Today: 1 Chronicles 9-11
A few days ago, I visited the city of Acapulco in Mexico. I had never been to Acapulco before and kept hearing and reading, “When you go to Acapulco, you have to watch the cliff divers.” My friend and I attended a night show—and we weren’t disappointed. Seven divers, including one who was only 13, scaled the side of a massive cliff bare-handed. The water below was only 12 feet deep and the cliff was not a straight drop into the water. It curved so that the divers not only had to dive off a high point, but they had to jump out from the edge enough to miss the jagged edges on their way to the water. The really insane thing? For the last two dives (from the very top of the cliff several hundred feet about the water), the lights went dark and the divers lit small torches they carried all the way to the depths of the sea. Crazy!
I thought about the cliff divers as I read in today’s passage about David’s Mighty Men—more specifically, when I read about the people referred to in this passage as “The Big Three.” Take a look:
The Big Three from the Thirty
made a rocky descent to David at the Cave of Adullam
while a company of Philistines was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.
David was holed up in the Cave
while the Philistines were prepared for battle at Bethlehem.
David had a sudden craving:
"What I wouldn't give for a drink of water
from the well in Bethlehem, the one at the gate!"
The Three penetrated the Philistine camp,
drew water from the well at the Bethlehem gate,
shouldered it, and brought it to David.
And then David wouldn't drink it!
He poured it out as a sacred offering to God, saying,
"I'd rather be damned by God than drink this!
It would be like drinking the lifeblood of these men—
they risked their lives to bring it."
So he refused to drink it.
These are the kinds of things that the Big Three
of the Mighty Men did.
Wow. The Big Three might have gotten along well with the cliff divers of Acapulco. :) What’s truly amazing about the Big Three was their motivation. The Big Three weren’t trying to earn money or become famous. Let’s review how the passage describes them:
These are the chiefs of David's Mighty Men,
the ones who linked arms with him
as he took up his kingship,
with all Israel joining in,
helping him become king
in just the way God had spoken regarding Israel…
The Big Three served David to the point of risking their lives—because they wanted to be part of fulfilling God’s promise. These guys had some serious guts. They weren’t just loyal friends or employees—they were linked to David and as such, they were linked God’s purpose.
Who are you linked to?
It’s an important question. I’m not talking about the people you’re connected with on Facebook or LinkedIn. I’m talking about the people whose backs you’ve got and/or the people who have your back. If you’re reading this and you can’t think of anyone, I’m sorry. But I’d encourage you to find someone worth backing—maybe a family member, pastor or friend. No one will be perfect (even David was far from it!), but we all need to be linked to someone. And hopefully, that someone is linked to God’s purpose for life.
Tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 12-14
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