“David said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.’”
- 1 Samuel 24:6
This is one of my favorite scenes in all of scripture and one of the most tangible tests of personal integrity ever displayed. For Context, David is a fugitive with a small band of fighting men who believe him to be the next king of Israel. Saul, the current king, is rage filled and hunting down David. Saul is no longer God’s chosen king and representative, he has failed all too often and displayed a kingship that resembled the surrounding nations as opposed to the kingship God had in mind. David though is on the run from the very nation he is supposed to rule over as God’s true anointed one.
It seems so easy then, kill Saul and take the throne. Go straight from the hot desert strongholds and into a palace. It makes perfect sense in every way, and if any of us were writing the story we would makes this the climactic battle where David finally comes out on top and end the hero’s journey. Thanks be to God that is not how this story goes, and I believe the entire future of David and Israel depend upon David’s choice here.
You see, Saul was going to be dethroned at some point for the sins he has committed and his lack of integrity as a leader. Saul was tasked to totally destroy an enemy of Israel, but instead, they took the enemies best cattle and sheep. That was a moment when God rejected Saul as King (1 Samuel 15). I believe in a similar manner, had David killed Saul in the caves of En-Gedi when he had the prime opportunity to, David would not have become King, or the archetype of a Israel’s good kings for that matter. Now there is no evidence of that, but it makes me wonder, what if David killed Saul?
Integrity:
We may not use this word a lot, but we tend to expect integrity from others all the time. When we order our specialized Starbucks drink, we hope to receive what we ordered for, which places the test of integrity on the worker to not cut corners to make the drink. We hope for honesty among our leaders and politicians, and all too often see a lack of integrity and consistency with them. We expect our friends to be authentic and full of integrity, and that our closest relationship would never go behind our back.
There is no doubt that our God has integrity, He is ever faithful and will see every promise to its fruition. Our integrity though is fragile. Our faithfulness is rather whimsical and as fluid as the ocean. For this reason, I believe God orchestrates opportunities to test our faith, to test our trust, and test our integrity. For it is not so much that God test’s our faith in Him, we know He can never fail, but he tests if we can be faithful if we will uphold our end of the relationship. We need an integrity check from time to time.
I find integrity to be a virtue of faith we tend to not focus enough on, though integrity is the very reason that David became a king and reason Jesus is called a Son of David and not a Son of Saul.
There is always a choice set before us. Frequently we could find ways to cheat, pursue what we want to pursue, and receive every pleasure we want. Sadly, we see more cases of corruption in leaders making headlines than we do leaders of integrity. Pastors who take advantage of women and children, Elders who dip their hands into the offering plate, and Politicians who cause more division than unity. I am sure you can think of many more cases.
Integrity Check:
Let us check ourselves though, for we cannot change the integrity of others but we ourselves can respond with integrity. Moving forward to do what is right, and honest, and true. Let us not take advantage of differing scenarios but rather keep in what is good and right.
Our actions matter a lot, and God is always assessing what we do. His desire is for us to continually grow and manifest Christ in us. Such a manifestation requires faithfulness, honesty, transparency, suffering, joy, and grace. It won’t be easy but that is the point, it is much easier to turn to satisfy ourselves rather than to work to pursue God.
Check yourself.
Final Blessing:
To be God’s Straight-Arrow necessitates integrity. David embodied integrity when we went against killing his foe and then rebuked his comrades who tried to tell him to. In my belief, he became the archetype of a good king because of his integrity while a fugitive. There are many hidden blessings in our lives too if we check ourselves and live with integrity. There becomes a soundness in one’s personal identity that cannot be shaken by differing life challenges. This world could use some more straight arrows to hit the mark of integrity. Let us be honest with ourselves and pursue God and His ways with full faithfulness.
May the Lord of Life and Redemption be with you in every step, every breath, and every heartbeat of your journey.
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