It dawned on me while I was reading Character Counts by Os Guinness that the modern view of God’s sovereignty is probably attributable to Abraham Lincoln and his vast influence on the American psyche. The pervasive idea in his writing during the American Civil War that the will of God was being done, despite any apparent evidence to the contrary, is a seductive one. It flirts with fatalism, invests meaning into stark tragedy and shares responsibility with God, and sometimes totally shifts it to Him.
I’m reasonably sure the author of the article in Character Counts didn’t intend to convey this idea. But it’s what came across to me: that our understanding of divine sovereignty comes from the need to believe in the righteousness of the cause, despite the anguish to the nation.
Its proper foundation, however, is in the paradox of God’s will vs. humanity’s freewill.
Lincoln’s beliefs are potently expressed in his words: ‘…if after endeavoring to do my best in the light that He affords me, I find my efforts fail, I must believe that, for some purpose unknown to me, He wills it otherwise. If I had had my way, this war would never have been commenced; if I had been allowed my way this war would have ended before this, but we find it still continues; and we must believe that He permits it for some wise purpose of His own, mysterious and unknown to us; and though with our limited understandings we may not be able to comprehend it, yet we cannot but believe, that He who made the world still governs it.’
This shifting of blame to God is, in fact, an ongoing aspect of David’s character. He manages it in such subtle ways that we are, in general, overwhelmingly blind to it. It’s only when we put his actions into a timeline we can see what he’s up to.
David allied himself with the Philistines and had even been given a base, Ziklag, by one of their kings. Then this happens:
When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud… the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.
Then David said to Abiathar the priest… ‘Bring me the ephod.’ Abiathar brought it to him, and David inquired of the Lord, ‘Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?’
‘Pursue them,’ he answered. ‘You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.’
1 Samuel 30:3–8 NIV
I’ve read and heard many inspiring messages based on this episode over the years, all of them encouraging me to consult with God and thus recover all I’ve lost. But I’ve never heard anyone comment on the strangeness of David’s action in using the ephod. Why did he even need to inquire of God at this point? Surely going out to rescue the wives and children doesn’t require special divine sanction. It’s a no-brainer, surely an automatic response. Except… except… except…
David was caught in a bit of a bind. Should he go after the families of his men? Or should he keep his covenant promise to Jonathan to defend him and his family? Or should he keep his covenant with the Philistine king?
Whatever David did, he’d be in breach of at least one covenantal relationship. Putting it in God’s hands through inquiring via the ephod has overtones of shifting the ultimate blame to God. It’s a dodge as old as Adam indirectly accusing God of responsibility for sin because He gave him Eve as a partner.
David had been an ally of the Philistines for a long time by this stage and, even though he’d been lying about his raids, he’d come to be sufficiently trusted by King Achish to be invited to battle with him. Fortunately the other Philistine kings objected. Nevertheless David knew their strategy and, through his threefold covenant with Jonathan, Saul and Michal, he should have already been at Mount Gilboa, helping Saul in his last stand against the Philistines.
And knowing this, he didn’t want the responsibility for any decision to rest with him. He was already a target of his men’s violent anger. And he’d been caught in a trap of his own devising. He’d deliberately made a pact with the enemy.
Our complicity with the enemy is so often similar. And if there are faithlines as well as bloodline matters to deal with, then perhaps it’s David we need to forgive.
This is Grace Drops and I’m Anne Hamilton. It’s time to renounce your pacts with the enemy before the trap springs shut.
Thank you to Lorna Skinner of www.riversofmusic.co.uk for the background music.
Elijah’s mantle is discussed in The Elijah Tapestry: John 1 and 21: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #1.
Joseph’s mantle is featured The Summoning of Time: John 2 and 20: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #2.
Moses’ mantle—and Reuben’s mantle—will be featured in The Lustral Waters: John 3 and 19: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #3. Available late 2024.
David’s mantle will be covered in The Inviolable Kingdom: John 4 and 18: Mystery, Majesty and Mathematics in John’s Gospel #4. Available 2025.
Please get in touch through the contact form at Armour Books if you are in the US, UK or Australia and there are availability/price issues at the retailer for any of these volumes.