I sought the LORD, and he
answered me and
delivered me from all my fears.
1 Samuel, Chapter
23, Verse 15
While David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh he was afraid that Saul had come out to seek
his life.
David trusted his life to God and did what was righteous.
David a.k.a. Robin Hood[1]
·
The Philistines are robbing grain at Keilah, so
David and his men go attack them.
·
Even though Saul is after them, David still
knows he needs to protect the people for God.
·
After David defeats the Philistines, Saul learns
of David's whereabouts (1-8).
·
David learns that Saul is coming for him and he
starts freaking out.
·
God informs David that the people will turn him
over to Saul this time, which is a hard lesson for David because even though he
was acting on the people's behalf, they were willing to stab him in the back
(9-13).
·
Even though Saul is unable to find David,
Jonathan finds him no problem. BFFs can be like that. Jonathan encourages David
to keep fighting the good fight because one day he will be king of Israel as
God intends (14-18).
·
Saul learns that David is staying in the
wilderness of Ziph with his merry men a la Robin Hood. Saul starts chasing
through Ziph and a variety of other areas.
·
Unfortunately for Saul, David is quick as
lightning and always avoids danger. At one point, Saul and his men are on one
side of a mountain and David and his men are on the other side. Tough luck,
Saul.
·
Saul gets word the Philistines are raiding the
land. For once, Saul makes a good decision and goes to defend the Israelites
against the Philistines (15-29).
We glorify God when we are righteous as he is righteous who makes the rain
fall on both the good and the evil.
Roméo Dallaire[2]
John
McCain in his book Character is Destiny examined the character traits
exemplified by Roméo Dallaire who in 1993, was appointed Force Commander for
the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR), where he witnessed
the country descend into chaos and genocide, leading to the deaths of more than
800,000 Rwandans. When the rest of the world looked away, he stayed behind in a
manmade evil for the sake of duty and justice. Dallaire was in charge of a
small overwhelmed African peacekeeping force, he could have left but he refused
and witnessed the genocide. He is ashamed he could have not done more and the
reaction of the world that stood by for 100 days doing nothing allowing the
devil to reap carnage, terror and hopelessness. Dallaire was the one candle in
a darkened room of despair created by the collective failure of mankind’s
conscience along with the apathy and deceitfulness of world governments toward
Rowanda’s plight. McCain writes of Dallaire dilemma:
The U.S. government, our allies, and the United Nations went
to extraordinary and ridiculous lengths to avoid using the term, aware that
once genocide was acknowledged, they would have to act. Day after day, long
night after long night, for over three months, more men, women, and children
were added to the rolls of the victims by their hate-crazed persecutors. Romeo
Dallaire soldiered on, saving those he could and agonizing over those he
couldn’t, all the while begging the UN, and the world, to send more troops, to
do something, anything, to help. In his telling, his mission was to keep peace;
peace was destroyed by unimaginable violence, and many thousands died. He
failed. He tried to convince his superiors to send him more men. He failed. He
tried to get the United States and other powerful countries to listen to their
consciences and help. He failed. He tried to persuade the world to stop
genocide. He failed. And while many, many people who had a responsibility to
stop the killings looked the other way and never had a moment of doubt or a
night of troubled sleep, Romeo Dallaire took his failures very, very seriously.
A righteous person, no matter how
blameless, will always take humanity’s failures personally.
Our Lady of Good Counsel[3]
On the Feast of Saint Mark, April 25 1467, the people of Genazzano, Italy
witnessed a marvellous sight. A cloud descended upon an ancient church
dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel. When the cloud disappeared, an image of
Our Lady and the Child Jesus was revealed which had not been there before. The
image, on a paper-thin sheet, was suspended miraculously. Soon after the
image's appearance many miracles were attributed to the intercession of Our
Lady of Good Counsel. Because of this, Pope Paul II ordered an investigation
and the results have been preserved. It was later discovered that the very same
image had been seen in a church dedicated to the Annunciation in Scutari,
Albania. The image in this church was said to have arrived there in a
miraculous manner. Now, the image had been transported from Albania
miraculously to avoid sacrilege from Moslem invasion. A commission of enquiry
determined that a portrait from the church was indeed missing. An empty space
the same size as the portrait was displayed for all to see. Many miracles
continue to be attributed to Our Lady of Good Counsel. Pope Saint Pius V, for
example, credited victory in the Battle of Lepanto to Her intercession. Several
Popes have approved the miraculous image. In 1682 Pope Innocent XI had the
portrait crowned with gold. On July 2 1753 Pope Benedict XIV approved the
Scapular of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and was the first to wear it.
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