We left David in 1 Chronicles 11 having been crowned king and capturing Jerusalem. The rest of chapter 11 and all of chapter 12 talk about his mighty men, including our friend Benaniah who “killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day.”

1 Chronicles doesn’t describe the blow-by-blow of David’s becoming king of all of Israel. It describes the kind of men who made it happen. For example:

There were some Gadites there who had defected to David at his wilderness fortress; they were seasoned and eager fighters who knew how to handle shield and spear. They were wild in appearance, like lions, but as agile as gazelles racing across the hills. Ezer was the first, then Obadiah, Eliab, Mishmannah, Jeremiah, Attai, Eliel, Johanan, Elzabad, Jeremiah, and Macbannai—eleven of them. These Gadites were the cream of the crop—any one of them was worth a hundred lesser men, and the best of them were worth a thousand. They were the ones who crossed the Jordan when it was at flood stage in the first month, and put everyone in the lowlands to flight, both east and west. (1 Chronicles 12.8 – 15, MSG)

“Seasoned and eager fighters who knew how to handle shield and spear. They were wild in appearance, like lions, but as agile as gazelles…”

Wild men. Compare the description of John the Baptist:

When John’s disciples left to report, Jesus started talking to the crowd about John. “What did you expect when you went out to see him in the wild? A weekend camper? Hardly. What then? A sheik in silk pajamas? Not in the wilderness, not by a long shot. What then? A prophet? That’s right, a prophet! (Matthew 11.7 – 9, MSG)

Some guys are prophets – wild – others are better pastors. Different kinds of guys. Note that Ephesians 4.11 lists different kinds of gifted leaders:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4.11, NIV)

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Some refer to this as the APEPT model. The implication of Ephesians 4.11 is that we need them all. It takes an apostle, for example, to start a church, especially in a hostile environment. But the guy with apostolic gifts (a “church-planter”) is unlikely to be the guy who can pastor the people over time.

Same in the military. Some guys are great wartime leaders but terrible peacetime leaders.

I’m thankful for David’s “wild men.” I’m also thankful none of them became king! There were also the men of Issachar, “men who understood both the times and Israel’s duties.” Armed, trained “fierce fighters…united and determined to make David king over all Israel.”

It takes a team!

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12.6 – 8, NIV)

There are God-sightings everywhere if we choose to look for them. I wrote about one at the Olympics. Here’s another. The story is a bit long but worth it…

In the summer of 1975, we had just moved to Omaha the previous January for an Air Force assignment and decided to go to Colorado for a brief vacation. My friend John Morgan, whom I had served with in Turkey 1970 – 1971, was in Boulder, CO, getting a master’s degree. Decades before Air B&B he found us a place to stay in mountains between Lyons and Estes Park. The owner, a Denver commercial artist named Dieter Sebastian had just bought and assembled a kit home: “They bring it to you on a large flat bed trailer. They dump it on the ground, shake your hand and leave!”

The Sebastian house in 1975. They built it to live on the top floor and rent out the bottom floor, where we stayed. My 51-year-old son, Mark, was two at the time. Note Mt Meeker in the background of the picture on the right.

We started going out to Estes Park regularly in the 1990s and again after 2006 when we returned to Colorado from five years in Alabama. At some point we got the idea that we should find this property. Dieter had passed away by this time, and we didn’t contact his wife before she passed. We had no idea where the house was except it was between Lyons and Estes Park, and you could see Mt Meeker. That would put it on a side road off of a 15 – 20-mile stretch of Highway 7.

MANY times over the past 20+ years, we have gone exploring trying to find that house. No success. When we were there recently we went out again and on a side road, there was a fellow out working in his yard. We told him the story, and he suggested we call on the manager of Meeker Park Lodge, within a mile of his property. He didn’t even know her name exactly, but he said, “She grew up here, and she’s in real estate. She knows all the properties.” Turns out his name is Robert, same as mine.

The next day I called the Lodge, and Rainia answered the phone. I asked if she was the lady who knew all the properties around here. “I am.” I told her my story, and she said she would be glad to research it for me. So I emailed her a few pictures. A success, right? Bob, you wouldn’t be telling us this story if she hadn’t found the house for you.

Yes and no. She didn’t have to find it. Here’s what she wrote:

Oh my goodness. This is the house I grew up in! My parents still live in it actually. This is wild!

You can’t make this stuff up. A road we happened to turn onto…just when a guy is outside working…who is vaguely aware that the manager of Meeker Park Lodge might be able to help. Help!? She grew up in that house! (And it turned out to be several miles further away from Estes Park than we had been looking.)

The house had been added on to, but it is the house. There was practically no vegetation when we were there, but in nearly 50 years… You can’t see Mt Meeker from the house today, but pull back out onto the highway, and there it is. The bottom row shows our new friend Rainia today, sitting in front of the window as a little girl, and the original owner in front of that same window. Turns out he lived there only six years.

And we had a bonus moose-sighting! This mother and calf were right next to the house. (By the way, a good reason not to get out of the car. Moose are the most dangerous animals out there. They’ll leave you alone until they don’t, and since they can kick in any direction, “There is no safe approach to a moose.” Especially one with a calf.)

Thanks to God, Robert, and Rainia, we accomplished our mission. The long-missing house has been found.

A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul… (Proverbs 13.19, ESV)

We’re back to the narrative of 1 Chronicles which parallels the history we already read in 1 Samuel – 2 Kings. I will try not to repeat lessons we’ve already written about. The L O N G list of names, 1 Chronicles chapters 1 – 9, ends with the genealogy of Saul, which was also given at the end of chapter 8. Neither list gives any indication that Saul was king. It’s just a list of names. Odd.

Ner was the father of Kish, Kish the father of Saul, and Saul the father of Jonathan, Malki-Shua, Abinadab and Esh-Baal. The son of Jonathan: Merib-Baal, who was the father of Micah…. (1 Chronicles 9.39, 40, NIV)

Then we pick up the narrative in chapter 10 with the death of Saul, including the fact that he took his own life as reported at the end of 1 Samuel. Then this commentary:

So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the LORD in that he did not keep the command of the LORD, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the LORD. Therefore the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10.13, 14, ESV)

Chapter 11 cuts through the years of civil war after Saul’s death and goes straight to David’s kingship and making Jerusalem the capital city:

Then all Israel gathered together to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. In times past, even when Saul was king, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD your God said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over my people Israel.’ ” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD by Samuel. And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. (1 Chronicles 11.1 – 6, ESV)

David becomes king “according to the word of the LORD by Samuel.”

Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16.11 – 13, ESV)

As with Joseph, who became Prime Minister of Egypt at age 30, after 13 years of slavery, so David became king of Israel at age 30. If he, too, was about 17 when the promise came, he had 13 hard years as well. Our lessons from Hebrews apply:

You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved. (Hebrews 10.36 – 39, NIV)

Yesterday we looked at the prayer offered by the men from Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh in the middle of a battle:

God delivered the Hagrites and all their allies into their hands, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him. (1 Chronicles 5.20, NIV)

But they didn’t just pray, they had trained!

The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men ready for military service—able-bodied men who could handle shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle. (1 Chronicles 5.18, NIV

“…able-bodied men who could handle shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle.” And how does one become “able to handle shield and sword”? How does one become proficient with a bow? Answer: by training! And if you think back to the Olympic athletes, what does training look like?

The simple things that lead to success are all easy to do. They’re also just as easy not to do. – Jim Rohn

And this brings us back to my friend Mike and the difficulty he is having just helping his men get into the habit of daily time with God. If we know what to do, why don’t we do it?

• We don’t start small enough. When I teach time with God, I always encourage folks to start with just 10 – 15 minutes. I’ve had some people balk: “Only 15 minutes?! I should be doing an hour!!” My response is always, “God would rather you give him 15 minutes than NOT give him an hour.”

• We don’t see far enough Growth takes time, but growth does occur over time. A lot of folks quit when they’re not making progress as fast as they want.

[Jesus] also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. (Mark 4.26 – 28, NIV)

• We don’t want to. You will not want to do something until you’ve first done it when you didn’t want to. (compare Hebrews 12.11)

• We just don’t!

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on… (Philippians 3.12 – 14, NIV)

Do the work! Easy to do…easy not to do:

Keep up with your daily time with God; practice the one thing that will improve your relationship with someone; practice one thing for physical fitness; put sermons into practice…

David said to Solomon, be strong, and do the work! (1 Chronicles 28.10)

A few days ago we looked at one of the interruptions in the list of names in 1 Chronicles 1 – 9: the Prayer of Jabez, a vignette that occurs nowhere else in scripture. And there’s another, also about prayer, in the very next chapter:

The families of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 men trained for war—physically fit and skilled in handling shield, sword, and bow. They fought against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab. God helped them as they fought. God handed the Hagrites and all their allies over to them, because they cried out to him during the battle. God answered their prayers because they trusted him. They plundered the Hagrite herds and flocks: 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep, and 2,000 donkeys. They also captured 100,000 people. Many were killed, because the battle was God’s. They lived in that country until the exile. (1 Chronicles 5.18 -22, MSG)

“God handed over the Hagrites…because they cried out to him during the battle.”

“God answered their prayers because they trusted him.”

“…the battle was God’s.”

One obscure battle, but it’s recorded in scripture. Why? Because they prayed.

Again,

You have not because you ask not. (James 4.3, KJV)

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. (John 15.7, ESV)

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16.24, ESV)

And remember, we, too, are in a battle:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6.10 – 12 ESV)

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12.17, ESV)

We’re trying to figure out how to help my friend and disciple-maker Mike help his men to get started in the simplest discipline: Daily Time with God. Yesterday we observed that maybe the men aren’t hungry enough or they can’t get out of the drudgery phase.

When we talked, I suggested he talk with them about priorities. For example, they probably find time to eat.

But he answered, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4.4, ESV)

And even if they’re in too big a hurry to eat breakfast in the morning, I’ll bet none of them have gone to work naked! They seem to find time to get dressed.

Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! (Romans 13.14, MSG)

“What time would you have to get up to have a 15-minute quiet time? What time would you have to go to bed?” Basic stuff.

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look up. (Psalm 5.3, NKJV)

Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not disregard it. Blessed are those who listen to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For those who find me find life and receive favor from the LORD. (Proverbs 8.33 – 35, NIV)

The Olympics inspire me to discipline in my own life and the lack of discipline reminds me of something I wrote about a month ago. I said I’d get back to it “in a few days.” Sorry about that!

A friend of mine, disciple-maker Mike who now lives in Missouri, called me recently to bemoan the fact that he had five men, leaders in his church, that he was trying to help, and none of them could find the time for a short daily time with God. It’s an example of complacency winning over intention. I’m going to revisit this problem in a few days. Stay tuned. – From Intention? Or Complacency? July 28, 2024

Here are some of the things I shared with Mike:

• “Maybe you’ve got the wrong guys.” Mike had asked the pastor to give him “hungry guys,” but these guys don’t appear hungry.

One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet. (Proverbs 27.7 ESV)

If, say, an elite swimming coach told an athlete how many laps to do and at what speed, and the athlete balked, the coach might rightfully conclude, “I don’t have someone who wants to be an elite swimmer.”

The Parable of the Sower clearly speaks to different “soils,” only the last of which bears fruit. (See Mark 4.1 – 20.)

• Maybe the guys haven’t yet gotten past the “drudgery” stage. All disciplines go through “drudgery, discipline, delight.” When we start something, like, for example, an exercise program, it’s sheer drudgery. It hurts. But if we stay with it long enough, we can get to “discipline.” I’ll practice it as a discipline, and I can see the benefits. If we stay with it long enough, we’ll get to “delight.” We wouldn’t want to live without it. Encourage them. Tell them…

You won’t want to do something unless you first did it when you didn’t want to.

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12.11, ESV)

There’s more. Stay tuned.

It’s fitting that we close our meditations on the 2024 Olympics the same way we closed the 2020 Olympics (held in 2021), with the Fiji Olympic Team singing. There may have been those at the executive level that wanted all mention of religion stifled, but that didn’t stop the Fiji team from conducting morning worship services in Olympic Village.

A Christianity Today (CT) article, “Yes, Fiji Olympians Are Singing Hymns,” opens this way:

Viral videos of the Fijian Olympic team singing in Paris show a congregation of athletes raising their voices in four-part harmony, as if they had been rehearsing in addition to training for the games. In several videos, the group is shown singing the Fijian hymn “Mo Ravi Vei Jisu” (“Draw Close to Jesus”). One video on TikTok has over 3 million views and 660,000 likes.

The CT article is worth the read in its entirety, and it’s hard to pick out just a few snippets, but here are some of the themes:

For many Fijians, especially Fijian Christians, community singing is built into the rhythm of everyday life…Many of the athletes in the Fijian coalition have likely been singing in four-part harmony since they were very young…Starting with family devotions in the home, Fijian children in Christian families grow up hearing harmony and learn to participate...

This tradition…is one that Fijian Christians carefully cultivate and preserve. The four-part harmony we hear in those viral videos is the result of generations of teaching and practice...

Singing is an embodiment of interconnection with the world, with each other, and with God…In Scripture, we see these images of trees clapping their hands, of rocks crying out. In some ways, we in the West have written off those images as hyperbole and metaphor…The physicality of singing and its effects on a congregation are sometimes lost in worship settings where the sound of a band drowns out the voices in the room. In the US, less than 20 percent of the population regularly sings in a choir, so many American Christians have lost touch with what it feels like to be in a vibrant singing community. [Note: I wrote about a dearth of singing in some of our churches back in 2019: Enter His Presence with Singing!]

 …The Fijian Olympic team’s singing in Paris demonstrates the centrality of singing to Fijian cultural identity…The Fijian rugby team often sings before or after a match, not because they want to make an evangelistic demonstration but because it’s just part of who they are. When there is singing in rugby, for example, whether for a loss or a win,…they sing because it involves their whole life, their whole community, their whole being.

Very inspiring, nearly as inspiring as the athletic events themselves. Thanks to the Fijian Olympic Team for spreading joy through music. FYI, the rugby team earned a silver medal so they can sing AND excel in sports!

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! (Psalm 100.1, 2, ESV)

Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. (Psalm 146.1, 2, ESV)

P.S. Back on August 2, I wrote about the Brazilian surfer pointing to Jesus in an iconic photo. Here’s a follow-up article on that Christian witness.

As we near the close of our meditations on the 2024 Olympics, we need to remind ourselves that often the best we can do is not enough. There are no guarantees of victory on any given day on the sports field or in life. In the 100-meter dash, the margin from first to fourth was 0.03 seconds, and that fourth guy received no medal.

More than once Steve Kerr, coach of NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the US Men’s National Basketball Team at these Olympics, said that the greatest basketball player in the world is Nikola Jokic of Serbia. Since he plays for the Denver Nuggets, I’m a huge fan. As I’ve written before, he plays a brilliant game of basketball, specializing in assists, elevating the game of everyone he plays with. He is unbelievably humble and selfless, a genuine, first-class guy…

But Serbia won Bronze, not Gold. Jokic’s team gave the USA all they could handle in their semi-final game, leading for all but the last 3 or 4 minutes of the game. Kudos to the American team for digging deep and pulling out a win. Some criticized the US for not soundly defeating Serbia by the 16 points they were favored, winning 95 – 91. A “let-down,” many said.

My version is that it took an entire team of NBA all-stars to defeat Jokic and his countrymen, which did include a couple of NBA players, but not all-stars by any stretch of the imagination. But, bottom-line, the “best basketball player in the world” did not win at the Olympics.

I wrote a few days ago that such things are to be expected. Scriptures are clear. Look at what these “exemplary” people experienced:

There were those who, under torture, refused to give in and go free, preferring something better: resurrection. Others braved abuse and whips, and, yes, chains and dungeons. We have stories of those who were stoned, sawed in two, murdered in cold blood; stories of vagrants wandering the earth in animal skins, homeless, friendless, powerless—the world didn’t deserve them!—making their way as best they could on the cruel edges of the world. Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. (Hebrews 11.35 – 39, MSG)

Sometimes the “win” comes later:

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12.10, 11, ESV)

The Olympic athletes are largely young, no surprise there, but there were exceptions. There was a 61-year-old lady from Luxembourg playing table tennis. Since there are 60-year-olds in the equestrian events, “She’s the oldest Olympian here who doesn’t ride a horse.” (She won her first match, then lost in the next round.)

Back to older athletes, there was a 41-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler from Cuba: Mijaín López, known as “El Terrible.” Here’s the opening of a Wall Street Journal piece, updated August 6, 2024:

PARIS—With a list of accomplishments longer than a swimming pool, Michael Phelps has a strong claim to be considered the greatest athlete in Olympic history. After all, his 23 gold medals is more than twice as many as anyone else.

But it turns out there’s another athlete, barely known to most of the sports world, who might have a better claim to that title. He stands at 6-foot-5, weighs about 290 pounds and has dedicated his life to overpowering some of the strongest men on the planet. 

His name is Mijaín López—and he might be the most dominant Olympian of all time.

López is a 41-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler from Cuba who seems less like an athlete than a tall tale: as solid as a mountain, as ungraspable as air. He can’t match Phelps’s overall medal count, but he looks set to achieve one feat that neither Phelps nor anyone else at the Games has ever done before. With a blowout 6-0 victory Tuesday over Chile’s Yasmani Acosta, López became the first person ever to win gold in the same individual Olympic event five times.

You can watch highlights of the Gold Medal match here. Stay tuned until the end, the most poignant moment of all. After the celebrations and hugs, López walked to the center of the ring, took off his shoes, and left them there, the universal signal in the wrestling world that he is retiring.

I don’t even know the guy, but I found that very moving.

Here, I am finished. You have to leave space for the youngsters that are coming. – Mijaín López

…the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Timothy 4.6, 7, ESV)

GOD spoke to Moses: “These are your instructions regarding the Levites: At the age of twenty-five they will join the workforce in the Tent of Meeting; at the age of fifty they must retire from the work. They can assist their brothers in the tasks in the Tent of Meeting, but they are not permitted to do the actual work themselves. These are the ground rules for the work of the Levites.” (Numbers 8.23 – 26, MSG)