Who do we listen to?

May 9, 2009

Today's Reading: 1 Samuel 24-25 and Mark 3

In the Old Testament reading, David is told that he should probably take out Saul while he has the chance. In fact, it totally seems convenient that he should. Surprisingly, David does not take the shot, but he does chop off a piece of the robe. Amazingly enough, he feels guilty about the incident.

In the next chapter, David has a little squabble with another person named Nabal. Someone gives him some advice, and this time it is positive. Abigail does not want her husband killed, and begs David for mercy. I wonder if David thought: “the last time I took advice, I would have regretted it. I know how I feel right now, and I want to kick this Nabal’s butt”.

One of the things that makes David different from Saul is that Saul will often follow the will of the people, while David acts out of a different decision making process. David usually followed his heart, and perhaps that is why is known as a “man after God’s own heart”.

In the case of Jesus, I get the feeling that he didn’t care. I mean, he does care, which is why he does what he does. I mean, he heals on the Sabbath, even though he knows it is going to cause a stirring of the crowd.

Isn’t it funny how our lives are made up out of decisions where we could go one way or the other? Sometimes I think that our life is made up of one road that forks every few seconds. Sometimes we can back track and go back and unmake a decision, but for the most part, the moment we make that decision, the consequences will follow us for the rest of our lives.

Of course, a lot of us make our decisions on the advice from others. There is nothing wrong with that, really. I mean, even Proverbs advises wisdom in a multitude of counselors. Even the president has a cabinet.

All of us really need to take advice from someone. In all honesty, I cannot say if taking advice from Christians is always the right course of action. I have taken advice from Christians and regretted it later. However, they are good about keeping me out of sin.

Advice is good, but what keeps us going the right way is often advice that we take from ourselves. Sometimes we don’t want to hear what others have to say, because we fear we will disagree with them. Sometimes we don’t want to hear what people will say because we know we will agree with them.

The thing is that we have to take responsibility for what choice that we make.