David or Saul: Who are we going to be as educators?

Saul had the mandate. Israel wanted a king. God gave them a king. The problem is that Saul kind of did things halfway. He never fully committed to doing what God asked. He had a son who would have been a wonderful successor. But Saul couldn’t get it together. It cost him his throne. It cost him and his son their very lives in battle.

David was chosen from his brothers, even after his dad tried to hide him from Samuel’s selection process. Samuel reminded Jesse(David’s father who tried to get his older brothers anointed king while David was with the flock) that humans look at the outward appearance of a man, but God looks into the heart. David would stand before a giant. He would later make big mistakes as king. His family was a bit of a mess. Yet, he would return to God again and again. He was a poet, a gifted song writer, and a warrior.

In education, we have the choice to be like David or Saul. David chose the armor of God. Saul chose the armor of man. One stood between evil and God’s people. The other chose to make himself rich and conquered only the weak while keeping the best of the spoils for himself. One was a man who would return to God again and again after his mistakes. The other would seek the counsel of witches.

Doing the right thing requires courage. Making good decisions requires us to care more about getting things right than we do about our own reputation. Doing the right thing might place us before an enemy that has taunted countless others before us. However, we must step before that giant anyway on behalf of those who are incapable or unable or not called to face him. David knew that God would stand with him even before the worst of trials. David repented when he was wrong. David was at war most of his life. I think a lot of what David did was to set the table for future generations to have a home and to live in peace.

ProTip: Bill Graham has a great sermon called “The Choices We Make.” Here is a quote:

The rich young ruler came to Jesus wanting to find some spiritual help and Jesus said “All right, would you like to have eternal life”? The rich young ruler said, “What must I do to inherit eternal life”? And Jesus said, if you want eternal life you do this and this and this and this and this. The rich young ruler left sadly because he couldn’t pay the price and Jesus would not bargain with him. Every person that ever lived has to make the same choice. It’s either the world and its pleasures and its gods or it’s Christ. Which is it for you?