Today's Scripture Reading (June 8, 2025): 1 Samuel 23
Almost all of us live with
finite resources. What that means is that we don't have the resources to complete
everything we might want to accomplish. I think that is something that we have
lost sight of as a nation. We seem to believe that if it is good, we will find
the money needed to do that good thing. But that is not always true. Sometimes
we just don't have the resources we need to do everything that is good. And
cuts are going to have to be made somewhere.
I recently read an article asking
whether it was possible to live on what the government is willing to give us during
our retirement years. The answer was yes, but with severe limitations and
downsizing. What the article refused to do was to tell the reader some of the
things that might have to be cut. I understand the reticence. Anything that
might be suggested to be cut might be considered essential, yet the truth is that
to survive on that amount of money might require doing without some of what we
might think are essentials. Fair? Probably not. But we live in a finite world.
Everyone might not have to choose between feeding themselves or feeding their
dog, but that is a choice you might have to make on a substantially lower
income. In fact, and this will not make me any friends, I believe that pets are
quickly becoming a hobby reserved for the rich. Between food, the damage caused
by our furry friends, and the medical issues they bring with them, you must
have significant resources to care for them properly, or be willing to cut back
on many other essentials from your life.
It is a lesson that Saul is
forced to learn. We need to understand that Saul believed that David was a
significant threat to his throne and the nation as a whole. But the Philistines
were also a threat. So, as Saul receives this message that the Philistines were
raiding Israel, Saul is given a choice. Saul is faced with two essential tasks:
to capture and deal with David and to protect the land from the Philistines, who
had been an almost continual thorn in the nation's side. The problem is that
Saul has finite resources. Regardless of how much he might want to, he can't accomplish
both goals. It isn't that one task is unimportant, because that is not true.
However, Saul does not have the
resources needed to do both things.
Saul has to choose between
two essentials. It won't be easy, but it will be necessary. And it will likely
be a painful choice for Saul, just as similar decisions are painful for us.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading:
Psalm 54
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