with meditations
by my mother, Poetess Gertrude Sanborn
April 5
(I Samuel
30:12–II Samuel 2:25)
STAYING HOME WITH THE STUFF
I Samuel
30:24
". . . As his
part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part
be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike."
When I was a young
bride and then a mother, I had to stay home much of the
time. My husband would go places. I stayed home. He went
to Oklahoma. I stayed home. He went to Mexico. I stayed
home. He would fly away. I stayed home. He went to
Europe. I stayed home. He would drive a car for miles
with other people. I stayed home. It didn’t seem fair to
me. Off my husband would go--"serving the Lord"
hither and yon, and everywhere.
What was I doing? I
was changing diapers, nursing babies, contending with
children, washing dishes, cleaning the house, doing yard
work– worn out--and crying! It just didn’t seem fair.
Had not I given my life to the LORD to be used where He
wanted to send me? Yes, I had prepared in Bible School.
I thought, "Certainly God could use me in some
special way!" Why was I always stuck "staying
home with the stuff?" Question: Could my home be
my "work from the LORD" ?
Here in today’s Bible
reading, we noticed that the Amalekites, the continual
enemy of God’s people, had invaded Ziklag. Besides
burning the city with fire, they captured the women. Two
of those women were wives of David. (Don’t ask me why
the men in the Old Testament were permitted more than
one wife at a time. I don’t get it either!) David’s own
people were angry with him because of it. They wanted to
stone David. During this disturbing devolvement,
David encouraged himself in the LORD
his God.
After enquiring of the
LORD, David, with six hundred men, pursued the enemy.
That was at Besor Brook. Two hundred of those
brave warriors were faint and tired. War can tire out a
soldier, you know. David told those men to stay home and
rest. They found a lone weary and hungry Egyptian man.
David refreshed the man with food and water. It turned
out that the man had been a servant to an Amalekite
master who left him behind sick. With the help of this
cast-off servant, David and his men smote the Amalekites.
They fought fiercely from morning to night. David
re-captured all that the Amalekites had taken from
Israel, including his own wives and the wives of the
other men. That day was a great day of victory!
After the battle,
David came back to the two hundred weary men that he had
left behind at the Brook Besor, It was then that the
unbelievers–men of Belial, who had fought with David and
his men-- concocted a plan, "We will not give those
who stayed home any of the battle’s spoil!" This
idea did not go well with David. He said that it was the
wrong plan. After all, the LORD had preserved them and
delivered the enemy into their hands, hadn’t He?
David questioned the
other men, "Who is going to listen to this weird
idea?" He contended, that those who stayed home with
the stuff had as much right to the battle’s spoil as
those who fought in the war. David declared,
"As his part is that goeth down to the
battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the
stuff."
What a comfort that
verse became to me in my early marriage when our
children were small. My husband was a Navy chaplain for
five years on active duty. For one of those years, he
was overseas in Okinawa with the Marines. Before that,
my husband had sea duty. I was not with him. I was all
by myself with my little family. For every soul Chaplain
Waite led to the Lord, for every marine he comforted,
for every sermon he preached, my reward was as great as
my husband’s! That’s what that verse says to me. When I
realized this truth, staying "home with the stuff"
became more appealing to me. How about you? Do you have
to stand on the side lines while others get the
"glory"? David’s words to the homebound are for you,
too!! Take heart. The more you "stay with the stuff,"
the greater will be your reward. (ysw)
"WRITTEN FOR OUR LEARNING"
(II Chronicles
32:31; Romans 14:4)
"He left him to
try him that he might know all that was in his heart"
(copied)
This was spoken
about King Hezekiah.
We wonder why we
are alone and unnoticed in our problems.
God, as it were,
seems to sand aside.
So we can "go it
alone."
So we may judge
ourselves as to cause.
Hezekiah came
forth in the end as pure gold. (Job 23:10)
Also. Job
accepted the righteous judgment of our Holy God.
If God would
look away for a second, we would fall and fail.
(GGS)
And
Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him.
And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he
said, Behold, in the tent. And he said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo,
Sarah thy wife shall have a son. (Genesis 18:10)
Under God's Care,
Yvonne S. Waite
Thy
Never Failing Kindness
Bible For Today Baptist Church
Collingswood, NJ 08108
Phone: 856-854-4747
