "no arguments."  When you have God fighting for you, you can afford to be silent and act as though you hear nothing.   He states the reason for this "numbness" is based upon faith in God.   He states, "For I hope in You, O Lord."   When our faith is in God and not ourselves we don't have to defend and argue.   When we follow God's word we can afford to be silent with our own.   If you find yourself hearing everything they say about you and too sensitive to it, rest in His character instead of your own.  If you have that desire to "answer back" rest in His spoke Word rather than  your own.  If our prayer to God is that they don't rejoice over us we can rest assured God hears that prayer and will make that happen.  He has promised so.