They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat—part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. – 1 Samuel 30:11-12

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 23, 2019): 1 Samuel 30

You have probably done it. I know that I have. You are on a busy highway when you come across a stranded motorist, but you are already late for an appointment, and there are so many other people on the road. Surely, someone will stop. I mean, if it weren’t for the meeting for which you are already late, you would stop. You just can’t stop now. Not today. Today someone else has to stop and help.

We actually have a name for this situation; this idea that someone else will do what we feel that maybe we should do. It is called the “diffusion of responsibility.” And the diffusion of responsibility happens every time a group of people is given a chance to perform a task. In those circumstances, consistently we believe that someone else has more time than we do, or are better at the task at hand, or has more material wealth and, therefore, can accomplish the purpose better than we can. In our list of priorities, helping those in need is often farther down the list. We would help, and we want to help, but right now just isn’t convenient.

David is in a hurry. While he and his men were away, the Amalekites had come and stolen everything.  They had taken more than just the possessions of David, but they had kidnapped the wives and the children of David and his men. Now, David is giving chase. He intends to take back what is his. But time is critical. The Amelikites have a head start, and David does not want to give them the opportunity to dispose of what they have stolen.

It is amid this chase they come upon an Egyptian who has passed out in the field. The man is alive, but just barely. The Egyptian is a lowly foreigner. He is not well dressed and has no possessions. Later, we will find out that he had been a slave of the Amalekites and that his masters had discarded him when he got sick. But at this moment all David knows is that he is a traveler who is in trouble. If there were anyone who could argue that the Egyptian, at this moment, had to be the problem of someone else, that person would have been David. Two of David’s wives were among the wives and children that the Amalekites had taken, and every minute that they remained the captives of David’s enemy was a minute too long.

In spite of this, David stops for the Egyptian. He works to revive him. David gives to the Egyptian water and food that was meant for his men as they continued their mission to regain what had been stolen. Even though David’s task was critical, he refused to allow that to stop him from fulfilling his responsibility to care for another human being, even if that human was a foreigner. He would pause and try to help if he could and trust that if he fulfilled this commitment to humanity, that God would help him with the mission that was at hand.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 31