the Third Week after Easter
Click to donate today!
Daily Devotionals
Grace for Today
1 Samuel 24:10
‘He is the Lord’s anointed’
Read 1 Timothy 3:1-16
David was chosen and anointed of God to be king over Israel. But Saul, according to God’s providence, was still upon the throne. Saul was a wicked man. God had rejected him. But God had not yet taken him off the throne. And David was not about to attempt an overthrow of God’s providence. Painful as it may have been to endure Saul’s evil deeds, David was content for Saul to reign as long as God would have him reign. He said, ‘I will not stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord’ (v.6).
Few men have David’s wisdom! Today, it is common for men to take it upon themselves to seat and unseat men in the kingdom of God. I refer specifically to the pastoral office. One of the most lamentable evils of our day is the utter disdain and contempt with which most people treat faithful gospel preachers. Such disdain and contempt we expect from the world. But I think the angels must blush when they see it in the church. True pastors are not hirelings, to be seated and unseated by men. Those who treat God’s ambassadors as hired hands do so at their own peril. God will not allow any man to wrong his servants with impunity. He will reprove kings for their sakes. He says, “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm’ (1 Chronicles 16:21-22).
When a congregation seeks a pastor, it will be wise to seek careful and patiently wait for the direction of the Holy Spirit. When a church calls a man to be its pastor, that congregation has voluntarily placed itself under the pastoral rule of that man (Hebrews 13:7; Hebrews 13:17). He is God’s ambassador, God’s spokesman and God’s representative to that congregation. As such, he is to be treated with respect, obedience and love. He is to be esteemed very highly in love for his work’s sake (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13). He deserves such treatment, if for no other reason, because of the God he represents and the gospel he preaches. See that you treat God’s servants as the servants of the Most High God.
