Relief from a Tyrant
How do you handle things when you’ve been wronged? When I was young I had a difficult boss. He rarely smiled and every Friday he met with me to go over my weaknesses. I just loved Fridays!
Those early years were God’s training time for me, but I hated these weekly exercises. I can remember times when I would share my plight with another colleague, both of us agreeing that we were being unjustly wronged by a roughshod boss who cared only for himself. Enough was enough; I wasn’t going to take this anymore. So I confronted him and told him that if he continued to treat me like a dog, I was going to quit.
I will never forget his response. “You’re not here to serve me, you’re here to serve God and if you’re going to quit here, you’ll quit every time the going gets tough.” This wasn’t the change of heart I was looking for and the next few years didn’t get any better, until I read I Samuel 24, which tells the story of God giving abusive king Saul into the hands of David in the cave.
Poor David (that’s how I felt about me) has been fleeing from the hand of Saul for years now. God has already made it known that David will be the next king so now is a perfect opportunity to rid himself of this godless tyrant.
But David said something that struck my heart. He said, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD” (1 Samuel 24:6b). Twice David points out that the man who is making his life miserable is indeed God’s anointed. David understood that his difficult boss was God’s preparation for kingship. The day I understood this truth was the day that I was able to move forward in my preparation for leadership. One of the most important preparations for leadership is to first learn to follow, especially when it’s difficult to do so.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I Peter 1:6,7
