The principle of ownership runs strong within our culture and our world. Is that your car? Yes, I own it. Do you have a home? Yes, I own my home. The logic of possession limited to one. Ownership is coined as “to have something as one’s own.” But in this talk of possessing things, there’s something to think about. How did you come about owning said thing and how much security lies in you keeping it?
You see, if you were to create a flow chart of each and every possession in your life, I think it would intrigue you. For example, take your car. You might simply look at that big shiny heap of metal and only see a car. But as you create your flow chart, it starts a story. You needed money to buy that car, where did it come from? More than likely a job. Where did the job come from? You went to school, learned a skill or trade, and made yourself attractive enough to a company that they agreed to pay you money to perform those skills. Here the flow chart can branch. How did you pay for school and why did you even choose that profession? Provision and guidance touched your life. We could take the chart all the way back to the womb, but you have to ask yourself, did you fully control and guide each and every one of these steps along the way? Nope, no way. There’s one guarantee as you walk this world, you quickly realize how little control you have over your own circumstances.
Now here you have to give credit for the path of your job on that flow chart. If you can’t control it, something or someone else did. You could say it was all just mere chance, luck, karma, or happenstance. A simple dismissal that the world just does what the world does. Or, I would hope you would be able to see the Almighty hand of God lovingly guiding each of your steps along the way. If you are in the latter school (and I pray you are) then you really have to ask yourself a hard question. If God gave me life, gifted me my passions, revealed my skills, developed those skills, sent me to school, got me a job that gives me money, led me to that car and gave me the money to purchase it…then who really owns it? You see, this is one of the single biggest misconceptions we observe in our world today. God does all the work and we claim all the ownership.
As we continue in the book of 1 Samuel, we find David living among the Philistines, out of the Promised Land and out of God’s Will. He is about to go into battle against God’s own people, but God in great mercy and guidance, turns him back. But as David and his 600 warriors arrive back home to their Philistine village, they find heartbreak instead of homecoming. The Amalekites have raided their village, burned everything, and absconded with all their wives and children. I can only imagine David’s heart breaking revelation as he crests the hill to see what God has allowed. For some reason, I don't think it was the shock to David that it was to the other men. I think David knew a correction from God was close. You see, Many times we knowingly live outside of God’s will, knowing a rebuke is right around the corner. As David's men process the pain and shock, they threaten to stone David. David in this moment is lost, broken, filled with fear, far from home and far from God’s will. At a time like this in David’s life, it’s time for him to run again. It's time for one more trip. A trip back to God. In a powerful verse we see David turning from his current destination and heading back to God. A hard trip we must all, at times, take in this life.
“But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6b
David once again calls upon the Lord and the Lord is faithful to reply. God tells him to go after the raiders and the victory will be absolute. David and his men load up and head out. They are marching almost 25 miles a day to catch up to the marauders. They find an Amalekite deserter along the way and he points them right to the camp. Along the way, 200 of David’s men hit exhaustion and he splits the group in two. 200 will stay behind with the extra provisions, thereby lightening the load for the remaining 400 that will forge ahead into battle. David and the remaining 400 annihilate the Amalekite camp, rescue their wives and children and in the process score quite the booty as they claim not only their possessions back, but all the other stuff this group had ever taken. It was quite the haul indeed.
And herein lies the lesson. As David and the 400 return to the 200, there is quite the uproar. Have you ever noticed that the more stuff there is, the more fighting there is? The 400 think the 200 should not get a part of the spoil because they did not fight in the battle. As David was strengthened in the Lord, God was once again revealed in his heart. David handles the situation in a way that I’m sure had God smiling.
“But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.” 1 Samuel 30:23-25
You can see David’s heart for God on display here just as if it were under a glass case in a museum. Do you see David’s idea of ownership? They fought for the stuff. They could have died. They walked many miles, sweated, fought hard and earned all that stuff fair and square. But no matter, it belongs to God. The true owner is the one that gives it away.
But David goes even farther.
“When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” 1 Samuel 30:26
David gives even more away. He doled that treasure out to over 13 different cities. He really spread it around. Folks, David could have sat on all these riches. He could have claimed ownership over them. He could have been wealthy. But David saw the truth of ownership. God owned it all. And when David saw the truth of ownership, he could see the truth of God’s generosity. You see, if we think we own it, we hold it in a death grip, it’s mine. All mine. And you can’t have any of it. But this is not God’s plan. God gives to us so that we can give to others. We are to be tools of distribution for God, spreading His blessings to all those around us. Sharing is indeed caring, and we are told to share what God gives us with the world.
The plan is very simple. God gives to us richly and abundantly. We then give freely of what He has first given us. And then He gives us more. And then repeat over and over. But throughout the process, as you look at what is in your hand at any moment, don’t make the mistake of thinking it is yours. It does and always will belong to the Lord.
“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” - Corrie Ten Boom
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